September 6, Los Angeles County Layover day at the Los Angeles South Bay Hostel
Layover days are always a day for laundry and relaxation. Nothing is planned but something always happens. Today was no exception. After we had a leisurely breakfast and some of the hikers had wandered away, a gentleman came into the Hostel common room looking for “the Coastwalkers”. It turned out that he was John (Jack) McCue and he had joined the 1996 Whole Hike on a couple of occasions, walking with them in northern Los Angeles County and again in the Camp Pendleton area. On and off, with his wife as organizer and over a period of nine years he has walked the entire coast beginning in the south and ending at the Oregon border. Although Jack came by to say hello, one thing led to another and soon three of us were off on a guided tour of San Pedro and Long Beach. Accompanying Jack was his friend Frank Lopez who served as navigator pointing out such subtleties of driving as stop signs and one-way streets. The highlight of this venture was a stop at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum where for a dollar donation we were treated to a fine display of historical photos showing the development of the harbor as well as viewing wonderful ship models including the “Poseidon”, a 1/48 scale model used in the filming of the movie “The Poseidon Adventure”. After touring the museum we went out back onto a little deck and watched a man on the tugboat “Angels Gate” being kitted out in an old fashioned diving suit, complete with copper diving hat, weighted boots and belt and air line. The potential diver seemed quite calm about the whole thing although his handlers seemed somewhat animated. Then, without ceremony, he clambered up over the rail onto a ladder and dropped like a stone into the water.
Also dropping by in the a.m. as well as at dinner was Tom Politeo from the Angeles Sierra Club who will be helping us on our journey through his hometown, San Pedro.
Finally, we found that Saturday is THE day for the Korean Friendship Bell. (Linda’s note: all during the day it was used as a site for wedding after wedding, with at least four or five witnessed by some of us from our fine location in the hostel’s kitchen. Long white limousines pulled in to deliver wedding parties, and then departed in time for the next arrival. The little street next to our hostel was also the main street for the Philippines Cultural Festival going on in the park at the foot of Gaffey St. A school bus traveled back and forth delivering people from the parking lot further down our little street to the festival, and vice versa. With this traffic plus the wedding party traffic, it was a busy day, but we were not complaining one bit since it is the first hostel we have stayed in where we were allowed to spend the entire day in the hostel if we wished! It was a grand rest day.) (Jon Breyfogle; photos by Linda Hanes)
Above: Steve in the LA Maritime Museum
Left: Figures in front of the Korean Friendship Bell.
Right: A reminder about why the Expedition members took the walk. Bolinas Beach, July 16th.