I am a native born Californian. My Dad was born in Orange County, my Mom is an immigrant from Virginia. Since I was a lad in High School we've all enjoyed watching Huell Howser visit less well known bits of California. Some of them turn out to be pretty interesting. My wife liked them enough to make our own visits there. I've visited many ghost towns with her, and seen some fairly interesting semi-historical towns in the rural parts of the Sacramento Valley, and some mansion-ruins that used to be hiding places for Movie Stars on the mend, maybe pregnant, maybe drying out from drink or drugs. Huell went to all sorts of places, which if you're a Native like me, ought to be seen. I'm not an Immigrant with plans to make money then take it back to my home country. California is HOME for me. Always will be.
There ARE some parts of California I haven't been to yet. I haven't been to the NE and NW parts of the state. I've only gone as far north as Manchester Beach, out on the North coast, north of Fort Bragg. I've never been to Eureka or Arcata or further north up there. I've never been to Petrolia or the Triple Junction, though I want to visit the place. And I've only driven through the Valley north of Mount Shasta, not stopped in the towns along the river or driven across the barren parts of the plain east to the Border. The NE swampy plains where Goose Lake water allows the growth of Rice and the local volcano cones are probably STUNNING, based on the Google-Earth passes I've "flown" over the area.
It is worth mentioning that California is HUGE, and despite being highly populated in its cities (LA and SF in particular), once you get outside them the population drops off dramatically. California is a very wild place. Most people in California prefer to live like they do in Japan, clustering around the civic highlights the way the Japanese all seem to insist on living in Tokyo and consider everything else "the sticks".
Which is odd because California is such a big state. It has a short but interesting history linked to the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the Gold Rush, followed by some pretty evil land grabs and real estate scams which echo in today's bad decisions. California is a Gold Rush (with booms and busts) kind of state. The rest of the Nation follows a similar pattern because wicked people can make their fortunes ripping off the Rubes. The men who got richest during the gold rush weren't miners, but the guys selling the supplies to them. And the drugs. Laudnum is an opiate, and very addictive. It was the primary ingredient in "Patent Medicines" sold by shysters to miners with chronic pain and a few dollars worth of Gold in their pockets. But once the gold rush was over, the shysters went into real estate or found other ways to get money out of suckers, or died for it I suppose. The current trailing reminders of the High Tech industry continue the ongoing trend. But there's a great deal more to the state than con men.
Huell died last week at the mere age of 67. He was the most positive and friendly Marine I've ever known or seen on TV. Huell was outgoing and he and his camera man would march right up to any sort of people standing around the various monuments of California and talk to them, particularly when those people were the Docents. Being a History Docent (like a caretaker who explains why the site matters) is unlikely to pay very well, and most seem to do it as volunteers. There are Docents at the Empire Mine, here in Grass Valley, who dress up in costume for the tourists in the summer and show people around the manor house on the site, next to the mine buildings. The triphammers there were apparently furiously loud, crushing ore so the gold could be extracted in ponds full of cyanide. The cyanide and arsenic that soak the ground there are still considered major toxic waste hazards. Huell visited the mine on one of his trips.
He's been to fire towers and museums and ghost towns like Smartsville, which is still occupied but quite a lot smaller than its boomtown days. He's been out to the various lighthouses on our coast and the villas and mansions and all sorts of places over the last 30 years. On a tiny budget and with his faithful cameraman, Huell Howser is a credit to my State. He will be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment