Amtrak Journey: Solana Beach to Los Angeles

Last weekend, a one-day trip to Los Angeles found me back on a train to avoid the stress of driving and  traffic. The Solana Beach station has a large parking lot which (so far) is still free. Just as I got in the car to drive to the station, Amtrak started blowing up my cellphone with delay alerts. My stomach dropped as a result of my previous Amtrak experience when the train was delayed by almost an hour. Fortunately, the delay was only about five minutes this time. Phew!



Designed by architect Rob Wellington Quigley, the Solana Beach station was built in 1994. The trip was fairly uneventful, other than two Spicoli kids who were yapping the entire time. Between the “dudes” and the “bros,” the departure at Fullerton couldn’t have come quickly enough!



Arriving at LA’s Union Station is almost like Dorothy entering Oz. Designed by the father-and-son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson, it is an impressive melding of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Art Deco architecture. The station still looks fantastic and appeared to be fairly well-monitored to keep it safe for the passengers.











When one exits the station, the fantasy begins to crumble as the smell of weed, urine, and the shouting of crackheads encourage one to keep moving briskly to avoid any trouble



On this visit, I checked out the Imperial Western Beer Company at the South Patio, formerly the Fred Harvey House restaurant, which was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who served as the Fred Harvey Company’s interior designer and architect. The tile floor is meant to look like a Navajo rug.



The Harvey restaurant closed in 1967 and became an event space/filming location.





And then it was time for me to make my way to my appointment, so I began hoofing it to downtown LA.



I’m not sure when this was installed, but this time I noticed this little plaque in the sidewalk about Union Station:



See more LA Union Station photos at my main website.

2020: A Year in Review, Pt. 2

Be careful about what you wish for…it just might happen. I was talking about country music with my friend Jansen one day and brought up Patsy Cline, who he had very little knowledge of. Not surprisingly, the song “Walking After Midnight” was discussed, and I said it would be fun to do a country-themed shoot…after midnight. A few nights later, he called and asked if I wanted to make that happen, and the next thing I knew, we were shooting the photo above. I love stuff like that, especially when it’s impromptu.

Even though I’ve been back in San Diego for over twenty years now, there are still places I had yet to explore, like the Quince Street wooden trestle bridge (built in 1905) and nearby hiking trails. 2020 is when it finally happened! Such a cool location!

A trip back to Palm Springs meant I got to stay at one of my favorite places again, The Movie Colony Hotel:

I had a photo shoot in Las Vegas; because I was not crazy about flying, I decided to drive it for the first time and finally see Calico Ghost Town along the way. DEFINITELY worth it!

While in Vegas, I made it back out to Red Rock Canyon:

Vegas itself kinda sucked; even RuPaul’s Werk Room was closed…due to COVID, of course. That became the catch phrase of the year. Anything that no longer worked like it should...just add “due to COVID” afterwards.

On the way back, I stopped at the Barstow Train Station, which was once a Fred Harvey Restaurant back in the day. I had to get a selfie in front of one of the vintage Santa Fe cars; if only it had said “Atchison and Topeka,” too!

What’s the best part of traveling? Coming home to Willis!

Another San Diego first was getting out to see the Desert View Tower and its incredible “collection” of rock paintings:

My workout group rented an Airbnb in Catalina; we made friends as soon as we got off the ferry as we sipped a few beverages by the water.

Don’t be shocked, but I managed to shoot a few photos while there. It was nice to return to the Island after my first trip sixteen years ago.

In December, I finally made it back to the Chateau Marmont after having been away for over a year.

Willis was glad to be back, too.

I was especially pleased to get back into painting again, and very grateful for the commission which provided that opportunity to be creative.

Last one for this post shows Willis sporting his Christmas bowtie (thanks Melissa, aka “The Colonel”).

I can’t really complain too much about 2020. It was actually nice not to be on a plane as much as I typically am; it forced me to stay home and get some work done around the house. I also was blessed to be able to spend more time with Willis, which always brings me joy. It doesn’t look like things will be changing any time soon,  so I’ll just continue to make the best of what life has given me, which has been pretty good so far.

See more Daveland photos at my main website.