Sunday, June 26, 2011

Freeway Adjacent

Freeway Adjacent

Carlos and I were going to Long Beach, but we had an entire day before our first real obligation.  We decided to make the 2 hour trip in 24 hours.  Probably doesn't sound like too great of an idea, unless of course you're a photographer or an explorer.
We're usually in such a hurry, pointing and exclaiming oohs and ahhs, but never have made the time to stop along the way at the peculiarities that strike us.

There is this very solitary two story red house along the 10 that continually catches our eye and we swear that we will some day stop and photograph it.  You know the one, by the Arrowhead plant and the windmills in Cabazon.  It just looks so weird out there by itself.
Well we went in search of it. And it isn't quite "by itself".  There's a whole town in the area I thought was mere chaparral and brush.  


And the red house was quite boring to us once we approached it.  We didn't take a single image. 
But these are some of the others from that day.

The sign reads Cabazon Inn.  Completely abandoned.  
This is a screen grab from google maps.  With some research I discovered that it last sold May 13, 2005 for $400,000.  And it is abandoned yet again.



you are invited to su primera Gran Misa in Cabazon Elementary School.






Perhaps another new project involving these roadside crosses.  We pass places where people have died on a daily basis and rarely give any thought to it.  
Joel Sternfeld did a great book called On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam
"Joel Sternfeld seeks out similar places stained by violence and haunted by tragedy in the American landscape"  (Amazon.com Review)
One section of the book revisits fields and landscapes where slaughters had taken place.  The images themselves resound with slight mystery, but the impact of the empty fields and craggy trails is more keenly understood and felt by reading the accompanying testimonials of the survivors.


We've all seen the sign from the 10, but of course it's just a big empty lot. 
It was demolished in April of this year.




Along the 10.






Hotel du glamour.


This is very good to know!






Thursday, June 2, 2011

San Francisco- Final Days

Our final days were great.  We had said goodbye to most of the weekenders and had a few days left to ourselves.  

 Kate's Kitchen


This is apparently part of an ongoing art piece.  Just one iteration of this object that I've seen.  I believe it used to be an ATM.  In  Hayes Valley on our way to get SHOES.  Gimme Shoes.

 Oh so clever street art.
 It was cold so we considered our options.  yes, we both thought for a second we would wear it. 
 One of the most amazingly delicate and flavorful meals of the week.  She's big on meyer lemon at Frances. 






And the next day was our last.  Time to empty the fridge of all the perishables we'd purchased during the week.  So it was Lamb Sausage with Thyme

A little red onion, red wine and a side of potatoes should do the trick.

Too many shoes to fit in the luggage, so to the UPS store!


 Return the extra pillows Tyler so graciously lent us for the week.  The stair to his cute loft.


As you can see from these images, Carlos is a very aloof traveler.  Back to Palm Springs.  It was kinda weird when our cab driver in PS said, " welcome home."  I guess he knew we lived there because we weren't wearing boat shoes and carrying a golf club bag.  Welcome home indeed.