Posted on 12/26/2011 6:19:09 PM PST by Allen In Texas Hill Country
Just got back from our latest cruise, LA to Hawaii and back. But before we boarded the ship we spent a few days in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. We get back there every couple of years still having family and friends there. Seeing Santa Barbara again makes me throw out this bit of hyperbole/speculation.
Of all the places/cities/towns where people live Santa Barbara and the surrounding area might be the most beautiful on earth. Of course I (nor anyone else) have seen the entire world and never will but IMHO it must be. Said with prejudice. Check the URL
Lived for four glorious years in Lone Pine. Too bad the economy there took a dive after 9/11. We had an unobstructed view of the Sierra from the front door of our house in the Alabama Hills.
I agree with you regarding Bakersfield; at least how it was in the mid-’70s. One of my wife’s four older sisters married a guy (they both grew up in Arkansas with tenant farmer parents) whose only work was driving a dump truck. They struck out for CA and ended up in Bakersfield. I found out that there were many others in the area from Arkansas and Texas and it was a conservative “atmosphere” after visiting with them a couple of times.
We spent a few days with them around 1977. Their house faced a busy main road in town, but across the street was a huge orange orchard and the smell was fantastic. They had trees in their backyard for grapefruit, orange and lemon.
I rode with him on his job a couple of days, as by that time he had a large business doing contract work for the oil companies; building roads and constructing well sites. I recall a place called Onion Patch. .....He became a millionaire by the late ‘80s and also had a trucking business that would haul heavy earth moving equipment for others. He got into collecting old classic cars, like the RR Silver Cloud (which they drove to our house in Texas one year) and had a huge RV. .......Their kids all grew up working in his business and two are still out there. He retired back to Arkansas and died a couple of years ago.
Geez... Sorry for being so mouthy. Just stirred memories.
I worked an outage at Diablo Canyon and rented a house on Avila beach. It was spectacular, wish I could afford to live there. The smell of orange blossoms at night is heavenly.
Nice story but Bakersfield is no where close to what it was in the 70s. There is nowhere here called Onion Patch. There is a Weedpatch.
You could always crash under the Fig Tree.
The poster may be referring to the famous “Onion Field” in Bakersfield. A true story documented by Joseph Wambaugh. It’s a movie too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion_Field
Montecito is as close to perfection as it gets. Was there this weekend.
I concur.
The whole area has local laws to prevent huge mega-hotels from sprouting up in their small cities. They eschew corporate conventioneers.
Yes I know the onion field, where it is, etc. That didn’t sound like what he was talking about but thanks. ;)
LOL....
You both are right! It WAS Weedpatch and I probably was remembering the book and movie “Onion Field”.
At the time I was in the area, there were onions and tomatoes just lying on the ground rotting.
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