The Bay Area is home to a number of lighthouses, including the very first on the West Coast… constructed on Alcatraz in 1854. Here’s a video visit to three other local light stations, Point Bonita, East Brother and Pigeon Point.
– Carl Bidleman
I admire Shelton Johnson. He is a gifted musician and an even more gifted storyteller. John Muir would have loved Shelton’s stories. He has a passion for National Parks, especially Yosemite, which I have come to love. And he’s a native Detroiter. A west sider, yes, but a Detroiter none the less. (We can’t all be blessed to have come up on the sunrise side of Woodward.) Shelton Johnson embodies many of life’s good things. And thanks to Ken Burns, the whole world now knows about Ranger Johnson.
I thought I’d share a couple of videos that I shot a few years ago on a beautiful November Sunday afternoon. I never published these clips because I realized Shelton’s history walk would be better covered with two cameras instead of one. So they languished on the shelf. But when I took another look this weekend, I realized Shelton’s great storytelling skills trump my lack of shooting skills. I’ll edit the rest of the 90-minute tour in the coming days but here are two of my favorite moments of Shelton’s history walk. Enjoy. And check out more of Shelton’s work on the 9th Cavalry here: http://shadowsoldier.wilderness.net/
Below: Shelton Johnson (as Sgt. Bowman, Sir) tells how being called “Buffalo Soldier” was better than being called “Nigger Cavalry”.
Below: Shelton Johnson (as Sgt. Bowman, Sir) tells tales of the 9th Cavalry “Buffalo Soldiers’” duty in Yosemite and meeting Mr. John Muir.
Find OpenRoad.TV’s other Yosemite videos and stories on our interactive map.
SEE MORE OF OUR VIDEOS ABOUT THE MENDOCINO COAST.
– Carl Bidleman
We recently posted Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights, a favorite video story from my long ago days as executive producer at Bay Area Backroads. Producer Drew Burns idolized Lawrence Ferlinghetti and worked for a full year contacting and convincing him to do our television show. (Mr. Ferlinghetti admitted to having a TV but it’s covered by a rug in his apartment.) Drew wrote and produced the story which, as I recall, was his first full-length Backroads feature. He worked pretty hard on it as I made him labor over many drafts of the script and Doug changed it a bit more before he recorded the narration. But I think you’ll agree that it stands up pretty well.
We taped on a spectacularly warm February day and San Francisco’s legendary freedom fighter and poet laureat was welcoming and genuinely seemed to enjoy sharing his neighborhood with us. As you’ll see in the video, watching hundreds of bridesmaids run down the middle of Columbus Avenue straight into a Ferlinghetti poem was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And San Francisco’s North Beach, City Lights Bookstore, and Ferlinghetti himself, are all one-of-a-kind too. Thanks for the memories.
Watch the Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights video.
Photo by filo
– Doug McConnell
It’s very hard for me to believe, still feeling pretty darn young, that I moved to Alaska 35 years ago this coming June. Wow. Where did the time go? Too busy enjoying life, I guess.
I lived in Alaska 9 years before finally heading back to the lower ‘48. I get back quite a bit and have had the chance to travel far and wide in the state. Over the years, I’ve come to identify Sitka as one of my favorite towns. Its history is very present, its setting is spectacular, and its modern sophistication may surprise you. I’ve had the chance to visit Sikta many times and could easily imagine living there full-time.
One of my trips was with our terrific TV crew and a dear old friend, Bill Wheaton, some years back. I hope you enjoy our Sitka, Alaska’s Russian & Tlingit Heritage and please send us descriptions of yours whenever you can. Then see some of our other OpenRoad.TV adventures in Alaska including Alaska’s Denali National Park and Alaska’s Kenai Fjords and plan your next trip right away.
– Doug McConnell
Today Carl Bidleman, Jim Wirth and I are cruising down from Marin County to the beautiful Peninsula town of Woodside. Woodside was long a warm-weather escape for San Francisco’s early barons of industry and a lovely leafy horse town. These days, while the horses and old-money barons remain, Woodside has become home to more new billionaires per capita than probably any other town in the world. Silicon Valley and the venture capitalists of Sand Hill Road are right nearby. One of the prime gathering spots for high-tech entrepreneurs (as well as the rest of us) is Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside owned, operated, crafted and conducted by its Impresario-in-Chief, Jamis MacNiven and his wonderful wife, Margaret.
Jamis MacNiven, Roy & Trigger
Visit Buck’s online and in person. You’ll enjoy the whimsy and the creativity, not to mention the food and the company. We’ll include some pictures tomorrow after we lunch with Jamis and do a little business. He’s one of our OpenRoad.TV advisors. But knowing Jamis and us, we’ll do very little business and a lot of story telling and guffawing.
Over the years, we’ve done quite a few stories in and around Woodside, Palo Alto and Silicon Valley. One of our stories, (more…)
