Mini Run For The Border

Just when I thought I’d seen everything wacky in San Diego Dept.…

Near San Diego State University exists a miniature Taco Bell, as seen above. Yesterday I had to see this one for myself. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m so glad I made the short trek to see it, as these days, some moron will eventually spray paint it or vandalize it. As to the backstory, I found this on Roadside America website:

Faithful reproduction of the Mission-style first Taco Bell in San Diego, which stood from 1965 to 2008. This mini-version is across from a new Taco Bell's drive-thru. This miniature Taco Bell appears to be a utility box of some sort, faithfully decorated to commemorate the first Taco Bell in San Diego. It's adjacent to the drive-thru of the more recently remodeled Taco Bell that still stands at the corner of College and University Avenues. San Diego's original Taco Bell was built in 1965 and stood for over 40 years.



This little plaque gives a thanks to Glen and Marty Bell:



Turns out Glen Bell is the Taco Bell founder and Marty was his second wife. Edited from his obituary on newspapers.com:


Glen W. Bell Jr., the innovator and entrepreneur who tapped an unsated hunger for Mexican fare as Americans discovered fast food, creating Taco Tia, El Taco and in 1962 his signature Taco Bell, has died. He was 86. “We changed the eating habits of an entire nation,” Bell said in his 1999 biography, “Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story.” When post-World War II Americans began to realize they could no longer survive without cheaply purchased, quickly delivered hamburgers, the Southern California born-and-bred Bell looked for another simple staple for the masses. He chose the taco, which he first sold in 1951 for 19 cents each at a drive-in in San Bernardino. Eventually, Bell coaxed multiethnic palates across the country into salivating for his tacos and later additions of burritos, tostadas, frijoles and chili burgers. PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell in 1978 for $125 million and eventually spun off its restaurants into Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., now known as Yum Brands. Taco Bell serves more than 36 million customers each week in more than 5,600 U.S. locations. Over the decades, Bell developed what he called his “recipes for success” -- some 60 homilies outlined in his biography. His first three rules were the formula for his restaurant chains: * You build a business one customer at a time; * Find the right product, then find a way to mass-produce it; * An innovative product will set you apart. “I’m an entrepreneur, not an administrator,” he said. “Taco Bell prospered because I recognized my limitations, hired professional managers to make up for them, and knew when to let go.”



If only this thing lit up at night…



The details are mind blowing. Somebody spent some time on this thing:





For a sense of scale, you can see the existing restaurant behind it, which was doing a steady business while I was there:



I’ve never been a big Taco Bell diner; I’d like to say I have fond memories of eating there, but the majority of times I was drunk and it was 3am. Yes, back in my college era. I think the last time I ate there was with Little Miss Sunshine back in 1994.

On the way home, I passed the Tower Bar in City Heights. What an interesting piece of architecture. Art Deco meets Andy Warhol.





…and this Rodney Dangerfield mural:



It pays to get off the couch and explore!
 
See more San Diego photos at my main website.

The Point Loma Lighthouse & Cabrillo Monument

This image from an August 1960 slide shows the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, with the Cabrillo monument on the background. I am happy to report that both are still around, visited by tourists seeking that soul satisfying selfie.



Part of the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse was built in 1854 and one of the first eight lighthouses on the Pacific Coast. The new Pelican Point Lighthouse replaced it in 1891. During World War II the Navy used it as a signal tower. Below is the Cabrillo Monument, which commemorates the 1542 landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the first European to step foot on the West Coast.



The Portuguese government commissioned sculptor Alvaro DeBree to carve the 14' high statue in 1939 as a gift for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. It was later moved to its permanent home at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula, which was established as a monument by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. The statue suffered through years of erosion and was eventually moved to Ensenada, Mexico, to be replaced in 1988 by a replica carved by Portuguese sculptor Joas Chartes Almeida.





The views from this area are off the charts. You can see downtown San Diego as well as Coronado Island:



Back to the lighthouse…



The lighthouse lens once sent its light out more than 20 miles to identify locations and warn of hazards. That’s a lot of mileage! Made in France, it weighs 1,985 pounds and stands 5'2" tall. It was the lighthouse keeper’s job to maintain the lens and lamps in good working condition.



Visitors can tour inside the lighthouse. LOVE this spiral staircase!



The view from inside:



The rooms where the lighthouse keeper and family lived are very modest:





Outside is a garden; garlic anyone?



See more Point Loma photos at my main website.

30 Years Ago: West Baden Springs Hotel Arch Lighting

Recently on the French Lick Resort X/Twitter account, they posted some photos from the ice cream social/arch lighting ceremony at the West Baden Springs Hotel, which occurred thirty years ago on July 12, 1996. Yours truly was there. Above is a photo of the Hotel’s arch after its 1902 installation. The name “Carlsbad of America” was in reference to the hotel’s mineral waters which had guests flocking by train to experience their magical healing powers. The water that bubbled from those sulfur springs smelled like rotten eggs, but no less…the guests came. Below is how the arch looked in 2005, after Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana (HLFI, now simply Indiana Landmarks) and Cook, Incorporated began restoring the hotel. The little sprite in the center disk was named Sprudel, and he acted as the hotel’s mascot. The bottled mineral water that was sold here and sold all over was called Sprudel water. Yes…it was nasty.



Below is how the arch looked in 1995, when I first stumbled upon this incredible property. The Sprudel logo was gone from the center disk and as you can see, the entrance was in dire need of a makeover.



In 1996, Cook and HLFI joined forces to restore the West Baden Springs Hotel back to its former glory. While the Hotel itself was in much worse shape, it was decided to focus efforts on the entrance arch, to let the world know that this architectural wonder was coming back to life.



The building at the right of the arch is the original Hotel’s bank:



It had been decades since the electric lights had worked on the arch, so to honor the occasion, the Cooks held an ice cream social to commemorate the occasion. The townspeople flocked to it, and not just for the ice cream.



For years, the Hotel had served as the economic and social hub of the area. It had transitioned into a Jesuit college in 1934, and then was retitled Northwood Institute from 1968-1983, serving as a private coed college. After that, a number of failed attempts to convert the property back into a thriving hotel failed, so until HLFI and Cook took over in 1996, the place had literally crumbled into ruins.



The arch had been cleaned, rewired, and given a fresh coat of paint for the ceremony. Sprudel was not returned yet. He was still being worked on.



Below right is Jeff Lane, a local from nearby French Lick who was one of the main volunteers during the restoration efforts. He is still in the area, and pretty much serves as the Hotel’s most knowledgable historian.



As the sun began to set, the crowds increased. To say that the community was excited about the return of the Hotel would be a gross understatement.



Although I was a volunteer (giving tours of the property EVERY weekend), I wore my street clothes for the event. Sean and Christy were two of my closest friends at the time; each weekend we met at the hotel before the tour program started, we would run amok on the property, checking out the progress of the construction crews from the previous week. The cute gal in yellow was Esther, a local, who recalled the Hotel when it was open and had many wonderful memories of it. Getting to meet people like Esther made the volunteering a sheer joy, listening to these aged residents recall a different and grander time when this Hotel gave the little town of West Baden so much vitality.



Steve Ferguson, who worked for Cook Group, was heavily involved in the restoration process. Before the arch was lit, he gave a little speech. Sorry, but the flash on my little film camera at the time could only do so much!



And then the magical moment when the power was turned on and the arches looked magical once more.



My friend Pam from Bloomington accompanied me to this festive event.



Norma Brock was a French Lick local; her father ran the Elite Club, a nearby Casino. She was also full of great stories about the gambling establishments that once dotted the area as well as the West Baden Springs Hotel itself. She was a feisty character and I adored her. She used to love to say that the bugs loved her silver hair!



A few more images of the arches:



Sure beats another set of golden arches you might be familiar with.



The last time I visited the Hotel was in 2012; it still looked magnificent.



I had the distinction of volunteering more hours than any of the other tour guides. It was a gift of service that replenished me and brought me a wealth of treasured memories. Here I am in action on New Year’s Day, 1998. I was a bit hungover, so the Ray-Bans were a necessity.



I designed a few photo sheets, to give my groups an idea of what the place once looked like. That’s right - only with D-Tours!



As a thank you for my volunteer efforts as a tour guide, I was given this commemorative brick, which was once part of the property. 



See more West Baden Springs Hotel photos at my main website.