Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/27

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Subject: [Leica] San Diego
From: Gary Elshaw <gary.elshaw@vuw.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 12:02:44 +1200

At 1:28 PM -0700 27/6/2000, Dennis wrote:
>San Diego, lots of great photo ops. Many already mentioned. The zoo is a
>must.
>
>Not yet mentioned I think it drive out to Point Loma late in the day.

Not yet mentioned is my arriving in San Diego and trying to sleep at 
the end of a pier because my accommodation had closed for the night 
after the Amtrak from San Francisco went through multiple delays. I 
arranged for another place to stay, but the cab never showed up. I 
considered calling Harrison, but thought better of it (2-3 AM)." Hey 
Harrison! I know we've never met, but do you want to come in from La 
Jolla (sp?) and grab me, i'm somewhere in the gaslight/lamp 
district?" I'm really sorry i never got to meet San Diego luggers on 
that trip, but i was tied to the Marriott for most of it.

Still i got to meet an interesting array of homeless folks who kept 
me company for a while that night. One dude had just escaped a rehab 
programme. Nice guy too. I ended up semi-sleeping in a big planter 
box at the end of the wharf. The cops cruised/patrolled past, and 
thank god they didn't see me, especially after i saw one of the cops 
beating on a very old, and very defenseless homeless guy the next 
night. I met some nice people there, but I thought San Diego was a 
really paranoid city. I stopped outside a bank that had an enormous 
lawn, and pulled my pack off to get something out or shift it around 
and this rent-a-cop came running up to me to tell me to move on. I 
stopped for literally 2 seconds before he ran up. I'm the least scary 
person you'll see in your life.

Someone mentioned Tijuana? I went for half a day, which was almost my 
total time away from my accommodation and the Marriott. My advice is 
to go! Go to Tijuana, even if it's just for the chaos of seeing it. 
Cops hanging out and looking tough, tourists en masse, everything and 
anything for sale, cheap and nasty tourist gifts, and serious looking 
customs folks on the way back through. It's about $2 on one of the 
trolley cars, and the whole environment is a real eye opener. I ended 
up talking to some cool locals on the trip back in to San Diego, 
which was almost worth it alone. On second thoughts, just crossing 
the 'Concrete Curtain' was worth it.

Harrison, next time, could i please come and stay with you! Please 
change my mind about San Diego!

Take care,
Gary
- -- 

"The difficulty now is that unexceptional adults believe the loss of 
youthful dreaming is itself "growing up," as though adulthood were 
the passive conclusion to a doomed activity and hope during 
adolescence."


OO             The Uses of Disorder
[_]<|          Personal Identity and City Life -- Richard Sennett
  /|\
Gary Elshaw
Post-Grad Film Student
Victoria University
New Zealand
http://elshaw.tripod.com/
http://elshaw.tripod.com/photointro.html

Replies: Reply from Harrison McClary <harrison@mcclary.net> (Re: [Leica] San Diego)