HAERR TRIPPIN'

The Safari Park for ELEPHANTS

Karen invited me to an afternoon of Pachyderm Pleasures!

I was so excited to experience Elephant Valley, the newest, massive exhibit at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park which officially opened on March 5th.

This 13-acre habitat allows visitors to walk alongside a herd of eight African elephants and observe them up close, featuring mud baths, watering holes, and expansive savanna.

The elephants follow their natural curiosity to engage with the intriguing world around them as they forage for food, navigate to find new resources such as water, and interact with one other.

The world’s largest land animal, African elephants, are a keystone species throughout the savanna, shaping their environment through their movements, diet, and behaviors.

And what an incredible environment newly created for them, years in the making and so very worth the wait!

After admiring the elephants up close, we boarded the African Tram in order to see even more species, though this time from a distance.

There are a total of FIVE baby giraffes on display. Wow.

We concluded our day admiring the tigers (this is Karen's usual).

This was an afternoon of a special magicalness that can only be experienced with an old friend sharing new memories. I am so grateful.

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Ventura: A Finale

With time in our morning before we needed to head home, Cindy and I returned to the downtown area to see more treasures that Ventura had to offer.

We were drawn to the beautiful San Buenaventura City Hall, rising 250 ft above sea level. The former Ventura County Courthouse, built in 1912–13, is noted for its gleaming terra cotta exterior, copper-sheathed dome, elegant Italian marble foyer, coffered ceilings, and paneled Council Chambers. Perhaps next time we'll be able to peek inside.

Just down the street is the Brakey House, built for Ventura’s well-known house mover extraordinaire, Robert E. Brakey. Mr. Brakey was a City Trustee in 1916-1917 and owned a large portion of the hillside. His son, John R. Brakey, continued the house moving business and among his many accomplishments was the mover of the Port Hueneme Lighthouse. The Brakey family continued to live on the property through the 1930s. Originally Vernacular Victorian, altered over the years, it still retains many characteristics of its original Eastlake influence.

Looking downward sometimes pays off. This 'before' image reads "#1 Seaside Service Station circa 1924". We never discovered any other historical images but we found this to be informative.

The 'after' is still a darling building in the middle of town.

The town is home to several great thrift stores. This Goodwill is particularly fun due to its building. Built as a Woolworth's, it was part of a bustling 1940s-50s shopping corridor along with nearby J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward stores. None of those chain stores remain.

Another building whose interior demands an ogling is this one. "Ventura joined the movie palace era of Hollywood with the grand opening of the Ventura Theatre on August 16, 1928. This lavishly decorated Mediterranean style theatre cost $400,000 to build, and created much excitement in the oil boom town of 11,000 people. Of particular interest are the ceiling and the original chandeliers."

I love this building. Originally the Ventura Guarantee and Loan Company, built in the 1920s, it is significant for its decorative tile, three interior pastoral murals by Norman Kennedy and grillwork on the balcony. The ceiling is pre-cast plaster and painted to resemble wood by European craftsmen.

If you know me at all, you know I love Post Offices. I also love the WPA's lasting legacy. I was very surprised to find both, in one place, here. Every visible wall is adorned with the Depression era work of artist Gordon K. Grant. "The subject matter is Labor, Agriculture and Industries of Ventura; the style of art American Scene or Regionalist painting. Depicted are cattle, horses, fields, and laborers of many different types including men milking cows and women packing citrus. Stylistically considered modern realist, the murals seem to me to have an almost stylized, folk art quality. Not entirely surprising as they were intended to celebrate the virtues of small town or rural life and advance an overt narrative favoring labor and the nationalist, pro-labor politics of the era. The murals, happily renovated in 1966, date from 1936-37 and were funded by the Federal Arts Project, under the New Deal WPA, which put the unemployed to work on a wide range of public projects." Wow.

I loved the Bank of Italy Building. Built in the popular Beaux-Arts style (Italian Renaissance Revival), this 1924 two-story bank was built for John Lagamarisino, Sr. and designed by a top Los Angeles architectural firm, Morgan, Wall and Clements. Marble bas-relief was imported from Italy. Inside the building, finely decorated beams and gold leaf cornices can be seen, but unfortunately, much of the original design was lost when the building was converted in the 1930s.

A Temecula tie-in is this the Erle Stanley Gardner’s Law Office. Gardner (1889-1970) patterned the office of his character Perry Mason after his own office in Suite 306 of this building. Gardner was a resident of Ventura until 1933. He made his last home on Rancho del Paisano in Temecula from 1937 through his passing in 1970. He is cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 best selling author of all time