Reclining on a bench at Benicia Fitness, holding an eight pound weight in each hand, I did my reps as I stared straight up at the peak of the tent covering the patio. A teensy weensy spider that wasn’t all that teensy climbed up the aluminum tubing toward the very top. “I bet he’ll spin a web and hang down over my face like in Little Miss Muffet,” I thought with a shutter. But he disappeared.
No matter what you do in Benicia there is always something happening, you greet a friend, or say hi to Gino, notice something new in Avant Garden, wave to Pat and Jane at Adobe. I spied a fellow surreptitiously picking fruit off of a friend’s tree as he kept turning around to see if anybody was watching. Would have made good copy for the police blotter but didn’t want to rat him out.
Spoke to the fellow who often walks up and down First Street bouncing a small red ball. “What do you like about bouncing a ball?” I asked. “One day I was bouncing a tennis ball down First St. and someone gave me a rubber dog ball which I liked better, and I’ve been using it every since. It’s good for my eye sight-line coordination. Walking toward the traffic makes me very aware of my environment,” he said as he continued down the street. Watch for the fellow with a long bushy beard sporting two braids who might be singing — “Like a rubber ball I’ll come bouncing back to you ( bouncy bouncy) (bouncy bouncy.)
Walking by First Northern Cal Credit Union I noticed a woman talking to the sidewalk. Can I help?” I asked. “I’m trying to catch this baby dove with a broken wing.” The frightened little creature was giving her a run for her money. She finally cupped the bird between her hands. “I’m with Martina Animal Rescue and will rehabilitate it and then release it,” she shared. The good Samaritan, Maria Artle, is Executive Director of the rescue nonprofit and its founder. Rescuing dogs from shelters, they also take in other abandoned animals, give them medical treatment, foster, and find them homes. “Volunteers are what keeps the rescue going,” she said. martinaanimalrescue.org
Was waiting for a sandwich at Raley’s deli when two tall, good looking teenage boys got in line. Athletes, I guessed, and no doubt popular with the girls. Dressed in the usual tee shirts, I glanced at their feet. No, not Nikes or Hokas but — Birkenstocks!!! — brown suede clodhoppers with open toes and two big buckles that gave off a Pilgrim vibe. Those were popular when I was in college and notwithstanding the health benefits, I wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing them. “They are not chic,” a French woman once told my sister Susan who was — sacre bleu — wearing sneakers in Paris.
“Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but notice your shoes.” I addressed the blond Troy Donahue type. “These are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn,” he said. His enthusiasm was over the top. “Hippies wore those in my day, but we girls thought they were ugly,” I said. “My Mom loves hers,” he continued. “I wouldn’t wear anything else,” as he waxed poetic about his footwear.” My acupuncturist would be proud of these fellas for their healthy choices — wide toe box for circulation, arch support, no pressure on toes due to negative heel. Looks? Fuhgeddaboutit! Generation Z’ers (Zoomers) are the future.
Remember the nude presenter for Best Costume Design at this year’s Oscars? Turns out he was wearing Birkenstocks. How did I miss that? Ugly shoes are now the coin of the realm. “Your mother wears combat boots” is now considered a compliment.
Context is everything. Sitting in Mystic Nails at the top of First St. waiting for a pedicure, I pondered the sign on the wall — “Polish Bar.” “Unusual having a Polish bar in a Vietnamese establishment,” I thought as I conjured up a cold lager with a side of pierogi. Snapping out of my reverie, I glanced down the wall where there were rows and rows of — nail polish. Never mind.
Popped into the Resale Emporium in the Tannery and spied a vintage Mexican Puta or Lupita doll. She wore a cobalt blue dress and her red hair was painted on in a 1940ish updo. Have always loved these folk art paper mache creations from Guanajuato collecting a few over the years. You might know of them — naively crafted girls/women with arms and legs attached by cords, brightly painted dresses with glitter, and their names often written on the torso. This one was Lolita. She was on sale and in perfect condition.
Puta dolls originated in Mexico 250 years ago in poorer districts as toys for children whose parents couldn’t afford porcelain dolls. They lost favor when plastic dolls were invented. Some say that they were used to advertise prostitutes, placed in the windows of houses of ill repute. Others say that wives gave them to errant husbands with the name of the paramour written on the dress. Whatever the origin, was happy to rescue Lolita from a potentially unsavory future.
Much has been written about the new Harold Bray Monument in Park which has added beauty and gravitas to the corner of First and Military. Wandered by the other day and met two women who seemed to know a great deal about Benicia’s history. One of the women — Katherine Swan — told me she has been in Benicia forever. “My father was a Justice Court judge at City Hall in Benicia prior to the unification of the justice, muni, and superior courts in 2001 when he was transferred to Vallejo.” Her mother, Patricia, was a mother of five, a surgical nurse and Captain in the U.S. Air Force.
Stop just about anyone on First Street and they will have a story about our fair town.
Letters From Benicia 