Korean Bell of Friendship, Angels Gate Park, San Pedro, CA
The Korean Bell of Friendship was donated to the people of Los Angeles in 1976 to celebrate the Bicentennial as a way to commemorate and thank the U.S for its participation in the Korean Conflict. It sits on a battery where once a web of catacombs and bunkers housed munitions and men in what was known as the Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur, now Angels Gate Park. It overlooks the port from which U.S. troops sailed into the Pacific.
Four pairs of figures, each consisting of the Goddess of Liberty and a Korean spirit, are engraved in relief on the body of the bell. Each of the Korean spirits holds a different symbol: a symbolic design of the Korean flag; a branch of the rose of Sharon (Korea’s national flower); a branch of laurel, symbol of victory; and a dove of peace. The bell has no clapper but is struck from the outside with a wooden log.
We didn’t stop in San Pedro to visit the Korean Bell of Friendship, but rather to photograph the Point Fermin Lighthouse and the Queen Mary, in nearby Long Beach Harbor. The famous lighthouse is supposedly open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, but it isn’t. It’s fenced and the signage says that it’s open by appointment only. It’s unclear why and as it is owned by the City of Los Angeles, there were no answers forthcoming. It’s located in a beautiful coastal park where we enjoyed a nice picnic before exploring San Pedro and seeing the Korean Bell of Friendship. We went to photograph it the next morning at sunrise, but the park was gated and locked. Fortunately, we followed a jogger to an opening through a residential area into the park.
Our visit to the Queen Mary was equally unsuccessful. Although I knew that the former luxury liner was closed for restoration, I didn’t know that the entire area would be roped off and closed to the public. All of the parking lots and access roads were closed and there was nothing to see except miles and miles of shipping containers. The Port of Long Beach moved more than 9.38 million cargo containers in 2021 and is the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere. Who knew? Who cares?
On The Road, Summer 2022
We live in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, so when the temperatures consistently reach triple digits, we migrate and explore.
There is very little that is random on our itineraries since we strive to reach select wilderness destinations in the best light for photography. Coastal hikes often require low tides that correlate with sunrise or sunset and inland hikes to natural arches, waterfalls and other destinations that require long drives or hikes, often require pre-dawn departures to reach destinations before the light becomes too harsh and the temperatures too hot.
Even then, as Joni Michell wrote and Judy Collins first recorded, there are those pesky clouds:
“But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way.”
In mid-June, we headed west to the Colorado Desert in southern California, then up the California coast before cutting inland to Pinnacles National Park and Mt. Shasta. From there, we traveled across southern Oregon before dropping down into southeast Idaho, northeast Utah and across to western Colorado for a week in the Fruita area. Afterwards we stopped in Boulder, Denver, Littleton and Del Norte, Colorado before heading into New Mexico where we made stops in Taos, Las Vegas, Abiquiu and Counselor before crossing back into Arizona, and arriving home.
Details are within the slide shows, but thanks to our friends and relatives: Libby, Sarah and Jason, Jim, Guy and Lisa, Steven, Bonnie and Myra, Karen and David, Marilyn and Joel, David and Judy, Ross, Kate and Greg, Bob and Carol, another Carol and Peter who fed us, housed us, hiked with us and guided us. We loved spending time with you all.
