Photo Essay: Heritage Square Museum Has Thrown the Abandoned Church Doors Open

For the entire time I've lived in the Los Angeles area (nearly 14 years now), there's been one building at Heritage Square Museum I haven't been able to get into. 

All the mansions and the former train depot have posed no problem—but the former Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church, on the other hand, was a longtime holdout. 

Photo Essay: Celebrating Day of the Dead at the Birthplace of Los Angeles

I've liked cemeteries for all of my adult life, at least ever since I used to climb up behind Chapel House and spend some quiet time at the Colgate University Cemetery. 

 

But living in Southern California has taught me a little bit about how Mexican cultures honor the dead in a very living sort of way—namely, building altars (or ofrendas) where they honor the lives of those who've passed by making offerings (like sugar skulls) and setting up photos, dioramas, and more.

Photo Essay: The Pageantry and Personas of the WeHo Halloween Carnaval, 2024 Edition

The Halloween Carnaval has been drawing crowds to the streets of West Hollywood since 1987 (with a couple years taken off during the COVID-19 pandemic). 

Is it a parade? Well, not exactly—because there's no determined order of the participants and people walk in both directions. 

But is it really a carnival? Well, there's definitely some masquerading and "riotous excess."

I like to describe it as kind of a walkabout.

 

Photo Essay: 101 Years of the Anaheim Fall Festival (Upon the Centennial of the Halloween Parade)

The last Saturday in October is always a busy one—and try as I might, I never seem to make it to the Anaheim Fall Festival, which always lands on that day. 

 

This year, on the 100th year of the parade (but the 101st year of the festival), I finally made it—casting all other plans aside, because you just can't do everything you want to do all the time. 

Photo Essay: Bowlium, A 1950s Bowling Emporium That's Fit for the 21st Century

In the first year of the pandemic, I hauled my cookies a couple of times out to Montclair, California—about 45 miles east of where I live—to catch a movie at Mission Tiki Drive-In (which unfortunately closed in 2023). 

That's how I first became interested in the Bowlium bowling alley—which was fortunately nearby but unfortunately closed for COVID-19.

 *photo taken 2020

"The prominence of the building, which makes it clearly visible from the street on the parking lot's far side," writes Alan Hess in his book Googie Redux, "shows the importance of bowling alleys as community centers in the new suburban areas of the 1950s."

Photo Essay: The Neon Studio Working to Save the Bay Area's History, One Sign at a Time

As I mentioned before, I actually had a hard time booking my trip to the Bay Area a couple of weekends ago—whether out of a sense of responsibility, or guilt, or fear, I don't know. 

I couldn't really justify just taking a weekend away—God forbid I take a vacation—and the Doors Open California events I was interested in just didn't seem like enough. 

 

And then I stumbled across an event sponsored by the Neon Speaks Festival & Symposium, which was occurring that same weekend, and I thought, "OK, that clinches it."

Photo Essay: Riding a Steam Train Through the Redwoods at an Abandoned Army Camp

I struggled with whether or not I should travel up to the Bay Area last weekend, given my uncertain employment and my certain commitment to be writing a book. 

But I hadn't taken a trip since Memorial Day weekend, and my feet were getting itchy. 

Turns out, it was the perfect time to get away from Los Angeles—which was in the throes of a 110-degree heatwave—and embrace the cooler environs up north. 

One of the draws for my trip was the annual Doors Open California weekend, hosted by California Preservation Foundation. And one of the places the program was giving special access to was the Redwood Valley Railway in Tilden Regional Park, just east of Berkeley. 

Photo Essay: The Dutch Windmills That Helped Establish San Francisco's Golden Gate Park

In Southern California, the only windmills you'll usually see are the wind power-generating ones, like on the windmill farms of Palm Springs or Tehachapi. 

At least, that's been true since the last of the Van de Kamps coffee shops closed in the 1990s. (The last remaining windmill is now a Denny's in Arcadia.)

But in Northern California—specifically, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park—two windmills are alive and well, including the Northern Dutch Windmill built in 1902. 

Photo Essay: A Los Angeles Carousel Has Made San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Its Home for Over 80 Years

This is just so typically me. 

I go years (or decades) without visiting a place—and then as soon as I go back once, I end up going back a bunch of times. 

Because it's so easy for me to shift my attention elsewhere. But once something gets back into the front of my mind, I realize how much I've missed out on. 

Such is the case with San Francisco. 

I was just there in January, after having not really been there since 2006—save for a couple of hours two years ago—and ever since, I've been itching to go back. 

This time, California Preservation Foundation's Doors Open California program gave me the perfect excuse to return. 

But first, I had a lot of places to cross off my list. 

 

Take Golden Gate Park, for instance. It feels very much like San Francisco's version of Central Park in New York, with meandering paths and sprawling lawns and a few historic points of interest—including its own vintage carousel. 

R.I.P. Belle Boy, Heritage Square's Museum Cat

One of the great joys of visiting Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights, Los Angeles over the last few years has been its floofy orange museum cat.

His name was Belle Boy. And I just found out he passed away last September 28, 2023.

 

When I heard the news, I cried with heartbreak. But I was also grateful—glad that I'd gotten to spend a little time with him in May 2023 while producing a video for PBS SoCal's "SoCal Wanderer."