ROLLERCOASTERS

I had an absolutely wonderful New Year's holiday with my family but they refuse to let me write about them here so I'll have to talk about something else...like my trip to Magic Mountain with Mike. Boy, the park was crowded! I'm in the picture above...can you see me? I'm the one with the pimple behind my ear.

'Just kidding. I got this picture off the net.

I didn't get many photos. I was too distracted by all the girls wearing yoga pants. This girl (above) stood out by wearing a one piece, skin tight, yoga body suit...or so I thought. The camera picked up what my eyes couldn't...that it was actually a two piece outfit. Oh, well. 

I'm grateful to Mike for gallantly shielding the girl from my intrusive camera. By doing so he inadvertently gave us an opportunity to study his nails which I'm happy to report are spotlessly clean but are curiously pointed on the top edges.

Anyway, if you live in LA you know that Magic Mountain is primarily a roller coaster park. The roller coaster biz is highly competitive and MM does everything it can do to provide the most terrifying, grueling, gut wrenching rides possible.

You have to wonder where this competition is going to end. How steep will the slides get  before they're deemed too steep?

Yikes!

I guess the only limit is how much G-force the human body can take.

We must be inching up to that limit now.

Or maybe not.

The amazing thing is that we become blase to speed after a while. You get used to it.

The same ride that had us screaming for mercy the first time invariably seems tame a few rides later. 

Maybe that's why coaster designers are always chasing bigger and better thrills.

I can't imagine what kind of coasters my kids will see.

The real game changer will come when computers can guarantee that fast moving vehicles won't crash or hit anyone and noisy vehicles will operate at a tolerable decibel level. When problems like that are overcome then expect to see roller coasters and even airplanes planes operate in the city. Expect to see low-flying gondolas and jets race through city streets and sidewalks, sometimes a few feet off the ground.

On a slightly different topic: my own belief is that 50 years from now about 1% of the population will live for months at a time in rented mobile houses strung together like trains. Live-in cruise ships built for that purpose are on the drawing boards right now.

One day your house/train might be slowly threading through exotic urban centers (above)...

...and another day it might be winding around Rocky Mountain trails.

Interesting, eh?

ROADSIDE RUINS [EXPANDED]

Another Theory Corner architecture post: I'm always amazed when I catch a glimpse of roadside ruins (above). It's sad to think that families lived and worked in those places and were forced to abandon their homes, sometimes quickly. 

The best roadside ruins are from the 19th and early 20th centuries. I don't think most buildings more modern than that will provoke any regret when they decay.

It's pretty clear that the 19th Century was an architectural Golden Age (except for factories, which were never designed for aesthetics). People built in a more confident and congenial style then, and there was no redistributive income tax to inhibit building. 

  

All over you could find the influence of German and English Gothic. Geez, I love that style. A lot of Frank Lloyd Wright is based on it (well, that mixed with a Japanese influence).

Of course those old buildings are gone now, or if they're still standing they're candidates for the wrecking ball. It's too bad because, even in decay, they're still fascinating to look at. I'd love to spend an hour walking through the rotting hotel above, wouldn't you? I'd even pay for the experience. 

Isn't there some way to rescue these old structures? Like that crumbling hotel above; isn't there a way to make it pay for itself?  Maybe some notable historical event or crime happened there that would interest the public.  I imagine that almost every surviving building of the gaslight era was the scene of some interesting event. 

Lots of people would like to see those old buildings restored, but it's not likely to happen. It would be too expensive. They're too far gone. But, think about it...we don't have to restore them. Let them stay in the sorry state they're in.  All we have to do is provide paths of safe modern scaffolding so the visitors don't have to walk in the rubble. 

That's the way tourists are able to access otherwise dangerous caves with fragile stalagmites.

Beautiful old crumbling buildings are undeniably interesting, even when not restored. The smell of decay and the mess are part of the atmosphere. They evoke thoughts about the ephemeral nature of life, about how a true understanding of the past is almost impossible. We all live like the protagonist in the movie "Memento," unaware of what came before our time and unable to project an understanding of ourselves into the future. It's a sad thought, but an interesting one. 

I'm even interested in more recent ruins (above), but they wouldn't appeal to tourists. 

What I said about buildings goes for outdoor structures, too. The crumbling bridge above is unsafe for visitors but the addition of a narrow and sturdy walkway a couple of feet above the rotting surface might convert it into a tourist attraction. 

All over the country lots of old railroad tracks still exist in the underbrush.  Lets stop ripping them up. They're a goldmine of tourism for the community that contains them.

 Yes, remnants of old railroad trestles still exist! For Pete's sake, leave them standing!

I love the rotting wood and the moss and the rust. It would be great if a working small gauge trolley could ride through the misty forest on reinforced old rails, but that would be a big expense.

It used to be a common practice for trolley routes to end at a scenic restaurant in the forest or on a hill. A lot of those old structures still exist, decayed and covered with jungle. Let's figure out a use for them. No need to renovate...allow them to be beautiful tourist friendly ruins. Build a new restaurant nearby if one is needed.

WHY WE NEED STEAM LOCOMOTIVES!

I know of no form of land-based personal transportation that's more fun to ride than a horse, but a close second is a glorious, full-blown passenger train pulled by a real steam locomotive. America should be laying track, not ripping it up.

Imagine how bracing it would be to ride in an open flat car with seats, under a canopy of trees like this (above). I did that a few years ago and the experience was so moving that I'll likely never forget it.


It's amazing that a noisy, heavy, industrial product like a locomotive should fit in so well with nature.


Maybe steam trains seem so environmentally friendly because they're confined to a narrow set of tracks, and don't make frequent stops. Maybe it's because the trains seem more like animals than machines. They actually have character. You root for them as they try to negotiate a hill.

Oh bliss!...riding along the treetops...the treetops!...and across a stream on a trestle!

Oddly enough, it's not the steam power by itself that makes trains so appealing. Put the same boiler and funnel on wheels (above) and it seems like a senseless nuisance. For some reason a train has to ride on rails to capture our imaginations.

My guess is that the appeal has to do with the uniquely pleasing and stimulating sounds and motions of steam trains on tracks...that and the terrific visuals. As I said before, steam trains seem to have personalities. There are few other machines you can say that about. I suppose mechanical clocks have a little of that quality. Even toasters have a bit of it.

This business of pleasing sensations derived from things seems like an odd subject to discuss, yet when you think about it, it's not discussed enough. I wish there was a book that catalogued things like this. If there was, then architects and designers could refer to it. Wouldn't it be nice to walk through a building that combined interesting tactile and aural cues with stimulating and romantic visuals? Wouldn't it be nice to have more items and buildings in the world that had appealing personalities?

Here's (above) the Disneyland Express entering a tunnel. Tunnels are so mysterious, and so congenial to trains. They appear like a gateway to another world, like the rabbit hole in "Alice in Wonderland." There should always be lush greenery around a tunnel.

Geez, I have to use Hello Kitty photos to show what the interior of the Disneyland passenger cars look like. It's embarrassing! Anyway, the idea that passengers should face the side is an interesting one.

Disneyland-size steam railroads should be all over the suburbs of our big cities, and they should be used for real, practical transport, not just entertainment. The first city to try this will see a big rise in income from tourists.

I like this photo (above) because it shows how naturally small steam trains fit in with ordinary urban landscapes. Amtrack fails to do this because of the awkward and unimaginative design of the cars.

I stumbled on this photo (above) of a small, rural train platform that's fallen into disuse. Wow! Clean up the tracks and it'll be ready for business again. Let the plants try to cover the platform...it makes for an interesting atmosphere! It's like a train platform in the middle of Jurassic Park. You expect to see raptors!

Once we have steam trains back, we can phase in cool, 0ld-style train stations (above).

I grew up near a beautiful train station like the one above. I and my kid friends had many philosophical discussions while sitting on wooden benches under the platform roof. I especially liked to be there while it was raining, during a thunder and lightening storm. The station sheltered us like a kindly grandfather, and it was bracing to see giant, heavy locomotives hiss and shutter to a stop in the rain.

Why do we moderns deny ourselves the simple pleasures of life? I love high tech...I wish I had a personal jet plane...but I also like horses and small wooden sailboats. Since everybody else likes them too, why don't we re-instate them where ever it's appropriate? Cars are fine, but lets have other kinds of mass transportation too.