So I left LA at 9:50 PM on WOW Airlines, and the reason that they are WOW is that they charge for everything. Leg room, carry-on luggage, every bag that you put in the hold, and ALL food items. You get nothing for free. WOW. The fare was cheap, but by the time you add seat selection, plus checking a bag that was 23K (the industry standard), but for WOW their limit is 20K, the total cost increased by 147 dollars. The bag alone was 135 dollars that includes 75 dollars to check and an extra 60 dollars for the 3 kilos over.
Other than that cost, the flight was very smooth to Reykjavik. Nine hours non-stop. I arrived at 1:35 PM and breezed through customs. You have to take either a taxi or buses into town because the national airport is about 27 kilometers from the city. There are no trains. I used Gray Lines for about 25 dollars, but there are a couple other bus lines that I also noticed.
Hallgrímskirkja church
I was staying at 101 Hostel, really nice family hostel run by Svava and her daughter Sara right in the middle of Reykjavik’s city centre. Perfect for shopping, walking around the city, dining and the famous Reykjavik night life.
Reykjavik at 11 PM
Food in Reykjavik is very expensive as is everything else as well. So I am buying food at a chain store known as Bonus, and cooking at the hostel. An example of the eating out expense is a beer is about 12 dollars, a simple hamburger could be 17 or more dollars, and a steak could be as much as or more than 50 dollars (in not an expensive place). The money here known as the Icelandic Kroner (ISK) and is about 100 ISK to one US Dollar. So all the prices are like 5000.00 ISK or 2250.00 ISK, and those break down to about 50 US and 22.50 US. Not exactly but close enough if you always divide by 100.
By this time it was about 4 PM and I was exhausted. I crashed for a bit and took a nap. I woke up around 9 PM to full sunshine outside and went walking around the city centre to get a feel for the place. You can tell the Icelanders very quickly. They are walking around in shirt sleeves or light jackets (it is their summer), the tourists are in coats with hats and scarves. The projected temp for the time I am in Iceland is 57 degrees F daytime and 45 degrees F at night. Summer indeed.
Hallgrímskirkja church
Did some sightseeing. The image above is the famous Hallgrímskirkja Church, the unofficial image of Reykjavik. In front of it is the statue of Leif Eriksson, son of Iceland and the man who discovered North America for the Europeans. He called it Vinland and landed there about 400 years before Columbus. The statue is a gift from the United States to Iceland.
Lief ErikssonFrom the USA to Iceland.
I sampled some of the local beer in two places – first the American Bar, which I can vouch that there was not one American in the place, but a whole bunch of hard drinking Icelanders. A really great band playing American rock songs in perfect English but talking to the audience in Icelandic was fun to hear. While thumbing through my phone looking at the photos I had taken so far, I realized there was an older man standing right in front of me just staring at me. I asked him if I could help him, and he repeated back to me “Can I help you?” Being somewhat confused now by him, he began telling me that he disliked Americans and Trump. I told him I was Canadian to avoid any problems, and he hugged me than walked away.
The next place was a cute Irish bar called the Drunken Rabbit. Fun place where I met a couple from Boston who had driven the Ring Road (the road all the way around Iceland). They were amazed at the beauty of Iceland and all the different types of terrain. The only drawback was the car rental for a week that was 1000 dollars. Everything is expensive in Iceland.
I wandered home about 1:30 AM and it was still light comparable too early twilight. Great first day in Iceland.
(This is part of an ongoing series of stories about the first visit I ever had to Zimbabwe or Africa in general. All the stories are true and based on my own experiences. They are also part of my one-man theatre production, Coming to Zimbabwe which was published in Germany, and has toured the USA and parts of Africa.)
First days in Zimbabwe
After my day in Imire Game Preserve, this was the first day of my new job. (You can find the story Imire Safari Ranch – Zimbabwe 2012 in the monthly section menu) I woke up the next morning and met Gavin. We loaded into his incredible small car and we headed out toward the small city of Gweru located in the Midlands section of Zimbabwe. This drive should have taken about 3 hours but the engine was so small and tired in Gavin’s car, we were in for a 5 hour ride.
We headed out of Harare on the A5 Highway or Gweru-Harare Road. This was really the first time that I was going to see the real countryside of Zimbabwe. Of course on my journey to Imire, I had seen country. But that was in such a rush and I was so on edge from Kathy’s driving, that I did not pay much attention to the scenery.
Now because the slow nature of our drive through the mountains toward Gweru, I could very much see the lovely country, yet I could also see that field after field and farm after farm nothing was growing. There were no crops in the fields that I passed on this major road through the heartland of Zimbabwe.
Farmland sitting fallow
Whether is was the outcome of Mugabe’s land reforms or for some other reason, it was plain to see that this part of the economy was hurting. Zimbabwe during the Ian Smith years, during the civil war for independence, and even during Mugabe’s first years in power, was known as “the bread basket of Africa”. The farms were so successful and abundant and Zimbabwe grew so much food that it exported it surplus food stuffs to countries all around Africa. Now they had to import food items just to be able to eat.
As we drove south, we passed through the village of Chegutu and the small city of Kadoma. We drove through beautiful mountain areas, over rivers and across savannas where the sky seem to stretch on forever. After driving for a couple of hours, we stopped in Kwekwe to stretch our legs and get some coffee.
City Marker for Kwekwe
Kwekwe is a city of about 100,000 people located right in the center of the country. At one time, it was a very lovely little town, but it is very poor there now. Unemployment in the area is about 80% or more. The town has become very dusty and dirty, the gutters are filled with trash and there are 100’s of men standing around with no work and nothing really to do. As we pulled into the town and went around the roundabout, I was wondering where we were going to stop. We passed the beautiful but very tiny Mosque on the right as we enter Kwekwe. About 3 blocks passed that on the same side of the road, we stopped in front of this seemingly brand new building made of chrome and glass. It was like an illusion in the middle of this rundown town. The place was buzzing as people came and went from the double glass doors.
Kwekwe main drag
As we walked inside, Gavin told me the place was called Ripperz and that is was a fairly new place. The place seemed to be a combination of a restaurant, bakery and food market. Gavin and I walked in and went over to a coffee bar. And to be honest, I was surprised at the thought of a coffee bar in a rundown city in the middle of a 3rd world country. As I was to learn my first world impressions of Zimbabwe were going to be radically altered in the next month in this surprising and lovely country.
Ripperz bakery and cafe
As I sat down at the bar, I realized that I was the only white in the place. For just a moment, I experienced a momentary disquieting feeling that I was truly alone in this country. I did not know one person in Zimbabwe or this part of Africa. Further, that I was truly a minority in this country. You can read tons of information about a place and hope you understand it on an intellectual level, but the feelings that you get on the ground in a place are what truly define your experience and attitudes. Not that I was in fear for my safety because of my race; on the contrary, everyone so far in Zim had been very friendly and helpful. Yet, at that moment, I realized how different I was from anyone in the room. I had only experienced that feeling once before while standing at a bar in a nightclub in Mazatlan, Mexico trying to get a drink, and not even the bartender would speak to me because I was the only Angelo there. Both of these moments were profound for me, and reminded me that I was “the stranger in a strange land.” That I had so much to learn about this country, her people and her culture, and that was on me to do. So many times as I have traveled in the world, I have found Americans who are visiting a place and act like it is still the United States. They forget that they are visiting a new place, yet they expect the people there to treat them like they are still in the US. As the visitor, you are the one that needs to adapt to the new place, because the new place is not going to adapt to you. And that has always been my guiding principle when traveling. As Mark Twain once said, “…traveling doesn’t lead to a new destination, but to a new way of seeing things.”
After ordering our coffee, one of the two white owners came from the back and walk over to us. He was from Canada and had settled in Kwekwe to work the farm that his family had owned there. They later had lost it to the Mugabe land reforms which consisted of the government taking legally owned land away from the professional white farmers and giving it to black citizens of the country. Many of whom did not know how to farm or did not want to work that hard or were not capable of running those large farming concerns, so the farms began to fail in record numbers and the food production bottomed out for Zimbabwe.
Zimababwe’s President Robert Mugabe chants Zanu PF slogans with supporters gathered at the Harare International Conference Centre in Harare, Wednesday May 3, 2000. Mugabe launched the Zanu PF’s election manifesto which bears the slogan “Land is the Economy and the Economy is Land”. (AP Photo/Christine Nesbitt)
Now please do not take this that I disapprove of the idea of the original people of a country that had been colonized by white Europeans getting their own country back. But to remove at gun point and in several cases by death at the hands of gangs of Mugabe thugs, farmers who had worked that land for at least 3 to 4 generations, who provided jobs and about one quarter of Zim’s GNP seems wrong on any scale. Plus the farmers did not do themselves any favors when they made the mistake of thinking that Mugabe was running a democracy. They provided funding to the rural party (MDC) in government elections against Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and thus provoked Mugabe to actions against them. This whole misadventure that resulted in poor food production, lost jobs, ruined communities and families, and in many cases death could have been done better and gotten the same results without the ruin and bloodshed. Mugabe took an ax to a situation that needed delicacy and the resulting decline in food production and lost economy is proof of its failure.
Marquee with my play, Coming to Zimbabwe, Harare.
We are soon joined by his partner, who was from Greece (I believe). In my play, the second owner is from Greece but to be honest I do not remember where he was from. The following conversation is what truly happened at the moment of introduction:
Gavin – (to the Greek owner) “This is James from Hollywood, CA.”
Owner – (to me) “You are from Hollywood?”
Me – “Yes, I am.”
Owner – “Do you know any famous people?”
Me – “Yes, I know some famous people.”
Owner – “Do you know Tom Cruise?”
Me – “No, I don’t know Tom Cruise.”
Owner – “You don’t know Tom Cruise?”
Me – “No I don’t. Never had the pleasure.”
Owner – “I love Tom Cruise. I have seen all of his movies. Risky Business, Top Gun, Rain Man…” (at this point the Greek owner continued to name several more Tom Cruise movies and talked about how much he liked the movies and Tom Cruise himself.)
Mr. Tom Cruise
I should also point out at during this entire time, the owner never asked why an American was sitting in his store, what I was doing or how I liked Zimbabwe. It was Tom Cruise 24/7 with this guy, or so it seemed. Gavin realized that the conversation was going south and asked for “take away” coffee for us, and it was provided. We left and had a good long laugh about Tom Cruise and the Greek owner.
Yet, two days later, as we returned toward Harare, we stopped again at Ripperz for coffee. As I walked through the front door, the Greek owner who was working the front counter greeted me with, “Hey, Tom Cruise.”
I would go through Kwekwe about 8 to 10 more times over the next 4 weeks as I traveled around with Gavin or Gary, the Irish consulate and his family as they took me around Zimbabwe to places like Great Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, and Matopos National Park. I would often stop in Kwekwe as a mid-point for several of these journeys, and every time I would eat and shop at Ripperz. And every time I walked through the door, the Greek owner would greet me as “Hey, Tom Cruise.”
Reps Theatre, Harare. Where my play debuted 2012.
Now in my one man show, I make this part of the story a comedy high point of the show and enlarge the number of people who began to call me Tom Cruise including great numbers of people on the street. Yet in truth by my third visit, a couple of employees started to refer to me as Tom Cruise. I was also greeted one day as I walked down the main street in Kwekwe with Gary’s son to the local internet cafe by a perfect African stranger, someone that I had never seen before as… “Oh you are the Tom Cruise guy.”
So that is my 15 minutes of African fame being called “Tom Cruise” in a small city in the middle of Zimbabwe – Kwekwe. For a month, I was known as Tom Cruise of Kwekwe.
So we were headed down for two more shows in San Diego for the SD International Fringe Festival on June 29th and July 1. So we had some extra time and decided to explore this beautiful little gem of a city, San Diego.
Again we chose to stay in the Gaslamp District of DTSD, and this time we found a very nice little hostel called Lucky D’s Hostel. Located on the fringe of the Gaslamp area at 615 8th Ave. between Market and G Streets, this hostel is also in a former hotel but unlike US Hostel just a few streets over this one was much larger and the facilities were much better. There was a large kitchen area, TV room, internet room, even a laundry and separate reading room area. We rented a private room with shared bathroom, and the room included a small refrigerator, TV, AC and a king size bed. While sharing a bathroom with others can worry some, the price difference and short walking distance to our theatre made the place perfect for our needs.
We had July 30th off so we drove out to Point Loma which is a hilly peninsula that marks the northern boundary of San Diego harbor. Going to Point Loma is #14 out 435 things to do in San Diego (Tripadvisor). It is historically important as the landing place of the first European expedition to come ashore in present-day California. The peninsula has been described as “where California began”. Today, Point Loma houses two major military bases, a national cemetery, a national monument, and a university, in addition to residential and commercial areas.
Point Loma is a separate community part of San Diego.The term “Point Loma” is used to describe both the neighborhood and the peninsula. After driving through the residential part of Point Loma, the first area of note that you come to is Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. The Cemetery is a federal military cemetery in the city of San Diego. Row upon row of white military headstones placed against the beautiful background of San Diego harbor is both a powerful and sad reminder of all the sacrifices that young men have made for the US in times of war.
HISTORY
Point Loma was discovered by Europeans on September 28, 1542 when Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (João Rodrigues Cabrilho in Portuguese) departed from Mexico and led an expedition for the Spanish crown to explore the west coast of what is now the United States. Cabrillo described San Diego Bay as “a very good enclosed port”. This was the first landing by a European in present-day California, so that Point Loma has been described as “where California began”. (Wikipedia)
The indigenous population of the area were known as the Kumeyaay people who did not live on Point Loma because there was no pure water source but periodically would visit to harvest mussels, clams, abalone and lobsters. (Wikipedia)
More than 200 years were to pass before a permanent European settlement was established in San Diego in 1769. Mission San Diego itself was in the San Diego River valley, but its port was a bayside beach in Point Loma called La Playa (Spanish for beach). The historic La Playa Trail, the oldest European trail on the West Coast, led from the Mission and Presidio to La Playa, where ships anchored and unloaded their cargoes via small boats. Part of the route became present-day Rosecrans Street. In his book Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. describes how sailors in the 1830s camped on the beach at La Playa, accumulated cattle hides for export, and hunted for wood and jackrabbits in the hills of Point Loma.[9] The beach at La Playa continued to serve as San Diego’s “port” until the establishment of New Town (current downtown) in the 1870s. (Wikipedia)
The longtime association of San Diego with the U.S. military began in Point Loma. The southern portion of the Point Loma peninsula was set aside for military purposes as early as 1852. Over the next several decades the Army set up a series of coastal artillery batteries and named the area Fort Rosecrans. Significant U.S. Navy presence in San Diego began in 1901 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station in Point Loma.[12] During World War II the entire southern portion of the peninsula was closed to civilians and used for military purposes, including a battery of coast artillery. Following the war the area was consolidated into Naval Base Point Loma. Other portions of Fort Rosecrans became Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery and Cabrillo National Monument. (Wikipedia)
CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT
After you pass through the cemetery area, you pass many Navy base sites until you come to the gate for Cabrillo National Monument. After paying the fee of $10 per car, enter and have the choice to go to the visitors center and the Old Lighthouse Museum or the Tidal pool area. We chose the Visitors center first.
The statue of Cabrillo is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. The whole site was designated as California Historical Landmark #56 in 1932. As with all historical units of the National Park Service, Cabrillo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.The park offers sweeping views of San Diego’s harbor and skyline, and on clear days, a wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean, Tijuana, and Mexico’s Coronado Islands are also visible.
The Old Point Loma Lighthouse is the highest point in the park and has been a San Diego icon since 1855. The lighthouse was closed in 1891, and a new one opened at a lower elevation, because fog and low clouds often obscured the light at its location 129 meters (422 feet) above sea level. The old lighthouse is now a museum, and visitors may enter it and view some of the living areas.
The area encompassed by the national monument includes various former military installations, such as coastal artillery batteries, built to protect the harbor of San Diego from enemy warships. Many of these installations can be seen while walking around the area. A former army building hosts an exhibit that tells the story of military history at Point Loma.
TIDEPOOLS
Next came the tide pools area. You don’t have to walk this so do not worry. There is a drop of several hundred feet from the Lighthouse area to the tide pools and there is a beautiful little two lane road with dramatic views of its own that leads down to the tide pool parking area.
The southern end of Cabrillo is one of the best-protected and easily accessible rocky intertidal areas in southern California. The word “intertidal” refers to the unique ecosystem that lies between the high and low tides along the shore. Tide pools are depressions where water is trapped during low tides, forming small pools that provide habitat for numerous plants, invertebrates, and fish. These depressions are formed over geologic time through a combination of biological, physical, and chemical processes.
Cabrillo’s tide pools are an extremely popular destination for tourists, and it is estimated that more than 215,000 people visit the tide pools annually. Compared to sandy beaches, the diversity of life in the rocky intertidal is impressive. People go to the beach to swim, sunbathe, or surf, but they come to the tide pools to explore, experience, and learn. (Wikipedia)
Truly a very lovely day to Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument. Well worth your time to see and experience the history of San Diego.
As some of my full time readers will know, I am also a performer/teacher/director who has toured the world doing shows and workshops. I have worked in South-eastern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the US.
I am currently doing a one-man show at the San Diego Fringe Festival called Mi Casa Su Casa or How to Get 175 Roommates (The AirBnb Show). The show is about my other job which is owning and operating the Hacienda Guest House in Los Angeles, and being an AirBnB host for the past 6 years. All the wonderful, strange and downright weird things that happen when you open your home to perfect strangers from around the world.
The opportunity to combine my show and my travel writing was too good to pass up- so here goes.
My show was to open at the SD Fringe on June 22 at 6 PM in the Geoffrey Off Broadway Theatre, 923 1st Avenue (which really just a half block from Broadway) in the Gas Lamp district. Instead of enduring that hell that is the 5 Freeway which can take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours one way from LA to SD depending on the traffic, I chose Amtrak instead. The train, the Surfrider, is a lovely stress-free way to get to San Diego in about 3 hours with about half the train ride along the coast with great views for about $40 one-way.
The end of the line in downtown SD at the Santa Fe Station was literally an easy 5 block walk to the theatre on First Street, so I got there in plenty of time for the technical rehearsal at 12:30 PM. After tech rehearsal, I went over the the hostel that I had rented a bed for the night, the USA Hostels San Diego – Downtown on Fifth Steet. Located in a historic 1880s building in the Gaslamp district, the hostel serves a daily free breakfast and offers shared accommodations with free Wi-Fi. The hostel offers exclusively-designed privacy pods with a light, a shelf, an outlet and screening from roommates. All shared guest rooms have free lockers (guests need to provide their own lock). The daily free breakfast includes all-you-can-make pancakes, baked goods, toast, oatmeal, fresh fruit, juice, coffee and tea. Guests can cook their own meals in the shared kitchen.
This all sounds very lovely until you arrive. The hostel is tiny with no lobby, tiny kitchen and small lounge area. If reception desk is really busy, the lobby space gets really crowded and it is impossible to get to the kitchen or lounge area. The place is reasonably clean but the rooms are very small and people seemed packed in tight. I do not recommend this hostel if you are looking for space or comfort. However, the location cannot be beat right in the heart of the Gaslamp district.
I returned to the theatre for my 6 PM curtain. While very nervous as this is an entirely new play, the audience was half full and very receptive as I tried to work out some of the kinks in the script. For 45 minutes, I regaled the audience with tales of random people who have ventured into my front door over the past 12 years. I only got lost in the new script once so I was overall pleased with the first show. Special shout out to Kevin, the CEO of SD Fringe, and my stage manager, Scott for their amazing work and dedication to theatre and live artists.
The San Diego Fringe is part of the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit. Each festival houses about 100 shows over a 2 week period and provides the artists with venue, technical and programming support. Unlike an open fringe festival like the Hollywood Fringe Festival which the artist pays FOR everything, and the Hollywood Fringe festival in 2017 had 375 shows in a 3 week period. It is just too many shows and too much competition for any one show to get any traction for an audience. San Diego Fringe is much more calm, professional, and easy to attract an audience for.
Next morning, I took the Surfrider back to Los Angeles the next morning. Arrived at Union Station in DT Los Angeles about 4 PM and took an Uber home. Quick but really nice trip.
I have two more shows in San Diego on June 25 and 26. More about those next time.
The reservoir was created by the Mulholland Dam, built in 1924, designed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, then named the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, as part of the city’s water storage and supply system.
The surrounding recreational area is known as Lake Hollywood Park, and is open for walking, hiking, and jogging. The reservoir is encircled by a flat, paved road that is suitable for walking and bicycling.
This 3.5-mile loop circles a peaceful fence-enclosed reservoir in the hills below the Hollywood Sign. The lake has several coves and inlets that give it a natural look. When standing on the Dam/bridge on the opposite side from the lake side, you get a sweeping view of Hollywood through a thick pine forest.
There are at least 3 entry points to the Hollywood Reservoir. The northwest gate is easily accessible from both the 101 freeway and Burbank. Just follow Barham Blvd. to Lake Hollywood Drive. Follow the winding road up to the top of the hill to the intersection of Wonder View Dr. and marvel at the wonderful panoramic view of the lake and the dam with Los Angeles in the background. Start down the hill to the gate, and you will find available roadside parking on both sides of Lake Hollywood Drive. The proper address to find the North Gate is 2600 Lake Hollywood Dr., Hollywood, CA 90068.
A second entry point to the lake would be the Weidlake Gate. This is an alternate gate located on the Hollywood side of the lake. This South Gate has a nice parking area but it is full of ruts and pot holes so be careful. It is right next to the dam which is the most scenic spot of the lake, but getting there is more difficult. Take North Cahuenga Blvd. to Dix St. Left off Dix Street is Holly Drive and follow that up into the hills until you come to Weidlake Dr. Follow Weidlake to the end and you will find the parking lot, the gate, a porta-potty, and the scenic dam.
The third entrance point is off of Tahoe gate off where Lake Hollywood Dr. meets up with Tahoe Drive. The entrance is the eastern most gate and the parking is limited to available spaces in the neighborhood. You can reach Tahoe gate by a few different ways that take you up Beachwood Canyon Drive. But the easiest way is to follow Lake Hollywood Drive past the North gate, continue around the lake for about 3/4 quarters of a mile and you will find the Tahoe gate. (pictured above)
A landslide forced crews to close portions of the trail in 2005. The road to the east of the reservoir reopened in 2009, but the western side remained closed for repair work until 2013, forcing walkers, runners, cyclists and anyone else who entered the area from the East Gate off Lake Hollywood Drive or Weidlake Gates to turn around instead of completing the loop.
The landslides occurred after 35 inches of rain saturated soil along the perimeter road. The slides damaged private and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power property, requiring $9.5 million worth of repairs on the hillside and road.
Lake Hollywood is closed at night. The gates are open Monday through Sunday, sunrise (about 6:30) till sunset. Be careful in the winter months because the sun sets early and so the park closes earlier as well. They lock the gates and it is really hard to get out. I have been stuck inside for an hour after closing myself. LADWP does have a guard who stays and checks the locked gates for knuckle-heads like me, but they are not pleasant about it. There are signs with the specific times for opening and closing at each gate so check those before you start out. Also dogs are not permitted on the Lake Hollywood trail at all.
(Research for this story is courtesy of Wikiapedia, NBC LA, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.)
On a wonderfully beautiful Los Angeles Sunday, my friend and I drove up the 110 and got off on Orange Grove Ave., and turned left toward Arlington Drive. We were going to visit and hopefully experience the calm and beauty of the Japanese Gardens.
HISTORY OF THE GARDENS
The property was originally owned by Charles and Ellamae Storrier Stearns, who were wealthy patrons of the arts and cultural heavyweights in the civic life of Pasadena. In 1935, they hired a famous Japanese landscape designer named Kinzuchi Fujii to construct a formal Japanese garden with a Tea House on their 2 acre lot. Now most formal Japanese gardens are rather small in square feet but a chance to create such a huge canvas for his work was something he could not pass up.
So starting in 1935 until 1942 when he was taken away to an interment camp for the Japanese during World War II, Fujii worked on the garden for the Stearns. During the 7 years of construction, the Stearns would invest more than 150,000 dollars into the project. First Fujii had to remove two tennis courts and dig out areas for the two koi ponds and waterfall. By moving tons of dirt around the lot, he was able to construct a hill area where there was none, two large ponds, and areas for the tea house and contemplation. The garden was so unusual that it became locally famous. It is the only example of a formal Japanese garden created before the war that still exists in Southern California. However, like the rest of Fujii’s gardens in the Los Angeles area which are all gone now, things did not look good for this garden site.
Ellamae died in 1949, and the mansion and property were put up for auction. Gamelia Haddad Poulsen, an art/antiques dealer, attended the auction for the Storrier Stearns estate. She was hoping only to buy two Louis XV chairs. However, when she realized that no one was bidding on the whole property, she impulsively made a bid. To her amazement she ended up as the owner of the entire estate. She sold off parts of the estate but kept the garden and an area to build a new home for her family.
In 1975, Caltrans used eminent domain to seize a strip of property on the easternmost side of the garden for use in building the extension of the 710 freeway. An easement was also taken, since expired, to create an access road for trucks to use during the future construction of the freeway. It would have sliced directly through the middle of the garden.
Believing that the garden was lost, Gamelia let it fall into disrepair and sold off some of the valuable artifacts. The final blow came when the teahouse burned down under mysterious circumstances in 1981. Gamelia died in 1985 at which time the garden ownership passed to her son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Connie Haddad.
The garden continued to languish until 1990, when the Haddad’s decided to restore the garden to its former glory. Progress was slow through 2005 until Dr. Takeo Uesugi, professor emeritus of landscape design at Cal-Poly Pomona and one of the leading experts on Japanese garden design in the United States, undertook the management of the garden restoration. To ensure the restoration was accurate, Dr. Uesugi followed Kinzuchi Fujii’s original plans, documents and photographs taken during its first construction.
On February 15, 2005, the restored garden was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and listed as a California Historical Landmark on the California Register of Historic places. Additionally, the garden was recently awarded a Historic Preservation Award, in a ceremony in the garden, by the City of Pasadena.
NOW
The Haddads still maintain the garden and it has become a culture center in Pasadena for meetings, weddings, events, and afternoon strolls. It now features an 11 foot high entrance, two large interconnected ponds, two water falls including a 12 foot high that falls into the larger pond, and a new tea house to replace the one that burned down in 1981.
The garden is open every Thursday from 10 AM to 4 PM. The fee is $10 for adults and $7.50 for children 12 and under. They feature different jazz musicians on the 2nd Sunday Jazz series (check the website – www.japanesegardenpasadena.com for the schedule) and they are also open the last Sunday of every month. During the 2nd and 4th Thursday, they offer a Japanese Tea Service where you learn the history and meaning of the traditional Tea service. See the website or call for reservations.
ADDED BONUS
Right across the street on Arlington is Pasadena’s Arlington Park. Such a beautiful well-maintained public park filled with old and mature California friendly plants which make up quiet and restful areas all through the park. Well worth the drive just to see this park for free. But the combination of Japanese culture and California plants, it a beautiful day not to miss.
Enjoy!!
(Much of the information in this article was taken from the Storrier Stearns website, www.japanesegardenpasadena.com.)
I was looking forward to driving up to Death Valley from LA during Easter weekend and catch a bit of the desert super bloom before it was all gone. I have lived in California for 30 years and had never been to Death Valley. I had passed the turnoff to it many times has I drove up to Mammoth on US 395 but I had never turned right on to California 190 to see where it goes. But this time I was.
Entering Death Valley National Park
So on Friday morning I got up early and packed. I ran a couple of errands and managed to get on the road by about 11 o’clock. I wasn’t pushing it too hard and drove up Interstate 5 to California 14 that goes through Palmdale and Lancaster across the high desert until it meets up with 395 at Bradys, California. Then about 25 miles later, the turnoff for California 190 appears on your right. It was about 3:30 PM and I stopped to get some gas before heading into the Valley. On 190 you drive about 15 miles and meet up with California 136 coming south from Lone Pine. The two highways merge and you follow 190 further in driving through gulleys and gulches between solid rock formations, and always the immense sky above you.
High Desert from California 190
Just before you begin your descent into the Valley there is an observation point off to your left and from there you get how dramatic the drop is into Death Valley. I recommend that you stop here to see the amazing view because from that point you will drop about 4100 feet over a distance of 9 miles. You are leaving the high desert at 4000 feet above sea level and dropping down to 100 feet below sea level.
View down into Death Valley
Now I have a fear of heights and California 190 is like most old state highways that go back to the thirties and forties. They are almost always narrow 2 lane roads built on the edge of a mountain or cliff with no guard rails. They wind back and forth, and snake around so much that you wonder sometimes how they’re were even built there in the first place. And if you are riding in the outside lane it is possible to look out and see nothing but a 2000 foot drop and no guard rail. For me that starts to trigger my panic attacks, but as long as I am moving forward I can pretty much keep it under control. Yet, that particular Friday, someone decided that it was time to do some road work on the highway and traffic was stopped in certain places and began to back up.
I was still in the first mile of the drop when I rounded a corner I saw that there were 8 to 10 cars being held by a guy with a stop sign. AND we were on the outside lane, AND there was no guard rail, AND you could clearly look over the side of the road and see the 2000 foot drop. A panic attack started to slowly come on but it built and built the longer we sat there. I could also see the rest of the highway below us and there appeared to be another couple of places that people were also stopped for road work. That is when I entered full panic mode. I pulled my car over into the lane that they were doing the repair work on. Some angry workmen came over yelling and screaming, demanding to know what was I doing. I was finally able to explained the situation and asked if they would let me use the inside lane to drive back up the hill and out of the Valley. They agreed so I quickly drove out of the Valley and stopped at the observation site to catch my breath.
Driving back to US 395
I was out of the Valley but I had left a hotel reservation back there and it was non-refundable. It was 5:30 in the afternoon and the Sun is going down. I was at least two hours from Mammoth, and four hours from Reno and there was literally nothing to do where I was. Also I didn’t want to go back to Los Angeles so I decided that I would drive to Palm Springs about 3 hours away. So I headed south on 395 toward San Bernardino and the I-15. This part of 395 goes through some of the most desolate areas of California that I have ever seen. There is literally nothing out there. I did go through a couple of very small mining towns of Johannesburg and Red Mountain. As I drove through both towns I didn’t even see any people on the streets. The houses seemed like shacks and no businesses were open. It stayed like that until I got to I-15 at Victorville/Hesperia.
Inyo Mountains toward Dusk
I took the 15 to the 215 through San Bernardino picking up the 10 East on its way out to Palm Springs. Driving into town about 9:30 PM, I decided I would treat myself and stay at a great hotel. and I pulled into the Hyatt Palm Springs only to find that it was the weekend for Coachella, the huge fashion-conscious rock festival held out in the Coachella Valley area every April. According to the receptionist every hotel in a 100 miles was full that night.
Frustrated I checked another hotel and got the same answer. Then I drove up to Desert Hot Springs, a favorite area of mine because of the hot mineral baths that are natural to the area. I checked with three middle of the road hotels and every thing was gone, and even if it wasn’t, the rooms were going for 400 dollars each because of the demand of that weekend. Defeated I went to a bar called Playoffs had a beer, got a burger at Jack in the Box, and drove home at around mid-night. I got back to LA around 1:30 AM making wonderful time coming back because no one was on the highway.
So I had a road trip. I drove a lot of places. I saw a lot of stuff but I didn’t actually end up going anywhere except back home.
On a cold wet rainy Super Bowl 2017 weekend, I decided to get out of Los Angeles and head north. I usually stop off in Ventura – the old town part – because of a favorite hotel, a couple of good restaurants and the thrift and furniture stores. But this time I decided to keep going north to Santa Barbara.
I’ve been going to Santa Barbara since the early 1980s. First time I went to Santa Barbara there was still a stoplight on the 101 freeway at State Street. If you were headed north and you turned right on to State Street it took you into town, the cultural and economic center of Santa Barbara. If you turned left and headed towards the beach you passed a couple of hotels, the train station, a couple of beach bars and made it to Cabrillo Street. Right in front of you was famous Sterns Wharf and the long open park which runs along the beach famous for the weekend art and crafts market. All the famous restaurants that are there now were there than as well including the first Sambo’s and the Santa Barbara Fishhouse.
And as you went down State towards the beach off to your left was an old run down warehouse district full of old buildings and tiny houses that hadn’t been torn down when the neighborhood changed from residential to commercial. This part of town was full of contractors, sail makers, and boat yards. The business that worked on the boats that came into the marina and back out again. It was very industrial and pretty run down.
Now Santa Barbara has been going through some amazing changes in the last 40 years but I really had not stopped in Santa Barbara for any more than a couple of hours in the last 10 years. I’ve always been going farther north to Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, or even further north. I had not stopped for more than lunch, but now I was going there for the entire rainy Super Bowl weekend.
I checked into the Avania Inn, a nice place about two blocks from the beach that I found on the Trivago for a good price. I unpacked, walked around on the beach for bit, and went back to the room. After a quick shower, I went out for dinner at the Enterprise Fish Company on State Street. It is not the greatest restaurant in the world but their fish is always fresh and their wine list it pretty decent. Plus it’s always a very popular place to go meet and talk with people specially while seating at the bar. After that I started walking around the area and I stumbled on to the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail. Now the full Urban Wine Trail extends to all parts of Santa Barbara and I have placed a link to a map of the tour here. http://urbanwinetrailsb.com/the-trail-map/
Yet, I wanted to focus on the 20+ wines and tasting rooms featuring Santa Barbara area wines you can find in a four block radius in an area between the 101 and the Beach, and State Street and Garden Street. Plus among those tasting rooms you can also find at least three or four craft beer breweries, and some excellent eateries including Loquita, an upscale Tapas bar that is outstanding.
Now if you’re into wine tasting, you’ve probably been up Napa Valley or down to Temecula. And at these wonderful areas, if you want to go to a lot of wineries you usually end up being part of a wine tasting tour, or you rent a limo,or you have a designated driver because if you have been sampling wines at more than three or four wineries, you should not be driving California highways. Yet, if you’re into the Santa Ynez wines, the wonderful thing is you can sample a wine at one tasting room, walk out the front door and go down three doors and find another tasting room. Some are owned by an individual winery and others are tasting rooms that feature wines that are presented by a collective of wine makers. These collectives feature a person working behind the counter who doesn’t favor one wine or over the other, and you can taste up to four to five different wineries at one time.
You will find 14 wineries or collectives featuring San Ynez area wines in this former industrial area. Here they are: Area 5.1 Winery, Babcock Winery, Ca’del Grevino, Cottonwood Canyon Winery, DV8 Cellars, Fox Wines, Kunin Wines, Laford Winery, Municipal Winemakers, Oreana Winery, Pali Wine Company, Riverbench Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Winery, and The Valley Project.
Also in the same area, you will find Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, Brass Bear Brewing and Bistro, Corks and Crowns, and Lama Dog Tap Room for the hops connoisseurs. Plus eateries like the Lark, Lucky Penny, 7 Bar and Kitchen and Helena Street Bakery.
Go have a wonderful time – eating and drinking while walking!!
Sources used for some parts of this story are – Wikipedia, Hollywood Babylon, LA Weekly, Daily Mail, Scott Simon, The Guardian.
After opening in 1924, the Culver Hotel soon gained a reputation as an excellent hotel for visitors to the Culver City area and MGM Studios. In 1939, it would gain an even more notoriety for housing all 125 of the “little people” who played the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz was then the last word in 1939 special effects, make-up, set design and costumes, not to mention the highpoint of Judy Garland’s career. The 17-year-old child star plays the little Kansas girl Dorothy, who with her dog, Toto, is whisked away by a tornado to a fantasy land where she follows the Yellow Brick Road, kills the Wicked Witch and meets the powerful Wizard. And every step of the way, she is followed by “the Munchkins” as she goes on her adventures over the rainbow, meeting the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion in the Kingdom of OZ.
The film called for as many as 350 “Munchkins” to be cast. In L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, he described the Munchkins only as shorter than usual in stature and clad from top to toe in blue. The studio did not want to use children for the parts, and could not find enough small adults in the Hollywood area. MGM decided to use real dwarves, or “little people” as they were called in the 30’s to play the Munchkins. In fact, all the Munchkins were played by genuine circusmidgets, whose colorful contribution to Hollywood history has never been forgotten. In its search, MGM advertised all over the country, auditioned tiny choirs – the midgets had to sing – visited circuses and sent out talent scouts.
The task of assembling as many as 350 ‘little people’ to act in the movie fell to a man named Leo Singer. Born in Germany as Baron Leopold Van Singer, he had put together a troupe of touring midgets who took part in vaudeville shows all over Europe. By 1938, he had gathered a stable of 100 tiny performers and was based in America. MGM drew up a contract with him to provide as many midgets as were needed to film. As soon as word got out, seemingly every little person in the country arrived in Hollywood by bus and train looking for a part. Singer was put in charge of them all – looking after their lodging, food and attendance on set.
Of course, managing the midgets was never easy. Many did not speak English and sang in thick German accents. Some of those who knew most about performing were from Germany, but had been forced to flee the country by the Nazis’ doctrine of ‘social hygiene’, which demanded the elimination of handicapped people. About 170 came from New York and had very little professional experience of show business. Some had never been away from home before and were keener to let their hair down than work. Their only qualification was their height – in some cases they stood no taller than three feet.
These little actors might have been vertically challenged, but they were exceedingly tough. Most were old enough to have learned how to survive in New York or in Europe during the years of the Great Depression. And when they arrived in Hollywood in 1938, to be cast in one of the most prestigious films ever, it marked a distinct improvement in their fortunes.
Los Angeles was in the midst of its gilded heyday. Stars such as Jean Harlow and Katharine Hepburn had a huge following, while the love lives of the swashbuckling Errol Flynn and Charlie Chaplin were already legendary. This was the height of Hollywood as Babylon. Sex and glamour was the name of the game and the “little people” wanted their fair share. Naturally, as soon as they had money in their pockets, their behavior did not improve.
For although their antics on screen brought joy to generations of children, behind the scenes they astounded everyone with shocking episodes of drunkenness, depravity and wild sexual propositions from which no one was safe. Wild stories began to emerge. There were rumors of wild evenings with rooms ransacked and drunken midgets swinging from the rafters. One horrified observer described them as “an unholy assembly of pimps, hookers and gamblers”.
A rather unimaginative 1981 movie, Under the Rainbow, starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher, attempted to bring the legend to life — and failed. That hasn’t stopped Wizard of Oz fans from smiling at the thought of a hotel overrun with members of the Lollipop Guild. (LA Weekly)
“You had to watch them all the time,” observed Jack Dawn, the make-up artist on the film. Because they were so small, it was easy for other members of the cast to make the mistake of treating them like children. Predictably, their reaction was to do everything they could to disabuse their colleagues of this notion.
“They were adults,” recalled Jack Dawn firmly. “They did not like us touching them or lifting them into their make-up chairs. They insisted on climbing up by themselves.” If the film-makers thought full-sized stars had attitude, they had seen nothing yet.
The final count of people needed for Munchkin parts settled at about 125. Singer made a deal with the Culver Hotel to house the “little people”. They began to arrive in November of 1938. The hotel found that they could place three to a bed because they were so small. They could put them sideways and almost get them all here.
It turned out to be one of the biggest collections of little people to date at that point. Julie Lugo Cerra, who’s the honorary historian of Culver City, recalls, “Many of them, like Jerry Maren, who eventually settled in Los Angeles, who was a Lollipop Kid, had never seen another little person in his life before. They came to Culver City, and they thought it was wonderful to see so many other little people. Most of them had lived in areas where they were the only ones, so they were the exception. They were not very well accepted by society, and so it was wonderful to be with their own.”
Certainly, the normal urges of many of the assembled midgets emerged during the shooting of The Wizard Of Oz. We have to remember these were adult men and women, and they became bored after hours cooped up in their hotel. So often, they drowned their sorrows.
“They were drunks,” Judy Garland would recall later. “They got smashed every night, and the police used to scoop them up in butterfly nets.”
Cast members were astounded to hear they were holding ‘dwarf sex parties’ in the famous Culver Hotel. “They got into sex orgies at the hotel and we had to have police on every floor,” producer Mervyn Le Roy remembered afterwards.
Meanwhile, Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion, noted that “assistants were ordered to watch the midgets who brandished knives and conceived passions for normal-sized members of the cast”.
There were stories that the “little” women would proposition studio electricians, while one who called himself The Count was never sober. “Once, when he was due on set, he went missing. Then we heard a whining sound coming from the men’s room. He had got plastered during lunch, fallen in the toilet bowl and could not get out.”
Certainly, some of them seem to have resorted to boosting their earnings by pimping and whoring – and indeed begging. As many pointed out later, they were being paid far less than anyone else on the film – including Toto the dog. Many of them had vile tempers, too, so much so that one even tried to kill his wife.
Yet, Julie Lugo Cerra is not so sure that the rock star/Roman orgy scene is the true image. “No, I don’t think they trashed the hotel rooms. They were having a very good time and they celebrated a lot. They worked very hard,” she maintains.
She recalled one story about her father who owned a radio store at the time in Culver City. “He said they were all over the place. And they would pile them into cars, and they would be even under the dashboards because you could get so many in. So it – I’m sure it was a hysterical scene, I’m sure that they had a very good time, and I’m sure that most of them remembered it for the rest of their lives.”
“They got their star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame recently. And they love coming back to Culver City,” points out Ms. Lugo Cerra. “They were here in the ’90s for a reunion – they do this every once in a while. And there’s probably nobody who doesn’t know about the Munchkins, and there’s probably no one who doesn’t love them.”
You are ready for a night on the town, but you would like an upscale place so you can dress up like a real adult. A place with no cover, live jazz, great drinks, friendly bartenders and elegant, historical architecture, does such a place exist anymore? Yes, Virginia, it does. It’s the Lobby Bar at the Culver Hotel.
Music playing is an integral part of the Culver Hotel experience. As the evening begins, the hotel’s Grand Lobby transforms into jazzy supper club. Vintage armchairs, classic movie projections and up-and-coming artists help create an ambiance of old Hollywood and modern times helped along with handcrafted cocktails, tasty fare and musical pleasure. You can order a ‘Good Witch’ or a ‘Cucumber Mule’ cocktail while you sit back and enjoy different interpretations of Jazz, every evening of the week after 7:30 pm. Shared appetizers or a three course dinner are just an order away. (Culver Hotel)
Alternatively, If you are in the mood for something equally “Culver-esque” but with a more contemporary playlist, go past the lobby and up the stairs. You will find the Velvet Lounge reminiscent of a 1920’s ‘Speakeasy’ with a twist of Parisian boudoir. Chic and eclectic, dark and whimsical, The Velvet Lounge is open Thursday through Saturday after 8pm and offers plenty of secluded corners to enjoy a cocktail, wine or bottle service. (Culver Hotel)
TripAdvisor.com calls the Culver Hotel the # 1 Hotel in Culver City. The Lobby Bar is a popular place where 30 somethings and older like to hang out because of the atmosphere and the drinks. The price range for food is between $11 ane $30 per person. I would judge the food good, but not great. They do take reservations and have take-out available but do not do delivery. They accepts all major Credit Cards, and while the dress cord is casual, the ambiance is classy. There also is a wonderful outdoor patio which also features the full dinner menu and drinks. Valet parking is right outside, while there are city parking garages within a short walking distance.
HISTORY
The Culver Hotel is a national historical landmark in downtown Culver City, California. It was built by Harry Culver, the founder of Culver City, and opened on September 4, 1924, with local headlines announcing: “City packed with visitors for opening of Culver skyscraper.” Originally named Hotel Hunt, and later known as Culver City Hotel, the six-story Renaissance Revival building was designed by Curlett & Beelman, the architecture firm behind renowned Art Deco buildings throughout Los Angeles, including downtown Los Angeles’ Roosevelt and Eastern Columbia buildings. (Wikipedia)
But the hotel is most famous for its long and tangled history with Hollywood and its stars. Built in 1924, the property has also housed countless Hollywood legends over its 90-year history. And Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable are just a few stars who actually maintained part-time residences at The Culver Hotel. Charlie Chaplin was even the owner for a while until, legend has it, he lost the property in a poker game to John Wayne. Dwight D. Eisenhower even had a campaign office in the hotel during his run for President in 1952. Modern celebrities who have stayed there include all 4 members of the boy band 98 Degrees, Abby Lee Miller of Dance Moms, Countess Luann de Lesseps from Real Housewives of New York City. (Wikipedia)
The Culver Hotel may not be an A-list actor herself, but she has appeared in the background of close to 80 projects. The historic hotel has been used in The Wonder Years, Cougar Town, The Last Action Hero, Marvels Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and many more. Numerous television shows, movies or commercials shoot in and around Culver City, and the hotel’s exterior and interior have stood in as a street in London, an apartment in Barcelona, and a café in Paris. (Travel and Leisure)
During the 1960’s, the hotel began to decline and fall into disrepair. In the 1980s, it was boarded up for a time and at risk of demolition. In the 1990s, the hotel was partially restored and reopened, joining the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, but the Culver Hotel’s modern comeback truly began after a hotelier family bought the ailing property in 2007. Since 2007, the hotel’s entire plumbing and electrical systems have been upgraded, each of the guest rooms and public spaces have been redone, all 140 handmade windows in the guest rooms have been replaced, and the public spaces have been entirely re-imagined all the while maintaining the property’s architectural integrity. The flatiron-shaped building is next door to the historic Culver Studios and a few blocks from the former Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM), now Sony Pictures.
Casts from movies like Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz stayed at the hotel during filming, including the more than 100 actors and actresses who played the Munchkins in the Oz film. (wikipedia) Which will lead to another column about the Culver and its notorious place in Hollywood history which earned it the nickname, the “Munchkin Hotel”.
Culver Hotel is a must see for Hollywood History, and a great nightspot in Los Angeles!
The longtime association of San Diego with the U.S. military began in Point Loma. The southern portion of the Point Loma peninsula was set aside for military purposes as early as 1852. Over the next several decades the 
I have two more shows in San Diego on June 25 and 26. More about those next time.
The third entrance point is off of Tahoe gate off where Lake Hollywood Dr. meets up with Tahoe Drive. The entrance is the eastern most gate and the parking is limited to available spaces in the neighborhood. You can reach Tahoe gate by a few different ways that take you up Beachwood Canyon Drive. But the easiest way is to follow Lake Hollywood Drive past the North gate, continue around the lake for about 3/4 quarters of a mile and you will find the Tahoe gate. (pictured above)
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