Exhausted and sick, I finally arrived in Boise, ID after three days of driving. I checked in to the Holiday Inn and walked across the parking lot to Applebee’s. While eating, an elderly couple was seated at the booth across from me.
I heard the kindly old man say to his wife, “Well, here we are at Applebee’s, dear.”
It was like the ham-fisted first line of a bad comedy sketch.
Spotted this Rick & Morty mural off 3rd St. in San Francisco. “You shall now call me Snowball, because my fur is pretty and white.”
My plan was to drive up to Idaho for the solar eclipse, but I was fighting a horrible, rib-rattling chest cold. I know you’re not supposed to do this, but I looked through my medicine cabinet to see if I happened to have any antibiotics I could take. I found some, but they had the most explicit doctors instructions I had ever read.
My brother, sister-in-law, and niece gave me this Lego Wolverine for Christmas. I’ve placed him on the door jamb, ready to pounce!
As very little boys, my brother & I were obsessed with Matchbox cars. For Christmas one year, my mother made us this giant 6 foot felt map of Hollywood for us to drive our cars around on. It contains all of our favorite family landmarks:
I drove up to the Bay for 4th of July. A couple days later, I got together for dinner with some ex-DWA friends. My dear friend Robyn took us on an afterwork tour of the Pixar campus.
St. Louis. Gateway to the West. The arch was one of the last outstanding squares on my American landmark bingo card.
Lewis and Clark left for their expedition from right under the Arch. True story.
I feel like this bike rake was a real missed design opportunity.
Looking back over the Mississippi River to Illinois.
The view from the top of the Arch looking west.
Apogee.
The elevator “pods” that take you to the top of the arch were a hellish ordeal. What was clearly Space Age technology in the 1960s hasn’t been updated since. Several times, I thought to myself, “This is how I die.”
Being late June, a thunderstorm rolled in. The rain runs down the Arch in fascinating ways.
I wondered why Jennifer Lawrence’s face was plastered on the side of a building. And then I wondered why Louisville, KY of all places was having a Hunger Games exhibition at the Kentucky history museum. I slowly remembered that Lawrence must be Louisville’s “native son.”
Not far down the street from Camp Washington Chili is the American Sign Museum.
The parking lot was a veritable graveyard of signage.
I kept thinking of Lisa Simpson & Paul Anka’s “Just don’t look, just don’t look…” jingle.
The entrance was clearly marked.
The museum chronicles the history of signage, from painted letters to light bulbs to opal letters and finally to neon.
It includes an impressive research library…
…and a workshop.
Still can’t believe this ecological nightmare was an actual logo.
Incorporated into the city street façades, in the “shop” windows, are mini-exhibits with tools and art books.
I was tickled by the idea that at some point in history a clock would attract everyone’s attention.
The blueprint to the McDonald’s neon sign was kind of breathtaking.
This Big Boy sign was right next to the men’s restroom.
These modern paintings in the style of old fashioned ads were gorgeous.
Farewell, American Sign Museum!
Apparently everyone knew this except me, but chili is a huge deal in Cincinnati. It was late and I was exhausted from driving all the way from Chicago, but apparently I committed a faux pas at Camp Washington Chili by not ordering the chili over spaghetti. In the future, I know that what I want is “four-way bean” (spaghetti, chili, cheese, beans instead of onions.)
I have loved the city of Cincinnati ever since I learned about it was named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus who lived during the Roman Republic. The story goes that Cincinnatus was plowing in his field when his fellow citizens called on him to lead the armies of Rome against its enemies. Once the enemies were vanquished, he lay down his power and returned to his farm.
Cincinnatus was revered by the Founding Fathers as the model of the selfless gentleman farmer.
“Baby, if you’ve ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I’m living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, WKRP”
“WKRP in Cincinatti” is probably the earliest sitcom I remember watching and I still know the lyrics to the theme song by heart.
The credit sequence also featured this fountain entitled The Genius of Water.
Not quite as indelible as the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, perhaps, but close.
Carew Tower was also featured in the credit sequence.
It’s probably the most impressive building I’ve seen outside of Manhattan or Chicago.
I visited the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Okay, this exhibit actually did speak for itself. An audio-animatronic Noah would answer a series of preset questions which could be selected from a touchscreen. In a vaguely-Semitic-but-mostly-Santa-Claus-sounding voice, it would say things like, “Well, there are really only about forty different kinds of dinosaurs, so I only needed eighty on the Ark.”
And finally, of course, exit through the gift shop.
I was out in Chicago helping my friend Stephanie settle in to her new home. We went on a Chicago architectural river cruise and timed it perfectly for sunset.
One of the things my mother gave me was her love of Arts & Crafts design. (One of our last outings when she was still semi-lucid was to the Gamble House. And our last outing to anywhere but the Olive Garden was an Arts & Crafts furniture exhibit at the Huntington Library.)
I considered buying a Stickley chair when I was living in Pasadena, but could never justify the price. When I moved back from China, I decided to treat myself and ordered one from Fedde’s. It was delivered today.
