History adventuring in Phoenix, and Los Angeles


I started doing what I call "History Adventuring" when I lived in Los Angeles, and was overwhelmed by, well, everything. There's so much traffic, and everyone is in a hurry. So I searched for places where I could get away, but not too far away.

What I discovered were places like Los Encinos in the San Fernando Valley, and the Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. And if you know these places, you know how wonderful they are. But the most common thing I hear is that people have been driving past them for years, and had never known that they were there.

Sahuaro Ranch, Glendale, Arizona.

I know lots of places that don't exist for most people who live nearby. They just drive past them every day. And somehow, just knowing that traffic is going by not far away makes these places even more magical for me. It's as if you could just step out of your car, push a button and be a hundred years, and a hundred miles, away.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I would talk about these places that I had found, and visited. And people who had lived there all of their life would just smile, roll their eyes, and wonder what was wrong with me. No such places existed, as far as they knew!

Nowadays I write about my history adventuring here on the web. I post old photos of Phoenix on the internet, and I am always happy to point out places that are still there, where you can go to today, and visit yesterday. No, I'm not selling anything, I'm not giving guided tours, or writing a book. And I know that the vast majority of people will insist that these places are long gone, because they've never seen them. But I beg to differ. I know that they are there, where they are, and I visit them as often as I can.

Pictured above: a peacock at Sahuaro Ranch, 59th Avenue between Peoria and Olive, Glendale, Arizona.
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