Lordy I miss the 808, thanks so much for sharing! I use to love watching the Hilton Hawaiian Village fireworks from the lanai at our place in Discovery Bay.
This Is Where I'm From
- Thread starter Kaneohegirlinaz
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Just Cooking
Master Chef
I enjoyed reading through this thread....
My "Where I'm from" story, is best told by John Steinbeck in his book "Cannery Row"..
He starts the book with, "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
I grew up 5 blocks above Cannery Row and went to grade school with children of people that characters in the book were based on.. In the mid to late 40's my mother, along with dozens of women in our diversely ethnic neighborhood, would hear the horns of the sardine purse seiners, put on her slicker apron, boots, hair net and walk down the hill to work in the canneries..
Decades have brought complete change to the area as this link will show:
Cannery Row | John Steinbeck | Our Story
For those who enjoy reading, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Cannery Row.. It is fictional but, to we old natives, it was our lives..
Ross
My "Where I'm from" story, is best told by John Steinbeck in his book "Cannery Row"..
He starts the book with, "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream."
I grew up 5 blocks above Cannery Row and went to grade school with children of people that characters in the book were based on.. In the mid to late 40's my mother, along with dozens of women in our diversely ethnic neighborhood, would hear the horns of the sardine purse seiners, put on her slicker apron, boots, hair net and walk down the hill to work in the canneries..
Decades have brought complete change to the area as this link will show:
Cannery Row | John Steinbeck | Our Story
For those who enjoy reading, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Cannery Row.. It is fictional but, to we old natives, it was our lives..
Ross
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Sagittarius
Senior Cook
Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain very close to the sea (walkable ) ..
I do not know how to post a photo.
I do not know how to post a photo.
Sagittarius
Senior Cook
Beautiful photographs ..
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
My dad lived in Salinas years ago and then built a house in Spreckels. We were able to visit several times. One year, we took our German exchange student with us. While we were there, we took him and my sister to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had lunch in a converted building on Cannery Row. That was a great trip.
I'm pretty sure I've read the book, but it's certainly worth a reread [emoji2]
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GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
Someone pointed out to me that the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, confusingly located in Portsmouth (typical of this area
), was actually established in 1767 as the Gosport Shipyard; it was renamed in 1862. Oops. Thanks for the correction, friend [emoji2]
Just Cooking
Master Chef
The aquarium is housed in the Hovden Cannery building where my mother worked in the 40's... As you know, its a beautiful place to visit now..
A little story... My stepfather was a firefighter for The Presidio of Monterey. He was also a volunteer firefighter for the city of Monterey..
After the sardines were fished out, a series of fires destroyed or badly damaged many of the old canneries..
On Thanksgiving Day 1956, Jeannie joined us for dinner.. This was 40 years before we married.. In the middle of dinner, my stepfathers police radio sent out an emergency call for all volunteers to fight a cannery fire.. He, Jeannie and I jumped into his Chevy station wagon and sped hell bent for leather down very steep Prescot Ave.. No flashing lights, no siren.. Jeannie was wide eyed all the way to the fire.. We dropped him off and found a safe place to watch and smell decades of fish oil soaked walls go up in flame.. My sister, in MS has photos of him in precarious firefighting situations as, I believe that he fought every cannery fire in the 50's and 60's..
Yes. Cannery Row deserves another look...
Ross
rodentraiser
Head Chef
I spent the first 17 years of my life in Minnesota, the next 26 years in California, and the last 16 years in Washington state.
The first picture is of the cemetery my great-grandparents donated to the town of Okabena from their farmland in southern Minnesota.
The second picture is me and the mutt in Santana Park in San Jose, CA. I just happened to think of this the other day - the hound dog would have been 40 years old yesterday.
The third picture is of the Air Force radar station on Mt. Umhumnum in the Santa Cruz Mts. in California, complete with the smog. I was up there with out SAR group for a summer workout and we had to rappel down from the roof of that large building in the front.
The last picture is of the area where I live now in Washington. I'm about 4 blocks from the marina there.
The first picture is of the cemetery my great-grandparents donated to the town of Okabena from their farmland in southern Minnesota.
The second picture is me and the mutt in Santana Park in San Jose, CA. I just happened to think of this the other day - the hound dog would have been 40 years old yesterday.
The third picture is of the Air Force radar station on Mt. Umhumnum in the Santa Cruz Mts. in California, complete with the smog. I was up there with out SAR group for a summer workout and we had to rappel down from the roof of that large building in the front.
The last picture is of the area where I live now in Washington. I'm about 4 blocks from the marina there.
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Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
For the four years I lived in Washington State in Tacoma, I loved it. The scenery was absolutely breath taking. My girlfriend and I would take the kids to Nisqually Park and let the kids loose. Even though I lived inland, I knew I could hop on a bus and be right on the waterfront. And to get my fill of a farm, one of my tenants, her family owned one out in Eaton. I would take Poo with me and fortunately I had bought high top sneakers for him. He discovered cow patties! He love to jump in them. Another one of the days when the urge to kill became strong. But once I got over that we couldn't stop laughing. I just let him loose to have his fun. I think that farm is the main reason he loves living and practicing medicine in Vermont today.
cjmmytunes
Head Chef
I'm born & raised in Elizabeth City, NC. It's about an hour from the NC OBX beaches and home to the largest USCG Support Base on the East coast. I'm also about an hour's ride from GG in Portsmouth, Va.
I already posted a photo of my birthplace, which is in Glassboro, New Jersey, by the way. Everyomne was impressed, I'm sure.
But, where I am from is probably more accurately described as where I spent my Junior High and High School years, which is Port Arthur, Texas.
Port Arthur is 100 miles East of Houston, on the coast, right before you cross into Louisiana. The city is really more like a SW Louisiana town than a Texas town. The area is very Cajun.
Port Arthur is also one of the biggest Oil Refining cities in the US. Hurricane Harvey also flooded Port Arthur, which contributed greatly to gasoline shortages and price hikes. When Port Arthur gets pummeled by tropical cyclones, all the news coverage goes to Houston, so nobody knows about it.
Port Arthur is where I first had Cajun food -- and became an instant and permanent fan. REAL cajun food. People often think Cajun food is tonsil-scorching spicy. But it really isn't. It is very earthy, and the spices sneak up on you. They don't burn your mouth, they make you sweat. Cajun spices never overpower the flavors of the food.
Below is a "skyline" picture of Port Arthur. It is not a city skyline, although it can pass for one as you drive into town at night. It is refineries and petro-chemical plants.
As you drive into Port Arthur, you will also smell oil. It is not as strong as it was when I was living there in the 70s -- thank you EPA. People there like to think of it as "the smell of money," but it also is the smell of cancer, as the area is part of the "cancer belt" that runs along the Gulf coast.
But, Port Arthur also gave us Janis Joplin. We graduated from the same High School, although not in the same decade. Robert Rauschenberg, the artist, was also from Port Arthur.
CD
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But, where I am from is probably more accurately described as where I spent my Junior High and High School years, which is Port Arthur, Texas.
Port Arthur is 100 miles East of Houston, on the coast, right before you cross into Louisiana. The city is really more like a SW Louisiana town than a Texas town. The area is very Cajun.
Port Arthur is also one of the biggest Oil Refining cities in the US. Hurricane Harvey also flooded Port Arthur, which contributed greatly to gasoline shortages and price hikes. When Port Arthur gets pummeled by tropical cyclones, all the news coverage goes to Houston, so nobody knows about it.
Port Arthur is where I first had Cajun food -- and became an instant and permanent fan. REAL cajun food. People often think Cajun food is tonsil-scorching spicy. But it really isn't. It is very earthy, and the spices sneak up on you. They don't burn your mouth, they make you sweat. Cajun spices never overpower the flavors of the food.
Below is a "skyline" picture of Port Arthur. It is not a city skyline, although it can pass for one as you drive into town at night. It is refineries and petro-chemical plants.
As you drive into Port Arthur, you will also smell oil. It is not as strong as it was when I was living there in the 70s -- thank you EPA. People there like to think of it as "the smell of money," but it also is the smell of cancer, as the area is part of the "cancer belt" that runs along the Gulf coast.
But, Port Arthur also gave us Janis Joplin. We graduated from the same High School, although not in the same decade. Robert Rauschenberg, the artist, was also from Port Arthur.
CD
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Cheryl J
Chef Extraordinaire
I'm really enjoying the updates on this thread! Thank you to all for some interesting and fun reading, and pics. I'll have to see if I can find some desert pics to add in the couple of days.
Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
Me, too, Cheryl! Since this floated up recently I've read through it twice already!
Anyway, we would drive past all of the steel plants. If they were smelting ore, the air was rife with the smell and color of that job - a rank smell dusting everything with a fine patina of reddish-brown. I would complain about the smell and cover my nose with my sleeve or shirt collar. Dad would remind me that "that is the smell of men working". Now most of the old plants are gone, and the new steel companies that have rejuvenated the area are environmentally friendly.
I liked the smell of my Dad's employer's factory better. Dad was a bread delivery driver.
This comment reminded me of when I was a kid and Dad would drive Mom and me through downtown Cleveland on the way to his sister and BILs, who lived on the West Side! *gasp*
Anyway, we would drive past all of the steel plants. If they were smelting ore, the air was rife with the smell and color of that job - a rank smell dusting everything with a fine patina of reddish-brown. I would complain about the smell and cover my nose with my sleeve or shirt collar. Dad would remind me that "that is the smell of men working". Now most of the old plants are gone, and the new steel companies that have rejuvenated the area are environmentally friendly.I liked the smell of my Dad's employer's factory better. Dad was a bread delivery driver.
Just Cooking
Master Chef
This is a great thread..
Ross
Ross
I look forward to sharing some pics of the land of my people when I return in October. Hoping that these storm systems hanging in the Atlantic don't throw things off.
OP
OP
Kaneohegirlinaz
Wannabe TV Chef
Me, too, Cheryl! Since this floated up recently I've read through it twice already!
This comment reminded me of when I was a kid and Dad would drive Mom and me through downtown Cleveland on the way to his sister and BILs, who lived on the West Side! *gasp*
I liked the smell of my Dad's employer's factory better. Dad was a bread delivery driver.
WOW!
That just brought back a memory that I hadn't thought about in a LONG time.
Smells.
Back when I was a kid on Oahu, the skies would go dark with the smoke from the Sugar Cane Fields being burned prior to cutting. There'd be ash floating around for days!
ACK!
Or another smell was once the Pineapple was picked, the fields were turned under and cow manure was spread, pretty thickly too.
Double ACK!
Just Cooking
Master Chef
Smells....
The fish canneries were so "fragrant" that there was a local saying about the 3 main towns of our Peninsula....
Carmel by the Sea
Pacific Grove by God
Monterey by the Smell
and boy did sardine processing smell..
The fish canneries were so "fragrant" that there was a local saying about the 3 main towns of our Peninsula....
Carmel by the Sea
Pacific Grove by God
Monterey by the Smell
and boy did sardine processing smell..
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
One place I lived as a kid in southeastern Michigan, when the wind came from the east, we could smell the odor from the Labatt's Beer brewery across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario. It doesn't smell as good as you might think.
