purely descriptive observations about california

[lobelia321]

Or, to be more precise, about the Bay Area.

Plumbing
The water coming out of the shower smelled mossy.

Fauna
A hummingbird hovered in front of my face in the hotel walkway.

Traffic
The speed limit on the highway is 65 miles (104 kilometres an hour). In built-up areas, it can be 35 miles (56 km). Most drivers keep to the speed limit. They do not overtake or tailgate or honk or flash their lights at you, or simply all go faster, as they do in England and Germany. Every car glides along at the same stately pace.

The roads are wide, and some of the larger ones have three lanes, even when they are not highways.

Street signs do not announce where a particular street is going to but its name. So, instead of saying 'Next exit Heidelberg' (for example), the sign will say 'Next exit Camino Street'. This means it is easy to get lost.

The streets are mostly arranged in grids. Few streets curl in on themselves or move at a diagonal.

Rampant capitalism
is what I expect from the United States of America. But either the case for rampant capitalism is highly overstated or the Bay Area has been so rampant that it's moved on and come out the other side of it. I encountered almost one independent bookstore per day. Even quite small towns had 2-3 independent bookstores. In England, you could spend weeks without ever stumbling across an independent bookstore. Or an independent coffee shop. Everything's a chain. Not so in the Bay Area.

The City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco has a section called 'Muckraking'. This is not a category much encountered at Border's.

Precipitation
For two days, there was intermittent rain. It came in the form of drizzle and could be weathered with a hat or an umbrella. Or even by just waiting under shelter for 15 minutes. Everybody apologised for the 'bad weather'.

The air is fresh, not muggy. It is hot in the sun and cool in the shade.

Demographics
A real estate agent (or 'realtor') drove us around some suburbs (or 'neighborhoods'). Every house cost over 1.8 million dollars (1.198 million pounds). Many houses cost 2.5 and 3 and 4 million dollars. Some houses had front porches with columns. The residential streets were leafy and empty of pedestrians. The only people there were Mexican men, engaged in what the realtor called 'mowing and blowing', i.e. garden maintenance.

The mowers and blowers cannot possibly afford the 1.8 million dollar houses. I assume they commute in from less well-off locations.

As this is meant to be a purely descriptive post, I am not saying anything about the 'blowing' aspect of the 'mowing'.

The dispensation of justice
I read in a local paper about a murder case, currently being investigated. A little girl was found killed. A woman was arrested and charged with her murder. The paper told me that, if convicted, the woman could face the death sentence.

Nomenclature
A public loo is called a 'bathroom'. A domestic 'bathroom' is called a 'bathroom'. A domestic downstairs loo or guest lavatory is called a 'half-bath'.

The computer in its natural habitat
In the land of the Silicon Valley nerds, the computer is not in a zoo but operates in its natural habitat. Even the local buses were wi-fi wired up. Lots of people sat on the bus, doing their emails or whatnot on their laptops.

Matters sartorial
Very few men wear suits. Very few men wear ties. I saw men wearing a suit jacket with a different-coloured pair of trousers. I saw very few young women in mini-skirts or those new platform-type high heels. It took four days for us to spot our first young man in a pair of skinny jeans.

Comments

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Half-bath? How odd!

Thank you, I found this a most enjoyable and informative read.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. I will try and think of more. I'm not as traumatised as I was last week so this should not be too much of a health hazard.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

A bathroom with a shower rather than bathtub is sometimes called a 3/4 bath.

[cupiscent.livejournal.com]

The City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco has a section called 'Muckraking'.
Wheeee! Now I just have my father in my head saying, in as broad a Lancashire accent as he could arrange, "Once a muckraking." Was it actually about muckraking?

When I was over in the US at a friend's wedding, there was a big bundle of Aussies, and we were all talking about "going to the loo" or "toilet break!" and all the Americans thought we were really crass.

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

well by their standards you were. Nothings quite so much fun as a good comedy of errors country of origin mash up.

I once heard a joke about someone people watching at an embassy party somewhere. maybe in the 1970's or 8's i heard the jok
The Spanish are comfortable with standing much closer together compared to the English. So with quite a bit of amusement she watched the Spanish ambassador essentially chase the English ambassador around the room. The one would be comfortable and the other would back off, so feeling too far away, the Spanish ambassador would inch closer. etc. etc.

[msilverstar]

Most people in the US have no clue about "loo", but consider "toilet" to be really explicit and yes, crass.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It was! It was totally about muckraking! It had all manner of political tomes on current affairs in there, corruption, insane wars, all that stuff. True muck! Being raked! I wish I'd written down some of the other categories now.

I recently learned from a half-Irish friend, that the 'u' way of speaking English (i.e. the posh way) is to say 'lavatory'. So: 'toilet' is vulgar. 'Loo' is posh. And 'lavatory' is ultra-posh. *giggles*

[cordelia_v]

Ah. Ignore my prior query; that was before I saw this.

This is succinct and delightful. And as a native Californian, I have to say that you're on target there with Every Single Observation. Amazing. I mean, you weren't there all that long, but the observations you have there are quite accurate.

A trained observer, I must conclude.

Most drivers keep to the speed limit. They do not overtake or tailgate or honk or flash their lights at you, or simply all go faster, as they do in England and Germany.

Yes. This. You can now imagine how hard it was for someone who grew up there, in the land of Civilized Drivers, to adjust to driving elsewhere.

People are pretty civilized in almost every other area of life, too. Maybe not Cultured. But still Civilized.

Good luck with your decisions.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

A trained observer, I must conclude.

*laughs very much*

Thank you! *executes flourish*

Maybe there's a new career in there somewhere, as a detective or a... someone. Well, novelist!

I wonder if observations can't help but be accurate. That is, if you try really hard and force yourself to describe, without emoting or judging, won't it come out as an 'accurate' observation? Hm, an interesting philosophical question.

Isn't Los Angeles supposed to be the exception to the Californian driving-slowly rule?

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

Hm. I sense a certain level of British over politeness as of someone who doesn't quite know what to say when they have found a cat turd in the bathtub.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Who? What?

I'm not British, you know. *sighs* One day I must update my potted autobiography... (But, psst, I do live here.)

So I'm happy to take this as a compliment!! Especially as my own nation is known for their blunt rudeness! Hah! *punches air*

[kathputli-girl.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I have never been in the Bay Area but it is clearly quite different from my neck of the California woods!
People do not abide the speed limit here, nor do they signal when changing lanes, nor do they even bother to look and see if you are where they are planning to be next. We almost get killed in our car every single day here.
We have like three independant bookstores in all of SD - I have worked in two of them...
Rain?? What the heck is that? Can I get some??
Public loo here is called restroom.
Oh I would love to see a man in a suit...other than a doorman...

But...we have sunshine? 8D

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Restroom! I totally forgot about restroom! And that a toilet is called something different if it's in your private home from when it's in a public facility!

So is there some sort of north-south divide in California??

[anitac588.livejournal.com]

Love these observations.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Often it's the small things about foreign places. And you forget to see those when you've lived in them a while.

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

waaah, i want to see a hummingbird.

cardinals and american robins are pretty special too, though.

b.x :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I went a bit silly about the hummingbird. It practically flew in my face and then I chased it round the outdoor walkway thing of the hotel until it settled on this branch, and it is so cute. At first I thought it was a dragonfly; it really is amazingly tiny and hovery, like a helicopter with very, very fast wings. In German it's called Kolibri which I think is a lovely name, so I was running round after this thing, softly calling out 'Kolibri, Kolibri'.

Yes. I said 'silly'.

[msilverstar]

Traffic - your experience is unusual, you may have been lucky, there are many speeders and reckless drivers who cut people off, swerve across many lanes, tailgate, etc.

The roads are wide - it's only recently I realized how much raw space we waste on roads.

'Next exit Camino Street' - 'Camino' is 'street' or 'road' in Spanish. El Camino Real is The King's Road, the Spanish king, from the 1700s. It's older than anything except some isolated stone circles from native peoples.

Rampant capitalism ... so rampant that it's moved on and come out the other side of it. - the Bay Area has more independence, but there's an very wide expectation that everyone should work hard and they will make a lot of money!

The air is fresh, not muggy. It is hot in the sun and cool in the shade - yes, we are so lucky, we have an ocean breeze that makes a huge difference.

Demographics - more so in Palo Alto than most places, it's an incredibly desirable location, all the venture capitalists want a short commute, and who can blame them


Nomenclature - Bathroom - yep. You can just call any lav a bathroom, the question of half-ness only really matters when talking realty.

The computer in its natural habitat & wifi on busses - only in Palo Alto. Most places, only poor people take the buss.

Matters sartorial - skinny jeans, punk, emo, etc. are all much more prevalent in San Francisco

---

Suburban America is twenty minutes from Palo Alto: strip malls with chains, new ugly cheaply-built housing development, voting Republican...

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

Most places, only poor people take the buss
i was in the mid-west when lobelia was in california, and i sussed this one out soon enough. what shocked me was this basically translated as me being the only white person on the bus (i appreciate that this might not be true everywhere). buses here - especially city buses - are pretty democratic spaces. i have a car but i wouldn't bother taking it into town, i'd get the bus.

b.x :/

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I learned about the Camino Real! I just inserted 'Camino' there because I couldn't remember any of the other street names... The Camino Real is a fairly amazing road but it's very ugly now.

I'm happy that I didn't encounter these elusive break-neck cutter-offers, then!!

Interesting, about capitalism and the Bay Area and how making money from working hard continues to reign as ethos number one.

Palo Alto may be desirable to some but I found the whole Mexicans-being-bussed-in phenomenon a bit off-putting. I didn't say this in my post because I was forcing myself to be strictly descriptive! But I don't exactly fancy the idea of being surrounded only by millionaires and academics. It seems very, very weird and ghettoish.

The bus wasn't even a Palo Alto bus but a Stanford bus! And it's free!!

[synecdochic]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone in a tie in the Bay Area!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

T'h wore a tie!

I'm now trying to remember if anybody else was.

In Cambridge, I saw a man in a suit with a bowtie only yesterday. This is not even a strange sight here.

Yeah, Synecdochic!!!! *glomps* You still deign to visit my lowly LJ! I signed up for a paid DW account the other day, just to support your project and because I basically support and respect everything you do. But I'm still here and not there, *g*.

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

Heh. I gather you were in one of the whitest and most affluent places in the entire U.S. - the Palo Alto upper class suburbs around Stanford University. It's not just venture capitalists who occupy the townhouses there, it's old money, doctors, lawyers, physicists, and highly paid professors. East Palo Alto is where the poor people with various shades of skin live, and the divide is very sharp. Although I hear gentrification has been underway in East P.A. in the last decade or so.

I'm surprised your observations apply to San Francisco as well, where the prevailing style of driving is offensive rather than defensive, people run red lights, the streets are narrow and often under construction, there's a mix of cultures and neighborhoods, you can have seven different microclimates scattered throughout the city at any given time, and the Financial District is a positive zoo bastion of power suits of both sexes.

There you will also find the Tenderloin and the thriving club/warehouse scene South of Market and the gay mecca of Castro Street and the Chicano-heritage Mission District and the old African-American Fillmore area and Chinatown and the foggy miles of the Avenues where Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian Orthodox and Hasids all live cheek by jowl in stucco Edwardians that converge upon Ocean Beach.

And City Lights Bookstore has a reputation to maintain, don'tcha know. A whiff of irreverence, a touch of the rebel. :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

highly paid professors
Well, if we went there, t'h would be one of the highly paid professors but even with the very high payment he would get, we could not in a thousand years afford those houses! So what the university does is to provide their professors with loans and grants and financial housing packages otherwise nobody would be able to live there. As someone explained it to me, that university has priced itself out of the market by growing all those silicon chip billionaires. Steve Jobs the founder of Apple lives there, in a thatched cottage!!! But it's about five times bigger than any thatched cottage I've ever seen.

Well, I guess my observations do not apply to San Francisco because we didn't drive much there. But no, hang on, we did drive through there once but there was a traffic jam a mile long so I guess nobody sped... And I missed out on the power suits!! Well, next time...

I really liked San Francisco. Do you?

[mystico-tala.livejournal.com]

:D I enjoyed reading this. Even within the US, when I was a student and got together with different people from other parts of the country we would compare differences like this. Much more interesting from different countries.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Gads, when I was a student we would compare differences among people from different regions of Germany, and one memorable evening, even from different valleys in the Odenwald. Apparently, each hamlet in the Odenwald has its own word for potato and for strawberry, even if these villages are only five minutes apart by bike!!

[minavox.livejournal.com]

For two days, there was intermittent rain. It came in the form of drizzle

Bf just came back from San Francisco with the (well, at least for me) highly amusing information that this sort of weather is called "falling moisture". Speaking of politeness and positive thinking... :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

'Falling moisture'!!

That's a hoot. We had lots of falling moisture in England today. Some of it was even 'driving moisture'. Quel fun.

Well, it keeps your skin supple...

[prisoner--24601.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. I always find observations of foreign visitors really interesting.

But either the case for rampant capitalism is highly overstated or the Bay Area has been so rampant that it's moved on and come out the other side of it. I encountered almost one independent bookstore per day. Even quite small towns had 2-3 independent bookstores. In England, you could spend weeks without ever stumbling across an independent bookstore. Or an independent coffee shop. Everything's a chain. Not so in the Bay Area.

Heh, it's pretty typical of everywhere I've ever been in the States. I live about 2,000 miles east in Metro Detroit (in the state that looks kinda like a mitten), and there are a ton of independent book stores here including one especially gigantic one that's a five story warehouse building. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere, even in really small rural areas that didn't have at least one used bookstore nearby. You can also really make out like a bandit on used books if you can catch a library sale or go to a local thrift store where the books are even cheaper (at least around here).

A real estate agent (or 'realtor') drove us around some suburbs (or 'neighborhoods'). Every house cost over 1.8 million dollars (1.198 million pounds). Many houses cost 2.5 and 3 and 4 million dollars. Some houses had front porches with columns. The residential streets were leafy and empty of pedestrians. The only people there were Mexican men, engaged in what the realtor called 'mowing and blowing', i.e. garden maintenance.

California has some of the highest priced real estate in the nation, and was kind of at the top of that huge housing market credit bubble. I honestly don't understand how normal people can afford to live there.