Familiar Views 09-15-11

Several years ago I took some pictures of old Spanish style buildings at the junction of CA 152 & 156, east of Gilroy and San Juan Bautista.  The next time I drove that way the buildings were mostly gone - removed to build an overpass from one highway to the other to avoid the terrible accidents that happened when frustrated drivers tried to make it across in front of speeding cars and trucks.  So, the rerouting is a good thing, but I still miss that small group of buildings.  Their absence makes me more aware of places I drive all the time and barely notice anymore.  These views along Highway 101 in Long Beach have hardly changed (in my mind) since the first time I drove this route in about 1959.   I KNOW things are different now - fifty years ago there were still forests of oil pumpers in this area and maybe only one power generation facility instead of four.  I could do some research, but the point is actually what is there now and the possibility that it will be gone someday and most of us will never notice.  There have been many proposals over the years for building on the land between Pacific Coast Highway (101) and the power plants, but the cost of cleaning up the soil from years of oil exploration and pumping is prohibitive.  Several places along the coast have been carefully revived as wetlands, which all of this was before oil and before WWII and the population boom.  But it is an ongoing war between the preservationists and those who see open land as an opportunity to make big bucks by building houses, strip malls, shops and vast parking lots.  I hope the preservationists continue to win their battles - I like seeing undeveloped land with plants both wild and opportunistic, with birds and wildlife, and with a view of what is beyond the curb of the roadway.

Oil pumpers and power plants with wild palm trees. 

A long shot of the power plants with the early evening (6pm or so) light reflection off the metal panels.

 

While I was in Ralph's Market parking lot taking the above pictures I attracted some attention from the local guys - I wonder if someone comes to feed them there.  There were half a dozen walking and flying around me, but this guy was very brazen.  Handsome fellow.  I've never been very good at identifying gulls, the Herring and the California are very alike, but these pink legs make me think he is a Herring Gull.