[LA.pm] Fwd: OT: Visiting California with family

[Jeremy Leader]

I believe Vasquez Rocks is now a county park. It'll also probably be oddly 
familiar, because literally thousands of movies, TV shows, and commercials have 
been filmed there over the years, and the rock formations are very distinctive.

Another interesting natural area is Channel Islands National Park.  The islands 
are reachable by boat from Ventura; there are one or two companies that run day 
trips to the closest islands.  There's also Catalina Island, closer to LA, which 
is partly developed and partly nature preserves.

Filmmaking is a relatively hard thing to catch, because while there are always 
crews filming all over Los Angeles, they don't publicize their locations.  I've 
heard that Warner Brothers and Paramount both offer tours of their studios and 
backlots, but I don't know much about them.

There are some smaller aquaria in Los Angeles that I actually like better than 
the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, is only a 
little smaller than Monterey. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, in Long Beach, is quite 
a bit smaller (and less expensive), but very interesting.

I'd second the recommendation for the Southwest Museum, it has a fantastic 
collection of local native american artifacts, but I believe it's closed.  It's 
apparently been merged administratively with the Autry Musuem, which is more 
about the fictional concept of "the West" (i.e. lots of old Hollywood cowboy 
movie artifacts, etc.).

This year, my kids' school district (maybe 10K students) has spring break the 
first full week of April.  Los Angeles Unified School District (700K students) 
has spring break the 3rd full week of April.  Other districts will probably 
vary; I'd guess many will have their breaks before or after Easter, the 3rd or 
4th full week of April.

-- 
Jeremy Leader
jleader at alumni.caltech.edu

On 02/13/2011 08:35 PM, John Kirk wrote:
> Hi Sawako Leslie and all,
>
>    Happy to oblige.  Here's what I sent off-list.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 2:55 PM
>
> On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 12:54 PM, Gabor Szabo <szabgab at gmail.com
> <mailto:szabgab at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I hope you will forgive me for the off-topic question.
>     My family (kids 9 and 13, my wife and myself)
>     are planning to visit California in April. Besides the "obvious" places
>     such as Disney Land, Seaworld, Universal Studio, the San Diego Zoo
>     and "near by" Grand Canyon I would be happy to get some
>     recommendations. What might be interesting for kids at that age?
>     Please take in account that they hardly know any English.
>
>
>    If you do plan to get as far North as San Francisco, or thereabouts, I have
> two suggestions.
>
>    On the ocean side of the San Francisco peninsula, only a mile or two down the
> coast, there is a place at the shore where the slopes to the ocean and the winds
> coming ashore are ideal for hang-gliding, para-gliding and flying
> radio-controlled, engine-less model gliders.  It's always been one of my
> life-enhancing experiences to watch folks get off work in the mid-afternoon,
> drive their VW minibusses to the parking lot, unfold their hang gliders and step
> off the cliff and simply fly for hours on end, up and down the coast, higher and
> higher and, when tired of this, fly lower and step back onto the cliff and drive
> home.
>
>    At Monterey, South of San Francisco, there's an awesome public aquarium that
> I've never seen anything like.  The Monterey Bay has absolutely unique habitat
> for flora and fauna of the ocean, so the research center, there, associated with
> the aquarium does wonderful work.
>
>    The coastline of California -- especially for many miles near Monterey -- is
> just awesome.  Coves, offshore rock formations, the Torrey Pines and other flora.
>
>    In Southern California, where I grew up, I have some (awfully dated) suggestions.
>
>    There's a day hike I used to love, in the desert just past Palm Springs North
> of the town called Indio.  It's a County Park, and called, I believe, Painted
> Canyon.  I just relocated back to Southern California after being away for
> thirty years, so I haven't been back to that location recently to see how it's
> fared, being so close, by freeway, to "civilization".
>
>    There's also a place in the desert North of the L.A. area called Vasquez
> Rocks.  I loved it as a kid and, back then, it was owned privately and operated
> as a day-and-overnite car-camping site.  Kids can climb under and around a huge
> natural rock formation that is reputed to have been the hideout of the bandit,
> Vasquez, back in the day.  I haven't been there recently, either, but understand
> it's still available.
>
>    My father was the curator for ten years in the forties and fifties of the
> Southwest Museum, where there's a light-rail stop now.  I haven't seen it
> lately, and have heard it's been ransacked by bureaucrats, but it might still be
> interesting casually.  There's a horizontal, long pedestrian tunnel with
> dioramas, leading to an elevator up to the hilltop museum.  It always used to be
> a wonderful kids introduction to the Southwest Indians of this several-state area.
>
>    The San Diego Zoo used to be the best one I've ever seen.  Haven't been there
> lately, either.
>
>    Sorry to ramble on, but I'm back here because I've missed it so.  Feel free
> to get in touch anytime, by email or phone.  I'll be happy to help or host in
> any way I can.
>
>                 regards,   -- John Kirk
>                                   (267) 882-7777
>
>
>
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