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A Pilgrim’s Odyssey, or There and Back Again, Part 2

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

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Whereas the 66 was a calm low-key ride, the 522 was a grittier urban experience. It was nearly full so I was lucky to find a seat near the back like I wanted, but it was on the driver’s side. I had wanted to sit on the passenger side so I could observe the east side of El Camino as we traveled north. I was going to be hard-core about this, ignoring everything on the left (west) side of the street, only looking at the right (east) side. I would catch the west side on the return trip. Great plan, right? For it to work I needed to be on the right side of the bus so I resolved to bide my time and switch seats as soon as one became available. Fortunately the view out the passenger-side windows was not too bad from across the aisle.

If you’ve ever seen the 522 bus you know how distinctive it is with the snazzy bright blue and red wrap covering the entire exterior, including the windows. Let me say that again…including the windows. It looks cool from the outside but from the inside looking out the view is horribly obscured by zillions of halftone screen dots. The world outside is low resolution, making it hard to see details and read street signs—a poor choice for sightseeing. It was bad enough from the driver side but once I got my coveted window seat it was even worse because the dots were right in my face. I thought about opening a window but I didn’t want the chill and I suspect my fellow passengers wouldn’t have been too happy about it either. So I squinted and craned and made the best of it but it was far from ideal.

CIMG0262

There was another problem with the 522: speed. A few seconds after I boarded the driver took off, literally leaving behind an old lady who was shuffling up the street, flagging him down. Passengers shouted for the driver to wait but he shouted back that he was late and that there were many 522s behind him. He’s right; the 522 runs every 15 minutes so I’m sure the little old lady was fine. But that was the start of a ride that can best be described as breakneck. The 522 hauls you-know-what up El Camino, pedal-to-the-metal from stop to stop. I have since learned that they even have sensors which cause traffic signals to change, like for emergency vehicles. All this efficiency is awesome for commuters but for a sightseer like me, not so much. I’m glad to have experienced it, but honestly the pixelated view of El Camino whizzing by the 522 at top speed wasn’t what I wanted. In retrospect I should have taken the VTA 22: same route, but a more relaxed schedule and clear windows. Next time.

Time : 12:40 PM
Place: Downtown San Jose
Route: VTA 522 Westbound
Fare: $0.00 w/day pass
Total: $6.00

I had my notebook out to write down things of interest. There was no way to capture everything on El Camino so I only jotted when something struck me. You would think a big old bus would be a pretty smooth ride but it turns out there’s a lot of motion which makes it difficult to write, so I tried my best. (My handwriting is not the most legible, even under ideal conditions.) I definitely wanted to be sure to record all the Historic El Camino Real bells I passed along the way. The first one was downtown San Jose near where Santa Clara Street crosses over the Guadalupe River. A little further up near HP Pavilion I could see the tents and tables in preparation for the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot the following day. The road was going to be closed on Thanksgiving Day so it’s lucky I didn’t get caught up in that. (Years ago I was not so lucky. I set out on a similar excursion to drive State Route 84 from end-to-end, Livermore to the Pacific Ocean, but after 70 miles in San Gregorio the road was closed so I never made it. D’oh!)

The bus continued onto The Alameda. I made a note of Downtown College Preparatory, the first high school we passed. Somehow I missed recording the El Camino bell there, but I did note the one a mere two blocks away at Singletary. These two bells are oddly close together.

Near the Santa Clara city limit I saw a gas station and decided to count all the gas stations we passed. There’s another bell near Santa Clara University‘s Loyola Hall. That’s where we left The Alameda and where El Camino Real in name begins. I made a note of the Roxio building because as a well-known CD and DVD burning software company they stand out as one of the few household-name high tech companies conspicuous on El Camino. This road is the backbone of Silicon Valley but for some reason the tech companies have shunned it. I saw a sign for Alviso St. which was puzzling until later I checked some maps that show that Alviso St., The Alameda, and El Camino Real all confusingly combine at Mission Santa Clara and shoot out Lafayette St. which in the 1800s was the main road from the mission to the all-important port city of Alviso.

As we passed under De La Cruz Avenue El Camino took on the commercial strip character that defines so much of its length through Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties: strip malls, parking lots, driveways, and low-slung cookie-cutter architecture. I decided to start tallying fast food chain stores, notching a Jack in the Box, KFC, and a Burger King before we got to the El Camino bell at the Santa Clara Civic Center. At Bowers we crossed over some water which I learned is Saratoga Creek. At some point we passed into Sunnyvale.

I say “at some point” because it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to tell where one city ends and the next begins. Sometimes there are posted signs but they are easy to miss through pixelated bus windows. I tried to keep track of city boundaries in my notes but mostly they were just guesstimates. I wrote down that the Lucky grocery store and a Blockbuster Video just past Lawrence Expressway were in Sunnyvale (deciding to count those as well as fast food joints and gas stations), but they’re actually in Santa Clara. Who knew?

Speaking of Blockbuster, that one was closing, and it was the second closing store I had seen so far. They were hard to miss as they each had a person standing outside waving bright “Store Closing” signs and the stores carried similar banners. This was the scoop of the day as I hadn’t realized this was happening. I thought maybe the whole company had gone out of business but it wasn’t quite that bad; still it was a major reduction. This shook me as we’ve recently had not one but two neighborhood Hollywood Video stores close on us. Evidently Blockbuster is faring no better in the face of withering entertainment competition from Netflix, digital television, and the internet. I paused to reflect how I had watched the videotape and DVD rental business grow from its earliest humble beginnings to being the go-to weekend entertainment option to being on life support in a couple short decades. We’re witnessing the end of an era.

On into Sunnyvale I tallied a Carl’s Jr., a Kragen auto parts store, Safeway, Subway, Togo’s, and my first of many Taco Bells. I smiled as I recalled many good times at Golfland. I noticed that at some point the name of the road had changed to “E. El Camino Real” which reminded me of a paradox I had noticed about El Camino years ago: that somehow a single monotonic contiguous road has North, South, East, and West variants. I resolved to confirm this conundrum, and confirm it I did.

It’s been years since I’ve been to Rooster T. Feathers comedy club but what always struck me was the long list of rules and regulations they have telling you what you can and can not do. My friend Dan told me an amazing story that it used to be called Andy Capps and is where Nolan Bushnell of Atari installed the first PONG coin-operated video game prototype, and hence could be considered the birthplace of the commercial video game industry.

I noted the newly opened Sunnyvale Art Gallery and made a plan to visit soon. (I have. More later.) It was coincidental to pass the elegant Grand Hotel because I had just recently watched for the first time the famous 1932 film of the same name featuring Greta “I Vant to Be Alone” Garbo and a star-studded cast. As we were nearing the end of Sunnyvale I realized I hadn’t spotted any bells yet in the city. Just then, we passed one at Mary. I observed a closed car dealership near Bernardo and my first McDonalds, then we were in Mountain View.

My first note was the Hotel Avante, followed shortly by the El Camino bell at State Route 85. We crossed over Stevens Creek and the Stevens Creek trail then passed Hotel Zico. There’s a tourism ad for Mountain View somewhere in there: “Need a place to stay? We have Hotels from Avante to Zico.” I spied a historical marker in front of BMW of Mountain View commemorating the “Site of Old Mountain View.” Nearby was a De Anza Trail marker at State Route 237. I imagine this crossroads was historically very significant since the road to Alviso and Milpitas was a crucial link to rest of the Bay Area before the railroads and bridges were built.

More Mountain View highlights include Amber Café, Indian Bits ‘n’ Bites and El Camino bells at Castro and at Rengstorff. By the way in these parts the road is called “W. El Camino Real.”At the San Antonio Transit Center I spotted my second The Offramp bicycle shop and the extensive Avalon Towers apartment complex. It’s always heartening to see high density housing near transit hubs and El Camino has its share. I noticed a pole-top wi-fi antenna, courtesy of Google, and a couple 24 Hour Fitnesses (48 Hour Fitness?) oddly co-located at the San Antonio Shopping Center. So long, Mountain View; hello Palo Alto.

Palo Alto Bowl made me wistful since it’s about to close after 55 years, to be replaced by a mixed-use hotel and townhouse complex. A little further up at Charleston there’s a brand new single-family housing development, Redwood Gate. I bagged a bell at Page Mill, nodded to the eminently strollable California Street, and wondered about the Ananda Church of Self-Realization at Stanford Avenue. Hits came hot-n-heavy: Palo Alto High School, a bell at Embarcadero, the now-booming Town & Country Village, and Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Shortly we turned off of El Camino into the Palo Alto Caltrain station, end of the line for the 522. It was 1:40 PM, exactly one hour after I boarded. We piled off the bus and I looked for my next connection.

Next installment…The Undiscovered County.

A Pilgrim’s Odyssey, or There and Back Again, Part 1

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

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The day before Thanksgiving in support of this blog I pulled a stunt: I traveled the entire length of El Camino Real. Okay, that’s an exaggeration; I didn’t go all the way from San Diego to Sonoma. But since I live in the Bay Area my interest in El Camino focuses on the Santa Clara Valley and the San Francisco Peninsula. So that’s what I did. I took a single journey up El Camino Real from downtown San Jose to Mission Dolores in San Francisco, some 45 miles. I didn’t drive; that would have kept me from properly sight-seeing. I didn’t walk or bike, but maybe I will some day. Horse, ass, and ox were out of the question, so I did the next best thing. I took the bus.

I’ve known for a while I had to take this trip. I’m blogging about El Camino so it’s required for credibility that I put some rubber on the road. Over the years I have made countless excursions to El Camino as has everyone who lives or works remotely close to it, but many of my trips are perpendicular. I take cross streets to El Camino, do my business, then leave. Naturally I’ll go up and down the street for short distances as required, like from Stanford to Mountain View, or from Santa Clara to Sunnyvale. But for anything longer than 10 miles, we all do the mental calculation and find another way like U.S. 101 or Interstate 280. I did a little experiment with Google Maps directions to see how far up El Camino it would send me. For a 5.1 mile trip from San Jose to Santa Clara, it says take El Camino. But stretch it out one more block to 5.3 miles and it sends me up U.S. 101 instead; it’s out-of-the-way but shaves two minutes off the trip.

My point is I’ve always experienced El Camino Real in short bursts because in this day and age we have many transportation options. El Camino has become a destination and has faded as a long-distance thoroughfare. That’s fine; that’s progress. But for the sake of this blog and my own curiosity I decided to go back to its roots and take a good long journey up the King’s Highway to see what I could discover.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity to take this trip. I had the day off from work. My wife had to work and my son’s school was closed for the day but my father-in-law was visiting us from the East Coast so my skedaddling left him free to spend the day with his favorite grandson. My intention was to leave early like 6:00 AM or 9:00 AM but it didn’t work out that way. I spent the morning writing the El Camino International Airport posting and by the time I finished that it was nearly midday. This delay would come back to bite me later.

I had  planned out the trip the night before. I would take a bus to downtown San Jose then catch the northbound VTA line 522. The 522 is a limited-stop express bus line which starts in East San Jose then goes through Downtown San Jose up El Camino Real to the Palo Alto Caltrain station. In Palo Alto I would transfer to the SamTrans 390, which continues the trip up El Camino to Daly City. Originally I thought I’d terminate my trip in Daly City but then I had the idea to transfer to Muni and continue up Mission Street in San Francisco to 16th street, then walk a few blocks to Mission San Francisco de Asís, a fitting terminus. The plan was to spend a little time at the Mission, then take the same buses in reverse all the way back home.

I packed light but I was well-prepared. I wore an old pair of blue jeans in case I sat in something regrettable—an unshakable bourgeois prejudice against public transportation. I wore my good hiking boots for the walk to the Mission, though I didn’t opt for the hiking socks. Up top I dressed in layers because temperatures can fluctuate: a long-sleeve wicking undershirt, a thick fleece pullover, and a lightweight jacket. My favorite wool cap completed the ensemble. I brought a backpack but it didn’t have much in it: a pen-and-paper notebook for journaling my journey, my favorite El Camino books as good luck talismans, a video recorder, and a Solio charger for my cell phone. I had a pile of dollar coins and a roll of quarters in my pocket for hassle-free fare. And of course I had my smartphone for staying in touch, looking up maps and schedules, and taking geo-tagged photos.

The original plan was to pack snacks and stop for lunch somewhere along the way, maybe in between buses in Palo Alto. But Wednesday morning I was working so hard and running so late that I neglected to eat breakfast. It was lunchtime by the time I was ready to leave but I didn’t want to take the time to eat lunch before I left so I made a gut decision: I would fast for the whole trip. No food, just water. It felt like the right thing to do, a spiritual fast to consecrate a pilgrimage to a holy place along an ancient road. It wasn’t about religion, but I find that El Camino Real is a multi-faceted symbol that reaches me on an instinctive level so when the symbolic gesture of fasting occurred to me, I went with it. Besides it was low-risk; if I really needed to eat I was hardly in the wilderness. As I was to learn, on El Camino Real you’re never far away from a Taco Bell. So before I stepped out my front door I popped a multivitamin (a modern concession), loaded a quart and a half of water in my backpack, and off I went.

Time: 12:15 PM
Place: North San Jose
Route: VTA 66 Southbound
Fare: $6.00
Total: $6.00

At 12:07 PM I walked a couple blocks to the bus stop and had a short wait to catch the VTA route 66 (get your kicks!) downtown. I bought a $6 VTA day pass. There were plenty of seats so I chose one in the middle on the right side of the bus. I quickly realized that the seats in the middle of the bus were set very low so it was difficult to see out the windows. The seats in the back were higher and had better views so I made a mental note to sit back there on the next bus.

At the timepoint stop at the Civic Center Light Rail station there was a bit of commotion and yelling outside but it turned out to be the light rail operator and a buddy of his joking with our driver. I got off at 2nd and Santa Clara downtown and walked a block up Santa Clara to catch the 522.

Next installment…The Blue Blur.

New Trader Joe’s Opens in Palo Alto

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Trader Joe's

The brand new Trader Joe’s grocery store in Palo Alto will celebrate its grand opening this Friday, December 4, 2009. It’s located at Town & Country Village at the corner of El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road. There will be a ceremonial lei-cutting at 8:00 AM accompanied by face-painting, live music, and balloons. The interior is decorated with local flavor such as logos and spirit wear from nearby Stanford University, Palo Alto High, and Gunn High School. Residents have lamented the lack of grocery stores in the city, so many are looking forward to this latest addition.

Your pictures from Winkflash.com have arrivedWithout a doubt Trader Joe’s is a happy place. My fondest memory of TJ’s is from a family vacation we took to Monterey, CA many years ago. Our son was a young toddler so we rented a suite with a full kitchen so we could keep him fed with milk and Cheerios on our own schedule and not have to deal with eating out for every meal. We shopped for our groceries at the Pacific Grove Trader Joe’s. Sure we bought staples but since we were on vacation we also loaded up on a variety of tasty snacks like party mix, trail mix, chips, and cookies. It still ranks as one of our best vacations ever.

Ever since then I always associate Trader Joe’s with treats, not “serious food,” but we have several friends who do all their everyday shopping there. We’re not quite on that bandwagon since we live walking distance to a different chain grocery store. Also it’s a recognized fact in our family that as a rule Traders Joe’ses have…the…worst…parking lots. Always small, cramped, and awkward. We think they design them that way on purpose, maybe to encourage greener modes of transportation. Well it works for us. We walk…to a different store.

Speaking of parking, I expect it will be a challenge for the new Palo Alto store. When I was at Stanford twenty years ago Town & Country was languishing. I went there for Hobee’s but that was it. In 2004 the then-51-year-old shopping center was purchased by Ellis Partners LLC who set out to transform the place by painfully terminating some longtime tenants’ month-to-month leases and kicking off a multi-year $25 million renovation. It seems to have worked. It has the same funky charm but they have managed to attract a vibrant mix of restaurants and boutiques and the village now is packed. Some might say too packed, a victim of its own success. A couple months ago I thought I’d swing by at lunchtime on a weekday to grab a smoothie from Jamba Juice. I spent 15 minutes circling the entire center twice looking for a parking spot with no success. I finally gave up and went to a different Jamba Juice that had plenty of parking to get my Razzmatazz on. The Trader Joe’s will add some new spots but at peak times I know it will be a struggle. And don’t get me started on the bizarre left turn exit onto Embarcardero.

I don’t mean to be a killjoy. I’m genuinely happy for the many Palo Altoans who will enjoy their new store. I even expect the Stanford dorm parties to start serving better fare. In my day it was inevitably giant bags of pretzels and yellow popcorn from Costco; here’s hoping for baklava and Pirate’s Booty. No excuses! So go to Trader Joe’s, bring your own bag, and when you get home raise your glass of Two Buck Chuck in good cheer. Salut!

Trader Joe’s Grand Opening

Friday, December 4, 2009
8:00 AM – 10:00 PM
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA
http://traderjoes.com/

[Source: San Jose Mercury News]

Santa Clara Law Center Receives Grant to Combat Human Trafficking

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

SBCEHTA Santa Clara University legal center has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help victims of human trafficking in the South Bay. The illegal exploitation of immigrant women, children, and men for coerced sex and labor persists as a form of modern slavery. This money will be used to enhance the legal and social services available to victims of this crime.

The grant goes to the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center (KGACLC) at the Santa Clara University School of Law. (The office of the KGACLC is located near the university on The Alameda in San Jose.) The center, which performs pro bono legal services primarily for poor minorities and immigrants, is a member of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. The coalition includes 34 agencies and organizations and provides services such as hotlines, housing, legal advocacy, children’s programs, and community outreach.

Reading this story made me think of the plight of Native Americans at the California missions two hundred years ago. Their experience was complex but at its worst there are notable parallels with modern human trafficking. The Native Americans were separated from their families and communities, forced to live and work at the missions, and were abused physically, psychologically, and spiritually by the Spanish. It’s fitting then that Santa Clara University, home of Mission Santa Clara de Asís off El Camino Real, is involved in the effort against trafficking today. It’s too late for the victims of the past, but the mission’s geographical descendants are doing good and laudable work for the victims of the present.

[Source: San Jose Mercury News]

El Camino International Airport

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

KTVU_Airport
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving which means that today, Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving is (cue graphics) “The Busiest Travel Day of the Year.” This is the day that many Americans hop on a plane, train, or highway to visit loved ones for the holiday or enjoy a long weekend getaway. A favorite tradition in our household is to watch the Wednesday morning television news broadcast because they invariably send a reporter to an area airport to cover this annual non-story. Usually they send the most junior reporter in what I’m sure is a rite of passage. Occasionally I think more seasoned reporters volunteer for the assignment and show up with their bags packed so they can hop on a plane as soon as the broadcast is done. It’s a free ride to the airport!

CIMG0005Our closest airport is Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC). We generally don’t fly for Thanksgiving but last month we did get a chance to fly out of the brand new Terminal B Concourse. It started out a little rough because the terminal is a work-in-progress. Check-in and security is still at Terminal A after which we had a hike-and-a-half to get to the Southwest gates at Terminal B. But once we got there I was absolutely delighted. The sweeping ceiling is breathtaking and the curved surfaces and high-key color palette are magical. There are touches which the tech-savvy Silicon Valley traveler will appreciate such as free Wi-Fi and my favorite: cushy Captain Kirk chairs with built-in AC and USB power outlets. A Geek Dad like me could live in a chair like that.

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CIMG0010What really put a smile on my face is the concessions in the new terminal. They invited well-known local businesses to operate or at least lend their name to the shops and restaurants so the terminal is a reflection of the region. The restaurants are the San Jose Sharks Cage Sports Bar & Grill, the Britannia Arms British Pub better known as The Brit, and Le Boulanger selling fresh baked breads and sandwiches. The news stand is named for Sunset magazine, longtime champion of the Western lifestyle. For unique snacks and gifts, you can stop by the stylized corrugated fruit stand of Sunnyvale’s own C.J. Olson Cherries. They sell fresh fruit as well as a carry-on-friendly selection of dried fruits and nuts. That’s dried fruits and nuts dipped in chocolate. I couldn’t resist picking up a bag of their mixed pastels.

CIMG0013As our flight was early in the morning I opted for breakfast at the Sharks Cage. I sat at the bar and immediately laughed out loud when I saw how the top was cleverly crafted to look like ice. Do the bussers carry little tiny Zambonis? I ordered the Hat Trick: eggs (I substituted fruit), applewood-smoked bacon, and home-style potatoes served with three slices of sourdough toast. I’ve had my share of airport breakfasts, but this one was the best as the ingredients were all very high quality. He shoots…he scores! Hooooooooooooooooooooonk!

This new terminal is part of an ongoing airport redesign which will result in the removal of the nostalgic but horribly outdated Terminal C. The entire project—the renovation of Terminal A, construction of Terminal B, and destruction of Terminal C—will cost $1.8 billion and is scheduled to be complete in Fall 2010.

You may be wondering why a blog about El Camino Real, a city street, is covering an airport. This is not a stretch at all. First of all San Jose Airport is really very close to El Camino; the airport’s western boundary, the long-term parking lot, is only a half mile from the Santa Clara Caltrain station on El Camino. Technically it’s walking distance, though it’s pedestrian-unfriendly as you need to cross the Union Pacific and Caltrain train tracks which are very dangerous. Don’t do it, there’s a free shuttle.

CIMG0224Second, there’s an interesting historical connection between the San Jose Airport and the Santa Clara Mission, the crucial link in the El Camino Real mission chain: the Mission’s first and second sites were both located adjacent to the airport starting in 1777. The first was on the northern bank of the Guadalupe river near the current-day Trimble exit off U.S. 101. It flooded so they relocated to the second site, 1000 yards south to the current intersection of De La Cruz Blvd and Martin Avenue. Memorial Cross Park marks the site today with adobe and a cross, just over the fence from the airport employee parking lot. This site also flooded—the mighty Guadalupe was a force to be reckoned with—so eventually the soggy padres moved a “musket-shot” away to its final location at present-day Santa Clara University.

Third, the astute will note that several of the concessions in the airport’s Terminal B represent businesses on El Camino. C.J. Olson’s of course is on El Camino in Sunnyvale, and the HP Pavilion where the Sharks skate and the Brit’s downtown location are both on Santa Clara Street, El Camino’s historic stretch though the San Jose Pueblo. Le Boulanger is not found directly on El Camino but there are stores just a block or two away. The exception is Sunset magazine which is on Willow Road in Menlo Park; let’s just say it proves the rule. In a sense San Jose Airport’s new Terminal carries the essence of El Camino within it.

The fourth connection is thematic. El Camino represents the south-north transportation corridor that traverses the state. The corridor started as a footpath, then evolved to incorporate a stagecoach route, railway line, a highway, a freeway, and finally air travel. Looked at this way both San Jose and San Francisco Airports are in the corridor as well as Moffett Field, Palo Alto Airport, and San Carlos Airport, home of Hiller Aviation Museum.

So this Thanksgiving, thousands of travelers will make their way to their merry destinations along the El Camino corridor. They may depart from its airports or ride its railway tracks or jam its freeway, U.S. 101. If you join them, heed the common wisdom I learn every year from the Wednesday morning news stories: call ahead or check online for travel conditions, leave early, buckle up (there’s a CHP crackdown [PDF] this year), and be patient. Our family will be enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house a stroll away from El Camino Real in San Mateo. Whatever you do, wherever you go, we wish you a wonderful and safe holiday!

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Course Map Since starting this blog I’ve really enjoyed reading about the early history of El Camino Real, particularly the stories of the Spanish padres and soldiers and the missions they established throughout the state. It’s a very complex history, rife with comedy, tragedy, injustice, and achievement. These men had focus, faith, courage, and unforgivably racist ideals. But the thing that impresses me the most is their stamina. Pure physical stamina. I have no idea how these guys did what they did.

The story is often told that the California missions were spaced one hard day’s walk apart. Okay. Google maps tells me that Mission Santa Clara is 45 miles from Mission San Francisco, a fifteen hour walk. Fifteen hours! Even that’s not so bad, as at the end of it you get a nice steaming bowl of posole and a red-tiled roof over your head. Think of the intrepid souls who simply went out trekking through the wilderness, like Don Gaspár de Portolá and Juan Bautista de Anza. Sure they had horses and pack animals, but you know some poor vassals in their parties were on foot. Junípero Serra personally founded missions from Loreto in Baja California to San Francisco in the north before his death at age 70. That’s a lot of ground he covered.

Nowadays we may not be called upon to hoof the length of entire counties, but we can pay homage to the padres’ pedestrian prowess with its modern yet ancient analog: the marathon. Well, a marathon is still way too long. How about a nice 10K?

Santa Clara St BellThis Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiving Day, the Applied Materials Silicon Valley 2009 Turkey Trot winds its way in and out of downtown San Jose. It’s a 5K run/walk and 10K run (for people, not turkeys) that starts and ends on Santa Clara Street in front of HP Pavilion. Santa Clara Street is of course part of El Camino Real. The 10K course follows a significant stretch of The Alameda as well.

The event is in its fifth year and benefits local charities: Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. The Title Sponsor is silicon equipment manufacturer Applied Materials; the timing is sadly ironic as they have problems of their own.

You can register for the race online or on-site; registration opens at 7:00 AM and the race starts at 8:30 AM. There are additional festivities like a Kid’s Fun Run, a costume contest, and cash prizes for elite runners. The beauty of it is you go, you walk or run, and you burn up some calories so if you celebrate the holiday with a feast afterward you can do so with a clear conscience and you have lively stories to entertain your fellow diners. We’ve come a long way since the Mission days.

Turkey Trot Finish Line

Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

5K Run/Walk & 10K Run
Thursday, November 26, 2009 (Thanksgiving morning)
Guadalupe River Park Confluence Meadow
Downtown San Jose
http://svturkeytrot.com/

AllCamino Puts Sunnyvale on the Schmap

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

CIMG0184When I find myself on El Camino Real I like to snap a few photos. They’re generally nothing fancy, just a few establishing shots to add to my collection. Usually nothing comes of them but I throw them up on Flickr just to keep them handy. Recently my rainy-day digital packrat habit paid off: Schmap selected one of my photos for inclusion in their online city guide for Sunnyvale!

schmapI took this photo after my lunch with Dan at Dusita. I headed up to C.J. Olson’s to load up on produce and decided to photograph the intersection of Mathilda and El Camino while I was there. I guess Schmap found me through the tags and the rest is history in the making.

I confess I was unfamiliar with Schmap though I was amused by the self-deprecating name. They publish  digital travel guides for cities around the world. This Sunnyvale entry is part of their latest San Jose regional guide. Coincidentally I happen to have met one of the other photo contributors, Ben Combee. I like to say it’s a small valley.

This is the second time this year my random photography has been picked up. NowPublic used a couple of my photos in a story about San Jose’s own Joey Chestnut and his record-smashing victory at the 2009 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest: 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. My shots are the HP Pavilion jumbotron and the bobblehead.

Speaking of Olson’s, their Food and Gift Faire is this weekend. If you stop by, step out to the sidewalk and take in the view that inspired me to capture this kudos-winning photo. Take some yourself. I’d like to see them. Ansel Adams had Yosemite to pursue, interpret, and decipher. Me? I’ve got El Camino.

C.J. Olson Cherries Annual Food & Gift Faire

http://www.cjolsoncherries.com/events.htm
November 14th & 15th, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
348 W. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087

Get Ready for The Holidays!
Just before Thanksgiving, our Annual Food & Gift Faire is a great time to visit us and stock up on items for the holidays. Our moist, Dried Blenheim Apricots are especially good in stuffings or as a unique addition to your favorite cranberry sauce.

New gifts and special offers await you at this annual event marking the start of the yuletide season.

Shell-shocked

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Egg Wars. (Egg wars Trilogy)

This is Spirit Week at Palo Alto High School, the week leading up to the homecoming football game. The students celebrate with rallies and costumes and classes compete for points. Many juniors and seniors however take the competition a bit farther in an unsanctioned activity called “egg wars.” In past years they’ve met under cover of darkness in the groves on Stanford’s campus along El Camino and pelted each other with raw eggs. This year however on Tuesday night the police were ready for them and were patrolling the groves. So the students went to Town and Country but the police were there too. A field decision was made to go over to nearby Gunn High school. The coast was clear and the two classes faced off and the eggs flew. The problem is that the eggs also landed…all over school property. Reportedly mess was left at the swimming pool and on the scoreboard, requiring extensive cleanup and possibly repairs.

It gets worse. Apparently some students brought frozen eggs so there were injuries. They are thankfully minor but completely unnecessary.

So the Paly administration has come down hard. They are seeking out all the juniors and seniors involved, who could face suspension. The administration also canceled rallies for the whole school yesterday and upcoming activities are up in the air.

The punishment may seem a bit harsh for high school high jinks but in the big picture there are aggravating circumstances. In 2007 a senior parked a car upside down on campus, causing $3000 in damage in the process. The school didn’t see it as a prank; they considered it vandalism and brought criminal charges against him. This year the tragic series of suicides at Gunn High School casts Tuesday’s egg attack as particularly insensitive.

It’s a shame to punish the whole school for the actions of some, and I hope the school is able to resume their Spirit Week and enjoy the homecoming game against Los Gatos Friday. The administration is justified in punishing those responsible for the recklessness, and surely they’ll spell out their expectations and tolerances very clearly next year. It is after all a school, and this is a prime teachable moment for everyone, students and staff.

[Source: The Paly Voice]

P.S. This is the first article I’ve ever read in the Paly Voice and I was very impressed by it. I found it well-written, thorough, and  professional. Commendations to the entire staff, especially the authors junior Chloe Chen and senior Patricia Ho. Unless of course they were the shadowy instigators of the egg war all along.

Some People Fear It

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Spirit Halloween Store

Halloween is almost here…this Saturday, October 31 in case you didn’t realize. I’m not much of a Halloween aficionado, but I do enjoy an annual trip to the Spirit store. That’s the Halloween superstore chain that sprouts like mushrooms every Fall in cities all across the U.S. and Canada. There are literally dozens of these stores in the Bay Area but if you find yourself on my favorite road in need of a last-minute costume or some ghoulish lawn decorations, you’ll be happy to know there are three Spirit stores on El Camino Real ready to serve you: Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and Redwood City.

Last weekend I took my son to the Santa Clara store to find some accessories for his Halloween costume. He was anxious to acquire some accoutrements of affluence, a.k.a. some bling, to round out his costume as a successful NFL player. We had a good time trying out all of the creepy talking ornaments and laughing at the gag costumes. I like to observe what the latest fashions in Hallo-wear are each year and this year to be honest nothing particularly stood out to me as new or original. For kids they seemed to be pushing “Clone Wars” and “High School Musical,” both of which were just as popular last year. For adults there were the same old standbys: hippies, sexy policewomen, etc. These are classics that are always fun to wear and there’s nothing wrong with them, but they are timeless which is exactly my point. I was surprised that the store failed to capitalize on the headlines, hits, and trends of 2009.

There was one timely display, a Michael Jackson section, but it was oddly placed, up by the registers, hard to see.  They ranged from the top-of-his-game Thriller-era sequined glove to Wacko-Jacko facemasks. I didn’t notice it in the store but apparently another hot item this year is the Kate Gosselin wig. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Where I did see a lot of innovation this year was in lawn and party props. The showpiece was an assortment of evil-looking babies: zombie baby, two-headed baby, demon baby, etc. The craftsmanship and realism was truly impressive, which pretty much makes them the worst things I have ever seen. I would never buy one. Bad juju.

Spirit Store Santa ClaraIt being the last full weekend before All Hallows’ Eve I expected the store to be crowded but it was not. In years past the checkout lines could reach halfway through the store but this weekend there was no waiting. It could be a sign of the economic times, or simply that the perennial big box stores, party supply stores, and online shopping have pulled customers away. It’s quite ironic to think about a downturn at the Spirit stores since their modus operandi is to exploit real estate doldrums by setting up for a few weeks a year in large vacant buildings. The Santa Clara store is in the old Mervyns building. Mervyns is the Bay Area-based department store chain founded in 1949 which sadly filed for bankruptcy, liquidated its assets, and closed all its stores last year. Oddly the liquidation began last Halloween.

We did our part for Spirit. My son got stunner shades, a dollar sign medallion, and a sparkling three-finger ring. We didn’t spend much but he came out looking like a million bucks. Afterwards we went next door to Walgreens drug store for some unrelated groceries and naturally wandered down the Halloween aisle. There in the middle of the aisle was the following display. Now that’s just wrong.

CIMG0106

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite costume store, Debbie Lyn’s Costumes in Sunnyvale, formerly Debbie Lyn’s Closet. They used to be right on El Camino Real but they moved last year not far away to 822 E Evelyn Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. They’re grandmothered into this blog as former residents of El Camino. They have a staggering inventory of high-quality rental theatrical costumes available year round. My wife loves telling the story of her first time there when she spotted a man in a business suit…wearing a banana costume. He was an Asian businessman no less, which just takes the whole thing to a whole ‘nother level, but I won’t go there.

The legend of La Llorona or “the weeping woman” persists throughout Latin America. Details and origins vary but the gist is she was a woman who centuries ago drowned her children in a fit of passion and now wanders the land for eternity weeping in anguish,  searching for their souls. Those unlucky few who encounter her under a full moon are terror-stricken, and misbehaving children are warned that she’ll get them. California scholar Craig Chalquist writes in his book Deep California that she is especially bound to El Camino Real because of its history of conquest and injustice. I can’t say for sure what will happen but I will say that if you intend to shop for a frazzled Kate plus zombie eight costume, you might want to get yourself to the Spirit store before this weekend is over because Monday is el Día de los Muertos [pdf]—”Day of the Dead” or “All Souls’ Day”—another mainstay of Latin American culture. And did I mention there will be a full moon that day? Who knows, La Llorona might be out, doing some post-Halloween bargain-hunting.

Update: That’s the spirit, Octomom!

Spirit Halloween Stores

http://www.spirithalloween.com/

MERVYNS PLAZA

2020 EL CAMINO REAL
SANTA CLARA, CA 95050
Phone: 408-615-8309

W EL CAMINO REAL

1236 W EL CAMINO REAL
SUNNYVALE, CA 94087
Phone: 408-730-5298

REDWOOD CITY

901 EL CAMINO REAL
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063
Phone: 650-306-9514

Here Come the Men of Stanford

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

The Stanford Athletics department has produced this hilarious promotional video featuring my old a cappella group, the Stanford Fleet Street Singers. This is one of those strange weeks where things seem to converge. Last Saturday, the anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, I wrote about how I was at a Fleet Street rehearsal when the shaking started. Next Saturday, I’ll be attending the Stanford Homecoming A Cappella concert of all the groups on campus. Afterwards I’ll be rooting for the Cardinal at the Homecoming football game against Arizona State. So naturally yesterday, hump day, I received this video featuring Stanford football and a cappella. It’s like a mashup of my life.

Now I have it on good authority that the world does not in fact revolve around me, but I must point out that I actually arranged the song that Fleet Street is doo-doo-doo-ing at the start of the video, “Lulu’s Back in Town.” I arranged it my Freshman year. That’s pretty good longevity for an arrangement, considering some of the guys in the video were born the year I graduated.

Stanford Reunion Homecoming A Cappella Concert

Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University
Saturday, October 24, 2009
2:00pm – 4:00pm

Stanford Homecoming Football Game

Arizona State @ Stanford
Stanford Stadium, Stanford University
Saturday, October 24, 2009
7:25pm kickoff