Only in Southern California can you be riding a bicycle at
5:30 in the darkness of predawn, pass a drive-in of the chain, Sonic, and
take part in a filming for a commercial.
So it was that I took this picture hiding behind a sign that said “No
Photography.” I asked what they were
doing so early in the morning.
Surprisingly, those big screens are protypes for what they say
you’ll see if you eat at Sonic in the near future—huge TV screens at each stall
where some high-tech system takes your order and delivers your food. They had a nice buffet set up for the
workers, of which there must have been fifty, and I was allowed to
partake. Crazy Southern California.
I write this from The Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino on Historic
Route 66. Built in 1949 as a fanciful
emulation of an Indian encampment, it is one of seven Wigwam Villages built
about the same time along Route 66.. The
golden age of roadside Americana began to disappear in the 1960s and 1970s, and
only three of the Wigwams remain—Cave City, Kentucky; Holbrook, Arizona; and
this one. So, for my first night on the
road I decided to take in a bit of nostalgia. 
My room awakens in me a sort of ancestral memory. I feel I know what it felt like to sit in a room like this, no sound except the singing of the kettle, the friendly tick of
the clock. No TV, from when I never felt
the need for it, mother cooking on an open fire. 
Dear friends, I have moved your comments on this post “Nostaalgia” because I made a mistake in formatting the blog. Please see my replies to your comments under each one below. Sorry for my mistake. Sharon
ReplyDeletePauli April 5
Who other than our own dear Sharon would attempt such an adventure. Wigwams, sonic screens, and movie sets. You know how to live! Pauli
Sharon: Thanks Pauli, but I only live as I seem to need to. There must be safer and more sensible ways to live.
Janet N April 5
Dear Sharon,
From Sonic & huge screens to Conic (well, wigwam) and no screen. Happy riding!
Janet
Sharon: And it has been happy riding so far, Janet. I hope it continues
Toti O'Brien April 5
A circular room? Or was it a square hiding into the conical husk? Anyway, it feels like a perfectly meditative space, dear adventurous friend. With you in spirit. T
Sharon: The room is a many-sided polygon, Toti. The slanted walls are sheetrock on the inside and stucco on the outside. It’s a kind of Disneyland appearance. Not like a real wigwam, but angular and meditative, like living inside a strange geometric form.
keiko amano April 5
Von Voyage!
Sharon: Thank you Keiko
I am amazed you are not gone a day and you seem to have already had a swarm of adventures! Here we are with our usual Wednesday meeting... though a wild one with both Fereidun and Robert here, listening to poets read on their work in two languages... well not really, but it was in many ways, even for a small meeting, uusual dynamic like a symphonic extravaganza.. wait --I think we are in tune with you! Monica just arrived with her sweetheart and I made a 9 pm dinner in a grand style with lots of wine... ok--no tepee, no route 66 but quite a ride today!!
ReplyDeleteYou sound happy and thoughtful very good! We missed you today.
on the road
your bon voyage
a commercial
for the future
your next adventure
My next adventure will not likely be to Sonic Drive-in, but it seems like history repeating when I watched their production in predawn darkness. Back in the fifties, high tech gadgets seemed to impress everyone; and now in the twenty-teens, people will likely be drawn to Sonic just for the big screens and the automatic service.
DeleteWhat a start!!! That a girl, YOU! Oh, my, a movie star as a sideline? And sleeping in a wigwam? WoW! Did you dream of any Indian scalping your beautiful mane?
ReplyDeleteNo Alex, I dreamed about a female singing group called “The Conchitas”—even remember their group name in the dream. They couldn’t actually sing, but half spoke, half sung, and people like them.
DeleteThe window through which I watch you has a frosty glass, vingetting your adventures in a nostalgic haze, transferring my yearning self back into another somewhere surrounded by a whole host of precious memories. Some of which, oddly enough are not even my own. And, that's the beauty of it! Thank you, my friend.
ReplyDeletehow do you like that word, 'vingetting' .... has a vintage ring, don't you think? I 'get' it .... vin-getting, getting vintage experiences ... yup, that's how I planned it, uh huh
ReplyDeleteI like vingetting, Junnie. On this vintage, nostalgic, somewhat scarry journey, the word works for me.
Delete