San Diego has its own way of keeping you interested, and most definitely still connected to Hollywood of yesteryear so as I set out thinking by the left lets grab a coffee, today's poison quite corporately and ostentatiously happens to be Starbucks very own veritable iced cloud caramel macchiato, its more of an English lesson than a drink, but that's how I roll, so drink in hand I wanted to check this urban legend out for myself.
It has long been rumored that in 1939 around the same time the Oz movie came out the little people moved south to San Diego and formed their own colony.. what a delicious urban legend, one I so want to believe.
Turning left onto Hidden Valley then wending my way almost vertically upwards, a quick right before I get to the top, at 7477 Hillside Drive, wouldn't you believe it, nestled into the cliffs and trees, blink and you will miss it, are the very munchkin style homes of lore that I have long heard of. The stories from the locals exist for sure, be it Barnum and Bailey performers, Chinese smugglers, European millionaires and mysterious dwarf sightings, everyone seems to have a mothers, brothers cousins third daughter from the left who knew someone, who went school with a munchkin...it is perpetuated even as I talk with locals today, all with wry smiles and a wink to each other, as if to say this guy will keep it rolling, we've got one here....
architect and land developer had a penchant for accommodating his homes to the land rather than leveling the land and making the land fit the home. The houses are a fourplex sited into the treacherously steep hillside of Mt. Soledad, they were however built slightly smaller than usual, but the optics are that you can touch the roof from the roadway because you step downhill right!! and so here I am looking down. He sold the houses in 1939 and it didn't help that his decor was more in line with what one imagines a munchkin home to look like, small windows with green shutters, oak garage door, red tile roofs, mail box set at low level, arched door, more reminiscent of snow whites cottage than a contemporary residence... go on let your imagination run a little, I mean didn't Frank L Baum write his Oz books here in San Diego, and Maren really did live here.
Take the magical drive and explore the community, there's no yellow brick road to guide you so you will more than likely get lost, but the architecture and fauna combined provide an idyllic back drop to this urban legend.
I hope you are wearing the right footwear to get home, if you are click the heels three times, you know the drill.
#bennysantiniproductions
#grahamsataconcertagain
Photo's by Benny Santini Productions
No comments:
Post a Comment