Trip: Nethercutt Museum

So this week I got a chance to visit Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, California. This quiet building is filled with antique cars from late 1800s to 1960s. The owner of this museum is no one other than... the Nethercutt family, of course. Actually, Jack Boison Nethercutt, an avid car collector, was the man that started the collection, but he died in 2004. His wife, Dorothy, also passed away in the same year. His son has taken over the operation of the museum since then.

From outside, the car museum didn't look too impressive; however, there are 8 rows of classic cars in the damn museum!!! That's right, that is 8 rows, not 8 cars, which totaled to over 100 classic cars -- shoulder to shoulder. Even an antique car collector, like Jay Leno, would drool over this. On the wall, there are several collections, including car emblems, toy cars, and items from the early 1900s.

In addition, there is a FREE two hours tour(with reservation) to visit the second building, which normally is not open to the public. Now, I have been working in Sylmar for a couple of years, but accidentally saw it on wikimapia earlier this year. Anyways, after some thought, I decided to visit here, and join the free tour. A word of caution, be prepare to shock and awe...

On the bottom floor of the second building is filled with classic cars, including the little wooden buggy you see in the photos. On the wall, there are car trophies, classic musical boxes, and two feet dolls from late 1800s.

Moving on to the second floor... Woh!! Wah! Wow!!!! The whole floor and the columns are made out of marble from Italy, Africa, and Virginia. The ceiling is approximately 50 feet high, and one of the wall is a mirror. Each grand chandelier on the ceiling is over 6 feet tall. Apparently, this floor is made to look like a car show room back in the early 1900s. Amazing. While we were looking around, a piano was playing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", but... the pace didn't feel right. That's because the paper roll replayed the actual record of Gershwin himself. Neat.

The third floor is a collection of car emblems. Very comprehensive. There are tons of emblems from car companies that shut down. Also, you can see the evolutions of emblems through the years.

The fourth floor is a musical hall. There are several orchestrions in the hall, and, yes, "orchestrion" is a real word (time to add the word to the spell checker)! Basically, an orchestrion is like orchestra in a box... err... make that a giant cabinet! Popper and Hubfeld are among the biggest orchestrions in the world. Both of them are over 10 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and about 3 feet deep. However, the grand finale is an overwhelming 500 pipes organ orchestra playing the Star War theme mixed with two famous early 1900s musics (one is something with Chu Chu Train). Needless to say, the experience is incredible. It really felt like you are in an orchestral theater.

To sum my thought in few words... a must see in your life time!!!









Links:
* Wikipedia - Orchestrion
* Nethercutt Museum
* Youtube - Nethercutt Museum

Walk: Santa Anita Canyon

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
Oh, do you see what I see?

These days, my weekends are filled with activities and chores: send my camera to be fixed, change the car's engine oil, sell those bottles and can, write my business report, read the chapters for my business class, drive around town to do this and that, etc. There never seems to be enough time to stop and think. However, on Saturday morning, my friend called me up and offered an opportunity for me to do that.

"Hey, what are you doing today?"

"Not much," my typical reply, despite all the chores, "Why?"

"I'm thinking if you want to go hiking."

A moment of pause.

"Hiking?" this is from a guy who complains about parking too far in a parking lot.

"Yeah, hiking."

And so the weekend's activity was decided. We were going to hike Santa Anita Canyon. I drove up the narrow and curvy canyon slowly with three cars trailing me. My friend did not like how slow I was driving, but he knows better than to say too much. For any passengers in my car, they know, it's better to be safe than sorry. We got to the parking lot around 11 AM, and paid five dollars for a parking permit.

Along the trail to the bottom of the canyon, we took some detour to visit few abandoned cabins. There were plenty of equipments, and rusted items filled with web cobs. I thought about how anyone could have live there in the early 1900's. It would have been a long and enduring walk up and around couple canyons. After about an hour, we got all the way down to the bottom of the canyon, where lie a spring with crystal clear water. A family with couple kids were playing around the spring. For me and my friend, we sat along the stream talking about our lives in the beautiful nature with small creatures in the spring.

It was not too long before we realized that we should have pack some food before coming here. The hike was exhausting, and it was already 1:30 PM. We headed back after 20 minutes around the spring. For my friend, who is not used to walking up hill for more than a mile took few breaks along the way. His legs were giving up by the time we got back to my car. As I drove down the canyon, three more cars followed me...

Oh, still waiting for my camera to come back, so no pictures.

Walk: No Camera, No Picture

Making Honey Green Tea is like an art...
Too much honey, and it becomes too sweet.
Too much tea, and it becomes too bitter.
Too cool, and there is no flavor.
Not enough ice, and there is dissatisfaction.
And just like any art, it displays the inner character.

Well, my camera is out to Canon service center right now, so there are no pictures this week. It was last weekend when I noticed that dusts [somehow] got into the inside of LCD screen. I tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge, so about half of the screen is covered with these "sticky" dusts. I called Canon, and they told me to send it to them. Hopefully, they will fix it within a week or two (and charge nothing, since it's still under the warranty).

So, without a camera, I went out for another long walk. The journey started with a festival on San Gabriel Mission(an ooooold church). The festival was set along the Mission Street, which filled with apartments, small businesses, and the church itself. There were plenty of organizations, associations, and food tents. However, the zero cloud plus 90 degrees temperature, made it quite hard for many people to come out in the afternoon. Even an ice cream man left his popsicle cart on the side of the street!!

However, the most interesting sight was a eight year old kid selling a lemonade drink in front of his apartment. Unfortunately, his apartment is a block away from the festival, so his business wasn't doing too well, even at a deep discounted price of 25 cents per cup. As I was walking by, I got caught in it...

"Would you like to buy a lemonade?"

"Errr... no," I tried to walk away.

"... please?" in a soft whimpering tone.

I gave in and paid 50 cents for a 6 ounce cup of lemonade (25 cents drink + 25 cents tip). To my surprise, he also tried to sell me fortunate telling. Apparently, his mother, who sit inside the house (watching TV?), is a fortune teller. Obviously, that didn't go far.

I headed up north to San Marino, and got a cup of Honey Green Tea from the usual store. A bit bitter, heavy on the tea... as always. I wanted to say something about the taste, but there were several people in the store. It wouldn't be right to say it in front of so many people. In the end, I left, and continued along Huntington Blvd. Here I found out [yet] another Noodle World restaurant. I have seen the other two stores already (Pasadena and San Gabriel). The sight of it only make me wonder how much money they really make each day.

Headed west to Alhambra, and back to Main Street, it really felt like hell to be walking for three hours. Fortunately, I bought a bottle of water with me, but it didn't last too long. I had to refill it few times in the mall and hospital before getting back home two hours after hitting the Main Street. However, that was not before visiting couple game stores, and tried out the Wii system. No, I didn't go wild and swing that nunchuck around. Although, I should try it on one of these days.

Walk: Sunny Day

A genius is one that think outside the scientific standard.
An insane person is one that act outside the social norm.
The distinction between the two are not mutually exclusive.

I remember sitting in my high school English class, and my teacher read out a quote from Robert Frost that goes something like this, "On a path through the forest, I take the path least taken, because that is the most interesting one." I cannot recall that teacher's name, but many quotes that he read stuck to me.

On Saturday, I went up to Pasadena again to take pictures of a hut-shaped coffee store for my project in business class. The temperature during noon was over 90 Fahrenheit, and not see a single cloud can bee seen in the bright blue sky. The sky was as empty as air itself. The hot weather never really bother me before, and so I decided to walk as planned. In order to reduce the heat, I washed my hair with water before I left my house around noon. However, by the time I reached the second intersection, my hair was already dried.

Jogging up the hill was not easy, and it hit hard when you are unfit. I used to jog for almost 30 minutes continuously during the college days. That was with a calculus book, a 5 inches binder, and a bunch of junks in my backpack. Nowaday, I maxed out at 15 minutes with no extra weight. It wasn't pretty, but that did not stop me. Along the way, I went inside two stores that I passed by all the time in the last 10 years, but never enter them. First was Honey Baked Ham store, and another was a CVS store across the street from Honey Baked Ham. Interesting, but I didn't buy anything.

When I finally reaches the coffee store at Pasadena City College, I took out my camera and started taking picture. Since the store closes on weekend, I was taking picture of an empty hut-shaped store. Nearby, a photography student was eating her lunch under a tree, while occasionally looking at what I am doing. Maybe I was being too pessimistic and conscious, but she probably thought that I was either crazy or stupid. Who the heck take picture of a hut in those boring angles? Ten minutes later, she went back to her class.

I left the college after almost 20 minutes of photography, and along the way, I started to think about these walks that I am doing. Now, it just happened that one of my manager lived near by and occasionally drove on the streets and roads that I walk. In the past year, he spotted me twice on the road. To be fair, I don't walk on the same path, or go to the same place each week, but yet he spotted me twice on the random occasions. I thought to myself, who else saw and recognized me on the road? There had to be other people that recognized me out there. I don't look that much different since high school, so I am pretty sure someone noticed me, and did not say anything.

Disappointing. These people cannot stop themselves to even say "hello." Did they simply choose to ignore me, or simply cannot control themselves from moving ahead? Do these people even know that they are in control of their actions? Or is the simple act of saying "hello" is too hard? Too much time out of their lives? Too inconvenient? Too much trouble that it worth? Even a simple honk on your car would do. Maybe it has to be dramatic like the movie, where I got hit by his/her car before he/she come out, say a few words, and hope that I won't sue him/her.

Ever since I started walking, one car honk at me(couldn't tell who it was), and came across three people from high school. It is sad if they chose to ignore me. It it worse if their actions are beyond their control. Honestly, I do not mind that people act within the social norm, but I hate to see people constricted by the social norm. If you can think and judge independently, then act freely. Like they said, I am tire of excuses.


Sincerely,
Someone You Have Not Say Hello To :)

Walk: Little Tokyo

Those who dreams, but never pursue are called dreamers.
And successful people are the dreamers that tried.

                                                                   - Van Pelt

So, last Saturday morning, I drove to the usual gas station with my radio station tuned to K-Earth 101. At the end of what seems like a lengthy advertisements, the disc jockey reported about events that are happening around Los Angeles area. One of it happened to be the Cherry Blossom festival in Little Tokyo on the weekend. At that moment, I thought to myself, I have to go see this.

The original plan was to go the festival immediately afterward with my camera. After calling my friend up, he agreed to go with me in the late afternoon. The afternoon came and went, and we both did not go to Little Tokyo. My friend was tied up with things to do, and it was 5 PM by the time we were done. Back up plan, Sunday.

Two P.M., Sunday, we both were standing in front of the Metrolink train station in Pasadena. The $1.25 per train ticket was a bargain comparing to driving a car to Little Tokyo. The distant is about 15 mile one way, and the minimum parking fee is $5.00.

Train: $2.50 per person x 2 person = $5.00 total
Car: ($3.60 per gallon; 30 miles/gallon; about 30 miles) + $5.00 parking = $8.60 total

Little Tokyo is about half a mile away from the Union Station. It occupied a small area between 1st Street and 3rd Street, and the festival was setup on San Pedro street, next to Little Tokyo Mall. Comparing to Chinese New Year festival in San Gabriel, this festival is quite small, but interesting nonetheless. There were three stages for performances: martial arts stage, music stage, and main stage. The booths on the roads included food booths, business booths, and small gift shops. However, the performances were quite an interesting sight. Many of the traditional Japanese performance were done by non-Asian, much less Japanese (take a look at the pictures below). In the plaza, there were additional independent performers that draw quite a crowd. Me and my friend spent few hours around Little Tokyo getting back on the train.

Little Tokyo:

Left - Samurai practitioner; Right - Traditional performance


Left - Takoyaki store. Six pieces for $6!!; Right - Hawaiian dance


Chinatown view from the train:



Link:

• Little Tokyo's Cherry Blossom Festival