Bono's Historic Orange

Today is my friend Jim’s birthday (go say happy birthday to him!) and I’m missing him more than usual, so I’m coping by reliving a tiny portion of our Route 66 road trip from last year. When Jim moved to California, I was obviously bummed to be losing one of my best friends to the worst coast, but I was also excited to have a reason to visit (and a place to stay in) California. Arguably the mecca of quirky roadside attractions and novelty architecture, I’ve only been to CA twice, but my list of must-sees grows daily.

Bono's Historic Orange is one of six surviving orange-shaped buildings in California. It’s located in Fontana along a stretch of Historic Route 66, 45-minutes from The Donut Hole, and about 20-minutes fromt the Wigwam Motel. Bono's Italian Restaurant opened nearby in 1936 to supplement the revenue from the Bono family farm. The seven-foot-tall orange sits in front of the restaurant on the side of the road and thirsty travelers could buy a glass of orange juice for 10 cents.

The restaurant was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. In 2013, owner Joe Bono (he’s a cousin of Sonny Bono) received permission to move the building 20 feet from the street and said he had plans to reopen the restaurant and the orange stand, but both remained closed when we visited last year. I’m sad that I didn’t get to purchase something orange from the orange-shaped stand (probably my favorite thing to do, ever), but I’m happy that it survives at all.

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Bono’s Historic Orange
15395 E Foothill Blvd
Fontana, CA

Haven For Pets

Just north of Palm Springs on the side of a flat stretch of road is a dusty lot that you might pass right by if not for the "Pet Cemetery" sign out front. Or if you're me, you come here because you've convinced your friend Jim to pull over at the coordinates on your Google Map labeled with the note "pet cemetery, Liberace."

When we arrived at the cemetery, we were greeted by the caretaker/owner and he was nice enough to take us on an impromptu tour of the small burial ground. He inherited the cemetery from his grandfather, and was struggling to maintain the grounds after a water shortage caused by a dispute with a neighbor. They were slowly trying to rehab the desert landscape, and about half of the ground was covered in grass while the other half was cracked and dry.

Haven for Pets (alternatively known as Pet Haven) has operated as a family-owned pet cemetery in Desert Hot Springs for nearly 60 years. They claim to be Southern California's first green burial ground—caskets and burial shrouds must be biodegrable and embalming fluids and vaults are prohibited. The caretaker explained that he also makes all of the caskets by hand and has fielded some strange requests from bereaed pet owners—one local pastor requested that his bunny be buried with his face turned toward Jerusalem.

Due to its proximity to posh Palm Springs, Haven for Pets has some notable residents, including six of Liberace's dogs (with the epitaph "Love, Lee"). President Gerald Ford's dog Liberty—a golden retriever—lived at the White House during the Ford administration and is interred here, alongside her daughter, Misty. The cemetery is also the final resting place for approximately 1,000 other animals including cats, dogs, birds, monkeys, rabbits, pigs and at least one baby seal.

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Haven for Pets
66270 Dillon Road,
Desert Hot Springs, California
(approximate address, look for the Pet Cemetery sign)

Desert Christ Park

Desert Christ Park, located in Yucca Valley, a high desert town near Joshua Tree in southeastern California, was the vision of one man. Eddie Garver, also known as the Desert Parson, conceived of Desert Christ Park with the help of sculptor Frank Antone Martin and the park was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1951. 

Garver was granted five acres of land by the US Government for his park, and offered up his land to Martin, who had just been denied permission to erect his Christ statue on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Martin died in 1961, but not before creating the more than forty white, steel-reinforced plaster and concrete statues that still dot the desert landscape.

The statues portray Christ and other biblical figures, including a three-story, 125-ton bas-relief of The Last Supper. The website states that they "welcome all to remember and celebrate not only the visionary and the artist, but most importantly, the life and teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." 

I'm not at all religious, and I'll admit that I originally planned to go to the park because I had read that a lot of the statues had fallen into disrepair. I love abandoned places and I expected to find a macabre scene of limbless, crumbling figures. While a few had indeed seen better days, a group of volunteers is currently working to restore the sculptures and their progress is obvious. 

Desert Christ Park was one of three desert installations that we saw on this trip—including Salvation Mountain and Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Desert Art Museum. The desert is the perfect canvas for spiritual, artistic expressions like these and I will always appreciate the need that people have to just create. 

The park is open year-round, free of charge during daylight hours. It's maintained by the Desert Christ Park Foundation, and the restoration work is funded through donations and grants. We went at sunset and the light was incredible—I can't think of a better exhibition space for a man's life work. 

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Desert Christ Park
56200 Sunnyslope Drive
Yucca Valley, CA

Pioneertown

A few days before I left for my California trip in December, I decided that we should tack on an extra day to the mini road trip that we had planned. I wanted to see Noah Purifoy's art and spend some time in Joshua Tree, but it wasn't until I discovered the Pioneertown Motel that I knew that we were destined to stay an extra night in the desert. 

Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by a group of Hollywood investors, including Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Their goal was to create an Old West town that served both as a movie set and a functional town—with a motel, restaurants and even a bowling alley hiding behind the Old West facades. Throughout the '40s and '50s, more than 200 television shows and movies were filmed in Pioneertown.

Pioneertown is technically an unincorporated community located within the town of Yucca Valley, about 30 minutes north of Joshua Tree. The population was 350 in 2006, but in 2016 the New York Times reported that Pioneertown was in the midst of a renaissance fueled by its proximity to Los Angeles and music festivals, like Coachella. There are private residences (and at least one teepee) scattered beyond Mane Street, but we barely saw another person when we explored the "town" on a Tuesday morning.  

The Pioneertown Post Office is said to be (according to a plaque out front) the most photographed post office in the US—a questionable fact that has been unintentionally backed up by this Google Maps street view capture. The Pioneer Bowl bowling alley was built in 1947 and Roy Rogers himself rolled out the first ball. At one time it was considered to be one of the oldest continuously operating bowling alleys in California but unfortunately it now appears to be closed. 

The Pioneertown Motel can best be described as an Ace Hotel in the high desert, although after our less-than ideal stay at the Ace in Palm Springs, I should clarify that the Pioneertown Motel was even better than an Ace in every way. We did have the misfortune of being placed (yet again!) next to a room full of people that thought it was ok to throw a very loud party on a Monday night (complete with their own sound system because the rooms don't even come with a TV), but one call to the front desk shut that down immediately.

When we checked in, Jim asked if there was a place to grab dinner, and we were directed to  Pappy + Harriet's. In the '70s, the facade for an Old West cantina was transformed into an outlaw biker burrito bar called "The Cantina." It closed after ten years and reopened in 1982 as Pappy + Harriet's, known for its barbecue and live music.

Pappy + Harriet's was crazy crowded, even on a Monday night and for good reason—famous musicians like Robert Plant, Vampire Weekend, Leon Russell, Sean Lennon and even Paul McCartney have been known to drop by. Mondays are open mic nights, and although no one famous dropped in during our 2+ hour wait for a table, it was still one of the most enjoyable evenings I've ever had.

Joshua Tree

Back in December, after checking out Noah Purifoy’s incredible sculptures and popping into the World Famous Crochet Museum, my friend Jim and I headed into Joshua Tree National Park. Neither of us had been before but we didn’t have too much time, so we grabbed a map at the visitor center and asked a park ranger to highlight the shorter hikes. 

Joshua Tree is located in southeastern California about three hours from Los Angeles. It was declared a National Park in 1994 and the eponymous trees are native to the western portion of the park, in the higher, cooler Mojave Desert. I grew up in Ohio and we have nothing remotely desert-like here on the East Coast. I’ve been to New Mexico, but I’ve never experienced the desert like I did on this trip, and I have to say that I totally fell in love. The lack of humidity, dazzling light and cool nights all felt otherworldly to my coastal bones, and I can definitely understand the appeal.

We took a short hike through Hidden Valley and it was a nice introduction to the alien world of Joshua Tree. Of course I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Joshua Trees, but I was surprised to see so many. They are everywhere. And then, as you drive further south and east into the park, they start to disappear and you feel like you’re on yet another planet entirely. 

After our hike, we drove east into the lower, warmer Colorado desert and to the cholla cactus garden. One thing we both noticed about the park is that it is enormous—so much bigger than either of us expected. Points on the map that appeared close were actually quite far from one another, and if we had known how far we had to drive to reach the cactus garden, we may not have made the drive. I’m so glad we did though, because it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

The cholla cactus trail is a loop that goes through ten acres covered in teddybear cholla. It may seem obvious to state that a cactus is prickly, but the teddybear cactus is extra nefarious—it has tiny barbs on its needle-like spines and despite being extra careful (ok, full disclosure, I touched one gently) I still had to pick a few spines out of my shoe on our way out. The seeds from the cholla are usually infertile and new plants grow from fallen stem joints. Because of this, it’s possible that this entire garden originated with a single cholla cactus, which is mind-blowing because—like Joshua trees to the west—they are everywhere.

We didn’t go very far on our California trip without running into a site that has exploded on Instagram recently, and Joshua Tree is no exception. Many trails have been closed to the public because of an increase in graffiti that has been attributed to the park's surging popularity on social media. I recently visited the Temple of Dendur at the Met and for the first time noticed that even in the 1800s tourists were carving their names into antiquities—so vandalism is nothing new but also maybe don't be a jerk and ruin things for other people?

But like Palm Springs, the hype surrounding Joshua Tree is definitely justified, and as with most places there’s nothing that can compare to throwing your phone in your backpack and experiencing it in person.

World Famous Crochet Museum

Before Jim and I headed into Joshua Tree, we stopped at the visitors center, located right off of Twentynine Palms Highway. After we had grabbed a map, I suggested that we try to locate the World Famous Crochet Museum before heading into the park, and luckily it was right across the street from the visitors center. 

The (perhaps hyperbolically-named) World Famous Crochet Museum is owned by artist Shari Elf, and housed inside of tiny photo-processing booth. Elf has been collecting crocheted items since the early '90s and after purchasing the photo booth, she built shelves to display her collection, painted it green and moved it to Joshua Tree. The museum is free and the door was open when we arrived. It's a quick stop—it was really hot and stuffy inside of the booth, even with the door open—but one that I knew we couldn't pass up. 

I can definitively say that Elf's collection is the largest collection of crocheted items I've ever seen in one place, although it may also be the only crochet collection I've ever seen. It's certainly deserving of its own exhibition space, and although you may be thinking that you don't need to go to the desert to see a bunch of crocheted poodles, I assure you that it's worth the detour. 

If you can name it, chances are that Elf has a crocheted version in her museum—corn cobs, poodles, dolls, flowers, cats, a banana split, waffles, a toilet, a sink, alligators, fruit, eggs, gingerbread men, cupcakes and even a complete nativity set. Although Elf is responsible for creating the museum, the official curator is a crocheted alligator named Bunny, who would like to remind potential visitors that "we are always open, even though we may not be there."

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World Famous Crochet Museum
61855 CA-62
Joshua Tree, CA 92252

Randy's Donuts

When I went to California in December, I had an afternoon flight back to New York. I'm not one to waste time (on trips, at least) so with the help of my friend Tag, I was able to squeeze in a few more delights before I headed home. After diner breakfast, we headed toward the airport and luckily for me Randy's Donuts was on our way.

Built in 1953, Randy's Donuts is probably one of the most photographed and recognizable donut shops in the country. This iconic shop isn't shaped like a donut (like the Donut Hole) but is an otherwise unremarkable, small drive-through building with a walk-up window, topped with a huge donut. There are several other similar donut shops located all over LA, but Randy's has appeared in numerous movies, TV shows and music videos.

Randy's was built as part of the Big Donut Drive-in chain, the second of ten original locations. In 1976 it was purchased and renamed "Randy's Donuts and Sandwiches" after the new owner's son. The huge donut is constructed of rolled steel bars covered with grunite, a sprayed concrete used in swimming pools.

We were still full from breakfast so we didn't get a donut from Randy's, but I've been told that they're unremarkable. I have no doubt that Randy's is so famous because of its location—visible from the 405 and about three miles from LAX—but I'm always happy to see businesses like this thrive. Five of the original Big Donuts have been demolished, and one has been creatively turned into a bagel, but hopefully Randy's will keep providing donuts to tourists and locals alike—from inside of one of the best surviving examples of programmatic architecture—for many more years to come.

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Randy's Donuts
805 W Manchester Blvd
Inglewood, CA 90301

Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Desert Art Museum

Right before I left to visit my friend Jim in California in December, I decided that I wanted to add one extra day to the road trip we had planned. I was getting nervous that we wouldn't have time to see everything on my list (the eternal concern) and I knew that I wouldn't have a problem finding things to fill the extra day. One of the extra stops i was most excited about adding was Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Desert Art museum in Joshua Tree. 

I first became aware of Purifoy's art when I saw Kaylah's post, and it was one of the first things that popped into my head when I realized we'd be close to Joshua Tree. Noah Purifoy lived for most of his life in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, and died in 2004. One of his first sculptures was made from charred debris from the notorious 1965 Watts riots, and he was a founding director of the Watts Towers Art Center. 

He lived the last 15 years of his life in Joshua Tree, where he created ten acres of large-scale sculptures outside in the desert. The sculptures are made from salvaged materials, and vary widely in size, scale, style and type of material used. The "museum" is run by a private, non-profit foundation and it's open every day of the year, from sunset to sundown. There were only a few people roaming around the entire time we were there, and there is no admission price, but donations are appreciated.

To get to Purifoy's art, we followed Google's directions which took us down some rickety, unpaved roads. On the way out, we took a more direct path but just be aware that it's not the easiest place in the world to access. But it's so, so worth all of the work because seeing Purifoy's art in person was nothing short of a transformative experience.

Just the day before, we visited Salvation Mountain and although the two sites are very different in style and message, they are both physical manifestations of the vision of a single man. The desert is the perfect backdrop for these types of installations, and looking back over my photos had me missing that gorgeous desert light. We spent hours roaming the property—which is much bigger than I initially thought—and photos really can't do it justice.

I love the ingenuity and vision that Purifoy had—making beautiful, thought-provoking pieces from discarded tires, old clothes, toilets, bowling balls, rusty paint cans, wood scraps, instruments, machine parts, metal shavings, mannequin pieces, lunch trays and pretty much anything else he could find. I'm so glad that Purifoy's art has outlived him, and hopefully it continues to wow those who are brave enough to travel the dusty back roads in search of something more than just a Salvation Mountain selfie. 

Cabazon Dinosaurs

I can't remember the first time I saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (it came out the year I was born, 1985), but I do remember being a huge fan of Pee-Wee's Playhouse as a kid. It wasn't until a rewatch of the movie recently that I realized just how much of an influence Pee-Wee Herman must have had on my general aesthetic. In the opening sequence he has a skull hanging over his bed, he brushes his teeth with a novelty toothbrush, he has oversized utensils, his breakfast has a face and his yard is full of fiberglass statues. His house is literally my dream house. 

Second only to the Wigwam Motel, the top destination for my California trip with my friend Jim was the Cabazon Dinosaurs. I love dinosaur parks (I've been to Dinosaur World in KY and Dinosaur Land in VA) and the added Pee-Wee pedigree made the Cabazon Dinosaurs a must-see. Pee-Wee is dropped off by Large Marge in front of the dinosaurs and he and the waitress from a nearby diner share their dreams inside of Mr. Rex's mouth (the mouth in the movie was most definitely a set—it's much smaller in real life).

Dinny the Dinosaur and Mr. Rex are located west of Palm Springs, about two-and-a-half hours from Los Angeles. Claude Bell started constructing the dinosaurs in 1964, hoping to drive traffic to his nearby diner, The Wheel Inn. Dinny, the 150-foot-tall brontosaurus was completed first, in 1975 and Mr. Rex, a 65-foot-tall T-Rex was completed in 1985. Bell died in 1988 at age 91, and the property remained with his family until the mid '90s. 

Inside of Dinny is a gift shop (the souvenirs were disappointing) and it's also where you purchase tickets to Mr. Rex’s Dinosaur Adventure, an add-on attraction featuring more than 50 dinosaur figures, a fossil dig and access to Mr. Rex. You can see the outside of both dinosaurs without paying admission, but it's definitely worth the $12 to survey the site from behind Mr. Rex's huge teeth (there is also a squished penny machine in a second gift shop located within the Dinosaur Adventure attraction). 

Despite having seen photos of these dinosaurs for years on Instagram, seeing them in person was still so much better than I even expected it to be. We went early in the morning so it wasn't overrun with children, and later in our hotel room we watched Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and I had such a new appreciation for the Cabazon scenes. The one major disappointment, however is that The Wheel Inn closed in 2013. It sat abandoned for a few years before being recently demolished. When we went all that remained of the landmark diner was a pile of rubble and I'm sad that I'll never be able to walk in and say "Large Marge sent me." 

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

During my recent trip to California, I didn't have much time to spend in LA, but one of the top destinations on my list was the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Founded in 1899, Hollywood Forever claims to be "the final resting place to more of Hollywood’s founders and stars than anywhere else on Earth." The cemetery is famous not only for its residents, but since 2002 they've hosted outdoor movies featuring DJs, photo booths, picnics and appearances from (living) celebrities and directors.  

I was there during the day, but you bet if I lived in LA I'd be a frequent guest on movie nights. Hollywood Forever is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, and is the only one actually located within the city of Hollywood. The cemetery is beautiful and obviously well-maintained—I never got over the thrill of seeing palm trees, which is not something I'm used to seeing in cemeteries. 

Despite being quite old, the cemetery isn't actually visually interesting in the way I usually prefer for a cemetery—crumbling, creepy and full of traditional stones—so I realized quickly that the best way to see Hollywood Forever would be to track down its famous residents (although this is Hollywood, so some of the non-famous headstones were just as entertaining).

When I inquired about a map, I was directed to the flower shop, where my only option was to purchase a map for $5. It was definitely worth it—the cemetery is huge—but I've never been to a cemetery that charged for a map (and I've been to a lot of cemeteries). I did pass it along to my friend Jim, so at least he won't have to pay when he visits. 

Hollywood Forever is by no means the only cemetery filled with celebrities in the Los Angeles area, and while there are a few contemporaries—Chris Cornell and Anton Yelchin were both buried recently—most of the interments are much older. Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Academy Award (for her performance in Gone With the Wind) wanted to be buried at Hollywood Forever, but was not allowed because at the time of her death in 1952, the cemetery was still segregated. In 1959 the cemetery was finally desegregated, and In 1999 a centotaph was erected in McDaniel's honor.

The map wasn't very easy to follow, but I did manage to track down two Ramones: Dee Dee's kiss-covered headstone and Johnny's guitar-wielding likeness. I also visited Fay Wray (King Kong), Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Rooney and Mel Blanc—the voice of just about every Looney Tunes character you can think of, and owner of one of my favorite epitaphs, "That's All Folks". 

The main attraction at Hollywood Forever for me, however, was a fairly new addition. When I visited Ferncliff in September, I was disappointed to learn that Judy Garland's remains had been moved in June of 2017, and reinterred at Hollywood Forever. She was the last one I found during my visit, and the move came with quite the upgrade. She is entirely alone (for now) in her own mausoleum, appropriately named the Judy Garland Pavilion.

Garland's Wizard of Oz co-star, Toto, died toward the end of WWII and the burial ground where he was interred was destroyed during the expansion of the Ventura Freeway. But close to Garland is a stone provided by the Toto Memorial Committee in 2011—allowing you to not only to pay your respects to Dorothy, but to her little dog too. 

Wigwam Village No. 7

When I slept in my first Wigwam Motel in 2016, I didn't have concrete plans to visit the two remaining Wigwam Villages, but I knew I wanted to eventually "collect them all." Early in 2017, I was devastated when it became obvious that my friend Jim was going to move to LA, but I tried to look on the bright side and immediately began planning a trip to the west coast. It should come as no surprise that the very first thing on my list of California must-sees was Wigwam Village No. 7 on Route 66 in San Bernardino.

Originally there were seven Wigwam Village locations—two in Kentucky and one each in Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana and California—and only the ones in Kentucky, Arizona and California have survived. No. 7, constructed in 1949, is the last one to be built and it sits on the boundary between San Bernardino and Rialto, on Historic Route 66. 

Although of course No. 2 will always be special to me as my first Wigwam experience, No. 7 was overall an even nicer experience. No. 7 has a double row of Wigwams—19 total—and it had once been in dire shape. Rooms could be rented by the hour, and a sign urging travelers to "Do it in a Teepee" hung out front (the fact that these structures are technically "tee pees" doesn't seem to have mattered to Frank A Redford, the builder of these villages). It has since undergone an extensive renovation, and in 2012 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

No. 7 has a small, kidney-shaped pool and better souvenirs than No. 2—we bought postcards, patches, pins, ornaments and key tags. There are several vintage cars sitting on the property and a circular base in the back that looks like it may have been destined to be a 20th Wigwam, but it was never finished.

The inside of each Wigwam is surprisingly spacious, and ours had two beds, a tv and a desk. I did prefer the bathroom of No. 2—with its red zig-zag tiles—but the Wigwams at No. 7 looked freshly painted, and the iconic zig-zag on the exterior was brought back during the renovation. I also appreciated all of the little details, like the lights strung between Wigwams, the Route 66 markers on the lampposts and the Wigwam-shaped room numbers. In an area full of cheap and boring roadside motels, I don't know why anyone would choose not to "sleepee in a tee-pee."

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Wigwam Village No. 7
2728 E Foothill Blvd
San Bernardino, CA 92410
Our 2/bed was $99 for a Saturday night in December

Palm Springs

One of our pre-planned destinations on our December California road trip was Palm Springs. My friend Jim had booked a room at the Ace Hotel and Swim Club months in advance, and I was excited because I'd always had good experiences staying in Ace Hotels (in New York, before I moved, and New Orleans). The Palm Springs location has everything you'd expect from the Ace brand including nice linens, good-smelling bath products and a photo booth in the lobby. But it also had something we didn't anticipate: a very loud party that kept us consistently annoyed for most of the night.

When we checked in, we were told that one of the pools would be "closed for an event." We were annoyed by the noise level—but to be fair, we had been warned—so we distracted ourselves by watching Pee-Wee's Big Adventure on Jim's phone. He hadn't seen it in years but it's one of my all-time favorite movies and we'd just visited the Cabazon Dinosaurs earlier the in the day.

However, once the party ended it got even louder when some guests decided to continue the music and yelling right under our room. Unless you're physically in danger or at a concert, I see no reason to yell. Ever. This was my first time in Palm Springs, and I've since heard that loud parties are not uncommon for a Sunday (or any day of the week) night, but it did sour me on this particular Ace Hotel.

I will say that the pool was very lovely (and blissfully empty in the morning), but even that couldn't make up for the additional surprise that our room bill was $100 more than our reservation amount when the taxes and resort fee were added in. Pearl-clutching aside, luckily the rest of Palm Springs was every bit as beautiful as I expected, and perhaps even more so.

Our stay was brief, but before we left we drove through some of the residential streets filled with beautiful, mid-century modern homes. I loved all of the colorful accents, metal screens and geometric shapes. It's not exactly my personal style, but I appreciate the immaculate attention to detail and design—and we made sure to fulfill our millennial duty by posing in front of a mural and visiting #thatpinkdoor.

Palm Springs is set against a backdrop of mountains so picturesque they look as if they've been cut out of cardboard and constructed for a movie set. I don't see myself jetting off to Palm Springs on the regular, but now I totally understand the Internet's infatuation with this magically-lit desert oasis.

The Donut Hole

On the first day of our recent mini California road trip, we were driving down Route 66 en route to the Wigwam Motel in Rialto. I left our itinerary open for a leisurely drive, but when I realized that we were just about 20 min away from The Donut Hole, we decided it was worth the short detour.

The Donut Hole was built in 1968 in La Puenta, California, about 30 minutes east of downtown LA. The iconic building is programmatic, or novelty architecture at its best: two huge wood and stucco donuts with a drive-through donut shop in between. You go in one donut hole, out the other and it's both a sign and building in one (like The Big Duck or Orange World or this Shell Station).

There is no mistaking what you'll be buying at The Donut Hole, and while this was the second of five locations it was the only one built to resemble donuts—and not coincidentally, the only one still in business. It's also apparently one of the most photographed donut shops in the country, and although the donuts we bought were good, the building itself is definitely the main attraction.

Salvation Mountain

I just got back from my second-ever trip to California, and while I'm still perplexed that anyone would willingly live in LA, I was completely charmed by the desert. We pretty much left LA as soon as I arrived—which I think is the best way to "visit" LA—and took a four-day road trip into southeastern California. I was very intrigued by the Salton Sea, but unfortunately a few of the spots I had wanted to stop at were kind of a bust.

We took a brief loop around Bombay Beach, but were put off by the fact that despite looking abandoned, it's very much still a town inhabited by real people, most of whom looked like they weren't too keen on welcoming sightseers. The International Banana Museum was closed (due to an unexpected death) but luckily, the Salton Sea was on our way to Salvation Mountain, a must-see on my itinerary. 

Located in Niland, California, about an hour-and-a-half south of Palm Springs, Salvation Mountain  is a large-scale art installation by self-taught artist Leonard Knight. Salvation Mountain isn't a real mountain, but is constructed of hay bales covered in brightly painted stucco. It's fragile and sun-bleached and despite being Instagram-famous, it's definitely something that needs to be seen and experienced in person.

Knight arrived in Slab City in 1984, a neighboring community of off-the-grid nomads, and was compelled to create Salvation Mountain as an expression of his religious faith over the years from found materials. Knight didn't own the land, and built the mountain without permission from the state. He died in 2014 at the age of 82, and the site is currently maintained by a nonprofit group, although the land is still technically owned by the state. 

I'm not at all religious, but I do appreciate people with passion and creativity, and Leonard Knight clearly had both qualities in spades. There's something about the desert that seems to attract people with singular visions to just create, and although we saw a few other installations by similarly moved men, Salvation Mountain is the most ambitious (and impressive) of them all. 

Salvation Mountain's popularity has only grown exponentially since Knight's death, and in the last year-and-a-half the number of visitors to the site has doubled. The tour buses and crowds pose a threat to the already-fragile structure—one you're encouraged to climb on, within reason—and the extreme desert climate imposes additional maintenance issues. I definitely recommend visiting in the winter, when temperatures are in the '70s and please, please be respectful of the work, stay on the yellow brick road and for the love of Jesus if you must take a selfie, make it quick.

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Salvation Mountain
Beal Road,
Niland CA, 92257
Open 6:30am-7pm daily

California Trip, Part 2: Delicious Things

Would you hate me if I said that my very favorite thing that I did/saw/ate in California was Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt? Because, that shit is fresh.

You know of my recent and ongoing Menchie's obsession, but I'm kind of glad that we don't have a Pinkberry nearby because then I'd really have a problem. I had my first Pinkberry (original tart with strawberries) in Hollywood, and ate it two more times during the trip (half peach, half original tart in Santa Barbara and back to tart w/strawberries in Santa Monica).

I've since tried at least three other attempts at tart (Menchie's, Sweet Frog and a froyo place at our local mall) that have paled in comparison.

But I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the California-based chain had expanded to most other states, including New York City, where I'll be twice (!) in August. I can't wait to be reunited — but they say you never forget your first (or second, or third).

One thing I won't miss from California is In-N-Out Burger. I was as excited as any carnivore could be to try the famed burgers and fries, but they let me down in a big way. Not only was it not a life-changing culinary delight as I had hoped, but my burger was, for lack of better words, not good.

The bun was so hard it may have been a crouton, and everything else was average at best. The thing I remember most fondly about my lunch was the fountain coke, which was everything a fountain beverage should be — cold, refreshing and sweet. But hey, we have those in Ohio too.

In Ohio we also have Swenson's, which by my scientific calculations is about one million times better than the In-N-Out burger I had, and I have to travel approximately 2,999 less miles to get one.

I did appreciate the cozy way they wrapped the burger and I have been told I should regret not ordering it animal-style. I'm willing to give it another chance, but I won't be going out of my way to do so.

On the sausage front, I had a wonderful hot dog from Jody Maroni's Sausage Kingdom, at the original location on the Venice Beach boardwalk. The staff was friendly and the dog was delicious — even if the spicy mustard did a number on my sinuses. Even the seagulls couldn't wait to get a hold of my scraps, although unfortunately for them I didn't leave any.

None of my other California meals were very memorable, although I can't exactly say that I sought out noteworthy food (we actually ate at an Applebee's, and yes it was just as crappy as it would have been in Ohio).

I did, however, try my first (and second) Doritos taco from Taco Bell, and my life hasn't been the same since. You can take the girl out of Ohio, but you can't take the Ohio out of the girl.

California Trip, Part 1: Hollywood Things

It's taken me nearly a month to digest my week-long, inaugural trip to California and I saw/ate/did so many things that I thought I'd break these posts into categories: Delicious Things, Pretty Things, Living Things, Signage Things, Things I Watched and today's post, Hollywood Things.

Since I was staying with my friend in Santa Monica, the first place we headed was Hollywood. After spending countless hours in my life reading trashy tabloids, it was sort of bizarre to actually be in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, as with most things you primarily see on TV, Hollywood was a bit disappointing in real life.

It was pretty much all downhill after our first stop at Meryl Streep's star on the Walk of Fame (the only one that matters), but highlights included her hand and footprints in the forecourt of Grauman's, a tour of the Chinese theater, an amazing cranberry breakfast bar at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (the first of many), a tour of the Dolby (formerly Kodak) theater,

and of course some major gawking and nerdy picture taking of the Hollywood sign.

We didn't get very close to the sign, but we drove along Mulholland Drive and stopped at the Hollywood Bowl Overlook, where I managed to take a photo wherein I point in the general direction of where the sign sort of is.

I recommend skipping the tour of the Chinese theater and seeing a movie there instead — I would imagine you get to see the same thing (you know, the theater) in addition to actually seeing a movie, for about the same price.

I do, however, recommend taking the Dolby Theater tour — you get to see a real-deal Oscar statuette and our guide had some great stories to tell about the big night (apparently being a huge celebrity doesn't guarantee that you won't forget your ID and be denied entrance to the event, ahem, Mr. Clooney).

You can't take photos inside the theater because if you do, they will be owned by ABC and then you'll be owned by ABC (or something like that), but they do give you a super cheesy, consolation postcard as you leave, so that's cool.

Lastly, we took the Dearly Departed tour, which I (like everyone else on the planet, or at least on their website) highly recommend. Our tour guide, Brian, really, really loves his job (i.e. telling sordid tales of Hollywood murder/last breath locations) and made the three-plus hour tour fly by. We were also lucky to catch glimpses of off-tour locations such as the Playboy and Spelling mansions, the former homes of Paul Newman, George Burns and the studio where they film Dexter.

I can't say that I was overly impressed by Hollywood (or Beverly Hills or even California in general), but I'm glad that I got to see most of the places I read about so often in my stories (i.e. trashy tabloids). I'm also disappointed that in two days we didn't see one single celebrity, so I may have to go back — maybe next time it'll be for the Oscars?