Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Great American Road Trip ~ Day #1


Shortly after returning from our extended Europe trip in 2012, it was decided that the next big trip would be a road trip across the USA. Up to that point, a large part of our history-learning through homeschooling had been focused on the art, literature, and humanities of Europe and the Old World. In 2013, we shifted focus to the Americas. Rebecca does a nice job chronicling some of our pre-work in a few posts that I found and saved up until now (below.)

Consequently, what enveloped in our study of the Americas was much broader than we originally envisioned, as we continually grappled with the question of, “What does it mean to be an American?” Ironically, Patrick was 15 when we began this course of study, which was the exact age that I was when I moved to Europe, spending the bulk of my adolescent years in Germany and England, and traveling more in that continent than I had in my own. These are impressionable ages for adolescents, so described by Erikson as Identity vs. Role Confusion. I realize now that what started as a way to teach my kids American history became a larger pursuit for all of us to answer many questions; such as, “What does it mean to be a citizen?” “What is my purpose here?” and “Who am I?”

I speak often about how I didn’t really homeschool my kids, but somehow, we got to this point where they’re holding two college degrees each at age 19 and 21. I think homeschooling is more of a state of mind than anything else that it should be called. It is the most certifiable verb for ‘lifelong-learning’ that I have ever encountered.

So here we are now, six years later, many trips have come and gone, and Mike and I are driving down the I-40 without the kids, embarking on a 6,000-mile journey that was originally supposed to be another homeschooling field trip. Because our kids could only negotiate three weeks of vacation at each of their brand-new jobs, they will be flying in and out of points along our way, so they can finally see the places that they studied as part of their education.

I will do my best to highlight places, history, and culture because sharing those things are important to me, but I’ll be honest – Mama’s tired. Rebecca tells me that my Erikson conflict is now Generativity vs. Stagnation, and that is the truth! Stagnating sounds really nice right now. It’s still surreal to me that I go to work and people call me Professor, and I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility not only to my students, but also to the patients that they care for or will care for in the future.

Intel has the right idea offering a sabbatical every seven years for employees, and I do think it makes better workers. Already, in the last three weeks, I have gotten a new backyard gate, a garden bench, and countless fix-its around the house from their employee! 😉 Like all good journey narratives, often the seeker does not even know what they are searching for, and henceforth, that is where the adventure begins.


Excerpts from Rebecca's Pre-trip Journal:

Friday, March 15, 2013
1 year until departure
Pre-Trip Entry #1
Planning and Research has Begun
By Rebecca

              We’re still a year out from our next trip, a driving trip around the United States (similar to our loop around Europe), but the usual in-depth, multi-media, seemingly-endless, homeschool history lesson has begun to prepare us for the places we’re visiting. Just this Wednesday, my mom and I went and spent almost one hundred dollars on US History books. But that’s not all that we’ve been doing. Remember how I said “multi-media?”
A little more than a week ago, my dad, brother, and I went into our local library with a list of over twenty different movies involving the south, the first place we’ll be visiting on our drive-through. Out of those twenty, we found seven. Out of those seven, we watched two. But we get point for trying, right?
              Either way, the two movies we watched really opened up our eyes to the south during its most notable era; the Civil War era. The movies were “Gone with the Wind” and “The Color Purple.” I know, “The Color Purple” isn’t technically set during the Civil War, but its theme is related close enough that I put them in the same bracket. We also included “Lincoln” and “Roots” in our list of movies to prepare us for the south since we watched them within the fall of 2012 and now, and because we remember them very vividly. Each of these movies includes at least one of these similar themes; slavery, the Civil War, and racism that many associate with the south.
              I’ll start in chronological order, for both our viewing and for history, with “Roots.” From our last month-long “field trip” to Europe, we learned much about the Dutch Golden Age and its shipping companies. One of the two major shipping companies was WIC (West India Company). WIC has a triangular trade route that starts in Europe and then goes to Africa to trade European-made guns, ammunition, and other factory-made goods for slaves. Then they sail to America and the Bahamas to trade their slaves for cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses, and rum. Lastly, they take these goods to Europe to trade for the factory-made things, and then start their circuit again. Our protagonist of the earlier episodes of “Roots,” Kunta Kinte, is taken into this triangle from Africa to America.
During the first part of “Roots,” we often hear the slave owners talking about “breaking in” a new slave. This means to beat them until they think of the slave owners with fear and agree to obey their every command. Kunta is very often whipped. To start off, Kunta is sold and renamed as Toby, but problems arise when he doesn’t accept his new name because he is too proud of his heritage. He does not like being renamed, he doesn’t like the demanding white people, and he doesn’t like being beaten, so many times, he runs away, only to be found again and beaten. Eventually, he accepts the name Toby, but the only time he doesn’t think about running away is when his daughter, Kizzy is born. He is given the opportunity to leave with a drummer man, but he decides to stay because of his family. Later on, Kizzy is sold to another plantation for trying to help one of her friends escape. After this, Toby never stops thinking about running away again until the day he dies. That’s what stood out to me from the movie; how they could never break Toby’s spirit. No matter how hard they tried. I loved how this movie told just the story of the slaves, starting right from when they came over from Africa to the time of their freedom.
The next movie we hatched focused much less on the slaves and their story, but more on the behind-the-scenes of the Civil War. “Lincoln” showed the interior workings of political problems, including the still-used lobbyist.   One thing that stuck out to me about the movie was how political power has always been used sometimes less tactfully, to put it gently. One example of this form “Lincoln” is when the lobbyists are bribing the Democrats with jobs for their votes to pass the bill that would grant the black’s their freedom. Another is when Lincoln told his Secretary of State, William Seward, that they had to hold the vote for the bill before the end of the war so the Democrats would be pressured to pass it. Their side was losing quickly and they wouldn’t want to lose any more lives. It was sort of like a much less intense blackmailing, though they weren’t completely forced to do something. These tactics weren’t exactly very fair, but they were in support of a good cause which won the black’s their freedom and ended the Civil War.
More recently, we watched “Gone with the Wind.” Again, its story has much less to do with the slaves, but it does a great job of shining a light on the white, southern people. Through this movie, we indirectly see how some of the Confederates felt about their slaves and why    they feel justified owning them, though the story is mostly a drama about a young woman’s messed up love life. I was mostly interested by how, even after the war ended and the blacks were free, Scarlett’s slaves, Mammy, Paul, and Prissy, didn’t leave. When drawing a comparison with “Roots,” you can see how much better Scarlett treated her slaves, even though she still wasn’t treating them nicely. But, to be fair, I don’t think Scarlett treated much of anyone nicely. In one of the later scenes, her father actually told her that she should be easier on the slaves. We see that the O’Hara’s think more of their slaves than the slave owners in “Roots.” The O’Hara’s don’t necessarily respect their slaves (except maybe Mammy a little), but they still think of them as people, something the slave owners in “Roots” weren’t as prone to as I saw it. But I don’t believe the people in “Roots” or “Gone with the Wind” were just owning slaves to be mean and nasty (at least not all of them), but they felt justified by the fact that they would starve without the free labor the slaves provided to pick their crops to sell. So, mostly the southern white people were just very desperate.
The latest movie we watched was “The Color Purple.” This movie was very interesting to me because it was one of the first movies I’ve seen about blacks living on their own right after the Civil War. One of the major things shown was how their past slavery affected how they treated each other. By then, almost all of the black people had raised on being beaten and that’s how they started treating their peers. Mostly how the black men treated the black women. It is true that, at the time, women were much less respected than men, but the white men hardly ever treated the white women as brutally and forcefully as the black men did to the black women. A good analogy is that the black women stay like slaves while the black men became like the slave owners. The black men probably became like this because they spent a good deal of time watching and experiencing how the white people treated the blacks, and it rubbed off on them. They were accustomed to the more powerful person having a less powerful person to order around and beat on. Unfortunately for the black women, all women were less respected at the time, so they were automatically chosen to play the role of slaves again.
So, as you can see, we’ve learned a lot from just watching (at least partially) fictitious movies. It’s been getting a little busier around here lately as we’ve started up our history of the America (and since we’ve been trying to prepare for a play that’s being performed in May), but it’s good to know that it will only get busier! I wonder what we’ll be learning next…


Saturday, March 23, 2013
1 year until departure
Pre-Trip Entry #2
Black Women Walking
By Rebecca

              Last week, my mother, brother, and I went to see the play “Black Women Walking” at the Phoenix Center for the Arts. The purpose of the play was to inform the public (admission was free, so it really was very public) about the African-American women who impacted the country (whether majorly or not) throughout history. Each woman came onto the stage and told their story, one after the other. These historical women were, in order of appearance; Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Bessie Coleman, Marian Anderson, Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sister Elizabeth, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Wilma Rudolph.
              In 1843, Isabella Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She was a slave born in 1797, but earned her freedom in 1826, a year before New York (her home state) abolished slavery, in a deal with her slave owner. She had to leave most of her children behind, though, because, at the time Truth was leaving, the bill had not been fully passed yet, and a slave had to work as a bound servant into their twenties to legally be freed under the emancipation order. She is well-known for being one of the first black women to have gone to court against a white man and won the case when her son, Peter, was illegally sold by her former slave owner to a plantation in Alabama. She’s also even more famous for the many speeches she made to civil rights groups; her most famous being called “Ain’t I a Woman?” This speech was performed in “Black Women Walking” as the very first story. I believe this speech was a great way to start off the night because it applied, at least in some way, to every one of the women presented. It was a great speech; very straight-forward, fiery, and, at many points, very witty. Which I think is also a good way to describe Sojourner Truth.
              Harriet Tubman (born Araminta “Minty” Harriet Ross in 1820) is best known for helping more than 70 slaves escape to northern anti-slavery states and Canada through the “Underground Railroad” and for being the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the Civil War. She led the Combahee River Raid which freed hundreds of slaves in South Carolina. After the war, she retired to New York to take care of her parents. Later on, she founded the “Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged,” and resided there until she died. Tubman was a truly influential figure in history because of the great risk she took in saving all of those slaves and then leading an expedition in the Civil War. He will always be remembered for how tough and driven she was through all of her life.
              Best known for creating a school for African-American children, Mary McLeod Bethune was born in 1875 to two former slaves. As a child, she had a high interest in her own education. She attended college in hopes of becoming a missionary in Africa, but instead she started a school for African-American girls in a little house in Florida in 1904. She chose Daytona, Florida because it was a becoming an avid tourist destination, which could come in handy for donations. The school was called the Literary and Industrial Training School for Nero Girls. In six years, the enrollment of the school went from six to 102, and by 1920, 351 students were enrolled. In 1923, the school was merged with the Cookman Institute for Men and became the Bethune-Cookman School. It rivaled the segregated Daytona High School in education. As well as being a part of many other important political groups, one of the most important was her forming the Black Cabinet. The Black Cabinet was an organization created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as an advisory board for his administration concerning issues for the black’s in America. Bethune was an important figure in history because she was an educator, and educators are the people who shape the future. She provided hundreds of African-American kids with just as good of an education as the white kids got; which was rare in those days. Not only was she an educator and a strong, black woman, but also an advisor to the president. Mary McLeod Bethune affected America greatly.
              Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1891. She is best known for being an author, a folklorist, and an anthropologist. Her most notable work is Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was written in 1937 about a young, African-American woman as she passes through life. She also wrote four other books and many essays, plays, and short-stories. She was also a very political person. She was often called “America’s favorite black Conservative” and supported Robert Taft in his 1952 presidential campaign. She was always strongly against Franklin D. Roosevelt as president. She was also against desegregating the schools. She felt that physical proximity to white students would not help further the black children’s education (especially since most colored schools were equal with the white ones) and that the children wouldn’t be taught the cultural traditions that the black teachers would have. I feel that Hurston is an interesting character mostly because of her political ideas. I find it interesting that a black woman would be so strongly against Roosevelt; what with the Black Cabinet being created under his term and all the things he did to benefit African-Americans. Overall, I found Zora Neale Hurston incredibly interesting because of her strong point of view.
              As the first female pilot in the entire world of African-American descent and the first American (of any ethnicity or gender) to get an international pilot’s license, Bessie Coleman lived a very notable, short life. Born in 1892 as the tenth of thirteen children, Coleman spent most of her life living in Texas and trying for an education. At the age of 23, she moved to Chicago with her brothers and worked as a manicurist. Here is where her want to fly came from. Returning pilots from World War I were always telling stories about flying during the war. The only problem was that no U.S. flight school would admit her for being black and a woman and she couldn’t find any black aviators that were willing to train her. So she chose to study abroad. With some financial help from a banker and the magazine the Chicago Defender, she took a French language class from Berlitz School in Chicago and then was off to Paris to learn how to fly. In 1926, Coleman was flying passenger with her mechanic when a wrench fell into the gearbox and jammed it. Coleman, who did not have her seatbelt on so that she could look out the windows, fell 2,000 feet and died. She was a very influential person because, not only was she a “first” for black woman, but also a “first” for Americans with her international flying license. And Bessie Coleman taught us the importance of a seatbelt.
              Marian Anderson was a highly talented contralto (the lowest of the female classical singing ranges) who was born in 1897. She is highly respected for her patience and determination during a time of racial prejudice in America. She was brought fully into the public eye when the organization “Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)” refused to permit Anderson from singing at Constitution Hall. I find Marian Anderson to be an incredible person because of that patience and determination, but also because of her incredible talent.
              One of the most famous African-American Gospel singers, Willie Mae Ford Smith (born in 1904) has been well respected since 1922, when her and her sisters sang at the National Baptist Convention. This convention widened their popularity considerably, especially Willie Mae’s. She was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1990. Willie Mae Ford Smith was the founding mother of Gospel music as we know it today and is a person who will be remembered.
              The most well-known black woman in U.S. history is, without a doubt, Rosa Parks. Born in 1913, she is considered both the mother of the freedom movement and the first lady of civil rights. She became known in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person and was arrested for it. She worked in collaboration with Martin Luther King Jr. and quickly became the face of the civil rights movement, where she remains this day. For this act of civil disobedience, she was arrested and fired from her job. But she still did not give up. And that is why Rosa Parks is the “poster child” (if I may) of a strong, black woman.
              One of the most enduring of black women, Fannie Lou Hamer was born in 1917 as the youngest of 20 children in a poor Mississippi family. She is well known in her activism in getting blacks to vote. For this, she was taken to jail and savagely beaten. She was also an avid Democrat. She participated in the Democratic National Convention for many years. She also helped create a grass-roots level Head Start program and supported Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Poor People’s” campaign. She also spoke out many times against the Vietnam War. When she died in 1977, one of her most famous quotes was engraved on her tombstone; “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
              “The Tornado,” “La Gazzella Negra” (Italian for “The Black Gazelle”), and “La Perle Noir” (French for “The Black Pearl”) are just a few of the names that Wilma Rudolph earned after leaving the 1960 Rome Olympics with three gold and one bronze medals in track and field. She was born in 1940 as the 20th of 22 kids. As a child, she got infantile paralysis from the polio virus. After she recovered, she had to wear a brace until she was nine, but still had to wear an orthopedic shoe for another two years. When she was twelve, she was finally able to be like other children. After the Olympics, she was considered the fastest woman in the world. She’s respected by me for not only that, but also because, even after all her bouts of sickness and physical handicap, Wilma Rudolph still pulled through and followed her dreams.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013
1 year until departure
Pre-Trip Entry #3
“Glory”
By Rebecca

              Last night, my family and I watched the movie “Glory” (over a dinner of Food City marinated steak – yum!). “Glory” is about the first colored regiment (as defined by Dictionary.com; “a unit of ground forces, consisting of two or more battalions or battle groups, a headquarters unit, and certain supporting units.”), specifically the 54 Massachusetts regiment that was created during, of course, the Civil War (very surprising, right?!). I can officially say that we have not watched two movies for this lesson that deals with the same general point of view even though they all take place around the same time period in the same half of the country. This story was a little different because most of the people were from the North, which had already abolished slavery, so the only black person who knew what it was like being a slave was Trip (played by Denzel Washington), who had escaped from Tennessee when he was twelve.
              Judging from the fact that after seeing “Black Women Walking,” I started talking like some sassy, black lady, it shouldn’t be very surprising that one of the major things that stood out to me was how the colored regiment acted (especially compared with the other regiments). From the very beginning, they all had some sort of brotherly bond (though I do personally believe that being in any army would force some sort of bond). But their bond was strong from the very beginning, and it mirrored the bonding of the slaves in some ways. Now, this probably shouldn’t be too strange considering that they’re all black guys with recent ancestry as slaves, but most of them never worked in a field. They were from the north. So my question is; why do the black people act so connected with each other? Most of them had the same experiences as many white men, so why did they all have that same “togetherness” as was shown by the slaves to one another? Is there something that’s been engraved into their DNA? Or does it come from much farther back; their roots in Africa?
              I will continue to ponder this question as we watch more Southern U.S. History movies and read more Southern U.S. history books (as I’m more than positive we will). Even though there were many other things in this movie that could have perked my interest, I chose the topic of “cultures and peoples” again. Naturally.

Friday, April 5, 2013
1 year until departure
Pre-Trip Entry #4
Mexicans in America
By Rebecca

              Over the past week or so, we’ve taken a step back from the Civil War and have started looking into Hispanics in the U.S. We started off by attending the annual Latino Film Festival at the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center. On the night that we attended, they showed two short films, “Ballad of an Unsung Hero” and “A Mexican Sound.”
              “Ballad of an Unsung Hero” is a 28 minute documentary that tells the story of a popular radio personality in Los Angeles during the 1930s, Pedro J. Gonzalez. When he was younger, he fought during the Mexican Revolution in 1910 alongside Pancho Villa. After the war, he became one of the most popular Mexican-American recording artists of the 1930s. In 1934, he was sentenced to between 1-50 years in San Quentin prison on charges of rape. The woman who had accused him later admitted that she had been forced to lie about the rape, but this was not considered as new evidence and Gonzalez ended up staying in prison for six years. He was very active in promoting for Hispanic-American rights and social justice, and it is believed that this caused political motivation behind the case. Even after he was freed, he was deported to Mexico. This movie showed how Hispanics in America have been very wrongly and unfairly treated. They are stuck doing hard labor, having their every move questioned, and being wrongfully deported back to Mexico, where many of them have never even been before. Gonzalez’s started this fight for social acceptance in America nearly a century ago, but we are still unable to treat Latinos equally to this day.
              The next movie we watched was only 15 minutes long and was called “A Mexican Sound.” This movie captured the history and cultural impact of the Hispanic music style called el son huasteco, a style of folk music that is characterized by fast violin solos, falsetto singing, and, probably most importantly, the sound of rhythmic dancing and stomping on a tarima (a wooden platform). This music is very important to the people of eastern, northeastern Mexico where this music originated, so important that the people if the villages get together and dance on the tarima to at least a few songs of el son huasteco music every weekend. I liked the style of music; it has a nice energy to it. It reminded me a bit of a mix of your typical mariachi music with a touch of an Irish jig-y feel from the exciting violin. It was very fun to listen to.
              While still at the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center (ALAC), we also looked through their Cesar Chavez exhibit, and a couple days later, when we were at home, we watched “A Fight in the Fields,” which is a documentary about Chavez. We learned about how he started the movement of equal rights for all farm workers and his help in founding the National Farm Workers Association (now the United Farm Workers union). This year, his birthday (March 31st) fell on Easter, and there was a large amount of outrage directed towards Google for using a Google Doodle celebrating his birthday rather than Easter. It’s sad to know that, with all that Chavez did to influence Latino communities and, mainly, labor workers, people get this upset about someone’s choice to appreciate him. It shows that, no matter what they do or how hard they try, Latinos are never fully respected in our society.
              Taking a quick little trip back through history, the next thing we learned about was the Mexican-American War. Officially started on April 25, 1846 under the presidency of James Polk, the war lasted until February of 1848 when the two countries signed The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty gave America California and the Southwest in trade for $15,000,000 to Mexico. It was decided that the border was the Rio Grande. There was a lot of controversy over this war. It was believed by many that the point of the war was only to create more slave states, but the supporters of the war felt their cause was justified by their “manifest destiny;” the words of newspaper editor John O’Sullivan who thought that we should expand as much as we could because it was our God given right. This war is a fundamental factor to remember while we deal with many of the arguments about Hispanic “immigrants” these days. A large number of Mexicans we see walking the streets today have never even seen Mexico, or have at least never lived there. A common slogan among Latino communities is “we didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us.” Which is completely true. Most of the western U.S belonged to Mexico until the war started. We now call these people “illegal” and “aliens,” when a large number of them actually aren’t.
              Just to put all these dates into perspective with all of our other studies so far (*cough, cough* Civil War *cough, cough*), I thought I’d take a break to include the dates all together. First is the Mexican War, from April of 1846 to February of 1848, quickly followed in 1849 by the California Gold Rush.  Next was the Civil War, which started on April 12, 1861 and ended in May, 1865. Then, we had the Spanish-American War start in 1898. Next was the Mexican Revolution that lasted about a decade, starting in 1910, that Pedro J. Gonzalez fought in. And in 1966, Cesar Chavez led his first grape strike in California to demand better pay for farm workers.
              As just mentioned in my little timeline-like review, we also learned a little about the Spanish-American War. It was actually started in 1895, when the Cubans rebelled against the Spanish rule of the island, but the Americans got involved in 1898. At first, it seemed unlikely that America would participate in the war, but after the American battleship, the Maine, was destroyed in an explosion in the port of Havana, President McKinley and Congress declared war and sent troops to Cuba. America won the war in three months, but the rebels who started the revolution against Spain were never even mentioned by the American military. No Cuban was even allowed to sign the treaty made with Spain. They were told, after they were “freed,” that they would be able to make their own constitution and government, as long as they agreed to include the American-made Platt Agreement into their constitution. This agreement basically allowed the American government to become involved in Cuban affairs whenever the heck they wanted. Pretty much, the Cubans were no longer ruled by Spain, but instead were taken over by America. We joined the fight under the justification of helping them to become a free nation; like we were doing during the Revolutionary war. But then we just take over their government, don’t acknowledge their input, and ultimately become the biggest group of hypocrites ever.
              The latest movie we’ve seen for our American History was “Harvest of Empire.” It told the stories of the major countries that Latinos are immigrating from over the past couple decades. These seven countries are Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, El Salvador, The Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. It was a very deep and involved movie, so I will not try to summarize it at all, but the overall message was very easy to grasp; the Latinos should be welcome here. They didn’t just decide to come here; they had to. Nobody wants to leave their home and their families. They fled from horrible social and political problems happening in their countries, many of which were caused by America. We have no right to shin these people out of our society with all that they had to suffer through to get here. And even more unjustly, we have no right to deport them to a place that we’ve messed up.
              Many times we’ve come back to study more about Latinos in America and someone are able to learn something new every time. I strongly believe that there is no reason to deport the Latinos back to Mexico when there is nothing for them there. What happened to the Great American Melting Pot? We are one of the very few first world countries (maybe even the one) of the world to make people to be a citizen to stay here. We should be questioning each every one of the Latinos, either, because many of them are from America, but not when it was America. They did not cross the border; the border crossed them. We need to learn to respect the greatly increasing number of Latinos that are living alongside us. And why shouldn’t we; they bring many neat cultural traditions that should be appreciated as any other culture. I know I like the Latinos; they brought me fajitas and enchiladas!
 











Wednesday, June 4, 2014

LA - Fairfax, Miracle Mile & Windsor Square

We're coming up on 20 years of marriage, plus the extra years of living in sin, and one of the things we've always done, but I've failed to write about much is that we go away at least once a year together without our children. I don't know if it's because we are so involved with our children through homeschooling, or if all couples just feel this way, but I count down the days until this yearly event happens. This was just a one-night trip, back to the Motherstate, in June, to see a concert, just like we did in 2011, which I didn't realize was so similar to 2011 until I logged on to fire up this very latent blogspot account, and I realized how boring we are even when we are trying to be exciting. Ho-hum. However, there are a few things I want to promote here on what has become the blog that is my extended Yelp account so here goes . . .

Johnnyswim -- really dumb name -- amazing duo. This is Donna Summer's daughter married to some Latin heat. Think Civil Wars without the hating each other part. I think they're going to end up in the singer-songwriter genre, but right now it's a little like hipsters with soul. I love my bluegrass and folk, but God help us, someone's got to pull us out of this flooded genre, and I think they might do it. The sound is fresh, and they have tons of energy since things are just taking off for them. It was easily one of the best concerts that Mike and I have ever been to. The good news is that they are playing at the MIM (great place to see a concert) on Monday, June 9th if you are local and want to see them.

However, I have always wanted to see a concert at the El Rey Theatre, and since this was their first big hometown show, we elected to see them there. Built in 1936, the El Rey is a really cool art deco theater with lots of red velvet and chandeliers. It's the perfect size, holding just over 700 people, and the show was sold out.



Since the El Rey is in the Miracle Mile district adjacent to Fairfax, of course I had to plan the trip around one of my favorite places in LA, the Farmers Market at Fairfax and 3rd. Now . . . when I used to go here in the 80s, I don't remember the big Grove Shopping Center next to the market -- not sure when that appeared, but the Farmers Market is otherwise unchanged. You can get any food imaginable -- cooked or uncooked. We had a Reuben from Phil's Deli and fish & chips from the nearby fish market which started the Coleslaw Wars. I vote for the deli coleslaw, and Mike votes for the fish market coleslaw. These are some of the things that we like to do, like argue about coleslaw. 





Coleslaw Wars


Across the street from the Farmers Market is a hotel called the Farmer's Daughter. Clearly, this daughter had had enough of the farming life and decided to renovate what looks to be an old Motel 6 into a boutique hotel. Farm equipment and Adirondack chairs are strewn around, Hall & Oates the parakeets greet you in the lobby, and you can play fussball or ping pong, borrow a bike, or check out books from the lending library in front. 



We arrived just in time (5:00 to 6:00) for Whiskey Tasting in the lobby. I sampled both corn whiskey and rye whiskey, and I liked the rye better. It was Mike's first time tasting whisky, and as you can tell, he really liked it!

The fine whiskier (sp?) who poured our whiskey went and got Mike a coke to put in his whiskey, but he still didn't drink it so I had to help. Note to self: don't drive 6 hours in the car with nothing to eat and then down 3 glasses of whiskey in the lobby prior to wheeling your suitcase across the courtyard. I don't remember the trip across the street to the Farmers Market. I was told that I walked there . . . 



We stayed in the No-Tell Room. That is all that I can say about that per contract. ;)

If we had more time, or if someone wanted to make a 2-night weekend trip out of this destination, then the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Brea Tarpits, and the Petersen Automotive Museum are all nearby to this hotel (but places that I've been before.) I really wanted to go to the Skirball Cultural Center to see the Ezra Jack Keats exhibit, but unfortunately we were there on Shavuot so the Skirball was closed. Fairfax has a significant Jewish history which you can read about here. We did go to Canter's 24-hour Deli  for matzo ball soup and phosphate soda rehydration after the concert, and we picked up some Hamantaschen for the road trip home. 


No spring road trip to Southern California would be complete for me without photographing some flowering trees. Here are some Jacarandas and Magnolias from the Windsor Square area en route to the freeway. My very sweet husband picked me a magnolia flower from a streetside tree, and I carried that sucker all the way back to Phoenix in a water bottle cap. The car ride smelled delicious!









Thursday, September 19, 2013

San Francisco in 2 Nights - Western Addition, Richmond, Presidio & Nob Hill

It's time to write about this year's trip back to the Mother Ship. For those of you just joining us here at Our Tripping Mystery, we (my two teenagers and I) write about (some) of our travels; although, lately it feels like we never go anywhere because we're too stinkin' busy with all of their activities. However, we do make a yearly trip back to San Francisco, and we were finding that no one had ever heard of the places we were visiting. "Did you go to Pier 39?" "How about Fisherman's Wharf?" "Union Square?" Umm... no, no, and no. So for the San Francisco stories, we usually feature a particular neighborhood or two, and learn about some local history. For this piece, Patrick will be writing about the Presidio, Rebecca will be writing about the Haas-Lilienthal house and Nob Hill, and I will pick up the surrounding jaunts.

Part of what has been holding me up from getting this post done starts with the first problem of what to even title it. NEVER in my time living in San Francisco did I refer to this geographic area as the "Western Addition," but I have settled upon this title as my starting point for the basic reason that in 0.63 of a mile I cover what I would call: Japantown, Lower Pacific Heights, and the Fillmore. Here's the first section of the walk . . . The part that takes you to breakfast and the bus stop:  http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/284208747

We've stayed at Hotel Kabuki before because it is so easy to PARK if you're on a road trip. Plus, you're in the center of the city and close to the 38 Geary bus which can take you anywhere with a transfer or two. I park my car and forget about it while I'm there. It's part of the San Francisco experience. I easily drive 50+ miles per day at home because I have no other option so I'm happy to let public transportation cart me around a city that is less than 50 square miles altogether. I have a MUNI app on my phone, and I've never felt that there was anywhere that I couldn't get via public transportation in San Francisco.

Hotel Kabuki also feels exotic to me; like I'm really on vacation. Just hang out by the Peace Pagoda in the center of Japantown, and you will feel like you're in a foreign country. It makes a great meeting place and start for my day's walk.


Starting out walking west along Sutter Street, you will come to the Bush Street-Cottage Row Historic
District on the right side of the street. There's a cute, little park in here, and a series of Victorian houses built between 1870 and 1885. Rebecca will go more into the Victorian influence in San Francisco (shortly), but these houses are classic examples of the Italianate and Stick-Style that are so prevalent in San Francisco. The Japanese originally came to San Francisco in the 1860's after the California Gold Rush of 1849 gave San Francisco its boom. At first, the Japanese settled in Chinatown, but after the 1906 earthquake and fire, they migrated west of Van Ness Avenue to this area called the Western Addition where they lived in these homes with fabulous vegetable gardens. At one point, this area called Japantown had one of  the highest concentrations of Japanese outside of Japan. Unfortunately, during World War II, the Japanese were forced into internment camps and vacated the area, many never returning. During the Second Great Migration, roughly World War II to the 1970's, African Americans left the South and settled into many areas of the West including this area of the Western Addition along the Fillmore street corridor south down to Haight Street. The area again went through a renaissance with jazz, blues, and the famous Fillmore Auditorium. I always thought Yoshi's Jazz Club was an interesting summary of this area: a club playing African-American-rooted music, serving Japanese food, and started by a World War II orphan. The newly remodeled Hamilton Pool & Rec Center has a beautiful new mural completed in 2010 by Santie Huckaby and the Blues and R&B Music Foundation, Inc. called "The Blues Evolution." I love this mural, and I'm so happy to see that it made it onto the Lower Pacific Heights side of the Western Addition at Post & Steiner Streets right across the street from the Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in honor of the first Black Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Here you feel like you are truly in the Fillmore.

"The Blues Evolution" on Hamilton Pool
But back to breakfast which is where we were headed! Less than a block away from this mural and the entry point to the Fillmore District, on the corner of Sutter and Steiner Streets, is Sweet Maple with the famous "Millionaire's Bacon." Here's how you know that Lower Pacific Heights is migrating southward . . . even the bacon is getting pricey around here! I'm not sure what they do to their bacon. There was some sort of information on the wall . . . oven roasted, dipped in maple syrup and chiles or something, but it is DELICIOUS. Go here and fuel up for lots of Presidio hiking trails later on.

Millionaire's Bacon at Sweet Maple
Moving out of these various cultures that make up the Western Addition, you can catch the 38 bus on Geary Street and get off in the Richmond District at the corner of Geary and Arguello. Here is a little map of this segment of the trip: http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/267324387. After getting off the bus, turn left on Arguello, and walk south down the street until Anza and turn left again, walking east along Anza. Once again, it's really hard to say if you are on the far eastern border of the "Inner Richmond" here, or if this location right across from Rossi Playground, is actually the southern border of Laurel Heights or the northern border of the Lone Mountain area. For sure, you can see the hills of the Jesuit's University of San Francisco from here. Just two blocks up Anza, you will turn left on a small dead-end street that is Lorraine Court. At the end of the street is one of San Francisco's little-known jewels: the San Francisco Columbarium.

Columbarium
This building was constructed in 1898 when this area was predominantly cemeteries before a city ordinance forced them all to move south of the city. Just a little history . . . the area that is the Richmond District was full of sand dunes and referred to as "Outside Lands" because it was originally "outside" the city boundaries during the Gold Rush boom of San Francisco in 1848. (How the "Outside Lands Festival" in Golden Gate Park got its name.) The area officially became part of the city of San Francisco in 1866, and Golden Gate park was commissioned in 1871. Bernard J.S. Cahill was inspired to build the Columbarium in the neo-classical style after attending the Chicago World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) of 1893. The stained glass windows and rotunda are gorgeous, and if you visit, be sure to hunt down all the famous people including Harvey Milk.




Thought Mike might like these folks for neighbors . . .


I was pretty inspired by this idea for an urn . . .


From the Columbarium, walk back to Arguello and head north through the Inner Richmond. Clement Street to the left (west) of Arguello makes a nice stopping stop for lunch and has some great little shops like Green Apple Books and restaurants such as Burma Superstar. They also have the weekly Clement St. Farmers Market on Sundays. I like the vibe here on Clement Street . . . it's like a "real" Chinatown and feels neighborly. Parts of the Richmond District were used in Woody Allen's recent movie "Blue Jasmine," but unfortunately it still felt like New Yorkers in San Francisco to me. I like Woody Allen movies, but I'm not sure he hit San Francisco's "feel" with this movie. Spend some time on Clement Street, and you'll get what I mean. After wandering up and down this street, head back to Arguello, and back up the hill to the Arguello Gate of the Presidio.

The Presidio
By Patrick
We have a long tradition of hiking in the most absurd places on our trips. This time we decided to hike in a former military base called the San Francisco Presidio. Here is some basic history of the Presidio.


The area where the Presidio now stands was once the home of the Ohlone and Costanoan people. Around 1776, the Spanish empire started Mission Delores and established the Presidio as its northernmost military base to defend the western side of America from European settlers. It remained under Spanish command until 1821 after the Mexican Revolution and the Presidio transferred it’s allegiance to Mexico. During this time, Mexico also opened all of its ports to trade and divided the surrounding land around the Presidio (at that time belonging to the indigenous people) to former soldiers which many used for farming, which forced many now homeless natives to work as field workers. The Presidio under both Spanish and Mexican rule was never well supplied. Due to this fact, the Mexican People living in the Presidio forced more natives to work the fields in order to support the Presidio. This caused a greater spread of Spanish diseases amongst the natives and also forced the settlers at the Presidio to abandon it. After the outbreak of the Mexican-American War the then vacant Presidio was occupied by the U.S. military in 1846 which it remained under until 1994. Around 1874, the Presidio underwent major developments including roads, re-forestation, and the transition to an “open post” styled base, which allowed civilian’s limited access to certain areas of the base. After 1994 the Presidio was transferred to the National Park Service which it remains apart of today. Between those last two dates was when the Presidio also began developing itself as a National Park. 

The Presidio gained 11 trails during this period and also a free public bus system for within the park called the PresidiGo. It was along two of these trails that we went hiking. They were the Ecology Trail and the Inspiration Point trail. Shortly after entering the Presidio though, we found what appeared to be a massive tree shaped tower made of dead trees. Upon further research, the structure was actually a public art sculpture called the Spire. This piece was made in 2008 by the artist Andy Goldsworthy out of Cypress trees that had been cut to allow healthier trees to grow in their place. After stopping to admire this artwork, we started taking the Ecology Trail further into the Presidio. This trail has very scenic views of the San Francisco bay and also includes information about the wildlife that lives there. After making a quick stop to see Inspiration Point, we followed the rest of the trail through to the Officer’s Lounge where there is now a hotel where you can stay within walking distance of these trails. Once we were ready to leave, we took one of the PresidiGo shuttles that route all around the park to Baker Beach. From here, you can get on a Muni Bus that goes back to the 38 Geary bus. 


The Spire by Andy Goldsworthy



View from the FREE PresidiGo Shuttle

Victorian San Francisco
by Rebecca

For my portion of this blog post, I will tell you a little about the Victorian Era in San Francisco and why it's such a prominent feature of the city. I chose to do my piece on this part of San Francisco because I'm helping with the dramaturgy for my theater groups production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in a Victorian steampunk setting, so most of my research is already done.

One of the main reasons why Victorian architecture is so prominent in San Francisco is because the city got a boom in its population during the Gold Rush of 1849. Thousands of people were passing through the city and because of this sudden population growth, most of  the houses were made during the same time period. As the years of the gold rush continued, certain people started getting richer and the houses started getting more elaborate and we got the grandiose homes on Nob Hill and, just slightly of lower class, homes like the Haas-Lilienthal house.
Haas-Lilienthal House
We started our day with a trip to the Haas-Lilienthal house, which is a great example of the Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture. It is a very elegant house that shows how, even in America, this was a time of great prosperity, especially in San Francisco. One of the most noticeable differences between Georgian and Victorian houses is how, in the Victorian Era, the columns on the houses started getting smaller and fewer. There was also an increase in the use of bay windows and porticos. Inside the Haas-Lilienthal house, we saw many, many pocket doors, a half gas, half electric chandelier, and what is called a jib door, which was used to avoid the tax on doors by combining an upward-sliding door into a window.

Electrolier, Haas-Lilienthal House
After our trip to the Haas-Lilienthal house, we went on a walking tour of Nob Hill where these Victorians become more like castles rather than houses. The tour started at the Stanford Court Hotel, which used to be the home of Leland Stanford; a California politician and a member of the "Big Four," the name given to the primary creators of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPR). These four men, Leland Stanford, CPR President, Collis Potter Huntington, CPR Vice President, Mark Hopkins, CPR Treasurer, and Charles Crocker, Construction Supervisor, took advantage of the gold moving across the country from California and ended up making a fortune. Across the street from where Collis P. Huntington's mansion had burned down and was turned into Huntington Park, stands the Huntington Hotel, named in his honor. Next to the hotel is the Crocker Garage, named after Charles Crocker. He had planned on having a hotel built as well, but never had enough money to do so, so all he was able to build was a garage. His mansion that was next to Huntington's mansion also burned down in the earthquake and fire of 1906. At the corner, across Mason St. from the Crocker Garage, and across California St. from the Fairmont Hotel is the Mark Hopkins Hotel, built on the original site of his mansion that also burned down in the fire. 

Looking out from the Mark Hopkins Hotel
Fairmont Hotel
Venetian Room, Fairmont Hotel
As you can see, the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 took a toll on the Victorian houses, which makes the surviving houses all the more unique. Here in Arizona, we don't have many Victorian houses because there were hardly any people of European influence in the area. And for the ones who were, not many had enough money to build such elegant houses as are a frequent theme upon Victorian style architecture. This is why they are fascinating to me, but they are also fascinating because it's incredible to find so much Victorian influence in one place. These beautiful Victorian houses are a major part of San Francisco's history; the beginning. 


** The only other parts I wanted to add, in addition to Patrick and Rebecca's pieces are: Grace Cathedral & the AIDS Chapel with its Keith Haring altar, dinner at Mums Home of Shabu Shabu for hot pot dinner in Japantown, and Andersen Bakery for quick grab and go breakfast on the morning of departure. A side trip after Baker Beach could also be California Palace of the Legion of Honor


Part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Grace Cathedral
Keith Haring altar in Grace Cathedral's AIDS Chapel
Mums Home of Shabu Shabu
Andersen Bakery case