INTRODUCTION For this chapter of California Fool’s Gold, I explored the city of Whittier. Whittier is a city in Southeast Los Angeles (County), separated from the San Gabriel Valley to the north by the Puente Hills and sharing a border with Orange County to the southeast. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Whittier
A few years ago, whilst researching the history of the Silver Lake Reservoir, I was rather surprised to learn that several people had drowned in it early in its history. Where there’s water, I suppose, there are drownings — I’d just never thought about it before — and when the reservoir began filling in 1907, … Continue reading Ghosts of the Silver Lake Reservoir
INTRODUCTION as spring turned into summer, Una and I visited Hawaiʻi. Una had never been there before. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed telling people that I’d only ever been there in utero, when my pregnant mother and father visited in the 1970s. I don’t know how far along in her pregnancy my … Continue reading Where Fools Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Hawaiʻi (Oʻahu and Kauaʻi)
I’m not sure how widespread the practice of telling, reading, and watching ghost stories is on Christmas Eve, nor when it began. The custom appears to be almost unknown to most of my fellow Angelenos — despite, you know, the most famous Christmas story, Charles Dickens‘s A Christmas Carol, containing new fewer than four ghosts. … Continue reading Christmas Ghost Stories On Film
It’s almost Halloween. Surely one of the greatest holidays, Halloween is up there, in my estimation, with Burns Supper, Nowruz, Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving II. I keep reading and hearing, though, that Halloween is cancelled this year, thanks to the mismanagement at nearly every level of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surely you can’t cancel a holiday, though, … Continue reading 𝕷𝖔𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖘 𝕲𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖈, 𝖆 𝕳𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕯í𝖆 𝖉𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖘 𝕸𝖚𝖊𝖗𝖙𝖔𝖘 𝕱𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖘𝖎𝖆
INTRODUCTION Over the years I’ve drawn maps, painted maps, and created digital maps. For the latter, I’ve most often used Google‘s My Maps program for several reasons. It’s relatively easy, looks relatively good, has pretty good functionality (e.g. links to websites and decent customization) and because Alphabet Inc. (Google’s parent company) is the fourth-largest company … Continue reading Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography — The Google Maps
For more than three decades, the Happy Foot/Sad Food sign has loomed over the intersection of Benton Way and Sunset Boulevard, just west of “the cut,” a canyon cut into a sandstone hill for the Ostrich Railway in 1887 Although designed as an advertisement for Sunset Foot Clinic, it became a symbol of the Mideast … Continue reading Art in the Streets — The Happy Foot/Sad Foot (1986-2019)
INTRODUCTION I finally got around to exploring Newport Beach. I say “finally” because that particular coastal city in South Orange County has held the top spot in the California Fool’s Gold poll for more than a year. You’d be wrong if you assumed that my procrastination has anything to do with unfortunate (but typical) Angeleño bias against Orange … Continue reading California Fools Gold — Exploring Newport Beach
A couple of nights ago, Una and I visited Moonlight Forest, a lantern festival currently taking place Wednesday through Sunday nights at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Its one of several local winter light festivals happening right now, along with Griffith Park’s LA Zoo Christmas Lights and Holiday Light Festival Train Rides, … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis – Visiting Moonlight Forest
Last Monday I visited the Self Realization Fellowship Mother Center (headquarters) with my friends Tammy Jean Park and Mike Morgan. I first explored the center’s grounds in 2012, as part of a California Fool’s Gold exploration of the Mount Washington neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles. The historic building, long home to the Self-Realization Fellowship, was built … Continue reading Houses of the Hallows — The Self Realization Fellowship Mother Center
Eric Brightwell 