From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Re: Disneyland and Eco/History (Was: Don't Move to Tucson)
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 22:41:55 GMT
Distribution: na,local

In article <7SEP199223005209@violet.ccit.arizona.edu>
dsewell@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (SEWELL, DAVID R.) writes:
>(Eugene M., you're too much of a California fixture for anyone to think
>you'd move.  Nice to see you elsewhere than rec.backcountry, now
>that I'm in a civilized part of the world that gets alt.california.)

Hey, no problemo.
This is one of my Control groups to ca.general in FAQ experiments.

>For example: Tucson doesn't have a major amusement park,
>Disneyland as a California place, as THE Southern California place, its one
>single archetypal statement to the world.  When I was there this summer it hit
>me how little Disneyland has to do with any California reality other than
>Hollywood.  Not a single ride or exhibit based on a California theme (am I
>wrong? correct me!).  Landscaping designed in large part to recreate Hannibal,
>Missouri, the "Congo," New Orleans, Switzerland, what have you, with nary a
>California scene (I almost said "native plant," but that's possible extreme) in
>the place.  
>
>My father worked for Disney Productions for 25 years & helped design some of
>those rides, so it hurts me to say it, but Disneyland is the vision of a man
>who was what I call a Ronald Reagan Californian: someone who lives there for
>years without giving his soul to it (or vice versa).  (Remember Reagan's
>favorite hobby at the ranch?  "Clearing brush."  Yeah, that ugly stuff that
>burns when a fire comes through to help its seeds germinate.  The only good
>chamise bush is a cleared one...)

I think your comment about Disneyland is well taken.  It was a starker
contrast when it was surrounded by orange groves.  The analogy was similar
to corn fields (I only recently saw Field of Dreams and I am not a baseball
fan).  Maybe a field in Iowa will have a city pop up around it.

Sam Goldwyn (MGM) made a comment that you can find just about any biome
(my term not his) for making a movie in CA.  If you want that, I'll post
for you: it's in my book on hot springs.  I see them doing the same thing
at Dizzyworld in FL now.  I don't have this book at work, but let me know if
you want to see the quote.  Great quote.

I plead guilty to the clear brush analogy.  I pick wine grapes for a friend
(invites sent out via ba.mountain-folk).  There is something satisfying
to the CA soul in doing physical labor (for at least a little while).
Some interesting people do this (physical labor).
Not easily explained.  That's why of why I think CA culture is so out door
based.  Actually Woody Allen's comment about Right Turns on Red lights is
a good one.

I'm also certain that every CA kid in Southern CA considers working for
WED Enterprises 8^) (I did, but assembly language programming of DGs and
Univacs didn't appeal to me).  Who can missed Mikey's ads in the LA Times?
Hey, WED is on the net.  The movie/entertainment industry is certainly
an all pervasive thing down there, but it has it own non-reality as you
point out.  For the life of me, I can't understand and can't convey to you how
much my Dad hated Lucille Ball (he was fervantly anti-communist and regarded
Ball are the ultimate "Red" and I think RR was the same way, they got
along well, never met her, met Him several times [no interest in his
politics]).

>Real Californians, as opposed to Reagan Californians, aren't made, they're
>born, and they can be born in a matter of minutes.  Jerzy Grotowski, the
>avant-garde Polish theater director, turned into one when he hit Irvine as a
>visiting director in 1983.  He told an L.A. Times interviewer during his first
>week or so there: "Everyone tells me that California is a very new place...but
>the sea is old.  The mountains are old.  In this new place, we can find
>something which is very old."
>Am I wrong?

Actually the Sierra are among the younger mountains of the world.
The oldest rocks are from the West coast of Greenland.  A friend just brought
some back.

CA was once the symbol of great opportunity.  Every CAian should visit
Sutter's Mill some day. Opportunity is a double edged sword.

>Is the bumper sticker I used to see in La Jolla that said "THERE IS NO LIFE
>EAST OF I-5" right?  Has California never been more than a virtual place, with
>Hollywood therefore the only real California?  Is Leisure Suit Larry what's
>really real about Coarsegold, not the Sierra?  (...is the Sierra only On-Line
>after all?)

That's an interesting question.  (Leisure Suit Larry)
Shortly after my term running the local SIGGRAPH, I sponsered a local
SIGGRAPH meeting at Xerox PARC on the topic of "Computer Erotica or
Computer Porn?"  I spoke to Sierra OLS's people, they were very touchy about
the issue, not wanting to hurt sales.  I drive throught Oakhurst/Coarsegold
to go climbing.  I remember one sales woman saying: "Mister, the product
is R rated in our opinion, and I'm the mother of a 14 year old and I don't
want him playing this game."  What was also interesting was getting samples
of Virtual Valory (we're getting away from CA) and MacPlaymate.  I think
this woman's statement about what she sells says something about the
CA mentality.  I would not have followed up to this post (just read it)
were it not for LSL.  Yeah it's kind of a state of mind, but you
can shovel snow if you have a house up at 6,000 ft.  I look at the Valley
where Sierra OLS sits: the best example of a distributed cottage company.
You'd never guess a "high-tech" company existed there.  Most people driving
thru Yosemite from LA would never think of it either.

>End of rant.  Sorry for the incoherence; this is what happens when someone
>exiled for 8 years in western New York gets access to West Coast newsfeeds,
>kind of like Crusoe finding someone to talk to again...

Ah, think nothing of it.  It's the Usenet.

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Resident Cynic, Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene
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A Ref: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, vol. 1, G. Polya
Newsgroups: alt.california,ca.general,la.general