Author: Petra

My mantra is “No, Los Angeles is not just freeways and cars.”

Contrary to widespread opinion one can find a lot of beautiful spots in the city. One such little gem is the Rowena Reservoir. It is also an example for a few interesting facts re. city development and neighborhood activities.

In 1992 the city passed a new ordinance that all open reservoirs had to be drained and were to be replaced by tanks. That made sense in an area threatened by earthquakes. The plan for the Rowena Reservoir was to drain the 31 million gallons of water stored there and to put in a new storage tank for 10 million gallons.

Above ground.

To be able to imagine the size of such a tank, one only has to do a few calculations to come up with numbers quite mind-boggling – that would be a cube with an edge length of 33 meters (or 108 feet). Even a tank only 16.5 m high (54 feet) would still have a length of 66 m (216 feet) and a width of 16.5 m (54 feet). Any variation whatsoever leads to the same result – a tank for 10 million gallons of water is a humongous structure.

To be placed above ground.

Understandably, people in the neighborhood were concerned and protested, which lead to talks with the Department of Water and Power. Incidentally, this was the very first instance for such cooperation between the DWP and citizens of LA. In due course an alternative plan was agreed upon: to drain the lake, put in a storage tank for 10 million gallons below ground, landscape the area, fill up a new, smaller lake and fence the whole area in, so that nobody can use it. For safety reasons, you know…

2002 the work was finished. The Rowena Reservoir is beautiful. To look at, quite longingly, but not to use. Unless one is a duck.

However, a tank above ground would have been much, much worse. There are also rumors that talks have begun about opening access for the public to the area. Maybe in another 10 years one can see a photo of the reservoir here sans fence.

I am sure that the DWP will then have to put up with a lot of complaining ducks.

The desert is strange. One knows that there is an abundance of life out there and wonders how flora and fauna survive. Because survive they certainly do, have done so and will forever.

The desert is lovely. One only has to become atuned to the different scale of climate, distance and color. That might take a while, or happen rather swiftly. For me, it was love at first sight.

How can it not, with vistas like this:

Here are some more informations about Joshua Trees and Joshua Tree National Park.

That’s what it looks like:

Quite fascinating.

Maybe not so much for the drivers of the RVs and trucks getting blown off the freeway.
And yes, this photo was taken here, on the way from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree NP. It is definitely not a still from “Lawrence of Arabia”, as can be easily detected by the absence of any camels. Also there was no music to accompany the descent into the desert. But apart from that – one got a good dose of desert feeling and sand, driven by the storm.

Yes. Definitely. At least that was the opinion in the ’60s, when Space Age architecture and design was all the rage. One perfect example

of this style is

the Encounter at LAX.

You can read more about this icon of Space Age design here.

From the present viewpoint, the first day of the year 2007, it is easy to say that maybe they were a bit optimistic way back then to predict that this would be the future. One might even chuckle or raise an eyebrow, because today “good” style does not include lava lamps, bordering-on-the ridiculous colors and shapes more related to amoebas than anything else. Not to mention the music, which is… oh, well… a bit spacy… But then, what might the next generations think about our “style” today? There might be some chuckles too.

So, for a full immersion into the ’60s view of what the future would be like, the Encounter is the perfect spot to go. It is fun, it is weird in a lovely way, and for some it might even be a very welcome trip “back to the Future.” After all, the timemaschine (aka Encounter) was build only a little over 40 years ago.