On the Road

Kernville Run 2011

2011-04-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

A few years ago about this time I did this same trip with my friend Pat Bianchi and the Southern California BMW club I had a wonderful time then and being that Spring is always the perfect time of year to see Kern County and the old town of Kernville I did it again.
The ride is really not all that many miles (if one is used to three to five hundred miles a day) but as always the members of the BMW club who map out the route make the most scenic and non-direct way of getting there and it ends up being over 160 miles. This years route skipped the ride through the Angeles National Forest and took a more direct but obscure way of getting to Kernville

Meeting up early Saturday morning at a Denny's off the 5 freeway I pulled up right as the group was about to take off and not needing breakfast besides a fistful of vitamins and a healthy dose of caffeine my timing was perfect

The weather this April morning was quite nice as everyone was eager to explore some back roads and highways.
Taking a few of the local LA canyons to start we ended up having a nice scenic route untill the terrain opened up and we came into Leona Valley

From Leona Valley we headed up over the mountain and down into the
Palmdale/Lancaster basin. This area is rather flat and pretty much uninteresting till you start climbing in elevation

Approaching the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm on the Willow Springs Road always gives me a good feeling when I see energy produced without a large carbon footprint
and there were hundreds maybe a few thousand of them rotating from the wind in that area

The Southern California Edison company who has built and operated the wind farm since the 1980's plans on developing another fifty square miles of wind farm power for the future

We all stopped to fuel up just outside of the town of Tehachapi, and at the fuel stop Pat and I learned that everyone would be having lunch in town, not being hungry quite yet we decided to move on and have our lunch further along the route where we ate a few years back
So as the group stopped at one of the restaurants Pat and I passed through the city of Tehachapi,

It's a city that was incorporated in 1909 and is located in its namesake the Tehachapi Mountains between the cities of Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County California.

The area is known for its Tehachapi train Loop, Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, and it's proximity to Edwards Air Force Base where the Space Shuttle lands
Nice little town if your ever around that area

Riding by the Tehachapi train loop we headed onto hwy 58 for a short distance and got off on the Bealville road which takes you through the mountains to the small ranching town of Caliente

There are always some interesting old structures along the various
back roads of California and so as I rode I would snap a photo of one of them if it caught my eye.

Like this old stone home built probably somewhere in the 1800's

Or this nice old barn

And sometime it's just a ramshackle old shack with a lot of character

As we arrived at the Twin Oaks General store we were now in the civic center of town....... Post office, general store and cafe all in one old school house and that's it for the town, all the rest is cattle ranches where the cattle are free range which means for you dear traveler at any moment on the road you can encounter any number of cattle so you really have to ride with that in mind

I liked the old Mail Pouch sign on the front of the building

So after decent enough lunch, but nothing to write home about it was time to hit the road again, as you take the Caliente/Bodfish road north It's a real nice ride by the local ranches and forest then a gradual ride up and over the mountains till you reach the top and the view opens up as you see the large valley below and Lake Isabella

Now before you come to Lake Isabella you go through the small town of Bodfish and in Bodfish you will find the Silver City Ghost Town
And every time I've gone through these parts the ghost town has been closed because it was too early in the morning and now that it was mid-afternoon finally it was a good time to check it out so Pat and I made a stop.

The place is what they call a composite ghost town, opened in the late 1960's by Dave & Arvilla Mills and the town is comprised of old original buildings that were all found in and around Kern county many of which were slated for demolition and saved by the Mills.
Operated for several years the place closed and fell into disrepair for quite awhile until the Corlew family purchased the property in 1990 and have run a great antique business and film location site for the ghost town since then.
As they say this place is off the beaten path but if your ever in the area stop on in and check out some of the great collectibles they have for sale and for a small five dollar fee you can go inside the ghost town and view all the wonderful old western structures and dioramas that are there.

Here's the old church

And saloon

And the Marshals office

Here's some great old glass bottles

And a diorama inside the mercantile

A lot of faded old texture can be found on the buildings which are rumored to be haunted......... and that seems to go with any old western town or city I've ever visited.

From Bodfish it's a short ride to the town of Lake Isabella

If your someone who likes boating or fishing this is the place, my sister and her family have a vacation home here and the weekend we passed through there happened to be a huge fishing tournament with several tagged fish that if you caught one would net you a nice $10,000 payday.
But all I had time for passing through Isabella was a few pic's of some of the local vintage motel signage.

Heading into the last bit of the day's trip it's about fifteen miles or so to Kernville once you pass through Lake Isabella.

Kernville, and the Kern Valley were named after artist and topographer Edward M. Kern, who was part of a group of settlers in 1845.
The settlers camped at a fork of two rivers which is now in the middle of Lake Isabella. These two rivers are now the South Fork and North Fork of the Kern.
The 1848 gold rush led to the formation of a town called Rogersville which was later renamed Whiskey Flat after the introduction of saloons and after that finally renamed Kernville in 1861.
So many things one can do here, fishing, white water rafting, hiking, bicycling, Kayaking or just riding through the local mountains and forest like we do.

Pat and I landed at the same motel that we stayed at a few years back called the Kern Lodge

This is an old school ranch style motel that is impeccably kept and I always enjoyed staying here.
One thing they do have is a friendly dog who likes to come into your room hopeful for some kind of hand out or snack, this version was different than the one we encountered a few years ago but he was just as friendly.

After we unpacked Pat suggested we go check out the river which seemed like a good idea to me and this time of the year the Kern rivers flow is at it's peak with the winters snow melt

The other thing you see are the wild California poppies that are seemingly blooming all over the countryside

And being spring all kinds of other plants are flowering to attract the yearly interplay they have with the honey bee

We rode back to the motel for a little rest and relaxation, now the other cool thing about the Kern motel is that a micro-brewery and restaurant is right next door and the local market is across the street.
So while I got cleaned up Pat went over to the market for some beer (because a long day on the road makes a guy kinda thirsty) and wouldn't you know sitting on the porch not doing a dang thing with a cold one while taking in the late afternoon sun seemed to truly be one of life's simple pleasures.
Well after about a half hour of that kind of porch sitting Pat and I went back to the center of town to see what old whiskey flat (Kernville) was all about.
So we landed at this saloon called the Sportsman Inn and wouldn't you know it all of our BMW club friends were there getting well oiled and having a good head start on us.

So we hung out there for quite awhile talking about the days ride and motorcycling, one thing I've found is that you always meet a quite diverse group of individuals that ride motorcycles and although we all come from different backgrounds, careers or beliefs one common thread runs through all of us and that is the love of the road and the adventure one can find traveling along the highway.........It's why you ride,
and you know that whatever it is you do during the day or week, what comes to mind many times in those contemplative moments is the simple whisper of the thought of just getting on your bike and hitting the road again........ everything in between sometimes just feels like passing time till you can get back on your motorcycle and ride.

So the scheduled restaurant for the groups nights evening meal was at this local Italian restaurant and since we were a large group and there were other hungry travelers most of the seats were taken so Pat, Michael, Rick and myself decided to check out the local Mexican restaurant up the street.

One thing I always order at any Mexican restaurant is the Chili Verde and this place didn't disappoint.
And so while we were waiting for our dinner I decided to take a short walk to the river before the sun set and take a picture of the Kern as it passed through town.

A great meal, good conversation with friends all under an ascending full moon
what a real nice way to end the day.........

Over dinner one of the topics we discussed was what route to take back home the following morning and Michael suggested taking Hwy 155 which he said was quite scenic and being that neither Pat or I had ever been on that road it sounded like a great way to take the long way home.
I got up early and packed my gear and headed to the local liquor store and gas station to fill up the Harley

Always on the lookout for cool vintage neon signs I caught this one of the Whispering Pines Lodge

I met Pat, Michael and Rick for breakfast at one of the local cafes early the next morning and while the guys had breakfast I went for a little walk and took a few pictures of Kernville.

Here's a Kayaker going through a course on the river

So that pretty much was it as the four of us headed out on the road again towards highway 155...... as we passed lake Isabella it looked quite calm and perfect weather for the fishermen and their tournament

Hwy 155 takes you up through the southern part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and it's a really scenic mountain road with lots of twists and turns as you ride by the wonderful topography and forest along this mountain road, I can highly recommend this very cool highway

As we climbed up in elevation the weather started to change from bright and sunny to dark and overcast

I quite liked this change in the weather and as we neared the top of the grade there was this beautiful old oak tree with a view of the great expanse below so the four of us stopped for a bit to take some pictures

Pat and I

As we rode down the mountain the clouds started to break up and again it was a nice transition in weather as the bits of sunlight made the lush green mountainside even more beautiful.

Stopping in the small ranching community of Glenville which is another of those little towns with no stoplights just a general store/gas station, saloon and a cafe

While we took a break I walked around and took a few pic's

There was this great old mechanic's shop with a lot of funky odds and ends

From Glenville it was a short ride to the small town of Woody that was founded by the first pioneer in these parts Dr. Sparrell W. Woody in 1862, and in 1894 gold and copper was discovered here so Woody went from a ranching community to mining........

Now it's come full circle and it's back to ranching

Here's one of the old original wood structures from the 1800's

The surrounding countryside of Woody was quite nice with rolling hills and giant oak trees dotting the landscape

The further you travel south the flatter the terrain becomes as you pass large open cattle ranches

Besides cattle there was a nice small group of paint horses that I spotted along the road, they were quite curious as horses many times are and they obliged me for a few photos

Rick was nice enough to take this one of me with the horses

As we came closer to Bakersfield the landscape was less cattle ranches and more oil fields

As we arrived in Bakersfield Pat and I decided to really extend the day and take Hwy 33 to the old desert Oil town of Taft while Michael and Rick decided to go a different route.
Taft was a bustling community in the 1930's and 40's when vast amounts of oil was extracted here in one of the largest oil fields ever discovered in the US.
Now the town is slowly fading away as nary a soul was to be seen on Main Street

Found this cool sign for Mr. Burger but of course that place was closed too

If you ever do find yourself in Taft the one place that is worth a stop is the Taft Oil museum, the museum has all the history of the area along with several artifacts, exhibits and the last remaining wooden oil derrick of the sort that used to dot the landscape by the hundreds

As you take Hwy 33 west towards the Los Padres National forest the area is comprised of rolling hills and alfalfa fields. The other crop that is grown out this way are pistachios....... I didn't stop for any but if I find myself on this road I usually do.

A funny thing happened along this route because just outside of Maricopa Pat and I ran into Michael and Rick again so the four of us rode together till we made a stop at this junction

Michael and Rick wanted to go through Frasier Park and Pat and I were trying to get to Ojai to see the final minuets of the Laker basketball playoff game

As we sat there for a few moments some other riders pulled up
to the stop sign and It was one of those days when most everything
you would see on the back roads were motorcyclists

We said our goodbyes and headed up the mountain

This was the time that the whole mood of our trip changed
Riding motorcycles has an inherent danger and here is a good reason why it's important to stay in your lane...........Pat and I happened upon this horrific scene involving four motorcycles
I don't know for certain who was at fault but either the three sport bikes or the cruiser were on the wrong side of the road, I think by looking at the wreckage it was more than likely the cruiser rider that was on the wrong side and a head on collision occurred resulting in the death of the cruiser rider and two of the sport bike riders being air-lifted out of the mountains and another one taken away in an ambulance ........... real bad scene on what was a beautiful Spring afternoon

A scene like that always shakes you up and riding just isn't quite the same even though the scenery is beautiful all you think about is who's coming around the next corner.......are they in their lane? it's a very disconcerting way to try and enjoy your afternoon.

With those thoughts in mind Pat and I pulled over right at the spot where some car had crashed over the side the day before

Below was this beautiful creek and pool

So we took a bit of time there reflecting on what we had just witnessed
But after awhile it's just time to get back on your bike and ride so that's what we did as we headed to the Deer Creek Lodge in Ojai

The Deer Creek Lodge has been a biker stop for decades and the food is quite good there so we parked ourselves inside and ordered an amazing bowl of mac n cheese and proceeded to watch the last few minuets of the Laker game.
The only thing that sucked was the terrible acoustic guitar player/singer that was croaking some god awful music of his own making........ it was so bad I stuck my ear plugs back in just to cut the edge of his off key screech

The Lakers lost ..... seemed fitting the way the afternoon had progressed so far
So we paid our bill and continued on to Ojai.
The city of Ojai and the Ojai valley is a wonderful place to visit with a rich history of the Chumash Indians who first settled there and then the area became part of the Rancho Ojai Mexican land grant made to Fernando Tico in 1837 and he established a cattle ranch there. Tico then sold it in 1853 to prospectors searching for oil, without much success and By 1864 the area became settled.

Now the city is full of bed and breakfast establishments, golf courses, restaurants, shops and a host of other business catering to the vacationing traveler

So after passing through Ojai the rest of the trip was just another sixty five miles to home where a nice shower and some dinner would be a good way to call it a day.

All in all a great weekend with the So Cal BMW club, lot's of beautiful California countryside and another trip put in the book ......... now I'm just looking forward to the next one ;-)

~M

A few days in the desert

2011-03-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Unlike the previous weekend today it's pissing down rain and as stormy as LA can get so it seems like a good time to sit here at the computer and write a bit about the few days I spent last weekend out and about in the desert.
A few of my friends from LA have re-located to various parts of the Coachella and Yucca valley's which are sections of the greater Mojave desert.
Seeing how I hadn't been out there in a while and the weather was perfect for a little bike trip. I called my friend Pat and said I wouldn't mind riding out and do a little photography so he got a hold of our mutual friend Bernie who has a great place in Pipes Canyon near Pioneertown and asked if it would be alright for us to drop by, Bernie said he'd be happy to have us come by and hang out.
So that was all the green light I needed to pack up the Harley Friday morning and head eastbound towards Palm Springs.
I decided to meet Pat at his place in Cathedral City park the bike and then from there we'd go cruse around Desert Hot Springs where I wanted to take a few pictures of some old neon signs...... then from there we'd head over to Bernie's place for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Desert Hot Springs is at the opposite side of the valley from where Palm Springs lies and is located in the foothills of the Little San Bernardino Mountain range.

The first place we stopped at was the home of the first homesteader in the area "Cabot Yerxa" and the home he built is know known as the Cabot's Pueblo Museum

Cabot Yerxa who came to this area in 1913 made his 160 acre homestead on what is now known as Miracle Hill, on this hill he discovered two natural springs one hot and one cold and this unique phenomena was due to the San Andreas Fault bisecting the hill.

Cabot started building his pueblo at the age of 57 and kept working on it over the next twenty four years till his death at age 81, the amazing thing is that he built the large four story Hopi-style pueblo complete with 35 rooms, 150 windows and 65 doors almost single handed mostly using materials he reclaimed from all over the desert

The museum now holds all kinds of art and artifacts and the other thing that you can't miss is the 40ft tall hand carved wooden Indian that was Created by artist Peter "Wolf" Toth called "Waokiye" meaning traditional helper and the sculpture was completed in 1978

After leaving the museum Pat and I found some of the active and inactive small boutique hotels and spas that had their height of popularity as a tourist destination in the 1950's ......... all of these spas are a direct result of the natural hot spring discovered by Cabot Yerxa
Many of these places are run down or closed but a few of them
are still doing a nice business.
It's a long way though from the glory days of the 50's and early
60's because much of the growth in the Coachella Valley ended
up being in the Palm Springs area..........
Here are a few images of some of the old hotel spa signs

It was time to head over to Bernie's desert Shangri La in Pipes canyon,
The great thing about Bernie's place besides the topography
(it's a lot like Joshua Tree) he has a couple of vintage 1950's trailers
on the property that he's restored so Pat had one
and I had the other to spend the night in

Bernie built a nice little covered deck for this one

And here is my cowboy palace .......

After getting settled in our trailers we cracked open the big bottle of Jim Beam and had some drinks with Bernie and his sister Lynn who was also visiting from LA.
Nothing like a nice cool libation sitting on the porch with good friends having a pleasant time conversing while waiting for the sun to go down

I always love watching the last phase of daylight and the desert sunsets at dusk
and true to form this evenings color display was no disappointment

So now it was time to get ready to go over to Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace for a good dinner and some live music.

Pioneertown is an old western movie town set from the 1940's,
along with a old motel and a bowling alley the hub of the wheel
as they say is Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

Years ago after the filming died off this bar was a pretty notorious
biker joint in the 1970's called the "Cantina"
and in the early 80's the place became what it's known as today,
a great bar and restaurant providing top caliber live entertainment

This evening we enjoyed a superb Mesquite BBQ steak dinner along with a cool old band in from San Diego
formerly the "Beat Farmers" the band just shorted their name
to the "Farmers" after the passing of one of the original members
I've always had a great time at this place and that night was no exception ;-)
After Pappy & Harriett's we back to Bernie's where he pulled out the bottle of Jagermeister just to make sure everyone would wake up with a hangover the next morning..........
Getting up slowly the next morning the original plan was to drive the 17 miles or so along the back roads to Big Bear to have breakfast but the idea of four wheeling a bumpy back road with the way everyone was fairing didn't seem like a good idea so we opted for a local diner and a drive around Landers to some historic landmarks.

The first place we stopped at was the "Integratron"

The Integratron is a geometrical dome-shaped structure built by by George Van Tassel

Van Tassel is an interesting desert character, Meditating beside Giant Rock in 1951
(which I'll talk about later) Van Tassel claimed to have been transported astrally to a huge alien space ship.
In 1952 Van Tassel reported he had been visited in the flesh by human-appearing, friendly space aliens from Venus, who suggested that he attempt to build a structure aimed at extending human life and so in 1954 he began construction on the Integratron

Not to far from the Integratron is "Giant Rock" where Van Tassel claimed to have his vision and contact with the aliens and so he hosted The Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention which was annually held beside the Rock

From 1953 to 1978 Van Tassel held these conventions which had their peak in the late 1950's with as many as 10,000 people in attendance

Giant Rock is a seven story free standing boulder and the
piece you see broken off happened in an earthquake a few years back,
it now reveals the white granite interior of the giant boulder

Here's a shot from another angle to give you a perspective of it's size

Another interesting footnote to Giant Rock is that an old prospector
named Frank Critzer lived underneath the rock during the 1930s
and early 40s where he had dug out and built himself a large room
While being investigated by by local police in 1942 he decided
to blow himself up with dynamite up rather than be taken in by the cops

needless to say there isn't much left of his room under that rock
but it sure makes for good local folklore

For any of you interested in visiting the Integratron they are open for tours and what they call "Sound Baths"

After checking out Giant Rock we headed back towards the Integatron

Now just up the street from the Integratron is the other great Landers place of interest Gubler Orchids

Gubler Orchids was started in 1956 by Hans and his wife Esther in Altandena CA
where they sold flowers out of the back of their station wagon

Over the ensuing years the orchid business kept growing at every location they were
at so by 1975 they decided to move their greenhouse operation to the Landers location
And wouldn't you know the desert climate is a perfect place to grow these amazing flowers

The folks there are really friendly and are happy to take you on
a tour of the greenhouse and explain all about the many beautiful
types of orchids they grow at the facility.

The other cool thing that I noticed at the facility was this unique
windmill that was turning quite rapidly in the desert wind providing
clean electric power to the greenhouses

After all that it seemed like everyone's bumpers were dragging a bit so we headed back to Bernie's, Pat and I packed up our things thanked our gracious host and headed back to Pat's place.
I wanted to stop and take a few pic's of the old film set at Pioneertown so Pat and I stopped there for a bit

Here's the old barn sound stage

Bank and Hotel

And another cool thing that's there is the Pioneertown Bowl
originally built by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry this small six lane
bowling alley is only open on the weekends and then only for certain months
out of the year But for a real throw back in time this saloon and bowling alley
has a rich history of all the western movie stars that spent their off camera
hours having a great time there

Real cool old Wurlitzer juke box

And the great old mural painted along the wall depicting Pioneertown
Filming History and "How the West was Once"
by artist Wallace Roland Stark

after that Pat and I drove back to his house where I packed up the Harley for the ride home and hit the road westbound

As I headed back to LA while sliding by cars and trying to find that gap in traffic where you settle in and review the flashes of images of the things you experienced and the people you interacted with the last couple of days,
it invariably seems like you did more in twenty four hours than you did the whole week prior

That thought always put's a smile on my face ......

~M

Bisbee Arizona Run

2010-11-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

A few months ago my friend Pat Bianchi (who I do most of my runs with) said the Southern California BMW Club was going to do a ride to Bisbee Arizona and wanted to know if that was something I'd like to do...... of course it took me about two seconds to fire back an e-mail saying count me in on that one.
I've been through the southwest many times especially on the summer vacation trips my family would take every year when I was a kid to the mid-west to visit our relatives, but on those Summer trips the furthest south-east we ever went was going through the city of Tuscon so I was really looking forward to going to a place like the old historic mining town of Bisbee and it being a part of the country that I had never been to before.

The run from LA to Bisbee would consist of five days so I wanted to make sure the Harley was in tip-top shape...... unfortunately a month and a half earlier a kid had made an illegal U turn in front of me and I had to lay the bike down and as with any repairs (especially one's that involve paint) you never get your bike back as soon as you'd like so here I was getting mine back the night before I was to leave and not really knowing if there were any hidden bugs in it before I had to take off early in the morning (normally you'd like to test it out) so it was with some trepidation that I set out to meet Pat in Beverly Hills at 7am the following morning

As I rode down Sunset Blvd. the Harley seemed to be running great and it was good to be back on the bike after my accident, and other than the speedo breaking during the trip the bike ran like a champ the whole run.
After meeting Pat and fueling up our motorcycles we both hit the freeway leaving downtown LA and headed south to the town of Temecula to meet up with the rest of the BMW group

Temecula is one of those old California towns where the Spanish Missionaries established the Mission of San Luis Rey de Francia in 1798 and normally that would have been a nice little ride just to old town Temecula but all we had time for was some breakfast and be on our way with the rest of the group

The day we left was on a Thursday and here in the US that particular day is designated as Veterans Day and there were an amazing amount of motorcyclists out on the road for the various rides that were seemingly everywhere organized with the theme of a Veterans Day Ride, I can't think of any better way to spend a day keeping in mind those who have served and sacrificed be it the living or the dead

After breakfast Pat and I met up with the BMW group riders and all told there were twelve of us that would be making the run, now the really great thing about the So Cal BMW club is that when they do a run anywhere they try and stay off the main highway's as much as possible which always makes for more miles and a longer trip but it equals out with the best possible scenery one can find on the open road.
Heading south towards San Diego our route would take us close to the Mexican border
And the further south-east one travels the more desert the terrain becomes

We rode along Hwy 8 eastbound ending up in Ocotillo for some fuel and a short break

After fueling up we took Hwy 98 South towards Calexico,

Sadly I heard that a few days later on that same two lane road four motorcyclists died when some guy tried to pass a group while another car was coming the other way and ran out of room causing the west-bound vehicle trying to avoid a head-on collision to swerve out of control and hit the group riding east-bound and the bastard that caused the whole thing kept going and is still being sought. They say for motorcyclists there is safety in numbers............ usually that's the case, just not for those unfortunate bikers

The ride was shaping up quite nicely, although most of the day so far we had been riding in a fairly strong cross-wind which was the only drag but it was sure clear and beautiful

Arriving in Calexico which is a border town named for California “Cal” and Mexico “exico" and this was the designated place we would stop for some lunch.
Somewhere along the way we lost two riders, I can't say what happened to them and I'm not really surprised because one of the them literally was riding a step through scooter which is not something one should ride on a long motorcycle run
C'est la vie............

So without a particular place in mind our group leader rode around for a bit looking for a decent restaurant and not finding one he finally decided on McDonald's .......... since that's a place I never eat at Pat knew he and I both would rather have a taco so we took off to find our own lunch spot which just happened to be up the street.
We placed our order and I told Pat there was a dive bar back around the corner that I wanted to take a picture of their wall art so while he waited I took off to do that

I really liked Heckle and Jeckle as drunken borracho's

The first clue we should have had that the food wasn't going to be that good was that all the advertising for the place was for beer (and they certainly had a lot to choose from) Pat ordered a burrito and I guess he didn't realize it was the gristle burrito (must have been the house specialty) I had couple of Carne asada tacos that weren't that much better...... Pat announced that he wouldn't feed that burrito to my dog and that it had just achieved the ranking of worst burrito he's ever had
So lunch for us pretty much consisted of beer and chips because we didn't have time to send it back.

Catching up with everyone at Micky D's we all got on Hwy 8 east heading to the little Arizona town of Gila Bend.

Gila Bend was founded in 1872 and this small town was named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, it's always been a stop for the weary traveler but there really isn't much to the town except a few motels and gas stations

Now for me there is nothing like American Kitsch and especially if that includes a motel....... among other things Gila Bend is known for is one of the coolest 1960's motels to be found on the road "The Space Age Lodge"
Opened in 1963 this space age themed motel and restaurant is all about that era when man first orbited the earth and the cars had fins to simulate flight and for us it was a real cool place to stay for the night and a great finish for the day's ride
This is how the place looked as we pulled up at sunset

Here is their flying saucer sign....... too cool

The next morning I got up and took a quick spin around Gila Bend to capture a few things that caught my eye
Like the old Stouts Hotel

Or this old building from the late 1800's

Here's the old wooden school house

During the previous evening Pat and I had discussed what the next stop would be for the following day's ride..... The BMW group was going to ride to Tucson to the Pima Air Museum and take the tour of the many military aircraft that are located there while Pat and I decided to skip the plane museum and take a different route to get to Bisbee which consisted of going further south and east, we rode parallel to the Mexican border for much of our days ride checking out some of the little towns and scenery the road less traveled had to offer us

We took Hwy 85 south from Gila Bend and after about thirty miles along that highway we were rewarded with our decision to go southward with this beautiful desert landscape

Now oddly enough this picturesque area is part of the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range.........It's never a surprise what the US military will blow up
But Pat and I pulled off the highway along the range for a few photos because this is what one thinks of when in the Arizona desert with the beautiful rock formations and Saguaro Cactus

The next town we were headed for was the old mining town of Ajo, which is the Spanish word for garlic, but god only knows why they named it that because they don't grow garlic here....... Ajo is known for High-grade native copper and the picturesque town has the distinction of having the first copper mine in Arizona.
It is a place with a rich western history and I would have loved to have spent a few hours there exploring the town but Pat and I had a lot of miles to ride before we made it to our destination in Bisbee, so here's the only pic I got of the place while riding through their civic center.
The old mission church in Ajo

Our next stop was the little town of "Why" and the unusual name of the town comes from the fact that the two major highways, State Routes 85 and 86, originally intersected in a Y-intersection, so after fueling up the bikes we took hwy 86 through the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation. It was along this route that the realization hit me of the devastating affects alcoholism and drunkenness has had on the Indian community
All along the side of the road you would see it littered with booze bottles, as what I assume would have been tossed out by drunken Indians driving home, mind you most of the littered bottles were all hard alcohol like this empty fifth bottle

The other thing that would accompany all these liquor bottles strewn everywhere
were the many crosses and roadside memorials where people had taken their exit from this life.
I remember when I was a kid on our Summer trips there was this very narrow two lane highway in Iowa and at the beginning of a fifteen mile stretch there was a sign stating it was the "Highway of Death" so when you drove into the most dangerous section of that narrow two lane road there were many white crosses placed along the route where accidents had occurred and people perished.....and seeing that really had a sobering effect to have you slow down and pay attention, I think it was then that I developed an eye and curiosity for roadside memorials.
That being said that stretch of highway in Iowa can't even begin to come close to the amount of carnage, death and roadside memorials found along Hwy 86 through the Indian reservation where it seemed every where you looked along the road there were scenes like this

And some roadside memorials were just an old meager cross or a pile of rock markers while others were more elaborate like this one where three people died (and there were a lot of these multiple cross sites)

This one had a Jesus in a Wine jug in one of the archways

Yes the Indian community is largely forgotten about in the grand scheme of American society and this dark side of what has happened to the American Indian is just one more injustice to their long and sad history since the white man first landed and colonized America.

After a bit Pat and I stopped to get our bearings straight because from Hwy 86 there were a couple of off beat roads we could take through the mountains so we mapped out our next route and continued southeast

One thing I want to mention that after we went through the Indian reservation the roads we were on were pretty desolate........ except for the US border patrol
now for every car we would encounter along the road you would have four or five border patrol vehicles and numerous check points where you had to stop, it was like a war zone.......without the enemy combatants.
For all the hype of the horde of illegal emigrants flooding Arizona coming from the Arizona Governor (re-election political BS) to my observation this was just not true......... and many of the Arizonians I spoke to said the amount of Border Patrol amounted to overkill.

Riding along this obscure route we saw some pretty countryside and great windy roads
with lot's of twisty's so it was some awesome motorcycle riding

We stopped in Selis for some more directions and I took a pic of these old adobe ruins

You always come across odd things on the road and I've seen pick-up trucks with beds full of junk all across this country but these two trucks hands down took the first place prize in my book because it was a wonder they could even roll down the highway with the amount of crap overloaded on those two trucks let alone negotiate the same mountain roads we were riding on.........mind you they were creeping along at about fifteen miles an hour..... but still

And here they are in the parking lot where we had lunch as the men were busy trying to transfer some of the weight........ I guess the thought of throwing some of that shit out never occurred to them

We were headed to the border city of Nogalas and still being an hour or so away from there it was time for a late lunch (I couldn't count that fiasco in Calexico as a meal)and that's when we rode into the little town of Amado and this was the first joint we saw

Now you know with a giant Cabeza da Vaca out front they gotta be BBQ-ing some part of the cow, But I looked to the right of us and noticed this cool place

The Cow Palace Restaurant is a very historic steak house and saloon from the 1920's and as the local area over the last several years has been used as a filming location for many westerns this place became a favorite haunt for many of the movie stars that were in those films
So Pat and I settled in for a nice meal in a great western setting

After that we headed south for Nogalas

After fueling up in Nogalas we headed east for our final leg to Bisbee

Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880 and in fact mining was done here all the way until 1975 so unlike a lot of mining towns that become derelict after the mining is done Bisbee has always been inhabited and in the 1970's started on the course of becoming an artist community and that is how one finds the city today with a rich western history combined with many art galleries and shops along with some great restaurants.
The Hotel we would be staying at for the next few days was The Inn at Castle Rock
The Inn is a historic 1895 hotel and also home to the historic Apache Springs Well

Owners Carol and Chris Brown and staff were really friendly and the Inn is within a short walking distance to Main Street Bisbee and all the shops, bars and restaurants

There are 14 uniquely themed rooms and paintings all over the Inn done by the previous owner—Jim Babcock—and friends
Our room should have been called the Coke room......... no not for that reason
but because all the Coca Cola themed items in it, I think they named the one Pat and I stayed in the Pioneer Room...... There were two beds in our room which had a different sort of configuration with one part of the room with a queen size bed and a tiny adjacent room (the size of a walk in closet) with a twin bed....... since Pat is the big boy I got the little boys room ;-)

And just outside our window was the balcony where you can see the street below and watch the world go by....... it was quite nice

Being that Bisbee is in the upper elevation it gets quite cold at night and it's quite thoughtful that the hotel keeps a nice fire going and a place to warm up right beside the front door for when you come back at whatever time in the evening

After we got cleaned up we ventured out with the rest of the group to see a bit of Bisbee in the evening and find a place to have dinner, here's the Inn at night

Walking down Main street we all ended up at the Bisbee Grand saloon that is adjacent to the Bisbee Grand Hotel, it's a real nice turn of the century western saloon and it was a perfect place to get the evening started

The back bar fixture here was placed on a wagon way back in the day and hauled in from an old saloon in Tombstone, Arizona

As with most places here in the old west the Grand saloon comes with it's own stories of haunting's and it's rumored that there is a male ghost in the saloon that prefers to linger around the ladies room........ that being said Pat said he thought he saw a ghost or some kind of thing at our hotel which is supposed to be haunted also but you know how it is with these old western towns they sure like their places to have that hint of the supernatural....... you won't find the ghost-busters here
After some drinks we all decided to look for a place to have dinner and after finding the first few places full we ended up at the old Copper Queen Hotel

Established in 1902 the Copper Queen (named after the famous mine) is a historic and landmark western hotel and it is superbly maintained...... lol and like every other place in Bisbee this great old hotel has it's share of ghost sightings and stories
Here'a a pic of the bar

We had one of the large parlor rooms all to ourselves for dinner and a good meal and time was had by all

After dinner Pat and I decided to walk around check out the local shops and bar scene which for the most part is located along Brewery Gulch
Bisbee has some very unique shops with all kinds of antiques and collectibles
so every now and then I snapped a pic here and there of something that caught my eye
Like these old soda pop bottles

Or this little praying figurine

Here's a shop window with some really cool kites

Moving further up Brewery Gulch we heard some live music so we found ourselves in front of the St Elmo bar

The St Elmo Bar was established in 1902 and it's a spot where many of the locals hang, It is one of the oldest saloons in town and back in the day the local miners would flock to the bar on payday so the joint got a reputation as a fairly rowdy bar because everyone got pretty liquored up and all kinds of mayhem would break out but it seems quite tame and laid back now days

We hung there for a while, had a beer and listened to the band

After St Elmo's we walked on back to the Bisbee Grand Saloon where we met back up with some of the BMW group riders
Having a few more beers at the Grand it was now getting to be around the time when ones bumper is dragging and all the day's riding and miles are now catching up with you, it's at that point the thought comes to mind that all you really want is your bed at the hotel and call it a day, so with that thought in mind we left the Grand Saloon and made our way back to the Inn along the lit and deserted Bisbee streets

The next day the BMW group headed out to Kartchner Caverns, while we decided to hang around and explore Bisbee.
We first went to the Bisbee Coffee Co.
and had a most excellent coffee and pastry, if you ever find yourself in Bisbee this coffee house is awesome. After that Pat and I went our separate ways, he had heard about a local spot where bikers gather and I just wanted to walk around and take some photos of Bisbee.

Walking around you can really tell this is an eclectic and artistic place residing in and around all of the historic buildings. There are unique things everywhere, like this metal sun found in a narrow walkway between two houses

And this figure was on a fence right across

Further up the street I came across these wonderful sculptures

Or how about this ceramic pig in a window

Bisbee is the sort of place where you can also see old soda pop advertising signage on the side of a building

Or the unique little items found in some of the great shops around town

All within these great old buildings

Here's an old church

Loved this very cool vintage shop

Moving along I came across this colorful fenced in "Bark Park" as they call the local dog park

The walls were full of cool graffiti art

And this old house across the street where an artist lives and had put up some great and unique sculpture art all over the exterior of the place

Lot's of places have been converted to different businesses

Here's a wonderful old steel door in a small alleyway next to the old jailhouse

It was about that time when Pat found me and said the place he went to see the bikes was a very cool restaurant called the Bisbee Breakfast Club and that we should go over there and have lunch, I said that sounded great so we hopped on the bikes and rode over to Lowell which is a small township within Bisbee. Going over to Lowell you pass the enormous open mining pit called "The Lavender Pit" where much of the copper was extracted along with high quality turquoise that is a by-product of copper mining

We arrived at the Bisbee Breakfast club and as this restaurant being a hot spot to eat at we had a bit of a wait to be seated

So having a little time to kill was fine by me because I just walked down the street taking some more photos of the wonderful old buildings nearby

During lunch we talked about where to go next and seeing how the old west town of Tombstone was only twenty some miles away Pat and I decided to take a ride and check out the small western town made famous by Wyatt Earp and his brothers after the shootout at the OK corral

Tombstone has that look and feel one would think of watching any American Western movie and along with the old buildings and structures there are several re-enactment characters walking around main street, in all reality it's just one giant tourist trap with many shops selling the same crap and if you'd like to see the OK corral where the gunfight actually occurred you had to pay ten dollars to get a look (talk about a hold up) and being that it was a Saturday there were a lot of tourists on the street so I just walked around for a bit and took some shots of the town and things I found of interest, all in all it was worth a drive by and a walk through but a short time there was enough for the both of us

I asked one of the local gals where the old western cemetery Boot Hill was and she gave me directions and also told me where I could find the current graveyard so we hopped back on the bikes to check those places out...........Tombstone's Boot Hill was a joke although I did quite like the old hearse sitting outside the trading post there

It was just another tourist trap and looked nothing like what an old graveyard should look like (I've seen quite a few of them) so we went on to find the real graveyard and I found some interesting markers to shoot like this old steel cross with a rising sun which is reminiscent of the rising sun on the Arizona state flag

After that we rode on back to Bisbee for a three o'clock tour of the Copper Queen Mine.......

The Copper Queen was was the most productive copper mine in Arizona in the early 1900's and the mine has a rich history besides the wealth that was extracted from it. Deposits of gold and silver were also discovered in the mine and as a now obscure footnote in history over 1000 miners in 1917 were arrested and deported for being involved in the Industrial Workers of the World miners strike......they were just trying to get a little better pay and working conditions. yep things were different back then if you went on strike.

We found out in the mine tour life for a miner in those days was harsh, hard and deadly while broken bones or losing fingers for a miner was a common occurrence

Here is a museum photo of some miners and a mule from those days, our guide told us once the mule's were in the mine they didn't leave till they went blind from lack of light, yes it was tough on man and beast

For the mine tour everyone had to don a helmet, yellow coat and a belt battery pack with flashlight, you then sit on a mine train and take the tour into what's still accessible (most of the mine is now flooded or collapsed)

We had a third generation native American miner as our guide and he explained all about the way the mine was built and how the ore was extracted

Here's a pic of the rolling shit wagon which for all intents and purposes was the bathroom in the mine for all the miners working there

After the mine tour we rode back to the hotel for a nice little cat nap after that we got cleaned up and met every one at 7 for dinner, walking around Bisbee it seemed at that hour all the restaurants we wanted to try were full and had waiting lists so Pat and I split from the group and decided to check out this Micro Brewery we saw on Brewery Gulch
The Old Bisbee Brewing Company is a great brewery with some amazing tasting beers, We were in luck when we walked in because the owner Vic had the title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito on the bars TV, we got ourselves a table and settled in for some boxing and beers while our bartender Aislynn kept supplying us with all the various types of brew that Old Bisbee makes, mind you Pat and I still hadn't had dinner so we both got a quick buzz, knowing we had to eat or pay a price for it later we told Vic that we had to go find something to eat and that's when Vic told us he had just boiled some bratwursts in beer and if we'd like we could try those.........That put an instant smile on my face and we ordered two of them apiece and settled in for the title fight

The brewery is not the type of place that stays open late so after the fight was over it was a bit past their closing time so we said our goodbyes and thank our hosts for a great time.
Normally at this point we would have found another bar to continue our drinking and merriment but seeing that Pat had some issues with a rental house he owns and had to be back a day early that meant that the both of us would have to be up at the crack of dawn and on the road by 7am or there abouts in the morning, so despite the urge to keep on truckin on the Bisbee bar circuit we did the right thing and called it a night and headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep, the following morning it was sure nice not to wake up with a nasty hangover as I took this pic at sunrise

By the time we packed up the bikes and were ready to leave one of our BMW riding buddies who was also up was kind enough to snap a photo of Pat and I just before we hit the road

Heading out it was quite cold (upper thirties) and when your doing 75 miles and hour with the wind chill factor it's in the twenties, well I was pretty well bundled up except for my gloves which are not designed for that cold of weather so my hands were freezing to the point of pain......... but at least the scenery was beautiful

After about a hour we arrived in the little town of Benson and found the Old Horseshoe Cafe open and doing a brisk business, the cafe has and is a Benson tradition since it was opened in 1938 and it has been going strong ever since, it's a great diner with a wonderful old neon sign out front and friendly staff inside

We had a superb homemade corn-beef hash and eggs and the hot coffee cup cradled in my hands finally allowed them to warm up....... after breakfast it had warmed up enough so the cold didn't bother us as we headed for Hwy 10 westbound towards Palm Springs and Pat's condo

Pretty much the rest of the ride back was not picturesque and with a strong cross wind at the speed we were riding the ride was a bit difficult, when we made the California state line and the town of Blythe I told Pat there was an old motel sign I wanted to photograph so I took a pic of it and we hit the road again

We finally arrived at Pats condo around 3:30 making pretty good time for riding five hundred miles or so....... I hung out at Pat's place while he made a great BBQ for dinner and we both had a nice meal while watching the Laker game, now I could have spent the night but there was a part of me that just wanted to get back home so I bid Pat adieu and took off for the last 150 miles remaining till I arrived back home....... all told I rode over 650 miles on Sunday and my bootie was a bit sore to say the least, you know after a long day and a lot of miles the best place you can find yourself is in your own home, with a very happy dog wagging his tail at the gate to greet me I was glad to make it back home without any problems............ now all I had to do for the next week was go through all the pictures I took on the trip and post some of them here along with a few words for you to enjoy and spend a little time riding along here on the internet for another adventure with me on the road again

~M

Benton Hot Springs Run

2010-09-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

The next weekend after my trip to Alaska I did a motorcycle run with my buddy Pat Bianchi and the Los Angeles BMW club to a little known town right from the California old west called Benton Hot Springs.
Pat was riding in from Palm Springs and I from LA so we decided to meet Saturday morning at 9am along the old route 66 in the city of Barstow and from there we would ride and catch up with the rest of the BMW club members on the road

The weather was perfect leaving LA while heading northeast into the Mojave desert

Having made some good time(nice way to say you're speeding down the highway)I stopped off in Victorville to take a pic
The New Corral motel sign is great old vintage neon sign from 1947 when the New Corral Motel opened, the motel sits along a stretch of route 66 in Victorville CA. and an interesting note to the sign is that the horse depicted was patterned after Roy Rogers famous horse "Trigger"
The Roy Rogers cowboy museum used to be in Victorville and then moved to Branson Missouri and after a few years closed. This year in July everything was auctioned off including Trigger
But he still lives on in neon along old route 66 in Victorville

US Route 66 for any of you that may not know was one of the old East/West highway routes in the United States and it was also known as "The Mother Road" officially running from 1926 till 1985 when it was finally removed from the United States Highway System and replaced by the Interstate Highway System.
Now all along this historic route were thousands of small towns, motels and interesting road oddities. Many of these places that catered to the traveler have now closed and disappeared but some of the old motels and towns that aren't to far from the interstate still manage to stay alive and there are a lot of folks myself included that still like to travel route 66 searching out those slices of Americana from a bygone era.

With that in mind I pulled off hwy 58 onto West Main street in Barstow which used to be part of route 66. Now back in the day this would have been a major stop for any traveler and to some degree it still is.
Barstow having been started in the late 1840s was a convergence of all kinds of things, in the rich mining history of the Mojave Desert miners came to Calico and Daggett following the discovery of silver in the 1860s and Barstow thrived as railroads were constructed to transport goods and people.
I didn't have time to photograph any historic places in Barstow from the 1800's but all along Main St. there are these murals depicting the rich old western history of this desert city

The brief time I was there I did catch a few things more for the age of the automobile and for those of you that know me you know how I love old vintage neon signs so here are a few images of some of the signs found along Barstow's historic route 66

Pat found me while I was taking pictures and was kind enough to wait while I snapped a few more, we then fueled up the bikes and hit the road to meet up with the BMW club in Lone Pine

Riding west now to get to hwy 395 we found this great antique warehouse with some wonderful old Gas Station signs and memorabilia ........ the place wasn't open yet but I got a few pic's of some of their signs & things

Riding along the 395 enjoying the great high desert scenery......

We caught up with the BMW club in the town of Lone Pine which was the designated lunch stop for the ride.
Lone Pine is a quaint little town started in 1870 and hwy 395 runs right through the middle of town so it makes for a good place to stop have a bite and relax a bit
We had lunch at the Alabama Hills Cafe which is named after the Alabama Hills west of town that have been frequently used as a filming location for Westerns and other movies.
Lone Pine even has a film history museum that tells the story of all the great movies that have been filmed in that area

After lunch I walked a bit up the main street and got a few more vintage neon signs
Like this great one for Margies Merry Go Round Restaurant

Or the trails Motel

Or this great old hardware store sign and fish

Now riding with the rest of the group we all headed northeast on our last leg of the days journey.
In the town of Bishop we took hwy 6 to hwy 120 and finally arrived at our destination the Benton Hot Springs Inn.

Benton Hot Springs is one of the oldest surviving towns in Mono County being established in 1852, travelers heading south from the nearby mining towns of Bodie and Aurora used Benton as a stop over and in 1862 the town boomed as a supply center for all the nearby mines.
Pat went inside the office to see where we would be camping and I decided to have a walk around and see what old structures were still standing,
Like this old block house

And here's the old Wells Fargo stage coach stop that also served at one time as the Benton general store

Pat had finished up at the office and informed me that the campsite was in an area behind the Benton Inn so we got back on our bikes and rode a short distance to our campsite

We unpacked and pitched our tents where we were told to go and right as soon as we were done the manager of the place roared up in his truck and jumped out yelling at us for being in the wrong spot....... well we weren't in the wrong spot according to our receipt and where we were told to go
Now Pat's fuse being much shorter than mine had a few words to say right back to the manager about their mistake...... Well he informed us that we could move from that campsite immediately or leave altogether and neither of those options were pleasant ones but the latter was an option we for sure didn't want to take.
And just for good measure as we started to tear down our tents the rude manager said he was calling the Sheriff on us (it was news to me that the words fuck and asshole had become suddenly illegal) but we complied with his demand.
All the campsites there are nice and if the man had just apologized for an office mistake and asked us kindly if we could move we wouldn't have been so pissed off but he made it out like it was all our fault and it wasn't........ So we collected our things moving one campsite over and pitched the tents all over again.
While we were doing this the nice lady from the office stopped by and apologized for her mistake and any inconvenience it may have caused us and we thanked her and said that we were cool with moving it was just the way we were told to do it that wasn't appreciated

Now the great thing about these campsites is that the natural hot spring is flowing right behind you and the water runs a consistent 110 degrees, the spring water is then fed to a redwood hot tub that sits right at your campsite

I can tell you it was so amazing to sit in that tub at night and just look at all the various stars, constellations and the scope of the milky way, everything seemingly so close that you could just reach out and touch them.

So after we had our camp set up again we hopped back on the bikes and headed down the road to hwy 6 where we saw a small market to get some extra supplies for the weekend

You ever watched one of those films where there is a scene of some sort of business where a grizzled proprietor is listening to the strains of some gospel radio station with a choir singing softly in the background as a preacher is ranting on about Jesus and the devil and then you hear his fevered pitch for a donation to keep that hucksters ministry going........... yes it was that kind of weird religious muzak we had for our unique shopping experience at the old trading post......... Yes brothers and sisters even you to can have pie in the sky courtesy of Reverend Ike.......

So Pat and I are hanging out in front of the market for a bit having a drink, not really needing to be back to the campsite anytime soon
When all of a sudden we see the sheriff go rushing by like he had some kind of big emergency to get to.......... I joked to Pat that there went the sheriff looking for the bad man who said some naughty words so he better go hide his sorry ass someplace for a while.................well it seems that jerk-off manager did call the sheriff on us and that poor bastard had to drive 70 miles just to hear that the little campsite mixup had been quietly resolved............ From what we heard later that was one pissed off sheriff and I bet you dollars to doughnuts he probably said the same colorful words we did ;-)

That evening everyone gathered around the patio and back area of the Inn for a BBQ, it was a nice setting and a pleasant time was had by all

The pond next to the patio

Here's Pat with one of the BMW club members

And me quietly waiting for a few pieces of yard carp(chicken)for dinner

There were three different rides discussed for the following day, one was to the old ghost town of Bodie, another was to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest and the other was a run up the Sonora Pass, and that sounded good so Pat and I decided to do the ride through the pass.
The Sonora Pass is the second-highest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and at it's steepest part it has an elevation of 9,624 ft, the pass also has some of the steepest road grades that are up to 26% in some locations so this pass is not recommended for large trucks or vehicles that are wide, heavy or long.
That being said it is one of the more beautiful and scenic rides one can take in this part of California

A small group of us headed out the following morning on hwy 120 towards Mono Lake and the town of Lee Vining

The 120 highway is quite picturesque with it's rock formations, high desert landscapes and pine forests

Right at the end of highway 120 and where the 395 intercede is the great Mono Lake

After traveling northbound on the 395 for a bit we caught the 108 going west which is the highway for the Sonora Pass

The route is a steady climb through the mountains and forest

It is a route that is also traveled and enjoyed by many motorcyclists, here are a few passing us from the other direction

After riding up the pass for a bit we all stopped for a small hike in the forest

A fish-eye lens view of the fearless Sonora Pass BMW riders

The clean fresh mountain air with the scent of pine is like aroma therapy and if you add a crystal clear alpine stream into the mix...... it's heaven

Moving on towards the top of the pass we stopped at the Dardanelle Resort that was established in 1923

They have a wonderful facility with a restaurant & bar and that's where we all stopped for lunch, they were getting ready for their end of summer luau with two pigs roasting on the BBQ but we all had lunch at the bar not waiting around for that to happen
After lunch we went back down the pass the same way we came stopping once more to check out some old cabins and the river

As we left the Sonora Pass one of the great little western towns you go through is Bridgeport......... Bridgeport was established in 1864 and it's another place that has one of California's best-kept natural hot springs, the Travertine Hot Springs
You get a sense of the old west and a time gone by looking at the Mono County Court House in Bridgeport

Pat and I stopped for a bit to have an ice cream and I took a walk and snapped a few pic's around town

Here's the old Victorian and historic Bridgeport Inn that was built in 1877

Pat and I decided to make our own dinner back at camp instead of having dinner in Lee Vining with the rest of the group, picking up some firewood and supplies for dinner at the small local market we headed out on the last leg of our days journey

After we arrived back at our campsite in Benton I went out to photograph a few things I had scouted out earlier that were nearby

Like this old buckboard wagon and wheel

Or this meager wood dwelling from the 1860's

Pat and I relaxed in the hot tub for a while and that was a perfect thing to do after riding all day.
After that we had dinner....... there is a good feeling about having something warm and cooked when you're camping and many times it may not be what you might eat at home but the ambiance of the great outdoors and the need to satisfy your hunger, well those two things combine to make a simple meal seemingly taste as good as anything you may have had at a great restaurant......... and that's the way it seemed as Pat and I dined on grilled spam and cheese sandwiches with a bowl of chili and a beer.......
The rest of the evening was spent sitting around the campfire having a few more beers and talking to the rest of the guys from the BMW club who where camping along with us

The next morning we got up early packed up the tents and the rest of our things said our goodbyes and hit the road heading home
Making good time down the 395 we stopped in the small town of Independence for fuel
and then continued southbound towards Southern California

It was getting close to mid-day and Pat knew of a great place to eat in Olancha so that's where we had a wonderful small country cafe style meal with friendly service and delicious food

After lunch we rode down the highway together till it was time to go in two different directions in the California desert...... Pat to Palm Springs and me to Mojave
Pat and I waved to each other and we went our separate ways with an acknowledgment of some time well spent

As I rode down highway 14 towards Mojave I decided to make one more stop to take a picture.
It was a place I had camped many times as a boy scout and I spent a few moments there with not a soul around bringing up in my mind many good and happy memories of a place that will always be dear to my heart........ Red Rock Canyon

So there it is.......another run with just a few more hours till I'm home, having thoughts go through my mind that for at least a few days you put some wind in your face and lived life the best way you know how........... On the road again........ Just like ol Willy Nelson sang about.

~M

Summer in Alaska

2010-09-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile now since I've posted a blog about one of my trips and although I've still been going out here and there most of it has been in the local Southern California area.
I've been doing quite a bit of photography now for a couple of upcoming books and that has been consuming quite a bit of my time.
Originally earlier in the year my friend Pat Bianchi and I had planned a trip to go up the Pacific coast all the way into Canada but due to some personal circumstances with Pat we scrapped that trip for this summer.
I pretty much resigned myself that I wasn't going to be traveling very far this summer until I got a call from a good friend of mine Ron Mesh, Ron is the tour manager for the rock band Collective Soul and it seems they were having a gig at the Alaska State Fair.
Ron invited me to come up for the Friday evening gig and then to hang out till Monday to see a little bit of Alaska if I wanted, well I didn't need too much of a shove to call back and and say I'm certainly down with a trip to our great northern state.
So it was at the end of August that I made my way down to LAX and hopped on a plane headed to Salt Lake City Utah and from there to Anchorage Alaska.
After sitting on the LAX runway for an hour because of high winds we finally lifted off with the pilot taking a little different route because of the high winds

This was kind of cool because we flew up the coast and then over the San Fernando Valley where I live and I was able to actually see the stables where my horses are kept with a view from way up in the sky above

The flight to Salt Lake was nice with only a few spots of wind turbulence, here is a areal view of the great Sierra Nevada mountain range

I've never seen the great salt lake of Utah but it looks massive from the air and it was a beautiful sight to see as the sun was setting on our landing approach

The flight into Anchorage was uneventful and Ron and a few of the road crew picked me up at the airport, it still stays light out quite late (9 o'clock or so this time of year) but it was dark around midnight when I arrived.
The gig for the band was at the Alaska State Fair which is in Palmer Alaska and that small town is nearly seventy miles from Anchorage.
Seems the local sheriff is a real stickler for anyone over the speed limit and we got pulled over and ticketed for being slightly over that limit.
The sheriff wanted to check all four of us in the car out and since we were all from different states we sat on the side of the road for a long time while he ran our information on the police data bank computer. No one was one the most wanted list so
after that was finally out of the way we arrived at the Valley Hotel.
Our hotel in Palmer Alaska has been here since the 1940's and it's a rather nondescript building housing several rooms a 24 hour diner & bar along with a liquor store that you can buy booze till 5am......... it seems that your die hard drinker from all points around know about this hotel and they will drive all the way from as far as Anchorage or some other place to get some more booze after the bars close, we learned all this from the local sheriff who pulled us over, this is why he waits by the highway like a spider looking for a fly and I'm sure he gets his fair share of drunken drivers

Friday morning was pretty low key and the crew didn't have to start setting up the band till early afternoon, the weather was cool with a bit of rain but mostly just overcast, Ron and I took a wrong turn going to the Fair and ended up by the Palmer airport which had some nice vintage prop engine cargo planes

We got back to the fair as the crew was stetting up the musical equipment and I decided to take a stroll around the fair, all that was there was a few farm animals, some carny rides and lots of booths and tents with various things for sale..... I'm used to the LA county Fair so this one really paled in comparison but they did have a few old tractors on display that I liked and the locals seemed to be having a good time which is the important thing.

I went back to the bands office and hung out backstage till it was time for Collective Soul to play. Ron gave me some photographer press credentials so I was able to go out in front and photograph the band during the concert.
I'll say one thing for Alaskans they sure love their music and they turned out in force for the Collective Soul concert which ended up being a sold out show

Front man and lead singer Ed Roland along with his brother Dean(rhythm guitar)Will Turpin(bass)Joel Kosche(lead guitar)& Cheney Brannon(drums) put on a great show and the enthusiastic Alaskan audience loved every minute of the concert giving the band a resounding encore ovation

After the show we all headed back to the bar at the Valley Hotel and had some food and drinks with one of the promoters having everyone do this flaming drink that you put your hand over the snifter glass to put out the flame and then inhale the fumes and shoot the liquor when you remove your hand over the glass........... yes, a good time was had by all......
The next morning I met Ron and Ed in the bar for breakfast, the crew had flown home early and some of the band members were staying a few days to check things out in Alaska.
Ron wasn't feeling that well so he went back to his room to relax for a bit and I went for a walk and didn't get to far because right outside the hotel's front door was a local parade in the street

Seemed most of the parade was local businesses promoting their places and whatever politicians running for office, I got bored with watching that pretty quick and
Ron was feeling a bit better so we got in the Jeep and headed toward a glacier we had heard about from some of the locals.
One of the great scenic byway's in Alaska is the Glen National Byway and we decided to take this highway to the Matanuska Glacier. Although the weather was overcast with light rain the drive was nice and the countryside beautiful

Ron and I arrived at the glacier after a pleasant drive and took a nice hike to the front of it

I didn't go much further because converse tennis shoes aren't exactly the right type of hiking shoe for ice and few more steps and I would have been ass over teakettle

We headed back to Palmer and chilled out till it got dark and time to go check out a few of the local bars

We had a drink and watched a local band but neither one of us were in the mood to go on a drinking spree so we just headed back to the hotel and called it a night

The next day even though Ron wasn't feeling that well we took a nice drive to the little town of Seward which is what one would think of as a quintessential type of small Alaskan town, it's also where some of the cruise ships dock so we were hoping for a good day exploring some more of Alaska.
For the first time since we arrived the sun was out and it was partly cloudy with a temperature in the low sixties so things seemed perfect for a good day out on the road

The Seward Highway is a National Scenic Byway and a really spectacular 127 mile drive
that runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula and Turnagain Arm, for which it was designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Driving along the waters edge once we got passed Anchorage the highway travels along a huge bay that is quite beautiful as the tide comes in and out three times a day we were told

Further along we passed this small lake and meadow with lot's of water lily pads

Here's one of the many lakes we passed

As we drove into Seward you could see one of the cruise ships that was docked in the port

Seward also has the seventh most lucrative fisheries port in the United States

We drove down the main street looking for the Showcase lounge that one of the band members recommended to us as a great place to eat

Seward being a very small town we found the lounge quite quickly

Thorn's Showcase Lounge is the best place to get a cocktail and meal in Seward, and for us this bar was the one place we got a great meal the whole time we were in Alaska............ It's a real cool lounge with it's 70's style button leather chairs and booths while your surrounded by the largest Jim Beam novelty liquor bottle collections in the world (over 1,500 bottles valued at a million dollars) and what you see on the walls is just a small part of the over all collection

Having some amazing Alaskan Halibut and steak Ron and I were pretty happy to be dining in this joint
When we stepped outside after our meal our waitress and her girlfriend were having a smoke outside and we asked about an old church we had also heard about that was converted into a coffee house with great deserts, well it seems our waitresses girlfriend was the one who worked there and she being the only one working was on her break for the next few hours and the place was closed.
They were kind enough though to tell us where to find the place and also where Ron and I could pick some wild raspberry's that were growing in an alley by the church

And these wild raspberry's were delicious!!

Heading back to the hotel along the Seward Highway we stopped at a few places that had some vintage signs

Like this old bar sign with the girl in a martini glass,
Then we happened upon one of the more unique spots I encountered in Alaska

It's rare to find some great vintage neon signs in Alaska but this joint has a really good one...... now this place has been around since 1902 and who knows what kind of incarnations it's gone through but as of today it's run by a gal named Mary Lou whose been there since the 1950's
It's a small liquor store in a log cabin and besides some snacks and booze Mary Lou sells T-Shirts, Panties and what she calls hardcore Alaskan gifts........ there are a whole bunch of St. Pauli Girl posters tacked up on the outside of the place and funny enough the model on the poster kinda looked like what Mary Lou did back in the day (she was kind enough to show us her 1950's glamor photos)Ron and I both got one of her very cool t-shirts and skipped on the panties

Mary Lou's log cabin liquor store

And this motel and biker bar was right next door

Continuing our journey back to Palmer the sun was finally starting to set

I saw a whole bunch of cars stopping and people running to the side of the road where the water is so I stopped too and watched a few pods of Beluga whales come into the bay on the evening tide........ that was really cool to see and just about the only wildlife we saw in Alaska except for the one moose that was trotting on the freeway

Funny enough that area was called Beluga bay ....... and it was quite beautiful as the sun set

By the time we arrived back at the hotel Ron was feeling quite poorly so he went straight to bed while I decided to go check out the carny rides at the State fair a mile up the road.
Like most of us I love the magical atmosphere of a carnival at night, the sights and sounds along with the flash and glitter of the various colors of bulb and neon lights makes for a wonderful display, one that always evokes moments of when we were kids and that rush of excitement that the carnival experience leaves us with an indelible memory of that place and time

The next day Ron stayed at the hotel till checkout trying to get a bit better
and we left that afternoon to catch our flights back home.
We had some time to kill so we walked around the old section of downtown Anchorage and checked out some of the local shops and had a late lunch

The great art deco 4th Avenue Theatre built in 1941

And the Alaskan visitors bureau

Ron and I got to the airport and waited for our prospective flights (his was 7:30pm and mine 12:30am) so after an hour or so Ron said his goodbyes and headed off to Atlanta, Georgia while I stayed and slowly watched the sun set in the western skyline
happy to be going home and having a few days to get ready for my next motorcycle trip to Benton Hot Springs near Mono Lake CA.
Ahhhhhh life is good.......

~M

Open Highways & Roadside Motels

2010-04-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything for awhile now, but I have been doing a lot of photography in and around the greater Los Angeles area and you can see some of my work here on flicker
Mark Peacock Photography

One of the things I love to photograph is old neon motel signs and eateries, whether it's day or night I'll capture these beacons of the roadside that advertise a place to get a bite or spend the night, it's the warm glow of neon that makes the night magical and some old burger joint or honky tonk only add to the flavor
So here a slide-show video I put together with some of my images of the road and the type of signage that one finds along that highway all to the music of Wayne "The Train Hancock signing one of my personal favorites "California Blues"

~M

Pioneertown

2009-12-30T15:27:00.000-08:00

So it's getting close to Christmas and I'm wondering what I'm going to do, there isn't much really to keep me anchored here at home and having a bit of wanderlust I thought about what or where I'd like to do something.
It can be that way sometimes during the holiday's if you don't have family gatherings or someone close to your heart to spend the time with, and it's this time of year when much of that comes into the fore.
All of this was in my mind when I got a phone call from my friend Pat telling me I was invited to spend the Christmas weekend out at our mutual friend Bernie's place in Pioneertown, I had to smile at the perfect timing of the invite because a little road trip was just what the doctor ordered.

I packed a few things and headed out to the high desert in Yucca Valley on Christmas morning which is about a two and a half hour drive from Los Angeles

Arriving in Yucca Valley there are always a couple of old motel landmarks I look for to tell me I'm getting close to Pioneertown

The Yucca Inn

And the Sands, (love that old Vegas style script)

Making a left turn onto Pioneertown road from route 62 it's a short fifteen minute drive to the old Pioneertown movie set.
I hadn't seen Bernie for about three or so years now, he had sold his business in LA and bought a unfinished house on some acreage in Pipes Canyon near Pioneertown in Yucca Valley. All of this high desert area is quite close to
Joshua Tree National Park
Which is some of the most beautiful and scenic desert in the world, the topography in and around Pioneertown is much of the same type of terrain that one would find in the national park except that it's sparsely inhabited with homes and ranches.
When Bernie first moved out to his place he had a small collection of vintage trailers and we'd all get together and ride quads during the day and hang out by the campfire at night till it was time to retire unless of course we were all at Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace getting tanked.

Driving in I could still see the effects from a 2006 wildfire that devastated much of the area, I had heard that the fire crews had managed to save Pioneertown and I was curious to see how things still looked around there.
Pioneertown started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time to have their homes used as part of the movie set.
A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane Pioneer Bowl bowling alley
(the bowling alley is one of the oldest in continuous use in California)

Pioneertown's facade has an exceptionally realistic look, right down to actual bullet holes in the signage and functional hitching posts for horses used in filming and you can see mock gunfights staged from April through October along Pioneertown's Main Street.

I met Pat in Pioneertown and followed him the rest of the way to Bernie's
It was really good to see Bernie again and check out the amazing job he did completing the house and the various other things around the property.

One of the vintage trailers on the property

The three of us settled in on the porch with our drinks and caught up with what's been going on the last few years.

Here's the last of dusk in the western skyline with a myriad of stars in the sky

Yes, it was a great way to spend a Christmas day..........

One thing I can tell you about the high desert this time of year is that as soon as the sun goes down it get's cold......freezing cold !
So it was nice to stay inside by the fire as the temperature dropped and enjoy the company and time spent with friends.

Everyplace in the world has a sunrise and sunset and of course they all have their moments. California is the western most end of the American Southwest and like I said before the beauty of our deserts are as profound and beautiful as anywhere in the world. With this in mind I decided to get up at the crack of dawn and capture the desert sunrise.
Normally I hate getting up early but I was excited to hopefully take a nice photo so when I naturally woke at the right time I looked out the window and wasn't disappointed

Despite the the 27 degree temperature I stood outside with my camera and tripod catching the beauty that only lingers for a few moments with the dawn of a new day

The three of us headed to the Hitching Post for breakfast and because Bernie had to meet someone later in the day and our other friend Scott wasn't arriving until the afternoon Pat and I decide to take a drive over to old Route 66 and some of the small towns that dot the old east west route that was once the main highway for much of America

It was perfect weather with hardly anyone on the road, just you and the great expanse of blue sky and desert to view as the road before us stretched out it's long line of tarmac into the eastern horizon

It's the sparseness of the desert terrain that keeps you keen on the subtle changes you pass through, the valleys that used to be the bottom of a great sea or the rocks that were pushed to the surface by the shifting fault's and tectonic plates

Or the black remnants of a volcano's cone

Continuing on 66 we headed toward the nearly empty ghost town of Amboy

Amboy was once a major stop along the old Route 66 but has seen much lower visitation since the opening of Interstate 40 to the north, it is also the home of the famous Roy's Motel and Cafe, a Route 66 landmark

Going further east we continued to Kelso which is a another ghost town and defunct railroad depot in the Mojave National Preserve

Starting off as what was a simple train depot in the 1920s, the town of Kelso boomed briefly to as many as 2000 residents in the 1940s, when borax and iron mines opened nearby. Gold and silver were also discovered in the nearby hills of what became known as the Kelso district. The town shrank again when the mines closed after about a decade

The depot has been restored and has a cafe and local history museum inside while also serving as the Mojave National Preserve's visitor center

Here is the old defunct Post Office

And as usual in the desert you find the deserted ramshackle remnants of someones home
this one has a rather unique shaped roof

All along the old Route 66 you find the rusting and dilapidated remains of roadside motels, gas stations, cafe's and homes........ it adds an air of mystery and sadness to what once was and will never be again as the desert elements slowly break down these edifices built by man

Pat and I decided to turn around and head back when we got to hwy 40
stopping along the way at the great Kelso Dunes one of only twenty sand dunes in the world that are also notable for the phenomenon known as singing sand

Just before Amboy we stopped at this oddity of the road
A tree of shoes........

After doing well over a hundred miles we stopped for fuel,

As the skies darkened the road ahead looked like one long blue highway

It was about this time that Scott called and said he was in Yucca Valley and would meet us at Pappy & Harriet's

Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace has a rich history as a honky tonk and it is truly one of the coolest joints you're likely to experience in the desert.......It's pretty much the center piece of Pioneertown, the hub of the wheel as they say and it's where everyone comes for a good meal(amazing bbq),live music and a good time

Here's a couple of murals on the outside of the building

Scott followed us back to Bernie's where we got right back to having a few drinks on the porch while watching the beauty of the changing light and colors of the desert and setting sun

For those of you interested and would like to experience this part of the desert a short walk and right across from Pappy & Harriet's is the Pioneertown Motel built in 1946 and it still retains that old funky western feel

Dinner at Pappy & Harriet's was amazing and so were the great bands that played that evening

It was a good finish to fun filled day........

There are certain desert scenes that seem natural to me, like this one I had looking out the window as I got up the next morning
one of Bernie's old trailers........

Bernie made breakfast and Pat and I hung out for awhile, (I guess Scott was still crashed out in the other house) Pat had to get going and I wanted to hit the road again to take some more pictures so we said our goodbyes and thanks to our gracious host and went our separate ways

My first stop was Pioneertown to take a few more photos

Heading back towards hwy 62, some of the desert rock formations

Back on interstate 10 my first stop was to get some fuel at Cabazon
and check out their roadside attractions

As many of you know I like to take photo's of old neon signs, so the first place I went through was the town of Banning

(now out of business)

Opened in 1928 the Fox Banning Theatre is still in business and running films

Of course as you roll down the old roads that used to constitute the highway before the freeway was built you find a lot of old motels

The next place I stopped was Redlands a city formed during the 1880's as several railroad lines converged there

The old Redlands train depot

I like any bar with a pink Flamingo

From Redlands the next big city is San Bernardino which is one of the oldest communities in the State of California

The San Bernardino train station and depot

The one place I really wanted to find though was the old California Theatre
Originally built as a 1928 Vaudeville and Movie Palace this amazing theater is where Will Rogers made his final stage appearance, superbly maintained it serves as the main performance arts center for the City of San Bernardino

Feeling a bit hungry it was time for me to find some tacos and hit the road again

All in all a great weekend......with moments that leave memories in your mind like a painted desert sky

The end to another short road adventure with that old Gene Autry song playing in my head as I'm homeward bound and happy

~M

The LA County Fair

2009-10-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Every year as Summer draws to a close and the beginning of Autumn starts to happen the LA County Fair has it's run in Pomona at Fairplex, the fair has a multitude of rides and carnival attractions run by the Ray Cammack Shows Carnival along with live horse and mule racing and of course the menagerie of farm animals and various other exhibits.

I always like to at least make it to the fair every year and when my horse business partner Randy Cano who I buy and sell horses with was running one of his racehorses it seemed like a perfect time to see all the sights and sounds of LA's annual fair.
Randy his partner Ben, ex-wife Debbie, daughter Tiffany and I all hopped into the truck and headed to Pomona.
The first stop was the backside of the racetrack to see the horses and the filly Skims Chime who Randy was running later that day

After saying hello to the horses in the stable area we all headed over to the grandstand with high hopes for Skims Chime and a good day at the racetrack

The first race on the card was for the mules which are always a trip to watch as they sprint down the track with the jockeys usually yelling like wild Indians when they leave the gate because.......well, they can be rather stubborn and ornery

Here's a pic of a racing mule with blinkers

Well It wasn't too long before Skims Chime's race was set to start so we all headed down to the paddock area to see her saddled up.
Skims Chime is a really pretty filly with a big heart and a very quick turn of foot
And here she is in the paddock all saddled and ready to race

The morning line on her was 9 to 1 and she was now double that at 18 to 1 on the tote board so it seemed like a really nice overlay and a pretty good spot to make a nice wager, I put twenty across the board and made a little dollar trifecta bet and if she hit the board I would do alright

As the announcer said "and away they go" she jumped out the gate and was just off the pace of the race leaders

As she and one other filly battled for the lead down the stretch and as the two horses approached the wire she weakened a bit and was finally beat the last couple of strides and ended up running second for the race which all things considered was really a great effort on her part

Here she is with Vod Farris the trainer and Randy Cano the happy owner
and even though she didn't win I managed quite well on my bets netting $690 for the race so I was quite happy too....... On a side note she did go on to win her next race start on the first day of racing at the Fresno fair.......... A really good filly indeed !!

Randy and the rest of the crew wanted to stay and play some more races, and I decided not to give my winnings back to the track so I headed off to the fair to see some of the rides and exhibits

There is something about a carnival that triggers some great memories of when we were kids, sights and sounds along with the myriad of colors of the various rides and booths give a sense of mystery as excitement abounds.
Carny barkers announce the fun that can be had for only a few tickets and all you have to do is step right up, go inside, play that game or take a ride
It's in those moments that you can re-connect with the times in your life when the thrill of a carnival experience was memorable

More than anything I was just happy walking around taking pictures of the things I found of interest and one of the things I quite liked was some of the artwork found on the rides

Like this scene for the Mardi Gras ride

Or this honey bee that seemed inviting for some small kids

There were quite a few tents with various games where you could win a prize if you were a lucky winner

And of course what kind of fair would it be if there wasn't an array of odd and quite fattening foods to eat, you surely wouldn't be disappointed here, I mean how wrong can it be having chocolate covered bacon and deep fried twinkies.......lol

maybe a big Rosie O Donnell hot dog with lots of chili, sour kraut and onions

Or how about a Krispy Kreme donut chicken sandwich with raspberry sauce

Or a nice big zucchini weenie......

of course one might opt for a giant slice of pizza

But you could always feel like royalty eating at King Taco

And yes for those purists a nice corn on the cob at the Corn Shack might do

Or maybe order a Hot Dog on a Stick from these two lovely girls

But I decided to do the wise thing and ordered a falafel at the Greek stand with some fresh lemonade to drink......and it was quite good ;-)

Catching up with everyone we strolled around taking a look at the livestock and I even caught a pic of my friends as Texas Longhorns

With all the rides, games and exhibits the other thing you'll find are the various animals Like the Giant White mountain Steer, and let me tell you they were not kidding this photo here does not do justice to how large this animal really is, it was enormous!

I saw the Giant snakes trailer but it seemed not to many folks wanted to have a look in there ........not even for a buck....lol

Funny it seemed to be the same way for the fortune teller too.....

Besides the rides and food concessions there were quite a few exhibits, I decided to go and check out the historic trains at the Fairplex Garden Railroad and they certainly had some amazing vintage trains to view

Moving on I found a few classic vehicles and hot rod's at the NHRA museum
Like this great old 1932 Gilmore Gas Truck

Or this cool looking rat rod

It was about this time that I heard a marching band and realized a parade was forming down the main walkway so of course I strolled over to catch the participants going by

One of the crowds favorite's and mine were The Budweiser Clydesdale's

Next came a thumping disco band on a trailer

Then a float with Jack Sparrow doing his thing for the crowd

After the parade passed I decided to walk around and take a few more pic's of some of the rides

This old fashioned Merry Go Round was pretty cool

As the late afternoon settled into dusk and early evening the lights came on and the carnival really started to sparkle, It's this mixture of colors and lighting that make the fair quite magical and it was a pleasure to capture a few images in the fading light of the sunset

All in all it was a wonderful day from start to finish, the type of day where you packed as much fun as you could, finally happy to be back on the road headed towards home where you could find the comfort of your own bed and replay in your dreams a day at the fair

~M

A walk down Broadway

2009-07-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a person who is fascinated by history and the story of what came before us,
What something was in it's glory day's and the tale of it's demise or in the odd case it's restoration
Downtown Los Angeles for many years had slowly descended into one very large decaying and decrepit city with pockets of places that were kept up for the Art culture and the downtown elites. Other than that the city of angels wore a rather tattered gown
In recent years the downtown area has seen a great resurgence in development and restoration and I for one have been happy to see this happen.
For instance the old Banking District is now the Art District and there is a wonderful Art Walk that happens there the second Thursday of every month, something I would strongly suggest any native Angeleno, resident or tourist attend.
Downtown Art Walk
Another area that has seen some progress in re-development is on the street Broadway,
This grand avenue was once the most glamorous place in the world and it was the center of the golden age of Hollywood, the many stupendous movie palaces that lined Broadway were the launching pads of the greatest movies of that era.
The movie premiers were attend by the brightest stars of the time and were seen on newsreels around the world, the glamor of Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles never shined brighter.

The day before the 4th was like a holiday here and it seemed many people were off work the day before our national independence day holiday.
I decided to take my camera and go downtown for a walk and hopefully some good photo opportunities. There still is a dark grittiness to many parts of downtown along with the new lofts and condos that have been built.
Some of these are in new buildings and some are in the beautiful old vintage buildings that still stand.
Walking down Broadway you will encounter all of the above along with the various forms of humanity that live, work or visit downtown LA

Traveling south on the 101 freeway I got off at Silverlake Blvd. and the first thing you see as you wait for the light to change is the old Western Exterminator sign

As I headed down Beverly towards downtown, what you notice as you drive along the street is the blending of ethnicity's in the various neighborhoods you pass. They invariably will be predominately one ethnic group and then you start to see the lines blur so for instance in this photo you have a Mexican market with Koren signs on the side of the building

It's all part of the continuing melting pot of humanity here in LA

As I parked on Broadway I had an idea of the sort of things I wanted to take pictures of and that primarily was the old Movie palaces that line this street.
These former shrines of Hollywood's glory days are for the most part in bad shape and sadly many are simply gone, only a few retain their former brilliance
The first movie palace I happened to walk by was the Roxie Theater

The Roxie was built in 1932—the last of the movie palaces built on Broadway and had a seating capacity of 1,600 when it opened and was noted for its Art Deco or Zigzag Moderne style, including its stepped roofline and angular grillwork

There are all kinds of run down retail stores selling crap you probably wouldn't want mixed with the new ventures that someone has opened mixed with the remaining movie palaces, it's an odd juxtaposition of things on Broadway

And you see the working poor, the homeless the have's and the have not's
it's all there..... even some wack nut wearing a bunny costume muttering some kind of nonsense only he and his imaginary friend can understand

One of the great theater's to see a resurgence is the Palace theater

Built in 1911 as part of the Orpheum vaudeville chain (Houdini, W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers played there), it is now the oldest remaining Orpheum Theater in the United States built in a replica of a Renaissance Florentine palace It seats 1,167
recently they have been trying to book concerts and other live performances, and the new owner plans to spend millions on a major renovation over the next few years

The State Theater was built in 1921 by MGM and it it offered 2,450 seats, making it the largest of all the Broadway theaters, The interior is a mix of medieval, classical, and Spanish design. It was unfortunately converted into a church. and as such, it is now off-limits to the Saturday morning Conservancy tours they have for the downtown Broadway movie palaces

The Tower Theater opened in 1927, constructed in a long and narrow fashion to accommodate its unusual real estate parcel, the Tower Theater's innovative design and exterior is now scarred by street vendors. Its famous tower has been shortened and its marquee has been modernized over the years. But it still is one of the wonderful movie theaters still intact in downtown Los Angeles

Opened in 1917 by J.M. Quinn, Sid Grauman took it over in 1919 and gave it a remodel using William Woollett as the architect and for awhile it was known as Grauman's Rialto.
For many years this theater's lobby was used for a retail store and that was finally closed in 1988, so here it sits....there have been a few proposals in the last few years to renovate and make it into a restaurant/bar/live music venue.

Beside the architecture on Broadway there is always the unique street art here and there if you look for it
Like this dark menacing face peering down from above

Or Nosferatu with some added graffiti

And you can still see quite a bit of old signage still lingering on the sides of the old buildings

The next theater I came to was the United Artists Theater

The downtown United Artists Theater was opened in 1927 by its founders Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford; who needed the massive Spanish Gothic style movie palace as a venue for world premieres of their movies, it featured a domed, mirrored ceiling, and offered 2,141 seats. Its walls still have murals of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in historic poses. It has been wonderfully restored, but is now used as a church, the good news is this is one of the theaters you can visit on the conservancy tour

Up the street from the United Artists theater is one of the greatest examples of Art Deco architecture ever built and that is the Eastern Building

Here is the grand Art Deco entryway for the Eastern Building on Broadway, this amazing building opened in 1930 and is considered by many to be the most beautiful of Los Angeles' historic buildings, as well as one of the finest surviving example's of Art Deco architecture in the world

And the lobby

Across from the Eastern Building is another Jewell in the crown of movie palaces
And that is the Orpheum Theater

Built in 1926, the Orpheum Theater is another Broadway theater that has been wonderfully preserved - from its crystal chandeliers to its grand staircase, right down to its mammoth, original Wurlitzer pipe organ (which is still played, on occasion). Open over 70 years now, the Orpheum is still a spectacularly beautiful theater. Its ornate, gilded ceilings soar nearly five stories above its 2,190 seats. Its lavish Paris Opera architecture features large balconies, opera boxes, even a marble lobby which is decorated with fine sculpture, gold/copper leaf, and 20-foot-high crystal chandeliers. In 2001, the Orpheum reopened after a $3 million make-over, including the addition of air conditioning, a new orchestra pit, refurbished dressing rooms, and the theaters re-lighting of the rooftop neon sign (which hasn't worked since WW2)

Here is the beautifully restored and maintained marquee

And if you happen to be downtown and in need of a cool libation the very trendy Broadway Bar is right next door

Another LA landmark is Cliftons Cafeteria at 7th and broadway
Opened In 1935 this redwood forest themed restaurant has served millions of customers, unfortunately for me it was closed for the Holiday Weekend
so all I got was this tasty neon sign in the window

Now feeling a pang of hunger after passing Clifton's I ducked into this joint for a quick snack

Moving onward after my repast I came across the Globe Theater

Opened in 1913 this theater was conceived not as a vaudeville house or nickelodeon, but as a elegant dramatic play house, In 1987, concrete was used to level the floor from the lobby to the stage, so that a permanent indoor swap meet could supplant what had once been the first serious playhouse in Los Angeles....... now the theater is used as a downtown nightclub

And last but not certainly the least is the granddaddy of all the movie palaces
The Los Angeles

Built in 1931 in the French baroque style of Louis XIV, it was a virtual Hollywood cathedral. Famous for its huge crystal fountain in the lobby, the Los Angeles Theater was considered at the time one of the four or five finest movie palaces in the world.

Well I had now arrived at 4th and Broadway and I decided to check out one of my favorite little places downtown and that is The Museum of Neon Art, it's a rather small museum but they do have a great collection of vintage signs and are always restoring and finding new pieces. MONA

They were having a poetry reading and Jazz concert that evening and Kim the gal that runs the museum was kind enough to let me take a few pictures

Walking past the Hotel Barclay I headed back to my truck

As I started to make my way homeward I stopped briefly by one of the new Los Angeles landmarks the Walt Disney concert Hall

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and it's a pretty cool building to see day or night

I reflected on my evenings adventure, seeing the old and the new with the changing Los Angeles identity.
I hoped that the usual destruction of our LA landmarks will not be the norm as it's been now for many decades, but that a renewed appreciation of our rich history will be left standing for other generations to appreciate.

Too many times all we are left with is a photo of what was and will never be again

~M

A Day In LA

2009-06-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Waking up to the sound of rain and the crackling of the passing thunderstorms I thought to myself maybe this isn't a good day to go out to the barn and ride horses.
The thought of staying in on a rainy day isn't so bad here in LA because we really don't have that many of them in the course of a year.
As I did some things around the house the next couple of hours I noticed that much of the wet part of the storm had passed and I thought to myself, what should I do now?
There was something that I had been mulling in the back of my head now for awhile, kind of a personal challenge if you will..........and it was this,
Go out with my camera and just take a day traveling around the greater Los Angeles area taking pictures......shoot whatever came up or interested me, but take the rest of the day to do it, see how many places and things I could capture with my camera

The weather by this time was actually the way I really like it, large passing clouds perfect for backdrops, sometimes shaded with dark shadows and sometimes sunny with that clear brilliance that only is there after a nice rain.
I packed up my camera hopped on the Harley and headed out so see what the day would bring me.
Being a native Angeleno I've seen many parts of this great city that I've become accustomed to my whole life,

Los Angeles, (The City of Angeles) is so much more than just the downtown area
The greater Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million residents
and spans over 498.3 square miles......lol obviously I wasn't going to cover all of that but I had an idea of a few places to explore a little further

The first place I rode out to was North Hollywood, there were a couple of cool old vintage signs that I had been wanting to take some photos of and I thought that this would be a good start to my day's photo adventure

The first stop was Circus Liquor on Burbank Blvd, where the giant neon clown sign is kind of a San Fernando Valley landmark
It was also the place where Alicia Silverstone was ditched, mugged, and forced to lay down on the asphalt in the movie "Clueless" (1995)

As some of you know by now I also like taking pic's of old motel signs
And the Silver Saddle Motel was just a few miles away from the clown on Lankershim Blvd.
It's kinda run down now but they still have the large plastic horse on top of the roof of the motel lobby and the original neon sign

I decide to ride over by the Burbank airport and San Fernando Road which used to be part of the old 99 highway that used to be the main north-south highway on the West Coast, there are alot of old motor motels and other things for a sign hound like me to photograph

Riding on over to the old Mount Washington area I stopped at this old super market and got something to drink

Ya, you can tell this section of town has gone Hispanic, the smiley face is now wearin a sombrero

Riding through the back side of Echo Park and Chavez Ravine where Dodger Stadium is located I headed towards downtown LA and Chinatown

Right near Chinatown is the restaurant "Philippe" and it's one of the oldest restaurants in downtown (established in 1908) and still going strong serving up their original French dipped Sandwiches, I stopped long enough to get a pic of the vintage sign

Right up the street from Philippe's on Alameda Street is the Los Angeles Terminal Annex post office building and it was the central mail processing facility for Los Angeles from 1940 to 1989
The Mission Revival building was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, I decided to make a quick stop and check it out

Crossing the bridge over the Los Angeles river I headed over to Boyle Heights

Boyle Heights is basically East LA,
There is a term for it that says "All Roads lead to Boyle Heights" this is because the area has been a immigrant destination sense the mid-1800's and for the last several decades has been primarily a Hispanic barrio
I took this shot while waiting at a stoplight on Cesar Chavez blvd.

The main reason I went to this neighborhood was that the oldest graveyard in LA is here and I've always wanted to take some pictures there
Established on August 23, 1877, Evergreen is the oldest existing cemetery in Los Angeles. It is also one of the largest, with over 300,000 interments
Evergreen is the final resting place of some of the most prominent people in the history of the City of Los Angeles. Many pioneers are interred here, names such as Bixby, Coulter, Hollenbeck, Lankershim, Van Nuys, and Workman, I would say most of these names people only know of them because that is what their city is called but many of the cities and streets within the greater Los Angeles area were named after the individuals and pioneers whose work and vision made LA what it is today

Something sobering about an old stone garden like this, you can see a large obelisk or a small meager headstone........ in the end it doesn't really matter, rich or poor
no one gets out alive..... I guess what I'm saying is enjoy and savor the moments you do have here in this life

Leaving the cemetery I decided to head back to the valley, staying off the freeway I took Sunset Blvd. through Echo Park and Silverlake stopping to catch a few signs

Like this old neon sign for The Jensen Recreation Center,
In 1997, the sign was restored to its original appearance through a cultural affairs grant and at night the 17x28 foot incandescent sign (illuminated with 1,300 red, green and white light bulbs) sitting atop the building depicts a bowler throwing a strike.....really cool old sign

I've been to this joint in Silverlake many a late night for a meal or desert craving

Another old motel on Sunset Blvd.

It was getting to be late in the afternoon and I knew of a old diner sign I really wanted to take a picture of using the clouds as a background, it was in an area of the San Fernando Valley that I grew up in......the Valley's namesake the City of San Fernando. So I rode all the way to the east end of the valley stopping at the James restaurant for a slice of apple pie and this photo

After I finished my snack I rode through the small downtown section of San Fernando
noticing part of a Ferris wheel in the skyline, I made a couple of turns and found myself at the local Catholic church which it seemed was having a carnival night with some rides,
The carny workers (and they are always a trip) were just finishing setting up for the nights festivities and it seemed like it would be a good photo opportunity for me without anyone else around......here are some of my favorites

I left the carny rides and headed up Maclay street catching a few more signs
Like this still in business Fosters Freeze

Or this great old hardware store in Slymar, "Coopers" established in 1949

I picked up a couple of egg rolls at Ying's in Slymar and decided to head over to Mission Hills and the old San Fernando Mission, it was a place that I used to play often at as a boy and going there always brings back some nice memories

Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded on September 8, 1797 by Father Fermín Lasuén, this mission has had quite a history and if any of you would like to read more about it here is a link San Fernando Mission

The exterior of the Convento

Across from the mission are some wonderful gardens so I walked over and took some pictures of the gardens and the various flowers,

A statue of Father Junípero Serra and a native child
Father Serra was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in California

Walking back across the street I took a few more photos of the mission
Here is the interior of the Convento

Leaving the mission I took a photo of the one tree that is synonymous with Southern California

Well I was almost home and it looked like my photo shoot day would end like it started taking a pic of one last vintage sign......Hearts diner

And speaking of hearts and that song by Randy Newman..........

Yes.........I love LA

~M

Santa Maria

2009-05-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the Memorial day weekend, It would be a nice four day holiday weekend and the weather was supposed to be quite nice.
I was thinking I would stick around and catch a local horse show and maybe ride my bike somewhere when I got a call from one of my best friends Barry Weiss.
Seems the old Paso Robles Hot Rod Show which had moved to the city of Santa Maria was going to be this weekend and Barry said he had a room for the car show and wouldn't be staying there Friday night so I was welcome to share it with our good friend Joe Pro who was flying in from Boston to help drive Barry's 1947 Cadillac Led Sled and hang out for the weekend

This was too sweet an offer to pass up on......a little money for gas and a few meals.....Looked like it was going to be my kind of low budget holiday

I figured a few days off for the horses wouldn't hurt them, although I knew they would miss all the carrots that seemed to come their way when I'm around.
Barry said meet Joe and him at his house around noon and we would all leave together.
Now Barry is a night owl in every sense of the word and by now I know twelve means two, so at two I gave him a call and sure enough they we're just walking out the door

lol.....Well I had already decided to ride by myself anyway and take some pictures so I just said I'd meet them up along the highway or in Santa Maria and that was cool with Barry

So it was just going to be me riding solo, and that's not a bad thing
I don't mind being alone with my thoughts and memories, they can criss cross and play re-runs of my various life moments stored in this brain of mine, the flashes of this and that at eighty miles an hour is a calming yet intense feeling as you weave your way in and out of traffic.

The direct route to Santa Maria is the 101 highway that runs north and south over a great stretch of California, sometimes following along side the deep blue of the Pacific and then going inland a bit where the rolling hills and various farms make for a nice scenic view

Heading north with the traffic I rode pretty hard till I got almost to the little town of Buellton, for many years I've passed this old abandoned dining car restaurant that sits along the original 101 highway and I've always wanted to take pictures of it. I pulled off the main highway and stopped to take a few pic's and check it out

The place has a interesting bit of history and if any of you are curious
here is a great link explaining all about it
Cafe Dining Cars

Fueling up in Buellton I continued on the last little stretch of my journey and this part of the 101 is quite pleasant and only thirty miles south of Santa Maria

Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California
The city was started in 1875 by four of the valley's prominent settlers and Agriculture, as always, continues to serve as one of the City's prime economic influences.
Located in the heart of Santa Maria, the Historic Santa Maria Inn has been a Central Coast landmark since 1917 and this is the center of the West Coast Kustoms car show on Friday night.
Here everyone seems to meet and hang out while scores of hot rods and custom cars cruse South Broadway in front of the hotel, parking my scooter I finally met up with Barry and Joe in the hotel's front parking lot

I also ran into our friend Steve Werthehimer owner of the Continental Club in Austin Texas, a great guy and one of the coolest kat's your ever likely to meet.
(btw.....he put's on probably the best Hot Rod and custom car show in the country)
Check out the link here for the car show
Lone Star Roundup

After hanging out and having a good time looking at all the great cars I decided to get back on the bike and see if I could find any vintage signs, And Santa Maria has some cool ones
Like this one for Bill's Hamburgers

Or this old Ghost neon sign for the Valley Motel

Or this old Vacuum formed sign still advertising those old RCA color TV's

Catching a late meal with Joe at the local iHop, we both went right to sleep after the long day and it was a good start to the Memorial day weekend as far as I was concerned
The next morning we got up and headed over to the fairgrounds (where the West Coast Kustoms car show is held) with Barry's Caddy to find a spot with the hundreds of other cars and trucks that would be on display

Joe found a nice spot out on the large grass field for the Caddy and we decided to take a look around and check out some of the other amazing vehicles that were entered for this show that West Coast Kustoms has been putting on for twenty eight years now

The nice thing about arriving fairly early is that you can take some great photos without people getting in the frame, so that's what I proceeded to do
Here are some of my favorite pic's

The really cool thing about Rat Rods and customs are the little unique things that someone fabricates or designs, to me the cars are individual works of art and there are so many variations of this art.....see for the most part Kustoms are not restored or perfect display's of the original, they have been modified to varying degrees to make that vehicle special and like no other...... I Love that, and I never cease to be amazed at the creativity one can see at a show like this

Sometimes it's just some funny thing someone adds to the ride
like this chicken

Or some art work

Or this nasty fat rat

Sometimes it's just the odd thing you see that amuses you,
like this sign

And you can enjoy all kinds of things at the show, like first rate Rockabilly bands
entertaining and putting you in the mood while you eat some taco's (my favorite food vendor) or a maybe watching someone else stuff a big fat sausage into their pie hole...... oh ya daddy!....... it's certainly a slice of Americana

Yes, it's a menagerie of all kinds of things

A drink with friends

A pinstriper working on a Hot Rod

or some art etched in glass

Yep, certainly a lot to see at the show

Well It was getting time for me to get going towards home, so I said my goodbye's took a parting shot and hit the road again

As I headed out of town I stopped at the local cemetery, and even though that it's a nice long weekend and all the underlying theme is Memorial Day and the sacrifice made by our service men and women over the years.....and if you really think about it for a moment you realize that nothing in this life is free.....and yes many gave with everything they had and all that they were ever gonna have
It's always a good thing to ponder and pay your respects I think
Count your blessings is what my dad used to say........

I watched this crow caw on top of this headstone for awhile wondering if it was an omen and all these dark thoughts arose inside my mind

Well after a few moments of that I said to myself omen or not you better get your ass on the road
So I hit the 101 southbound flying by the vineyards and gentle rolling hills alone again with my thoughts and memories

Stopping in the old west town of Los Alamos to fuel up again I walked around the town for a bit and took a few more photos

Here's the Union Hotel built in 1880

Well It was starting to get late in the day and I wanted to catch the Laker basketball game as they were playing in the western conference finals so I headed down to Ventura to make a bar stop and watch a little bit of it

As I rode I stopped here and there and took some pic's of things along the way
Like these grazing horses

Or this cool old neon motel sign

Or the blue pacific ocean

As I arrived in Ventura I needed to fill that hole in my stomach so I stopped at Tony's (best in Ventura) and got a couple slices of pie, sitting on the bench I shot this reflection of my Harley in the window

After my meal I headed downtown and parked my bike next to this cool rat bobber and walked across the street to the Star Lounge

Ventura is a great place to visit if any of you that read this and have never been to this lovely seaside city, a lot of great things to see and do and of course the beaches are beautiful

After watching the first quarter of the game I decided to get back on the highway heading south towards LA

Dropping into Westlake I stopped at Jack's restaurant and bar got me a nice baked apple with ice cream and a coffee, settled in at the bar with the other Laker fans and watched our team pull off a gritty win

I rode the rest of the way home in no time it seemed and my dogs were happy to see me and get a late dinner, as I reflected on the day I felt a inner sense of satisfaction knowing that I squeezed just about every moment I could as the hours went by.......It's after days like this that your bed becomes your best friend as you fall into that dimension of rest and dreams.

On Sunday I got up and headed out to the barn.
I picked up a big bag of fresh carrots and turned the horses out

After coming home from the barn I just chilled out and worked on my pictures.

Monday being Memorial day and a holiday, I decided that Ventura looked so good that I'd ride back out there and take some more photos of some of the cool signs that I had seen on Saturday

The first stop was the giant Santa Claus in Oxnard

And next was the old abandoned Wagon Wheel Motel also in Oxnard sitting along the 101 highway

This great landmark was slated to be torn down and right now it's in limbo while the powers that be decided what to do with it, it was a very cool motor motel in the 50's,60's & 70's Wagon Wheel Motel

Next stop was the Ventura Harbor to check out some boats

Moving on I arrived In Ventura which is the next city north of Oxnard

I rode all around Ventura shooting some cool vintage signs and other things

Leaving Ventura I headed East On Highway 126 to the city of Ojai and continuing along highway 150 to the city of Santa Paula which is another California agriculture town, Here is the the old MUPU Citrus Building loading dock next to the railroad tracks where a lot of the local fruit was shipped

Well it had been another good day riding along the highway capturing things that were here today but you never know if they'll be there tomorrow
Another great weekend......and yes some day's you can feel like a lucky devil

~M

Run to Morro Bay

2009-05-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

My regular riding buddy Pat Bianchi gave me a heads up on another BMW club run, this time they were headed to the little seaside community of Morro Bay up by the top of the lower third of the California state coast.

Pat had reserved a room and asked if I like to join him and the club again for this run. The weather was shaping up to be perfect spring California weather so I said why not......seemed like a good reason to hit the road again (lol...and I certainly don't need to much prodding in this direction)

After the initial run with the club to Kernville the month before I knew what to expect this time out...... beautiful California scenery, some roads I probably had never been on before and a pleasurable ride with a group of people that have a passion for motorcycling.......And I sure wasn't disappointed!

Pat and I got up early Saturday morning and rode out west on the 101 Freeway to Newberry Park to meet the BMW group at the local BMW motorcycle dealership

After a brief orientation and some discussion of the day's route the group fired up their motorbikes and we all headed out.

Like I said before the really cool thing that some of the members of the BMW club do is map out a wonderful route entirely consisting of back roads and highways.

As we made our way to Highway 126 the first little town we encountered was Santa Paula

After riding through Santa Paula we ventured west on Highway 150 moving on into the Ojai valley......the ride along the 150 is quite pleasant as you ride past wooded Oak hills and the various types of farms and ranches
Here we had to wait as the road became only lane after the road was partially washed out during the winter

Pretty cool 1950's corvette in line with us here

The Ojai valley was home to the Chumash Indians before becoming one of many Spanish land grants along the California coast.

Our first rest stop was at a little pizza parlor called Boccali's as we came into the Ojai valley

I kinda liked this shot......one for the girlies.....nothing says I love you like roses and a Budweiser...lol

The city originally was called Nordhoff but because of anti German sentiment during world war one the city was renamed Ojai, it's a Chumash Indian word meaning "Valley of the Moon"
After fire destroyed much of the original western-style buildings in 1917, Edward Drummond Libbey, the early owner of the Libbey Glass Company helped design, finance and build a new downtown more in line with the contemporary taste for Colonial-Revival architecture, including a Spanish-style arcade, a bell-tower reminiscent of the famous campanile in Havana, and a pergola opposite the arcade. These buildings still stand, and have come to serve as symbols of the city and the surrounding valley

The town of Ojai and its surrounding area is home to many unique recreational activities. The Los Padres National Forest borders the town on the north, and many back country areas within the forest are accessible from Highway 33, which is the major highway through town south to north.
We took Highway 33 to the North and into the Los Padres National Forest

As we crested the top of the mountains the view below was spectacular

The group by this time was a bit spread out and we were all supposed to meet at the ranger station located at the base of the mountain to re-group.
I spoke to Bruce the ride leader and asked if I could ride ahead while they were waiting for the rest of the riders to show up, I knew that up the road was my favorite place to buy the local pistachios whose farms are dotted all along this section of Highway 33, he said sure go ahead we'll catch up with you down the road
Well besides being able to get my pistachio fix I was able to stop here and there along the road and take a few photos of things I found of interest,
Like this old shack......abandoned and nobody home

Or the desert roadside icon, an old rusted truck that seems to always be somewhere along the Highway slowly corroding under a mid-day's sun and the changing seasons

And of course you can also always find some abandoned closed up juke joint
that no longer serves up a cold one......Like this place called the Sagebrush

I arrived at the Santa Barbara pistachio store and cafe and picked up a couple of bags of my favorite chili and lemon flavored pistachio's

Pat rolled up and said the group was right behind so we both got back on the road and fell right in with everyone

Heading East on Highway 33 towards the city of Taft we passed this old gas station minus the gas pumps

This area along the 33 is all flat with some rolling hills but mostly dry and brown this time of year

The city of Taft is nestled in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, just 35 minutes from Bakersfield, two hours from Los Angeles, and two hours from California's Central Coast.
Taft is situated in a major petroleum and natural gas production region in California and is one of the few remaining towns in the United States which exist exclusively because of nearby oil reserves. The discovery of oil in the region occurred in the late 1800s near Maricopa, seven miles (11 km) south of Taft.
This little desert town has been around sense 1900 and these days besides the oil business it's also known as the place that skydivers like to take off from and jump out over the desert landscape.

We all stopped in town for lunch at Jo's restaurant which had a lot of old Oil company memorabilia on the walls along with friendly service and decent food

I told Pat to get us a table and I would be back later because I wanted to make a quick loop around the town and take some pictures, having a sign fetish I wasn't disappointed in what I found around this small desert town

Here's a great old neon sign for the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union

Or this great old art deco 1930's Fox theater sign

How about Koontz Appliances, still advertising a pot belly stove on the storefront

I liked this old Coca-Cola sign on the side of this brick building

Or this great old neon sign for the Oasis bar and restaurant

Of course most of these old towns in America always have some sort of Masonic Lodge,
here is the International Order of Odd Fellows building

I liked this doorway on an old Quonset hut with the corrugated sides flaking what's left of it's paint

Stopping at the edge of town I came across this cool 1950's Topper motel sign

So after a nice lunch we all gassed up and continued onward past the oil fields and cattle ranches that sit along the highway

I like riding the desert highway's, it's always been a place of great mystery
and it's in these times of looking out across the desolate landscapes that one tends to go inward with ones thoughts............. and then, as you pass something along the road you wonder what someone's dreams might have been when they built this structure that is now just a rotting abandoned shack waiting to collapse from the elements.....

As we gradually started climbing from the desert floor to rolling hills, the vegetation started to become less sparse as we got on Highway 58 now moving west again

From Highway 58 we kept going west onto Highway 229 through the mountains for a bit and then connected onto Highway 41 which would take us all the way into Morro Bay

Arriving at our motel was a welcome site as the day's ride was starting to wear on my bootie more than I'd like to admit, so it was good to get off the bike, unpack and rest a bit

We all stayed at the Tradewinds Motel which just happened to be one block up from the wharf, Pat feeling tired decided to take a nap before dinner and I decided to go for a walk and take some photos.

The town of Morro Bay was founded by Franklin Riley in 1870 as a port for the export of dairy and ranch products. He was instrumental in the building of a wharf which has now become the Embarcadero. During the 1870s, schooners could often be seen at the Embarcadero picking up wool, potatoes, barley, and dairy products.

In the 1940s, Morro Bay developed an abalone fishing industry. Having peaked in 1957, stocks of abalone have now declined significantly due to overfishing, it still remains a fishing port for halibut, sole, rockfish, albacore, and many other species for both commercial and sport vessels.

The town now has been a center for beach holidays, tourism is the city's largest industry and the most popular beach is on the north side of Morro Rock, north of the harbor in fact I used to trailer my horses up to this state park called Montaña De Oro and run them on the beach (it was great fun) and if you'd ever go there it's a wonderful place to camp

Moving along the wharf I spotted a lot of old fishing boats, various birds and generally people just having nice afternoon as the sun was starting to ride low in the sky

Here is the ferry where you can take a local scenic cruse

Another point of interest that you can't miss in Morro Bay is the Dynegy power plant built in the 1950's and it's tall 450 foot stacks, they are quite impressive to see up close

The coast guard station was established here in 1948

Here is a great old 1953 Pontiac station wagon I found parked in front of an art gallery

Walking on I came across a really unique store called the Shell Shop

This amazing shop was opened in 1955 and is still going strong
You can find just about anything to do with sea shells at this place

Walking back to the motel I spotted this cool old metal weather vane

After getting cleaned up from the day's activities it was time to meet everyone at the Harbor Hut restaurant that sits right on the wharf, as everyone settled in for their meal I looked out the large picture window and noticed that the light was right for a few last pic's as the sun was setting

A lone bird sits atop the Morro Bay wharf sign as the sun sets in the western skyline

After a good nights sleep Pat and I got up and headed over to the coffee pot restaurant

While Pat had breakfast I had my vitamins and coffee and walked around the wharf snapping a few more pic's

Here are the Sea Lions that the night before we're barking like crazy,
lol they seem like some of us after a real long night of partying

The other unmistakable thing you'll see in Morro Bay is the Morro Rock which is a large extinct volcano located a few hundred feet off the shore of Morro Bay, It stands 576 feet tall at the entrance to the Morro Bay Harbor and a causeway connects it with the shore. The area around the base of Morro Rock can be visited so it's another thing to see and do if you find yourself in Morro Bay

Pat and I decided to take our own route back to Los Angeles, here is Pat mapping it out while we gassed up the bikes

Heading south on Highway 101 is a picturesque drive for anyone, you'll see a lot of the California coast and coastal landscapes along with the various seaside communities....... Here is the renowned Madonna Inn located in San Luis Obispo,
a great place to stay and it's been here sense 1958..... I loved the really cool old neon sign they have

Moving southward on the 101 you can view the green rolling hills dotted with large oak trees and in this case a herd of horses grazing

In the town of Santa Maria Pat and I headed east on Highway 166 and here you will encounter another great scenic California Highway.
This stretch follows the Cuyama River through a canyon separating the Sierra Madre Mountains from mountains in San Luis Obispo County, and then opens out into the Cuyama Valley, passing cattle ranches, going through the Russell Ranch Oil Field, and passing Aliso Canyon Road, the turnoff to the South Cuyama Oil Field. On the north during this stretch is the mile-high Caliente Range, which contains Caliente Mountain, the highest peak in San Luis Obispo County.

Gassing up in Maricopa I spotted a couple of old neon signs

Pat and I headed back up the 166 to Pine Mountain taking Forest Highway 95 through the mountains of this high desert forest

The first part of the route is rather sparse as you climb and all of this area is a nature preserve for the giant California Condor

As you come into Pine Mountain and the Frasier Park area the topography is much more wooded

Heading now onto Interstate 5 we were on out final leg of our journey

As Pat and I finally rode into Hollywood and Sunset Blvd. we passed a few of the local landmarks...... Here is the famous Whiskey a Go Go

lol....nothing like being in the local traffic again after all those open roads

But that's why you ride I suppose, it's like finding the crease or the seam of life I think..... the route less traveled and the adventure of the open highway,
It's always a journey I love to take

~M

Run to Kernville

2009-04-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends Pat Bianchi (who I usually do most of my long riding trips with) has opted out of his Harley and has been riding a BMW GS lately, he also recently picked up an very nice old vintage 1971 R50 and joined a local BMW club.
Pat mentioned they were doing a run to Kernville and asked if I'd like to ride with him and the group.......Organized rides are something I pretty much never do as a rule but I said what the hell and took a chance.
Pat spent the night at my place and we got up early the next morning, not too worse for the wear after some great Sushi and wading pretty deep in the Sake river the night before.
We had to ride to the city of La Cañada which sits at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
This was where the BMW club riders would be meeting for breakfast and start the ride from.
We arrived at the designated restaurant and met all the guys and a few gals who would be riding on the trip, everyone was quite nice and friendly and in a great mood to have an adventure

After a brief breakfast for most, (mine is always coffee, vitamins & Ibuprofen) we all met out in the parking lot for a general orientation and the riding etiquette for the riders on the trip to Kernville

The great thing about this ride and the the guys that put it together is that they map out a way to get to a destination with virtually not ever going on a major highway...... pretty much back roads all the way......and that my friends is the shear joy of motorcycling!
We first took a route going through the Angles Crest highway

Always a real nice ride through the local LA mountains

We continued onward and rode through the lower desert of Leona Valley and Lake Elizabeth

The first gas stop was after 105 miles of canyon and mountain riding and it was shaping up to be really beautiful weather for the ride, I'm sure everyone including myself was having a really wonderful time doing what we all love to do.......It's these kind of days that make you love motorcycling.....

Here we had to wait for a freight train to pass before gassing up, just another form of working traveler I suppose that criss-crosses the countryside

The first town we passed through was the city of Tehachapi, it's a city that was incorporated in 1909 and is located in its namesake the Tehachapi Mountains between the cities of Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County California.
The area is known for its Tehachapi train Loop, Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, and it's proximity to Edwards Air Force Base where the Space Shuttle lands

As we rode into town and the old section of Techachpi I saw quite a few things that caught my eye, and being the shutter bug that I am I spied a cool old gas station sign that I had to take a photo of, so I made a u turn and pulled off the road for a minute to take a photo of it

I was thinking I could easily find the group again with some speed on my part to make up for lost time and of course I promptly lost everyone, fortunately knowing the things I do when I ride Pat pulled off and waited for me to go by (and I did taking the wrong road) Pat caught up with me and turned me around and he certainly was a good bro to do that

Neither one of us had the route map, and not knowing the exact route the group was taking we stopped and looked at a California map that Pat had brought with him.
We assessed our options and the roads available and decided to ride ahead and find a point where we could run into everyone again,

We ended up at a little road house stop along highway 58 called Keen

And as luck would have it we didn't have long to wait as everyone suddenly appeared coming down the Tehachapi Loop road and passed us as they were headed onto the 58 Highway, a few of the riders waved at us as we fired up our bikes and fell right back in line with the group for the rest of our journey

Heading back up into the mountains we rode through the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm on the Willow Springs Road

Something about seeing all these windmills producing clean energy is a rather calming feeling for me, it seemed like there were hundreds maybe a few thousand of them rotating from the wind in that area
The Southern California Edison company who has built and operated the wind farm sense the 1980's plans on developing another fifty square miles of wind farm power for the future

One thing Pat learned about his BMW R50 was that it's not exactly fast going up mountains, and he was ringing that BMW's neck for all it was worth to keep up.....lol
I think the next time out he'll ride the GS, because that boy has the need for speed

I took a photo of him here as I easily passed him by

Riding onward through the lower desert and the Antelope Valley we encountered the California Poppy fields and state park preserve, the group made a quick pit stop at the park for a look around and a rest stop for any of the riders

This time of year the hills and mountains of California are lush and green, and the desert flowers are in full bloom..... this is always a pleasure to see whether it's the Antelope Valley poppy fields or the many blooms one will find in Joshua Tree in the Springtime

Here are the beautiful California Poppy's........our State flower

As we made our way deeper into Kern County we came into an area where the cattle run free....basically what they call "Free Range"
So every now and then as you would come around a corner the cattle would be right there, we had to be really careful of the animals.......it's never a good thing if they get spooked and start stampeding

lol I passed a few feet from this fellow....nice and slow like

A little further along we saw some wranglers that were herding a group of cattle, so we all waited for the cowboys to round them up off the road and put them in a large coral

It was getting close to lunchtime and being the non breakfast eater that I am I was getting rather famished(I'd been telling my tummy to piss off but it still grumbled back at me)
As we rode along the Caliente Creek road we stopped at this old red school house that was built in the 1930's
The old school building seemed like the only public place in Twin Oaks.......this town if you could even call it that was really small and very rural

The old Twin Oaks school house had been converted to a general store and restaurant,
Inside they still had the original school chalkboards on the walls, the place had kind of a old homey western feel to it
As pat and I sat at the counter I noticed the 4x3 kitchen was manned by one cook already slaving away for the customers that were there before we arrived
I looked behind me at the other twenty people who just sat down at various tables and said to Pat lets make it simple and order now,
Lucky for us and the hole in my tummy that needed filling because the rest of the group waited an hour for their food to be served

We finally left Twin Oaks and headed on towards Bodfish

Evey now and then I would catch something interesting to take a photo of on the fly

The Caliente-Bodfish Road is a wonderful road, everywhere you look there are large California Oak Trees and a lot of Spring flowers, this road takes you all the way up the mountain and as you come over the crest you can see Lake Isabella and the valley below

As we made our way through Bodfish and Lake Isabella I spied a few things I wanted to come back and take pictures of later (I learned my lesson from stopping before)
Riding into the town of Kernville we crossed over the Kern river (known for it's great white water rafting) and found our motel for the night a place called the "Kern Lodge" it's a nice motel to stay if you ever find yourself in Kernville and it's right next door to a great micro-brewery and restaurant

As everyone was settling in Pat and I decided to hit the road again,
I wanted to check out some things that I had seen and take some pictures
Of course anyone of you that know me or read my blogs know that I like checking out old graveyards and I found this one right next to and overlooking the Kern river

Here is a old headstone from 1871

The other thing I love to shoot are old motel and neon signs
These cool old vintage signs were found in Lake Isabella, the abandoned and empty motels were a far cry from their best days, now just weathered signs from days gone by..........stark reminders announcing what used to be.

I liked the sign for this juke joint

Moving on Pat and I rode into the little town of Bodfish, I had seen this place called Silver City.
Silver City is an old western town movie set that now has several antique stores full of antiques and collectibles
Well by the time we got there the owner had just locked the place up but he was nice and said go ahead and take pictures of the place if I wanted to....so I did

From there we rode back to Kernville passing Lake Isabella and the Kern River

Arriving back at the motel we got cleaned up and had a relaxing time on the porch hoisting a few beers with some of the guys as the sun set in the west
Seemed like a nice finish to the day's ride

Pat and I got up the following morning while most of the club riders were at breakfast.
we both decided to go back home the same way we came so I could take some time for my photography.
Saying our goodbyes to the guys having breakfast in Kernville we headed out on a beautiful Sunday morning

Here we are on the Bodfish-Caliente road, taking in the beauty of the landscapes as we rolled by

Here's Pat next to the old Havilah courthouse built in 1866

Riding onward through the oak woodlands and the grazing cattle

As we left the mountains we set our sights on Tehachapi

The Tehachapi Loop is a .73 miles (1.17 km) long 'spiral', or helix, on the railroad main line through Tehachapi Pass, in south central California. The loop derives its name from the circuitous route it takes, in which the track passes over itself, a design which lessens the angle of the grade. A train more than 4,000 feet (1.2 km) long (about 85 boxcars) will thus pass over itself going around the loop.

We missed the Tehachapi loop part of the ride the day before,
and as Pat and I rode up we both watched the train pass over itself.

This loop is considered one of the seven wonders of the train world, Hailed as one of the greatest engineering feats of its day (ca. 1876) and it is a truly amazing site to see

Arriving back in downtown Tehachapi Pat and I decided to have lunch at Kelcy's

Kelcy's restaurant has been in existence under a few different owners sense 1933 and the walls are adorned with photos and memorabilia of the history it has seen since it opened, and the food is excellent!
So if your ever in downtown Tehachapi check it out....oh and the sign is really cool too ;-)

After lunch Pat walked over to the park for a cat nap while I cruised around town for some photo opportunities

Years ago The area in and around the city is also known for its apple orchards, though these have decreased in recent decades, here is the old Apple Orchard warehouse train depot

And if you have a sweet tooth that needs attention,
the Apple Shed right next door has a real nice homey ambience and superb baked pies

Well it was time to hit the road again and finish off our day riding back through the poppy fields and Antelope Valley

The outer reaches of the American southwest are the Southern California deserts with their vast places of inherent beauty and intrigue

As a native Californian it's a place that holds a dear place in my heart,
And I think if any of you spent some time there it might hold some good memories for you also

Happy Trails.....

~M

The 2009 Doo Dah Parade

2009-01-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Every year in and around Los Angeles there are always great annual events,
one of the most famous is the Rose parade in Pasadena on new years day.
Well later on in the month of January is another kind of parade, one for the odd and the wacky the irreverent and the wild, this parade also takes place in the city of Pasadena and it's called "The Doo Dah Parade" this off beat parade has been in existence sense 1977
and this year will be celebrating it's thirty second year of great entertainment for one and all that show up or participate.
It's been a few years sense I've gone and the weather here in Southern California has been perfect this January so it was a beautiful day to see and have a great time with friends.
My friend Karl opens his home to one and all that care to show up before the parade starts and he makes a great egg pie served along with some mean bloody mary's
So a great start to the day with something tasty to eat and a chance to get well oiled before the parade starts

Well all of us that showed up at Karl's for breakfast headed happily down to old town Pasadena for the start of the parade

The streets are lined with people and one has to try and find a spot where you can see the action and take pictures if your so inclined like I am

I settled in on a corner and waited for it all to roll by
looking up I saw this devil and his female demon riding a side car motorbike

Next up was this dominatrix cracking her whip and dancing around

You think this guy was looking for a photo op?

The other thing you will see are bands on flatbed trailers here is one that was playing some great surf guitar music

As the parade progresses you will see odd groups of people and sometimes people with animals like this group of folks with their weenie dogs

I liked the look of this dude riding his vintage bicycle

Next up was this giant red cat car, the funny thing about this was as the car did circles in the street the cat would lift it's tail and spray god knows what on the crowd

This bunny was in all the action, riding a mini bike, walking the parade and eventually driving a hearse

Saw this dude dressed up as George Bush the demon

Here was a lone polar bear with a homeless sign asking for help

These two disco bicyclist's were cool

I liked the look of this devil girl speeding down the street

Here's another girl heralding the arrival of the parade queen

And the Parade queen herself riding her beautiful horse,

Speaking of queens, this dude sure had a great singing voice as he entertained the crowd, and I guess one could say not bad legs either......lol

Next up was the disco drill team, a real crowd favorite,
and it was fun seeing all of them do their routines to those great dance classic's

A cool couple from the drill team

The really cool thing about this parade is the wacky things you see
like this girl in a cupcake

Or a hula dude

A Dalmatian

A fish girl

Or a Sly Stone kinda dude on stilts with a giant flying saucer

How about this sign

This guy was really rockin out on his plastic guitar

Loved this wild looking truck and trailer

And here's a pic of the Grand Marshall

More odds and ends of the parade
Two old fat guys

Two legged horses and riders

Girl in a box,

Air bagpipe Elvis

A chicken followed by cows on roller skates

Here you had Julius Caesar, he would get stabbed by the surrounding senators and spurt blood in about fifteen different places.....it was funny!

I have to agree with this guys sign

All in all a really fun parade and it ended with this great drum corps from East LA

We all headed for some more drinks at a Irish pub

Just keeping the rest of the afternoon going with the rest of the revelers

You gotta love So Cal on days like this!

~M

Halloween Weekend

2008-11-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes things converge like a perfect storm, now usually that term is used for a general calamity...........But in this case I would say that it all came together for a great weekend in the hometown. The first cool thing was the Lucha Va Voom show at the old Mayan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, this great multi-use theater is one of the few remaining in use movie palaces from the 1930's

Now what this wacky Lucha show consists of is two things.............Mexican masked wrestling and Burlesque dancers
you throw into the mix a couple of comedians and a pumped up and raucous audience and you have the makings for a really fun evening, the show starts with some striping and then some wrestling and it just keeps going on like that for the next couple of hours, my friends and I had a great time seeing all the crazy sights and sounds

The Poubelle twins starting their act

The first wrestling match included one of the crowds (and mine) favorite
"Dirty Sanchez" he always has a bad cramp and then a terrible mess in his
pants then he rips off his shirt to wipe his butt....and of course there is a lot of ass to face action after that happens

Next up was one of my favorite dancers "Lucie Fur"

After Lucie were the crazy chickens

It was time for the intermission and a walk around the Mayan

Another crowd favorite was "La Park the dirty dancing skeleton with the Chupacabra as his teammate

Anther great thing to see here are the Mini's and the next match had the Japanese monster Hotaru and his teeny tiny mini, they had this match under the black lights which always has a cool effect

Well the show ended
and you could hear everyone talking about their favorite performer as they were leaving the Mayan....... The following day was Halloween and I was invited over for dinner to my friends Steven and Joyce Christensen in Hollywood
They had some other friends over and we all carved pumpkins as we watched the general migrations of people going down Santa Monica Blvd. for the big West Hollywood Halloween carnival street festival

A shot of everyone's pumpkin

Well Steven had to work the next day so it was a school night for him
So I decided to hope on the scooter and go check out the some of the freaks and get in the mix with the other tens of thousands of other revelers

I landed at Barneys Beanery and parked the Harley and started walking

This is one of the craziest scenes in LA all year and for anyone who hasn't experienced it should at some point

A Pee Wee Herman

Sailor girls

Bug Boys

Well it was getting late and I was done howling at the moon so I got back on my bike and headed home to the Valley

Saturday was full of thunderstorms but I managed to get most of my work done at the stable with my horses in between the intermittent deluges

I decided to just chill and watch the laker game instead of going out to another party because my favorite organized bike ride of the year was the following day
The Southern California British Bike Gathering sponsored by the Norton Club at Hansen Dam, this ride is probably the largest British bike gathering in the country
It doesn't cost anything.......... all you have to do is show up
There is a bike show for anyone who would like to enter and a great ride through the local mountains.

I find that this event has all of types motorcycle enthusiasts It doesn't matter what you ride even though this is primary an English motorcycle event, all are welcome......even us Harley guys

After meeting in the park and hanging out everyone fires up there motorcycles and head out to the Little Tujunga canyon, the ride is a great loop of mountains and canyons.........lots of twists and turns
I find also that the level of riders are much better so everyone has a great time
carving canyons as they say

I latched on with a group of guys as we went under the freeway and started up the canyon

Doing a steady pace while climbing up the canyon you could tell this was going to be a perfect weather day for riding

After forty miles or so you end up in Acton,
it's a rural area full of ranches and horses

Many of the riders stop at the Forty Niner for some breakfast
and sense I was hungry I pulled over to have a bite

All of the guys I ride with for the most part were out of town so even though I would ride with whoever I came across I was solo.

I decided to double back a little ways and take a few pictures of some things I saw as I was flying by them earlier

Like this old gas station

Or the Cafe

I liked the look of this old rusted tin sided barn

Turning back around I hooked up with a bunch of guys on sport bikes

These guys weren't shy about the throttle so it was fun tailing in right behind them

This part of the ride had some beautiful scenery, the type of place you play some sort of soundtrack from your memory as the world glides right on by

Well this went on for about forty five minutes till I finally arrived back at Hanson Dam

Parking the scooter I heard the lovely strains of a bagpipe
seemed apropos for the British bike show that was about to start

I walked around and took a few pics
like this nice vintage BSA

Or these custom bobbers,

Well I had seen enough so I decided to head over to Chatsworth and go visit my horses

My carrot munchers know the sound of the Harley and that equates to something good to eat so they were quite happy to see me

It seems I ended up landing at the barn just in time to give a lesson to one of the girls at the barn who was riding my other horse Bandolero

Well after feeding the horses it was time to head home put on some music and take a nap

I love it sometimes when you don't have to stray to far from home to have a great weekend........this was certainly every bit of that!

~M