Adios, for now...

The Bear is going to hibernate for a short while to do some summer traveling and tend to some outdoor projects at the cave (small ranch house) while the good weather smiles upon us.

Before The Bear leaves on his summer trek, I'd like to point the way for you to do some exploring on your own.

In today's LA Times, staff writer Richard Marosi writes about officials in Mexico cracking down on police extortion of tourists on the road between TJ and popular Baja beach destinations. Here's a bit of the article:

A Course Called Ireland

Yes, this is a blog about California, but today we're taking a short diversion. Since it's Friday (when I ordinarily write about travel and getting out the door) my mind drifted to California golf courses, and when I think about golf, I often think of Tom Coyne.

Tom is a writer from Philadelphia and friend from graduate school. He's the author of two outstanding books (A Gentleman's Game: A Novel and Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer's Quest to Play with the Pros) both related to the game of golf. Tom is as skilled in writing beautiful sentences as he is in striking the perfect drive. It's rare to read a book about sports that is as well crafted as these two.

He is currently at work on his third book, A Course Called Ireland. Tom is walking (no bus, car, trolley, horse, plane, or train) around Ireland on a quest to play and write about every links course in the country. It's a spectacular adventure, both comic and poignant. Along the way, we learn with Tom about the quality of the courses and the fine people of Ireland.

You can read about Tom's adventure before he publishes the book in Fall of 2008. He's posting stories on Golf.com and you can also watch his progress on a Google Maps mashup.

(Photo: Coyne at Mulranny Golf Links. From Golf.com)

California Driving

An Alert reader posted a comment to Wednesday's musings on AB 493. (The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday that the bill failed on the Assembly floor.) The comment suggested that the Bear take a look at the website: www.wedrivecalifornia.com.

It is a cool website; though, we should disclose that it's sponsored by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. (They didn't support AB 493, and they had a handy link to send an email to state legislators that would voice one's discontent.) Apart from lobbying (which is cool with the Bear, since they're upfront about it), the site offers some nice features. In particular, we liked the page that lists great California drives.

We also like their writing on the site's mission, titled, "California Dreaming:"

The top down on a warm summer night and nothing between you and the stars high above. The road from San Francisco to Stinson Beach. Skiing in the Sierra in the morning, replacing the skis with a surf board and heading for the evening surf in the Pacific. California dreams that can be a reality.

Welcome to WeDrive California. Here you will find information about what’s happening in California’s automotive scene. From fun events like car shows and cruises, information on taking great drives in our scenic state, to the latest news on new products, safety and technology, WeDrive California is the place you can visit to find out what’s really happening in California’s car culture.

Kudos to their copywriter.

Now, get in your car and head for the hills.

The Theme Building and Encounter Restaurant

Last Friday, the always interesting blog CurbedLA offered a post (via retro_futurism) about the strange and captivating architectural delight at the center of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) known as the Theme Building (photo at left from the UCLA photo archive—see recent post). I grew up so close to LAX that I could hear the aircraft take off and land and sometimes smell the rubber from the tires hitting the landing strip. The ambient light emanating from the airfield is so bright that an eerie glow was constant at night in our neighborhood. I didn't see many stars in the heavens during my childhood. What I did see were aircraft lined in the sky to the east, approaching to land.

Living that close to the airport, we were always asked to shuttle friends and family to and from LAX. Thus, I was quite familiar with questions and comments about the Theme Building.
Does it rotate? No. Is it supposed to resemble a spider? Maybe, but probably not. Is it a movie set? No, but its exterior has been seen in probably dozens of movies and is rumored to have inspired the buildings on the TV show "The Jetsons." What's in there? A restaurant and maybe some offices and catering operations.

Most people assume it's an air traffic control tower, but never served that purpose. LAX recently built a new tower that's more obvious, so this mischaracterization will be less common. The Theme Building is tall, but it doesn't provide a view high enough for air traffic control, especially at an airport prone to runway mishaps. The view it does provide is quite compelling.

How do I get inside? Oddly, it isn't convenient from any part of the airport. A visitor has to leave a terminal, walk across many lanes of dangerous traffic, then find the elevator entrance. I've read that the original intent was to provide walkways to the structure from each terminal, and the building would have served as a hub. I'm sure that expense prevented that idea to take hold.

At present, the building is closed for renovation. According to a LAWA press release, "a 1,000-pound, 5-foot-by-10-foot piece of the stucco 'skin' was discovered to have fallen off the underside of the east upper arch," and repairs are expected to keep the restaurant closed for a while. The press release also notes some design information and history. The tops of the arches aren't structural (which is also why the damage mentioned above isn't too serious).

The release also notes that the "Theme Building was completed in August 1961 at a cost of $2.2 million. Architects Pereira & Luckman Associates, Welton Becket & Associates, and Paul R. Williams designed the building's 135-foot-high parabolic arches to symbolize the optimism of a futuristic Los Angeles in the space age. In 1992, the Los Angeles City Council designated the Theme Building a cultural and historical monument."

Have you been in there? Yes, but
not until I was in high school on a date. What's it like in there? Well, when I went there the first time, it looked different than it does now. Some entity that operates the restaurant hired Disney Imagineering designers to create a futuristic decor. The photo at right (from the retro_futurism blog) shows the results. It is a little too much to stomach, and I wouldn't suggest subjecting your rods and cones to this scene before a long flight to Hawaii or Beijing. I do wish that when I was there that I had taken the elevator to the top observation deck.

In the UCLA archive photo above, you can see the fenced observation area near the roof perimeter. It's now off limits due to post-September 11 security concerns. Bummer.

What kind of food do they serve? It's California cuisine, for the most part. What's that? Some kind of Pan Asian inspired vegetarian health food? Not exactly, but that's a good question for another post perhaps.

Can you drive me to LAX for a 5:35 AM flight to Amsterdam and then pick me up at midnight next week? No. Call Super Shuttle.

For more information about the building and its history, visit the Encounter Restaurant website or read a bit more about the development of the design and some of the architects at Wikipedia. Also, more links to photos here and here.

The Jazz Bakery

Are you a "Big Butter and Egg Man?" (N.B. That's a reference to a Louis Armstrong tune.) Then you need to head out on your next date to the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. The place is no longer a bakery (it's in part of the old industrial Helms Bakery). From the Jazz Bakery web site:

"...a serious, no-frills, seven-nights-a-week nonprofit listening room of international renown, where everybody who’s anybody has played; where iconic musicians turn up as regularly in the audience as on the bandstand; where just ascending the stage is a sure sign that you’ve made it into the music’s highest ranks." (from Brandt Reiter, LA Weekly, "The House that Ruth Built")

Shipwreck and Spanish Gold!

Friday's posts have recently turned to stories about pirating. Well, I'm always in the search for booty! (Image below: AP)


NPR and Associated Press report this week described one gigantic haul:

Deep-sea explorers who found what could be the richest-ever shipwreck treasure said Monday that the reaction to their discovery has overwhelmed them. Meanwhile, claims on the loot started coming in even as they were exploring new waters — television and movie deals.

Odyssey Marine Exploration on Friday announced the recovery of more than 500,000 Colonial-era silver and gold coins possibly worth $500 million. The exploration company from Tampa has withheld details about the shipwreck, where it was found or even what kind of coins they had hauled back.

The piece reports that the Odyssey's co-founder was in Los Angeles meeting with Disney execs to sell the movie rights. I thought that was odd, since if you suddenly found yourself 500 mil richer, would you bother with the movie rights?

It turns out, the Odyssey and her crew might not be able to keep the riches. National Geographic reports that Spain is suing for ownership of the shipwreck's contents based on the Law of the Sea Convention, "enacted by the United Nations in 1982 and applies to shipwrecks found on the high seas, which are outside the jurisdiction of any government. The Convention, supported by 150 nations, recognize countries ownership of their sunken vessels."

If I were the Odyssey and her crew, I'd find an island somewhere to get lost, and then I'd send Spain a letter saying, "Come and find us with your navy, if you still have one. Best regards, Blackbeard"

Lest you think I forgot to mention a travel item (that being the thing I do on Fridays), SFist, one of the fine blogs from the Gothamist city blog collection, recently posted a story about a shipwreck that's so near the coast, that once in a while, tide and surf expose the remains of the ship.

Shipwreck'd At Ocean Beach: "The King Philip is usually underneath the sand, but was revealed once before in the 1980 El Nino. It's still visible as of the running of the story, but may get buried under the tide any moment now. So go check it out!

There are over 100 shipwrecks in the waters off the San Francisco Bay Area coast, including the Tennessee, a Gold Rush steamboat that sank in 1853 near Marin City, the Reporter, a schooner that sank in 1876 and whose remains are intermingled under 5 feet of sand with the King Philip on Ocean Beach, and the City of Rio de Janiero, which sank in 1901 off Point Diablo."

Happy Memorial Day and Happy Treasure Hunting!

Ahoy! We Return to Santa Catalina

Many years ago, at home from college one summer, I was invited with friends to boat from Marina Del Rey to Catalina Island. I knew nothing of the boat, nor the particulars of the voyage, but I sort of trusted our captain, Wayne, and the conveyance looked seaworthy. This craft was a speed boat Wayne had purchased with his dad at a police auction. (It was not hard to imagine that it was used in the Mexican drug trade, as secret compartments were aplenty.) Our voyage was delayed by the Coast Guard pointing out that we lacked some paperwork or license (though we did have the proper number of life preservers). We set out from MDR after dark. Wayne said all we needed to get to Catalina was to stay on a particular compass reading and we'd reach the island (some 30 miles away in the dark). We were near full throttle, about a mile out, when Wayne noticed that we were not planing, as a speedboat should. I took the helm (gulp!), and Wayne opened the engine compartment. Wayne shouted to us something, but I could not hear what he said. I could see my brother's reaction and soon realized we were in trouble. In fact, we were fast taking on water. This was not good. Wayne signaled for me to cut the engine, and he ran to activate the bilge pump. In that brief moment of quiet, before we started cursing out Wayne, I looked back to the distant lights on shore. If we had to ditch the boat, I knew I could swim that distance. But it would not be easy. I had done it once before, to achieve the mile swim badge as a Boy Scout at Camp Emerald Bay in Catalina (during and following which I experienced mild hypothermia due to the cold water currents around the island). Lucky for us, we chugged back into harbor, safe but somewhat timid of sea voyages.

The good news is that one does not have to endure such travails to get there and back again.

How can I get to Santa Catalina Island?

• Let's begin with the fastest way: helicopter. I've heard that Hollywood executives sometimes chopper to the airport for an afternoon lunch of buffalo burgers at the Buffalo Springs Station restaurant. Round trip chopper fare to the Airport in the Sky is only $156+tax on Island Express Helicopters. The "Big Buffalo" ("a third pound, all natural buffalo burger served on grilled sourdough") is only $8.75.
• There are passenger ferries that operate out of San Pedro (I think this is the most common port of call), Long Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point, and Marina Del Rey (Catalina Express, Catalina Explorer, Catalina Flyer, or Marina Flyer), but be sure to make a reservation well ahead of time for a specific departure time and site. We tried planning a trip out of another location once on a new ferry service, and they canceled just before the trip due to "mechanical problems." I gathered that it was more due to not enough passengers booking on the new ferry, so they decided that it wasn't worth buying the fuel to take us over. I'm reluctant to name the company, just to give them a small benefit of the doubt. But I bet there are others who have had a similar experience.
  
• Of course you can get to the island via your own private boat or aircraft. (Check each link for details.) Be sure to trust your captain or pilot. According to the Chamber of Commerce there are "approximately 400 moorings at Avalon, [and] approximately 720 moorings elsewhere in Catalina, including 249 at Isthmus Cove."

When to go?

• As soon as possible.
  
• I've heard that the one of the best things Western Civilization has to offer is Buccaneer Days at Catalina. This year, on October 6th, they're planning the 18th annual event. I've never been, but common lore is that everyone on land or sea dresses up as pirate, and there is much gallivanting going on.
• According to the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau the weather is mostly sunny:

  Temperature and rainfall vary in different parts of Catalina but U.S. Weather Bureau records have general application to the entire island. Based on these records: Sunny or partly sunny days average of 267 per year. June through October, average Avalon high temperature is 76.1 degrees; average low is 58.4 degrees. November through May, average high is 63.2 degrees; average low is 49.4 degrees. Rainfall averages approximately 14 inches per year, nearly all of it occurring between mid-October and mid-April. Generally speaking, the daytime temperature rarely goes above 80 degrees in the summer, below 50 degrees in the winter. Water temperature ranges from 64 to 73 degrees in the summer and 54 to 59 degrees in winter.

What to do?

• Most everyone starts in Avalon, but to be honest, I've never been. I've always avoided that side of the island. I've arrived at Two Harbors or the Boy Scout camp and explored from there.
  
• Catalina is a very popular hiking and camping spot.
• Avalon offers most amenities you can find at any tourist destination.
  

Why isn't this the most popular destination in Southern California?

• My guess is that it's difficult to get to, there are no theme park rides (which I have nothing against theme parks—to each his own), and it's a little pricey to get yourself onto the island and full of food and drink once you're there. We always carry in what we need, for the most part, but that's difficult too.

Aren't the locals and other travelers going to be upset that you're reporting on their well kept secret?

• Maybe. But to keep the numbers down, I must disclose that there are rattlesnakes on the island. I've never seen one there (though, I have seen one in the hills around San Diego, and we cooked that sucker on the barbecue. It tastes like shrimp, but maybe that's because we sautéed it in butter and garlic).

Griffith Park Fire

(Photo-LA Times)
If you have missed the news lately, you might not know that a large portion of Griffith Park has been burned by fires.

Burnt park not down for the count - Los Angeles Times: "The fire that engulfed almost a quarter of Griffith Park was brought under control Wednesday, but not before destroying familiar natural landmarks and leaving hillsides charred and barren."
[snip]
The Griffith Park fire destroyed more than 800 acres. One of the largest municipal parks in the United States, the 4,200-acre property was bequeathed as a Christmas gift to Los Angeles in 1896 by Col. Griffith Jenkins Griffith, who made a fortune as a gold speculator. All of the park's buildings survived.

[Read the article--link above--to see which points of interest are temporarily lost to the flames.]

It is an extraordinary part of the city, and it is the one of two places (other than the Pacific Ocean) that I tell visitors to LA that they must see. I proposed to my wife there. I hiked there when I was in high school with friends, especially at night, to see the dazzling city below and a clearer vision of the universe above.

My Favorite Spots in Nature Threatened by Nature

A large portion, more than 400 acres, of Catalina Island have been burned by fire. Parts of Avalon are being evacuated, and there are fire crews and equipment being ferried to the island via hovercraft from Camp Pendleton (thank God for our tax dollars supplying the military!). Catalina is a very dry habitat, but the weather in California has been more conducive to fire lately, and winds are making things dangerous. Read the LA Times Breaking News blog for details, and pray that this wonderful place is spared too much damage. I know that nature needs fire, but I can admit that I'm selfish. I don't want my personal treasures lost in my lifetime.

Los Angeles Times: Breaking News: "Wayne Griffin, president and executive director of Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau, said 'we have fixed winged aircraft dropping fire retardant between the fire and the city. We are seeing flames on the top of the ridge. It is getting somewhat scarier. Some of the hotels have been evacuated and we are making plans to accommodate people elsewhere.'

Griffin said the fire response by hovercraft from Camp Pendleton was used last year to quash a wildfire and the firefighters are experienced in the island's mountainous terrain."

Catalina--There and Back Again

Last Friday, I wrote a post about my introduction to Catalina Island, a grand little island 26 or so miles off the coast of Los Angeles. I had planned on writing about the island's history today, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of information I came across. Basically, a blog post can't do justice to even a brief overview. So here's a casual look at Catalina history, and some links to further reading.

A grade school classmate's mom worked at the Phineas Banning historical residence in Wilmington, CA, so we took a field trip to the house. How does Wilmington connect to Catalina? Well, Banning established the commercial Port of Los Angeles. The wealth that followed enabled his sons to buy the island (yes, dude, they bought it all) in 1891. They weren't the first to own or inhabit the island, nor the last. They bought the island from a gent named James Lick, a California real estate mogul who had the good sense to invest in land before there was even a sense of worth about California property. There were developers at Catalina before Lick, and there were pirates, Portuguese explorers, and Indians on the island before them. (One account mentioned the Tonva tribe at Catalina. This tribe is also known to have inhabited land down the street from the place I grew up.)

Most people who travel to the island learn quickly that the Wrigley family (of chewing gum fame) bought Catalina from the Bannings in 1919. Their development and push to create tourism on the island is quite visible today (including the beautiful art deco Casino, where, alas, there is no gambling). The Wrigleys also owned the Chicago Cubs, and they brought the club out to the island for spring training occasionally in the 40s and 50s. The island grew as a popular destination until WWII when the military annexed the island. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military was concerned about an attack on Los Angeles, and they saw fit to make Catalina an outpost and watch point. (The summer camp I attended and mentioned in the previous post used Navy land and materials. I swear my tent was used by WWII sailors, and it smelt like it had lived through a lot.)

Movie crews, tourists, full-time residents, bison and wild pigs followed. The island is sparsely populated, mostly due to the conservancy established by the Wrigley family. Next week I'll tell you how to get your family and your own smelly tent to the island for a little adventure.

Santa Catalina is a-waitin' for me

I first traveled to Catalina Island (a small island located about 22 miles off the coast of California Google Map) as a Boy Scout in the early 1980s (back when it wasn't problematic to be a Scout). The Los Angeles Scouts had a summer camp at Emerald Bay. To us, as suburban kids, it was a natural landscape we were unaccustomed to, a paradise. The water was cold, but clear. Could this be the same Pacific waters? No sludge? No bacteria? I remember my first hours there in camp. Myself and a few others from Troop 961 hiked over a ridge at the edge of our campground, and we were surprised to be met by a herd of bison! Our encounter with nature was more than we bargained for. We were kept awake all night by packs of wild boar who roamed camp in search of candy, toothpaste, anything sweet. Woe to the kid who neglected to eat all of his Skittles or put his shampoo up in a tree and out of snout range.

These two species were not native to the island. The fact is that the beasts were brought over to the island for a film production and (according to rumor) left due to a shortage of funds to pay for their return. On a recent trip, I learned that the boar had been all but eliminated from the island (they were a threat to the ecosystem), but the bison still thrive. The Catalina Island Conservancy devised a plan to export a portion of the bison herd to repopulate Plain State Indian reservations.

My introduction to the island was important, not only because it was a fun place to go (being a pre-litigious era, we were allowed to go jump off of a 30+ foot cliff into the sea). It was a way to connect to California history, to wonder at a marvel close to home but never dreamed of, and to experience nature in an elemental way that was not easy for a kid of my background and setting.

For the next few Fridays, I'll tell you a little more about Catalina Island, its history, my connection to it, and how you can plan a trip. For now, I'll leave you with a link to the hit song, "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)" (iTunes) by the Four Preps.

Fresh Fruit!

If you have ever found yourself living in the Midwest or Northeast, pacing the aisles of a grocery store to stock up for another winter blizzard, invariably your thoughts will turn to California in the produce aisle. All tomatoes are flavorless, the avocado offering is dismal, the lettuce is wilting, and the oranges are bruised, battered, and expensive. Oh, you were spoiled with that stubby lemon tree, delicious bell pepper bush, and the juicy oranges on the straining boughs in your own BACKYARD!

There is sweet relief. I salivated over the April 2007 issue of Sunset magazine, "savoring" their travels through the bountiful Ojai region. Among the many places mentioned in the article, I was most intrigued by Friend's Ranch, a family-owned citrus grower that has been in operation for over a hundred years. These folks will ship to your home a box of citrus delights (and avocados), which varies by seasonal availability. They're famous for something they call the pixie tangerine. Oh, how I want one now.

Better yet, go and visit them. (Google map) Let me know how that pixie tastes.