
Friday, September 18, 2009
Remember, Remember the 11th of September

Friday, August 14, 2009
When the Well Runs Dry
The crude oil refinery - an economic windfall, followed by an ecological wasteland.

At its height, this facility - in a location I won't disclose, other than to say it lies somewhere between Los Angeles and San Francisco - refined 20,000 barrels of oil a day, and was capable of storing another 870,000.

Hazardous waste produced at the plant - such as sulfide sludge and mono-ethanolamine - had to be hauled off-site for disposal. Who knows where that shit is now (probably in this bottle of Arrowhead I'm sipping on).
The refinery's parent company proposed a $100-million expansion to the facility in the early 1980s. Neighbors succeeded in blocking the move, protesting that the plant represented an environmental hazard to the surrounding community. Because the site's profitability depended on the expansion, the company closed its doors in 1984.


Oops...spoke to soon.
Meditation Mount
Not every inch of Southern California has been paved over, built up, burned down or drilled into. Meditation Mount in Ojai's still pretty much the same today as it was at its dedication in 1971. * Open 10am to Sunset every day of the week. * * * Quiet enough to hear a pin drop. * And completely free. * Go.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Bagdad to Zuni









*












*

*

*

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Welcome to Deadlow

"Ludlow, California is a town that refuses to die. Located along the railroad tracks of the 35th parallel, it became a water stop for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1882 (now the Santa Fe RR). The discovery of ore in the nearby hills assured the town of growth in the late 1880's. The decline of mining and rail traffic in the 1940's spelled Ludlow's decline. Ludlow is a ghost town of two eras; it was also a stop on old Route 66. When Interstate 40 was built Ludlow died a second time. Businesses moved once more to meet the demand of travelers on the new Interstate leaving another collection of highway memories baking in the intense Mojave heat." (From The Road Wanderer Website).
This little ditty scrawled on a rotten wall inside Deadlow Manor (seen up top) has invaded my unconscious. It keeps me up at night. I can't eat. I can't focus on my work. I won't be able to lead a normal life again until I solve the riddle: What in the Hell are Brave Eagle Shits?
The Murphy Brothers bought the Ludlow Mercantile, built in 1908, and then moved on with the rest of the town's residents after the construction of I-40. The building has somehow survived multiple fires and an earthquake that almost brought it to the ground in 2000 and still stands, a hundred years and counting.
*
Maybe a century from now some kid with a camera will be crawling around inside the guts of my local Jamba Juice. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
The interior of the Ludlow Fire Engine, which hasn't moved an inch since before I was born. 
Unfinished housing tract wedged between the town and the railroad tracks that bisect it.
One of many old classics marooned on former Route 66. 
Wandering not far from Ludlow, we came across another imploding farmhouse.
"Hey, where do you wanna put these old shitty tires?"
"Oh, just throw 'em out back behind that fridge."
Unmarked grave containing some long gone resident of Daggett, CA. The town was a stop on the old "20 Mule Team" route that hauled borax out of the Mojave until some local scum decided to lynch one of the company's black employees. The universe returned the favor and now Daggett sits long-forgotten under an inch of desert dust. I guess that's just how it goes.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Lockdown: Fort Ord Military Prison


Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fort Ord Military Base






























































































































