California Gold: Korean Friendship Bell of San Pedro

The belfry and pavilion
are eye-catching

The open field sits high on a hilltop. This place is called Angel's Gate Park. The ocean breeze is strong, whipping my hair and chilling my arms. Some kids are flying kits high above. One kite's a bird. Another is dragon. A young couple basks in the sun on a blanket, cuddling, kissing. In the middle of the grassy field sits a large structure that doesn't seem to belong. San Pedro is not really know for its Asian influence, but here on a hilltop overlooking the ocean is a pagoda-like pavilion that looks like something from a movie.

San Pedro is a small town with a monster view of the Pacific. It overlooks the coastline along a series of high cliffs. On the southern base of the hills is a large port known for housing a fresh fish market that locals flock to on Saturday mornings at 4am to find amazing ahi tuna and crab. San Pedro is also the home of the Korean Friendship Bell.

The large bell rests for the day.

Walking closer to the pavilion one recognizes a massive bronze bell hanging inside the belfry. This is the "Belfry of Friendship" (Ujeong-ui Jonggak). The bell was presented by the Republic of Korea to the American people to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States and to symbolize friendship
between the two nations. The effort was coordinated by Philip Ahn, a Korean-American actor. It was dedicated on October 3, 1976, and declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978.

The bell is made of over seventeen tons of copper and tin, with gold, nickel, lead, and phosphorus added to the alloy for tone quality. It has a diameter of 7½ feet with a height of 12 feet. Looking closely one can see the surface is richly decorated in relief, featuring four pairs of figures. Each pair includes a "Goddess of Liberty" (bearing some resemblance to the Statue of Liberty) and a Seonnyeo, or Korean spirit figure, holding a Korean national symbol: a Taegeuk symbol, a branch of Rose of Sharon, a branch of laurel, and a dove.

The park surrounding the belfry.

The bell is struck five times a year: on New Year's Eve, Korean American Day (January 13), the Fourth of July, Korean Liberation Day (August 15), and Constitution Day (September 17). It is sounded by being struck with a large wooden log.

The pavilion that houses the bell was built by Korean craftsmen over a period of nearly a year. Its design is traditional. It is axially symmetric, consisting of a hipped roof supported by twelve columns representing the Korean zodiac. Each column is guarded by a carved animal. The color patterning along the bell's pavilion is known in Korean as dancheong.

The port of San Pedro down below.

Just below the pavilion, down a small hill, is another park that overlooks a steep rocky drop down into the water. I've heard that high school kids come out here after dark to make out or smoke pot. During one such episode, a boy fell over the ledge to his death on the black rocks below. They have put up a wooden railing since then, but I bet kids will still challenge the laws of physics at this point.

The view is spectacular. The Korean Belfy is beautiful. But the air is cold today and I forgot my jacket. Plus it's lunchtime. Some kimchi and seared ahi sound good.

Steep cliffs along the edges of nearby parks provide beautiful if not dangerous views.

California Gold: Dark Harbor Halloween on the Queen Mary, Long Beach

The RMS Queen Mary at Halloween.

The ship is old. It survived World War II. It once accidentally sank one of her own escort ships, slicing through the light cruiser HMS Curacoa off the chilly Irish coast with a loss of 239 lives. Those spirits still linger, I'm sure. It must be haunted, right? A creepy halloween maze attended by screaming Angelinos is just the cherry on top.

My wife and I met with our friends Richard and Maritza in Long Beach where the Queen Mary is anchored. The lot leading up to the ship has been taken over with carnival rides, churro hockers, hot dog stands, and roaming zombies. A female corpse with white eyes and peeling flesh rubs against me, snarling like an angry dog. I try not laugh. My wife and Maritza are freaked out, squirming and rubbing their hands in gleeful disgust.

Long Beach across the bay.

The Dark Harbor Halloween event is held every year and takes full advantage of the gothic and sinister feeling this large ship possesses. There are several different mazes that explore various parts of the ship, some in the lower decks and close quarters of the engine room. These are fascinating
parts of the ship that folks don't always get a chance to see up close. Moving through the dark, ever-tightening hallways, the jittery noises and squealing cries of mental patients fill the cold air. Body parts hang from meat hooks. Characters from the Saw films and the American Horror Story TV series make their appearance, scaring the folks a few feet ahead of me. How can terror create such joy? How is the release of nervous energy converted into such a release of joy?

The wife is having fun.

Another haunted maze outside the ship is set up like a haunted plantation on a Louisiana bayou. Voodoo zombies peer in from every cob-web covered window. The cries of tortured victims rise up from the basement. The Serpent and the Rainbow is one of my favorite horror movies. Walking through this haunted house makes me feel like I was living out a scene from that flick. That's one of the beauties of these walk-along haunted mazes. Unlike a ride, walking through a live-action haunted set is like living out a real experience. You move at your own pace. You can look wherever you want. But beware. There's someone waiting right around the next corner to jump out and scare the living crawdads out of you. But it's safe, right? These folks won't actually hurt me, right? They're just actors. Aren't they?

Decorative splendor.

A witch nuzzles up close to us.

Walking on board.

So happy. So evil. Image from the Queen Mary website.

That looks painful. Image from the Queen Mary website.

The Welcoming Committee. Image from the Queen Mary website.

The mad carnies have taken over! Image from the Queen Mary website.

California Gold: The Remember Them Monument, Oakland

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

I was watching a Michael Che stand-up comedy special the other day and he made comment about the Black Lives Matter movement I felt was smartly insightful. Saying "Black Lives Matter is a controversial statement," said Che. "Not 'matters more than you,' just . . . matters."

I felt it was a poignant way to phrase the argument. There are black people in this country who feel their lives don't mean much to the larger population, and whether or not you or I agree that's a fair feeling to have, it is important to figure out where those feelings come from. What causes this frustration? What are easy ways to quickly begin resolving the issues? Are there ways to make a difference in our everyday lives that don't require the petitioning of slow-moving governments?

While blacks have had a ragged relationship with American mainstream culture going back prior to the US founding, they have still produced a number of the most prominent spokespeople for defining and defending exactly what freedom and equality of races should be.

The Remember Them monument in Oakland, CA, profiles many such voices. While not every person honored with this monument is black, those who are give evidence of a strong tradition of thought in this country that has helped the world face-up to racial hypocrisy, articulate rational grievances, and move in a direction where people do not have to feel their lives matter less than others simply due to pigment levels.

The black voices that have been so full-throated in the Civil Rights and racial equality movements over the years are a jewel in the cultural crown of American and should be embraced by all Americans of all backgrounds. Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. These are people who shouldn't just be thought of as black heroes but as American heroes.

During a recent visit to Oakland, I spent an hour slowly walking around the Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park while I waited for my wife to attend a business lunch in a nearby restaurant. The park is located on Rashida Muhammad Street in the Uptown entertainment district. It was briefly occupied by Occupy Oakland and is home to the Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument.

Across Rashida Muhammad Street sits a theater for plays and live performances. Auditions were being held while I walked through the park. A line of teenage trialists stood along the sidewalk. Slowly, throughout the hour I was there, the line dwindled to just a few strays. The art scene
is rich in this area.

The Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument was designed by Oakland sculptor Mario Chiodo. The bronze with cast stone base sculpture measures 25 feet high and 52 feet wide and covers a thousand square feet. With four sections, this is the largest bronze monument on the west
coast. It highlights the accomplishments of 25 global humanitarians:

•  The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (1926-1990): Partner with Martin Luther King Jr. in civil rights activism
•  Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Poet, playwright, civil rights activist
•  Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): Human rights activist who fought for women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery
•  Ruby Bridges (1954-present): At age 6 braved an angry mob to become first black student in all-white school in the South
•  Cesar Chavez (1927-1993): Civil rights activist and agricultural workers labor leader
•  Chief Joseph (1846-1904): Head of the Nez Perce Nation and human rights activist
•  Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965): British prime minister during WWII, alone at first against Nazi fascism
•  Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): A former slave who became a foremost leader in the abolitionist movement
•  Shirin Ebadi (1947-present): Human rights activist for Middle East issues and Nobel Peace Prize winner
•  Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): Pacifist who lead India to independence from Great Britain
•  Helen Keller (1880-1968): Fought for rights for those with disabilities
•  Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): Civil rights activist
•  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968): Civil rights leader
•  Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): American president who abolished slavery
•  Nelson Mandela (1918-2013): Human rights activist and first democratically elected president of South Africa
•  Harvey Milk (1930-1978): A leader of the gay rights movement
•  Mother Teresa (1910-1997): Leader of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, won 1979 Nobel Peace Prize
•  Rosa Parks (1913-2005): Civil rights activist
•  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945): United States president during WWII, who also established the United Nations
•  Oskar Schindler (1908-1974): German business man who outwitted Nazis to save more than 1,200 Jewish lives
•  Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-present): Pacifist Vietnamese Buddhist monk who is a human rights and anti-war activist
•  Rigoberta Menchu Tum (1959-present): Human rights activist for indigenous people in Latin America
•  The Unknown Rebel of Tiananmen Square (1989): Stood in front of tanks during student human rights uprising in China
•  Elie Wiesel (1928-present): Holocaust survivor dedicated to preventing genocide
•  Malcolm X (1925-1965): Black nationalist, civil rights leader

The monument includes a visually impaired feature, allowing the visually impaired to touch and feel the faces of 25 world figures in one place, with humanitarian quotes also in braille. One section of the monument is designed on a spiraling axis emulating the helix of the common DNA of all humans. The base includes sculptures of books to illustrate the importance of education in the lives and work of all of the honorees. It features seven sets of interlocking men and women, symbolizing the seven continents of earth.

The monument goes a long way to pulling together a variety of defenders of human freedom from around the world, but I would argue that many of the most effective voices on the list are black Americans. These are Americans who have risen up from a society where human freedom is given great lip service, but where they were still treated unfairly and expected to submit to the whims of a de facto ruling class that loomed over them. Their words and deeds have influenced countless others including some who share monument space with them.

Leaving the park, I felt a new appreciation for the importance of minority voices in the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Easy for me to say being a lanky white guy. Easy for me to nod and agree and then forget it all. But I don't want to forget it. I want to learn more. Their words are out there. They just need to be found.

California Gold: Museum of the American West, Los Angeles

Frankie and Gene.

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

Being a member of the California Historical Society, I was given a free pass to many of the state's museums including the Gene Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. I took my wife and Frankie out past Griffith Park where the museum is located, directly across the street from LA Zoo. Inside we found a generous mix of items from the American West as well as memorabilia from Hollywood Westerns, both old classics and more recent movies.

The Autry was established in 1988 by actor Gene Autry to explore and share a comprehensive story of the American West and the cultures it contained. Its collection includes more than twenty thousand paintings, sculptures, costumes, firearms, tools, toys, and musical instruments. Exhibits cover the Civil War experience in Texas and California, Chinese labor on the transcontinental railway, the struggles of Native Indians during Spanish and American expansion, black cowboys crossing the plains of Oklahoma, and many other details of the Old West that make it feel real and relevant to our lives today.

A few of the many exhibits on display
include furniture and artwork.

When we arrived, the museum gallery had been recently organized into three theme areas: Religion and Ritual, Land and Landscape, and Migration and Movement. There were also two smaller galleries with revolving exhibits. New displays are rotated through to keep things fresh and to bring in both new visitors and repeats. The firearms gallery shows the context and place of weaponry in the Old West. Guns are grouped by themes: Hunting and Trapping, The Impact of Technology on Firearms, The Conservation Movement, and The West in Popular Culture.

A unique rendition
of the crucifixion.

Moving through the wing dedicated to the movies, staring up at posters of Clint Eastwood and the Lone Ranger, I found a green screen setup that allows visitors a chance to see themselves placed inside an action scene. Standing next a saddle, one can watch themselves on screen riding through a stampede of cattle or being chased by bandits, the soaring tones of the William Tell Overture swelling in support. It is The Autry in LA, after all. The location wouldn't be complete without a little but of showtime on display.

The American Old West has much more to offer than just Texas Cowboys fighting some monolithic tribe of Indians. It was as diverse, colorful, dramatic, conflicted, beautiful, and messy as the rest of American history. The Autry does its best to give a slight glimpse into this wonderful past.

Frankie enjoyed seeing the 1948 Indian Roadmaster motorcycle.

Frankie isn't sure what all the fuss is about.

A timeline of great American cinema.

We're in the movies! Wife on a horse, dad taking pictures, and the baby in the stroller speeding away
from the Jesse James Gang.

Gene Autry and Trigger, greeting each visitor to their museum.

La Ley at the Sun Monticello, Chile

Stage right. Far right.

Text and photos by Jason McKenney (except where indicated).

The first time my wife introduced me to the music of Chilean rock band La Ley, I yawned and asked her why they had a Hawaiian name (La Ley is actually Spanish for "The Law"). After hearing more of their songs on subsequent road trips, their catchy hooks and indie rock sound eventually began to win me over. Chilean bands have a throwback vibe to them, reminding me of how pop-rock music used to be played in the US back when bands could actually play their own instruments and didn't rely on dance moves and high production to catch someone's interest.

During a visit to Chile, my wife's cousin, Andy, had tickets to see La Ley perform at the Sun Monticello Grand Casino in the town of San Francisco de Mostazal. The casino is about an hour south of Santiago. Andy brought his girlfriend Susan, and me and my wife made four. We arrived early and found a pizza joint inside the mall attached to the casino. The mall area is filled with boutique stores, video game arcades, and a number of business fronts that cater to kids. Even after the concert, approaching midnight, I was impressed with the number of young children I saw running around playing games, eating pizza, and revelling in their weekend.

Outside the casino.

"It's Chile. Kids here stay up later," was the simple explanation my wife gave me.

Attached to the mall, beyond a series of glass double-doors, is the casino. Within the casino, not too different than what one might find in some of the smaller Vegas hotels, is a music stage setup inside a large ballroom. Being a ballroom, the seating wasn't part of a permanent structure. Chairs were setup on the floor one-by-one like a family reunion. Chairs were set up to match the tickets sold. Our tickets were for the front row just right of the stage. When we arrived, there were people sitting in two of our seats. They were two women dressed in tight tops and short skirts. An older gentleman working for the venue told us there was a mishap with the tickets and duplicates of the same seat number had been sold. Since the two women had large, half-bared breasts and Andy and I didn't,
the gentleman said we had to sacrifice our seats.

"There are plenty in the back that are empty," he told us.

My wife and Susan stayed in their seats, but and Andy and I moved to the back where several unused chairs sat cold and vacant.

"Doesn't seem fair," I said to Andy while we were out in the lobby grabbing drinks. "Why not just put down another couple of chairs and extend the row? I saw them doing that earlier."

Show's on! Phones up!

Andy didn't seem too phased by it. "It's Chile, man."  Andy works in promotions. He has already seen La Ley play more times than he can count. Tonight was for me and my wife as a treat on our visit.

Prior to the show I had been a moderate fan of the group. After the show, I would put La Ley down as one of my favorite bands. That happens when you see a talented band play live. There is something special about live music, about sharing it with a crowd, with friends, at an event.

La Ley formed in 1988 in Santiago. Their first official studio album was released in 1991. The grew in popularity in Chile, Argentina, and even Mexico during the early 90s. In 1995, their popularity expanded with the release of the hit album Invisible. They continued to release albums and tour until 2005 when they decided to call it quits. They made a return in 2013, but in August of 2016 it was announced that they were breaking up again. Will it be for good this time? Time will tell.

Publicity image of La Ley from BoomOnline.

One Big Pool: San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile

Wide view of one end of the lagoon.

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

When I was seven years old, my parents took me along on a family vacation to Disney World in Orlando. We were in Florida for a week. We rented a car and spent a day driving north along the eastern coast. We passed quiet, sandy beaches, void of many people. It must have been outside the normal tourist season because I remember it being desolate and empty. We visited Marineland and all I can remember is a fog rolling in and storefronts shuttered up. It was a very lonely feeling, yet still relaxing.

The heated pool rests under the
pyramid-like structure in the distance.

I had strange feelings of deja vu decades later when I made a visit to the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo, Chile. I was with my wife and her parents. We were visiting in late February, the end of summer in South America. The series of large apartment complexes surrounding the famous pool are filled with vacationers during the summer high season, especially the few weeks right after Christmas. The buildings look like giant cruise ships paused at harbor. The pool is their ocean. Which is good because the real ocean beyond the lagoon is much to vicious for swimmers or surfers.

Rentals sit waiting for business.

The community of Algarrobo, an Arabic term meaning "the winds," lies about 30 miles south of Valparaiso along the coast of Chile. Inside this community is a private resort called San Alfonso del Mar. The resort has the world's second largest swimming pool, referred to as a lagoon. The new record holder is the 30 acres CityStars pool in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, built by the same company that built San Alfonso del Mar. The pool is over three thousand feet long and covers 20 acres. The water is pumped straight in from the Pacific, filtered, and treated. The lagoon was developed by Fernando Fischmann and his Chilean company, and it opened in December of 2006.

The lagoon and attached pools.

When we arrived I felt we might as well have rented out half the building. It was quiet. There were only a handful of people in the pool for our building. The lagoon was virtually empty. Each day that passed I noticed fewer and fewer sunbathers and swimmers. People were heading back inland, returning to school, going back to work. This left more space for us to lounge around the cabanas, believing ourselves to be powerful sultans vacationing in our private oasis. I had the pool to myself every day. For a small fee I went to the large heated (very heated) indoor pool and again had the entire space to myself save for a couple retirees who only sat under the small water falls having their back massaged.

Shot from the far side of the lagoon.
A tube bringing in treated water can
be seen in the depths.

I took my wife to one of the water-side restaurants by the lagoon and we were the only ones dining for lunch. There were several workers milling about, looking like they weren't sure how to fill their time. They leaned on the bar, wiping down the same spots over and over while gossiping about their love lives.

"It's end of season," said our waitress, a short, middle-aged woman named Myra. "Two weeks ago we were packed. This week it's dead. Many of us are seasonal. I'll be moving back north next week."

The beach beyond the lagoon.

There are a few people on the beach beyond the lagoon wall soaking in the sun and watching the blue water churn like a witch's cauldron. The waves pound the shoreline without mercy day and night providing great soundscapes for napping. The strong tide and fierce waves provide no safety for swimmers or surfers. These aren't waves that curl in slowly and can be ridden and tamed like the North Shore of Oahu. These waves simply roll up and crash straight down like hammers of Neptune. Anything that moves out beyond the break will be pulled down in an undertow or swept north in the strong tide. This part of the Pacific is Redondo Beach's morbidly drunk uncle. Captivating to watch, but deadly to challenge.

Water slide closed
until next season.

A large, curling water slide stands near one edge of the lagoon. I found out that it stopped running the previous week. It was now shut down for the winter. Kiyaks, however, were still in season. We rented one and paddled out across the lagoon. Swimming is verboten in the lagoon, but there are plenty of other activities that can be enjoyed: water trampolines, peddle boats, SUP boarding, and even available rentals of small sailing canoes.

If one enjoys competing for resources, being surrounded by the masses, and feeling like being in the middle of the action, showing up at San Alfonso in December and January is the time to go. If one prefers to have more space, more peace, more solitude at the expense of an occasional amenity not being available, show up in late February and the world is your oyster.

Loading dock for boats to be released into the lagoon.

A warm day in Algarrobo.

Another view across the lagoon.

Paddle boats make there way across the lagoon. Swimming is forbidden in the lagoon to allow for boats and kiyaks, but
each complex has its own swimming pool set along the edge of the lagoon.

Making the long walk around the perimeter of the lagoon, a distance of nearly 2 miles.

Frankie enjoys her stroller ride.

Business is slow.

Some interesting graffiti on the water pumps that feed the lagoon.

California Gold: Oxnard Strawberry Festival

Max and Ali. Looks like nap time
is approaching

They have strawberry pie eating contests, strawberry souffle, strawberry costume contests, strawberry wine, strawberry beer, strawberry dancing, strawberry raffles, strawberry lemonade, strawberry candy, strawberry jerky, strawberry kebabs, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry art, and on and on.

Oxnard is known for strawberries. If you don't know that before arriving at the Strawberry Festival, you will. There are fields of the red fruit running north and south of the 101 and it's juicy bounty is celebrated every summer for a long weekend in Ventura County.

Enjoying a strawberry wine

My family attended the festival, invited by our friends Max and Margaret. We pushed around our baby daughter Frankie in a stroller, doing our best to shield her from the scorching sun. Max brought his little girl, Ali, who had been to the festival the previous year so she was a pro on knowing where to go, what to see, and what sweets to eat.

The four adults enjoyed strawberry wine while the kids shared fried rice and noodles from a Thai food truck. Needing a break from the sun, we found a shaded park bench beside a tranquil duck pond, giving us a moment to talk about our kids, people-watch, and regret the number of chocolate-covered strawberries we ate before having dinner.

Ali tries to calm an irate Frankie

Like San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, Oxnard is one of those small California towns that I love. It's an agricultural community that's also near a stretch of coastline which has some of the most magical sunsets I've ever seen. The annual Strawberry Festival is a perfect reminder for anyone nearby to make their way to Ventura County and be reminded again that California has a lot more to offer than LA and the Bay Area.

Max and Frankie enjoying the shade

Image from the Festival website

Image from the Festival website of a chef presentation