Friday, May 29, 2009

Good Year in the Alps? (SkyWatch Friday)


I may be overdoing the blimp thing but the airship operations (i.e. its home base) is right on my way home on the North-East side of the San Diego (405) and Harbor (110) freeways, so as long as I'm not on the freeway, I have plenty of chances to take pictures of it. The cupola belongs to a small chapel in Alpine Village (Torrance, CA) which is just a few miles from the blimp's parking spot.
Alpine Village has been there for as long as I remember (I went there with my aunt and my parents in 1970 when I was 12 and a new immigrant from Yugoslavia, to what my parents thought would be a respectable dinner/dance spot which turned out to be a smokey bar with a dance floor). Later visits there were during October fest (right after college) and a couple of times to Croatian picnics (excellent food and fun music). These days, I stop there when I feel nostalgic for Croatian or Serbian products such as Karlovacko pivo (beer), Radenska (mineral water), Kiki (taffy candy), Illustrovana Politika (weekly magazine)... You get the idea. At one of the stores, I found a forgotten treasure - German produced Western movie (in German) -
Winnetou which I adored as a kid and which had an added attraction of being filmed in Yugoslavia. However, I did not remember any of the movie and my German is not good enough to understand any but the basic exchanges between the characters. So in the end, remembering a forgotten part of my childhood was the best part of that discovery.

18 comments:

Maya said...

You sure see (and shoot) a lot of blimps! This shot is hilarious.

VP said...

Absolutely funny. Very good shot.

Kim said...

Tash, I love this shot!

Now I have a goal in life! :-) I have a whole series of photographs called "Seattle Skies," many of which feature buildings and church steeples with aircraft of one sort or another. I'm going to get a shot of a blimp! I've got planes and jets of all sorts, helicopters, even a parasail. . .but no blimp.

crocrodyl said...

Great photo and very interesting history. I know many of the products ,which you've mentioned, for my holidays in Croatia:)- for instance - Karlovacko:)

Sanna said...

I find the roof of the tower fascinating, all the different shades of colours in the wood really brings it to life. =)

Cezar and Léia said...

Some years ago I used to see such a zeppelin flying over São Paulo, advertising for Goodyear too. Don't know if it's still doing so. Great capture of the sky in your picture, it's really beautiful!
Cezar

Anonymous said...

What great stories! Now I'm curious to try the mineral water (not really; I want to try the beer.)

Martha Z said...

an interesting juxtaposition.

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

Tash, excellent capture. such blue sky and interesting but contrasting images

Cafe Pasadena said...

I thought you said you were Norwegian?

Greg Dimitriadis said...

Absolutely excellent photo! I love the combination of old and new.

Antjas said...

Tash, I've meant to tell you my story of Alpine Village. When my husband and I were first married, I dragged him to a Croatian picnic. It all smelled wonderful and we were quite hungry. So apparently was everyone else and by the time we got to the food, there was very little left. We talked with a lady that said when people come to this picnic, they act "kao krave na pashi." It was one of the few phrases my husband learned and we still laugh about it today. Maybe you were there.
In Canada you can get Radenska voda in the grocery stores and that's all my dad drinks.
Blue sky, no fog!

Anonymous said...

I occasionally drop by Alpine Village. If you were to attend October fest now, you'd be partying with the local Simoans.

tapirgal said...

What a cool photo. I like the juxtaposition for some reason. I guess it's unexpected with the ancient look of the church.

Lori Lynn said...

Haven't been there in years.
Very neat shot!
LL

Susie of Arabia said...

I love this photo!

Unseen India Tours said...

What A Fantastic Capture !! Great..I Enjoyed Your Blog..

Linda said...

Very nostalgic tale. It's always special to discover these forgotten treasures from childhood - brings back the whole atmosphere.