Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Putting Ourselves in the Picture

The sun shone again today and we rose early, with a certain amount of anticipation, as today we were going to visit Petaluma.
Petaluma is the town that was used as a backdrop for the film American Graffiti, the quintiessential narrative of the American Dream that was released just before Sally and I were married. It embodies much of the romantic era of Americana. High School Graduation, hot rod cruisin', hangin' out at the fast food joint. I think that it was one of the things in our life which led us to do what we are doing now - see the United States for ourselves. Well today we would step into that world of Amercian culture, we would walk and drive the streets that George Lucas used to tell his story of youthful life in upstate California. Although, as I have said elsewhere in this blog, the film is intended to be Modesto, which is about 100 miles to the east. We have spoken to some residents of Modesto (for those who know, 'Shut Up John' is from Modesto, and lives very close to Paradise Road) and the film does indeed reflect the life of the town, even to Graffiti Night, which still takes place on the first Saturday after High School Graduation.
It is only a short drive to Petaluma, so we packed a picnic and drove down. We found a coffee shop on Bst and 11th, then walked along Petaluma Boulevard to Washington East. Passing and posing in several of the locations featured in the film. (See a map of the locations) The Mystic Cinema, the vacant car lot where the police car was ripped apart (now called the 'Stand By For Justice' scene), we went into the music store, where Laurie changes cars, The main drag, The junction where Toad reverses into another car. Although the buildings are still there the street furniture has changed, there are many trees planted now, the parking meters have been removed, many shop fronts have changed so that other scenes were not recognisable, however we were very happy to be able to be in the places where the famous film was made. Our finale was to drive out to Frates Road, which was used for the final drag race on Paradise Road. We both found it fun to immerse ourselves into nostalgia. We returned home via the normal shop in Walmart and Safeways and are now ready to move south tomorrow and tackle San Francisco.

Posted by fastrak at 10:56 PM

1 comment:

  1. PetalpatchNovember 11, 2011 at 3:41 AM

    in reading some of the older material (which I am enjoying to no end as I haven't been back east!) I found what I believe to be a wonderful coincidence… Sally and I share birthdays, Feb 25! Debra H. (from Santa Rosa)

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