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Brother Onefeather – Day 72

Brother Onefeather

Day 72 – June 11, 2003 – Wednesday

We drove from Monrovia to Los Angeles and on to Buellton, California. As we had already been to both Monrovia and LA, the day was spent driving along the Pacific coast, seeing Malibu and Santa Barbara.

I had a business meeting in Los Angeles this morning. Nothing trip-related. We did spend some time in the world’s finest parking garage at the building we visited. Seriously, the garage was incredible, and it had the tightest security I had experienced anywhere — all kinds of guards and security features. We were searched twice before we got into the elevator. There had to be something or someone pretty important in the building I was in.

I regretted the two hours that this “business” took from the trip. But as we were heading to the Pacific Coast Highway, I spotted what had to be the world’s largest Mexican holding a plate of Mexican food. So, out of the car I went for the photo, and I was smiling again. Just think…if we hadn’t gone into LA for this business meeting, we would have never seen the “World’s Largest Mexican holding a Plate of Mexican Food.”

The Pacific coastline in Malibu is just beautiful. We saw the Malibu Pier; it was used in a number of movies. We saw a lot of surfers. We saw a film crew and some actors filming a movie of some type along the coast. We saw some gorgeous mansions, including a castle-like home on the side of a mountain near Malibu Beach. Most of the fabulous homes could not be viewed from the road, but when we were able to see something, it was usually spectacular. We drove by Neptune’s Net in Malibu; it is a popular restaurant frequented by many stars.

We drove around Pepperdine University in Malibu. I might not have ever attended a class if I’d gone here.

The farmland and barns we saw in Oxnard were very pretty. We saw a sign: “Thanks Oxnard for destroying this Farmland.” It looked like something was happening in Oxnard that the farmers didn’t like.

Neither Barbara nor I had ever been to Santa Barbara. It is incredibly beautiful, and Bozzie Jane said that if money and grandchildren were not considerations, she would live in Santa Barbara.

We saw the courthouse, Mission, the downtown area. It didn’t matter what it was. Everything in Santa Barbara was beautiful.

I photographed a tree in downtown Malibu that appeared to have donuts growing from its branches. I do not have the slightest idea what type of tree it was, but as I am into donuts, I choose to believe it was a Donut Tree. If it’s a Donut Tree, it was a Krispy Kreme variety rather than a Dunkin’ Donuts variety.

In a parking lot in Santa Barbara, we met Brother Onefeather. He lives in a van “down by the river” in Santa Barbara, California. A 1976 Dodge Sportsman van to be precise.

Brother Onefeather and his amazing van will certainly rank among the most interesting sights that we stumbled across on the trip. Bozzie happened to see the van parked in a lot near the Santa Barbara Visitors’ Information Office. Seven years in the making, Brother Onefeather’s van (called an “art car” in grassroots art circles) was a most impressive work of art featuring a variety of images and messages. The entire van, inside and out, is covered with art — primarily toys, figurines, and paintings — glued to every available surface.

Brother Onefeather, who has a Jesus-like appearance, says he checked out of the rat race and started living for himself and preaching his message of peace and God’s Love following a divorce. He is well-educated, articulate, and seemed to be a genuinely nice, real person. He took great pride in showing his van and sharing his story. “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” figures battle it out on the roof of the van. Mickey Mouse and friends wave from the grill. Beads hang from the van’s undercarriage, and 40 dozen red apples line the windows. Brother Onefeather says the apples are a tribute to 9/11. The van features a Beatles Yellow Submarine mural, bumper-to-bumper traffic artwork, an Angels mural, The Last Supper plus Aladdin scene, a Rainbow Family mural, a Tribute to Bob Marley, and more. We were sorry to see that Brother Onefeather endorses marijuana use through various displays on the van. There was a chalkboard with a message that changes periodically. When we saw it, the message said: “One cannot simultaneously prepare for war and peace.” There’s a little bit of everything on Brother Onefeather’s van, but it all seemed to have a somewhat logical place when Brother Onefeather explains it.

We corresponded with Brother Onefeather following our visit to Santa Barbara. He was looking for someone to store his van while he went on a trip. We hooked him up with Ros from the Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, Kansas. There couldn’t be a better place in the country to store and display his van.

We stopped at Ruby’s Cafe for dinner in downtown Santa Barbara. It looked great from the outside, but the meal was disappointing.

We ended the day with two excellent pieces of pie at Baker’s Square in Buellton. The desk clerk at our hotel recommended it.

We saw a lot of beautiful coastline today, but the various areas we saw in Santa Barbara took top honors for the day.

Random Comments:

Unfortunately, today was one of many days where interviews and great information was lost because of tape recorder issues. We’ve broken one tape recorder after another, and we have had a number of days like today where the tape malfunctioned or became damaged. We may have to try a digital tape recorder next trip, and then download and check the recording every night.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

More Information on the Sights Visited Today: Malibu California — Santa Barbara California — Brother Onefeather’s Van

Leaving Las Vegas – Day 71

Leaving Las Vegas

Day 71 – June 10, 2003 – Tuesday

Leaving Las Vegas.

We drove to Los Angeles today — went via Death Valley. When we stopped for gas in Shoshone (Death Valley), California (population 100), Anna at the gas station asked if we knew where we had gotten lost. When we told her we PLANNED to visit Death Valley, she was VERY surprised.

We didn’t meet many people in Vegas. Beads weren’t special there as a number of casinos give them away.

We went to Red Rock Canyon as we left the Las Vegas area. We saw a sign that said: “Danger. Wild burros on highway. Do not feed or harass burros. $25 fine and THEY BITE.”

We passed by a sign for “Summerland, America’s premier master plan community.” Of course, it was way out in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere so somebody wasn’t thinking too well when they planned. Then again, maybe this is a relative of Bugsy Siegel, so who am I to question things in the middle of nowhere?

We came across a poor man’s Cadillac Ranch. This guy could only afford one car. I couldn’t tell what model. One car buried nose down in the Nevada desert. No sign. No explanation. Just there.

We accidentally found our way to Crystal, Nevada today. Crystal is a tiny spot on a road in the only county in Nevada where prostitution is legal. It just happened to be on the route that I chose through Death Valley and on to LA.

We went down a road following signs that said “Cherry Patch Ranch” and “Mable’s” as well as “Madame Butterfly Bath, Massage, and Saloon.” These places are official houses of prostitution. There was a “Brothel Tourist Information Center” that appeared to be open, but I guess I was afraid to go in.

We passed near Area 51 and the Extraterrestrial Highway. We photographed some signs and other spooky stuff. Our son’s company does Area 51 tours. The tour takes Las Vegas visitors to seven famous locations used by UFO enthusiasts in their search of the truth about this controversial subject. The tour goes to Little A’le’Inn. This has been the host of numerous documentaries and movies including “Independence Day.” The next stop is the infamous Black Mailbox and then to the perimeter of Area 51 through the strange and deformed Joshua Tree Forest. The tour notes the guards (Men In Black), detection devices, listening devices, and cameras mounted among the cactus. Signs read: “The Use of Deadly Force Authorized” and we’re sure they mean it. As much as the United States Air Force has denied the existence of this base, we know it is there, but no one knows what it is they do there. Go to www.lostwagestours.com if you’d like to take the tour.

We didn’t see any UFOs today — a sign or two and a cafe, but mainly desert. It reached only 105 today in Death Valley, while it got to 108 on June 8 in Las Vegas.

We burned Pass #14 on a slow-moving motorcycle in Death Valley.

We met Anna at the Chevron station in Shoshone. Anna asked if we knew where we had gotten lost. When we told her we PLANNED to visit Death Valley, she was VERY surprised.

Anna knew everyone around these parts. She previously worked as a shift madam at one of the brothels in Crystal, Nevada. She was a very sweet lady. She volunteered that she worked there because her daughter had a serious illness, and they didn’t have the money for medical expenses unless she got a better-paying job. She said the brothels in Crystal City are very safe; doctors come in once a week; double-jacketed condoms are used, etc. She said they charge $150 for a half hour.

Getting a chance to talk to a madam was an unexpected pleasure in Death Valley.

The population is 100 in Shoshone, yet they have a place called the UFO that looks like a cafe and a place called the Saysee Bone Cafe which is an Internet Cafe featuring espresso. There were a lot of yard ornaments in Shoshone.

We drove on to the Dumont Dunes in Death Valley. It seemed like perhaps the lowest spot we reached. It is an area where people go off-roading.

We’ve reached the town of Baker just before 5 pm. The population is only 390, yet they have 5-digit address numbers. Maybe that guy selling the used car near Douglas, Arizona is the city planner here.

As we approached the town of Yermo, California, I spotted something that looked strange and interesting on the horizon. We never found out what it was. We did, however, learn that “The Incredible Hulk” was filmed here, so this might have been something left over from the filming. We stopped at what we learned was the original Del Taco restaurant.

The smog was absolutely horrible as we neared the Los Angeles area. What a shame that this beautiful part of the country is uglified by smog.

Mayte checked us in at the Embassy Suites in Monrovia, California. She recommended Rudy’s for dinner, so off we went. We both enjoyed Rudy’s California-style Mexican food. We had fried ice cream for dessert. It was nothing to write home about. Barbara didn’t like it all. We did enjoy meeting Rudy.

Random Comments:

Today marks the start of Week 11. It is hard to believe the trip is now well over half over. I continue to thoroughly enjoy the experience, though I am disappointed that 18-hour days leave little time to write. We are, however, taking an average of 150 photos a day, and the tapes are filling fast as we record the events and observations from each day.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

More Information on the Sights Visited Today: Red Rock Canyon — Crystal Nevada — Area 51 — Death Valley — Yermo California

Hinkley California – Day 29

Day 29 – April 29, 2003 – Tuesday

Hinkley California

While planning the route several months ago, I noticed the town of Hinkley California just 20 miles or so off Route 66. This is the town where so many people had serious health problems in the Erin Brokovich movie. The movie was a true story. So we detoured off Route 66 to Hinkley.

Hinkley is in a flat, dusty area with little more than scrubby desert plants. It looked sad before we ever reached the town to see abandoned and boarded-up homes. We did meet a sweet man there as I was taking a photo of the first landmark we saw – the Hinkley Post Office. Bill Stovall was his name. When I handed him our card and told him we were writing a book, he perked up. He told us that the movie was absolutely true and that Erin Brokovich is indeed a big hero there as she enabled the families to win a $340 million judgment against PG&E. Bill said many families were affected, but he and his family lived on the other side of town, and they had no problems at all. Bill noted that he has some relatives who have lived to be over 100. He did note that two dairies closed after a calf was born with two heads. I started to say goodbye and drive off when Bill asked if I wanted some family background. He then told us: “My grandfather came to the US from England and married a Cherokee Indian princess. I have 57 different kinds of stuff in me.” We were very happy to have bumped into Bill so we could hear his story.

It was an interesting coincidence that we saw Erin Brokovich’s name on the front page of USA Today as we glanced at it as we were checking out of our motel. She is working on another big case involving cancer.

Hollywood Forever – Day 28

Day 28 – April 28, 2003 – Monday

Hollywood Forever

Los Angeles is not as pretty as San Diego, but I was pleasantly surprised when I looked out the window of our Santa Monica hotel this morning. Blue sky rather than the whitish smog-filled sky that I have seen here on many other trips. I worked on a consulting project in the LA area once, and it rained after a week or two on the job, and when I looked out the next morning, I first realized there were mountains.

Route 66 is a very important part of the trip to me. We started our Route 66 journey this morning, though the plan was to spend most of the day in Hollywood. We went to Ocean Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard – near the Santa Monica Pier where we ended yesterday – and we took a photo of the plaque that commemorates the end (or the beginning in our case) of Route 66. The memorial is to Will Rogers and proclaims this part of “the main street of America” to be Will Rogers Highway.

As we waited for a light to change so we could cross Ocean Boulevard, I took a photo of the Shangri La Hotel. An attractive 60-ish blonde woman in sunglasses and a straw hat advised us that the sign was original, and the building has been fully restored. I introduced myself, gave her a card, and asked if she was a famous movie star. She replied: “I could have been.” I managed to get a photo of her from the back as she walked away. I believe she was in motion pictures. Boz doesn’t. It’s more fun to believe.

Santa Monica has a memorial to the military overlooking the ocean. The monuments are nice. It was sad to see so many homeless people curled up under palm trees nearby.

As we drove the first section of Route 66 – Santa Monica Boulevard, we were disappointed to see so few remnants of days gone by. We saw very few old buildings and only one or two businesses that dated back very far. Route 66 is no longer a “real” route, so signage is limited.

Bozzie Jane needed a cup of coffee, so we stopped at DK’s Donuts & Bakery. She felt obliged to try their glazed donut, so I joined her. After two years of taste-testing donuts, we are tough critics, but these were excellent.

Our next stop was the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. From my research, I had learned that the cemetery (under another name) had gone bankrupt. I’m sure this had to be terrible news for the families of the 79,000 people buried there. There had been a question about whether anyone would step in to maintain the cemetery, but we were pleased to see crews busily maintaining the grounds. There are a number of stars resting there, so tourists are welcomed and expected. Many of the gravestones featured photographs – something we had never seen. We drove right by Mel Blanc’s grave. We didn’t feel comfortable getting out and walking across gravesites looking for tombstones, so we didn’t. We did see a very strange site – a film crew had one area filled with lawn jockeys (both black and white) and a stage of some type. Perhaps the new owners are renting the cemetery to motion picture companies. Somehow I would imagine that the residents wouldn’t mind. The cemetery sits at the end of a street that looks straight up to the Hollywood sign.

Boz has been an excellent navigator, but the California map we were sent by the state is not much better than the worst map so far – Florida. We spent an hour and a half driving the first stretch of Route 66 while trying to find Hollywood Boulevard. It did not intersect as the map indicated.

Bozzie had visited Hollywood on a trip with my parents 27 years ago, but I don’t recall ever having visited, so I was really excited. We parked at the far east end of Hollywood Boulevard so we could walk the entire area in a long loop and see every single star in the sidewalk as well as the other sights.

We were disappointed almost immediately as one of the first stars we saw was blank. We ultimately saw many blank stars. We read the names as we passed, and we saw a name that we thought we had just seen a few feet away, and then another and another. There were also stars for people who aren’t big stars. We also saw stars for people we had never heard of, and we know movies and music better than most. We assume all of this has been done to increase the size of the tourist-oriented area in an attempt to benefit businesses there, but we felt ripped off (even though it was free). The result was that the stars lost their significance, and we no longer paid attention.

We did note early on that Lucille Ball’s star has broken and missing cement around it and needs repair. The only star that had been defaced was Charlton Heston’s. His name had been lined out – probably by someone who opposes his position as the most visible advocate for the National Rifle Association. I would never deface his star, but (despite my generally Republican views) I do believe ours would be a better, safer society if we did not have so many guns. We caught a little bit of a news report about gang violence in the LA area on TV in a restaurant. Frightening.

Hollywood Boulevard was not seedy as I expected. There were very few sex shops and not that many street people and no beggars. If you are looking for funky shoes, Hollywood Boulevard is the place to go.

It looks like the Church of Scientology is buying up Hollywood as we passed one L. Ron Hubbard Church of Scientology building after another. Scientologists were out on the street trying to lure people inside. With apologies to any Scientologists out there, this approach seems more cult-like and less church-like.

We enjoyed looking around in Hollywood Toys & Costumes. Fantastic masks and costumes. Pat asked me if I had been to Mardi Gras. We went in Hollywood Souvenirs to see a great selection of items. We saw the Capitol Records building and a few theatre buildings – most of which were not being used for movies. There is a huge Frederick’s of Hollywood building, formerly S.H. Kress.

There isn’t much to see on Hollywood Boulevard. While there are signs proclaiming a building to be historical, the signs are about 10-feet in the air, and we passed by most without realizing they were there. Our experience might have been more enjoyable if a Visitor’s Center had little maps or some type of orientation. We walked for hours, but we didn’t see much of anything.

A highlight of the day was passing by Michael McDonald, the incredibly funny star of Mad TV. Son Ryan is a big fan of his. We apologized for intruding and introduced ourselves. He could not have been nicer. He was out for the afternoon planning to catch a movie at the local theatre.

Flags were not to be seen in Hollywood. We saw one billboard in a parking lot with a flag, and I saw one flag inside an army surplus store, but that was it. After seeing so many displays of patriotism across the country, it was very disappointing. We saw Audie Murphy’s star and Ronald Reagan’s star as well as the stars of many who were in the military during World War II. There seems to be a huge patriotic gap between those real movie stars of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s and the people we have in the movies today.

The primary sight to see in Hollywood is Graumann’s Chinese Theatre — on the far end of Hollywood Boulevard from where we parked. I was looking forward to seeing the handprints and footprints of big stars. We were not allowed to see them. The area was blocked off in preparation for the Premiere of the movie X-Men 2. Major disappointment!

We befriended two security guards in an attempt to get in, but no luck. We were advised that we could see Halle Berry, Rebecca Romaine Stamos, Hugh Jackman, and many other stars at the Premiere. When Boz saw Jennifer Garner’s photo on the big poster, I figured seeing Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner was worth the wait.

The Premiere was scheduled to start at 7, and we were advised that the stars would begin arriving at 6:30. At 3:30, we had our pick of spots. I asked a few people where the best spot was, and Bozzie Jane and I took up permanent residence on a raised cement area directly across the street from the main entrance to Graumann’s where the stars would walk. For the next 3½ hours, we watched the setup – a cast of thousands or so it seemed. There were FAR MORE people working than there were tourists or fans watching. There was some people watching, too. We saw the worst Elvis impersonator ever; the only thing that looked at all like Elvis was a white jeweled costume.

There were no stars at 6:30. There were no stars at 7. The sun began to set as did our hopes of getting a good photograph of the stars.

There were not many in the audience at the Premiere, but the people doing interviews on the Jumbotron as well as those interviewed kept saying they had never been to anything as big as this. Smoke and mirrors! The attendance consisted of a few hundred poor schmucks like us who wandered by and thought they could see some stars and bleachers filled with people who won free tickets in a radio promotion. The rest of the “crowd” consisted of the huge group of people that it took to set up the event.

Stars finally began arriving at about 7:30. I managed photos of Jon Voight and the cast of American Idol. We never got a good look at any of the stars in the movie except on the Jumbotron screen. Halle Berry did not attend, and Jennifer Garner wasn’t in the movie after all.

We gave up about 8 pm – declaring our day in Hollywood as pretty much a bust.

We laughed at ourselves as we limped back down Hollywood Boulevard. We limped faster as we got to the far end of the street where the folks standing in doorways didn’t look necessarily friendly. I started to take off my beads, but decided they might actually keep people away.

We stopped along the way to grab something to eat for dinner at Skooby’s. We talked quite a bit to the owner, John, and we took a photo of John and Ben. We had eaten lunch there, and it was definitely the highlight of the day. This little gourmet hot dog shop has been open only a few months. The hot dogs were excellent, but the fries and lemonade were the best we have ever eaten. The fries are cooked twice and tossed in a secret seasoning. The lemonade is hand squeezed. It was just as good for dinner as it was for lunch.

The lesson of the day: We all have choices to make – some big and many small. Sometimes we make choices that seem good and sometimes we make choices that don’t turn out as well as hoped. Of course we rarely know what would have happened had we made a different choice. Deciding to forego a tour of stars’ homes in favor of attending the Premiere may not have been a good choice. We probably would have seen more on a tour, but then again, how many people can say they attended a Hollywood Movie Premiere? As to our carefully-chosen location at the Premiere, that was a small choice in the great scheme of things…but definitely a bad choice!