Right in the middle of Long Beach is the El Dorado Nature Center, 105 acres of forest, surrounding a stream and two lakes. Our daughter-in-law, Kylie, guided us through the trails that wind through the Center. Along for the ride was our new grandson, Oli, who was experiencing his first stroll through the woods. The Center provided an interesting juxtaposition to the surrounding dry landscape of Long Beach. It was more like the Washington DC than Southern California. There were even aggressive squirrels.
Our good friends Todd and Kristin live in Pasadena, which is about ten miles northeast of downtown LA. Todd took us for a tour through their beautiful neighborhood. First stop was the home of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The US Courts of Appeals review decisions from the District Courts and are one level below the Supreme Court. There are 13 US Courts of Appeals that, all except for one, are organized by geographic region. The exception is the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which hears specific types of cases, including patents, international trade, trademarks. The Ninth Circuit covers all of the western states, including California. The courthouse was built as a resort hotel. But during World War II, it was acquired by the US War Department and converted into an army hospital. It was then used by a number of federal agencies before becoming a courthouse in the 1980s. It is beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival style building and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The courthouse is surrounded by other beautiful buildings, including The Maxwell House, home of the Western Justice Center
The Shakespeare Club
And this small apartment building, which had a beautiful mosaic mural over the entry to its parking.
There are a number of beautiful apartment and condo complexes in the neighborhood, including the Ambassador Mansions and Gardens, which include luxury apartments and condos and a Japanese garden, complete with a cascading creek, koi and turtles.
The original mansion and surrounding buildings were once the campus of Ambassador College, a liberal arts school that was affiliated with the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). The WCG had been founded by Herbert W. Armstrong and had a number of controversial doctrines, including the fact that the British people were descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Armstrong also rejected what he regarded as pagan beliefs that had been adopted into Christianity, including the Holy Trinity, Christmas and Easter. In true evangelical pastor fashion, Armstrong was also accused of stealing millions of dollars from the church to support his lavish lifestyle of luxury cars, mansions and private jets. He died in 1986 and the church eventually reformed to adopt more mainstream Christian beliefs, changing its name to Grace Communion International. The College, however, closed its doors in 1997 and was developed as a residential property.
Interestingly, the complex was developed around massive mansions that were the original occupants, built in the early 1900s.
The centerpiece of the College was the Ambassador Auditorium built in 1974.
Across the road from the complex is the Wrigley Mansion, a stately Italian Renaissance style building that was owned by William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum magnate. It is now the home of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association that organizes the annual Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game, both of which take place on New Year’s Day. The game takes place at the nearby Rose Bowl, an outdoor stadium that was built in 1922 and has a capacity of close to 90,000.
The Palos Verdes (Spanish for green sticks) peninsula lies just west of Long Beach. With its beautiful views over the Pacific, it is home to some of the area’s wealthiest neighborhoods and fanciest resorts. We drove over there and went for a walk along one of its coastline trails.
We came across a small shelter that included what looked to be a tribute to a departed surfing buddy.
Whenever we visit Palm Springs we like to go for a short hike in Palm Canyon. It is one of number of canyons just outside of town, collectively called the Indian Canyons. Palm Canyon is the largest oasis of California Palm Fans in the world and it really is a magical place. Just be wary of the rattlesnakes.
This palm was remarkably like an elephant’s trunk, right down to the crepey texture of the skin.
Long ago, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians established communities in Palm Canyon and the adjacent canyons. Here is a recreation of the small homes they built called ‘Ewaa
The drive down the canyon into the valley is also spectacular.
Heading to Palm Springs for a couple of days with Lauren’s sister Marion and her husband Jeff, we decided to visit Pioneertown along the way. The town was started by Actor, Dick Curtis, in 1946 as an 1880s themed live-in motion-picture set. Hundreds of Westerns and early television shows have been filmed there. The road to Pioneertown has been designated a California Scenic Drive and it lived up to its designation.
First stop was the Red Dog where we had a burger before moseying down Mane Street.
The town is close to Joshua Tree National Park and there were a lot of Joshua trees around. These very cool yucca trees are endemic to the area.
A few weeks ago we visited Rancho Los Cerritos, which is near to our house. Also nearby is Rancho Los Alamitos, one of the other five ranchos formed when the Rancho Los Nieto, which had been awarded to Manuel Nieto in 1784, was split among his heirs after his death. So we picked Sofie and Emma up from their school which is just up the road from the Rancho and went for a visit.
Rancho Los Alamitos translates to ranch of the little cottonwoods, referencing the native trees that grow in the area. By the early 1850s, it had become the largest cattle ranch in the United States, raising vast herds to supply beef during the California Gold Rush. If you visit Long Beach, you can’t help to notice the Bixby name as at one time the family owned much of the land in the area, including this ranch. In 1967 the family donated the ranch’s core historic property, including the ranch house, barns and surrounding gardens to the City of Long Beach and in 1981 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The gardens were designed by three of America’s most famous landscape designers of the twentieth century, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., Florence Yoch and Lucile Council.
In the early 1940s, Long Beach experienced a surge in defense-related employment, notably with the establishment of the Douglas Aircraft Company at Long Beach Municipal Airport in 1940. This facility became a key production center for military aircraft during World War II. The influx of workers necessitated the development of new housing to accommodate them. We walked by some of that housing and it did not look much different than we imagine it did when first built.
Adding to the nostalgic vibe of the neighborhood were these two classic vans
Our walk took us to the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery which contains a beautiful mausoleum that was built in 1924-25. It is a very Spanish style beautiful building. We struck up conversation with a passer-by who goes for regular walks around the mausoleum and surround cemetery. Allan acted as our guide, showing up points of interest. It was a little eerie walking down endless marble corridors surrounded on all sides by dead people.
Among the dead is a Foucault pendulum. Named after its inventor, the French physicist, Leon Foucault, the pendulum was conceived to demonstrate the earth’s rotation. By hanging a long and heavy pendulum from a high roof above a circular area, the plane of the oscillation appears to change as the earth rotates. In other words, although the pendulum is only swinging in one direction, the earth is rotating underneath it, making it look as though the pendulum is swinging in different directions as the day progresses. So when we were there in the early afternoon, the pendulum was swinging toward hour 15 of the 24 hour clock. Supposedly, if we came back a couple of hours later the pendulum would be swinging toward hour 17 of the clock, despite the fact that the pendulum would be swinging on the same arc.
Because of its large Hispanic population and widespread Spanish architecture, it’s easy to imagine in Southern California that you are, in fact, in neighboring Mexico. This is particularly the case when you stop into a Gonzalez supermarket, where most of the signage is in Spanish and the goods are targeted toward its Hispanic customers. With its cheerful colors and immaculate presentation it is definitely one of the nicest supermarkets we have entered.
Out in the middle of California is a little bit of Denmark. Between 1865 and 1914, 300,000 Danes immigrated to the United States. Three of those Danes acquired almost 9,000 acres near Santa Barbara and in 1911 they established Solvang (Danish for sunny field). The developers brought in Danish settlers from as far away as Iowa and Nebraska and set about building a village in Danish style architecture. The early settlement had a store, bank, lumber yard, barbershop and post office. A school was opened that taught a Danish and American curriculum. From what we could see, today the town appears to mainly cater to tourists who have a fondness for baked goods and beer.
By the 1860s, a road had been constructed across the San Marcos Pass from Santa Barbara to the Santa Ynez valley and Cold Spring Tavern was established as a stagecoach stop in 1865. Originally known as the “Cold Spring Relay Station”, it was a horse changeover and meals break station. Now the tavern is a popular spot to get a meal, a drink and to enjoy some live music. Tucked into forested hills it was almost like being back on the east coast, particularly when a light rain began to fall.
San Luis Obispo (often known simply as SLO) is a city of about 50,000 and is the home of California Polytechnic State University. It is named after San Luis, Obispo de Talosa (Saint Louis, bishop of Toulouse). Louis (1274-1297) was the second son of King Charles II of Naples, but having been placed under the care of Franciscan friars for his education, he gave up all his claims to his inheritance, taking the Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He was named Bishop of Toulouse at the age of 22 and gained a reputation for serving the poor, feeding the hungry and ignoring his own needs. However, after only six months he had abandoned the position of Bishop and within the year had died, possibly of typhoid.
We spent the afternoon strolling around the downtown area and checking out the Mission and SLO art museum.
One of the town’s most well known attractions is Gum Alley.
The Mission was founded in 1772. It’s not as large as the Mission in Santa Barbara but still very beautiful.
Next to the Mission is the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. It is a small museum with only three rooms of exhibits while we were there.
We liked the exhibition Little by Little by Trish Andersen, an immersive textile exhibition which, according to the museum guide, explores the importance of patience, presence and persistence.
We also liked this painting by Philip Guston, called Cigar and painted in 1969. It reflects and criticizes the KKK members he saw while growing up in Southern California. We think of the Klan being associated with the south but white extremists have a long history in California. The state had about 200,000 Klan members in the 1920s and there are a number of white supremacist groups that are still active throughout the state.
After the Spanish style buildings of Santa Barbara, Cambria was decidedly western. In fact, it reminded us quite a lot of Winter Park, the small ski town where we met in Colorado.
Our original intent had been to follow the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) all the way up to Carmel, but it has been closed for almost three years, due to a slip and isn’t due to open until March of next year. So we drove as far north as Salmon Creek Falls, where we went for a short hike.
This pretty greenstone (probably serpentinite) would have been ideal for some maori carving.
And then we returned down the coast for lunch at Ragged Point. Along the way, we checked out the dramatic views from the road.
We weren’t staying at Ragged Point but wished we were. Sitting on a high point, there are spectacular views from the guest cottages that line the cliff.
From Ragged Point we drove down out of the misty hills into the sunshine of Hearst Memorial Beach in San Simeon. San Simeon is most famous as the home of Hearst Castle, the palatial hilltop home of William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon. The castle and Hearst’s lifestyle were satirized by Orion Welles in his classic 1941 movie, Citizen Kane. We had been to the castle before so didn’t revisit, opting instead to go for a walk along the beach that was part of the Hearst ranch.
Sitting by the beach is the Hearst Ranch Winery, providing one of the more scenic spots in the world to sit and enjoy and glass of wine.
This little church reminded us of the one at Parkiri Beach in New Zealand. If you look closely, you can see the Hearst Castle behind it, high on the top of the hill.
Our last stop of the day was at the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery. A friendly volunteer shared some fascinating information about the seals. Elephant seals spend most of their life at sea but twice a year they come out onto the rookery (a place where animals breed and give birth). For the couple of months they are on land they are very social but at sea they lead mostly solitary lives. The females head out into the middle of the Pacific where they feed on small fish and squid. They can dive as deep as over 5,000 feet (1,700 meters) and can stay under water for up to two hours. The males head up toward Alaska, staying closer to shore, eating rays and crabs and octupuses and other bottom feeders.
Mal and Lauren 