Bay Area Adventures: The Painted Ladies

As anyone who has been recently unemployed can attest, mid-day reruns of the deliciously cheesy 90's time capsule that is Full House are the bomb.  When I first moved up to the Bay Area and was job hunting, I especially loved that the opening credits (complete with fantastic 90's fashion and hair styles) showcased my new surroundings.  

Along with panoramic shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and trolley cars, the opening credits also show the family tucking in for a lovely picnic in front of their amazingly picturesque San Francisco home.  That row of houses so prominently featured is known collectively as "The Painted Ladies" and, though they could serve as San Francisco's Cultural Museum, are actually private residences.  While in San Francisco a while ago, I made it a point to take a walk and see these Painted Ladies.

The Ladies are located adjacent to Alamo Square Park, and the whole area looks basically the same as it did in the mid-90s Full House montage.  Except, in 2013 there were more Asian girls taking selfies, and less families in bright colors enjoying picnics. 

We took a quick walk through Alamo Square (it was a really lovely day) and then around the block to see some other, just as impressive, houses in the neighborhood.  It was a nice 30-minute adventure, and mostly served as a real-life introduction for me to some of the beautiful home architecture San Francisco has to offer.

Full House Season 5 opening credits, circa 1992

I appreciate that the owners have kept the houses the same colors throughout the years

Bay Area Adventures: Muir Woods State Park

Back in March when I learned my international friend Bernadette was coming to visit, I was determined to show her something she'd never seen before.  Yes, we took her to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we had three more days and I wanted to do something new for both of us.  I decided to take her to Muir Woods State Park, located over the GGB in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  Besides being a beautiful nature area full of hiking trails and even beaches, Muir Woods is also home to the southernmost forest of Redwood trees in the US.  And since Redwood trees only grow on the coast of California, this is the southernmost Redwood forest in the world.

As someone who was born and raised in Germany and had just spent the last few years of her life in New Zealand, I was sure Bernadette had never seen a Redwood before, and was excited to show her these incredibly amazing trees. Now, I'm not really a "nature freak" per se, but something about the Redwoods just totally fascinates me.  As my Grannie would say, some Redwoods are "older than Christ," and you have to respect and admire anything that can literally live over 2,000 years.  Not to mention grow as tall as 30 stories high while also smelling amazing.

In high school a friend of mine sent me a postcard from the actual Redwood National Forest (located about 8 hours north of SF).  The postcard itself was made out of a very very thin piece of Redwood bark, and to this day, more than 10 years later, it still smells faintly like Redwoods. I was not disappointed to be greeted by that exact smell when we got out of the car and entered Muir Woods.   

We walked through the grove of trees on a raised deck-like path.   Bernadette and I both took a million pictures of the gargantuan trees, and took several deep deep breaths of the deliciously fresh air.  After we turned back, we happened upon a group of tourists and a guide, who was leading a "tree talk." We listened for a few minutes and my nerdy self was loving it.  We learned some really awesome trivia, most notably 1) Redwood bark can grow up to 2 feet thick, thus being a natural defense against predators and 2) The bark secretes tannin, which is a natural bug repellant.  So while many trees will secrete sap, and thus attract insects like termites and even birds, all those little pests leave Redwoods alone.

After we got back to the car, we drove down to Sausalito and spent the afternoon walking on the boardwalk, and treated ourselves to some fresh seafood.  It was a lovely day, and San Francisco did not disappoint with another sunny day for my visitor!

We entered through this gate, but it turns out we should have gone through the gift shop to pay an entrance fee.  Whoops.

Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, and even these pale in comparison to some of the bigger ones found at Redwood National Park

Me and Bernadette on one of the many bridges along the path

My pup Sunny exploring Sausalito

Sausalito beach sculptures with the San Franciso skyline in the background

Bay Area Adventures: Baker Beach

When my favorite international friend Bernadette informed me that she was moving from New Zealand to Germany, I immediately realized that this meant one thing: A California stop-over!  So I convinced her to book her flights and come visit me for four days at the end of March. I was just as excited to see her, as I was to use her as an excuse to get a jump-start on my Bay Area Adventures list!

When she had lived in LA previously, Bernadette had taken a whirl-wind weekend trip up to San Francisco and did most of the touristy things - Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square, etc.  So when planning our itinerary, I asked her what she hadn't done and would like to do.  She was so polite and European about it, when she said "Well, we did all these things but it was so foggy, we didn't even get to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  So... I guess, if we could maybe see that, that would be really cool."

Luckily for her, I am still obsessed with the GGB myself and took this as the prefect opportunity to finally take some of my own touristy bridge pictures. I knew of a great place with an amazing bridge view, and with a bit of research (asking one friend who lives in the city) I learned that the place I wanted to go was called Baker Beach.  So we made Baker Beach our #1 SF stop for Bernadette's visit.

The few times I have been in San Francisco have been pretty difficult (to say the least) driving/parking experiences, and since this was literally the ONLY thing Bernadette requested, I was scared that we would make it all the way to Baker Beach only to find no parking within a 2-mile radius.  So we left extra early and took the scenic route up to San Francisco.  We got to Baker beach around 11:00 AM (had to give the fog some time to burn off) and of course, there were dozens of parking spots in the closest lot. We parked and walked along the eucalyptus-lined path, turned a corner, and saw THIS:

Taa-daaaaa!

Not even a wisp of fog!  Bernadette was beside herself, and I tried to play it cool, but I was loving it too.  Even Ronny knew how lucky we were to be seeing the bridge in all its glory on such a beautiful day, especially in March. What an amazing view of a world landmark!  I had never felt more excited to live in the bay area than I did in that moment.

So we took our shoes off and started walking along the beach, taking pictures of the majestic bridge as we walked.  And then we started looking around.  Despite the stunning view in front of us, we were surrounded by another view entirely: a decently-sized crowd of naked men.  Because, naturally, the beach with the most amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge in all of San Francisco WOULD be a nude beach. 

With naked men to our right, large families (with children!!) taking family photos to our left, and the Golden Gate Bridge in front of us, I realized then that I - and my foreign friend - were having a true San Francisco experience.  But of course, she is European and it wasn't even that big of a deal to her.

Overall, I was blown away by the view at Baker Beach.  I've seen hundreds of pictures that friends have posted of them standing in this exact spot, but seeing it in person was really special.  It was easily worth the drive, and I look forward to showing more touristy friends the beach - except this time I will warn them about all the nude men!

Please notice the naked men sunbathing

The panoramic postcard shot

Me and Bernadette in front of the GGB!

He allowed me to take one touristy picture, good thing it was the perfect one!

30 Before 30: A Pro NFL Football Game

The very first thing I did after finishing my Los Angeles list was promptly move from Los Angeles to the Bay Area.  It was a decision long in the making, and I'm sure that the majority of the items on my 30 Before 30 list will now have a Bay Area slant.  I've never been one to be afraid of new experiences, and look forward to all the amazing discoveries I am sure to make in the Bay Area! 

Of all the items on my new 30 Before 30 list, I'm sure seeing a pro NFL football game is the one my boyfriend was most excited to help me with.  Before I had even finalized my list, he had bought tickets to the San Francisco 49ers game vs. the Arizona Cardinals at Candlestick Park on December 30, 2012.

We tailgated beforehand with a large group of his - and now my - friends.  Fun was had by all, and since this was the last regular season game for the Niners, a win was crucial for a favorable playoffs position.  The air was buzzing with anticipation.

After a slow first quarter (not a single first down) and a few missed field goals, the Niners were able to pull it together, and beat the Cardinals 27-13.  I very much enjoyed seeing the "behind the scenes" goings-on of a football game that would have otherwise been filled with commercial breaks.  As we all know, Los Angeles hasn't had a pro team since 1995, and I am excited to be a part of a football fanbase for the first time in my life.  But don't worry, my heart still belongs (and will always belong) to the Los Angeles Dodgers!

# 29: Catalina Island

In a recent issue of LA Magazine, they listed 50 "great" weekend getaways.  In classic LA Mag fashion, about 45 of them were completely infeasible without an unlimited budget and a private jet.  But one of their suggestions caught my eye:  a ferry trip to Catalina Island, conveniently located just 20 miles off the coast of Long Beach.  I mentioned the idea to a friend, who was appalled that I had never been to the island.  She had, in fact, been there so many times that she had lost count of how many times she had thrown up on the Catalina Express ferry.  (I made a mental note to suggest the trip to some other friends instead).

Then, not a few days later, my dad called me out of the blue, to suggest a family trip to Catalina! I was so surprised and excited.  Moments later, of course, I realized that the only reason he suggested doing something fun was because my brother was coming into town.  Of course.  But either way, this was even better.  Because instead of driving to Long Beach and then taking the ferry, we could take my brother's SUPER convenient plane and fly there ourselves!!

I am not a huge fan of flying, and though I've flown in my brother's plane several times, I'm always a bit nervous.  However, this flight was awesome. We flew right over LA, and I was able to pick out all the landmarks that I knew from 10,000 feet above.  After we flew over Long Beach, we banked west and circled over the island.  When I spotted the runway - literally a small strip of pavement on top of a mountain - I died a little inside.  But, I fully trust my brother's piloting abilities, and he landed us at the "Airport in the Sky" with no issue.

Once we landed, we took a shuttle from the airport down into the island's only town, called Avalon.  The drive through the interior of the island was beautiful, but slow due to the tiny narrow road and numerous hairpin turns.  But we were able to see a majority of the island, which visitors that come via the ferry wouldn't even have access to.  We even saw a few of the notorious wild buffalo that roam the island, but our shuttle driver told us to be sure to stay faaaar away from any buffalo ("They aren't cows" he admonished).

Once we made it down into Avalon, we rented a golf cart and got exploring.  Most people on the island don't have cars (not much room) so golf carts are treated like normal cars, complete with having to obey the stop signs.  I don't think I've ever seen any golf cart on the Paramount lot actually stop at a stop sign.  But anyway.  Our first stop on the island was the botanical gardens.  After meandering through the brief paths of indigenous and endemic plant species, we headed to the top of the hill towards a large cement structure.  Upon reading the signs, I learned that it was a memorial to William Wrigley Jr, of Wrigley gum and Chicago Cubs fame.  Apparently, he bought the island from a struggling development company in the 1920's and turned it into what it is now.  He is responsible for paving the first roads, building the first hotels and attractions, and providing basic power and infrastructure to the island.  For the trivia-curious: Wrigley used the island for the Cubs spring training location for over thirty years, and the Wrigley family deeded the entire island to the Catalina Island Conservancy in 1975, who now controls 88% of the island.

The memorial was, for the lack of a better word, incredibly ostentatious considering the location and the laid-back lifestyle of the island.  But, he funded it himself, so it would make sense that the memorial would seem incredibly over-the-top and out of place.  After we walked up and down the memorial, we drove around to the back side of the island, to see the Wrigley Mansion, which is now a very beautiful (and I would assume, very expensive) hotel overlooking the entire bay.

We wound our way back into town (after several photo-op stops, thanks Dad!) and drove past the famous Catalina Casino.  There were lots of signs informing us that the casino is not a "real" casino, and that the word in Italian means "large meeting space" and was initially built as a dance hall.  Now it's the island's only movie theater (playing Hope Springs, a little bit behind the times!) and on the 2nd floor is the world's largest circular ballroom.  The building was built - as well as much of the town - to mimic Monaco.  My dad, who has been pretty much everywhere in the world, could attest to its similarity... though I think no one would be surprised that Monaco was a bit grander.

After all the driving, we were starving and settled in for water-side dining at Armstrong's seafood, followed by ice cream and fresh-baked waffle cones from Olaf's.  As anyone who knows me knows, it was the perfect lunch.  We finished the day off by some gift shop shopping, and a final stroll around the main dock.  By the time we were getting ready to leave, the Catalina Express ferry had come in and the town had quickly become incredibly crowded.  We were happy to take the next shuttle back to the Airport in the Sky and take a leisurely flight back to my parent's house in Camarillo.

Overall, it was a great day, made especially memorable by being able to spend time with my family.  The weather was absolutely perfect, the flight was smooth, and the adventures were awesome!! 

My brother, Captain Dave. 

The heart-stopping view of the airport.

Island view off the wing.

Family portrait (the plane is my brother's baby, therefore part of the family as well) 

My first view of Avalon. 

The main path in the Botanical Gardens, with the Wrigley Memorial in the background. 

Full grown (about 7 feet tall) aloe plant.

Me and my brother inside the Wrigley Memorial. 

Avalon and a partial view of the harbor.  

A fuller view of the harbor and the casino.

The Catalina Casino/movie theater/ballroom

Harbor/town view from the other side of town. 

Overlooking the harbor and some really lovely houses.  

#12: The Watts Towers

I would like you all to think that I learned about the Watts Towers because I am really plugged into the cultural folklore of Los Angeles, but I most likely learned about them from this amazing 2001 R&B masterpiece music video by Watts native, Tyrese Gibson.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and skip to the 2:20 mark for an epic dance breakdown in front of the towers.

So, 11 years ago when I first saw the Watts Towers all lit up in da club in that video, I didn't really have a clue what they were.  Seeing as they are in a city called "Watts," I kind of just assumed that they were unnecessarily fancy power lines or something of the sort (Watts, wattage, get it?).  It wasn't until many years later when I first moved to LA and was reading up on LA's ghetto's histories (it's really fascinating stuff) that I learned the Watts Towers are actually an art installation.  Huh.  Who knew.

The more I read about them, the more intrigued I was to see them in person.  They are, however, in Watts, which as any self-respecting hip hop fan could tell you, is in the heart of the South Central ghetto.  And I'm not talking ghetto like "omg this place is soooo ghetto, it only serves Coors Light."  I'm talking ghetto like "that building over there is a home-base for the Crips, which might explain the bullet holes all over its walls." Certainly not a place I would want to find myself after sundown, if you know what I mean.

My friend Kaio and I have been wanting to go to Watts for years (for the towers and also to try the legendarily amazing soul food at the Watts Coffee House) but every time we were about to go, we chickened out.  It really takes a lot to ignore the South Central reputation.  Many older LA locals refuse to go anywhere near Watts or South Central in general, because they still remember the Watts Riots of 1965, not to mention the "Rodney King Riots" of 1992 and all the crimes in-between glorified by hip hop artists since the '80s.  But after reading probably about 100 yelp reviews, many of which say "get your white ass down here, you'll be fine" we finally built up the cajones to just go.  And I must say, I am SO glad we did.

As we got off the freeway at Wilmington, it was very obvious that we weren't in "Kansas" anymore... or really anywhere slightly resembling our usual LA haunts.  There were lots of people walking around and all of the buildings looked very, very shabby, but no one bothered us or even paid attention.  We had a little bit of trouble finding the Coffee House, since it is literally in a building inside another building, and the exterior building is some sort of youth outreach organization.  Luckily we saw the little sign in the window and made our way through.  The place was tiny, with probably only about 10 tables, and only 2 were filled.  One table had a well-dressed black guy and his mom ("When you say well-dressed, do you mean he was wearing a sweet FUBU track suit?" - my racist boyfriend) and the other table had a bunch of white college kids.  I'm not gonna lie, I was a little upset that it had taken me so long to work the nerve up to go here, since it was completely harmless.

Our waitress, though, was the real deal.  Low-cut shirt with cleavage up to her chin, a permanent scowl on her face and popping gum, she took our order even though I'm sure she had better things to do.  We ordered chicken, waffles, biscuits, eggs, and I ordered a Diet Coke.  Was told there was only regular coke, which I said was fine, but then the waitress brought me a Sprite, with a look on her face like "I dare you to complain about this Sprite"... so I drank the Sprite.  The fried chicken wings were AMAZING.  Like, a thousand times better than Roscoes.  They were obviously freshly cooked, and to perfection.  I was sad when the meal was over.

Mmm... fried chicken.

After we worked up the energy to move, we quickly drove over to the Towers, which are less than a mile from the coffee house.  Anywhere else in LA, we would have walked.  But I didn't want to push our luck, since things were going well so far.  I also had to talk Kaio out of taking the "scenic" route, which would have taken us right through one of the most (in)famous projects in Watts, Jordan Downs. 

The thing about the Watts Towers, is that even though they are technically a state park, they are in the middle of a very unassuming neighborhood.  Describing the Watts Towers, or looking at pictures, doesn't really do them much justice.  They really are a sight to see in person.  Anyone can drive around the neighborhood where the towers are, and you can get pretty close to them if you get out of your car.  However, there is a (see-through) fence around the perimeter, and you can only go inside by paying $7 to take a tour (you can purchase your tour tickets from the visitor/art center which is right next to the towers).  The tour was extremely informative, and it was obvious that our guide had personal pride in these symbols of his hometown.

View from the street

The story of the towers is truly fascinating.  As I learned from our guide, as well as the 12-minute video they showed us in the visitors center, Simon Rodia was an Italian immigrant, who found himself in Southern California in the 1920s working construction.  He was a very small man (4'10"), and like many small men, he was determined to do something "big" with his life.  He began building the structures in his backyard, using only simple tools like hammers, pliers, mallets and nails.  He used scrap steel from the railroad for the rebar base of the structures, then wrapped chicken wire around the metal, and covered the wire in a cement sand mixture.  He then covered the cement with "garbage," mostly pieces of broken pottery or ceramics, soda bottles, and more scrap metal.  Over 32 years, he spent every moment of his free time building a total of nine towers, with the tallest standing at 99 feet. In order to get to the tops, he would just climb up, and use a basic window-washers belt to keep himself from falling.

As the story goes, Rodia was working on the towers one day in 1954 when he fell, and he says the fall was so bad that he knew that was his cue to stop.  He was in his 70s at the time, and was content with just stopping where he was.  It wasn't long though, that neighbors started hassling him, and defacing his masterpiece.  Throughout his time building, everyone had accused him of being crazy, of building the towers to communicate with the Japanese, or aliens, or that he was building a weapon.  One day, he had had enough, and just left.  He sold his property to a neighbor for $1, and moved to Northern California to never come back again.

Over the years, the city wanted to tear the towers down, convinced that they were unsafe and a hazard to people around them, especially during an earthquake.  A few local advocates, who wanted to preserve the towers (as they had very quickly become a local landmark) asked the city to do a stress-test before tearing them down.  The city sent out a crane to exert 10,000 lbs of force and the crane broke before any of the towers moved an inch!  The engineer hired to do the test said that it could cost the city more money to take them down than they would ever get out of the worth of the land, so the towers were allowed to stay.  Soon after, a trust was set up and the towers and the lot they stand on became a state park, and is currently curated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Every single surface of these 9 towers, as well as archways and other fountains he built, are covered in colorful mosaics.  The intricate criss-crossing of the lines shows that he had a vision from the very beginning, and that at the end everything would come together.  I was truly amazed at the scope and vision of this artist.  He really did turn trash into treasure - a treasure that is really valued by locals as a sign of perseverance, hope, and success.

(Trivia Bonus! Simon Rodia is included in the big group picture on the cover of the Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!)

Entry archway mosaic made from Sprite and Ginger Ale bottles.

Fountain with tallest tower behind it

Fountain mosaic detail

What looks like a bunch of random pieces from far away, are all symmetric and make sense up close

Rodia actually named his installation "Nuestra Pueblo" which means "Our Town."

These connected towers are supposed to represent the sail of a ship, based on a parade float Rodia saw in his childhood in Italy.

1930's Canada Dry ginger ale bottles - Canada Dry was Rodia's favorite drink so he featured these bottles prominently throughout the towers.

Rodia signed his work with a simple "S.R." and imprints of the tools he used

Me and Kaio in front of one of many archways

We saw THIS GUY on our way out of town.  It may be prejudicial, but we both felt like our South Central experience was a bit more authentic since we saw a bad ass pimp in a bright-green lo-lo.

#4: The Queen Mary

My best friend used to bartend at a restaurant in the Long Beach Harbor, and whenever I needed hours of "discount" drinks, I would sit at her bar and look out at the regal Queen Mary ship, stationed in the Harbor. I had always wanted to take a tour, but as is the typical story, never really found the time. Well, at work we are re-releasing Titanic in 3D (which is going to be amazing, trust me) which also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the ship's fateful sinking. With big ships on the mind, I made a point of driving down to Long Beach a few weeks ago, excited to learn all of the interesting history of the Queen Mary.

We got to the ship after lunch, and it was perfect. The morning had been pretty overcast, and we got there right as the sun broke out. We explored on our own for about half an hour, then jumped on a "behind the scenes" tour. The tour cost an additional $8 on top of the admission price, but it was totally worth it. The ship is now a hotel and event space, and though it is technically a museum as well, there aren't many explanatory exhibits or placards to inform someone who just wants to walk around on their own.

The first thing the tour guide did was give us some facts comparing the Queen Mary to that "other famous ship" the Titanic. They were made by the same company (after the original company that started the QM was forced to merge with Titanic's company due to the Great Depression). Though the Titanic is always thought of as "the biggest ship of all time," the Queen Mary is actually twice the size (and was built 20 years later).

The Queen Mary was initially built to be a luxury cruise-liner for only about 1,000 patrons. I knew about that much going into the tour, but I had no idea of the true historic value of the ship. Since it was built to (literally) be the biggest and the fastest in the world, when World War II broke out the ship was commissioned into the British Army to transport troops from Australia, and then the United States, to Europe. They stripped out all the luxury furnishings and finery and put in barracks and painted the whole thing battleship grey. The trip from New York to England took about 5 days, and the ship consistently transported 10,000+ troops at a time. At one time, they crammed over 16,000 troops on one trip, and that still holds the record as the most people on a boat, ever. There weren't nearly enough beds for every man on board, so they had to actually sleep in shifts! The tour guide gave us the pretty amazing fact that experts estimate that the Queen Mary's service and ability to quickly transport troops to Europe when needed, shortened the length of the war by at least a year. Crazy!

Ok blah blah blah, trivia aside, the Queen Mary's story finishes like this: After WWII ended, the ship went back to being a luxury cruise liner for about 20 more years. But by the 1960's, air travel had become affordable and preferable and the trans-Atlantic cruise lines started to lose money. The owner of the Queen Mary decided to auction it off to the highest bidder, which happened to be the City of Long Beach. It was then "shipped" (hah hah) from England to California, but since it is way too big to fit through the Panama Canal, it had to go all the way around the horn of South America. The ship came, was anchored, completely re-vamped to its art-deco glory, and turned into a hotel, event space, museum and historical site.

After our tour, we passed up an opportunity to take a "Ghosts & Legends" tour, which takes people around the ship, pointing out all the sites of noted paranormal activity. I'm not a huge fan of ghosts and such, so instead we went to the bar at the bow of the ship (with all the original fixtures and decor!) and had a drink. After drinks, we took a quick tour of the engine room (mostly gutted of the boilers and propellers, but mocked up to show us what the actual controls looked like).

Our last stop was walking through the Soviet submarine Scorpion which is in the harbor right next to the QM. The submarine was crazy, so small and cramped and I can't even imagine someone living in one!

Overall, the experience was really, really interesting and a lot of fun. I am so glad we went on a beautiful day and enjoyed the harbor in the sunshine. I highly recommend it to those people (like me) that had seen the ship from afar but have never stepped foot inside. The tour was fascinating, but more than enough for me - I don't think I will stay aboard the haunted hotel anytime soon! But maybe I'll go back for Sunday brunch sometime.

The ship, with the entrance to the submarine in front and the hotel entrance in the background.

The port deck

An original shop, now turned into a gift shop, shows the ship's original art-deco beauty.

Not a great picture, but this illustrates that the ship has over 30 types of beautiful woods in it, some of which are now extinct!

The bow, with some mock WWII weapons on the deck.

The control room... I can't even describe how cramped and crazy and complicated this room was! Pretty incredible considering it powered the fastest ship in the world.

The missile compartment of the Soviet submarine Scorpion.

Enjoying a cocktail on the bow with the Long Beach harbor in the background.