Author Archive
August 2, 2014 by tomdalzell
Mexicali
Gabby came by his name honestly. He can gab. In a crowd he is often quiet, but with a friend – hold on! Thus it was as he drove around the Salton Sea south towards Mexicali with Young Emily in June, 1973. They hadn’t seen each other or even communicated in three years, so you […]
August 2, 2014 by tomdalzell
Villa Sur Motel, Calexico
The Villa Sur Motel is on the the southeast corner of 4th and Heffernan in Calexico, four blocks north of the border. The Hotel De Anza is on the northwest corner. The Villa Sur is a stunning example of Googie architecture and design. It is not debased modernism. It is full-bore, dead-to-rights, no-denying, honest-to-God, down-home, […]
August 1, 2014 by tomdalzell
The Barbara Worth Hotel, El Centro
In 1911, Harold Bell Wright published The Winning of Barbara Worth, a historical novel set in the Imperial Valley. The book tells the story of an engineer building an irrigation system for a desert community who competes with a cowboy for the affections of a farmer’s daughter. The story was made into a silent movie in […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
The Magical Garden of Fernand
Gabby had sent my friend a letter with some photos and a note – “Give the photos to the Dazzler. They are quirky. You guys should come visit!” The photos are of the Magical Garden of Fernand, in the very small town of St. Coulomb, France, on the back Breton road to Cancale. Gabby explained […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
Gabby in Breton
Gabby wrote me something of an explanation of how he came upon the Magical Garden of Fernand in Brittany, near Cancale. A little background first. In the fall of 1979, after Gabby left the United Farm Workers, he and Young Emily spent slightly more than a month on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Cape […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
Gun mailboxes (not Berkeley!)
My friend is more of an intellectual than you would guess based on his appearance and sometimes informal vocabulary. He is, for example, fascinated by the conflation in the United States of religion, nationalism, rejection of science, and embrace of guns. It seems to him that for many Americans religion is not about any […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
Tacoma’s Graffiti Garage
The next field trip is to Tacoma. Like us, Tacoma is often defined in terms of a nearby city. Berkeley? Across the bay from San Francisco. Tacoma? Just below Seattle. What is Tacoma known for? It used to be known for Never Never Land, a children’s themed park at Point Defiance. But that’s gone, so […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
Tacoma’s Never Never Land
Never Never Land opened at Point Defiance, Tacoma, in 1964 and was privately operated by Alfred Peterson. The attractions were based on 26 nursery rhymes from Mother Goose to the Brothers Grimm. The last structure was torn down in 2010. Sad. It was quirky! First, a few postcards: And photos: And then – best of […]
July 26, 2014 by tomdalzell
Hurdy-Gurdy Postcards
When Young Emily began her pursuit and conquest of the hurdy-gurdy, Gabby began his own pursuit and acquisition of hurdy-gurdy postcards. Predictable. But the collection that he put together in one summer is impressive: My friend took one look at the postcards and went for the oh-so-obvious modern link. Or sort of modern: Singing […]
July 25, 2014 by tomdalzell