The Hour of Pearl

John Steinbeck

“It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

― John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

Leaving San Francisco was hard.  We had been seduced by the charms of the coolest city on the West Coast and could have spent many more days here. Despite it being a large city, you are propelled quickly into countryside and shoreline as Route 1 takes you down in the direction of Monterey and the Big Sur.

Leaving San Francisco across the Bay Bridge 

We are soon back on a deserted coast

The landscape changes once again as the countryside becomes more agricultural and Mediterranean. This is an area where the agriculture is intensive and the dark fertile soil needs constant irrigation. We pass fields of artichokes, courgettes, brussel sprouts, strawberries and many more. Its hard to imagine that Marilyn Monroe began beauty-queen career by winning the "Miss Artichoke" contest in the annual "Artichoke Festival" way back when she was still Norma Jean in a nearby town called Castroville.

It’s strange to think of this beautiful Hollywood goddess involved in the promotion and marketing of a vegetable. We pass field upon field of artichokes and I realize that I will view this humble vegetable in a different light from now on.

Artichokes will never be the same!

Still more wonderful beaches but the sand has now turned a golden colour. We stop near a small town called Pescadero where we walk on miles of sandy beach. The beaches and the wetlands behind them are full of birdlife and many of these may be migrating south for the winter. One of the other features of this part of the coast is the Giant Kelp forests out at sea. The kelp plays an important role in protecting wildlife and providing feeding opportunities for mammals such as Sea Otters, Seals and Sea-Lions. The Kelp can grow to many meters in length. The enclosed picture shows us using a length as a skipping rope.

Skipping to the beat of the Kelp!

Santa Cruz is famous for its funfair, which sits on the edge of the beach. The town marks a stark contrast with the rest of the coast. Its busy, bold, brash and fun. Unfortunately, everything is closed down for the winter and the crowds like the birds have migrated away. Jacqui and Liz promised us that they would have gone on the Giant Dipper had it been open. Apparently the ride is so famous and such a classic, that it is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Great lunch at a tiny fish restaurant at the end of the pier called the Dolphin and back on the road.

 The Broadwalk Funfair at Santa Cruz

The Dolphin Restaurant at the end of the pier

Route 1 is getting busier all the time and not that quiet narrow road that we joined in Oregon. Liz is desperate to see a Sea Otter. Despite looking all the way down, we had not been successful. We stopped at a State Park in a small town called Moss’s Landing and to our amazement found over 20 joyfully playing and floating in a raft in a tidal pool behind the dunes. This is apparently typical behavior for these cute mammals who apparently spend most of their time preening themselves. Adult Sea Otters have recently fallen victim to shark attacks off this coast leaving many pups stranded. Our otters were adolescents who had been rescued and re-released into the wild.

 A raft of young Sea Otters

Just as you imagined them!

We are in Monterey at last and we are staying on Cannery Row. I cannot believe it. I have been a Steinbeck fan all my life and it's impossible to get away from this great man in this part of the world. Steinbeck was originally from nearby Salinas and based some of his novels in this area. He wrote Cannery Row in 1945 (with a sequel called Sweet Thursday in 1954). The book is about Mack and his friends who live a carefree and colorful life in an around the old sardine canning area of Monterey. They want to do something special for their friend Doc. The party snowballs and goes out of control and Doc looses everything. It’s a story about friendship, contentment, hope and resilience and its very funny. The characters are forever etched into literary history. Steinbeck said of his characters “[Cannery Row's] inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,' by which he meant everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing.”

To me Cannery Row is a story about contentment in the face of adversary and hardship, it was the complete antithesis of the capitalist world that America had become at that time.

Some of the old cannery row has escaped the "tat" makeover

Past glory

To many Cannery Row is just another tourist trap, full of trinket and sweatshirt shops, but its still great to be here. Despite the makeover some of the wharfs and a few of the building remain to tell us about an industry that was once thriving in this area.

Sardines were plentiful in these waters and people came from all over the world to catch and can them. At its height the sardine fleet in Monterey were catching 250,00 tons a year. Then in 1946, the catch suddenly dropped as a result of over fishing. Yet another example, so often seen on this coast of the poor management of natural resources and the human tragedy that followed it. Doc is based on Steinbeck’s great friend Ed Rickets who ran a laboratory in Cannery Row and foresaw the overfishing of the sardine.

Cannery Row in the 21st Century

Montery bay from Cannery Row

We walked around the wharfs and waterfront as the sun went down and I was reminded of another Steinbeck quote

“It is the hour of pearl—the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself.”

The Hour of Pearl: Dying light at Cannery Row

Magic pudding at the Sardine Factory

Goodbye to innocence and idealism

The waterfront in San Francisco

We awoke to a torrential downpour, which lasted a number of hours this morning. We feared that our luck had eventually changed and we were blighted by the unpredictably unique microclimate of San Francisco. This was the climate that prompted Mark Twain to write:  “The worst winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” We were surprised to find however that when we eventually disembarked from the underground railway (BART), the rain had gone and the city shone once more.

Paddle steamer with the Bay Bridge in the background

The waterfront in San Francisco is always exciting but as usual I found Fisherman’s Warf disappointing and touristy. A tip on the Internet advised getting there before the crowds did. We did and good advice! It was fun to explore the historic buildings and boats.

A better pier than Fisherman's Warf

Relaxed in San Francisco

Hyde Street Pier was part of 101 before the completion of the Golden Gate in1937. It must have been an equally impressive way of leaving the city even then.

Hyde St Pier.

Always the customary hot chocolate at Ghirardelli Square.

Many of my age will always associate San Francisco with “Flower Power” and the “Summer of Love” in 1967. This was a magic moment in 60s culture which was extinguished after such a short period by the triumph of reality over innocence and idealism. The cradle of this movement was the district of Haight Ashbury. The area in 1883. before the building of the local cable car comprised small farms and sand dunes; but the opening up of this part of the city allowed many wealthy middle class San Franciscans to move out of downtown and build large elaborate houses. Fortunately the area avoided the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake but suffered during the depression. By the 1960 the area was poor and rundown and many young artistic people began to move in. The trickle turned into a flood in the spring of 1967 when the city fathers tried to stop college students moving there in the Spring Break. Those few summer months changed our youth culture for decades. A number of bands established themselves in Haight Asbury who subsequently went on to heavily influence West Coat Music. These included Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin. The final nails in the coffin of the Hippie Movement was the 1969 Rolling Stones Altamont Concert and the Manson Family Killings in LA

Jefferson Airplane

The Grateful Dead

Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin

Houses at Haight Ashbury 

Still wacky after all these years!

I had always wanted to visit Haight Ashbury and it didn’t disappoint me. The wealthy middle class have moved in and the houses have been restored but there was still a wacky feel to the area as we walked along Haight Street

It was treat to be able to visit the world famous San Francisco Museum of Modern Art  (SFMOMA) Such a difference from the wide-open landscapes and vistas that have stimulated us over the last week and it is a refreshing contrast to be challenged by man-made creations and works of art. San Francisco is a modern city and so is its culture and its art. Landscape and our response to landscapes impacts on us all. I read this quote at an exhibition  of paintings from the museum’s permanent collection:

“The United States is a country defined in many ways by the unique geographic spaces it encompasses. But the nation’s topography has equally been formed by the urban environments that generations of Americans have created.”

The urban landscape of San Francisco has had a significant impact on our late 20^th centaury culture. Its difficult to believe that the first recorded ship to sail into the bay was in 1776 and that the majority of the fledgling city was destroyed in the great earthquake and fire in 1906.

I chose 2 paintings to demonstrate the diffrent landscapes that have forged  American art and its spirit. The bridge by Joseph Stella is of Brooklyn Bridge but I can think of nothing more appropriate in this city. The seascape by John Marin is of Maine but it could easily have depicted the Pacific that has accompanied us already for over a thousand miles

The Urban Landscape: The Bridge (Brooklyn): Joseph Stella 1877 – 1946

The Rural landscape: The Sea-Cape Split, Maine: John Marin 1870-1953

I enclose 4 further favourites that I greatly enjoyed today

Love: Robert Indiana 1973: So appropriate for San Francisco

Self Portrait: Andy Warhol 1967: Warhol as usual turned the whole concept of the self-portrait on its head

 Mark Rothko: number 14 1960: I just love this painter!

Exploded Views by Jim Campbell 2011: 2,800 custom electronics and LED Lights: SFMOMA.

Jefferson Airplane

Grateful Dead

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Murder in Mendocino

Murder at our hotel

Pictures on the hotel lobby wall

Mendocino is reputedly one of the most attractive towns on the Californian coast. This beautiful old town like many in this region started as a lumber mill town but soon became a wealthy haven for people moving out of hustle and bustle of San Francisco. It’s middle class, expensive and smart. The town is more reminiscent of those in Maine and the North Shore of Boston rather than California.

Mendocino is also known as the setting for many films and television programmes including my least favourite and loathed “Murder She Wrote” and you can imagine the consternation when we discovered that our hotel was the main setting.

Main Street, Mendocino 

On the headland at Mendocino

“Murder She Wrote” is a sweet sickly way of popping people off in an American alternative to the UK’s “Midsomer Murders”. After all those deaths, I am surprised that there are any inhabitants left in this town. Just goes to prove that it’s not real and only make believe. Angela Lansbury is a paper version of the great detective miss Marples on whom she was loosely based and Agatha Christie must be turning in our grave.

Margaret Rutherford, one of the great Miss Marples

Back to the coast which now begins to take on a more manicured appearance. We are slowly coming closer to urban west cost but the tortuous winding road gives no hint of the cities to come. The spruce and redwoods have been replaced by graceful Monterey Pines. Everybody is surprised at how quiet and empty this part of California is. Very different to what we expect from the fun and sunshine state

The great deserted coast continues

We arrived at Point Arena with another anxious empty fuel tank and talked to 2 guys at the fuel station who wanted to discuss the statutory American ice-breaker, the price of gas. We commented on the emptiness of the roads. He told us that the reason was that no American wanted to drive on this road and that the next 50 miles to Bodega Bay was the worst and longest f*****g 49 mile journey in the world. Well, we all have different ways of seeing the world.  We had also run out of screen wash and Martin was beginning to get anxious about the warning notice on the dashboard. It was so nice to see him leaving Port Arena with such a look of delight on his face as he pushed the button again and again with gay abandon. Clear windscreen: Clear mind!

We asked each other whether this journey was an adventure. Martin, who is really a closet adrenaline junkie, felt that it should include some physical action which pushes you to your limits. The other 3 car-seat potatoes disagreed and felt that a more ethereal experience, which challenges your grey-mater was equally adventuresome. We are on an adventure!

We didn’t want to miss Bodega Bay. This small town was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds” The original short story, written by Daphne du Maurier was based in a small farming community in Cornwall. Jacqui and I have just read it for our book club. The original story is possibly an allegorical tale of nuclear war and destruction. Hitchcock was flushed with success after his immensely successful film Psycho and was looking for a sequel. He moved Cornwall to Bodega and called it Maine. The original settlement of Bodega is 2 miles from the port and has been boosted by its links with Hitchcock.

The Master with some friends

 The main set was erected on the waterfront at Bodega Bay

This restaurant car park was the film lot for "The Birds"

 The church in the film

 The Bodega Town Casino

The great man at the village store

The country now turns to rolling grasslands and farms parched brown by the unusually dry summer. It’s quite a shock when we find ourselves on a four-lane freeway heading into San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Few iconic structures define a city like this bridge. It suddenly looms in front of us, swallowing the busy Sunday evening traffic as it returns to the city after the weekend.

Arriving at the bridge

The weather has held out for the last 2 days and has given us a wonderful opportunity to enjoy Northern California.

Our first view of the bridge

Scott Makenzie: San Francisco 1967

Walking Amongst Giants

As soon as you cross the border into California, one becomes aware of a change in the landscape. Almost immediately you notice that the road is lined by tall redwood trees. The landscape is now dominated by the “Coast Sequoia”, one of the oldest and tallest living organisms in the world and it is the moist, misty temperate climate that nurtures them and promotes their growth. Only 4% of the original redwood forests (the old growth) that covered almost all of Northern California and parts of Southern Oregon remain. Some have been replanted (new growth) and those lining 101 down into Crescent city are more recent.

Crescent City is America’s Tsunami capital. It was destroyed by a giant tsunami in 1964 following an earthquake in Alaska and it suffered some damage and one fatality from the Japanese earthquake in 2011. The town itself is rather non-descript (except a picturesque lighthouse in the harbour) and is only worth a mention as somewhere to stay when driving down the coast. We stayed in a new hotel where considerable savings had been made by dispensing with the services of an interior designer. Fascinating combinations of colour and texture rejoice in this celebration of alternative taste and kitsch.

 Northern Californian Coast

The stunning coastal scenery continues but it is enhanced by the sight of redwoods and spruce dominating the landscape even down to the water’s edge. The wooded hillsides are covered with the early morning “breath of the dragon”. Beautiful beaches abound with abundant birdlife such as Cormorants, Pelicans, Gulls, waders and raptors. The sheer emptiness of the landscape gives it both scale and majesty.

Pelicans on the beach

We take an alternative route to an old logging port called Samoa. This must have been tough redneck country in its prime. The old cookhouse used to feed hundreds of workers everyday. The industry has gone but the cookhouse has become a quirky restaurant where customers sit on long tables and are served breakfast, lunch and dinner from a menu that has no choice. You take what you are given, no small portions, no sharing plates and everyone loves it! We caused some confusion when we arrived at breakfast time, couldn’t understand anything that the waitress said and just asked for coffee. Despite everything, a great place to visit.

Martin and Liz at The Samoa Cookhouse

Eureka has become quite a trendy place. It was once a prosperous Victorian port but suffered like many industrial places on this coast. I saw some amazing buildings along the waters edge where the Adams family or the Munsters would feel very much at home. Scotia was one of the last company towns in America. It was whole owned by a lumber company which went bankrupt in 2007.

A small car in the "Avenue of the Giants"

By now, 101 has become a freeway but one can take a 32 mile detour along the old road. This road called the “Avenue of the Giants” is part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It is probably the finest collection of Coastal Redwood  primeval forest in the USA. If nothing else, everyone should take this trip.

Tree Huggers!

John Steinbeck once said “ The Redwoods once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always……from them comes silence and awe”

“The most irreverent of men in the presence of redwoods goes under a spell of wonder and respect”

 We are so small

I don’t think that I can say anything more profound than that. One just has a reverence for something so old, so big and so majestic. I think that this is a memory that will stay with me for the rest f my life. We were all in raptures as we walked on one of the many trails leading off the avenue. The great trees are shrouded in silence and the forest floor is occasional bathed in light when it escapes through the vast canopy. Yes we have become true tree-huggers and the sworn enemy of the loggers!

Jacqui measures a tree

John measures up to a giant 

Yet more tree-hugging 

Driving through a tree

At the end of the avenue we say a sad farewell to our old faithful 101 as we leave it to tale Highway 1, which will take us the rest of our way to San Diego. A sad moment but also an achievement having already driven more than 900 miles.

A sad farewell to 101

After a torturous but beautiful journey over the hills our new companion leads us on to a bright, breezy Northern Californian coast bathed in a warm evening light.

The coast bathed in the evening light

We arrive in Mendocino on a beautiful evening.