Departures, Arrivals and Journeys

Union Station in downtown Los Angeles is one of the most beautiful railroad stations in the United States. Although there have been trains in Los Angeles since 1906, Union Station was not built until 1939. It just celebrated it’s 70th birthday this past May. The windows are arched, the floors are marble, the seats are leather, and the ceilings are 50 feet high with chandeliers. Its architectural style is a mixture of old and new, Spanish Colonial Revival, Streamline Modern, Art Deco and Moorish styles are all part of the eclectic mix. 26,000 passengers a day go through and weddings, banquets, concerts and films take place here. One whole section of the station is portioned off and devoted solely to filming scenes that occur in train stations.

Trains have been used in films since The Great Train Robbery featuring the rag time music of Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller was filmed in 1903. There have been crazy trains, peace trains, soul trains, ghost trains and trains that keep rollin’ all night long. Trains have been the site of famous parties, mysteries, political campaigns and secret service spy head quarters.

Train stations invoke pictures of arrivals, departures, connections and memories of childhood.

There is something about train stations and trains that bring on day dreams and fantasies. With names like Sunset Limited, Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr and Silver Meteor it’s hard not to imagine wonderful vacations to fairy tale castles.  Famous trains like the Orient Express can carry us off on mysterious adventures have inspired movies since 1927. The Orient Express is featured in books and magic shows while the Hogwarts Express is a ride into a magical realm unlike any other and the Cannonball Express represented adventure of a different sort.

While everyday chores keep us back, ground us in reality and day to day needs, the sound of a train whistling in the distance can invoke feelings of breaking free or be a reminder of the freedom we lack.

Here's hoping  the President's plan for a high speed rail line comes to fruition and railroads once again come into their own bringing a little bit of elegance, style and romance back into our lives.

79 AD

What is it about ancient Rome that still fascinates and entertains over 2,000 years later? Spending an afternoon at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit: Pompeii and the Roman Villa is an experience not to be missed. Fascination with “the last days of Pompeii” is legendary, from poems to books, from rock bands to operas, films, documentaries, television shows, stage shows and even fire works displays have been based on the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. Even John Hollerbach of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is working on treadport (a walking  simulation effect for virtual reality) chose pre-eruption Pompeii as a subject for his test applications.  There is a tragic romance about the 2,000 who died that day, 1,930 years ago. Ten percent of the population of Pompeii perished in three meters of ash and from 1748 when their remains were first discovered to this day the fascination with them has continued.

Even the discriptions of the homes found there are stories in themselves. The houses uncovered were named by the archiologists for their occupants: the house of the scientist, house of the gem engraver, house of the artisan, house of the tragic poet and house of the golden bracelets (where the body of a woman wearing heavy gold bracelets was found), for their decoration: house of the black wall, house of the little fountain, house of the citharist, house of the gilded cupids, house of the fawn, house of the colored capitals, house of Orpheus, house of marine venus, house of the wounded Adonis and house of the citharist and many more.  These homes were decorated in the height of fashion for their day. One house had a bathroom floor of silver, another a swimming pool 195 feet in length. Interior gardens were taken for granted. In the Villa dei Papiri alone, 1,800 papyrus scrolls and 100 statues were found. Love, myth and theatre were common themes for decoration and art, sexuality and culinary talent flourished and were catered to.

The populace of Pompeii were a varied lot: slaves, aristocrats, wealthy merchants, soldiers, politicians, gladiators, pirates, prostitutes and artisans. It is estimated that about 20,000 people lived there and although there have been over three dozen eruptions of Vesuvius since 79 AD, including one in 1631 that killed over 4,000 residents, it is the catastrophy of 79AD that captures the imagination. Pliny the Younger, an eye witness to the tragedy was the first to write about it in a letter.   His Uncle, Pliny the Elder was one of the victims. It is estimated that the column of ash was 20 miles high and the eruption lasted over 19 hours.

Tales of orgies, corruption and greed have been used for centuries to rationalize the destruction of the city dedicated to Aphrodite. The story of Pompeii invokes thought of life and afterlife, public life and private life, virtue and corruption, the elite and the slave. The extremes of the city and its abrupt end fascinate. There is even a syndrome named after it, Pompeii syndrome where "people on the verge of extinction ignore all signs of coming doom".

If you can't get to the exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art take a virtual vacation to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii (40”45’04 N x 14”29’25 E) or if you are feeling really adventurous travel to the tallest known volcano in the solar system. Wonder, drama, tragedy, riches, sex, beauty, danger, Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii have captured the imagination for almost 2,000 years.

Fresh Food and Fresh Faces

The search for fresh, affordable produce has lured many away from mega-chain stores and out into the fresh air markets. Even Beverly Hills has a farmer’s market but my favorite is the Hollywood Farmer’s Market that stretches from Hollywood Blvd. to Sunset down Ivar St. If you don’t want to go out and catch your dinner yourself, the Hollywood farmer’s market is the ideal place to go. Like a microcosm of the city itself you can find an abundant variety of foods available there. 

The overwhelmingly delicious smell of fresh peaches mingles with that of freshly cut herbs and fresh baked bread. There are figs and dates still attached to the branches they grew on, grapes of every variety, Japanese melons, Dragon fruit, Ambrosia cantaloupe, rhubarb, passion fruit, honey, apples, oranges, lemons and nuts.

There is a regular cornucopia of vegetables such as mushrooms, onions, garlic, beans of every variety, squash flowers, varicolored potatoes and an overwhelming choice of tomatoes.  There are Peruvian hot peppers, dandelion greens, watercress and cups of raw cane juice. Clover sprouts and mung bean sprouts, rye, pinto and black bean sprouts, fluffy mix, pea greens, and wheat grass sprouts are ripe for the picking.

Potted herbs are available to plant or freshly cut and ready to cook with. There is oregano and basil to season Italian food. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme bringing back memories of yesterday and are revamped and updated to fit today. Tarragon, lemon verbena, sweet lime, mint, dill and cilantro are just a few of the varieties displayed. There is lavender tea, licorice tea, sage tea, sage incense, bath salts, scented soap and potpourri.

Flowers make a colorful splash with marigolds, daises, gladiolas, and roses intermingled with giant clover thistles and bamboo plants.

If you’re not a vegetarian there is bison meat. Quail eggs, brown eggs and white eggs are fresh from the farm. There are oysters, clams and fish of every variety on ice. There is organic apple wood to flavor BBQ and fresh made pasta to cook with tomatoes. There is Jersey cheese and goat cheese straight from the farm.

Bands play at each end of the market and interspersed between the booths. With a country string band at one end, a Greek band at the other, African drums, Indian music and the occasional acoustic guitar player, music permeates the air.

Prepared foods are many, with the Kim Chi seller next to the bagel joint. Mango crepes and gourmet tacos standing side by side with the potato nacho vender. West African food is across from Greek. Rotisserie chicken and a mobile gourmet coffee bar share the corner.

Hand made jewelry stalls, some traditional and some not are abundant, with serapes and rugs across from flowered crosses, stars of David and ankhs sharing the same table. Hand thrown pottery and gorgeous wooden bowls are available along with every wooden utensil you could ever possibly want.

The individuals strolling the aisles are as varied as the produce exhibited. An old man using ski poles for canes makes his way past a young man in a black skull T-shirt with a mowhawk pushing a baby stroller. A young lady in spiked heels and sundress strolls past a much pierced and tattooed young man in pirate punk atire reading out loud from Ms. Piggy’s cookbook at the library cookbook fund raiser stall.

From the Iron Chef to Hell’s Kitchen people are fascinated and entertained by food. Food is everywhere, from the ancient world of Rome to the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien, from earth to outer space the appreciation of food is a universally understood, universally appreciated, universally shared experience. One of the seven deadly sins being eating too much food, a much greater sin is not sharing when others don’t have enough. Food doesn’t have to be fancy or huge in portion to comfort, it doesn’t have to be healthy to be appreciated. If we are what we eat than Americans are quite multifaceted with enough variety and depth to keep boredom at bay for quiet a while.

Although Jonathan Swift would have gone hungry at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, John Belushi probably would have found it a bit boring and Kermit’s nephew was safe for the moment, it’s wonderfully refreshing, exhilarating and inspirational to see so many different and unique varieties of food, music, hand made goods and people in one place at one time. The only offering missing was a good bottle of wine to enhance our dinner giving it that perfect touch, fine food, fine wine and fine companionship always bring. We may not always be at the top of the food chain but we certainly know how to eat and how to make even finding ingredients for a meal an experience to remember.