- San Clemente
- Avalon
- Cape Cod
- Salt Beds
- Mule Deer
- El Posito
- World Famous Hairpin Turn
- Indio Date Festival
- Ryoanji Temple Garden
- Sponge Fisherman
- Gibson's Bakery
I collect post cards. Here are some of my favorites:
San Clemente
San Clemente is a cathedral built on top of a basilica built on top of a holy cave of some sort--in Rome. As you proceed down the levels you travel backward in time. The sound of a subterranean water source gets louder as you descend. In the cave, there are 11th Century frescoes that tell a story of murder and intrigue among saints but I forget the details. I had hoped the other post card I bought would elaborate, but it doesn't.
Avalon
It's a movie theatre on Catalina Island. The building it's in looks like a wedding cake. When I was there, all that was playing was "Scrooge" with Bill Murray, which I'd already seen twice but how could I pass up the opportunity to watch a movie in this place?
Cape Cod
Until I was nine, my family went to Wellfleet in the summer. Although I have nothing but happy memories, this image produces a chthonic jerk of recognition: that kid is hopping mad!
Salt Beds
If I could write a poem, it would look like this. Note the attached bag of actual salt.
Mule Deer
What's wrong with this picture? After intense scrutiny, all I can say is there's something weird about the light. For a while I thought maybe the deer was a model in a diorama (too much time spent at the Museum of Natural History), but it's not, it's real. I guess my favorite part is that he's walking away. Go deer go.
El Posito
I love that there is a shrine in the basement of a church in Chimayo, New Mexico (not on a major road, not particularly near Santa Fe or Taos) that is, essentially, a dirt hole. What I love even more is that there is a post card of the thing.
World Famous Hairpin Turn
I have four different versions of this view -- different times of day, styles of coloration, eras, etc. I saw them in a flea market and was certain that I knew the spot. Sure enough, it's a stretch of road is not far from where I went to summer camp. Anyway, it's “world famous,” it says so on the back of the card.
Indio Date Festival
I haven't been to the date festival, but I've been to Indio. My brother worked on a movie there in the late 80s (After Dark, My Sweet) and his stories made me want to visit. Date palms are an important cash crop in the area -- hence the date festival -- but there's another kind of date on offer here, too. Aren't they yummy?
Ryoanji Temple Garden
Sadly, I have never been here but until at least 1981 there was a replica at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens where I spent many hours. For my money, it was one of New York City's greatest outdoor attractions. You had to go through a little wooden turnstile and take off your shoes at the entrance -- they gave you paper slippers to put on over your socks. I don't know why they took it away.
Sponge Fisherman
I once got the bright idea of going on a vacation to Cedar Key, Florida by myself. I was the only guest in a hotel that was undeniably haunted and it was too cold to sit outdoors and read so I drove south almost 100 miles to Tarpon Springs. I thought I remembered my grandmother mentioning it, once. The only notable thing there was the sponge-fishing museum (SPONGEORAMA, in faux-greek letters), which was full of things like this photograph: sad, beautiful, painfully sincere. Afterward, I ate Key Lime pie.
Gibson's Bakery
Gibson's was the second-best donut shop in Oberlin, Ohio, where I went to college. I bought this post card on a drive across country in 1999, during which I learned that you can now buy booze in Oberlin and that the best donut shop went out of business. But look at the way the lamps glow. You can have this image of the place on a snowy night for under a dollar and it beats the hell out of any mug, sweatshirt, ring, or bumper sticker, if you ask me.