WEBVTT - Big Sur: In the Soup 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.796 Pushkin. Yeah, have you ever done like an RV trip 0:00:23.316 --> 0:00:26.156 Lan life? You mean Van Life? Yeah, I think we 0:00:26.436 --> 0:00:28.636 can't do van life. I go, van life got ruined 0:00:29.036 --> 0:00:31.716 this summer COVID. You can't get a sprinter or a 0:00:31.796 --> 0:00:35.196 VW like in any reason price. And then it became 0:00:35.236 --> 0:00:38.996 like a hashtag Instagram tiktoki thing like van life. Right, 0:00:39.276 --> 0:00:45.796 it just feels like the van life got gentrified. I 0:00:45.836 --> 0:00:49.636 hope you enjoyed. These five highly produced episodes of Not 0:00:49.836 --> 0:00:53.716 Lost in between seasons will be tackling such diverse topics 0:00:53.716 --> 0:00:58.196 as the gentrification of van Life. Turn in next week 0:00:58.236 --> 0:01:06.476 for a conversation. This is Not Lost California so far, 0:01:06.476 --> 0:01:09.836 how everybody feeling. I'm Brendan France has new him feel 0:01:09.836 --> 0:01:11.996 great that it's not New York. That's my friend, the 0:01:12.036 --> 0:01:15.956 audio producer John Delor, just like it is an incredible 0:01:16.036 --> 0:01:19.116 joy to just be out of the city. It's April 0:01:19.156 --> 0:01:22.636 twenty twenty two, and after a two year hiatus spent 0:01:22.716 --> 0:01:25.596 hunkering down in New York City due to COVID, we're 0:01:25.636 --> 0:01:29.196 heading toward the opposite of the Big Apple, Big Sir, 0:01:29.836 --> 0:01:35.676 eighty miles of vodness along the rugged coast of Central California. 0:01:36.316 --> 0:01:40.716 Look at these beaches, taking in the coastal beauty. It's 0:01:40.716 --> 0:01:43.236 hard to remember why I ever left California, Like, what 0:01:43.276 --> 0:01:45.516 do we do in their lives? Oh, that house is 0:01:45.516 --> 0:01:50.276 for sale. Maybe the world speaking to me? Live right there, 0:01:51.076 --> 0:01:57.516 work remotely, make podcasts, eat soup. So you've been to 0:01:57.556 --> 0:01:59.956 Big Sir? How many times I was thinking about on 0:01:59.956 --> 0:02:03.556 the plane. I think like eleven or twelve times. What 0:02:03.636 --> 0:02:06.156 was the first time? Big Sir is not new to me. 0:02:06.876 --> 0:02:09.116 Years back, when I lived in California, I would visit 0:02:09.156 --> 0:02:11.636 it all the time, and like many before me, I 0:02:11.796 --> 0:02:14.956 was seduced by the areas looming redwood forests and mountains 0:02:14.996 --> 0:02:20.196 on one side, the bananas wow and the drama of cliffs, 0:02:20.516 --> 0:02:23.316 rock and ocean on the other. Look at the shoreline. 0:02:23.356 --> 0:02:25.836 It's accessible for like a stretch, and then it just 0:02:25.996 --> 0:02:29.116 turns into the sort of cliffs. It is hard to 0:02:29.116 --> 0:02:33.796 overstate house dunning, Big Sir is. It is an Edenic wilderness. 0:02:33.996 --> 0:02:37.676 It is Beethoven, the taj Mahal for let Mignon, Queen 0:02:37.716 --> 0:02:41.036 em On, all of it all in one. And yet 0:02:41.076 --> 0:02:43.636 what really makes the special for me are the thinkers, 0:02:43.796 --> 0:02:46.876 artists and writers who live and visit here. Despite being 0:02:46.876 --> 0:02:49.676 remote in Big s a book of poetry or a 0:02:49.676 --> 0:02:52.556 good conversation are not hard to find. I can't believe 0:02:52.596 --> 0:02:56.556 I can't find parking in Big s Okay, come on out, 0:02:57.036 --> 0:03:00.116 you lay in your horn, no want to You can 0:03:00.116 --> 0:03:08.076 take the guy out of New York City. I'd rather 0:03:08.156 --> 0:03:10.836 live a life that's a little on edge, like wildfires, 0:03:10.876 --> 0:03:15.196 mountain lions, and then paradise and elation, those two ends 0:03:15.196 --> 0:03:17.956 of the spectrum, then this monotonous middle of the road 0:03:18.116 --> 0:03:19.956 stuff that I was ever mentioned. When we arrive in 0:03:19.956 --> 0:03:22.716 Big Sir village, we strike up a chat with a radiant, 0:03:22.996 --> 0:03:26.316 even beatific looking stranger named Jake Podour. How did you 0:03:26.396 --> 0:03:30.556 end up in Big Sir? I ended up here by accident, 0:03:30.636 --> 0:03:33.356 which most other residents of Big sur will say the same. 0:03:33.436 --> 0:03:36.516 They didn't actually try to live here. Jake is young, 0:03:36.796 --> 0:03:39.556 has a short beard and baggy clothes, with the touch 0:03:39.596 --> 0:03:43.636 of Bohemian flair, music and spirit. If I do say so, 0:03:43.876 --> 0:03:46.236 is really the reason why I ended up here? Yeah? 0:03:46.716 --> 0:03:48.596 I found myself in La trying to do the music 0:03:48.636 --> 0:03:51.436 thing and it just was making me feel lost, and 0:03:51.516 --> 0:03:54.996 I was luckily cradled by this beautiful land. I mean 0:03:55.076 --> 0:03:56.796 is there enough to do as just a big sur 0:03:57.036 --> 0:03:59.796 like young guy living here, Like you can get off 0:03:59.836 --> 0:04:04.276 work to get by? Oh now I can before you know, 0:04:04.396 --> 0:04:08.276 living in my car saving money on rent. That made 0:04:08.316 --> 0:04:10.396 it work out for me in that sense. But are 0:04:10.396 --> 0:04:12.996 there there a lot of car life going on? There is. 0:04:13.116 --> 0:04:15.236 There's a lot of car life, a lot of transients, 0:04:15.236 --> 0:04:18.516 and a lot of multi millionaires and not much more 0:04:18.556 --> 0:04:20.836 in between. But right now I have a work trade situation. 0:04:20.876 --> 0:04:23.676 I garden for this lady's property and live in a 0:04:23.676 --> 0:04:27.556 little shack and play music, and people seem to enjoy that. 0:04:32.836 --> 0:04:34.236 My journey is I ended up in the middle of 0:04:34.236 --> 0:04:36.036 the road, and I've kind of been digging it because 0:04:36.076 --> 0:04:40.796 I spent so much time not but I'm remembering those 0:04:40.796 --> 0:04:42.156 old feelings of what it's like to be on the 0:04:42.236 --> 0:04:47.356 road and to be someplace so dramatic. How is how 0:04:47.356 --> 0:04:48.716 what is it like being in a place where people 0:04:48.716 --> 0:04:51.996 are like travelers like us are coming through constantly, constantly, 0:04:52.116 --> 0:04:55.476 Like is it it's a beautiful or is it it's invigorating. 0:04:55.516 --> 0:04:57.916 I'm meeting people from all over the world. I feel 0:04:57.916 --> 0:05:01.676 like I'm touring through vast lands, but really I'm just 0:05:01.756 --> 0:05:04.636 on this eighty mile stretch of coastline, and I'm just 0:05:04.716 --> 0:05:07.876 meeting all the most wonderful characters. As Henry Miller said 0:05:07.996 --> 0:05:09.956 in Big Sirs, they put and watch the world go 0:05:10.076 --> 0:05:12.116 rounds to these people who are going to be here 0:05:12.116 --> 0:05:16.516 for decades. Who knows it's transitory, as you said to me, 0:05:16.676 --> 0:05:19.276 it is. It's it's fun to think about some visions 0:05:19.356 --> 0:05:21.956 or the future. But um, I notice, I'm happiest one. 0:05:21.996 --> 0:05:24.916 I'm just right here right now. Yeah, day by day, 0:05:25.196 --> 0:05:33.116 hour by hour, moment by moment. When we left Jake, 0:05:33.236 --> 0:05:36.916 his words rang in my ears. Yeah, let's be right 0:05:36.956 --> 0:05:40.796 here right now, which I interpreted to mean let's get 0:05:40.836 --> 0:05:46.036 into the nature we travel so far to explore. Took 0:05:46.036 --> 0:05:47.876 it right off the one. It was time to visit 0:05:47.916 --> 0:05:54.356 the beach, driving directly off the continent of North America, said, 0:05:55.316 --> 0:06:00.236 come up to the edge. Do you know this one? 0:06:01.356 --> 0:06:03.996 Beach Boys? Right? So I found this song when I 0:06:04.036 --> 0:06:06.476 was making a playlist for the trip. I knew one 0:06:06.476 --> 0:06:07.996 of them lived up here, but I didn't know they 0:06:07.996 --> 0:06:14.116 were in a song about it. Yea, before we can 0:06:14.196 --> 0:06:16.316 hit the beach, we stop at a little gatehouse to 0:06:16.356 --> 0:06:20.396 buy a day pass for our car. Good morning, twelve dollars. Yeah, 0:06:20.436 --> 0:06:23.636 we take cash or card whatever. Okay, is it busy 0:06:23.716 --> 0:06:26.836 or slow today? Starting to pick up a little bit? Yeah, 0:06:27.076 --> 0:06:29.956 slower than it was yesterday at this time. Right, still 0:06:29.956 --> 0:06:32.916 a weekend. All right, thank you for this, got a problem. 0:06:32.916 --> 0:06:34.716 You guys are all set to go have great afternoon? 0:06:34.756 --> 0:06:40.236 All right, thank you you. What do we think his 0:06:40.316 --> 0:06:42.996 life out of a scott one to ten? I'm thinking ten? Right, 0:06:43.236 --> 0:06:45.756 It seems like super happy. He seems happy. He's like 0:06:45.836 --> 0:06:50.556 living near the beach. I'm trying not to be jealous. 0:06:50.716 --> 0:07:05.436 Oh wait, oh dick, I'm gonna go put my feet 0:07:05.436 --> 0:07:08.396 in the water. Okay, yeah, all right, let's do it. 0:07:08.436 --> 0:07:10.036 But we're gonna have to. It's not sure it's what 0:07:10.116 --> 0:07:13.636 we're gonna show some calf all right, urt your eyes 0:07:13.756 --> 0:07:16.996 because my calves have not seen the sun and years. 0:07:19.196 --> 0:07:26.556 Oh yeah, wow, this feels like the opposite of a 0:07:26.636 --> 0:07:32.716 zoom call. It's good to touch the water. That sounds 0:07:32.716 --> 0:07:35.796 a little bit like the beginning of creation. There's like 0:07:35.916 --> 0:07:40.036 mist these beautiful flowers, these purple piano, the edges in 0:07:40.076 --> 0:07:42.196 the green right into the water. It looks like this 0:07:42.276 --> 0:07:47.556 is where man sprung forth. Yeahs such an interesting beach. Experience. 0:07:47.596 --> 0:07:51.116 Though you come here, you're not swimming today because it's cold. 0:07:51.316 --> 0:07:52.956 I don't think you could swim here, could you? Are 0:07:52.956 --> 0:07:56.116 the waves too much? You can do whatever you want here. 0:07:56.916 --> 0:08:09.516 But it's so goddamn beautiful that that is enough. There's 0:08:09.556 --> 0:08:13.276 something something about over there. I can't tell if it's 0:08:13.276 --> 0:08:16.476 a lot you actually look up right, if that's a 0:08:16.516 --> 0:08:21.476 piece of driftwood or crazy seaweed. The large brown thing 0:08:21.476 --> 0:08:26.116 down there, Yeah, that it's moving. I don't think that's 0:08:26.116 --> 0:08:35.236 a long Let's go check it out, all right, Oh, 0:08:35.356 --> 0:08:38.676 check that out. Those are the elephant seals. Wow, Oh 0:08:38.756 --> 0:08:50.396 my god, look at these these things are massive. Wow. 0:08:53.636 --> 0:08:55.396 Like when you come up to this, it looks like 0:08:55.436 --> 0:08:59.596 a battlefield with all these like fallen soldiers. Yeah, you 0:08:59.676 --> 0:09:03.836 see battlefield. My read is like Rockaway Beach, like sort 0:09:03.876 --> 0:09:06.036 of mid August on a Wednesday, when there's not too 0:09:06.076 --> 0:09:09.476 many people and everyone's really quiet. Everyone's got enough space 0:09:09.516 --> 0:09:13.796 for their blanket, but everyone they're just all very chill. 0:09:13.876 --> 0:09:15.636 Right now. I feel like they just parted their brains 0:09:15.676 --> 0:09:19.996 out right. It's got that five what I'm saying. Trapsing 0:09:20.116 --> 0:09:23.356 between the blobs of napping elephant seals was a figure 0:09:23.676 --> 0:09:28.196 holding a clipboard. John and I waved and they approached us. 0:09:28.236 --> 0:09:31.436 I'm Brendan Arena. John. Nice to me, what are you 0:09:31.476 --> 0:09:35.036 doing here? So? I'm currently working on my PhD, and 0:09:35.236 --> 0:09:38.236 this morning I was actually just out doing recites, and 0:09:38.276 --> 0:09:41.596 so I was out looking at their flipper tags. Oh 0:09:41.676 --> 0:09:44.596 no way, Well, look at this guy scratching his side. 0:09:46.236 --> 0:09:49.076 Get How do they move? It's like such a dumb 0:09:49.076 --> 0:09:53.076 basic How do they move? We have a very scientific 0:09:53.196 --> 0:09:56.196 term for that on land. It's called glumping. So it's 0:09:56.556 --> 0:10:02.396 galumping galumping. Have you ever seen that dance move the worm? Yeah, 0:10:03.036 --> 0:10:08.396 really looks like that. That's incredible. So why do they 0:10:08.396 --> 0:10:12.676 come here this spot? Yeah? So they actually come back 0:10:12.716 --> 0:10:14.836 to each of these colonies because that's where they were 0:10:14.876 --> 0:10:17.276 born and that's where they know to go. Is there 0:10:17.316 --> 0:10:19.556 a scientific word for that sort of thing, like that 0:10:19.636 --> 0:10:22.596 behavior of like going back to where you came from. Yeah, 0:10:22.636 --> 0:10:26.796 it's known as like Philopatrick, Philopatrick. I like that. It's 0:10:26.836 --> 0:10:30.636 like like after college, I was Philopatrick. I just ended 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:44.036 up in my dad's basement. And so where do they 0:10:44.036 --> 0:10:45.956 go when they're not here? So they spend most of 0:10:45.996 --> 0:10:49.916 their time out at sea? Okay, the adult females will 0:10:49.956 --> 0:10:52.796 go out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I 0:10:52.836 --> 0:10:55.636 think their round trip can come in at about ten 0:10:55.716 --> 0:11:01.276 thousand kilometers that they're doing, and then after about two 0:11:01.356 --> 0:11:05.556 months they come back to molt and while they're on land, 0:11:05.556 --> 0:11:09.276 they're fasting the entire time, and then they'll go back 0:11:09.276 --> 0:11:13.196 out to see for seven months, putting on a ton 0:11:13.236 --> 0:11:16.316 of mass to then come back for the breeding seasoning. 0:11:16.476 --> 0:11:18.356 I'm looking at them, I'm like inspired, Like I feel 0:11:18.396 --> 0:11:20.516 like I moved way too much in New York that 0:11:20.636 --> 0:11:22.116 I need to spend a little bit more in my 0:11:22.156 --> 0:11:25.436 life focusing on the basics, which is napping. It looks 0:11:25.476 --> 0:11:28.836 to me, maybe finding a good mate, maybe having some 0:11:28.956 --> 0:11:32.436 kids for me. I was drawn to them by what 0:11:32.476 --> 0:11:34.276 they can do out in the sea, because that is 0:11:34.316 --> 0:11:38.036 really like how they make a living out there, you know, 0:11:38.116 --> 0:11:40.116 Like it's really if they don't do well out there, 0:11:40.276 --> 0:11:41.676 they're not going to be able to come back on 0:11:41.756 --> 0:11:44.116 land and do well online. Right, So this is classic me. 0:11:44.196 --> 0:11:47.476 I'm looking at them just chilling out after the result 0:11:47.476 --> 0:11:49.556 of all their hard work, and I'm like, I want that. 0:11:51.796 --> 0:11:53.756 I don't want to do the ten thousand hours of 0:11:53.756 --> 0:11:57.636 work that allows this to happen. It's pretty amazing. Do 0:11:57.676 --> 0:11:59.316 you know any of the like these ones that are 0:11:59.356 --> 0:12:02.996 laid on the beach, any of them are familiar? We 0:12:03.076 --> 0:12:07.036 do have. Yes, there is this one girl eighteen eighty 0:12:07.036 --> 0:12:10.716 five who I believe is twenty this year, all right, 0:12:10.756 --> 0:12:13.236 and I think she held the record for the deepest 0:12:13.316 --> 0:12:17.436 dive of the seals that we've instrumented, Yeah, which was 0:12:17.476 --> 0:12:21.636 about two hours and down to one thousand, seven hundred meters. 0:12:22.116 --> 0:12:25.036 That's so cool. We know we have her her track 0:12:25.196 --> 0:12:28.036 from that year, and then we actually chacked her several 0:12:28.116 --> 0:12:30.956 years later. It seems like she's doing the same thing 0:12:31.396 --> 0:12:34.916 every year. And it was where to go. The idea 0:12:34.956 --> 0:12:36.716 that they keep coming back to where they came from, 0:12:36.876 --> 0:12:40.196 like ISRAELI intriguing to me. But thank you so much 0:12:40.276 --> 0:12:43.916 for yeah, sharing your work with us. Yeah, this is beautiful. 0:12:43.956 --> 0:12:46.276 Thank you so much. Yeah, it's nice to be able 0:12:46.276 --> 0:12:48.236 to come out on the beach and run across someone 0:12:48.276 --> 0:12:50.436 who just hangs out with these credits all the time. 0:12:51.196 --> 0:12:53.436 You guys are heading south, right, Well, we might go 0:12:53.476 --> 0:12:56.156 to there's this place in Pescudero. Have you ever been 0:12:56.196 --> 0:13:01.276 to Duarts? No? Oh my god, it has He's got 0:13:01.276 --> 0:13:06.276 this supup So there's this soup I used to again 0:13:06.436 --> 0:13:10.956 every time I visited Big I might have mentioned it 0:13:11.036 --> 0:13:14.116 once or twice while planning for this trend inflatable soup 0:13:14.476 --> 0:13:17.076 cream of artichoke made from artichoke they pick in the cart, 0:13:17.236 --> 0:13:20.676 cream of vartach utter garlic. I first encountered it in 0:13:20.756 --> 0:13:23.236 years two pounds of artichokes, and now I make a 0:13:23.276 --> 0:13:25.756 pilgrimage to eat it anytime I'm nearby. If you know, 0:13:25.796 --> 0:13:27.716 if you've been there, you can order off menu the 0:13:27.756 --> 0:13:30.796 fifty fifth blended with this chili verde soup, which is 0:13:30.876 --> 0:13:34.956 more pecant and spicy, chick in stock, heavy cream, salt, pepper. 0:13:35.076 --> 0:13:37.836 In my mind, it contains more than just neutri super 0:13:37.916 --> 0:13:41.396 grounding and almost woods like a metaphor for the ideal life. 0:13:41.436 --> 0:13:45.036 It contains wisdom for living. You know, the soup's grounded 0:13:45.196 --> 0:13:46.996 but spice. I've kind of been thinking about this soup 0:13:47.036 --> 0:13:49.116 for five years, and soup is not the main reason 0:13:49.276 --> 0:13:52.196 I decided to visit California. Soup that you talk about 0:13:52.236 --> 0:13:55.036 all the time, but I just want to make sure 0:13:55.036 --> 0:13:57.476 we hit it if we're traveling there, certainly played a 0:13:57.556 --> 0:13:59.116 role in my decision. You gotta do the math this 0:13:59.276 --> 0:14:01.996 even makes sense to go back. Unfortunately, because we have 0:14:02.036 --> 0:14:04.116 to backtrack and go the other way, we didn't have 0:14:04.156 --> 0:14:05.956 time to stop there. On the way down to being Soup, 0:14:09.356 --> 0:14:12.836 and after our jount to the beach, the jet lag 0:14:12.916 --> 0:14:17.596 hit us like a wave of molasses. So we checked 0:14:17.596 --> 0:14:21.596 into the cabin, unpacked the car, and when we were 0:14:21.636 --> 0:14:26.276 settled it was dark, and not bluish city dark, but 0:14:26.436 --> 0:14:31.676 squid ink black dark. We lit a fire, opened a 0:14:31.716 --> 0:14:35.076 bottle of mescow, and continued to try to be in 0:14:35.116 --> 0:14:47.436 the present. Big God plans and mine, I'll go into 0:14:49.356 --> 0:15:22.476 ourselves to your Dave two Walmond cappuccinos. Some people know 0:15:22.516 --> 0:15:25.876 the best fishing spots or a good place to catch waves, 0:15:25.876 --> 0:15:29.756 to surf. I'm like that for coffee shops. Even in 0:15:29.796 --> 0:15:31.956 the wilderness, I can hear the siren call of a 0:15:32.036 --> 0:15:35.356 milk frother. And thus the next morning we proceeded to 0:15:35.396 --> 0:15:38.596 Big Sur Bakery, a casual eatery nestled in the hills 0:15:38.596 --> 0:15:45.036 off of Highway One. So, John, I've been to Big 0:15:45.036 --> 0:15:49.036 Sur Bakery dozens of times. What was your what's your experience? 0:15:50.796 --> 0:15:52.436 All right? So, first of all, it's across from the 0:15:52.476 --> 0:15:57.036 most beautiful gas station of all time, like it makes 0:15:57.076 --> 0:16:00.396 gas look probably good for the planet, Like you imagine 0:16:00.436 --> 0:16:02.076 that the person who works in there is like extremely 0:16:02.156 --> 0:16:06.996 fit and doing yoga in between a humping gas bakery 0:16:07.076 --> 0:16:11.956 is good. I mean, I've got like this, what is it? 0:16:11.996 --> 0:16:13.836 What did you order? Why am I? It's a blueberry 0:16:13.836 --> 0:16:17.916 strudle bluebers at least like two pounds of blue blueberries. Seriously, 0:16:17.956 --> 0:16:19.396 but I had to give it to you because they 0:16:19.436 --> 0:16:22.636 did not announce there was almond flower, right, and you 0:16:22.636 --> 0:16:24.476 you like you threw it down like like it was 0:16:24.516 --> 0:16:28.596 like a wet ragular. This is going to close off 0:16:28.636 --> 0:16:30.796 my throat. But yeah, or you could just say I 0:16:30.796 --> 0:16:32.236 threw it down like what you know. Either way you 0:16:32.236 --> 0:16:34.836 could act like I'm being pretentious, or we can talk 0:16:34.836 --> 0:16:40.916 about a medical condition. Yeah, but no. The pastry cabinet 0:16:40.916 --> 0:16:43.036 here is like of the gods, and there's like a 0:16:43.116 --> 0:16:49.796 little pursudo greer cheese loaves and vegetable for tatas. Let's 0:16:49.796 --> 0:16:51.596 since you have a question though, you so when I 0:16:51.636 --> 0:16:54.396 gave you my blueberry, it's going due to my medical emergency. 0:16:55.876 --> 0:16:57.716 You were like, oh, well you can eat my ginger skull, 0:16:57.716 --> 0:17:00.236 which is very generous of you, right, but ginger is 0:17:00.236 --> 0:17:02.316 like kind of a coffee killer, you know. I mean 0:17:02.596 --> 0:17:05.636 it's like the flavored ginger intersecting the coffee. To me, 0:17:05.716 --> 0:17:09.116 it feels like I'm taking a pill. It's like gingers. 0:17:09.156 --> 0:17:12.396 So huh. I don't know. I found the collision a little. 0:17:12.636 --> 0:17:14.156 I think it's like having like a cookie or like 0:17:14.236 --> 0:17:18.116 a you know, it's like it's like here toothpaste in 0:17:18.156 --> 0:17:24.396 our shoes. But thank you, You're welcome, You're welcome, Thanks 0:17:24.396 --> 0:17:26.196 for this. It's good. It's good. I'm sorry about the 0:17:26.236 --> 0:17:28.596 almond flower thing. Like all your glance is your throat 0:17:28.596 --> 0:17:33.276 closing up at all. John snark rolls off me as 0:17:33.316 --> 0:17:35.716 I happily watched the line of people in yoga pants 0:17:35.796 --> 0:17:39.276 and hiking boots stifle yawns while waiting for their coffee orders. 0:17:39.476 --> 0:17:43.116 Often there's a flat white John Diggins texting his wife 0:17:43.116 --> 0:17:45.276 in New York, who he left home alone with their 0:17:45.316 --> 0:17:49.356 two kids. You can almost feel the like, as I'm leaving, 0:17:49.476 --> 0:17:53.276 like I'm just taking this huge like sixty pound like 0:17:53.436 --> 0:17:57.156 flak jacket combination like old hair shirt. You know, it's 0:17:57.156 --> 0:17:59.716 like uncomfortable and it's heavy. I just like take mine 0:17:59.756 --> 0:18:01.396 off and like, all right, you're gonna have to wear 0:18:01.436 --> 0:18:07.796 both of them five days already, Like I can just 0:18:07.876 --> 0:18:11.676 feel the space or it's it's like it's quieter in 0:18:11.716 --> 0:18:14.076 my head because there's not that like it's like you 0:18:14.116 --> 0:18:15.796 need to get up now, you need to get their pajamas, 0:18:15.796 --> 0:18:16.956 and then like you wake up and you open your 0:18:16.956 --> 0:18:19.356 eyes and you're like, oh no, no, I'm in California. Yeah, 0:18:19.356 --> 0:18:22.236 I don't have to do that today. Yeah, all right, 0:18:23.076 --> 0:18:26.036 let's um get out here. Let's go check out Henry 0:18:26.036 --> 0:18:28.916 Motor Library. And it's a little nonprofit because Henry Moller 0:18:28.996 --> 0:18:31.116 used to live here. And so we'll take with Magnus, 0:18:31.116 --> 0:18:33.076 who I've known over the years. He's seen me in 0:18:33.156 --> 0:18:37.476 different states with different hairlinths, different partners, in different cars, 0:18:39.236 --> 0:18:41.516 and now it's years on and I'm still still here. 0:18:41.516 --> 0:18:44.356 You'll be the harriest partner I bring to him yet. Amazing, 0:18:45.836 --> 0:18:47.436 Let's do it. I'm glad you're here with me. Yeah, 0:18:47.436 --> 0:18:57.356 I'm glad. We got you out black coffee for Chelsea. 0:19:00.476 --> 0:19:04.436 Anaphylactic shock avoided, bellies full. We hop at our rig 0:19:04.476 --> 0:19:08.236 and mosey further down Highway one. But it's that same thing, 0:19:08.316 --> 0:19:11.196 like do you go to those natural places to recharge 0:19:11.196 --> 0:19:12.996 and come back Yeah, but I think like if you 0:19:13.076 --> 0:19:17.156 do the opposite, where you're living in the country most 0:19:17.196 --> 0:19:19.476 of the time and then going to city and coming back, 0:19:19.836 --> 0:19:22.236 that's just like it's like the inverse of like the 0:19:22.276 --> 0:19:25.356 thing that I think I aspire to. That's that's like 0:19:26.876 --> 0:19:29.276 the chili verde soup is the majority and in the 0:19:29.316 --> 0:19:33.636 middle is just a little bit of artichoke. Right, you're saying, 0:19:34.676 --> 0:19:37.276 I'm just trying to figure out, like, if I acknowledge it, 0:19:37.316 --> 0:19:39.596 does that mean we're going to keep talking about the soup, 0:19:39.716 --> 0:19:43.196 or if I just we come to a little turnout 0:19:43.236 --> 0:19:46.116 where a tiny cabin sits amidst redwood trees at the 0:19:46.236 --> 0:19:49.236 edge of a shady glade. This is perfect. Look, there's 0:19:49.236 --> 0:19:52.156 this old wooden sign painted yell at Henry Miller Library, 0:19:52.396 --> 0:20:01.436 Book Music, Art. All right, let's go check it out. 0:20:01.956 --> 0:20:06.716 The Henry Miller Library is not an actual library. It's 0:20:06.756 --> 0:20:09.796 a nonprofit art center, bookstore, and performance space set up 0:20:09.796 --> 0:20:12.436 as a kind of memorial to the writer. Miller had 0:20:12.436 --> 0:20:14.596 had his fill of city life and moved to Big 0:20:14.636 --> 0:20:20.956 Serve back in the nineteen forties. Yeah. I'm just so 0:20:21.036 --> 0:20:22.396 happy to be here, man. I think this is the 0:20:22.436 --> 0:20:24.156 first trip in two years and I wanted to come 0:20:24.236 --> 0:20:26.356 right to the most beautiful place I could think of, 0:20:26.516 --> 0:20:28.196 what do you mean, first trip in two years because 0:20:28.196 --> 0:20:30.836 of COVID, because so the show we were making it 0:20:31.156 --> 0:20:34.516 and then stopped right And then in that time I 0:20:34.556 --> 0:20:36.596 got a normal job, got my hair cut, my girlfriend 0:20:36.636 --> 0:20:40.556 moved in, bought a car, started watching TV, became an American. Yeah, 0:20:40.556 --> 0:20:43.036 and now it's kind of tapering right, and I'm back 0:20:43.036 --> 0:20:46.836 out here. My name is Magnus Taurum, and I've been 0:20:46.916 --> 0:20:49.796 here at the library since nineteen ninety three, and I 0:20:49.876 --> 0:20:55.316 come I came here from Sweden. Magnus is tall, Cladden 0:20:55.356 --> 0:20:58.156 Denham and has a full head of silver hair doing 0:20:58.196 --> 0:21:02.076 this kind of cool scarecrow shag thing. All right, so 0:21:02.156 --> 0:21:04.956 can you give us a lay of the land here? Um? Well, 0:21:05.356 --> 0:21:08.276 the library is here. It's been like this since nineteen 0:21:08.316 --> 0:21:11.116 eighty one. Very few things have changed. People don't like 0:21:11.316 --> 0:21:15.276 things changing here. Oftentimes people would comment on a rock 0:21:15.716 --> 0:21:18.116 that used to be in one place and now it's moved, 0:21:18.476 --> 0:21:22.876 and they get slightly perturbed. See that railroad tree right 0:21:22.876 --> 0:21:26.036 there is actually classic redwood that. See how the branches 0:21:26.076 --> 0:21:29.316 are drooping, like really drooping, hanging down. That's like the 0:21:29.396 --> 0:21:32.716 cover tree for a book about Sequoia Sampavillians, which these are. 0:21:32.956 --> 0:21:35.476 And when when David Crosby did his concert, which was 0:21:35.916 --> 0:21:38.516 not that long ago, he stood on this stage and suddenly, 0:21:38.556 --> 0:21:40.556 in the middle of the concert he stopped like this, 0:21:41.556 --> 0:21:44.196 and they looked up and he suddenly noticed that tree, 0:21:44.356 --> 0:21:54.236 and he said, this song is for that tree. Do 0:21:54.236 --> 0:21:56.516 you mind telling John the story of how you ended 0:21:56.556 --> 0:21:59.436 up in Big Sir? Initially? Initially I hitchtaged down the 0:21:59.476 --> 0:22:01.276 coast in the nineteen seventy eight the first time, and 0:22:01.316 --> 0:22:04.316 then I sailed for seven years in the mainliness of Pacific. 0:22:04.356 --> 0:22:10.876 And then on August twenty eight, nineteen eighty four, I 0:22:10.916 --> 0:22:13.716 had a motorcycle accident right outside of Fernwood here in 0:22:13.756 --> 0:22:16.716 the valley, right in Big righting A downtown the valley, 0:22:16.756 --> 0:22:19.676 Big Sir. And I lost my consciousness and I was 0:22:19.796 --> 0:22:23.636 laying I sprawled myself on the hood of this car, 0:22:23.876 --> 0:22:27.356 bleeding profusely out of certainly my nose and mouth. And 0:22:27.996 --> 0:22:31.756 I wake up and I'm holding somebody's hand, and I 0:22:31.996 --> 0:22:35.156 opened up my eyes and I see this beautiful young woman, 0:22:35.356 --> 0:22:39.676 and I said, how did you get here? And then 0:22:40.116 --> 0:22:43.396 she went with me in the ambulance, and I'm still 0:22:43.476 --> 0:22:45.876 with her a four months south of here on Parlington 0:22:45.956 --> 0:22:48.676 Ridge where she brought me up. So that was that's 0:22:48.716 --> 0:22:52.396 the reason I'm here is having met her, it fell 0:22:52.476 --> 0:22:55.116 in love completely and fell in love with her and 0:22:55.236 --> 0:22:58.196 the place. And I had so many stitches on my 0:22:58.276 --> 0:23:01.516 lips that it took it took three weeks for us 0:23:01.596 --> 0:23:08.076 to finally be able to come gently kiss. Magnus walks 0:23:08.156 --> 0:23:10.636 us around the grounds of the library. There's a ping 0:23:10.716 --> 0:23:14.636 pong table, a small stage for performances, and various folk 0:23:14.756 --> 0:23:20.396 art sculptures nestled beneath redwood trees. This is the iconic thing. 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:22.756 This piano has been taking a beating for years. Yeah, 0:23:22.876 --> 0:23:25.716 it's entropy. It's a it's a piano that's slowly rotting 0:23:26.036 --> 0:23:28.236 in front of our eyes. Here, I had three of 0:23:28.316 --> 0:23:32.516 those mannequins surrounding a redwood stump on which I had 0:23:32.556 --> 0:23:35.316 a cup, and in the cup I had a Rubik's cube. 0:23:36.116 --> 0:23:38.236 So a lot of these are is you bathe these 0:23:38.396 --> 0:23:41.436 and they're kind of just ready maids inspired by your 0:23:41.636 --> 0:23:45.516 wild mind. Yeah. Now that orange thing there that actually 0:23:45.596 --> 0:23:48.116 comes from the bowling alley where they shot with the 0:23:48.156 --> 0:23:53.596 Botskid movie. Yeah, Yeah, that's from the big sort of 0:23:53.676 --> 0:23:57.836 fashion show that we have here, like jellyfish. All right, 0:23:57.916 --> 0:24:00.436 And now we approached the the mL White House, which 0:24:00.436 --> 0:24:04.996 as we converted into this beautiful little library and bookstore. 0:24:05.516 --> 0:24:12.036 I've been poking our heads in here. So we're basically 0:24:12.116 --> 0:24:15.676 in this place and it's like a really handsome bookstore 0:24:15.716 --> 0:24:18.436 in a cabin, but this kind of nice warm lighting. 0:24:19.596 --> 0:24:22.356 Is there an organization, what's the what's the roads, the selection? 0:24:22.596 --> 0:24:24.756 It's a little bit. It's you know, they're on the shelf. 0:24:24.876 --> 0:24:28.836 We have books that are essentially by author, pretty much alphabetical, 0:24:29.316 --> 0:24:31.476 and then we have displaced on the tables and they 0:24:31.756 --> 0:24:34.476 they change all the time depending on how we feel. Yeah, 0:24:35.356 --> 0:24:38.196 but the books themselves are all kind of rotating in 0:24:38.316 --> 0:24:42.156 and out modern classics, moniting classic classics. Yeah, it's like 0:24:42.276 --> 0:24:46.956 an education humanities on one level. And this poster here 0:24:47.076 --> 0:24:49.596 is from the Wild Year of twenty eleven where we 0:24:49.716 --> 0:24:53.276 had she like Peppers and John Waters and oh my way. 0:24:53.316 --> 0:24:56.156 So this is these are people performed at the library. 0:24:56.716 --> 0:25:03.796 Red Hot Chili, Peppers, John Waters, MGMT, Henry Rollins. Remarkable 0:25:03.876 --> 0:25:06.796