The NorCal Explorer

Marysville

2011-11-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

(I originally wrote this as an article for Midtown Monthly, a Sacramento publication. It appeared in the October 2009 edition on pages 34-36.)

Just 40 miles north of Sacramento lies the historical treasure of California's Oldest Little City (as it is nicknamed), Marysville. I was first drawn to the city after reading an article in 2000 about its endangered historic cemetery and the efforts to preserve it. Upon making my first of many visits, I found that the city much resembled its venerable cemetery. Both are rich in history and both have benefited from hard efforts to preserve that history. But given the challenge the people of Marysville are faced with, much of that history is also suffering from neglect, and being lost.

Marysville, also known as the Prune Capital of the World (with its sister across the Feather River, Yuba City), was one of the largest cities in California during the Gold Rush, and could boast of having just the second courthouse in the state. It was booming through the 1940s, but the coming of California car culture was a major blow to the city. One reason for this is the geography of the area: Marysville's growth is constrained by the Yuba and Feather rivers, and the high levees that protect it from flooding. When residents moved out of the central city to the suburbs after World War II, as happened in all urban areas in California, they moved to Yuba City, Linda, and Olivehurst. Businesses followed them, and left Marysville with a largely abandoned and neglected downtown and a much diminished tax base. The population there today is not much more than it was in the 1850s. It currently hovers around 12,000, while it was around 10,000 at the height of the Gold Rush.

The Boarded Up Hotel Marysville

But while neglect destroys, it can also preserve. In Sacramento many historic buildings were demolished because of aggressive redevelopment in the 1950s and 1960s, made possible by the rapidly expanding state government bureaucracy. And whole city blocks came down to make way for the freeways. There has been no such wholesale destruction in Marysville. Instead, the losses have been more piecemeal, and there are enough historical treasures remaining to make it well worthy of a visit. In fact, the entire downtown area of Marysville was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

The first thing that catches the historically inclined eye in downtown Marysville is likely to be one of the four-cornered arches that span several intersections. The original arches, one of which stands today in Rio Linda, were erected for the electric trolley system in 1911, and came down in the 1920s. The contemporary replicas were installed starting in 1996. Signs for Marysville now use the eye-catching arch design as an emblem for the city.

State Theatre

Two historic movie palaces still stand in the city, although neither operates as a theater these days. The Tower Theatre on D St. opened in 1941 (not in the 1920s, as the city's walking tour brochure erroneously states) and was designed by William B. David, who also designed the Tower Theatre and the Esquire in Sacramento, and many more Central Valley theaters. It is now used as an office building, but the original entrance and marquee have been allowed to remain. The massive (1672 seats) State Theatre was built as the National Theatre in 1927, and became the State in 1936. It still presents an imposing façade to the steady traffic along E St, California Route 70, although it sits idle. There is interest in restoring the theatre, but that seems as if it would be an impossibly expensive project for the small community.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church

Other significant buildings downtown worth taking a look at include the old Packard Library (1906) at 4th and C (now used as a community center), St. Joseph's Catholic Church (1853) at 7th and C, the Hart Building (1926), tallest in the county at 7 stories on 4th, and the boarded-up Marysville Hotel (1927) on 5th. A bit north of the downtown area, the Romanesque Marysville High School building is one of the most impressive buildings in the city.

Marysville High School

Among the residential neighborhoods there are many fine examples of Victorian architecture, most notably the fanciful house at 222 5th St. known as the Castle (1851), and the Mary Aaron Museum (open by appointment), finished as a house in 1856 at 704 D St. The Mary Aaron Museum actually looks more like a castle to me than the Castle does. One book describes it as "the most fanciful surviving example of the Gothic Revival in California." The museum's collection focuses on the daily lives of local residents from the past. There are also supposed to be seven houses designed by famed architect Julia Morgan (who designed the public market building now used as part of the Sheraton Grand in Sacramento) in the city, although I've only found two so far, both on the 700 block of F St.

Portal to the Bok Kai Temple

The best time to visit the city is the first Saturday of the month. That's when the real gem of Marysville, the Bok Kai Temple, is open to the public, as is the Chinese Museum of Northern California, from noon to four (both free admission). The main temple room has only recently reopened after being closed for a year for restoration, which uncovered two beautiful murals. Each year the membership of the temple put on the Bok Kai Festival, which features a parade with a large Chinese dragon. The festival will take place March 20-21 in 2010. The small Chinese Museum features the remains of the Sanfow Bean Sprout Plant in the back and is quite thorough in presenting the history of Chinese immigration and settlement in America. Nearby stand two buildings with elaborate façades from the once more extensive Chinese enclave.

Bok Kai Festival Parade

If you have time to visit Yuba City across the river, there are two interesting historical areas to peruse. The oldest is on 2nd St., which features the magnificent 1891 Hall of Records, the 1871 Sutter County Court House, and Red Tire Antiques, the largest antique store I have visited in the area. The main downtown area is now centered around Plumas Street, developed from the 1910s-1950s. It has undergone extensive upgrades in the last few years in an effort to rejuvenate the city center that appears to be succeeding, although the Sutter Theatre building is currently vacant.

If the weather is nice, you may be interested in spending some time in one of the two parks Marysville has to offer that would do a much larger city proud. The park area around Ellis Lake should remind Sacramento visitors of William Land Park, as the lake much resembles the water features of our beloved park. Described by the Chamber of Commerce as the "jewel" of Marysville, Ellis Lake was created from an area of swampy land, and was completed in 1939. Bryant Field, where the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox baseball team plays, sits close to the lake. And spanning a good stretch of the shore of the Feather and Yuba rivers and their confluence is the massive Riverfront Park Complex, featuring fishing, picnic areas, soccer fields, a motocross track, and more. Spanning the Feather River, and best seen from this park, is the historic Northern Electric Railway bridge, ca. 1911-1913. Later Northern Electric became part of the Sacramento Northern Railway, which offered interurban service throughout the area.

Marysville Cemetery

And, of course, there is the cemetery that drew me to Marysville in the first place. Unlike when I visited 9 years ago, the cemetery is now only open by appointment. But I recently found the gate open on a Friday morning, as a caretaker was at work, and slipped in to take some photos. I'm sure much work has been done at the cemetery in the last 9 years, but it still looked much as I remembered it from 2000, with many monuments standing, while others crumble on the ground. And everywhere to be looked there were indicators of the never-ending battle to preserve the city's heritage.

When it comes time to end your tour and sate your hunger, you can still find yourself immersed in Marysville's history. Right in front of the Bok Kai Temple is the Silver Dollar Saloon, a steak house with a beautiful 19th-century hardwood bar. The building, constructed in 1858, once had a brothel on the second floor. The restaurant makes a nod to its past with memorabilia on display from the famous Mustang Ranch in Nevada. Hundreds of silver dollars are embedded in the surface of the bar, and the interior is decorated with rustic wood, historic artifacts and farm implements, and Victorian lamps. The atmosphere is charming, and the food is quite reasonably priced.

Silver Dollar Burger

Walking D St. in downtown Marysville, once the main drag before a new bridge across the Yuba River shifted it to E St. in the 1950s, you can see photos placed in a few vacant storefronts of historic structures the city has lost, like the grand old Yuba County Courthouse, demolished for the sake of modernization in the 1950s. While it is sad to think that people willfully destroyed such magnificent pieces of their history, it's also a nice reminder to appreciate what we do have while we can still enjoy it. One of those things to appreciate is right on Sacramento's doorstep--Marysville, California's Oldest Little City.

Napa's Old Man Rock on Monticello Road

2010-11-18T20:36:00.001-08:00

Recently at the Friends of the Sacramento Library's Book Den I picked up several local history history books on the cheap, and in one, There's a Little Spot I Know (by Jim Babcock, published by the Sacramento Bee in 1985), there is a photo of a “well-known Napa County landmark” described as being “10 miles east of Napa” on Monticello Road. It's a rock formation overhanging that highway that resembles an old man. To add to the resemblance, a piece of metal in the shape of a pipe has been added.

Having moved to Napa five months earlier, I wondered about not having seen or heard anything of the supposedly well-known landmark. I did several searches on Flickr, but didn't find any photos of it. Google searches turned up several references, but mostly historical. It has been referred to variously as Old Man with a Pipe, Old Man Rock, and the Old Irishman. One piece from the Napa Valley Register on a postcard collector in September of 2008 mentioned that he had a card with a photo of the rock formation “back when the stone nose was longer,” the only indication I had that the rock formation could still be seen along Monticello Road.

As soon as I had a decent opportunity, I set off in search of Old Man Rock, as I have chosen to call it. Monticello Road apparently originally led from Napa to the town of Monticello. The original town site now lies beneath the waters of Lake Berryessa, formed by the construction of the Monticello Dam beginning in 1953. Apparently photographers Dorothy Lange and Pirkle Jones documented the abandonment of the town in the book Death of a Valley (thanks Wikipedia, looking forward to checking it out).

Ten miles outside of Napa was a vague reference to go on, considering that I don't know what the border of the city was at the time that reference was made, but luckily the rock formation proved easy to spot. Monticello Road begins at the junction of Trancas Street, a main east-west thoroughfare on the north end of town, and the Silverado Trail, one of the two highways that runs north-south through Napa Valley. Heading out (northwest) on Monticello Rd., CA-121, Old Man Rock is to be found just 2.5 miles past the stoplight at the junction with Atlas Peak Road (the turn off for the Silverado Country Club).

There is a turnout immediately before Old Man Rock, but it is to allow faster vehicles to pass only, and there are “no parking” signs. There are several private drives nearby. I managed to park my subcompact off the edge of the road just past one of those. There's not much room for walking along the side of the road, or setting up a tripod either. My tripod seemed in constant danger of being swiped by cars coming down around the curve behind the Old Man, but I felt like I would safely be able to scramble out of the way. The best place to photograph the rock from would be the middle of the road, but that would be absurdly dangerous.

According to the Napa County book in the Postcard History Series from Arcadia Publishing, the pipe was added in 1911. No word on who added it.

Vintage Service Stations: Napa

2010-09-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

I just moved to Napa in June of 2010, and found myself faced with an overwhelming number of subjects to photograph and research. I set about them without any particular plan until my research on one particular subject (I don't recall what now) led me to the website for the splendid organization Napa County Landmarks. Every year they compile a list of ten threatened historical sites in the county. This 2010 list included two old service stations that had caught my eye. Follow-up information on their website on one of them indicated that it could be demolished any day, so that made me prioritize my efforts. Thus my first blog entry on my new home is on the historic service stations in the city of Napa—both the two threatened ones, and two other lovely old stations that thankfully do not appear to be in danger of disappearing on us anytime soon.

Union Oil Station, ca. 1947

1501 3rd St.

This is the most threatened station of the lot. A Streamline Moderne gem from ca. 1947 that has seen surprisingly little alteration over the years, it fits in quite well with the newly restored Uptown Theatre (1937) just down the street. Napa is surprisingly lacking in historic examples of the sleek and sophisticated designs of the 1920s-1940s, my favorite era of architecture, which makes this little area of town particularly dear to me.

The building has been under the same ownership since 1986, and has been vacant for the the last 14 years. The owner's plan seems to be to neglect it until it either falls apart of its own accord, or it becomes so decrepit that it would be highly impractical to save it, and thus there would be little resistance to the owner tearing it down and putting up something guaranteed to make money in its place.

And indeed the owner has plans to tear it down and build a relatively safe investment in a modest structure of more contemporary design. I've viewed the plans for the proposed building: it would be a cutting-edge structure for 1985. Today the best that could be said for it is that it is familiar and non-threatening, and that it integrates housing with commercial use in the urban core (a very worthy goal).

Nobody has apparently properly researched the old Union Oil Station structure, including, surprisingly, the consultant the owner hired to offer testimony against the building's historic worthiness. That consultant, Mark Hulbert, dates the building to 1948, but offers no evidence upon which he bases this dating. I'm guessing he just checked the Polk City directories available at the library and went no further. 1948 would be a reasonable guess based on such a cursory examination. But the January 1948 Yellow Pages lists the station, so it almost certainly had to have been built by 1947. Not a significant difference to be sure, but just an indication of the carelessness with which the subject is being treated.

On the side of the owner and his consultant, it must be admitted that the building was never a substantial monument. It was not designed for the site by a prominent architect. It is not a unique and grandiose embodiment of the elite art and design of the era in which it was built. The modest size of the structure greatly limits the potential uses the owner can make of the building in any attempt to derive profit from the property.

And that is, after all, what it all boils down to: income from the investment. Because despite the fact that the building is not on a state, national, or international scale an architectural monument on a grand scale, it is quite obviously, in the view of any reasonable Napan, a historically significant architectural example for Napa worthy or preserving for future generations. All one needs to do to realize this is take a look at the building and then walk, or drive, around Napa and look for other equally interesting examples of Streamline Moderne architecture. There are a handful—the Uptown Theatre (of course), another old service station nearby (discussed below), an apartment building around the corner (720 Franklin St.), and the Family Drug building on Old Sonoma Rd. But there are just a handful—nothing at all like the wealth of Victorian architecture that Napa can boast of. The loss of a single building would mark a substantial loss of that era of the city's architectural history.

Ironically, the consultant takes the best argument in favor of the preservation of the Moderne service station and turns it on its head. “Obviously, service stations do not make good landmarks. They are a transient use and type.” Sloppy thinking to go along with the sloppy research. Yes, they are of a transient use and type, which is exactly why a well-preserved specimen like the old Union Oil Station is such a rarity and a treasure! And while it is indeed obvious that in the past they have not been treated like landmarks, by no means does it follow that they do not make good ones.

Mr. Hulbert's assessment flies in the face of the trends of the last thirty years in art and architectural history to recognize that everyday art, such as the vernacular architecture of gas stations, coffee shops, and shopping centers, is as much, or more, reflective of the aesthetic of the historical era and influential on the people of that era as the more traditionally recognized monumental works of well-known artists coming out of elite academic programs. The fact that such works were common means that for many years people never considered the issue of their preservation, but that time has long passed, and it's time for Mr. Hulbert to catch up with the rest of the preservation community nationwide or step aside.

The issue at hand is not whether the building is of historic interest architecturally. That is beyond doubt. The question, as it often is in the issue of preservation, is whether it is of great enough interest to radically restrict the manner in which the property owner may try and derive income from his investment in the property. I think all of us struggling to get by can sympathize with the owner's desires, and his frustration that anyone would interfere with his right to do what he wants with something he paid to acquire.

But demolition of the structure is an irretrievably permanent act. Every city in America can point to regrets in preservation battles that were lost—treasures that exist only in photographs and words these days, and lead younger generations to question, “What were they thinking when they tore that down?” Nobody ever has the opposite reaction: “Why did this get preserved? Guess they were wrong on that one.” The people at Napa County Landmarks are working to save the station not because they hate capitalists and hate change and want to make life difficult for small business owners. They are working for the greater good of the community.

Today they are trying to find somebody willing to move the station, as the Napa city council ruled in favor of the owner, and it faces imminent destruction.

Grippi's Service Station, ca. 1920

1802 Silverado Trail

This is the other station that made the Napa County Landmarks list, a landmark indeed given its prominent location along the Silverado Trail. It says on the building itself that it has been there since 1920, and I have no basis upon which to dispute the word of the edifice. In contrast to the other service stations in this survey, it is not of a fashionable design of the era in which it was built, but the humble structure is instead reflective of its location away from the city center—likely a rural neighborhood at the time it was built.

Mobil Service, ca. 1939-1942

1538 3rd St.

Now operating as Rico's Auto Detailing. I'm not positive that this art deco building was originally opened as Mobil station, but that is what it was in the first Polk city directory that lists the business name (rather than just the business type and owner), 1950.

Richfield Service Station, ca. 1935-1937

1509 Main St.

This is my personal favorite of the four service station buildings, in part because the structure that held the original signage is still extant. Now operating as Napa Smog Test Only, this is where I went for my last smog check in an effort to do my part to support the preservation of the building.

Point Reyes: Limantour Spit & Bucklin Trail

2010-01-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

Low expectations were the order of the day as Erik and I headed out for another hike at Point Reyes National Seashore. The conditions weren't quite right for most of the more dramatic hikes there—not a lot of recent rain for Alamere Falls to be at full flow, and the low tide was not going to be particularly low, so no point in visiting the tide pool areas. So I just looked at the map and decided on a main hike that would cover some trail I haven't been on before—part of my quest to hike every last mile of official trail (whether still maintained or not) in the national park.

But before we set off on the main hike, I planned for us to do a short hike down Limantour Spit. Limantour Spit is a wide sand bar that stretches about 2 ½ miles from the shore out towards the actual point and Chimney Rock. On one side is the wide-open ocean, and on the other side is a small inlet of ocean water that divides the spit from the cliffs of the mainland, including Drakes Head. In between the cliffs are further inlets—the first (from east to west) very minor, the second forming Estero de Limantour, and the third forming Drakes Estero, large enough to have four named bays branching off of it.

There's a one-mile trail going down the center of Limantour Spit on the map, so I figured we would hike 2 miles out and back before heading off for our main hike. Only I hadn't looked at the map that closely when planning. The trail goes less than 1/2 the length of the spit, and goes along the top of a sand dune. We walked right past the start of the trail, headed down the beach, and kept going past the end of the trail and the end of the sand dune.

The initial portion of the hike was beautiful, of course, with a wide expanse of beach stretching on seemingly forever, and the waves gently crashing. But it got more interesting once we passed the end of the sand dune on our right. Then came a series of smaller sand dunes separated by open gullies through which we could see the muddy low areas on the north side of the spit exposed by the receding tide and backed by the cliffs on the other side of the inlet that separates the spit from the mainland. We walked along the edge of this wet tidal area, enjoying the views of the cliffs and the esteros.

We hiked out more than 2 miles, and since I had only planned on hiking out 1 mile, it took us longer than I had planned. I would have liked to have gone all the way to the very end of the spit, and we weren't that far from it. I know people go out there, because I've seen them from Sunset Beach, on the mainland. But we were at the point of low tide, and not having been out there before, I wanted us to get back without giving the tide a chance to rise any higher than it had been when we set out.

Before returning, I climbed up the last sand dune to check out the view, and immediately noticed a bunch of wood and cords that appeared to be part of a sailing vessel. I went over to check it out, and discovered a shelter had been built into the side of the sand dune out of various items that had been washed ashore, and a couple of lawn chairs that may have been left behind. Before it a bench and table were set up. The table was covered with a collection sea shells. No sign of the creator of this remote retreat.

We headed back along the beach, and before long met up with our footprints left on the way out. When we got back to the long sand dune, we climbed it, and followed what seemed to be a faint use trail, until it brought us to a wider path that must have been the official trail shown on the map. It appears that even at high tide this trail is well above the water line, so we could have made it to the end of the spit and still made it back with plenty of margin for error. The highlight of this portion of the hike was spotting two deer.

Back at the car, we drove back on Limantour Road to the trailhead at Muddy Hollow Road, and set out on that dirt road.

Soon there was a stream to cross, but it was pretty narrow, so I just ran up and leaped across it. Erik generally prefers to slowly step across rocks to cross a stream—rock hopping is the general term, but in Erik's case it is more like rock yoga. But not seeing suitable rocks to step across, he leaped too—and came about one boot length short of making it without splashing.

Past the junction with Bay View Trail, the trail climbed a bit, and Erik pointed out the trees we were passing by: bishop pines. They had pine cones growing straight out of the trunk of the tree, and there were no pine cones to be found on the ground. He told me that they stay on the tree and only open to release their seeds in fire.

We reached a nicely signed junction and started off on Bucklin Trail, which climbs quite a ways to reach Point Reyes Hill at 1,336 feet. Oddly, Point Reyes Hill is 54 feet higher than the peak of Mount Vision, yet only merits the label "hill."

Bucklin Trail turned out to be a real delight. It is well graded and without many ups and downs (which can add a lot of additional climbing beyond the net elevation gain). Much of it was through a young and dense forest of bishop pines, which formed a canopy over the trail. Erik kept commenting on how densely packed these trees were, and when he got home he did some research. This whole area was burned out in the Vision Fire of 1995, and the young trees grow narrow and close together, but as they get larger, 97% of them will die off, and the larger mature trees will be spaced much farther apart.

The time of year, the recent weather conditions, and the shade provided by the canopy of trees proved to be ideal conditions for fungi and banana slugs. Over the course of this hike we spotted more banana slugs than we have ever seen on a hike before. But more exciting to me was the profusion of different types of mushrooms. I've never seen anything close to this wide of a variety of mushrooms.

Deer Skeleton

Given the low-light conditions and the need to use a small aperture to get sufficient depth of field in macro shots, I had to shoot long exposures to get decent photographs, and that was just too much work and too time-consuming for me to photograph every variety of interesting mushroom, much less every interesting mushroom.

As we neared the end of 2.3-mile Bucklin Trail we came to a clearing with spectacular views to the west of a large expanse of the park and ocean. Unfortunately, we were looking into the sun and there was a mixture of fog and clouds, so it didn't look like it would make for a compelling photograph, but it was breathtaking to see in person. To the immediate east it was quite the opposite—a large, fenced-off radar installation on top of the hill used for air traffic control. We hiked alongside this until we reached Inverness Ridge Trail.

Inverness Ridge Trail pales in comparison to Bucklin Trail for hiking pleasure, but it looks like it would be a great trail for bicycles. It was wide with lots of ups and downs. At one point there was a narrow, unmarked side trail. We couldn't resist our curiosity and ran up it to see if it led someplace interesting. It kept going and had another unmarked junction, and at that point we decided to turn back and return to the mapped trail. On the map this area appears to be close to the park boundary and private land, so I'm guessing that this trail might have led there. It's not shown on the full park map or the north district hiking map.

From Inverness Ridge Trail we made our way back to Muddy Hollow Road via Drakes View Trail. As we were heading downhill, I expected wide open views of Drakes Head and Limantour Spit, so as to justify the name of the trail. But we had no such views. It resembled Bucklin Trail, only was generally steeper. As we got to the lower portion, it opened up to a more grassy area with a couple of large wooden arch bridges across streams. On this lower portion of trail I spotted four rabbits. Back on Muddy Hollow Road, Erik redeemed himself by clearing the creek with his leap.

In all this main hike added up to 7.1 miles, and we had hiked another 4+ miles out on Limantour Spit in the morning, so I was satisfied with that. I hate to drive such a long distance and do anything less than 10 miles of hiking. There was also quite a bit of climbing for Point Reyes, although not much in comparison to Sierra hikes.

The fact that in all my research of trails to hike in Point Reyes I have never read anything about Bucklin Trail gives an idea of just what a great variety of terrific hikes there are to do at Point Reyes, albeit we may have been very lucky on our timing for the mushrooms and banana slugs. For a day that had started with such low expectations, both Erik and I were thoroughly delighted with our day of hiking.

U.S. Route 40: Reno's 4th Street

2009-10-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

The historic U.S. Route 40, and before it the even-more-historic Lincoln Highway ran through the heart of Reno and Sparks, along 4th Street in Reno, and apparently both along Victorian Avenue and Prater Way in Sparks, as both streets are marked with Lincoln Highway markers after they split off from one another.

Many businesses arose along the route to take advantage of the highway traffic. When the freeway, current Interstate 80, was built, I believe in the early 1970s, these businesses were bypassed. Many have disappeared all together, the remnants of some remain, others struggle to stay in business, and a few flourish.

This is my journey down the old highway route, from west to east. I haven't had the chance to do much research on the subjects yet, and my photographs are for the present heavily sign-oriented. I hope to get a wider variety of photos next spring when I next plan to visit Reno.

Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails

When I went to Reno in 2003, there must have been some sort of sign indicating there was a site of historic interest that led me to pull off of Interstate 80 just west of Reno and photograph these old bridge rails from the Lincoln Highway. I found them in 2009 only because I remembered to look for them--the turn off on east-bound I-80 is only marked as "TRUCK PARKING."

A sign there indicates that the rails were originally located .9 miles to the east, where they were installed in 1914 by contractor A.F. Neidt.

Mineral Inn Spa & Resort

Shortly after the bridge rails headed east on I-80, there is a turn off for West 4th St.--that is the old U.S. 40 route. Immediately upon exiting you are faced with the sprawling remains of an old resort, now fenced off with no trespassing signs. I found a way to get in, but respected the signs. But if you are curious what the grounds look like, here are some photos from somebody else.

The route into downtown Reno from here is quite scenic, following the Truckee River, which was lined with trees in full fall foliage when I made the trip in October. On the outskirts of town you hit what remains of the old motel row.

Silver Spur Motel

It didn't appear that there is a motel operating there, and I could not find a listing for the Silver Spur.

4201 W. 4th
Washoe Steakhouse

Looked like a very nice restaurant.

2255 W. 4th St.
Tombstone Territory

The name of this motel derives from its proximity to a cemetery.

2091 W. 4th St.
Sunset Motel

1801 W. 4th St.
El Tavern Motel

1791 W. 4th St.
Silver State Lodge

There is no motel to go with the sign anymore, but here is a description of the place from an old postcard:

Reno' Finest Motor Court
* Steam Heated Rustic Cottages
*Complete Electric Kitchens
*Free Steam Heated Garages
*Six Acres Beautifully Landscaped
R.J Reynolds, Owner - W.D. Crawford, Mgr.

790 W. 4th St.
Gold 'N' Silver Inn Restaurant

In business since 1956. I've eaten there twice now. The eggs Castroville--eggs Benedict with artichoke hearts in place of Canadian bacon, were particularly good, but I didn't get a photo of that. You'll have to settle for a photo of meatloaf.

720 W. 4th
Donner Inn

700 W. 4th St.
Chapel of the Bells

525 W. 4th St.
Crest Inn

Not much of a sign, but the design of the building is a nice example of Googie.

411 W. 4th
Rancho Sierra Motel

280 W. 4th St.
Lido Inn

260 W. 4th St.
In Town Motel

215 W. 4th St.
Bonanza Inn

200 W. 4th
Mardis Gras Motor Lodge

After this we pass through the heart of downtown Reno, N. Sierra, N. Virginia, and N. Center. Virginia Street is the old U.S. Route 395 route, pre-freeway, and is still Business 395. Along it the largest downtown casinos are located, particularly Circus Circus, The Silver Legacy, and El Dorado, which all flow into one another at the 2nd floor level, bridging the streets below and making one enormous indoor casino, restaurant, and bar space.

301 E. 4th St.
Louis Basque Corner

325 E. 4th St.
Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad Station

400 E. 4th St.
Morris Hotel

424 E. 4th St.
Abby's Highway 40

701 E. 4th St.
Flanigan Square

Built in 1902.

777 E. 4th St.
Rancho 777

1011 E. 4th St.
Lucky Motel

1044 E. 4th St.
Alturas Bar & Nightclub

1113 E. 4th St.
Reno 8 Motel

1200 E. 4th St.
Sutro Motel

1233 E. 4th St.
Hi Ho Motor Lodge

301 Montello St.
Ernie's/Reno Salvage Co.

On the south side of the 1300 block on E. 4th St., just approaching Montello, there are a couple of beautiful art deco structures behind chained link fencing. Both the names Ernie's and Reno Auto Salvage can be seen.

1400 E. 4th St.
Ponderosa Lodge

1425 E. 4th St.
Desert Sunset Motel

1650 E. 4th St.
Tahoe Motel

1750 E. 4th St.
Hi-Way 40 Motel

1752 E. 4th St.
Farris Motel

One of the buildings for this motel has a really interesting rounded, staggered corner, but I haven't gotten a photograph of it yet.

1755 E. 4th St.
Sandman Motel

If I had to choose a favorite sign in Reno, this would be it.

1756 E. 4th St.
Everybody's Inn Motel

2255 E. 4th St.
Gold Coin Motel

I'm a little confused by this place, as the coin they chose to make golden is a silver dollar.

2501 E. 4th St.
Casale's Halfway Club

2525 E. 4th St.
Restwell Court

On February 18, 1979, three units were destroyed by fire at the Restwell Court Motel. It probably didn't last much longer than that and there is no motel building there today.

Then we cross over into Sparks.

2644 Prater Way
Coney Island Bar

Opened in 1935, and named after an amusement park that used to stand across the street.

Prater Way & Victorian Ave. split.

2406 Prater Way
Pony Express Lodge

2140 Prater Way
Copenhagen Bar

2002 Victorian Ave.
Elbow Room Bar

19th & Prater Way
Ideal Shopping Center

1861 Victorian Ave
Craig Motel

1828 Victorian Ave.
Tarry Motel

1800 Victorian Ave.
Safari Motel

1746 Victorian Ave.
Playhouse Lounge

The Nugget's Awful Awful Burger

2009-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

For my birthday in 2009 I decided to take a quick trip to Reno to photograph vintage neon signs--my favorite pastime. I also wanted a classic dining experience, so I used Google and found out about the Awful Awful Burger.

The chain of Nugget casinos started by Dick Graves and his general manager John Ascuaga have been serving up the Awful Awful Burger since 1955. On that trip I tried the Awful Awful at Rosie's Cafe deep inside the massive John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks. The restaurant is large and quite nice, other than the usual garish casino carpets. According to a comment on Chowhound, the burger is served there the way it was originally served, as a double with two 1/4 pound patties. It comes with a choice of sides.

I returned to Reno less than a month later, and this time had the Awful Awful at the little diner in the back of the small Nugget on the main strip of downtown Reno, Virginia St. Unlike Rosie's Cafe, this place had the classic feel I was looking for, with a small counter and stools. The diner is open 24 hours a day. The Awful Awful there is served as one large 1/2 pound patty, and served on top of an enormous basket of French fries. I saw several baskets of fries on the counter that looked untouched when I went up to the cash register to order. I ate quite a few fries with my burger, but also left my basket looking as though I hadn't had any at all. They must throw away hundreds of pounds of French fries every week at the greasy spoon.

I definitely preferred the burger at the little Nugget. It was very satisfying, although I wouldn't go as far as some people have in saying it's the best burger I've ever had--no way would I rank a well-done burger that high. But it was very good. The atmosphere was great too, and would be even more so had I gone late at night after a few beers, rather than for lunch. If you're looking for a family atmosphere, then Rosie's Cafe is the better bet, but if you want the feel of old Reno, then the little Nugget diner is the way to go.

Photographing the California State Fair

2009-09-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

(View this image larger.)

Although I always loved to go to the Yellowstone County Fair when I lived in Montana, it took me 5 years to make it to the California State Fair after moving to the Sacramento area. And the reason I went was just to shoot a lot of photos with my brand-new digital camera.

I'm on my fourth digital camera now, and have shot the fair with all of them. Two years ago I took a Gorillapod and a compact digital camera and got my first long exposures of the lights on the carnival rides at night. Last year I went with a DSLR for the first time, my Nikon D40, and I brought a tripod. This year I went all out--I bought a season pass ($36 for unlimited admissions--regular tickets are $12 for each day) and visited the fair on 12 different days, bringing my tripod on several of them.

The purpose of this blog entry is just to share the highlights of the hundreds of photos I have taken at the state fair the last and offer some ideas for other photographers. More fair photos can be found in my set on Flickr, California State Fair, and select photos are now available for purchase in prints of up to 20 inches by 30 inches on my account at imagekind.com.

(I've put small shots of photos that link to the Flickr page for each one, which shows a medium-sized shot, but I've also added links that take you directly to a larger shot than that [although not full-sized]. If you want to know the camera settings for a shot, click on the photo to be taken to the Flickr page, and on the lower right just below where it tells you what camera it was taken with click on "More properties." My photos from 2001 won't have that information.)

Midway Lights at Night

We'll start off with my favorite subject, and also the most difficult subject to photograph. Just after the state fair in 2006, I was looking at some great long exposures of Ferris wheels on Flickr, and was inspired. But I had to wait a year to try them myself (although I did make a rather lame attempt at the Sacramento County Fair in May of 2007). Armed with my Kodak Z740 Zoom, a Gorillapod, and a .6 neutral density filter, I made my attempt.

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It took quite a bit of effort before I was able to get the shot above. Unlike a free-standing tripod, the Gorillapod needed to be attached to something. In scouting around for what to attach it to, I also noticed the problem of floodlights facing the camera. Finally I attached to a metal support for a sign next to one of the restroom stations. I had to use the neutral density filter to get a long enough exposure, as the smallest aperture on the camera is f/8, which didn't cut down the light enough. I took exposures at several different shutter speeds to make sure I got a result I was happy with. When I shoot neon signs, the camera often thinks I'm underexposing, as it averages all the black area in the background when metering. But in this case, I found for the results I wanted the camera thought I was overexposing--because I wanted to expose for those lights not just in one location, but as they keep moving about.

In 2008 I came back with the Nikon D40, a tripod, and more experience as a photographer under my belt. I thought it would be easy to match and likely surpass my work from the previous year. I shot a couple of nights, and was sorely disappointed with the result, so I had to go back a third time and get it right.

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Another thing I tried in 2008 was what I was calling a digital double exposure. The technique is to shoot a long exposure with the lens zoomed in somewhat for half the exposure, then rapidly zoom out wide for the other half of the exposure, producing a close up shot within a wide shot, and a bit of streaking from the zoom.

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It took a lot of practice, but I finally got a result I was happy with. It would be easier with a heavier and sturdier tripod than what I have.

In 2009, I found that I basically had to relearn how to shoot this kind of subject each year, as so much time had elapsed since I had last tried it. And adding to the difficulty was the fact that there wasn't much for crowds on many nights, so the rides were often just sitting motionless waiting for riders to come along and get on. I was also disappointed that the Grand Wheel was replaced with the less impressive Giant Wheel. But I made up for the problems by spending a lot more time at the fair taking photographs.

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This shot of the Giant Wheel would have come out pretty boring by comparison to my previous efforts, except that the monorail came by in front of it during the 30-second exposure, nicely filling out the frame. Another way to fill the frame was to include the ride next to the Giant Wheel, the Falling Star.

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Having had some positive feedback from the previous two years shooting the terrifying-looking ride Evolution, I tried that one again. It took 3 nights of shooting to get the shots I wanted. First there is the ride as a whole:

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And then I wanted to capture just the most interesting part of it, the wild spinning at the top:

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The most beautiful ride at the 2009 state fair was a new addition, the Wave Swinger (the name is the ugliest thing about it), purchased from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. One of the employees of Butler Amusements told me that it took extra time to set up because of all the parts. I gave it a ride too, and it was awfully fun.

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There were actually 3 Ferris wheels at the 2009 state fair, and the Sky Diver, which is also a wheel ride. The one by the West Gate had interesting lighting, but it didn't look like it would make for a nice long exposure to me. The lights kept changing colors, so I figured a long exposure would just produce a muddle of all the colors. But I decided to try some shorter exposures that would still allow for blurring--like 2 1/2 seconds, rather than the 30 seconds I used on the Giant Wheel. And I was pretty happy with the result.

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Finally I like a shot of the Gravitron Thriller I took just after sunset. As you can see, there was no line of people waiting for the next ride.

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The Food

I take a lot of food photos, and get more response to those than any other photos on Flickr. But what I've noticed is that people respond more to the outrageousness of the food pictured--monster burgers, bacon, chicken fried steak, gratuitous deep frying--than they do to the quality of the photograph. Looking back on my food shots from the state fair, I don't care for most of them, but here are two that I do like.

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A turkey leg in front of the Zipper. I like to do contextual food shots when possible, rather than just isolating the food.

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A churro.

The Livestock

I've always enjoyed going to see all the cute critters. Unfortunately, they are difficult to photograph, as the Livestock Pavilion is dimly lit, as is the "Fur & Feathers" exhibit at building 6 in the Expo Center. The goat below happened to be near one of the openings to the Pavilion, where some ambient light came in. I still had to use ISO 800.

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The lighting is a little better at The Farm, where UC Davis puts a bunch of pregnant cows, sows, and goats to have them give birth over the course of the fair. The most popular is always the pile of piglets.

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The Exhibits

On the ground level of the California Building the counties put up their exhibits to promote themselves each year. They try and tailor the exhibit to match the theme of that year's fair. As I love to explore California, I like to see the county exhibits and pick up travel information.

The Los Angeles County exhibit from 2001 (large).

The Calaveras County Exhibit from 2006 (large).

The San Joaquin County exhibit from 2009 (large).

Over in the Expo Center, there are several more exhibits. Building 1 gets the youth art, building 3 houses the exhibits related to that year's theme, building 4 is always some big promotional exhibit where they try to sell a lot of merchandise--in 2009 it was candy, and in 2007 it was toys. Building 5 houses "Industrial & Technology Education"--you'll see students' architectural plans, woodworking, robotics, all kinds of stuff. Building 7 is for the fine art competition--my favorite, particularly the photography. And in building 8 they display the "Creative Arts," like quilting, scrapbooking, and woodworking.

Computer Speed by Nan Roe, youth art 2007 (large).

Rubber duck collection from the "Weird Wild Wacky California" exhibit, the theme for 2009 (large).

Toys for sale at the toy exhibit, 2007 (large).

Scream by Egil Knutson in the 2006 fine art exhibit (large).

Freestyle Motocross

I don't know how long they have had this at the fair--at least since 2007. I'm afraid I didn't check it out until 2009, and then just because I had so much time at the fair I was looking for extra things to photograph. I saw the ramps and thought they would just jump their motorcycles, which would be impressive enough. But no, they do all kinds of acrobatic maneuvers while flying through the air. The stands are situated so that you are looking into the sun for the 5:00 and 7:00 shows, so I mostly shot from the midway on the other side, with the 5:00 show offering the best lighting. But I also went at 3:00 to the top of the stands so that I could get a Ferris wheel in the background for an interesting juxtaposition, even though the light wasn't great (but better than at 5 or 7 from that angle).

Tommy Clowers (large).

Jesse Jolson (large)

Myles Richmond (large).

Destin Cantrell (large).

The Chair Lift

I don't get to ride much at the fair with all of the camera gear I'm lugging around, but the chair lift was something I always did ride. It just took you from one end of the fairgrounds to another up above the crowd, with nice views. Of course, I snuck a few shots of people coming the other way. But in 2009 I was disappointed to see that the chair lift was gone.

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There are so many more subjects to photograph at the fair: the entertainment acts, the 10:00 fireworks show, kids (although I'm not comfortable photographing other people's kids), carnies, and toys. But these are the subjects I've had the most success with and wanted to share with you.

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California's Carnival and Fair Foods

2009-08-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

I love everything about county fairs--the livestock, the art work, the pig races, the rides, the lights at night, and, of course, the food. Growing up in Montana, I was excited to go to the Yellowstone County Fair each year, with my favorite food being the Viking on a Stick from the Sons of Norway booth. It is a Swedish meatball on a stick--and it might have been deep fried. I'm not sure--it has been quite a few years.

Now that I live in Sacramento I'm lucky enough to get the small Sacramento County Fair over Memorial Day Weekend, and the enormous California State Fair for 17 days ending on Labor Day (and it used to be 24 days). But that doesn't stop me from visiting other county fairs in the area--I try to combine visits to those fairs with hiking/camping trips, or with excursions to photograph vintage neon signs and historic buildings.

At first I took to photographing the typical carnival foods--corn dogs and caramel apples and the like. But at fairs these days there are always people selling over-the-top food, like a deep-fried White Castle hamburger. I'm willing to give those a try too, no matter how unpalatable and unhealthy the concoction might sound.

So here, just for your amusement, are some photos of foods I have eaten and the fairs in Northern California that I ate them at.

Deep-fried Twinkie on a stick
Contra Costa County Fair (Antioch)

This was surprisingly good--certainly better than what I remember an unfried Twinkie tasting like. I've seen that at other places, though, they top the Twinkies, with powdered sugar, or chocolate syrup. Discovering that, I felt like I had been cheated with a plain old deep-fried Twinkie.

Deep-fried cheese on a stick
Contra Costa County Fair

The melted cheese is contained by the fried cornmeal batter. The cheese was not of high quality, and this really didn't work too well as stick food.

Bacon-wrapped hot dogs
Mother Lode Fair (Sonora)

I'm afraid I didn't get to try these. I had eaten a very large meal at a barbecue restaurant while waiting for the fair to open. I've looked for them at other fairs since, but haven't had any luck in finding them. I'm very anxious to give them a try.

Cheesecake on a stick
California State Fair

Frozen and dipped in chocolate. You know they couldn't go wrong with this one.

Foot-long corn dog
California State Fair

A classic. The only corn dogs I had as a kid were from the school cafeteria, and they were not good, so it came as a surprise to me later on to find out how delicious a well done corn dog is. As for the meat--I've seen booths boasting that they serve 100% turkey corn dogs, and ones boasting 100% beef corn dogs. I love them both, as long as they are either "jumbo" or "foot-long."

Deep-fried White Castle hamburger and fries
California State Fair

Between this and the unusually greasy fries underneath it, I felt a bit queasy when I finished eating, but soon recovered. There was no way I wasn't going to try this after reading about it in the Sacramento Bee.

Twister dog
El Dorado County Fair (Placerville)

When I couldn't find a bacon-wrapped hot dog, I had to settle for this. It's a spiral-cut potato wrapped around a hot dog and deep fried. It was not good.

Smoked German sausage
Sacramento County Fair

Mmmmm, I wish I had one right now.

Caramel apple
Sacramento County Fair

A classic I used to enjoy at the Yellowstone County Fair in Montana. I need to also get a photo of a candied apple, which is something I never saw growing up. I don't really understand that one either--the hard shell makes it a bit of a challenge to eat. The caramel apple is no problem.

Frozen banana dipped in chocolate
Contra Costa County Fair

Always a favorite of my mother and sister.

Turkey leg
California State Fair

Awfully pricey compared to the turkey legs at Sam's Hof Brau, but the seasoning was delicious.

Fried Pop Tart
California State Fair

Topped off with syrup and sprinkles. I don't really remember this, but in my comments on the posting of the photo on Flickr I said that it was surprisingly good, and I don't lie about these things.

Funnel cake
Gold Country Fair

Topped with cinnamon and sugar. I think I need to get one with more impressive toppings to photograph, not to mention getting a shot without shadow on the corner.

Fried peanut butter and banana with honey
California State Fair

If it's good enough for Elvis . . . .

Swirl cone
California State Fair

Egg roll on a stick
Sacramento County Fair

You'll have to take my word for it that they shoved a stick up into it. A poorly conceived photo. I like the idea, however, of putting food on a stick for no reason. I mean, an egg roll is convenient finger food anyhow. I've been looking for pizza on a stick, which I have seen photos of on Flickr, but not yet found for myself.

Beignets
California State Fair

The New Orleans classic.

Corn on the cob
Sacramento County Fair

One of my favorite things about summer growing up in Montana was all the roadside stands selling sweet, juicy, golden corn on the cob, usually 8-12 ears for $1. I think it will set you back more like $3-$4 for one ear at the fair.

Italian sausage sandwich
Sacramento County Fair

German sausage, Italian sausage . . . it's all good.

Fried frog legs
California State Fair

They tasted more like cod than chicken to me, and were served with lemon and tartar sauce like fish would be.

Frito pie
Yuba-Sutter Fair (Yuba City)

Cheap and filling--fair food tends to be pricey, so this was a nice find. It's just Fritos, chili, and cheese. I added the onions, which were set out for topping hot dogs.

Gourmet caramel apple
Yuba-Sutter Fair

Ooh, much too sugary. I'll stick with the regular caramel apple next time.

Deep-fried artichoke hearts
Sacramento County Fair

I love artichokes, but was disappointed with these--far too greasy.

Funky monkey waffle cone
California State Fair

The server took out a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, put fresh banana slices, bits of chocolate, and peanuts on it, then folded it all together with two spatulas before putting it all in the waffle cone. Delicious

Hawaiian shaved ice
California State Fair

Strawberry, banana, and grape. Looking at all of these photos together, I know now how I SHOULD have shot this subject.

Churro
California State Fair

We didn't have these at the fair in Montana, but they are the classic carnival/fair/festival food in California's Central Valley. They're just deep-fried dough with cinnamon and sugar.

There are plenty more foods to be tried, so I'm sure I'll be updating this every year.

The Vintage Neon Signs of Marysville & Yuba City

2009-08-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

(and the rest of Yuba County & Sutter County)

Marysville and Yuba City are these days essentially one city, but they are separated by the Feather River, and when drawing up counties for California, the Feather River was made the border between Sutter and Yuba Counties. And just to make it a little confusing, Marysville, bordered on the south by the Yuba River, is the seat of Yuba County, while Yuba City is the seat of Sutter County. In the 2000 census, Sutter County was home to 78,930 people, while Yuba County had a population of 60,219. Given that the sparse population of these two counties is mostly centered in this urban area right on the border, the area is often referred to as Yuba Sutter, and they have one combined county fair called the Yuba Sutter Fair.

Both cities are on the historic path of U.S. Route 99E. U.S. 99W went from Sacramento to Davis, then Woodland, and from there generally followed the route of current Interstate 5. U.S. 99E went from Sacramento to Roseville, then followed the path of current CA-65 through Lincoln and Wheatland on its way to Marysville. It crossed over to Yuba City--I'm not sure if that would be on current CA-20, or farther south on Bridge St. Leaving Yuba City, it headed north on current CA-99 to meet up with U.S. 99W in Red Bluff. The current CA-99 stretch from the junction with I-5 near the Sacramento Airport to Yuba City is not the historic route of the federal Highway 99.

A 1950s postcard that I bought at Red Tire Antiques in Yuba City shows the streets of downtown Marysville lined with dozens of neon signs. Not one in the picture remains today, and many of the buildings are gone too. When I visited Marysville and Yuba City for the first time in 2000, the Sutter Theatre in Yuba City was still open, as was the Marysville Drive-In (actually across the Yuba River from Marysville in Linda or Olivehurst). The State Theatre had just closed a year earlier. Now the Sutter is in the process of being converted to a performing arts center, the drive-in is just a rubble and weed-strewn parking lot, and State Theatre has now been closed for a full decade.

But here are the signs I managed to get to with a camera before they were destroyed. If you know of any that I have missed, please drop me a line (check my profile for my e-mail).

Marysville, Yuba County

232 1st St.
Plaza

This sign was my most recent discovery in the area. The address is now the site of the Chinese Museum of Northern California, opened the first Saturday of each month.

520 3rd St.
Quick's Glass Service

I'd guess that this mixed plastic and neon sign dates from the 1960s.

315 5th St
Cortez Room

320 5th St
Cotton's Cowboy Corral

425 5th St.
Matthews Music

I'm guessing that this isn't vintage, but it has the right look, and it could be vintage, so for now I'll keep it in this list.

221 B St.
Bossen Laundry

In the 1947 city directory, this business is advertised as the "Wife Saving Station."

229-231 C St.
Travelers Hotel

The hotel was built in 1912. The neon must have come later, since neon tubes were not used for commercial signage until the 1920s.

103 D Street
Tower Theatre

I believe this theater was built as the Liberty Theatre, and then remodeled to become the Tower Theatre. The Liberty, which opened on January 11, 1927, was built on the site of the National Theatre, which burned down on January 28, 1926. (A new National Theatre was built on E Street, which then was later remodeled to become the State Theatre, which still stands, but without its original neon marquee.) The Tower Theatre opened at the same site as the Liberty on January 17, 1941, and like the Liberty, its advertising logo was "The Family Theater."

The shot above is how I first saw it in 2000. The shot below is how it appears now--the theater space has been converted to offices, but the marquee remains, as well as the terrazzo floor. Here's a lovely image of the place in full swing back in the day.

530 E St.
Mogheli's Furniture

I'm not sure about this sign. The design certainly looks vintage, but I don't remember seeing it in my early visits to Marysville. But it may have just been moved--I found a listing for Mogheli's at 430 D. St.

509 G St
Bob's Lock & Key

North of Marysville on CA-70 at Ramirez Rd.
The Walnut Tree

Yuba City, Sutter County

573 Bridge St.
Sutter Orchard Supply

Bridge St.
Westbridge Village

440 Colusa Ave
2000 Hal's Grubstake

It was in business when I first visited the area, and I ate one of their Dude Burgers. Now one sign is gone entirely, and the other has been drastically modified and has no neon.

724 Colusa Ave
EZ Bentprob Liquor & Deli

With a name like that, it has to be good.

754 Plumas St
Sutter Theatre

Below is all the neon that was working on it in 2005 when it was still operating as Sutter Cinema 3.

758 Plumas St
The Spur

Below is all that was lit when I checked it in 2005. Since then I have never seen any part of it lit.

760 Plumas St
Town Pump

In the 1970 Yellow Pages they advertise, "Cook Your Own Steak to Your Liking." Man, I can do that at home.

Linda, Yuba County

Riverside Dr.
Anton's Apartment Motel

This sign was quite a discovery for me. It certainly didn't seem like an area that would have an old neon sign, and I'm not even sure why I was on that road, but I happened onto this rusting beauty in a fenced-off vacant lot

Live Oak, Sutter County

6241 Live Oak Blvd.
Pasquini's

Liquor Store

I'll have to get the name and address (and hopefully a better picture) next time I'm in Live Oak.

El Dorado National Forest: Pyramid Peak's Summit

2009-07-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of the most dramatic scenes in all of the Desolation Wilderness is Lake Aloha in the Desolation Valley (from which the designated wilderness area gets its name). Lake Aloha is not a natural lake--it used to be a series of small lakes named the Medley Lakes, until a dam was built in 1875 and raised in 1917, creating Lake Aloha, until water levels drop in late September and it divides again into a series of lakes. The valley floor is an immense stretch of granite, and the vast expanse of blue water of Lake Aloha set off against the silvery gray of the stark granite is awe inspiring. I had seen it from the southern, eastern, and northern sides, but I wanted a view of it from the west, from high above it, on Pyramid Peak, the highest point in the Desolation Wilderness at 9,983 feet.

There are three ways to reach the summit of Pyramid Peak described on this handy website. Although it is the longest route, going via Lake Sylvia and the Lyons Creek Trail involves the least climbing (about 3300 feet of it), and at around 12 miles round trip is not as long as many hikes I take.

Seeing as how it is off trail and requires a good bit of scrambling, though, I felt it best to hike this with my friend Erik, rather than alone. We set off in October of 2007, but there was snow on the ground, and ultimately we decided not to go off trail, and instead we made a visit to Lyons Lake.

Lake Sylvia, October 2007

For attempt #2, we set out late in July of 2008. I had studied the map and a photograph from that website mentioned earlier, and thought it would be easy enough to find the way. We marched off to Lake Sylvia via the Lyons Creek Trail, and then it was time to climb to "the obvious notch SSE of the lake."

I've got to be honest. Erik and I are enthusiastic hikers, but we don't have much experience, and don't seem to be naturals at this either. We have some problems. Looking from the shore of Lake Sylvia, neither of us could spot a notch that was obvious. In fact, we had to get out the map just to clarify that north of the lake was Mt. Agassiz, and not Pyramid Peak--Pyramid Peak doesn't look like much of a peak or a pyramid from Lake Sylvia (although it does from the east). Additionally, the map made it look like we should just skirt the shore that we arrived at before starting up, which is what we did.

We should have been farther to the right in this photo

We tried to find the easiest way up, going gradually from west to east, climbing at a slant to what we decided was most likely our notch. But after a lot of work, and having to climb down and back up again on talus and slab to get around impassable objects, we reached a very steep portion with smaller rocks mixed with dirt--not good footing at all. We sent some rocks tumbling, and finally gave up, and went down the talus and slab portion with the largest boulders.

As we got down to the lake, I heard people discussing the way up and saw them pointing, and soon they started up. They headed towards the same notch we had been aiming for, but they started considerably more to the east. Rather than start climbing from the southwest corner of the lake, they started from the middle of the south shore, about where the trees end. We stayed and watched them, and more people who followed, and a man hiking down. They avoided entirely the steep portion with poor footing that had stopped us, and their route looked easier. Three guys who came later, though, climbed right up to where we had been, and made a very laborious ascent up the ridge from there, sending many rocks flying, and exchanging terse words with each other.

We had worked too much to start the ascent over, so we instead enjoyed Lake Sylvia--it was my third time there, but the first time I really spent time at the lake. And we went off trail following Lyons Creek for a portion on the way back, which took us through some lovely meadows where the creek meanders and has trout swimming in it. The trout are not native to streams and lakes above 6000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, but have been stocked there since the 19th century, and survive in some lakes and streams even in national parks in the Sierra Nevada, which are no longer stocked.

So we once again failed to make it up to Pyramid Peak, but at least we had scouted out the route, and knew how to approach it on our next attempt, which wouldn't be until early September.

Erik on the talus

One bad thing about starting later in the season is that it means less time before sunset, and we got a late start from Sacramento too. We did much better on this effort, making our way, rather slowly, up the talus to the notch, and continuing up from there. There was no clearly blazed use trail, but the general way seemed obvious enough, and every once in a while we would come across a section of use trail on the steep climb. We got very high up, just below the peak and the final scramble up talus. But we were pressed for time at that point--there was a good chance that if we continued to the peak, we would not make it back to the car before dark. It's not like the peak was going away anytime soon, so there really was no pressing reason to risk it. After resting and checking out the outstanding view of a pond on the slope up above Lake Syliva, we headed back. We made it back to the car just after sunset, while there was still a good bit of light. That was it for climbing Pyramid Peak in 2008.

The summit of Pyramid Peak to the right

Ponds between Pyramide Peak and Mt. Agassiz

For 2009, I briefly considered a different approach--taking the shorter route (with more climbing) from U.S. 50, which is more popular, or camping at Lake Sylvia so as to get a very early start on the climb. But no, I had to finally do what I had set out from the trailhead three times before intending to do, and not done. No turning back this time, no excuses.

So at the end of July I set off, alone this time, and on a weekday, with the hope that it would be just me and the mountain. I took a mechanical pencil along to jot down the time at various points along the trail so I would have a good estimate of how long my return would be.

8:45 Set out from the trailhead along the familiar Lyons Creek Trail.
9:25 Passed junction with Bloodsucker Lake Trail.
10:37 Reached fork in trail, one way heading to Lyons Lake, my way towards Lake Syliva.
10:47 Reached Lake Syliva
10:52 Started up the talus from the south shore of the lake.

We had successfully completed this portion of the hike the year before, so I hadn't been too concerned about it, until I actually started it. Looking up the huge slope of talus was pretty intimidating, and I started questioning my decision to go on a weekday. There had been campers at the lake, but nobody was around climbing the way I was going. As I started up, someone at the lake started playing the harmonica. It was rather strange, climbing by myself over huge rocks, with just the sound of a distant harmonica and the wind in the trees now and then.

I took my time, and took breaks along the way up, looking down at the lake. I noticed that someone was standing on the north shore apparently watching my progress the whole time.

Taking a break

Closer to the top, there is solid mountain on the left and right, with talus in between, and above that dirt with loose rock. The left side next to solid mountain looked best to me, so I went up that way, but farther up there was a distinct use trail on the right side next to the solid mountain. Sometimes I skipped around sketchy looking portions that were definitely heavily traveled, but looked terrible for footing. I reached the notch at 11:37, so it took 45 minutes for me to climb up from the lake.

All accounts I have read of this hike are pretty dismissive of the next portion, saying the peak is obvious, and you just head up. But really, the route you take up the steep slope can make a big difference in how difficult the hike is. There are portions near the start that have ups and downs, rather than just continuing up, which make going more difficult, and there are sections of talus. But it is possible to navigate around them, and take an easier way up. The patches of use trail help.

I had mixed success in finding the easiest route. I would find a patch of use trail and then lose it, and then find it again, sometimes closer to the ridge than I had been traveling, sometimes farther away from it. I began to suspect that there were two distinct use trails, and I kept alternating between them.

I had to stop to rest a couple of times on the way up, and I ate my sandwich, the only food I had brought on the hike. Where I stopped there were lovely views of Lake Sylvia and a pond just below the notch on the other side from Lake Sylvia. Father up, I could see a couple of cabins in a beautiful meadow down to the southwest. I think these are the cabins in Upper Forni mentioned in Robert S. Wood's 1970 guide to the Desolation Wilderness.

1:00 Or a little before, I reached the spot that Erik and I had stopped at last year. I forgot to check my watch until a little later.

Nothing to do from here but face that boulder and talus climb. Again, it appeared intimidating, but also quite beautiful, with the rocks bespeckled with green and pink/peach lichen. There were a few trees out in the middle of the talus, indicating soil in that area, so I thought there might be some easier hiking. I headed towards one on the left, only to end up veering back towards two on the right. Near them was some soil where it was easier going, but it was a short patch. I knew what was down over the ridge to the left--a sheer drop. I thought maybe there was an easier ascent over the ridge to the right, but I figured it might also be a sheer drop that way, and the latter theory proved correct.

I was really panting and my heart racing, but I reminded myself it wasn't just the effort, it was because I was approaching 10,000 feet in elevation and the air was thin. I was finally going to stop and, but having just reached much smaller rocks, I could see the summit was very close. I decided I'd rather rest with a view.

1:23 I reached the summit, 4 hours and 38 minutes after departing from the trailhead. There were several deep enclosures up there, where people have dug up the rocks and put them up as walls, undoubtedly nice for getting out of the wind on some days (not a problem that day). There was a container with the summit register, a cardboard crown for being king of the mountain, and various other bits. According to the register, one other group had been there before me that day, firefighters from Sacramento who came via the more popular route from U.S. 50.

But what about the view? I don't know any way to capture it in a compelling photograph, but it was stunning. There were too man lakes visible for me to be able to identify them all. Lake Aloha, of course, predominated, but I could also see Lake of the Woods, many small lakes, a fantastic cascade of water running down the granite between, I believe, Desolation Lake and Ropi Lake. Even portions of the Echo Lakes, Fallen Leaf Lake, and the south end of Lake Tahoe (and a couple of casinos) were visible. Even from that high up, I couldn't fit all of Lake Aloha in view with a wide-angle lens.

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Part of Lake Aloha

I stayed for half an hour at the summit, and then started the long, but relatively uneventful, trek back. As I started down from the notch to Lake Sylvia, I fell on my butt, and got a small cut on my hand. I took it as a reminder to be cautious on that portion. I remember working my way down it pretty quickly last year, but I think I was definitely slower this year. I made it to the lake by 3:25, which meant I had plenty of time. The only reason I had to hurry back was hunger. I reached my car at 5:23, and headed off for dinner in Placerville.

Tahoe National Forest: Warren Lake Trail

2009-07-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Tantalizingly Close to Warren Lake

My friend Erik and I decided to go hiking on Saturday. He suggested we take the Rockbound Pass Trail in the Desolation Wilderness, but I hiked that trail twice last summer, and was interested in something new. I checked _California Hiking_ and found one trail that was close enough to drive to for a day hike, was a challenge in terms of length and difficulty (which I was looking for), and promised to be a beautiful hike (the book gave it a 10 for scenic value): Warren Lake Trail.

I suggested it to Erik and sent him a link to a photo of the lake, thinking he would just trust me about it being suitable. But instead he looked up information online about the hike and found it was described as "very difficult," and recommended only as a 2-day backpacking trip.

Of course, that hike on Rockbound Pass Trail to the lakes just past the pass is also described as a 2-day backpacking trip, as is the one we had made a couple of weeks earlier to Rubicon Lake. That hike was 16.2 miles, whereas this one was listed in my book and online as 14 miles (turns out it is 15). None of the descriptions were too exact, but I figured from them that it would involve about 3,000 feet of climbing, 1,500 of that on a short and very difficult stretch. Frankly, it sounded perfect to me--something just a little more difficult than what we had ever attempted before. I talked Erik into it.

Let me tell you, if you are interested in doing a lot of hiking in El Dorado National Forest and Tahoe National Forest, you need to buy or borrow a copy of The Tahoe Sierra by Jeffrey P. Schaffer. The geological information is fascinating, but more importantly it gives very accurate and full descriptions of the hikes and accurate measures of distance and elevation gain on the hikes and the various ways to add variety to those hikes (with spur trails, or taking different ways back). I couldn't find my copy of it right off, and wasn't really concerned about the hike, so I didn't worry about it. Only afterwards did I find it because I had to quantify just what we had been through: 15 miles, and more than 4,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain (that is, counting all the climbing on ups and downs, not the net elevation difference from the trailhead to the goal of the hike). And most of the climbing and descending was steep.

We had a bit of a delay getting started. The Castle Peak/Boreal Ridge exit from eastbound I-80 was closed for construction, so we had to take the Donner Lake exit, get on westbound I-80, and get back to our exit.

Then I just turned north up a short distance from there to what looked like a trailhead, knowing that the lake was north of the freeway. But after walking up to a map on a fire road, I realized the trailhead was on the south side of the freeway, and I quickly checked the book and read a little more, as I should have done the night before. We drove over there to the parking area for the Pacific Crest Trailhead.

On this really easy early portion of trail that caters to travelers just stopping off the road for a few minutes to stroll in the high Sierra Nevada, we took a wrong turn where a portion of the sign with the information we needed was broken off. I'm going to say it was because of bears rubbing up against it to scratch their itches.

So we ended up at a rest stop for eastbound I-80, looking totally out of place in our hiking gear. We were looking for a tunnel under the freeway, but there wasn't one there. Another map indicated where we went wrong, and we headed back to the last junction and took the right path.

It was a short delay, and it was easy hiking, but not a good start for a hike on which Erik was concerned about us getting back before dark. I didn't really think it would be an issue. He asked me if I had my headlamp with me, and I told him "Possibly." I like to have it in my backpack in case it's needed, but I hadn't checked if it was there, and I couldn't really remember if I had it in there on my last couple of hikes. (Much later I checked, and I did have it.)

So we hiked through the tunnel underneath I-80, lined with corrugated tin. We crossed a small trickle of water going up every so slightly and came to a junction. I think the fork we did not take, from the maps we had seen, goes back to the rest stop on westbound I-80. If you can park there (I suspect it might not be allowed, and might not be as safe for belongings in your car), it would shorten the hike a tad.

We proceeded through forest to an open area filled with false hellebore. I really love the leaves of this plant, but experience tells me to rush through areas where it is still green, as there are always lots of mosquitoes around. We continued climbing at a very easy pace on dirt trail--so much easier on the feet than stone--to a junction signed for Summit Lake to the right and Warren Lake to the left.

Heading off towards Warren Lake, it didn't take long for the trail to start climbing more steeply. It was steep enough that I was surprised. From the hike descriptions I had read, I was imagining that it was a pretty gradual 1,500-foot climb for 6 miles, then a steep and difficult drop for 1 mile. But here we were climbing rather steeply early on.

We emerged into an open area covered with mule ears and with fabulous views of the mountains to the south and of the snow sheds along the first railroad passage through the Sierra Nevada. Below the trail to the right was a muddy area where a snow melt-fed pond must have recently been, and up above to the left was a hollow in which there was some still unmelted snow.

Shortly after this is a climb to "the saddle." Erik had mentioned this point from what he had read online about the hike, and this was definitely it. (A saddle is just the low point in the dip between two peaks.) There was an unsigned junction here, with a trail climbing up to the peak. We passed it by, but apparently it leads a short ways to a lovely overlook of Frog Lake.

From here we started down, which surprised us. We were expecting to basically be climbing up until the last mile, when we would make a sharp decent. But no, that would have been far too easy. This is what makes this hike difficult--the continual alternation between steep climb and steep descent.

This descent wasn't so bad at first, and when the trail came to a turn there was a sign indicating 4 miles to Warren Lake. The marker reassured us that we had made the right choice at the unmarked junction above.

We descended on gradual slope through forest and past an open area with a large snow bank to the edge of a open valley, and then started steeply down its face.

It was tough going just to keep our footing on this steep descent, but what a view! Volcanic Basin Peak shot up in front of us to the west with a slope down into the valley to a large section of exposed granite. And there were wildflowers of all sorts on either side of us.

What a View!

Getting lower, we began crossing numerous small streams from the snow melt. Then we started another steep ascent, this time across a ridge of fine dust and rock from a lava flow, with unstable footing.

Characteristic of these ancient lava flows are mudflow blocks. They look to me like discarded chunks of concrete, and I was confused by them when I first encountered them, but the trusty Tahoe Sierra book explained them to me. They are like concrete: concrete is aggregate, like rocks, bound together with cement. Mudflow blocks are aggregate of loose rocks bound together by the mixture of superheated mud rushing ahead of the lava flow.

Once up that tough climb, we went down and up and down and up I don't know how many times. Down each time to cross the stream of run-off, then up to the next ridge. I was grumbling a lot to myself at this point about how there must be a much easier way to reach Warren Lake.

Finally we hit the easiest portion of trail since the junction with the trail to Summit Lake. It had beautiful views of a green valley far below to the east, as well as of the dramatic terrain we had just passed.

We came to a signed junction, to the left for Devil's Oven Lake, to the right for Warren Lake, with a distance of 1 1/4 miles. I was keeping track of the time, and when we would need to turn back, and it had been getting questionable. From my calculations, we still could make it to the lake and back with enough margin for error in my estimates that we would be safely back to the car before dark. But we certainly weren't going to have much time to spend at the lake.

The first portion after the junction is quite easy and level. There is a momentary drop after that, and then some easy descent. But then we hit a vicious descent. After struggling through it trying to keep my balance, I reached a flat area and thought, "Am I down to the lake already? That wasn't too hard." But that portion is maybe 1/3 of the way down.

When we began descending again at first it was a little easier, but then we hit portions that were just as difficult as before. As Erik said later, it didn't really matter if you followed the trail or not, as the trail wasn't any easier than just picking your way down the slope. The last 20 feet or so was the worst. It was as though the person who had chosen the route for the trail just gave up at that point.

There were four tents pitched at the flat area at the end of the trail by the lake, and a fire pit that was well built up. But the lake was not accessible directly ahead--too many woody shrubs, or dwarf trees. I started off to the right, where I could see an inviting peninsula, but it soon appeared there would be some difficulty scrambling to get there, and I wasn't up to it at that point. So I walked through the tents to another camping area that was unoccupied and rested for a while, waiting for Erik to catch up.

But as soon as I felt recovered enough, I couldn't resist the impulse to go exploring to the west. We weren't going to have much time before we started to head back, and I wanted to get some photos. There appeared to be some nice granite slabs to the west side of the lake, and with the light at the time, that is where I would get my best photographs.

I followed a use trail around, and indeed, the west shore of the lake is the place to be. There are nicer camp sites, there, and easy access to the water. In fact, that is where all the guys who were camping at the end of trail were hanging out at the time.

The Goal of the Hike

Not surprisingly, it took me longer to get over there and take my photos than I had anticipated. By the time I got back, I was thinking it was time to start heading up again. But I encountered an exhausted Erik who had tired himself on that scramble I had passed up to the east, thinking that is the way I would have gone.

So we hung out until he was ready to go on. I drank as much water as I comfortably could, so I wouldn't have that weight in my backpack on the way up, and tucked away my camera, thinking I wouldn't bother to get it out again.

That was a long climb. We stopped to rest many times. I congratulated Erik when we finished it, as we had finished what was technically the toughest part of the hike. But it wouldn't seem like the most difficult part to me, given how exhausted I was when I tackled the later portions.

The worst of these was the steep descent (this time) down the dusty volcanic ridge and then very long and steep climb up in front of Basin Peak. When we finally reached the end of that stretch, I went over and sat back on a snow bank to cool off. Later I dug through the top layer of snow to get to some clean snow to put into my canteen for extra water on the way back.

From there we had our last climb back to the saddle. It was pretty much all downhill from there, but our feet were sore, and my legs were aching. The beginning portion of the hike, the mostly flat area around I-80, had seemed so quick in the morning, but it really dragged on for us coming back. Erik said that he thought we were as good as at the car when we passed through the tunnel under the freeway, and was shocked to soon see a sign indicating we had 3/4 mile to go.

About 10 hours after we had left it, we made it back to the car. We made it back with plenty of time before sunset, as I had been sure we would when originally choosing to take this hike. But while I had been the one who pushed for it against Erik's resistance, it turns out I was the one who regretted it. The next day Erik reported that he was well recovered, and climbed 4 flights of stairs at the library. I would have taken the elevator, given how sore I was, and still am 2 days later.

Lake Tahoe Basin: Meeks Bay to Rubicon Lake

2009-07-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

With my friend Erik's wife out of town for a while, we decided to try and get the most hiking out of the extra time by going camping. That way we could hit the trail first thing in the morning rather than wasting time driving from Sacramento. And we chose a trailhead that is a good long drive away from the state capitol.

Our big hike was planned for the second day, but we were going to do some hiking the first day as well. On the way up to South Lake Tahoe, we diverted over off to do an off-trail, or at least off of any official trail, hike to an area that locals prefer to keep a secret, and I now know why. So I won't say any more about that.

Next we got our campsite at Bayview Campground. The place was pretty busy with day hikers using the parking for the Bayview Trail and overflow parking from Inspiration Point above Emerald Bay across the road, but the campground itself was nearly empty. It's only $15 a night, less than other campgrounds around Lake Tahoe, mainly because it has no plumbing.

We took advantage of the site to hike up to Granite Lake on the Bayview Trail, a lake I had skipped over on my two much longer hikes up the Bayview Trail to the Velma Lakes. I took a quick swim.

Snow Plant on Bayview Trail

Then we headed down and over to Cascade Falls. We were there a bit late in the day--the big waterfall down to Cascade Lake was in shadow, but it's a difficult subject to photograph under optimal conditions anyhow. The creek spreads out all over the granite with lots of mini falls in the area above, and we spent a good bit of time scrambling on rocks and exploring that.

Above Cascade Falls

When we got back to the campground, there was a bear making an inspection of all the campsites for food, and a bunch of damn-fool campers following after it with their cameras. I took out my camera too, but I didn't take a single step in its direction. Of course, I didn't do what I should have done either--scare it off with loud noise. It is much better for bears if they remain afraid of humans rather than getting comfortable around them.

Black Bear

We watched the sunset from Inspiration Point, but it was not dramatic as I had hoped it would be. Then it was back to the camp site to build a fire.

Inspiration Point

In the morning we watched the bear make its rounds again before we headed off to the Meeks Bay trailhead, right across the highway from Meeks Bay Campground. Most of our hike repeated a hike I took in August of 2007 from Meeks Bay to Stony Ridge Lake, so I'll be brief in my description of that part of the hike. Please see the other blog entry for a more detailed description.

The hike starts on a closed dirt road--nice, soft dirt. It's flat, and we were moving as fast as we could to keep warm, as it was cold in the morning and I didn't want to bring my jacket when I wouldn't need it for most of the day. There were many lovely wildflowers there, and many locals just like to walk this first section with their dogs.

At about 1.3 miles there was a signed junction with a trail leading uphill off the right edge of the trail and road continuing on while turning a bit to the left. We started climbing, fairly steeply, on the narrow trail. Once up to where it joins the creek, the trail climbs at a moderate pace, and the area around us was lush with ferns, wildflowers, and mosquitoes. Eventually the trail drops down to the south and crosses the creek over a large wooden bridge. On the other side the trail climbs alternately west and south before curving around on a slope above the creek dropping rapidly off to the right.

Alpine Lily

All of the lakes on this hike are connected by creeks, so on the way out and up, we were always going to where the water was coming from, only we were taking the more gentle grade, while the water was taking the more direct path. As you approach each lake, you will find that you and the creek get closer and closer together in elevation.

Fungus Just Before the Junction

Just past a signed junction with General Creek Trail we found Lake Genevieve, right where I left it two years ago. It's a nice lake framed by mountains on the south and west sides and with open areas to hang out on the east side. But the next lake is framed a little more dramatically, and is larger.

Lake Genevieve

So we made the short hike up the moderately graded trail to Crag Lake, which has two nice little islands in the south end. There are lots of nice areas to hang out along the east shore, although they are divided by a rocky outcropping that we hiked around.

In Crag Lake

From there we rock-hopped across a creek and started up a bit more steeply. At one point the trail turns sharply left and there is a clear trail heading down to the right, and we could just see some water in a lake below. There is no signed junction here, but that is Hidden Lake below. I went there last year, but it was very steep, and I didn't want to waste the energy this year, as we had a farther destination in mind.

Grassy Shadow Lake

So we headed off on the trail to Shadow Lake. By the time you see Shadow Lake on the left, most of it is already behind you. As a result, it looks smaller than it actually is. I remember thinking in 2007 that it was close to becoming a meadow. Certainly the south end of it looks that way, but on our return we went off trail to the south end of it, and saw that there is a good bit of water.

Shadow Lake

I promised Erik that it was just a short ways up ahead to Stony Ridge Lake, but it was farther than I was remembering. When we got to that lake, we hiked a little ways along its long shore before stopping to rest and to eat. I thought it would be a good idea to rest because we had one big climb left to Rubicon Lake, and then that would be it for climbing for the day. The beauty of this trail is that there are very few ups and downs. Instead, it just consistently climbs on the way out, so the net elevation gain is pretty close to the cumulative amount of climbing that you do, and it's almost all downhill on the way back.

Stony Ridge Lake

After eating we continued on along the lengthy west shore of Stony Ridge Lake and started to encounter what I found to be the most interesting scenery on the whole hike. Off to the left we saw a large pool of water with several grassy circles--nearly perfect circles--surrounded by grassy swamp, except that a large protrusion of bulbous, rounded granite stuck out into it. On higher ground where the trail runs there was lush vegetation intermixed with large granite boulders, and towering to the southeast was an imposing solid granite wall.

Stony Ridge Lake from Above

After running close to this cliff, the trail started away from it, and almost over to the creek cascading down a steep, fractured cliff. Then we immediately headed back the other way on a switch back. As we climbed hire we were afforded lovely views of the great length of Stony Ridge Lake. Finally the trail curled up to the left in a passage between granite cliffs and up to small and lovely Rubicon Lake.

Rubicon Lake

I searched around for a nice granite shelf to hang out on for a while. After talking about it a while I couldn't resist the impulse to take a quick swim. It was too cold to stay in the water for long, but I just wanted to be able to say I swam in Rubicon Lake, 8.1 miles in distance and 2,080 feet in elevation away from the trailhead. While drying out on the granite I spotted something swimming close to the opposite shore, and Erik identified it as a beaver.

South End of Rubicon Lake

We explored around the lake a bit--there were many lily pads on the east side, to which we did not make it, and a few on the south edge where we were taking photographs.

Initially I wanted to wait longer so I could photograph Rubicon Lake and Stony Ridge Lake in the afternoon light, instead of the harsh overhead light of the middle of the day, but I realized we had a long ways to go, so we started back.

At first, the return trip seemed very easy--it was all downhill and not too steep either. But the sheer length eventually began to take its toll. All the way down past Lake Genevieve and across the wooden bridge, when we could finally see Lake Tahoe I was surprised by how far away and how far below it appeared. And the last part of the hike was just soldiering on, putting one foot in front of the other.

By the time we both made it back to the car it was a full 10 hours after we had set out--certainly our longest hike, and a very satisfying day.

US Route 50: Sacramento's Folsom Boulevard

2009-06-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

U.S Route 50 runs 3073 miles from Ocean City, Maryland to West Sacramento (up until 1964 it turned south from Sacramento to Stockton, then went west to the Bay Area via Tracy). It is the last of the designated federal highways (from before the Interstate system) to run from coast to coast (or at least to a reasonable drive from the coast in West Sacramento).

In California US 50 follows a route historically important both for 19th century immigration and for the development of automobile travel and the highway system. From South Lake Tahoe to Folsom, the current U.S. Route 50 roughly follows the immigrant wagon train path. In the early 20th century, this became the southern branch of the Lincoln Highway (the northern branch went from Truckee to Sacramento roughly along the old U.S. Route 40 and current Interstate 80 path). From its origin in 1926 until the completion of the El Dorado Freeway (current U.S. 50) in 1973, U.S. 50 ran from Folsom to East Sacramento and Midtown via Folsom Boulevard.

Unlike many stretches of old U.S. 40 in the greater Sacramento area, business has continued to flourish along most of the old U.S. 50 route on Folsom Blvd., despite being bypassed by the freeway. It remains an important east-west artery through East Sacramento, and is the main business thoroughfare in Rancho Cordova.

As a result, Folsom Blvd. is lined with a hodgepodge of new and old. I'm going to highlight those old portions that can still be seen, or could be seen in the last few years, while taking you on a trip down Folsom Blvd. from its west end at Alhambra Blvd. in East Sacramento to Rancho Cordova, leaving the historic mining town of Folsom for another blog entry.

3145 Folsom Blvd.
Rosemount Grill

From the Special Collections of the Sacramento Public Library. Reproduced with permission.

This long-time Sacramento institution was originally located downtown, but moved to Folsom Blvd. around 1940. When the owners retired and sold the place, the new owners wanted to maintain the tradition, but the family didn't want somebody else running the business under the same name, so the old neon sign was carted off to the Sacramento Archives, where it is still preserved, and the restaurant became Andiamo's. I had an Easter Buffet there once long before learning anything of the restaurant's history.

3201 Folsom Blvd.
Regal Station

This was the sign for a gas station from the Regal Petroleum Corporation. In the early 1970s, the lot was used for a car dealership, and the owner made good use of the sign, naming the business Crown Auto Sales. Really, Finish Master? Why not be the Finish King, rather than just a master? Restore the crown!

3300 Folsom Blvd.
Philipp's Bakery

This place I was able to get a little insider information on as I was photographing it one night and ran into the owner (as he told me, co-owner with his brother as I found out later). His last name was Philipp and this had been his father's bakery, but it had passed out of the family hands. He (and his brother) did well in business and and bought the bakery, and his wife was running the bakery. He gave me his business card and hers. But then shortly after, the bakery closed, and an article indicated the two brothers had evicted the baker tenant. Odd.

Anyhow, he had the sign restored by Pacific Neon. Just in case there would be some objections to putting it back up, he had the work done on the sign in place. They discovered that, while it had not been used that way for years, the sign was designed to be a flasher, so it was restored that way. But he soon found out why it had been altered, as a part costing a couple of hundred dollars needed to be replaced every few months.

4300 Folsom Blvd.
East Lawn Memorial Park

4757 Folsom Blvd.
Hilltop Tavern

Formerly a small grocery store, the Hilltop opened in the late 1950s or 1960, and when I first saw it, had lovely murals out front, which are now gone.

4800 Folsom Blvd.
East Sacramento Hardware

From at least 1953 to 1982 this was Sacramento Building Specialties, and it has been East Sacramento Hardware since at least 1990.

4920 Folsom Blvd.
Burr's Fountain

I'm curious about this place. It has only been an ice cream shop since the late 1970s or early 1980s (first Vicki Marie's Ice Cream before becoming Burr's Fountain). Before that it was Zarett's Pharmacy, dating back to the 1950s, which looks like the right age for the building. It's possible that it had a soda fountain in it as a pharmacy, which would make it one of the oldest in Sacramento. The counter inside is certainly much newer than that, but whether it replaced one from the 1950s, I don't know.

Owned by the same people as venerable Vic's Ice Cream across town (according to a friend), the menu is much the same--you can still get your sandwiches, which come with potato chips and pickles, on dark rye, and you can get a braunchweiger sandwich to go with your phosphate.

5200 Folsom Blvd.
Socals

While this has long been a tavern, it has only operated under the names Socals since the early 1970s. In the '50s and '60s it was the Clover Club.

5201 Folsom Blvd.
The (Sub) Shack

Born in the early 1970s as The Sub Shack, it has gone upscale under new owners and dropped the "sub" part, and is now a small eatery with a lovely outdoor area known as The Shack.

5723 Folsom Blvd.
Square Deal Cafe/Espanol Italian Restaurant

The Espanol Italian restaurant started as the restaurant in a Basque boarding house for sheepherders, the Espanol Hotel, at 114 J Street in 1923. Ancil Hoffman bought it during the depression and turned it into a celebrity hangout. Ann Sothern and Max Baer frequented the place. In 1952, it moved into the Commercial Hotel at Third and I. In 1959 the Luigi brothers bought it and gradually changed the food served from Basque to Italian. In 1965 it moved to its present location because of the construction of I-5 where the Commercial Hotel once stood. The building formerly housed the Square Deal Cafe.

5810 Folsom Blvd.
Corti Bros.

This was the Grand View Market in the 1950s, and Giant Foods in the 1960s, but as the sign tells you, Corti Bros. has been around since 1947. They started downtown, at what was presumably a much smaller location, then moved to 3195 Folsom Blvd. before moving even farther out to this spot around 1969-1970, presumably following their customers in the flight from downtown.

They usually win any local vote for best deli, and have a fine selection of specialty import groceries. It's where I go every year to get lefse, and the only place I can find in the area that it is available.

5901 Folsom Blvd.
Camellia Cleaners

Camellia Cleaners has been here since at least 1970. Before that Bossy's Drive-In had this address, but I'm not sure if it's the same building or not.

6200 Folsom Blvd.
Giovanni's Pizzeria

This was a tractor supply business for most of its early life, which gives you an idea of the changing character of the area, as this used to be the edge of town. This is my favorite place for New York style pizza.

6300 Folsom Blvd.
Hoppy Brewing Co.

And this placed housed a feed & farm supply company.

6601 Folsom Blvd.
Sambo's Pancakes

It was built as a Sambo's in the mid 1960s, and remained one until at least 1982, and has been a series of restaurants since then.

6727 Folsom Blvd.
Dairy Queen Drive-In No. 52

It started out as a Dairy Queen in the mid 1960s and remained one until the early 1990s, then became, successively, Burger Chief, Will's Burger, and now Dino's Dogs & Gyros.

6800 Folsom Blvd.
A&A Appliance

8294 Folsom Blvd.
Sac City Ink

Housed in an old brick building.

Junction with CA-16

Folsom Boulevard swings around a bit here, and then closely parallels the railroad tracks for several miles into Folsom. This grade was originally selected for the Sacramento Valley Railroad, which started construction in Sacramento in 1852, and reached Folsom in 1856. Now the Sacramento Regional Transit lightrail runs this route. See this history of the Placerville and Sacramento Valley Railroad.

8329 Folsom Blvd.
Park N Gas

An old Texaco station.

8475 Folsom Blvd.
Crazy Tacos

It was Brawley's Coffee Shop from at least 1970-1990, although I don't know if it was originally that.

8545 Folsom Blvd.
Bamboo Tree Mobile Park

8581 Folsom Blvd.
Tahsoe Motel & Coffee Shop

It has been a while since the coffee shop was open, but the motel was still around in 2007, and was demolished late that year. I don't know what the name is in reference to.

8637 Folsom Blvd.
Stardust Motel

It's harder for me to research businesses farther out than this, as we are now moving out of range of the earlier city limits

9509 Folsom Blvd.
Casa Linda Motel

9515 Folsom Blvd.
Vince's Motel

Welcome to Rancho Cordova

There are some interesting historic artifacts in Rancho Cordova, like the Kilgore Cemetery, but the vast majority of this city is of very recent origin. A post office didn't open up here until 1955, and the city was not incorporated until 2003. It consists largely of corporate campuses, strip malls, and suburban housing. The city has massive plans for growth, so I'm sure it will get even uglier than it already is.

9878 Folsom Blvd.
Routier Station

Long Exposure at Night of the Front

This is the historic railroad station on the Sacramento Valley Railroad line known as Routier Station. It dates from 1860, and of late has been uses as an office for Pfingst Realty Company. It's a neglected relic--despite the fact that I used to drive by it on the way to work and meant to photograph it, it took me 4 years to get around to doing so, and I can't find any other photos of it on Flickr.

Long Exposure at Night of the Back

10115 Folsom Blvd.
Old Mills Winery Office Park

Being the clever sleuth that I am, I have deduced from the name of this business park and the part of a wine cask used for its sign that a winery once operated at this location, but I haven't found any information on it yet.

10121 Folsom Blvd.
Walker Cordova Hardware

10153 Folsom Blvd.
Wienerschnitzel

In the classic A-frame building, now demolished.

10271 Folsom Blvd.
1st Value Inn

Formerly a Motel 6.

10273 Folsom Blvd.
Rosie's Country Kitchen

Formerly a Denny's.

10701 Folsom Blvd.
Cordova Lodge/Inn

Cordova Lodge, is what it originally was. After a series of other names, it now has one that is simliar, the Cordova Inn. I would guess that it was built around the time that the post office opened (1955). The "Restaurant" sign on the side had been painted the same color as the building to blend in for years, since there is no longer an operating restaurant, but when I drove by recently I noticed it has been removed all together.

I hope to flesh this out some more in the future with more information and photos, and perhaps more entries, but for now, this is it.

South Yuba Trail: Purdon Crossing to Edwards Crossing

2009-06-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

Me in Action at Edwards Crossing

With Labor Day behind us, my hiking buddy Erik felt like it was summer and was anxious to visit the High Sierra this weekend, but I vetoed that, as May 31st is still a little early. I thought the wildflower blooms ought to still be strong in the foothills, so I suggested that instead we return to the South Yuba River Recreation Area, where we had such a lovely hike last year--although I paid for that one afterwards with severe poison ivy rashes that sent me to the doctor for a prescription.

The South Yuba River Recreation Area is composed of a patchwork of Bureau of Land Management property and land that is part of South Yuba River State Park. It stretches from the historic covered bridge at Bridgeport (photo) to Tahoe National Forest, and is contiguous with Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, presenting plenty of opportunities for hiking, camping, swimming, and gold mining. Yes, limited forms of gold mining are allowed along the stretches of river running through Bureau of Land Management property (but not in the state parks).

Our hike was along the South Yuba River National Trail from one historic bridge, Purdon Crossing, to the next one upstream, Edwards Crossing. To get to Purdon Crossing, we drove to Nevada City, then took North Bloomfield Rd. to the junction with Lake Vera-Purdon Rd., and then took that winding road past Lake Vera to Purdon Crossing. The last stretch was mostly unpaved, and heavily rutted in parts. It was slow going. It's paved road all the way to Edwards Crossing, but I chose to start at Purdon just so we would have more uphill hiking on the way out, and then could have it a little easier on the way back. But there isn't a great deal of difference in elevation between the two river crossings.

Purdon Crossing

We parked just short of Purdon Crossing and the short turnoff to the parking area for the trailhead. That wasn't intentional--I didn't realize there was a larger parking area--but it did afford us the opportunity of viewing and photographing the historic bridge.

According to this interesting website, the bridge dates from 1895 and "is the only remaining half-through metal truss system bridge west of the Rocky Mountains." The "half-through" part I believe refers to the fact that the deck of the bridge is set at the vertical midpoint of the metal truss.

Caterpillar

We hiked up the turnoff to the parking area (no facilities), which had a caterpillar crawling across that we stopped to photograph. From there we were presented with two trail choices, the signed trail to Edwards Crossing, indicating a distance of 4.5 miles, which was quite a bit longer than what I had told Erik from looking at my map, and also a much wider path--maybe an old road--that keeps low along the river. This leads to several swimming spots and a campsite.

We took the South Yuba National Trail, which climbs up the side of the canyon on a narrow path that in the early going had lots of vegetation spilling onto it. Erik loves that, as opposed to the wide open trails, but it was making me nervous after last year's miserable experience with poison oak. And as Erik pointed out, there sure were a lot of plants with leaves in groups of three.

The trail climbs quite a bit above the river, and while we could always hear the South Yuba flowing, we couldn't always see it, although we would catch glimpses now and then. The vegetation was thick, and being on the south side of the canyon, out of direct sunlight for most of the day, it was still quite damp. I'm sure this late in the season that the exposed north side of the canyon was mostly dry. It was also a warm day, with a forecast of 85 degrees for Nevada City, and the combination of warmth and moisture meant there were plenty of mosquitoes, making me doubly glad (in addition to the protection from poison oak) that I had worn pants and long-sleeves.

Erik Stalking Wildflowers

The wildflower display was pretty strong. In hikes past, I would have at least taken a quick photo of each one so that I could have tried to identify them for my hike report, but I'm getting pretty lazy about stopping to photograph wildflowers anymore. We did pause to photograph a few, though.

Indian Pink

There were some use trails down to the river at points, and some of these were quite well worn--so much that I would hesitate, wondering which was the main trail. But we just always took the upper trail until reaching the clearly signed junction with the trail coming down from Round Mountain. It didn't have mileages marked, but I would guess that the junction is 2 miles from Purdon Crossing and 2.5 miles from Edwards Crossing.

More Wildflowers

Between that junction and Edwards Crossing, we hit a rocky section that was more exposed, and consequently had better views of the river. We saw a group of 4 kayakers floating below us. At one point, the trail was eroded and we had to be careful stepping over it, as there was a steep drop off at that point.

Detail, Edwards Crossing

Eventually we could see the next bridge and the trail started heading down to it. At the trailhead there were many vehicles parked, and a pit toilet. I headed straight across the bridge and climbed down on the rocks to the river to get a picture of the bridge while the light was still coming a little bit from the side, although it was mostly from overhead at that point, and I wasn't too pleased with my shots. Erik took a photo of me in action from the deck of the bridge. According to the aforementioned website, the bridge at Edwards Crossing was built in 1904.

Sign at Edwards Crossing

After making use of the facilities, we started back. This was not anywhere near a difficult hike in comparison to many of the others we have done, but I was anxious to get back to the car, and not looking forward to the long hike. It had been over a month since my last hike, which is an unusually long stretch for me. It was a warm day and I was sweating a lot. And I hadn't told Erik (still haven't, until he reads this), but I was under the weather, and had put my cell phone by my bed the night before so I could call him first thing in the morning to cancel the hike, if need be. I was starting to think that maybe I should have.

But while I felt drained, I just kept plodding on, one step after another until we made it to the car. I didn't stop for photos on the way back, and after carrying the camera in my hand for a while, because the weight on my neck was causing discomfort, I finally tucked the camera away in my backpack. Erik got some interesting shots though, including one of two lizards giving a third lizard a hickey. Either that or they were trying to bite its head off. Peculiar.

So, a question left unanswered at the beginning--with all of that poison oak in the area, and the precautions I took against it, did I end up getting poison oak? Of course. I always get poison oak. This is just the third time this year, after six times last year, but that's mainly due to the fact that I have been hiking less. Fortunately, it appears to be confined to a small patch on my left arm near my wrist, unlike last year's South Yuba River hike, when it was all over me, and I was miserable.

But my next hike is going to be in the Sierras, where Erik wanted to go this time--there's no poison oak above 4,000 feet.

The Sacramento County Fair

2009-05-25T18:50:00.001-07:00

"Well I'm off to the county fair tonight," I say to a friend while leaving work.

"The fair? I thought that wasn't until August," replies my confused friend.

"No, not the California State Fair. The Sacramento County Fair," I answer back.

"I didn't know we had a county fair. Where's it held?"

This is a typical conversation for me in the week before Memorial Day the last three years. Not only have none of my friends been to the county fair (except for one who I went with this year), but none of them had ever heard of it before I mentioned it to them.

Win a Prize

But it's true--Sacramento County has its very own fair with rides and everything. There is no need to wait until August or drive down to Dixon to enjoy corndogs and cotton candy.

The fair is small, and of relatively recent birth. There was a county fair many years ago in Galt, but it became just an agriculture, livestock, and craft exhibition and competition. Then it moved to the old fairgrounds in Sacramento, and finally to Cal Expo when the state fair moved there.

Midway of Fun

In 1987 the organizers sought to expand it by adding rides, competitions, and entertainment, including a Jan and Dean concert. Since 1991 it has been a self-funding event that is trying to play the same role that county fairs play in every other county in the state.

Memorial Day Weekend, when the fair is held, is the same weekend that the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee occurs, a premiere event that takes place on a much larger scale. But even though I attend both events each year, they really appeal to different demographics. In the past the Sacramento County Fair had no admission charge, and this year it was still quite reasonable--$3 for adults, children 12 and under free. The jazz festival, on the other hand, charges $45 for an all-day pass on Saturday or Sunday. And while the fair maintains a family friendly atmosphere by not allowing any smoking on the fairgrounds, the jazz festival has big alcohol sales.

Dolly

The bigger competition for the county fair is the state fair. The county fair is tiny by comparison, and in the years I have gone, there have been no big entertainment acts. The biggest draw this year was the demolition derby, for which a separate admission was charged.

Almost everything about the Sacramento County Fair is scaled down in comparison to the state fair, but it is much on par with many of the county fairs I have visited throughout Northern California. I have the same things I like to do at each of these fairs.

Future Goat Stew

I check out the livestock exhibits. This year I brought a vegetarian friend with me, and enjoyed telling him of my experiences eating each of the animals we saw on display. "Oh look, the rabbits. I ate rabbit in Quebec." "I love goats. I had the most delicious goat stew at a Philippine restaurant in Concord."

Then I always check out the photography exhibit. I look at the art too, but it's the photography that most interests me. I've never been able to figure out the judging. There are some brilliant shots, some okay shots, and some bad shots entered every year, and sometimes the brilliant ones win, but not always. Occasionally some of the shots that I consider bad, and would have deleted before anyone else had a chance to see them if I had taken them, win.

Smoked German Sausage

I sample the many foods available, either looking for the typical county fair foods, like corn dogs, or for the particularly decadent foods. The only thing at the county fair that isn't on a smaller scale than the state fair is the pricing on the food. I probably wouldn't spend my money on it if I weren't also planning to photograph it.

Then there are the rides, and, most importantly, the lights on the rides, that move around at night. Unfortunately, I haven't spent much time at the Sacramento County Fair at night. It's only open until 10, and the sun sets late that close to the summer solstice.

Despite the new admission charge, the Sacramento Bee reported that attendance was up at the Sacramento County Fair this year, as were food sales. I'm hoping that will mean some expansion of the offerings next year. I'm doing my part to spread the word.

Fresno's Vintage Neon Signs

2009-04-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

An old sign in Fresno. I wish I remembered where.

I'll admit it: Fresno is not in Northern California. But I'm not going to strictly limit myself just because of the name I chose for the blog way back when. I live in Sacramento, and while Sacramento is part of Northern California, it is also a part of the Great Central Valley, which extends from Bakersfield in the south to Redding in the north. All of it is linked by the backbone of the state, CA 99, formerly U.S. Route 99.

In early 2007 I felt like I had accumulated enough photographs of vintage neon signs in the Central Valley that it wouldn't take a whole lot more to have enough for a book. Of course, I've since realized that many of the neon photos I took early on are not worth sharing with the world, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get better photos of the same signs. But at the time I was just looking to round out my collection geographically.

I headed off to Fresno, stopping along the way in places like Manteca, Chowchilla, and Merced. That led to me arriving in Fresno late in the afternoon on a short February day. I quickly ran around and shot what I could, and had plenty of time in the evening to shoot signs at night.

Fresno was a total wonderland for me. I had already taken hundreds of photos of neon signs in Redding, Red Bluff, Chico, Marysville/Yuba City, Sacramento, Lodi, and Stockton, so I fully expected there to be a good number of interesting old signs in Fresno. But I was unprepared for the abundance and magnificence of what I found in terms of old signs and architecture, but particularly of my very favorite subject, historic theaters.

I slept in an old motel along the historic route of U.S. 99, pre-freeways. I chose it because it was the only one along that strip that had a functioning sign. This proved to be a poor criterion for choosing a place to stay the night. I paid $50 cash up front. The sheets were stained. I couldn't get the heat to work. Rain from earlier that morning had soaked through the roof and the ceiling, and led to some of the popcorn texturing from the ceiling falling onto the carpet. I could only flush the toilet by taking the lid off and manipulating the mechanism inside the tank. And I nearly forgot the train whistles from the tracks across the street.

Getting little sleep, I got an early start the next morning, and ran about madly trying to capture everything I could in a short period of time. Soon enough, I set off, having spent well under 24 hours in the city. But I had pretty good luck in that time, particularly in that the skies were clear after the aforementioned rainstorm. I hadn't checked the forecast or anything, but I was blessed with deep blue skies. Good thing, as I didn't use a polarizing filter.

A couple of months later when I was quite a ways south of Sacramento, I decided to quickly revisit Fresno and try to get a couple of shots in afternoon light that I hadn't gotten on that previous trip. The forecast called for blue skies in Fresno, but the forecast lied, and I was disappointed with both the lighting and the skies.

In wasn't until two years later that I saw Fresno again, this time just briefly stopping in on a trip to Bakersfield, made for much the same purpose as my original trip to Fresno. This time I visited an area I hadn't made it to the previous times, the old U.S. 99 route on the south edge of town. I found some real beauties there.

I'm sure there are more signs that I didn't find in my short explorations--this is not a complete guide. Not yet, anyhow. And I haven't had a chance to research my subjects yet, so mostly what I have now is just photographs and addresses, but I do hope to revise this many times in the future to add more detail. Clovis, once a separate town, but now part of Fresno's suburban sprawl, is included in this, but I will give it its own section. The rest of the Fresno signs are arranged alphabetically by street name, except for those along the historic U.S. 99 route, which are in order from north to south, and which will comprise my starting point.

Historic U.S. Route 99

3393 N. Parkway Dr.
Astro Motel

In addition to the gorgeous sign above, they have this one freestanding:

N. Golden State Blvd.
Arcade Trailer Park

1849 N. Golden State Blvd.
Del Mar Motel

1473 N. Golden State Blvd.
Hollywood Inn

Hmmm. I don't know why I wouldn't have a photo of this sign, since I remember it, and I shot everything around it, but I can't find a photo I took of it. So look at this one instead.

1411 N. Golden State Blvd.
The Sands Motel

I was accosted by a pedestrian who wanted to know why I was taking a photo of these signs. I explained that I love neon signs, to which she pointed out that there was no neon on either sign. But it was neon. You can see the hole for the tubes. It looked a lot neater before they decided to break off the tubing and repaint it. See this shot.

1383 N. Golden State Blvd.
Town House Motel

And the very cool sign for their coffee shop, even though it isn't neon:

1325 N. Golden State Blvd.
Fresno Motel

N. Golden State Blvd.
El Camino Motel

740 W. Olive Ave.
Bel Air Motel

This motel was recently demolished. It's just a dirt lot with 3 palm trees at this point. My favorite was the sign for the old dining and banquet room.

2155 S. G St.
Andy's Cocktails

We've skipped over downtown and reached the southern edges of Fresno by the time we hit this sign. I'm not sure what the exact route of 99 was through downtown, but I hope to find out in a couple of months.

This is a beautifully maintained sign that I really should have photographed. I saw it when I was running late coming back from Bakersfield, and I just keep seeing more and more signs to stop for which was making me even later. I didn't stop for this one, figuring that the good condition of the sign was an indicator that it would still be around next time I visit Fresno. I hope I'm right. This is the only shot I can find of it right now.

2309 S. G St.
Fresno City Motel

This isn't the main sign, but one a block away. The main one isn't that interesting. While I want a shot of it, I didn't stop for one when I saw it.

2325 S. G St.
Big Star Motel

This is one of those signs that makes my jaw hit the floor when I spot it. This old stretch of U.S. 99, not quite visible from the CA 99 freeway, is a seedy area. The motel has a fence around the parking lot with barbed wire on top, and all of the nearby streets have "NO STOPPING ANYTIME" signs. Had residents of the motel but standing around, I probably wouldn't have gotten my shot, but there was anybody around at all late on a lovely Sunday afternoon--it was rather eerie. I illegally parked and got my shot.

2395 S. G St.
Cafe 309

2833 E. Church Ave.
Gables Motel

Not far from the Big Star Motel, this one looked a little safer to me, and was easy to park by.

2710 S. Orange Ave.
Ayres Motel

On the far southern edge of Fresno. The owner of this old motel came charging out to find out why I was taking pictures. When I explained my interest in neon signs and old highway routes, he seemed stymied. He wasn't happy with the answer, but couldn't think of much to say in return other than, "But the sign doesn't work." That's too bad, but it doesn't have any affect on a daylight shot.

The motel comes with two bonus signs!

If you are traveling down the old 99 route in search of vintage neon signs, it's worth continuing on from here, as soon you'll see the gorgeously rusting signs for the California Motel and Fowler Motel, but I'll cover that stretch in another blog entry and return to Fresno proper.

The Rest of Fresno

4151 E. Ashlan Ave.
Ashlan Park Shopping Ctr

I saw this driving by, but haven't stopped for a shot yet. Here's a photo of it.

322 E. Belmont Ave.
Fresno Automatic Transmissions

Now La Segunda thrift store.

about 2300 block of E. Belmont Ave.
7-Up sign

Just my best guess from memory as to the location.

415 N. Blackstone Ave.
Maxwell Studio

4674 N. Blackstone Ave.
Paradise Liquor

4735 N. Blackstone Ave.
Me 'n' Ed's Pizza

4757 N. Blackstone Ave.
Blackstone Village

5420 N. Blackstone Ave.
Caliche's Frozen Custard

I don't even remember if I saw this in person, or just saw this photo from one of my Flickr contacts.

N. Blackstone Ave.
Ronnie's Midway Market/Midway Liquor

N. Blackstone Ave.
Motel

Broadway
Radiator M

Broadway
Radiator T

645 Broadway
Arrow Electric Motor

729 Broadway
Baskin's Auto Supply

1170 Broadway
Crest Theatre

1709 Broadway
Pope Tire Co.

The business is even older, but it operated at this address from 1941-1998.

1725 Broadway
Rainbow Ballroom

I was fortunate that there was a performance here the one night I was in Fresno, so I got to see it all lit up.

1828 Broadway
Econo Inn

Presumably a motel under a different name when the big arrow was installed.

3131 N. Cedar Ave.
Cedar Lanes

I'm pretty sure I've never seen this sign, but it just made my list as I saw this photo of it on Flickr.

4131 N. Clovis Ave.
Tarpey U-Save Liquors

Just barely outside of Clovis.

575 Divisadero St.
Eagle Cafe

The Lamp Post
607 Divisadero St.

609 Divisadero St.
Lum's Chop Suey

838 F St.
Azteca Theatre

Darn it, I know I have a photo of this, but I can't find it.

844 F St.
La Fiesta

1171 Fulton St. (now Fulton Mall)
Guarantee Savings

Presumably the 3-sided, revolving G sign was installed when Guarantee Savings took over the building (constructed in 1916) in 1961.

1400 Fulton St.
Warnors Theatre

The neon sign is nice on this theater, but there are some details that are even better, and I've heard the interior is magnificent.

1445 Fulton St.
Wilson Theatre/Cornerstone Church

1663 Fulton St.
Luau

1711 Fulton St.
Tokyo Garden

1135 N. Fulton St.
Golden Restaurant

539 G St.
Kerr Rug Co.

7xx G St.
Liquor store

727 G St.
1965 Rainbow Cafe

2125-2139 Kern St.
Hotel Virginia

In operation under that name from 1920-1980.

1915 W. Olive Ave.
Mendes

Just a small market, despite the fabulous sign, I believe.

1805 W. Olive Ave.
Marab Liquor

One sign freestanding, one on the building.

710 W. Olive Ave.
Angelo's Drive-In

Since 1954, as you can see it says in the photo below.

234 W. Olive Ave.
Pianos

about 713 E. Olive Ave.
7-Up sign

815 E. Olive Ave.
Tower Theater

935 E. Olive
Lauck's Bakery

It's now a bakery under another name, and the lovely sign is gone.

3563 E Tulare St.
Dee's Plumbing

4233 E. Tulare St.
Winton's Vista Pharamacy

4608 E Tulare St.
Fong's Chinese Dinners

4622 E Tulare St.
U Save Liquor

Van Ness Ave.
Fresno Arch

944 Van Ness Ave.
Hardy's/Mexico Theatre

2222 Ventura St.
Haron's Jaguar

2149 Ventura St.
Halwood's Service

3559 E. Ventura Ave.
Castillo's Mexican Food

Tecolote Dance Cafe

I can't find any information on this place. My recollection is that it was downtown, on the southwestern side of the railroad tracks, like on E or F St.

CiCicco's Italian Restaurant

There are 11 of them in the Fresno area, and I'm not sure how many have this wonderful signage. I know I have a photograph of the original one on the 100 block of North Blackstone, but I don't think this is where this shot is from.

Clovis

Clovis Ave.
Clovis sign

957 Clovis Ave.
Lil Brown Jug Liquors

1419 Railroad Ave.
Skyline Club

Stockton's Vintage Neon Signs

2009-03-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Stockton is the kind of place I love to visit on a road trip, and to many people that seems quite bizarre. To them, Stockton is a dusty, run-down old town best known for scorching hot temperatures. To me it is a living historical museum, filled with beautiful and old, if sometimes vacant, buildings, vintage neon signs, and old restaurants still serving up food the way they have for 40 years or more.

Like the other cities in California's Central Valley, the post World War II era saw an explosive growth of the suburbs in Stockton and an abandonment of the central city. Freeways were built at a rapid pace, diverting traffic from the old highway routes, and leading to declining business along those routes.

In Sacramento (see my guide to Sacramento's vintage neon signs), much of the historic downtown was demolished in redevelopment projects made possible by the ever-continuing growth of the state government and its need for offices. But in towns like Stockton, Modesto, and Fresno, benign neglect has allowed much of the cities' history to linger on.

In terms of roadside heritage, Stockton is along the route of the oldest transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway. Before the causeway was built between what is now West Sacramento and Davis, and before the recently-dismantled bridge between Vallejo and Crockett was built, the Lincoln Highway went south from Sacramento through Galt and Lodi to Stockton. It went through the heart of downtown Stockton, and then headed south through French Camp and and west through Tracy and crossed over to San Leandro and Oakland via the Altamont Pass.

Later, U.S. Route 50 followed much the same route before this portion of it was decommissioned in 1964. From Sacramento to Stockton U.S. Route 99 was cosigned with U.S. 50. In Stockton they split, and U.S. 99 continued south to Modesto and Fresno. U.S. 99 was also decommissioned in 1964 and is now CA 99.

I've organized my guide to Stockton's vintage neon signs in three sections, those along the old U.S. 99 route (including the overlap with U.S. Route 50), those along the old U.S. 50 route after it split from U.S. 99 and passed through downtown Stockton (I'm not sure of its exact route through Stockton until it reached the southern edge of downtown), and the rest of the signs, arranged by street name and number.

I hope to fill in details as time permits me to do more research, and luck allows me to stumble upon information on these old businesses. And I will be adding new pictures in the future. I'm posting this a little prematurely, as I have been frustrated about not having the opportunity to get back to Stockton under the right conditions to continue photographing after my car broke down on my last visit there nearly two months ago.

U.S. Highway 99

6512 N. Highway 99
Albert's

I didn't notice this sign when first canvassing the area. Later, I saw it from the other side of the freeway, and wasn't sure about it--it looked new. I finally checked it out and found a boarded up building and a parking lot with weeds growing tall through cracks. I'm not sure exactly how old it is , but it isn't new.

5936 N. Highway 99
El Rancho Motel

5864 N. Highway 99
Arbor Motel

The sign is long gone and the motel is now operating under the name Town & Country.

5708 N. Highway 99
St. Francis Motel

I don't think you have to be Catholic to stay here, but it can't hurt.

Port Motel
3020 N. Wilson Way

This is now a residential motel, and when I first explored the area, the sign had been painted over, and I couldn't read the name. But that paint has since faded, and I could read "PORT," but there seemed to be other characters. On the north side of the sign it is clear--there are anchors on either side of "PORT." There is a seaport in Stockton, even though it is well inland, but it's on the other side of town.

2903 N. Wilson Way
Cozy Motel

The address is listed as an auto court in the 1949/50 city directory, so it may have been the Cozy Motel since at least then. It for sure has been that since at least 1960. And look at how well maintained the grounds are in front--that indicates to me a mom and pop place with committed involvement from the owners.

2639 N. Wilson Way
Frontier Motel

Obviously the neon sign was not originally made for the Frontier, and when they changed the name and put in the plastic sign, there seemed to be some miscommunication. So now it is the Frontier Motel Motel. As painful as it is for me to see old neon disappear, I sympathize with the owners--it's far more expensive to maintain than plastic, back-lit signs, and it's not like they have high profit margins. The neon part of the sign can't be older than 1950, when this address is listed as a private residence.

2226 N. Wilson Way
Hayes Garage

I went back to re-shoot this sign under better conditions less than 2 years later, but it was a little too late. I hope that the owner saved it as a memento when he retired. The sign looks like it dates from the 1930s to me, although the name has probably changed over the years. The 1960 Stockton Yellow Pages list this address as Ellis Garage.

2211 N. Wilson Way
Far East Restaurant

What a beauty of a restaurant building, complete with a giant thermometer on top. Although there is a Chinese caricature on the sign that looks vintage (In 1960s Yellow Pages, all the Chinese restaurants have racist caricatures in their advertisements), it was not always the Far East. In the 1950s, this was the Rev-a-Lon restaurant, which sounds intriguing. I hope to be able to find out more about it some day.

2160 N. Wilson Way
Ninety-Nine Knotty Pine Motel

Or just the Knotty Pine today. The motel dates back to at least the 1940s.

1735 N. Wilson Way
Pacific Motel

1702 N. Wilson Way
Pete's Liquors

I'm not sure when it was Pete's. Today it is the Liquor Barrel.

1537 N. Wilson Way
Ye Olde Hoosier Inn

This place was still open when I photographed its neon sign. I sure wish that I had eaten there. It is now closed, and the signage is gone.

830 N. Wilson Way
S&S Auto Sales

221 N. Wilson Way
Wilson Way Tire Co.

The interesting part, the top, is now gone. I guess it was probably for a different business.

339 S. Wilson Way
Economy Inn Motel

1022 S. Wilson Way
2007 Stockton City Motel

1506 Mariposa Rd.
El Camino Motel

This motel has some nice features, although some are poorly maintained. I like the landscaping, the white picket fence, and the posts on either side of the driveway that used to have nice lanterns on top.

1872 Mariposa Rd.
Ranch Coffee Shop

Established in1955, according to the sign.

2040 E. Mariposa Rd.
Sno-white Drive-In

There used to be over 200 Sno-white Drive Ins up and down the Central Valley. I have eaten at a couple that are still in business under that name, and several more operating under different names now.

Marpiposa Rd. and Farmington Rd.
Griswolds Nest Market

When there was a building to go with this derelict sign, it was probably listed on Farmington Rd., although it's very close to the corner of Mariposa Rd., which is now CA Business 99.

3206 S. Highway 99
Valli Inn Motel

V&P Trailer Court

Right across the freeway from the Valli Motel is the V&P Trailer Court, with a sign in the shape of a U.S. highway shield, and, on the south side of it, the old 99 visible. It took me quite some time to get around to finding my way to this sign and photographing it, and when I did, their were tree leaves obscuring the bottom half of it. I'll have to wait and photograph it again in winter.

3416 S. Frontage Rd.
Sierra Motel

This must have been a prime location when the motel was built. Now it's obscurely located, and pinned right up against the freeway onramp.

U.S. Highway 50

2305 S. El Dorado St.
White House Motel

Formerly the Travo-Tel Motel, as the sign still indicates. I was just floored when I saw this beauty for the first time. Here's what it says in the 1960s Yellow Pages about the motel:

"A GARDEN MOTEL
62 UNITS
OLYMPIC SIZE HEATED POOL
KITCHENETTE APTS
RECOMMENDED BY DUNCAN HINES"

Well, if it's good enough for Duncan Hines, it's good enough for me.

2121 S. El Dorado St.
Golden Star Cafe

As I was exploring the old US 50 route on the southern edge of town for the first time, I was taken aback to see this sign, as I have a photo of it from 2001, and yet I was sure I had never been in that area before. It's likely that it has moved, as the restaurant has an address in another section of town in the 1960 Yellow Pages.

1661 S. El Dorado St.
Thrifty Klean Center

I'm guessing this sign dates from the 1960s.

1565 S. El Dorado St.
Alhambra Motel

1501 S. El Dorado St.
2009 Budget Motel

Originally the Ly-In Motel, from the 1950s.

SW corner S. El Dorado & Clay
Capitol Furniture

The Rest of Stockton

33 N. American St.
Alex Floral Co.

A nice sign on a fabulous building. I've yet to get to in in the right lighting conditions.

28 S. American St.
Hotel Merrill

Gone.

39 N. California St.
Hotel St. Leo

I'm pretty sure this sign is long gone, so I'm stuck with this lousy photo of it from 2001.

646 S. California St.
Delta Pumps

1200 N. Center St.
FLT Charity Lodge No. 6, International Order of Odd Fellows

A lovely sign obscured behind trees.

147 E. Charter Way/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Mandy's Burgers

746 E. Charter Way/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Billy Jack's Used Tires

39 W. Charter Way/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Super Save Market

This is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life.

519 W. Charter Way/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Delta Liquor

Formerly Jimmie's Liquor and Sport Shop

549 W. Charter Way/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Uruapan Caniceria

Obviously it was formerly the Delta Market.

2159 E. Fremont St.
Skibo's Machine Works & Weld

Formerly Womble Bros Garage. I would have liked to have seen "Womble" in neon.

2505 E. Fremont St.
Fremont Center

A 1940s era shopping center.

218 W. Harding St.
Affair with Hair Beauty Salon

642 N. Hunter St.
Canepa's Car Wash

242 E. Main St.
Bob Hope Theatre

Formerly the Fox Theatre. I've been meaning to run down to Stockton on a night the theater is open and get a shot of the sign lit up for more than 6 months now.

301 E. Main St.
Bank of Stockton

Formerly Stockton Savings & Loan. I would guess the sign dates from when it changed names--1958.

337 E. Main St
JJ Newberry

425-433 E. Main St.
Commercial Hotel

Long gone.

734 E. Main St.
Louie's Market

A difficult subject to photograph because the sign is flush against the north side of the building, and there is another sign jutting out that casts shade on the "Market" part when the sign would otherwise be in the best lighting. A second sign seems to have been at one time a representation of the Golden Gate Bridge, but has been greatly simplified.

1650 E. Main St.
Pinasco's Plumbing Supply

The neon tubes are long gone, but I love the detail of the feet on the tub.

2302 E. Main St.
Bar El Alteño

3120 E. Main St.
Michael's Market

135 E. Miner Ave.
Cancun Restaurant

E. Munford Ave.
Channel Garage

1825/1815 Pacific Ave.
Empire Theatre/Empresso Coffee House

Formerly the Stockton Theatre, on an old commercial strip known as the Miracle Mile. This was the along the first paved highway into Stockton coming down from Woodbridge and Lodi on Lower Sacramento Road, which was the original alignment of the Lincoln Highway. The Stockton Theatre opened February 16, 1945 with The Desert Song and The Impatient Years. It was described in the Stockton Record as "Stockton's first neighborhood theater."

5939 Pacific Ave.
Pacific Ave Bowl Inc.

6025-6035 Pacific Ave.
shopping center

I presume the original name of the place had something to do with the neon top hat.

6032 (& other addresses) Pacific Ave.
J. Morengo Center

Established in 1950 says the sign.

6230 Pacific Ave.
Canepa's Car Wash

about 6701 Pacific Ave.
Lincoln Shopping Center

7555 Pacific Ave.
Oakridge Center

and within Oakridge Center:

Montclair Liquors.

34 S. San Joaquin St.
Hotel Fair

Formerly Hotel Hood.

35 S. San Joaquin St.
John's Cafe

47 S. San Joaquin St.
Hi-Grade Cleaners

302 S. San Joaquin St.
2009 New Stockton Poultry Market

When I first visited Stockton with my APS camera in 2000, I didn't know about this area of town. I saw it on a Bay Area television show where they were wandering the streets of Little Manila in Stockton and telling something of its history. When I saw this beauty and the sign for On Lock Sam, I immediately planned a return trip.

343 S. San Joaquin St.
2009 Cosmos Hotel

Formerly the Basconia Hotel, one of many residential hotels for Basque shepherds that were once in Stockton.

241 N. San Joaquin St.
Delta Hotel

I thought I had a photo of this on my Flickr account, but I can't find one now.

146 S. Sutter St.
Gan Chy Chinese Restaurant

The main sign is plastic, but they have a nice sign for parking. They probably had a nice neon sign for the main sign back at its original location.

333 S. Sutter St.
On Lock Sam

Until the mid 1960s, the restaurant was at 125 E. Washington, and the sign was attached to the building. At the new site, the old sign is mounted on a pole at the back of the parking lot. Look closely to see the neon chopsticks sticking off the top and bottom of the sign.

302 S. Union St.
Cavour Club

This is listed as Cavour Rooming House.

440 E. Weber Ave.
Steve's Hotel

Sounds a little too swanky for my tastes. A developer wants to demolish this old hotel building for a parking a lot.

134 E. Weber Ave.
Day and Night Pharmacy

Well, they lied. They closed once--permanently.

1506 West Lane
Doughnuts to Go

Gotta love a giant neon doughnut. I paid for my photograph by getting a soda there.

3200 West Lane
West Lane Bowl

I decided to take West Lane out of town on my last visit to Stockton, rather than the freeway, and was rewarded by finding this place.

Location unkown
Dahl's Valley Shoe Repairing

What can I say, back in 2001 I never dreamed of sharing my photos with the public, or systematically
cataloging the vintage neon signs of Northern California. I made no notes about where this was taken, other than that it was in Stockton.

US 99: Oak Park's Broadway

2009-01-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

The two neighborhoods that I find most fascinating and appealing in Sacramento are the old city of North Sacramento (incorporated into Sacramento in 1964), and the first suburb of Sacramento, Oak Park, which was annexed in 1911. Both have a rich history, long family traditions, and great architecture. Both have also long been problem spots for the city, known mostly for crime and abandoned buildings. For decades developers have spent millions of dollars to lobby politicians to zone undeveloped areas so they could put in strip malls and tract housing ever farther out in the suburbs, while beautiful buildings and houses close to the city center have been allowed to decay, often to the point that they have to be demolished.

Oak Park is such an old neighborhood close to the city center that it is hard to picture it as ever having been on the periphery of the city, but it was at the end of the nineteenth century, when it was developed as Sacramento's first suburb. It was subdivided and lots were sold starting in 1887. It wasn't until the years around 1910, though, that the neighborhood expanded most rapidly, leading to the 1911 annexation.

Any piece written on the history of Oak Park has to mention, or at least prominently feature a photo of, two main elements: the Oak Park arch, and Joyland.

The iconic image of Oak Park is the "1889 OAK*PARK 1903" sign backed by a row of palm trees running down the center of the street, and usually with a streetcar in view. I believe, but have not for certain verified, that this was at the trolley terminus on 35th, the "main street" of the community, in front of the Joyland (now McClatchy Park).

Ah Joyland. Joyland was an investment from the streetcar company. Not only did they make money off the amusement park, they made money transporting people from downtown to the park on weekends, when ridership would otherwise be low, because not as many people from Oak Park would be commuting to jobs downtown as on weekdays. In June of 1920, Joyland was extensively damaged by fire, and although some rebuilding was done, the park never fully recovered. In 1927, newspaper heir Valentine McClatchy purchased the park and donated the land to the city, The land now comprises C.K. McClatchy park, named after the Sacramento Bee founder.

Into the 1950s Oak Park still had a prosperous business district. A 1951 article in the Sacramento Union touts the quaintness of the Oak Park shopping district in comparison to the modern chrome and tile shopping center, comparing 35th Street between 4th and 5th Avenues to Main Street in a small town. A photograph accompanying the article shows 4 lanes of traffic, parked cars lining the street, old painted advertisements on the sides of brick buildings, and large neon signs advertising business after business. It is disorienting to me to look at the picture and try to determine where it was taken, as what remains today bears no resemblance whatsoever to the photograph.

At first, the car was a friend to the development of Oak Park. Sacramento Boulevard (now Broadway) carried the Lincoln Highway and later US Route 99 through the heart of Oak Park on the way south through the Central Valley. But the growing popularity of the automobile in the first half of the twentieth century led to people moving farther and farther from the city center, and that trend exploded in the years following World War II. In 1940, 62% of the population of Sacramento County lived within the borders of the city of Sacramento. By 1960, that figure was down to 38%. The middle class abandoned traditional neighborhoods like Oak Park to pursue modern luxuries: extensive ranch houses, large yards, garages and driveways, and easy access to modern drive in markets.

The redevelopment of downtown Sacramento's west end starting in the mid 1950s further hastened the decline of Oak Park. As slum housing downtown was demolished, the former residents looked for new places to live, and as the middle class moved to the suburbs, the working class and poor moved to the neighborhoods they had abandoned. Oak Park and Del Paso Heights particularly attracted the displaced black population, as unlike the rest of the area, there were no racial restrictions on home ownership in these neighborhoods.

In contrast to the rosy picture painted by the 1951 newspaper article, a 1961 report from the City Planning Commission addresses the problems of the business district, and its "general obsolescence" (while that remark was made specifically about businesses along Stockton Boulevard, the phrase nicely sums up the overall tone of the report on the Oak Park business district). In addition to the need to address the deteriorating residences in the area, the plan has two primary remedies: more parking, and a pedestrian mall on 35th Street. I don't know why the pedestrian mall cure was such a popular notion at the time, but it was put into effect--with disastrous results--on K Street in downtown Sacramento and Fulton Street in Fresno. No such effort was put into attempting to save Oak Park's business district.

At the time of the report, the South Sacramento Freeway, which would bypass US Route 99 through the heart of Oak Park, was under construction. This would be another blow for the struggling neighborhood. The freeway opened to traffic on 22 November, 1961. Not only did this create blight right next to a historic residential area, it cut off the business district from wealthy Curtis Park. There were no handy exits for the business district, as it was too close to the enormous interchange--today's ironically named Oak Park Interchange--between the South Sacramento Freeway, the 29th-30th Street Freeway (completed ca. 1966), the W-X Street Freeway (late 1960s), and the El Dorado Freeway (US 50, ca. 1970).

As the neighborhood became more ethnically diverse and declined in prosperity in the late 1960s, tensions between residents and police increased, and finally exploded in the Oak Park Riot of 1969. In the week following, several more businesses closed their doors and moved to the suburbs and the transformation of the prosperous "town within a city" described in that 1951 Sacramento Union article into one of the city's worst neighborhoods, with a reputation even worse than the reality, was complete.

NBA star Kevin Johnson grew up in Oak Park, and did not forget it. He founded the non-profit St. HOPE Development Co. and operates the for-profit Kynship Development, and has bought many properties in hopes of rehabilitating the neighborhood. The one real success story so far has been the south side of Broadway, where 3rd Ave., 35th St., and Broadway converge, the 40 Acres Complex. The Guild Theatre has been restored, and there's a bookstore, an art gallery, and a Starbucks. I'm no fan of Starbucks, but if they're helping to save a historic building in a historic neighborhood, then more power to them.

Not much has been done on the other properties, unfortunately, and the city was forcing the issue. A Sacramento Bee article on Johnson's company's struggles that mentioned plans to demolish two historic buildings resulted in a lot of pressure on Johnson to save them, and efforts have been made to establish historic districts in Oak Park that would make it more difficult to demolish such buildings. Of course, now that he has been elected mayor, resistance from the city may decline.

So, that brings us up to date on the history of Sacramento's Oak Park, now let us turn our attention to the route of old US 99 and the businesses, buildings, and signs that sprouted up alongside of it.

Before the freeways, US 99, headed south from the junction with US 40 in downtown Sacramento down 15th or 16th (16th was originally two-way and was the route of 99, later it became one-way north bound and 15th carried south-bound traffic). Upon reaching Broadway (or Y, as Broadway was originally named) at the Tower Theatre building, 99 turned east. At Alhambra, now reached just after passing under the freeway, the street divides. US 99 diverted at an angle southeast onto Sacramento Boulevard (originally Sacramento Avenue, now Broadway), entering the heart of Oak Park. At a Y, the current route of Broadway follows the old 99 route from Martin Luther King Boulevard (formerly the continuation of Sacramento Boulevard) to Stockton Boulevard (formerly Upper Stockton Road) along what was called Leland Stanford Avenue, but is now Broadway. From Leland Stanford Ave./Broadway, 99 headed down Stockton Boulevard towards Galt, Lodi, and Stockton. U.S. 50 also shared this route for many years on its way to the Bay Area via Altamont Pass, and the Lincoln Highway, which preceded both of these highways, most likely followed this route, or one very close to it.

Instead of bypassing it on the South Sacramento Freeway, which is now CA 99 (as there is no more US 99), let's take a more leisurely journey down what remains on the historic highway route, beginning at Broadway and Alhambra, passing through the heart of Oak Park, and finishing at Broadway and Stockton Boulevard.

3121-3123 Broadway, 2529 Sacramento Blvd

A typical example of the brick buildings of Oak Park. Several cleaners have done business here, at least as early as 1933.

3125-3133 Broadway, 2547 Sacramento Blvd

Furniture and washing machines you could buy here over the years. Dates back to at least 1927.

2549 32nd St
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

3300 Broadway, 2660 Sacramento Blvd
This was Leigh A. Paine's Drug Store, built around 1927 or 1928. By 1949, it was the office of lawyer John Harby Paine, who is listed there in 1996. Last year it was in the process of being refurbished.

3322 Broadway, 2710/2714 Sacramento Boulevard

A bicycle store, a dairy store, a liquor store, and then a pet store with oddly varying names: Pet & Pigeon Center, Pet & Poodle Center, Pet & Puppy Center. Then vacant for many years before becoming a studio.

3324/3326/3328 Broadway, 2718/2722/2726 Sacramento Blvd

There's a sign still visible at 3324 for Blakely's Beauty Salon, and before that it was Venezuela's Beauty Salon since at least 1965, but was a series of shops before that. Next door, 3326 was a beauty salon in the earlier days--the 1930s and 1940s, before being put to various uses. 3328 was a barber shop from at least 1932-1970, but has been vacant a lot since then.

3402/3406 Broadway, 2758/2760 Sacramento Blvd

The Ogg Building built in 1910 as a post office, grocery store, and library branch--and that was just the ground floor! Upstairs there were 2 apartments and 2 doctors' offices. 3406 has had the most continuity, housing Bill & Joe's Lunch from the 1930s to 1950s, and then the Swiss Club from around 1954 up to the millenium. Primo's Swiss Club closed there in 2004, and it has been vacant since.

3418 Broadway, 2778 Sacramento Blvd

The basic structure was complete around October of 1914, hence the "1914" on the side of the building, but it didn't open as Sacramento Bank until January of 1915. Then it has a dome over the entrance. It was a Bank of America in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, before being place by a less substantial, but more modern, Bank of America down the street. In the 1960s and 1970s it sat vacant. In the 1980s and into the early 90s, it was often used as a church. It was refurbished and opened as the present US Bank on October 11, 1995.

3456 3rd Ave

Opened in 1925 or 1926 as the Hotel Woodruff, and was still listed as that in 1980. This is one of the Kevin Johnson refurbished buildings.

2828/2830 35th St.

The exact origins of this place have been hard to track down. A book on Sacramento theaters says this was the Victor Theatre from 1915-1926, the Oak Park Theatre from 1931 to 1947, and the Guild Theatre from 1952-1969. The Sacramento Bee says that it was the Victor Theatre as early as 1907. There is a Victor Theatre listed at 2812 35th St. in 1919, and one listed at 2830 in 1925, but there is no Victor Theatre listed in Sacramento in the November 1923 telephone directory. According to an old advertisement in the Sacramento Bee, it opened as the Oak Park Theatre on October 31, 1931 and is still listed as that in the 1949 Polk city directory, despite the fact that the book says it closed 2 years earlier.

So I'm not quite sure about the Victor Theatre origins, but it was the Oak Park Theatre in the 1930s and 1940s, and after being closed for a couple of years, reopened as Sacramento's first art house theater, the Guild, for the 1950s and 1960s. Subsequently it was used as a church, and even had a huge baptismal fount installed. I then found an article about volunteers cleaning it up and working to restore it--but I'm not sure what came of that. Kevin Johnson's group then bought it and it is now open again at the Guild Theatre, although performance there are not too frequent.

3501 3rd Avenue

The Gostic Brothers built this structure for their meat market around 1912, and it continued as a meat market through the 1940s before becoming a thrift store, and then sitting vacant.

3503 Broadway, 2801 Sacramento Blvd

Six Day Tires was originally a Shell Station.

3514 Broadway

The Main Event Beauty Complex was another grocery store in the 1940s and 1950s.

3519 Broadway, 2833 Sacramento Blvd

Jasper P. Stilson was presser in 1921 & a cleaner for Spurgeon's in 1922, but the 1923 city directory shows the Stilson Bros. in business as cleaners at this address.

3621 Broadway

I believe the Paris Bakery building dates from the mid to late 1960s, when it was the Artic Circle Drive In.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (formerly Sacramento Blvd) intersects, originally Leland Stanford Ave continued continued to Stockton Blvd.

3820 Broadway

Photo by illtakeyourphoto!

Karl's Drive-In opened in the early 1950s, then became Joe's Drive Inn, before more than a 30 year run as Taco Rico.

3930 Broadway

When not vacant, an appliance store since the early1950s.

4307 Broadway

The aptly named Old Timers Barber Shop.

Sacramento Googie

2009-01-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Northgate Orbit Station

Googie is a term, derived from the name of a Los Angeles coffee shop, selected by Alan Hess to describe a style of building developed in the 1950s that is exaggeratedly modern--a style that fits a 1950s conception of space age design. The style on The Jetsons is very Googie.

This style is of the commercial vernacular, meaning that it is not a design movement within academia based on an intellectual philosophy and then executed by academically trained architects. Instead, it was developed by builders in response to the needs of the client. In this case, the need was primarily to catch the eye of the families speeding by in cars. It developed out of the post-war car culture and the shift of urban populations to the suburbs, and its birthplace and area of greatest development is the car capital of the planet, Los Angeles.

And the climate of Los Angeles plays a role in Googie design as well. Year-round mild temperatures freed the builder to use vast expanses of glass, as structures seem to float in the air.

Sacramento must have had its share of Googie design--most everything you can find in Los Angeles you can find in Sacramento on a smaller scale. But much of it would have been gone before I moved to the area and started exploring it. I see the listings in old city directories for Sambo's and Sam's Big Tops and diners/coffee shops with intriguing names I've never come across before, but most of the buildings are long gone

Here are the few I have gotten around to photographing and researching:

Country Club Lanes
2600 Watt Ave.
1959
Status: extant

This is easily the most substantial Googie structure in Sacramento, and worthy of attention from Googie fans across the nation. The bowling alley opened in 1959, but there is a lot more in this structure than just the lanes, and much of it was not open until 1960.

Still in the hands of a private ownership group, the place has kept up with the times, and is regularly named best bowling alley in Sacramento Magazine's best of Sacramento roundup. One thing that hasn't changed is an old drinking fountain near the back entrance that looks right out of a 1950s school, and out of place with the glow-in-the-dark carpet and all the thin panel monitors.

Northgate Orbit
2240 Northgate Blvd.
1964
Status: standing vacant

In recent years this old Orbit Station has been a car dealership, and it is available for lease for that purpose now.

Orbit Station
4716 Auburn Blvd.
Circa 1970-1971
Status: extant

Yes, I was surprised by the late date on this one, but it doesn't show up in the Sacramento Suburban directories until 1971. I even checked the cross street, Myrtle Ave., in case the address had changed. This is the best known and most often photographed Orbit building in Sacramento. The gas station usually has some of the lowest prices in the area too, which makes it easy for me to support them.

Orangevale Orbit
8994 Greenback Lane
Circa ??
Status: extant

This one lies too far away from the city center for me to find listings for it in old directories, hence I am unable to date it. In addition to these three, there were Orbit Stations at:

1340 Del Paso Blvd.
1834 El Camino
4101 Manzanita Ave.
4948 San Juan Ave.

plus one station listed as Orbit Seaside Service at 3920 Fruitridge Rd. I don't know whether they had the same Googie buildings or not.

Lyon's Restaurant
Circa 1966-1967
Satus: demolished March of 2007

This was one of my two favorite buildings in Sacramento (the other one has also been demolished), and so I ate at the Lyon's frequently, even though I didn't think much of the food. I assumed it had been something else originally, as I had never seen another Lyon's like this one, but no, it opened originally as a Lyon's that was open 24 hours and was quite the happening place late at night in the late 1960s (according to a friend at work). I've since seen another building similar to this in Hayward that currently houses a Chinese restaurant, but was originally a Lyon's.

When the long-closed Montgomery Ward next to the restaurant was renovated and changed into a Wal-Mart, this building got a new paint job, and a couple of months later it closed. Eventually it was demolished to allow for extra parking for the Wal-Mart. I'm sure Satan got a good chuckle out of that one.

Sam's Big Top
2721 El Camino
Circa 1966-1967
Status: in use as Country Waffles

In the Sam Gordon Center. Sam Gordon had a restaurant empire, with Sam's Ranch Wagon, Sam's Hof Braus, and Sam's Big Tops, plus Sam's Town. He also had an ongoing business relationship with Denny's: he sold them the Sam's Hof Brau concept. He sold them Sam's Town, and then bought it back. And presumably he sold them this Sam's Big Top, as it was a Denny's by 1970. It was then for more than 20 years Walt's before becoming Country Waffles. The interior contains only hints of its original identity, like the hot pink tile back splash behind the counter.

Sambo's Pancakes
Circa 1963-1965
Status: in use as restaurant El Patron

There were several Sambo's in the Sacramento area at one time, but as far as I know, this one is the only Sambo's building remaining. When it was a typical Mexican restaurant for the area (an inexpensive place run by Mexicans) it looked more like a Sambo's on the outside, and probably the inside too. But it was extensively remodeled before reopening as El Patron, a higher priced Mexican restaurant that is not very authentic.

The Coffee Hut
Circa: 1966-1968
Status: in use as Eggie's Restaurant

The Coffee Hut didn't last long, but it wasn't the building's fault. Eggie's has done just fine as a coffee shop under the boomerang roof the last 30 years.

Al & Myrle's Platter
2101 Broadway
Circa 1963-1964
Status: in use as Pancake Circus

The Pancake Circus is such a beloved Sacramento institution that I imagine most people can't imagine that it was every anything else, but it didn't become Pancake Circus until 1970 or 1971. It's only open for breakfast and lunch now, but still does a very strong business.

Safeway
Circa 1960-1963
Status: in use as Tognotti's (auto parts)

This is much like the marina style Safeways in the Bay Area, but the curl up of the roof line at both sides is an added bit of flair I haven't seen elsewhere. There's another old marina Safeway in town that has not been treated sympathetically over the years.

Phillips 66
2920 P St.
Circa 1971-1973
Status: modified for use as Suzie Burger

When the chain link fence went up around this old service station, I figured it was done for. But instead it just got a renovation, and seems to be doing good business as Suzie Burger.

Phillips 66
Broadway
Circa 1967-1968
Status: standing

This place seems to alternate frequently between being vacant and having some sort of auto-related business in it. Hmmm, I thought I had a photo of this place, but I can't locate one. I'll have to run out and correct that.

Woody's Smorgasburger
Circa 1963-1965
Status: in use as Land Park Ski & Sports

Wow! What a roof. There's a match for this building in Berkeley, which also used to be a Woody's Smorgasburger. I'd love to see some photos of the interior back in the day.

Sacramento Zoo
3930 W. Land Park Dr.
Status: still in use

The Sacramento Zoo first opened in 1927, but I would guess that the entrance dates from 1950s or 1960s.

Sacramento's Vintage Diners

2008-10-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

Market Club
2630 5th St.

You could easily live in Sacramento for a decade and never be aware that the Market Club exists. It's tucked away within the Sacramento Produce Market, which was built in 1933, in a light industrial area south of Broadway on 5th St. According to the Sacramento Bee, the restaurant opened when the market did, but the old city directories don't list a restaurant there until 1937, when the directory lists the Lincoln Fruit Co. Market Grill. Later it is listed as the Market Grill, and by 1953 as the Market Club.

Inside is a counter with very old stools, and then there is a seating area with vintage beer advertising devices. It's the only place in town I know that you can get baloney and eggs, which I'm anxious to try soon.

Jim-Denny's
816 12th St.

Jim Denny's is a vintage diner on the corner of 12th and Terminal that used to be open 24 hours to serve people coming and going from a nearby bus depot that served the old American Buslines, Continental Pacific Trailways, and Gibson-American Buslines. The tiny little building with its lunch counter, and no tables, has survived while skyscrapers have been built around it. It's expensive, and after experimenting with extended hours, they've returned to closing at 3 p.m., but it's a real thrill for me to eat in a place like this where history is so palpable. Everything I've eaten there has been excellent too.

From what I have gleaned from various Sacramento Bee articles, Jim Van Nort and Dennis McFall opened the first Jim and Denny's on 16th St. in 1934, and opened the present location as Jim-Denny's No. 2 in 1940. Jim Van Nort cooked at the restaurant until 1988, when he retired and underwent coronary surgery. The restaurant only stayed closed a few months before opening under new ownership. I know it has been closed for at least one stretch since then, after another ownership change. Jim Van Nort died in 2001.

Trails Restaurant
2530 21st St.

"Your adventure in good eating" (old Yellow Pages advertisement).

I'm very curious about this place, and haven't come up with solid answers yet. Rumor has it that America's Mermaid, Esther Williams, was owner or part owner of this restaurant. I do know that she owned a restaurant by the same name in Los Angeles, which she bought around 1950-1951. The first Trails in Sacramento opened at 1309 Fulton Avenue around 1952, and this restaurant, Trails No. 2, opened around 1953. By 1956 it was called Myrle's Trails, and I speculate that this Myrle might be the same one who was part owner of Al & Myrle's Platter, just half a block away (now Pancake Circus, discussed below). There is still a velvet painting hanging inside that says "Myrle's Trails."

The Fulton Avenue location closed around 1965, and was a series of other restaurants (Hegland's Charcoal Broiler, Golden Trails Restaurant, Pied Piper Restaurant, Claude's Restaurant, Vino Veneto Restaurant) before being demolished. Today a Rite Aid stands at that location. Meanwhile, the Trails on 21st is still in businesses, serving up the house special, Shish-K-Bobs.

Double Cheeseburger

According to a waitress, someone a customer told her that it was decorated just the way the Trails in Los Angeles was, thus establishing the connection to Esther Williams. On the other hand, it is a small and humble place, whereas the Los Angeles restaurant had monkeys, birds, and fish, and Howard Hughes used to hang out in the back. I'm not sure the current owner knows the history of the place, and anyhow, his English is not so good.

But he's very friendly and hard working, and I feel very good about spending my money at this place--and it doesn't take much, as you can get a sandwich plate for under $5. The old western-themed dishes and cups they used to use now hang on display, but the wagon wheel chandeliers are still in use. The cowboy wallpaper is new, but is just like the old wallpaper they stripped off several layers of, according to the waitress.

Capitol Park Cafe
1119 9th St.

The Capitol Park Cafe is named after the Capitol Park Hotel, which is itself comprised of two buildings adjoining each other. The cafe is in the one marked "Siller Building" on the front. The buildings are from around 1912., and became the Lenhart Hotel around 1928. The first city directory showing a restaurant at this address is from 1929, when it was the Lenhart Coffee Shop, which apparently closed around 1937. In 1953, it was Bob's Coffee Shop, but it was vacant again in 1955. In 1957 and 1975 it is listed as Park Coffee Shop, and then it was Park Palace Coffee Shop, New Park Restaurant, and Oriental Express, before becoming the Capitol Park Cafe in the early 1990s.

T-Bone Steak & Eggs

I ate there shortly after moving to the area in 1996, and was amazed at the low prices. They aren't so low as to be amazing these days, but the restaurant is still a good bargain, and the two meals I have had there this year have been excellent.

Sammy's
2021 Del Paso Blvd.

"Since 1944" a sign tells you at Sammy's, although that is misleading. That is when Samuel Powell, who had various other businesses in the area throughout the years, started serving food there, but apparently he was serving it out of a gas station in the 1940s and early 1950s. By 1953 it was Sammy's Waffle Shop. The original place burned down in 1968, and Sammy and his son spent a year building the restaurant we have today. The interior colors were changed in the 1980s. Too bad--I'd love to see the 1960s burnt orange.

Deluxe Sammy Burger

Sim's Diner
513 Broadway

There's no doubt about it when you look at this place from the outside: it's very, very old. Louis Rouppet opened up a restaurant here around 1930. It appears under the name on the neon sign outside, "Quick Lunch," in the 1948 directory, and was still operating under that name as late as 1982. To my surprise, it is listed as Edokko in 1996, but it was Sim's Diner when I ate there in 2005.

It's a tiny little place, and when I ate there, I was the only one who did not address the proprietress as "Mama." When I paid with a $20 bill, she had to send a young girl to a store on the corner to get change. But the food was good, and I hope to try their breakfast buffet soon.

Lil Joe's
1710 Del Paso

Steak & Eggs

Syrian immigrant "Lil" Joe Halaway bought the Emerald Cafe in 1948, eventually changing the name to Lil Joe's. Lil Joe was famous for his loving nature and generosity, greeting customers with a smile and a "God bless you." Those words are now etched in the concrete before the restaurant's door. He stood by his employees and helped those who were down on their luck with free meals frequently.

And he saw a lot of people down on their luck. Shortly after he bought the restaurant on highway 40, Del Paso Boulevard was bypassed by a new freeway, and began a long decline. The area was, and still is (although it is starting to come out of it with major redevelopment efforts), beset by vacant buildings, empty lots, liquor stores, adult book stores, prostitution, drug use, and violence. According to the Sacramento Bee, police would avoid going to Lil Joe's (which used to be open 24 hours) because they didn't want to eat among the people they would be arresting later. The low point came in 1993, when a customer responded to being asked to put his cigarette out by stabbing the waiter to death.

When he was hospitalized in early 2002, the city council unanimously voted to honor Lil Joe with a lifetime achievement award for his assistance to the poor, sponsorship of youth sports, and general contribution to the community. He died a few months after being hospitalized. His son George, who started working the restaurant at the age of 14, carries on his legacy, as does his daughter.

Once I moved to nearby Arden-Arcade in August of 2002, I started eating at Lil Joe's frequently, mainly for the incredibly low prices. Then it was only $1.69 for a hamburger and a bag of potato chips (it's now $3.69). My only real complaint is the toast at breakfast--they need to get some better bread.

Pancake Circus
2101 Broadway

A 1997 Sacramento Bee article refers to the Pancake Circus as "a shrine to breakfast lovers for nearly 40 years." I've noticed that people writing restaurant reviews don't hesitate to make things up rather than do any real research. The Pancake Circus opened, in fact, around 1970, although the building dates back to around 1963. It was originally Al & Myrle's Platter, then Al's Platter, then Pancake Parade No. 3. I imagine not a lot of interior redecorating was required when it changed from Pancake Parade to Pancake Circus.

They've got a counter with stools inside and you can play Lotto from your seat. I'm not a big fan of pancakes, but fortunately I enjoy they do eggs Benedict well. It's one of my favorite dishes, but very easy to screw up if you have bad Hollandaise sauce.

Blueberry Pancakes

Lucky Cafe
1111 21st St

The Lucky Cafe at this address opened around 1962, right after the Lucky Cafe on 5th near J closed, presumably as part of the redevelopment associated with the construction of Interstate 5. I think they just relocated, although I was disappointed to find in an old photograph of the 5th St. location that the sign did not exactly match the current sign. The older Lucky Cafe opened in the mid 1940s.

Inside they have a countertop with a 1950s Googie design and a limited number of booths that are off limits to solo diners.

Johanna's/Eddie's Irish Village Coffee Shop
2906 Auburn Blvd

I just went to eat here the other day, and was disappointed to find that it had closed. Not surprised, but disappointed. Eddie's Irish Village Motel and Coffee Shop opened around 1963. In the 1980s it was Red Robin Coffee Shop, but by 1990 it was Johanna's Restaurant. It took me quite a while to discover this place, which wasn't quite as old as I really like, but was close to where I live, and inexpensive.

Chicken Fried Steak & Eggs

Uptown Cafe/The Coffee Pot
1121 Del Paso Blvd.

The Coffee Bar opened here around 1952. Then it became the Coffee Shop, the Del Paso Coffee Shop, the Coffee Pot, Beth's Coffee Pot, and then back to the Coffee Pot, before becoming the Uptown Cafe around 1997. It's a restaurant run by a chef, so the food is good, and also a little more expensive than most of these other old places. My most interesting meal here was during a power outage in a storm--given the circumstances, the menu was somewhat restricted.

Cheddar Cheeseburger & Onion Rings

Mary's Cafe
6498 Broadway

I missed out on getting a photograph of the 1970s sign for this restaurant. The strip mall it is in was recently redone, and the old sign disappeared. But nothing old is missing from the interior.

It opened around 1954 as Marie's Do-Nut Shop No. 2, with No. 1 being in Del Paso Heights. There's still a Marie's Do-Nut Shop on Freeport Boulevard. By 1955 it was Oleta's Coffee & Donut Shop, then Los Taquetos, before staying as Kindle's Kitchen for 15 years or more. Around 1975, it became Mary's Kitchen.

My first visit there was not auspicious. It looks really worn inside, and calendars from 1985 hang on the wall. Listed on the menu was "chicken fried steak" at the lowest price I have ever seen. But it turned out it was just a chicken patty. Now, the "steak" part is crossed off with marker on the menus, meaning it is listed as "chicken fried."

I've been much happier with my more recent meals. I wasn't asked how I wanted my steak when I ordered steak and eggs, but apparently they knew I wanted it medium rare--it was terrific. When I was there the other day, they were completely swamped, and couldn't handle the number of customers. But even though my food was slow to arrive, the shrimp omelette was tasty. The only thing that really bothers me is that unnatural yellow substance they put on the toast. But if you've got a really small appetite and are looking to spend around $2.35 for breakfast, this is the place to go. Try one egg and one pancake.

Eggie's
1650 Fulton Ave.

There are several breakfast/lunch places in my neighborhood that close in the afternoon, but this one has the best food of all of them. I used to be a regular there, with the chicken apple sausage & scrambled eggs with country potatoes (with onions and peppers) and sourdough toast being my most common order. Then one day I saw "Freedom Fries" featured on their daily special, and since then I have rarely visited. Vive la France.

Chicken Apple Sausage & Eggs

The place probably opened as the Coffee Hut around 1967, then was Kenny's for a number of years (not Denny's), briefly Quok's, and by 1978 was Eggie's.

Country Waffles
2721 El Camino

The only thing inside that matches the Googie architecture are the hot pink tiles behind the counter. But the fact that it is the Sam Gordon Center is a dead giveaway that it was a Sam's Big Top, built around 1967. Like many of Sam's restaurant, this one was purchased by the Denny's chain, but it didn't stay a Denny's long. For a stretch it was Walt's.

Lyon's
2495 Watt Ave.

When I lived in Davis, every once in a while I would eat at the Lyon's (now another restaurant). The food always looked good in the photos on the menu, but I was always disappointed. When I moved to my current neighborhood, I used to eat breakfast at this Lyon's occasionally just to appreciate the building and the great round booths inside (unfortunately I never took any photos of the interior).

Not being a fan of the Lyon's chain, I assumed it must have been something different originally to have such a cool building, but no, it opened as a Lyon's around 1966. An older friend at work tells me it was the place to be late at night in the late sixties, when it was open 24 hours a day.

It didn't do great business, but probably had low rent in the parking lot of a a closed Montgomery Ward's. But soon after Wal-Mart moved into the Ward's building, the place closed, and it was demolished in 2007 to provide more parking for the Wal-Mart.

Road Trip: US 395, Mono Lake, Yosemite NP, Modesto

2008-09-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Usually I blog my interests in exploring Northern California separately: the hiking, camping, and nature explorations totally apart from restaurants, neon signs, roadside attractions, and local history. Mainly this is because most people are interested in one or the other, but not both.

But I don't separate them when I'm actually out exploring. I discover delightful signs and drive-in restaurants while going to and from hiking trips, and I plan camping trips as an excuse to explore new towns and highways. So for just this once, I'm going to present one of my excursions as a whole to give an idea to my family and friends (it amuses me to pretend that they read my blog) what they are like.

The only certain goal of this overnight trip was Mono Lake. I had heard much about this area in the Eastern Sierra from my friends Erik, Darla, and Dave, and had read fascinating accounts of the lake from Mark Twain and John Muir. I had a number of other places I wanted to visit in this area in mind: the site of the Japanese interment camp at Manzanar, the old ghost town of Bodie, Devil's Postpile National Monument, and the Alabama Hills. Plus, I planned to return through Yosemite National Park and get in a hike there, and stop off in Modesto in the hopes of photographing the State Theatre at night.

That was an overly ambitious agenda for an overnight trip, and I made things more difficult by not preparing well. I did little research, and I put off errands, like paying bills, until the morning I was leaving, meaning I got started three hours later than planned.

I could have rushed, and tried to skip less important things. But this was not a paid tour with a specific agenda and stops at all the must-see highlights. This was about me relaxing and having fun exploring what was out there and taking it as it comes. So starting off on US 50, the historic emigrant route and one of two routes for the first transcontinental road, the Lincoln Highway, I quickly stopped off in the boring suburban community of Cameron Park for lunch.

I love the historic gold mining towns of the foothills, but in between those and the city of Sacramento are these far outlying suburbs powered by the freeways and filled with the worst kind of suburban sprawl and generic chain stores and restaurants. But Cameron Park has one thing I had always been interested in stopping to check out, but never had: an old Eppie's restaurant, now 3 Brothers Restaurant. Eppie's was a regional chain out of Sacramento that started in 1964 and grew to 20 restaurants, but is now down to just one, and not the original one, in West Sacramento. Nothing particularly interesting about the interior of 3 Brothers, but the turkey melt special and potato salad were good.

Back on the road, I exited 50 at Sly Park Road, a familiar route to get to the hiking area of Carson Pass. Turning at the south end of the lake onto Mormon Emigrant Trail, I passed the lake, and then went through dense forest, which the highway was plopped down in the middle of. The squirrels have not adapted, and I call it "Squirrel Dodging Road."

The Mormon Emigrant Trail is named after a 19th century group of Mormons who came from Salt Lake City to help build Sutter's Mill, where gold would be found a year later. When finished, they returned to Salt Lake City via this route. Other place names in the area reflect their journey, like Tragedy Spring, where the bodies of advance scouts were found, having been slain by natives.

This route is a short cut to CA 88 and Carson Pass, rather than going to South Lake Tahoe, and starting down CA 89. Carson Pass is named after guide Kit Carson. There are two trailheads on either side of the highway here along the Pacific Crest Trail. I've made hikes from both trailheads.

Old Webster Schoolhouse, Markleeville

From here it was down into a broad valley to join up with CA 89 South and finally the start of new territory for me, the highlight of which would be Markleeville. Markleeville has a small park with a museum, the old jail, the old one-room schoolhouse, and some rusted machinery out back. I've seen the like all over Gold Country, but I still enjoy it.

Old Machinery in Markleeville

After that it was over my second mountain pass of the day, Monitor Pass. This one had a nice stone marker placed there in 1959. Appropriately it was in front of a grove of aspen trees. I have never seen so many aspens in the Sierra as a I saw along this road--it must be wonderful in the fall.

Monitor Pass Marker

Once over Monitor Pass it is a steep descent with wide open views of a valley--wide open, but, unfortunately, hazy on this day. Snaking through a river canyon at the bottom, the CA 89 leads out into the valley and terminates at the junction with US 395.

West Walker Motel

Now this initial portion of US 395 I had been on before on my way back from Sonora Pass and the Stanislaus National Forest, but that had been during a period of terrible wildfires when most all of California and eastern Nevada had smoky skies, so I did not stop for photos. On this day, it was just a bit hazy when looking to the east, but the polarizing filter generally took care of that. I stopped along the way to take pictures of old neon signs and roadside burger stands, particularly of well maintained, vintage motels in Walker.

Andryss Motel, Walker

Passing the junction with CA 108, I was once again in virgin territory for me. Then I had the pleasure of pulling into Bridgeport--like Walker, with very well maintained vintage motels with neon signs, but considerably larger. I stopped to photograph the signs before continuing on.

On leaving Bridgeport, there was a sign indicating a portion of scenic highway was beginning. The highlight of this is an overlook on a sweeping curve as the road starts descending to Mono Lake. There is a view of the whole valley, and the shriveled lake surrounded by salt and tufa. Of course I took the turnout.

Again, I hadn't done any research, so I wasn't sure where to best go to view Mono Lake and its famous tufa formations. I chose the first turn off, for a county park on the northwest side of the lake on Cemetery Road.

It's a nice little park for families, with a large lawn and playground for kids. There's a trail out to a boardwalk in the state reserve area. Walking down the boardwalk, there are signs indicating the old water level in different years, which is depressing. The water level has dropped precipitously because water from tributaries has been diverted so the good people of Los Angeles can water their lawns, wash their cars, and hold wet t-shirt contests.

Finally there is a viewing area with a bench from which I could see some of the lakes famous tufa formations, but not many, and at a distance. So I quickly returned to the car and Highway 395 and headed a little farther south.

Soon there was another turnoff, just before the town of Lee Vining, which according to the map I am looking at now, is the old marina site. Here there were more plentiful tufa formations. Tufa is calcium carbonate, limestone, and is created when fresh spring water from underneath the lake rises up into the salty water of Mono lake and then accretions of limestone form into interesting shapes. They were exposed when the water level dropped. Mono Lake is much saltier than the ocean because it has no outlet--all of the salts brought in by fresh water remain there as the water gradually evaporates.

I took some photos there, but I was starting to lose the light. It was only 5 p.m., but this area is right close to high mountains rising to the west, and the sun was dipping below the peaks. So I decided to buy one of the pamphlets available there and plan my next move.

I saw that past the county park area on Cemetery Road I could drive out to a turnoff for Black Point, so that's where I headed. The paved part of the road ended at the Cemetery, and it was gravel road from there, but easy enough driving. I almost drove past the small sign low to the grand pointing to the turnoff for Black Point. That road was a little rougher, and there were various unmarked spurs off of it, which left me unsure if I was going the right way. But eventually I arrived at a parking area signed for Black Point.

It's a good walk across black, volcanic sand and rocks before reaching the white salt and limestone of the former lake bed. There were a lot more tufa formations here, backed by the black dome of one of the islands. And like the old marina site, there were millions of brine flies along the water's edge here. Mono Lake is a very important area for birds, particularly the species California gull (Larus californicus), the great majority of which next at Mono Lake. The islands provide safety from predators, and the lake provides abundant food in the form of brine flies and brine shrimp.

The falling level of the lake created a landbridge to Negit Island, and predators had access to the birds' nests, so they vacated the island. Luckily, a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles finally resulted in a settlement in 1994 mandating a return to the 1961 level of the lake, well below the 1941 level, when water diversion first began, but considerably higher than it was then, or is still now. There is quite a ways to go before the water reaches that level, but Negit Island is once again and island.

Mono Lake from Black Point

The light was great in the afternoon out there, but I was the only one around. Eventually I had to start thinking about where I was going to spend the night. My plan was to camp, and I wanted to get my tent set up before dark.

But for a variety or reasons, I ended up returning to Bridgeport and staying at the Silver Maple Motel, one of those beautifully maintained old motels with a lovely sign. I had dinner at the equally wonderful Sportsman's Inn. This place has knotty pine paneled walls, large booths, and an old counter. For a very reasonable price I got the rainbow trout dinner, which came with soup, salad, rolls, French fries, and coleslaw. Sure, there were some brown spots in the lettuce, and the fries were overcooked, but the trout and chicken rice soup were excellent and the service was attentive.

They had 4 beers on tap listed on the menu: 3 premium beers for $4 a pint, and Pabst Blue Ribbon for $2.50. But I found out later that it is only $2 a pint in the bar, where you can also get a "spaghetti hot dog with Swiss cheese" for $3.50--undoubtedly a culinary adventure. After photographing neon at night and setting up my tripod to get a long exposure of the courthouse, I added a few gallons of gas to my tank to make sure I'd be able to make it to the Central Valley without having to buy more gas. While beer is cheap in this high desert town, gas is expensive--nearly $5 a gallon, while it was only $3.69 back in Sacramento.

I shot the neon signs of Bridgeport at night after that, and got a long exposure of the Mono County Courthouse before heading back to my motel room.

Mono County Courthouse

Had I been in my sleeping bag in a tent, I would have had no problem getting up at 6 a.m. to shoot the tufa towers of Mono Lake at sunrise, as I had planned, but in the comfort of my bed, I overslept, and got up at 6:45, and I still had to drive 20 miles back to the lake. All of the great photos I have seen of Mono Lake are in dramatic lighting conditions--sunrise, sunset, or in stormy weather.

I had to settle for good light, not dramatic light. I drove south of Lee Vining to the turnoff for CA 120 east. On that road I drove past Panum crater, which would have made an interesting stop if the sun were higher in the sky (so it could reach the interior of the crater). From 120 it is a short trip on a gravel road to the South Tufa Area.

The South Tufa Area is a fee site, $3 per person, but they accept the federal interagency pass, so I didn't have to pay. Unlike at Black Point, there were already people at the South Tufa Area. I took the loop walk, starting to the west side, because the sun needed to move a little farther west in the sky before the formations on the east side would be lit properly. I worked my way east, reading all the posted signs and trying to find good compositions. I think a long lens would be your best bet for the photographing the tufa to compress the distance between the towers, but I don't have anything longer than 55mm at the moment, so I had to settle for that.

Mono Lake Tufa and the Eastern Sierra

Some time after I arrived a tour bus had dumped its load of tourists, and they were already returning to the bus by the time I was ready to leave. I started back to 395, but this time via gravel road close to the lake shore, instead of CA 120. I soon came to a turnoff to a parking lot a ways from another grouping of tufa towers. Initially I passed it by, but then changed my mind and backed up to it. I set off from the northwest corner of the lot towards the tufa. It was easy going at first, but eventually I had to fight my way through large bushes that scraped up my legs. But I made it to the tufa to take photos. I would have explored more along the shore there, but I got to a point where I was sinking into the mud--even though the water level of the lake has dropped, the springs that led to the formation of the tufa towers are still there, so there are lots of marshy areas.

When I was mapping my photos on Flickr when I got home, I saw from the satellite view that there appears to be a trail from the northeast corner, rather than the northwest, where I left from, that goes back to the South Tufa area, but there would have been little point in going back there.

Returning to the car, I headed along the gravel road until I saw an old house that I had to stop and shoot. I would have liked to explore inside, but it was surrounded by a chainlink fence topped with barbed wire, so I decided to respect the message that fence was sending me, and just take a photo between the barbed wire.

I meant to continue all the way back to the old marina site on the gravel road, but instead of following the sign to the picnic area, I went the other way at a junction and was quickly back on 395. I see from the map that I missed one more major tufa area by doing this.

Back on 395, I returned to Lee Vining, where I parked outside of a closed drive-in restaurant, in the hopes that when I returned from walking around town taking photos, it would be open. But one of the signs I took a picture of was attached to a restaurant that seemed more appealing for breakfast--Nicely's, where I had steak and eggs--well done, even though I ordered the steak medium rare.

From Lee Vining I started my return to Sacramento through Yosemite National Park. That meant taking CA 120 west from 395: Tioga Pass Road.

Tioga Pass Road

It is a dramatically beautiful climb up this road into the high Sierra. I pulled over a couple of times to take photos, but had I been more quick to react, there were a couple of better spots to pull over. Climbing up a river canyon, I passed a large waterfall that was still going this late in the season, reminding me of how much higher the mountains are in this part than where I usually hike, the Tahoe Sierra. Soon after the waterfalls I reached a lake where there were many fishermen and even some motorboats--Tioga Lake, it turned out to be. And after that it was a long wait in line to get into Yosemite National Park--no charge, thanks to my interagency pass.

The plan was just to stop at a couple of obvious pullovers for quick photos, before reaching a trailhead for a substantial hike. So I stopped at Lambert Dome, where lots of people were lacing their boots, and getting out the ropes, and Tenaya Lake, where plenty of people were wading, swimming, and picnicking.

Tenaya Lake

Then it was Porcupine Creek Trialhead for my planned hike to North Dome. I headed down an old road .7 miles, crossed a couple of mostly dried up creek beds, passed through deep forest to a couple of junctions right after one another, all well signed, headed over along the side of a slope to a point where many people had obviously gone out to check the view, but a couple of unusually large cairns assured me the trail makes a sharp left. From there it was a pretty steep climb to a junction marked for the arch at Indian Rock.

It's a steep climb up to the arch via a use trail--it couldn't be a planned trail, despite the sign, as the park service would avoid such a direct ascent so as to prevent erosion. On the way up, I got my first views of famed Half Dome through the trees. According to California Hiking, the arch at Indian Rock is the only "natural bridge" in the park, although "bridge" seems to be an odd thing to call it, as it isn't really connecting two points across a chasm.

Back down on the main trail, I soon though I had come to my goal, but I was deceived. There was a granite dome directly ahead, with views of Half Dome, but the trail veered off to the left and down the steep side of a granite slope covered with decomposed granite, making footing a bit tricky. Down below, the trail turns back towards Yosemite Valley along a second granite dome--still not North Dome--and I was rewarded with outstanding views of Half Dome and immense masses of granite that I'm not familiar with enough to identify.

Well below and across a small forested ravine, I saw another granite dome sticking out. I could see people on it, so I figured that must be North Dome, and was surprised that my hiking book had not warned me what a long climb down it was at the end. I thought about not going any farther, as I had excellent views to the east, and the sun was in the wrong position to photograph Yosemite Valley to the west. It didn't seem as though the view I would get from North Dome would be so much better as to justify the extra effort. But thankfully I put those thoughts out of my head and kept on.

I reached a junction indicating it was .5 miles to North Dome, and started down a steep portion with tricky footing at points. I reached a large smooth section of sloping granite at which there were several other hikers. Two iron roads had been anchored into the granite here, and they were holding a rock in place, but I didn't really see how that was going to help me get down or back up again later. I asked to backpackers below how the rest of the trail was, and if there were any "slip and you die" spots. "No, this is the worst of it," they assured, "just a slip and you get hurt spot." So I slid down on my ass and kept going.

I passed though that small forested ravine and started climbing up the granite of North Dome itself. Just as I started a hiker coming the other way joked, "Nothing to see here. Go back." The winds whipped up as I headed out on North Dome. I could see Yosemite Valley below to the east, and of course, Half Dome looming in its immensity a short distance to the west. At the high point, I picked out the highest rock and climbed on top of it. Apparently I chose correctly, as the rock had a US Geological Survey marker embedded in it.

Half Dome from North Dome

I would have liked to have stayed there some time and watched the light change on Half Dome as the sun shifted in the sky, but I also wanted to get out of the mountains before dark, and I wasn't sure how long that would take, and get home to Sacramento that night. So I started back.

In the ravine the two backpackers who had reassured me earlier were setting up camp. Back at the tricky granite slope, I managed to get up on all fours--this time there was nobody else there, so I couldn't ask for a hand. I was really pushing myself to hike quickly, and I really wore myself out on this hike. At some point on the way back I realized I had been calculating wrong--I had set out at 12:45, not 11:45, so it took me 2 1/4 hours to make it out there, not 3 1/4. So I ended up getting back to the car at 5:05 when I had been worried about not getting back before 6:00. Despite being tired, I was able to get back more quickly because I didn't repeat the side trip to the arch at Indian Rock.

I drove out of the park and through the towns of Groveland and Big Oak Flat, after which comes a pretty amazing section of sharply twisting road with hairpin turn after hairpin turn. Since the road is taken by so many tourists to and from Yosemite who are not used to driving it, there is always somebody taking it extra cautiously and slowly to get stuck behind. I was fine with that, and enjoyed the road (I do like curves), but the red Jeep driver in front of me was really irritated, and even started to pass on one hairpin turn, before dropping back behind the lead car again.

From there I enjoyed the view of the beautiful golden foothills dotted with a surprisingly large number of dark green oak trees in the setting sun, and at one point I pulled over for a photograph.

Just after the sun set, a pickup driver flashed his headlights at me. I knew my left headlight was out. I had tried to replace it, but when I couldn't immediately figure out how to, I just threw the new bulb in the trunk and decided I would get it replaced when I had my oil changed. Only I forgot to mention it at the garage. But I didn't know why he would be flashing his lights at me for one headlight out, so I stopped at a gas station and discovered that neither light was working on low beam (although both worked on high beam). I had no choice but to sit there and figure out to install the new bulb. I took out 4 screws, only 2 of which needed to be out, before I figured it out, and got my hands very dirty in the process. The gas station was very busy with people streaming in and out, all ignoring me completely.

Tired and dirty, I was anxious to get home, but rather than taking the most direct route, I was in Oakdale on my way to Modesto because I have long wanted to photograph the State Theatre at night. I stopped off for a meal at an old Sno-White Drive In, then proceeded to Modesto to get the shots I was after although I was in a hurry and didn't do as good of a job as I would have liked, or take as many different takes on the subject as I normally would. There were some other neon signs I wanted to check in Modesto, but I decided to skip them, stopping impulsively only to photograph the Valli Motel sign just before Stockton on the way home on CA 99, formerly US 99E.

State Theatre, Long Exposure

Valli Motel

I arrived home pretty late, which is always a mistake after I've been gone a while. The cat needs attention after being left alone, and he gets it, even if it means waking me up repeatedly all night long, which he did.