California curiosities
California. It’s at the end of a country — at least in it’s contiguous form. From here, the central coast, it feels like I’m a world away. When everyone else is pulling the covers down so they can crawl into bed, the sun is just setting here. Yesterday I was watching a little TV and saw Monday Night Football on. It was two minutes before halftime. I did a double take. “What the hell is this doing on so early?” I thought. It had always been on after dark. But this time the sky was still blue and the sun still above the horizon. It was strange to see the lights on at the stadium in Jacksonville, but little need for them yet in Santa Cruz.
The time difference is one of the many curiosities I’ve discovered about California, things I didn’t know before living here.
U-turns:
Everyone makes U-turns. The roads and intersections are built for you to make U-turns. They want you to make U-turns. When I first got here and didn’t know my way around, I made about ten a day. They’re very slick and efficient. No more having to turn around on a side street, pull into someone’s driveway, and try to get the light to turn green, or find a place to zip into traffic, just so you can backtrack a block or two. All you have to do in California is pull into the left turn lane, wait for the light (if there is one), and pull a U-ie. Easy.
In-home trash compactors:
They might have these in the Midwest, too, but I never saw them. At least I never knew someone who was rich enough to have one. Mike and Christy’s kitchen is equipped with a miniature trash compactor. It looks much like a skinny dishwasher on the outside. But push the foot-opener and out pops a garbage can with a bag and all. When the trash nears the top, you press a button and a metal plate lowers and compacts everything in the bag, making room for more.
Botts dots:
I knew about these before. I saw them in Texas when I was there last month. Botts dots (named after Mr Botts, who invented them) are the plastic and metal dots they place on the roadways. They compliment the yellow and white lines, and sometimes serve as the lines themselves. When you change lanes or drift a little too close to the shoulder you’ll hear the “vrrnt vrrnt vrrnt” and feel the vibrations caused by your tires rolling over the dots. Some are even equipped with light reflectors so they catch the light from your headlights at night. When I drive north along Highway 17 at night it looks like I’m driving on an airport runway.
Good beer for cheap:
I haven’t been in a true liquor store yet, only the local Trader Joe’s. But good beer is very cheap. Back in Iowa City a six-pack of Mackeson costs $8-$10 depending on where you buy it. At the Trader Joe’s in downtown Santa Cruz it costs $4.99! (Fuck you, Dirty John’s.) It’ll be a miracle if I don’t become an alcoholic here. If beer that good costs that little they must give away Bud Light and Miller Light for free.
Organic on every corner:
I’ve mentioned Trader Joe’s, but that’s just one of the many natural and organic food stores in the area. I’ve seen one non-specialized store in town: Safeway. There’s one on the west side and one on the east side. But there are Trader Joe’s everywhere. There’s also another chain called New Leaf. There’s one downtown and another in Felton, a small town north of Santa Cruz in the mountains. And they’re cheap cheap cheap. All the food is grown locally, and I mean all the good stuff. The area south of here is the fruit and vegetable basket of the United States. If you had cabbage or lettuce sometime in the past couple days or decades, there’s an 80 percent chance it came from around Salinas, Steinbeck country.
The time difference is one of the many curiosities I’ve discovered about California, things I didn’t know before living here.
U-turns:
Everyone makes U-turns. The roads and intersections are built for you to make U-turns. They want you to make U-turns. When I first got here and didn’t know my way around, I made about ten a day. They’re very slick and efficient. No more having to turn around on a side street, pull into someone’s driveway, and try to get the light to turn green, or find a place to zip into traffic, just so you can backtrack a block or two. All you have to do in California is pull into the left turn lane, wait for the light (if there is one), and pull a U-ie. Easy.
In-home trash compactors:
They might have these in the Midwest, too, but I never saw them. At least I never knew someone who was rich enough to have one. Mike and Christy’s kitchen is equipped with a miniature trash compactor. It looks much like a skinny dishwasher on the outside. But push the foot-opener and out pops a garbage can with a bag and all. When the trash nears the top, you press a button and a metal plate lowers and compacts everything in the bag, making room for more.
Botts dots:
I knew about these before. I saw them in Texas when I was there last month. Botts dots (named after Mr Botts, who invented them) are the plastic and metal dots they place on the roadways. They compliment the yellow and white lines, and sometimes serve as the lines themselves. When you change lanes or drift a little too close to the shoulder you’ll hear the “vrrnt vrrnt vrrnt” and feel the vibrations caused by your tires rolling over the dots. Some are even equipped with light reflectors so they catch the light from your headlights at night. When I drive north along Highway 17 at night it looks like I’m driving on an airport runway.
Good beer for cheap:
I haven’t been in a true liquor store yet, only the local Trader Joe’s. But good beer is very cheap. Back in Iowa City a six-pack of Mackeson costs $8-$10 depending on where you buy it. At the Trader Joe’s in downtown Santa Cruz it costs $4.99! (Fuck you, Dirty John’s.) It’ll be a miracle if I don’t become an alcoholic here. If beer that good costs that little they must give away Bud Light and Miller Light for free.
Organic on every corner:
I’ve mentioned Trader Joe’s, but that’s just one of the many natural and organic food stores in the area. I’ve seen one non-specialized store in town: Safeway. There’s one on the west side and one on the east side. But there are Trader Joe’s everywhere. There’s also another chain called New Leaf. There’s one downtown and another in Felton, a small town north of Santa Cruz in the mountains. And they’re cheap cheap cheap. All the food is grown locally, and I mean all the good stuff. The area south of here is the fruit and vegetable basket of the United States. If you had cabbage or lettuce sometime in the past couple days or decades, there’s an 80 percent chance it came from around Salinas, Steinbeck country.
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