new thread
My apologies for being so absent recently, --- I'm especially sorry I've not been able to keep up with responding to all the great updates. G-man's pics were especially impressive (how *dare* he be able to grow so much hair so fast - lol); but my congrats to EVERYONE on their growth as well...
Not long ago there was some discussion here about the U S state of California, and the "rose-colored glasses" that can sometimes happen in viewing this great land of myth and legend from afar. Having lived here a long time, but still aware of it being my adopted state (I was born & raised in Northern Illinois), I'm eager to share my perspective of what i THOUGHT California would be like, before I moved out West here in 1977; and what California is REALLY like...
Oddly enough, when I was young, one of my motivating factors in wanting to someday live in California was that I knew there were a lot of hippies (AKA longhairs) out there. I was a frustrated longhair on the inside, with hair too short on the outside... "in the closet", so-to-speak, back in Illinois, --- I kept TRYING to grow my hair out (several times, in fact); but could only seem to get so far, then would cave in and cut it short again. I could only endure so far into the "awkward stage" without totally feeling disapproval from those around me at the time. I yearned to live someplace where I would not be judged for my choice of hair length...
Besides knowing that a lot of hippies lived in San Francisco, the general imagery of the laid-back California life-style was constantly parading around in my mind, due to things like travel agencies in Chicago promoting far-way exotic locations with warm beaches and swaying palm trees, etc.; Hollywood; and also any friends or relatives recently visiting there... So, in the fall of 1977, after having been accepted into a school that I was interested in attending, I packed up my few belongings into my pick-up truck, rented a little U-Haul trailer to drag behind the meager minimalist amount of furniture I owned, and headed West...
San Francisco, --- and California in general --- was both everything I could ever ask for (and then some), and also a total disappointment... at the same time!
First of all, the biggest shock in store for me: San Francisco beaches are NOT sunny & warm. I'll repeat that: San Francisco beaches are not not NOT "sunny & warm", --- except for a sparse few freaky days out of the year... San Francisco, especially in July and August, are about as cold as you can get! The famous author, Mark Twain, put it this way: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!"
How could this be? Well, the quick explanation is this...
A very cold ocean current comes all the way down the West Coast, strait from Alaska. While California's inland valleys get extremely hot (well over 100 degrees, --- especially down in Southern Calif., where it is desert), the coast is naturally "air-conditioned" by coastal fog. So, when planning a picnic in Norther California, if you're headed for the beach... BRING A WINTER JACKET!!! (no, I'm NOT kidding!)
The next surprise I had in store for me when I moved out here in '77 was...
MANY of the San Francisco hippies from the late '60s and early '70s had all cut off their long hair (boo hoo hoo)!! There were some remaining longhairs, of course; but the trends of style back towards shorter hair on men that were sweeping the rest of the country at that time unfortunately also included San Francisco... And an even bigger surprise for me was that I soon learned that SF had a very large gay population, --- something I was completely unaware about (even though I eventually figured out I was gay myself)! Naturally, one could assume this should be "no big deal" to me (especially BECAUSE of being gay); but the problem with this is that the vast majority of gays all like SHORT hair!!!
OK, so 2 major rose-colored illusions about No. Calif. were now broken: 1) The beaches were NOT balmy (or even swimmable); 2) Longhairs were just about as few and far between as back in Illinois.
But, over time, I discovered a subtle secret: the hippie STATE of MIND was still very much "alive & well", --- an attitude of acceptance, tolerance, and open-mindedness that generally-speaking does NOT change with the whims of fashion and time.
The beaches here may still suck, ---
That is, if you're hoping to get a nice tan or go for a pleasant swim!
... If, on the other hand, you don't mind the nipping chill in the air and bundling up for a stroll down the foggy coast, you just might discover our other little secret: the beaches, although often rarely above 70 degrees Farenheit, are just plain drop-dead GORGEOUS! And there's nothing a longhair enjoys more than taking off his hair-tie, shaking his hair loose, tossing his mane to the wind, and then going for a nice long walk along a wild and untamed ocean!
Ken in San Francisco
Great post, Ken!
California's really been on my mind lately, I have NO problem with a little coastal fog myself, I'm very used to it in Nova Scotia after all, and I am NOT a fan of excessively hot weather anyway! I have seen pictures of the scenery out your way, and everything is drop dead gorgeous! I have NO illusions or rose-colured glasses at all, I know what it is like out there.
The other thing is simply having the chance to meet up with as many of you as possible when I get out to California in spring 2009, that's a real dream of mine, as you saw in my earlier posts. (I remember you saying you would give me a quick tour when I am there, I am most certainly looking forward to that!)
Looking forward to meeting ALL of you,
David
Dude, if I was alive in 1977 I would have told you that San Fran's beaches aren't warm and would have saved you the shock...except there wouldn't have been internet for me to tell you this, but I could have sent a letter or made a phone call.
Anyway that was all an interesting read and I'm glad you are happy where you are.
I can attest to the frigid August temps in San Francisco; it served as a valid excuse to obtain a new wardrobe one August several years ago, as I came in from South Louisiana with my shorts and golf shirts. Otherwise it was a wonderful trip; one I would recommend to anyone; don't miss San Francisco in your travels!
Big George
My mother grew up in Palo Alto/Mountain View/S.F.She married my dad and moved to Texas.Big shock.We flew to S.F. in 1960 to visit my grandmother in July.My mother had us bring coats,I thought this is dumb.Then I stepped off the plane.Big shock.Dad got transfered to California in 1967.We lived in Oxnard till 1969.I visited my grandmother several times.My aunt took me to S.F. in an MG midget in 67.Went to the wharf,the Golden Gate,and took a cruise on the bay.We also went to Height Ashbury.At my request.I bought a big copper peace sign on a leather thong,still have it.My aunt told my mother she needed to get me out of there,that I was heading down the wrong path.There were longhairs everywhere.I was hooked.Yes the beaches suck,but they are beautiful.In Oxnard we were 5 miles from the beach.I got pretty decent on a surfboard then we moved back to Texas.Had to cut my hair,schools in Texas didn't allow it.Came real close to hitching a ride back to S.F.The next year(1970)they changed the dress code to allow long hair.
Arrick,on the farm in Texas
Mark Twain apparently didn't write that quote, but the sentiment is pretty true.
The Dolphin Club begs to differ! (But they are all insane, anyway...they use words like "invigorating" and "exhilarating" to describe 50F/10C water.)
SuperSekrit Warm Sunny beach: Bonita Beach...a protected black pebble beach that is often in a fog "hole" when Baker is covered in little cat feet, never mind Ocean Beach where the howling foggy gale will soak you on the windward side for the temerity of poking your head over the seawall.
And each so different...in one stretch of west facing shoreline (southern part of Point Reyes), you go from a rock reef and shelf to bouldery cliffs to a waterfall to the beach (Alamere Falls), to a long sandy strand,to tiny pocket beachs, to a low tide only beach at Arch Rock and back to a miles long sandy beach.
But you pretty much know what the conditions will be, after checking the weather forecast, which for months of the year could be "Highs from the 50s to the 90s, low coastal clouds in the morning."
Ken, wow, thanks for sharing a little bit of your history. You're absolutely right about the chilly beaches of No. California.
In 1977, my friends and I took a cross country journey, San Fransico being one of our stops. After camping inland, Mt Diablo I think, we wanted to experience the Pacific, Pt Reyes Park.
What a shock we had when we jumped in, not to just get wet and get out, but for 15 minutes or so! Well, you don't drive 3000 miles and not go into the Pacific! Of course the fact that the only two other people in the water had wet suits on didn't deter us. Afterward, we scrambled for the car, rolled the windows up to trap the heat of the sun and shivered back to normal body temperature in about 2 hours!
Bruce
That's too funny. Coming of age in the 80s, San Francisco was synonymous with gay. When you mention it, that's one of the things that always comese up. I guess that wasn't always the case.
At any rate, I don't suppose I have too many delusions about California being some kind of paradise. I already knew about the beaches and the coastal weather.
At this point, I'm just looking for change. OK... maybe there is a little bit of "California dreaming" going on. There would certainly be more expenses there. OTOH, I'm just not sure if I can stand the idea of spending the rest of my life in one place. I certainly have a lot of big decisions to make in the next few weeks. Isn't that always the way--there are short little periods in life where you make decisions that govern large blocks of time...
I don't think the state of mind should change with the length of one's hair and rather interestingly, does everyone with long hair share the same state of mind as the hippies. From what I've see of long hairs, I don't really think so and this might be the reason why the hippie longhairs cut their hair because it didn't mean the same thing as it mean't to them -- that is to reflect a committment to a lifestyle of tolerance, peace, love and understanding.
Like in Britain, towards the 80's, there were a lot more people with impressively very long hair but these guys were heavy metal fans who didn't quite share the peace, love and music ideal of the hippies.
As you most probably know, the lyrics of heavy metal music tend to be more about anger, aggression, torture and the dark side and like some British bands which contrasted with the love and peace of the hippie favourites like the Grateful Dead.
So not every long hair has exactly the same ideals and in fact could have conflicting ideals.
Also, quite a lot of hippies became Silicon Valley yuppies and followed the money, which the hippies disdained.
However, others like Richard Stallman who founded the Free Software Foundation were motivated by the hippie idealand he still has his long hair.
My thankfully wrong assumptions of California included that it was all palm trees on hot sandy beaches. Falling in love online with a guy who lives in California was about the dumbest thing I ever did since I thought I'd have to put up with the most un-Maineish place I could think of. While most people like warm beaches my favorite place in the world is Maine where you have cold pebbly beaches, a great snow season, cold weather, and open ocean.
Well, California suprised me in good ways, mostly. My first impression on the first visit was how disconcerting it was to see hills all over the place in the SF Bay area. Seeing so much land at a time was just weird to me and unnerving. I'm not used to that at all in either Maine or Maryland. By the third or fourth visit it was not so weird to see all the hills anymore and now they are a familiar and comforting part of a state I have grown to love.
My Bill D. introduced me to the Sierra and all the wonderful, deep snow we can access. Deeper than I'd ever see in Maine he pointed out. He took me to see sea palms, a funny plant that looks like palm trees and gets knocked over by waves only to spring back up again. I still don't remember to dress warm enough for San Francisco when I visit the city but I'm so happy to have cold air within reach. About the only thing I don't like about the state are the bears but luckily I don't have to be fearful of them in the suburbs.
Elizabeth
P.S. I found an old email Bill wrote to me to explain California before I visited. Here's how he describes it:
California is a whole different world compared to anything east of the Rockies. It's a very diverse state (the paper recently listed the nation's high and low temperatures the day before as both being in California [108 in Death Valley and 25 in Bridgeport]. The coast is very mild, seldom getting far below freezing or over 90, while the interior valleys get a bit colder in winter and very hot in summer. The coast is blanketed in fog and low clouds from the ocean during the summer, while the interior gets valley fog in the winter. The high mountains can get very cold. No part of the state is tropical, though parts are arguably subtropical. I'm nicely situated between the coast and the interior, where things are *just* right.... at least most of the time. Don't tell the three bears! ;-)
The entire state has dry summers, but winters are wet up north and to a lessening degree as one travels southward or to the east of major mountain ranges. Average annual precipitation ranges from under 2 inches up to 120 inches(!), depending on where you are. Where I live it's about 25 inches. The high mountains get lots of winter snow- often several hundred inches in a winter (that's not a typo). Contrary to popular belief, most of the state is not desert.
About 40 percent of the state is covered with hardwood and softwood forests, yet palm trees are *not* native to any part of the state (not even Los Angeles!) outside of the hottest deserts in the extreme southeast of the state. We have over 5000 plant species, one third found nowhere else, as well as some of the biggest and most beautiful softwood forests anywhere in the world (and I don't mean just redwoods). Where I live we have grassy hills with oak trees, broadleaf evergreen forests on the north slopes, and deciduous trees down by the creeks.
The ocean off most of the coast is quite cold all summer, which is why the coastal areas get so much coastal fog. However, as this humid coastal air goes inland, it warms up 30-40 degrees and becomes rather dry, leading to (relatively) comfortable rather than miserable heat in the interior. We don't get that 90/90 air from the Gulf of Mexico like the East does!
What all this means is that over most of the lowland parts of the state, things start greening up in the late fall/early winter with the first heavy rains, then bide their time through the coolest part of the year when it's quite cool with occasional frost. In spring things really burst forth with the combination of moist soil and warmth, before turning brown later in spring as things warm up and dry out. The fact that the time when moisture is available is mostly opposite of when it's warm creates drastically different conditions than those found in the eastern third of the U.S. It's a whole different world from anything you've ever experienced! Whew! That was just a minimal introduction to a little bit of the natural environment here... there is so much more one could say about other aspects of the state...