Time Travel 1893 - Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA


Traveling back to 1893 Philadelphia
I Spy Tulips To Gladden My Desk
Little Changed Here - 125 Years Away in My Home-Time

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Resources

https://readingterminalmarket.org/about-us/

Period Pilots - The True Cost of Time Travel (Ticket Cost Estimator)

Period Pilots - Tickets Through Time

The Most Economical Way to Step Back Into The Past

And Be Sure You'll Return To Your Own Era!

Price Your Time Travel Ticket* Era: 20'th Century (1900-1999) 19'th Century (1800 - 1899) 18'th Century (1700 -1799) Add Ons * : Fancy Dress Private Housing Maid or Valet Horse (18th-19'th)/ Bicycle (20'th) Carriage(18th-19'th)/ Auto (20'th) Total: $

* Base Ticket Price ( without add-ons) Includes:
Dress - Appropriate Middle Class
Overnight - Rough It
Ground Transport - Shank's Mare

Time Travel Portal - 1915 - CA Tower - (San Diego Field Trip)

Looking for a way back to 1915? Travel up the stairs of the California Tower in San Diego's Balboa Park. Back to the time of the Panama Pacific Exposition, when folks saw the world through a pair of rose colored  - Beaux Arte flavored - glasses, International was another word for exotic, and California drifted like an almost unexplored cultural island.

The Pagoda - A Time Travel Portal in Golden Gate Park

Looking for a little more time in your travel?

Walk up the hill from the museums in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to Stow Lake. Then take the Roman Bridge to the island and follow the trail to the Pagoda. See you on the other side? Maybe - or perhaps we'll meetup sometime back in the Qing Dynasty....

Once Upon a Time In California (Time Travel)

Rosalinda, la voz melodiosa, ella canta las viejas canciones. Y sólo puedo oírola.
Debo volver a los días perdidos, los viejos tempos en California. 

Rosalinda, she of the melodious voice, sings the old songs. And only I can hear her.
I must go back to lost days, the old days in California.
 
Un día, cuando aprenda a escuchar con sólo mi corazón, su melodía una vez más me llevarás a mi amor.
One day, when I learn to listen with only my heart, her tune will once more carry me home to my love.

                        
Time travellers need helpful tour books. UCSC professor, famed journalist, and  California State Librarian,  Kevin Starr, has a true sense of California. He's more than a superb historian, he's a born story teller. Starr weaves together a tale that includes not only the appeal of the state - it's agricultural promise, natural beauties, ethnic diversity, and economic potential - but also it's historical exploitation.

 If you read only one history of the state, make it Starr's California: A History (Modern Library Chronicles) 

                 ~ ~ ~

 Other volumes on my California Favorites Book Shelf

  

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Time Portal: Sunset From Oz

Hail Yellow Brick Road!

Helping Me Recall Stories

And See My Dreams Come True

Discovering a Little Delta History in Discovery Bay (San Francisco Bay)

The most recent Enchanted by Sewing Audio/Podcast is a sewing duologue between me and Susan in this glorious California Delta setting. You can download it to a mobile device, or simply listen on the web while you're doing something else.

Tule Fog has been both helping and hindering locals in the Delta
for over four thousand years

We often zip through the delta area of the San Francisco Bay, on our way to or from the mountains. This month I took my time with the rural, delta scenery on a day field trip to hangout at
 my buddy Susan's house for a chummy lunch and sewing afternoon. Susan lives in Discovery Bay, a rural-edge  community near Livermore, along the banks of the historic California Delta water system - where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers flow into the San Francisco Bay.

When I lit on the windmill above, I knew I'd found a time travel portal back to an era of freshly plowed fields, misty skies and well-loved farm houses. It spoke of California in another age, a time before silicon when fruits and nuts reigned supreme.

Discovery Bay emerged from barley and potato fields in 1964, but it still looks very agricultural 'round about. The area is still rich agricultural land, second only to California’s Great Central Valley, which still feeds many parts of the world. You can imagine that wonderful soil being washed down the great rivers and depositing itself in the valleys here. Nowadays with a lot of land zoned agricultural, I wonder if you’d be able to convert agriculturally zoned land to housing?

Humans have inhabited the Delta for at least 4,300 years. Before European contact, the Maidu and Miwok people benefited from the rich soil, just like the later farmers. These early inhabitants harvested foods and wildlife that grew and fed here. They also gathered the native tule reeds that grew in the marshy areas hereabout. They used the tules for boats, houses, and fabric for clothing.

Next time I go for a sewing day with Susan, maybe we'll keep out eyes open for tules. I wonder if there are any Vogue patterns we could alter to sew up from tules?

When I drove to Susan’s I witnessed a mild tule fog. If you don’t live in California, you’ve probably never seen anything like this soupy fog. It’s unique to the area. Tule fog happens between November and March, after we've had a good soaking rain. The moisture then rises up and hangs in the air, where it becomes the leading cause of weather-related accidents in California. It turns out that over the past three decades, tule fogs are decreasing.

Wouldn't you think that would be a good thing?

It turns out that local fruit and nut crops, an important part of the economy, have been impacted by this lack of moisture.

Bring back the tules!

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Web Resources

Listen in on my sewing day with Susan in the Enchanted by Sewing Audio/Podcast 

Discovery Bay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Bay,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento–San_Joaquin_River_Delta

http://www.seecalifornia.com/california-cities/discovery-bay.html

Tule Fog What is it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tule_fog
Impact of decreasing Tule fog on crops http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/As-Central-Valley-fog-disappears-fruit-nut-5496710.php

Hiking the Dish (Stanford University, Field Trip)

Hiking at The Dish

Radio waves measure stars,

Space commands and chat. 

The Dish, a giant radio telescope above Stanford University, can be counted on as a time travel portal that takes me back to a time when we *knew* our short-term future lay beyond the stars.
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Web Resources

About The Dish at Stanford University http://dish.stanford.edu

Wikipedia on The Dish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish_(landmark)

Winter Walk Across the Golden Gate Bridge (Field Trip)

Walked across the span

Fort Point to Marin, then back

Our Golden Gate Bridge

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When might my next walk lead to? 

Nothing beats finding time travel portals so close to my own home. . . 
How many folks have started out on the Fort Point end of this golden span,  to travel back to the Panama Pacific Exposition, Civil War or Gold Rush? Not to mention Ohlone times, before the first European foot pressed down on local sands.

Earlier this week we lucked out and managed to find parking at Fort Point, then walked up stairs to cross the bridge. The cold dry air, chock full of ozone, elated us! The bridge loop is about 3.6 miles. Add in the short walk to and up the stairs made the total expedition about 5 miles. A perfect cool, winter's day field trip.

Another way to get parking is head over from the Presidio, another favorite field trip of mine. It's a longer trip, but parking is more available.

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Web Resources

Golden Gate Memories in the Family http://postcardfromcalifornia.blogspot.com/2014/09/golden-gate-memories-in-family.html

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge

Fort Point dates back to the Civil War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Point,_San_Francisco

Edgewood Ghost Rider (Halloween Field Trip San Francisco Bay Area)

Next time at Edgewood

When I see that ghost rider

Gonna ask - her time.

I see a lot of things at Edgewood that aren't in the nature preserve brochure, or on the map. Time travel is always an option, both for me and for those who return from a long time gone.

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Web Resources

Time Travel Portals - http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/time-travel-portals/

Filoli - Next Time You Come to Visit ( Local Time Travel Portal, San Francisco Bay Area Field Trip)

Next time you come to visit me,

let's go to Filoli!

There's that beautiful historic house to wander through . . .

And those gardens -

The views extend right up and over the California Coast Range.
They'll knock your socks off! 

You can't beat this spot on the peninsula, only 30 or 40 miles south of San Francisco, right off the 280 freeway.

Maybe we'll even take an extended trip.

It is one of the best local Time Travel portals I know.

Let me know when you plan to come, OK?

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Web Resources

http://www.filoli.org

Cliff House - Primed for Time Travel Perfection (San Francisco Field Trip)

The Neo-Classical, Greek Revival Art in
the Cliff House is a strong clue to any regular historic traveller, that
there's at least one time travel portal nearby!

I'm pretty sure there's a time portal in or around The San Francisco Cliff House. Perhaps my difficulty in finding the entrance to a trip back in time, is the number of eras this quintessential bay area locale evokes.

The Sutro Baths finally closed down in the 1960's.
The ghosts remain.

There are a limited number of public buildings in the area that survived the 1906 earthquake. This restaurant, with it's beach front location and view of the one time Sutro Baths public bathhouse, is one that did. And it's also one of my favorite places to return again and again. Locals, in and near San Francisco, have been traveling to the Cliff House for a special supper in a prime ocean location since 1863. The baths and associated marine recreation activities opened to the public in 1894. 

Upstairs at the Cliff is a little more casual, but the views are still there.

This week we went up for a birthday supper, we'd put off a month back. I'm glad we waited until it was just the right night. We chose to eat upstairs. It's less expensive than the reservation-only downstairs, though definitely not a budget meal! The scenery and setting made our tasty, simple prix fixe suppers stellar. We thoroughly enjoyed our supper at the Cliff House, followed by a walk along the promenade, with a view of the historic Sutro Baths, and ended with by walking back along Ocean Beach. 

I didn't manage to find my way back in time to take in the sights of 1920's swimmers cavorting in the classic Grecian inspired entryway of Adolph Sutro's baths, or catch a glimpse of late nineteenth century railroad baron  university founder Leland Stanford or famed newspaper owner William Randolph Hearst chatting over a racing form and cocktails.

But, then again, maybe my own time's the best for travelin' to...

                   

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Download a free copy of the music for the golden age tune, "Moonlight at the Cliff"  

Antique Threads:My Life in Costume Drama (Poldark)

Demelza Poldark, in one of her beautiful
Empire Style Day Gowns,
Shown here giving husband Ross a piece of her mind
in the BBC series "Poldark",
Inspired by the novels of Winston Graham

In college and high school I sewed a goodly number of frocks along the lines of Demelza's in the BBC television series Poldark. The high waistlines of Empire dresses spoke not only to the style of the English Regency era, they were how we imagined we would live our lives. Did you live your life as though you were part of some kind of drama when you were that age too?

Nowadays I look to Demelza's dresses more for sewing inspiration as to color, pattern and  details then as clothing I might wear for a walk in the park. As I mentioned in the Enchanted By Sewing December podcast (Ench-004: Good Night My Someone), this kind of gown still inspires my nightgown sewing. I've been mulling over creating a romantically styled spring/summer nightgown inspired by this sort of dress and the Folkwear "Beautiful Dreamer" nightgown pattern I've got tucked away.

It's the men's clothing from that era that inspire my daytime, for-public-view garment sewing. I love the buttons, lapels and fabrics of men's vests and they way they combined with what we might now call a poet shirt.

Imagine what a Buck like Demelza's husband Ross Poldark would have said if he had met a time traveller from today and learned that one day, women would wear trousers as tight as his own!

Vintage Threads: Lauren Bacall's Striped Blouse

So simple and so chic
OK, it helps when you look like Lauren Bacall, but...
What women isn't flattered by a classic striped blouse?

I wonder how many times I've watched the movie To Have and Have Not since I first saw it back in university days..... The story's still got it - the people seem as real to me as my neighbors. Despite Bacall's beauty and elegant wardrobe she's just another gal with a problem. Hemingway's tale isn't about celebrities, it's about regular folks with problems and this great film kept true to that message.

The checked suit Bacall wore when we first met her in this classic film, provides obvious inspiration for vintage sewing enthusiasts. Who doesn't admire that bias cut skirt swaying so alluringly against the roll of the starlet's hips, and the wonderful shaping and buttons on the jacket? We all want an outfit like that! But would it do much good for the job we'd imagine ourselves doing in a muggy hotel basement in wartime Martinique?

It's this blouse that I first spotted on Bacall in a scene with Hoagy Carmichael, that really takes me time traveling back to that hotel, and make me itch to recreate her vintage garment. Like the jeans and Oxford shirt that Humphrey Bogart wears in the movie, this chic, striped blouse is a classic any lady would still be glad to create and own. Wouldn't it look great on any woman?

Full-On View of Lauren Bacall in the Striped Outfit
It could be a blouse and skirt
Or a shirtwaist dress
But when I time travel back to Martinique, I'm
making my version up as a shirt tucked into jeans

Later on in the movie we see the full-on view of this beautifully striped garment. With a light belt wrapped around Lauren's waist it's hard to tell whether or not it's really a blouse worn tucked into a matching skirt, or a shirtwaist dress. Does it matter? In my mind I'm hanging out in the cellar of a Martinique hotel with the Resistance fighters, too. And of course I'm wearing an up to date version of  Bacall's outfit. Her skirt is history when it comes to roughing it, but this little striped beauty tucked into my favorite jeans is what I've got in mind for my role in the modern retake on this story. Classically as well as practically dressed, as I always like to be, I'm definitely gonna be ready to really help out  when the police come calling. 

Kickin' it in Our Sagebrush Sandals (Cascades:Crater Lake)

Crater Lake, California
Click on the illustration above,  to really enjoy the details

While we were walking along the rim of Crater Lake, I was already planning a return trip back to see more of that incredibly clean, blue, blue, blue water in the high, dry air.

I particularly liked reading the informative little sign about a pile of ten thousand year old  sandals an Oregon researcher found beneath volcanic ashes, demonstrating that people were probably living in this area before, and possibly during the eruption that created the crater that makes the lake basin. 

They were made out of sagebrush. Liiiiike, how comfortable would THOSE be to hike in?

There were dozens of pairs of shoes left. How come? Didn't somebody miss them? Could it be an ancient days Cinderella story?

A spot of time travel to solve this little mystery is definitely in order.

Perhaps an ancient Cinderella, ran off and left her sagebrush slippers behind

Postcard from San Luis Obispo: SLO Time Travel Via The Amtrak Station

The Amtrak station in San Luis Obispo (SLO) is one of my favorite time portals. How about hopping aboard a Period Pilots time travel flight to... visit the Southern California citrus groves in 1933?


Your time travel tour allows you to checkout acres of lovely scented orange and lemon trees beneath the towering San Gabriel Mountains before the development that followed World War II. Take a Model T over to Malibu for a spot of horseback riding along the beautiful uncrowded shoreline. Your day will end with a campout on the slopes of that grand patriarch of mountains Old Baldy.  

Time Travel Portholes

....pretty sure we could spin through time in any one of these.
Just not sure where we might end up.

A Time Portal for Arachnida

Click on the illustration above

To enlarge it

I've never seen spider webs quite like these I spied at Edgewood Park last week.


Time portals for Arachnida, perhaps?

A Time Portal for Arachnida

I've never seen spider webs quite like these I spied at Edgewood Park last week.


Time portals for Arachnida, perhaps?

Steve Jobs: Heroes and Heroines

I took the pedestrian time portal over to the downtown Palo Alto Apple Store yesterday. It's a nice walk past the library and park fields on a long path of trees that runs alongside the Caltrain railroad track.  At the end of the path, I cross San Francisquito Creek a time portal that has occasionally taken me back to visit with a local Ohlone tribe, back before 1769 when the Spaniards arrived. 


Yesterday, however, I continued past the temptation to drop back a few centuries and gather fall berries with a few of my early California sisters, and headed out along Alma Street on the path to more recent times.  


No matter what time of day I've walked past, since Steve Jobs death, there's been a crowd of people gathered at the window of the downtown apple store, writing postits, dropping off flowers, taking photos, or simply reading the notes that others have left. I found at least six different languages yesterday, two of whose origin I couldn't even make a guess.


We all need heroes and heroines so that we can go forth with a touch more heroism ourselves.