traveling around places, to periods & inside pages
Author: The Time Traveler
The Time Traveler is an upcoming author who holds great appreciation for both classic literature and history. The author aspires to publish historical fictions and other written works in the near future, in hopes of creating works that entertain, inform, and inspire. The author also appreciates all things aesthetic and enjoys traveling around the world to learn and observe.
A few months ago, there was a call for artworks on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. The BART Art Program invited local artists to submit their artworks to be shared in various public spaces like train stations. Though I learned about this exciting opportunity too late, I still created an artwork to show my appreciation for the public transit system that I’ve frequented these past several years since coming to the Bay Area.
BART train, September 2025.
Voila! Ladies and gentlemen, I present you, BARTolomew:
BARTolomew, Digital Art by The Time Traveler, 2025.
P.S. Aside from the art event, BART hosts other fun events throughout the year. This September, special stickers were given out for the All Aboard Transit Day on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. But they weren’t handed out at every BART station, and I had to search hard to get one of these:
I traveled to Santa Clara, CA for the first time recently. And while down there, I visited an apartment complex called Mansion Grove. It’s located near the VTA Headquarters, Samsung, Cisco and other big companies.
The gated community features fountains, pools, a community garden, playground, tennis and basketball courts, and a fitness center. It even has a quaint cottage that residents can borrow for their families and friends. (With a fee, of course!)
Mansion Grove’s leasing office.
Little park and fountain by the leasing office.
Community garden and tennis court.
Fountain and the Cottage that residents can rent for their guests.
I was walking around this peaceful and rather large apartment complex when I spotted the following:
On the left is a circular brick building and on the right is a white wooden structure that looks like a mansion.
Even at a quick glance, these buildings didn’t seem like they belonged there. Though they sit right inside the gated community, something about them had too much of that historical charm. But the most I imagined was that they were old facility buildings from a previous apartment company. Never did I imagine that they were buildings of the richest man in California back in the 19th century!!!
When I finally got down to researching about the mysterious buildings, I was surprised to find that they were built and owned by a man named James Lick. According to Wikipedia, he was an “American real estate investor, carpenter, piano builder, land baron, and patron of the sciences.”
He was born in 1796 in Fredericksburg (née Stumpstown) in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvanian Dutch parents. His grandfather was a German immigrant who served in the Revolutionary War and his father was a carpenter. After learning the family trade and how to make pianos in Baltimore, Maryland, he built his own shop in New York City. In 1821 at the age of 25, he moved to Argentina, where his piano-making business was successful.
Old photo of Main Street in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, circa early 20th century. From the Matthews Public Library.
His Early Years
As I researched on, it was astounding to see all the drama he faced so early on in his life! Not only did he fall in love with a woman named Barbara Snavely, have his only child with her and never marry, but he also was taken as a prisoner of war at one point. He was coming back to Buenos Aires from his trip to Europe when the Portuguese captured the ship he was on. He had to escape on foot!
After the dramatic escape, he moved from Argentina to Chile due to the political instability at the time and then from Chile to Peru. He then decided to settle in California. In 1848, just a few days before the historic discovery of gold, James Lick arrived in San Francisco.
How the City’s Mission Bay looked like back in November 1848. Illustration by Bayard Taylor. From the British Library.
What’s also fascinating is that James Lick’s friend and neighbor back from his time in Peru was Domingo Ghirardelli! And apparently, Lick told Ghirardelli to move to San Francisco. Ghirardelli made his name and fortune selling chocolate while Lick made his buying real estate.
Portrait of Domingo Ghirardelli by Gustavo Luzzati. c. 1899. From the National Portrait Gallery.
Feats of the Richest Man in California
Illustration of the hotel Lick House by William Laird MacGregor, c. 1876. Published by the S.F. News Company. From the California History Society.
James Lick was at one point the richest man in California, owning large areas of Santa Clara County and San Francisco, land around Lake Tahoe, a large ranch in Los Angeles County, and all of Santa Catalina Island!
He built a grand hotel called Lick House, which sadly burned down in the fire following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Aside from the ostentatious hotel that was destroyed by the fire, Lick had also…
donated to the University of California for the construction of the Lick Observatory,
built free public baths called the James Lick Baths,
founded the California School of Mechanic Arts,
erected bronze statues before the San Francisco City Hall,
built a memorial to Francis Scott Key (author of the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”) in the Golden Gate Park,
and contributed to the Conservatory of Flowers. (Lick had intended the Conservatory of Flowers for San Jose but it ended up being purchased by San Franciscans and placed in the Golden Gate Park.)
Photogravure of the Lick Observatory, c. 1900. From D. Appleton & Company.
The Lick Observatory was “the largest philanthropic gift in the history of science.” It began its operations in 1888 (Regents of the University of California). It was “the first permanently staffed mountain-top observatory” and “the world’s largest refracting telescope” at the time (University of California). There were groundbreaking discoveries and innovations made at the Lick Observatory, including…
“Albert Michelson’s use of interferometry to measure the size of Jupiter’s moons,”
Edward Emerson Barnard’s discovery of Jupiter’s fifth moon,
creation of a “photographic atlas of the moon,”
James Keeler’s study of the spectra of stars,
the discovery of “unimaginably large numbers of galaxies,”
Robert Trumpler’s “confirmation of the general theory of relativity,”
“studies of star clusters,”
and the discovery “that dark matter absorbs light in space.”
The Lick Observatory sits on Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose. Surprisingly, it’s also where James Lick is buried. The observatory sounds like a must-visit spot for historians and scientists alike!
Photo of the Lick Observatory by C. C. Pierce, ca.1904-1909. From the California Historical Society.
The James Lick Mill
Per the City of Santa Clara website, this mill is a “a four-stone, water-powered flour mill” built in 1855.
Here’s a plaque placed by the order of the Santa Clara City Council:
According to the plaque, the flour mill was powered by the water from the Guadalupe River. It was converted into California’s first paper mill in 1873 and in 1882, a fire destroyed the original mill. So, the building standing today isn’t the original built by James Lick. In 1902, the newly-built mill became a plant for alcohol manufacture and in 1987, the building was included in the historic trust zone.
Photo showing how the Lick Mill and its surrounding area looked like back in 1905 on an information board in the Ulistac Natural Area.
The James Lick Mansion
Next to the mill stands the mansion. It was “constructed in 1858 and contains a lovely mahogany interior,” which I could not see as the mansion is not open to the public.
The front door. I SO wanted to get a good tour of the interior! For the time being, I am content with finding these photos shared by the Library of Congress.
It was a well-built, pretty structure with decorative yet simple designs.
And near the mansion was another plaque specifically for the Lick Mansion:
Here’s a close-up of the plaque “placed by order of the Santa Clara City Council”:
Per the plaque, this mansion has been built in “Italianate” style and with native redwood. And all 24 rooms have “imported marble fire places”! 👀
Reason Behind the Mansion
The mansion was large, even by today’s standards. And that got me thinking how, perhaps, James Lick would have felt lonely living in it by himself. When I read about the reason why he had built the mansion, I really think he would have been.
Once the construction of the mill was completed, Lick invited his only son, John Henry, to live with him in a small cabin he had. His son was 37 year’s old and had never met his father before! When he arrived, he let his estranged father know that his mother, Barbara Snavely, had passed away a few years ago.
Portrait of John Henry Lick (1818-1891), only son of James Lick. Dated 1863. From Matthews Public Library.
According to this snippet from James Lick’s biography, The Generous Miser, (shared HERE), James Lick couldn’t marry her because her father, a local miller and farmer, deemed him too poor at the time. The source shares that James Lick sent photos of the mill to Barabra’s father after it was built, which just shows how he never got over the refusal.
So this man couldn’t marry the woman he wanted to marry, met the child they had together when the said-child was 37, and never remarried. What’s all the more sad is that apparently, he built the Lick Mansion “in hopes of improving their [he and his son’s] relationship” (Misch and Stone 1998). It’s heartbreaking to read that their relationship didn’t improve, and so Lick didn’t bother to furnish the house properly.
John Henry went back to Pennsylvania in 1863 and only returned just before his father passed away.
Next to the Guadalupe River
Various sources mentioned that the Lick Mill and Mansion were located next to the Guadalupe River. I didn’t know just how close the two actually were to the river! They’re literally right next to it:
The Guadalupe River and the Lick Mansion in 2025. There’s a biking trail and gates of the Mansion Grove apartments in between.
The Rich Yet Lonely Man
Guadalupe River up close.
Despite the wealth and opportunities James Lick had, he lived such a lonely life. He had someone he wanted to marry but couldn’t and a child he couldn’t become close to.
After reading about the reasons behind the construction of the mill and mansion (and the negligence of the latter), I can’t help but think how affected James Lick was by the things that weren’t granted to him.
One might say he would have had his friends. But apparently, many of his contemporaries thought him eccentric. On top of that, rich people are fully aware that most people approach them for their money. So I think it’s likely that he didn’t really have deep friendships.
James Lick was granted uncommon wealth, power and influence but not what he may have truly longed for: a family.
Ephemerality of the World
Chancing upon James Lick’s mill and mansion in the middle of the Mansion Grove apartment complex just made me realize, again, how transient everything in the world is. Yes, there are schools (i.e. James Lick High School, James Lick Middle School, and Lick-Wilmerding High School), as well as a street, park, freeway, and light rail station (i.e. Lick Mill Blvd, Lick Mill Park, James Lick Freeway, and Lick Mill Station) named in his honor.
VTA light rail station.
I mean, there is a crater on the Moon, an asteroid, a village, and even a species of lizard commemorating him! But most people don’t even know who he was. I chanced upon his mansion and mill in the middle of a modern apartment complex and only found out about his life after doing research on my own.
It doesn’t matter if someone was or is the richest person in California. Everyone fades into obscurity, albeit some leave behind names and/or contributions. James Lick did both, leaving behind his name and making big contributions to the public and to the sciences. And yet, he had also become a part of the oblivion of everyone and everything that once was and were.
Lick Monument, ca. 1876. In Cedar Hill Cemetery in Fredericksburg, PA. From Matthews Public Library.
As a practicing Christian, this reality affirms my belief: nothing in this world prevails except for God’s Word that continues to change minds, hearts, and souls:
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”
Isaiah 40:8
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Matthew 24:35
Historical Site Neglected
And as a historian, seeing the mill and mansion of someone so significant to California’s history left as they are in the middle of the apartment complex (next to a parking lot!) is just sad to say the least.
Well… At the very least, the mansion and mill are noted in the apartment map.
P.S. I just realized – it’s called “Mansion Grove” because of the Lick Mansion! 🤯
P.P.S. Here are more posts where history and travel intersect:
California missions hold a special place in my heart. I think it’s because I love history so much, to the point of majoring in it in college, that structures dating back to early Californian history mesmerize me so. And because I grew up near one, I have this unfounded affinity towards California’s twenty-one missions.
I remember first reading about them in a history textbook back when I was in elementary school. Then shortly after, when I was in fifth grade, I believe, I got to visit Mission San Juan Capistrano on a field trip. It was such a treat to step foot on the historical site. Reading about the place and then seeing remnants of where Native Americans and Spanish missionaries had once lived blew me away: it was like history coming alive.
After years of mostly focusing on visiting the best coffee spots and bakeries of the Bay, it occurred to me that I hadn’t visited any of its missions. And so, I finally embarked on a journey to Misión San Francisco de Asís, aka Mission Dolores.
⛪Getting to Mission Dolores
To get to Mission Dolores from Berkeley, I rode BART and then MUNI to get to Mission Dolores Park. (As someone who has traveled in San Francisco for some time now, I recommend avoiding the BART stations near Mission Dolores and instead using MUNI or the bus to get to the Park or the Mission directly.)
The gorgeous structure (shown below) right next to the Park was not Mission Dolores; it was a high school named after the Mission.
After a few minutes’ walk, I arrived at the intersection of 16th and Dolores Streets:
When I first saw the structures before me, I had thought that the beautifully-carved beige building was the Mission itself. But I soon discovered that the smaller chapel on the left was the actual Mission founded in 1776 (year of the Declaration of Independence!) and the ostentatious structure on the right was the “Mission Dolores Basilica” that was built much later in 1918 after the 1906 earthquake.
I arrived at 10 AM sharp to explore the sixth Californian mission established under Father Junipero Serra. (The mission is open every day, from 10 AM to 4 PM, EXCEPT for Mondays!) And as announced, the entrance door opened exactly at 10.
For an admission fee of $10 (1 adult), I got to enter through the gift shop to the chapel, view the sanctuary, go out to the area right next to the basilica, through a small museum, out to the cemetery, and then arrive back at the gift shop.
Update 8/27/2025: When I visited another morning (to purchase my Missions Passport), I got to hear the church bells ring!
Update 9/30/2025: But I was told that the bells are supposed to ring only during Mass times. So if you want to hear them ring, visit when Masses are scheduled!
⛪Inside the Historical Chapel
Mission Dolores was a small but lovely chapel, with historical facts about the building, the Spanish missionaries, and the Native Americans placed here and there along with a replica of what it would have looked like back around 1791.
This diorama, displayed in the Mission today, was created for the 1939 World’s Fair on Treasure Island.
What’s noteworthy about Mission Dolores is that it’s the oldest intact building in San Francisco! And it’s the only intact Mission Chapel of the 21 missions created under the direction of Father Junipero Serra.
According to the official pamphlet that was given out, the building still has its original redwood logs, held together with rawhide, supporting the roof.
The informational pamphlet I received after purchasing my admission ticket.
The chapel and sanctuary.
The repainted ceilings of “original Ohlone Indian designs done with vegetable dyes”:
The reredos (decorative altars) and the side altars were all crafted in Mexico, arriving in 1796 and then in 1810.
Side altars on the left and right of the sanctuary.
⛪Museum & Cemetery
Past the chapel, the diorama, basilica, and covered walkway is a one-room museum that used to be a classroom. There were historical artifacts like clothing and items of the Ohlone Indians and Spanish missionaries inside glass displays.
Inside the one-room museum.
“An original iron key that opened the large doors of Mission Dolores.”
Cool Native American artifacts!
Once you exit the little museum, you get to the cemetery. In the middle stands a statue of Junipero Serra sculpted by Arthur Putnam, the famous Californian sculptor. The cemetery is also a garden, with roses gifted by the Golden Gate Rose Society growing here and there along with “traditional native trees, shrubs, flowers, and plants from the 1791 period” (Official Mission Dolores Website).
Statue of Junipero Serra sculpted by Arthur Putnam.
Also, the cemetery has an “Ohlone Indian ethno-botanic garden and examples of Native American plants and artifacts.” I think the biggest said Native American artifact in the garden is the hut behind the statue.
It was mind-blowing to think that the thousands of Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians who built and founded the Mission were resting underneath the very grounds I was walking around.
You leave the cemetery/garden by going back into the gift shop, through which you exit the Mission.
⛪Gift Shop
Inside the gift shop, there seemed to be more gifts for practicing Catholics (like rosaries and portraits of different saints) than items for tourists.
Inside the gift shop.
Some of the more general items for tourists included magnets, postcards, and these beautiful California Missions tiles:
I ended up getting the following to commemorate my visit to Mission Dolores:
Poster and mini photo booklet showing the 21 California missions plus a “Mission Dolores” magnet. PERFECT for history lovers!
Update 8/27/2025: I didn’t know when I first visited Mission Dolores, but this mission is one of the 10 missions where you can purchase your California Missions Passport. What’s a “California Missions Passport”? HERE is everything you need to know!)
You can’t get it at the other 11, so I highly suggest that you get it while you’re visiting Mission Dolores if you’re interested!
⛪Conclusion: So Worth a Visit!
Mission San Francisco de Asis was a nice historical site to visit – I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t been there yet. As a history buff, I’d drop by again and definitely check out the interior of the basilica that I couldn’t view properly. But there were a few things that could be improved. Some of them are…
bigger pamphlet with more information and photos,
maybe an interactive media or slideshow inside the museum,
and lastly but certainly not least, a better restroom for tourists! The restroom at the Mission were blue, plastic containers out in the parking lot. 🙁
But considering the fact that the Mission “receives no public funds” and “rely completely on…voluntary offerings,” it’s completely understandable. Plus, taking that fact into consideration, the Mission is in great shape and doing a great job promoting its history.
P.S. There are loads of great bakeries and coffee spots nearby the Mission. Some of my personal favorites are Tartine Bakery, Craftsman and Wolves, and Stonemill Matcha, which all deserve their own appreciation posts!
P.P.S. Here are some more aesthetic photos of Mission Dolores! ⛪❤️
I wrote a piece for The Fool’s World magazine at the Raleigh Review Playhouse Office. As “The Time Traveler,” I thought my writing on time travels would be perfect to submit as a travel story.Alas, it was rejected by the “literary travel guide.” Nonetheless, I thought I’d share it here on Lit Time Travel since it sums up why I call myself “The Time Traveler” and why I continue to and aspire to write.
Photograph by Jordan Madrid
From, The Time Traveler
As countless many others dream of doing, I would love to travel to wherever I want at any given time of the year. I would go everywhere, from cosmopolitan cities to rundown historic sites, and do everything I want to do, from sipping dark roast drip at my go-to café to witnessing nature at its purest and its grandest. And maybe one day, I will be one of those lucky globetrotters who get to go everywhere and share their journeys while everyone else sit in their homes and view the world through their eyes. But until then, I’ve decided to resort to time traveling.
It was actually a decision made quite early on in my life, when I was mature enough to realize my (and most everyone else’s) reality. We’re planted like little seeds in the wide round pot of the world, given light and rain to sprout and connect with the other sprouts around us. It’s a wonderful thing, really, to be given a tiny spot in the world to learn, grow, and spread roots. But some seeds like me want to move around. And when one’s dreams and desires don’t match one’s reality, it can be frustrating to say the least. So, what can a seed that wants to explore the world do when it can’t? Time travel.
As an experienced time traveler, allow me to share some of the ins and outs of the art. First, there are different modes of time traveling. Yes, you heard that right. One mode is the time traveling done through recollections and imaginations. Everyone has done this, though some have more mastery over it than others. It’s when a person is taken back in time within one’s mind, reliving the words and emotions stored inside, or when a person is propelled forward to the hopes and/or fears of the future. What I mean by mastery or the lack of is that most people do this time traveling involuntarily and unexpectedly, when a word or an image triggers their memories or stirs images of days to come.
To be honest, I haven’t mastered this mode of time travel: I go forward in time without my realizing and sometimes I have to grapple my way back to the present. But as for the going back in time, I feel quite confident. I can close my eyes and go back to my favorite place: my hometown in Seoul that I left when I was eight. Though it still physically exists exactly where it was twenty years ago, my hometown that I had left has since disappeared. Though I can still look it up online and enjoy satellite photos of the place from different angles, the air is different, breathed by people I don’t recognize. The apartments that are lined up like books have new paint on them, and everything that was so familiar and comforting – my favorite stationery store, our village playground that was literally just a crude and very dangerous metal installation, and my favorite TV programs that aired in the evenings – they’re all gone. And I’m as unfamiliar to my hometown as it is to me.
But I still have the place inside me, and so I go back to it sometimes. When life becomes quite hard to bear, I close my eyes and go back. Pretend that the helicopters outside the townhouse I’m living in are the helicopters that roamed above the apartments. Imagine that outside my door isn’t the hallway to the building but the dining room of my childhood home, where my mom is cooking dinner and setting the table at the same time. Standing in her view is my dad, who has just come home from work. It’s dark outside and I think the first snow of the year is falling beyond the glass window that’s decorated with Christmas lights. Red, green, and yellow lights blink to the sound of my sister and I, who are giggling and jumping around my dad, who is smiling his gentle and kind smile. I see myself, the younger and livelier version of me – running to my mom and telling her what Dad just said. Then I see the little girl sliding her way back to the living room where my dad and sister are, where the big box of a TV is on, near a Santa doll that moves when you clap at it. And I see that this girl, who is as tall as my waist, is overwhelmed with something that is unmistakenly pure joy as she moves her body side to side like she’s dancing to silent music.
There are side effects to this mode of time travel. For one, it may cause melancholy and nostalgia hard to get over. So, the other mode of travel that I find myself leaning towards more often is the mode done through words. It’s the travel done when a person reads words on a page and is, as testified by so many bibliophiles, transported mentally to a different era, location, and world, even. For instance, I’ve traveled all over the place across all time periods, including Ancient Egypt, Rome, Judea, and colonial Connecticut, thanks to history textbooks, historical fiction, and even sources like diaries, journals, and letters. Some words, like those found in science fiction or fantasy, introduce the reader to new places of endless possibilities: a world where there’s a school for wizards and witches, a world engineered to have no pain or suffering, or a dystopian world that’s worse than the one we’re living in. This type of time travel really has no side effects aside from the fact that the traveler might lose sense of time. But how great is it that you can visit the Incan Empire all from the comfort of your home, sitting on a sofa? No flight tickets, things to remember to pack, or any other thing to consider; just an hour or two to delve inside the words on the pages. Another perk is the fact that you can visit the Incan Empire at its prime, without all the ruins, and meet people from the era when it thrived.
I think another great aspect of this mode is that it allows one to travel inside another’s mind, not just to a place, time, or world. The words take one inside the thoughts of the writer or the narrator and in the process, one gets to explore experiences and perspectives one never knew or even thought about. What better way to learn to empathize and become aware of others and not just yourself? And what great way to realize that the world is so much bigger than just yourself and those around you and to find out that you are not alone in your experience, whatever it may be? But if your life is truly a one-of-a-kind story, how wonderful is it that you can write and share to the world and connect with those who felt something from your words? And so, I propose that we all learn to time travel, not just to travel anywhere at any time but so that we empathize, understand, and connect.
Although frequenting bookstores is a great hobby of mine, I try my best not to buy more books. For one thing, I have too many books to read at home that I haven’t gotten to yet. And my other reason for banning myself from impulsive book purchases is the fact that I can, and should, make more usage of libraries that abound nearby. Yet, I recently bought myself another book: Javier Zamora’s Solito.
I have a tendency to read genres I naturally gravitate towards, like historical fiction, classics, and young adult fantasies. So getting a copy of Solito: A Memoir was an out of the ordinary decision. (And, might I add, choosing to read the nonfiction for a book club amidst a jam-packed schedule was almost a form of self-torture.)
Despite the stacks of unread books haunting me at home along with the unusuality and impracticality of my decision, I so, so do not regret it.
Because Javier Zamora’s Solito is a memoir like no other.
Synopsis of Solito:
Solito narrates the true story of Javier Zamora when he was just nine-years-old and the journey he made from El Salvadaor across Guatemala and Mexico to the United States to reunite with his parents who had migrated before him. It details Javier’s life before, during, and after the long, dangerous “trip,” the people he had to leave behind as well as those he met along the way.
Photo by Beau Horyza.
Reflections
I didn’t know what to expect from this book other than the fact that it was going to be a story about a boy who immigrates to the states. Never did I imagine how detailed, how honest the account was going to be. Not only did it record every bit of the innocence and vulnerability of Javier Zamora’s younger self, but also it zoomed in on the immigrant experience, specifically those of migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexican border. It revealed how illegal immigration isn’t just a term and concept but a streak of hope for people who aren’t simply “criminals” or “lawbreakers” but rather individuals trying to survive. Many of whom, like Javier, Chino, Patricia, and Carla, are trying to reunite with their families in the land of opportunity and hope.
For someone like me who doesn’t know anyone who has crossed the border to come to the states or have read any accounts detailing such journeys, Solito was, to say the least, eye-opening. I never knew the details of these long journeys, and how they were matters of life or death, success or failure, joy or despair, and reunion or separation.
One of my fellow book club member pointed out that this story focuses on one boy and the people around him, which is just a small fraction of the countless undocumented immigrants and numerous migrants who don’t make it to their desired destinations. Her statement made me realize how many other stories of success, failure, misfortune, and grief we don’t know about.
Photo by Lisha Riabinina.
Innocence of a Child
Photo by Aaron Burden.
What was painful to notice was the innocence of the author before the great journey and his loss of it afterwards. The nine-year-old Javier refers to his upcoming journey to the states as a “trip.” That’s what all the adults around him referred it to. He knows neither better nor what to expect.
But slowly, the “trip” becomes more than just a trip Javier embarks on to reunite with his parents. It’s saying good-bye to everything he loves, his home and family in El Salvador, to his friends, school, and everything he knew all his life. Suddenly meeting a group of strangers who he needs to depend on and pretend to be families with. Riding hours-long bus and boat rides. Living like a shadow hiding from the locals, stuck inside some dark shelters. Pretending to be Mexican, getting caught and having guns pointed at by soldiers. Walking across deserts for days, under the scorching sun without water and in the middle of the freezing night.
And Loss There Of
Initially, Javier repeatedly refers to the “cadejito.” According to his grandfather, this legendary creature would protect and guide Javier. He prays to it throughout the journey (for instance, on page 79 and 82).
But on page 323, Javier says to himself:
“Last time, I listened for Cadejo’s whistle; now I know for sure he doesn’t exist. Bad things keep happening. He’s just a myth. Just like Marcelo, Cajedo is full of lies. If Cadejo was real, we wouldn’t have gotten caught. Patricia wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Coco Liso would still be here with us. Our prayers haven’t helped either.”
It was heartbreaking to see this transition, from Javier believing in the cadejo to his losing faith and innocence. To watch this young boy (more sensitive than an average nine-year-old per description, I think) undergo hardship after hardship that is overwhelming even to an adult.
Photo by Tim Marshall.
Beautiful Imagery
Photo by Tom Gainor.
Javier Zamora immerses the readers into his deepest memories not only through the raw details but also through his talented use of imagery.
I mean, just take a look at this scene where Javier parts ways with his grandfather:
We stand by the road, the banana trees on either side, raindrops still on the leaves, sliding down, dropping to the ground. It rained earlier in the day, but these drops haven’t evaporated. Grandpa’s eyes are doing the same, trying to hold his tears inside their corners (Zamora 71).
And his descriptions of the desert are beautiful and ingenious at the same time:
Everything is awake. The moon lights the ground silver and blue. Wispy clouds dance in the sky, white ones that look like silk. With this wind and with this lighting – the blue, the grays – it feels like the bottom of the ocean… The grass is seaweed. The cactuses are coral. We’re looking through a submarine’s small circular window… On top, the clouds are sea foam. The ground sparkles with seashells and pearls (Zamora 298).
Child’s Imagination
Another thing that struck out to me (and I appreciated very much) were the imaginative descriptions from the nine-year-old Javier. Just take a look at these cleverly brilliant descriptions from the young boy’s perspective:
The stars begin to dot the sky. I like to think there’s a giant holding the earth in one hand, a needle in his other hand, poking the sky there, there, and there – (Zamora 135).
And I couldn’t help but smile at the names Javier gave to different cacti when he spotted them during his trek across the desert: “the Spikeys,” “Cheerleader bush” with flowers like “little yellow pom-poms,” “Crayon bush,” and “Paint-Roller Fuzzies,” “Mascara-Brush Fuzzies,” “Thorny Tentacles,” and “skinny green smooth tree” that Javier nicknames “SGS tree.”
Photo by Joe Cook.
There are countless other examples of uniquely clever imagery that Javier uses throughout the book, like when he describes the line of migrants as “the centipede” or when he says that cactuses that look like people “rise from the dirt like giant dark-green Cheetos” (331).
But sometimes, they were gut-wrenching to read, like when he describes the people in prison, including himself, as “monkeys”:
The monkeys in here stare, they sleep, they doze. This cage. This silent and stinky room. The monkeys next to the door wait for their names to be called (248).
Theme of Loneliness
Photo by Majestic Lukas.
Though my post is getting a bit long, I mustpoint out what I felt was one of the most important themes of this book: loneliness. The book starts with a lonely Javier. Despite his being with his grandparents, aunt Mali, friends and relatives, he naturally and understandably longs for his parents constantly.
And his loneliness resurfaces when he has to travel with a group of strangers by himself. He holds his pillow in one arm, pretending the pillow is his Mom or aunt Mali (78). The young Javier also repeatedly mentions how he wants to hug, saying that he wants to “hug anyone like Coyote hugged us for good luck” (201)
I think this quote best shows the acute loneliness he experienced during the long and difficult journey:
I want to cuddle her [aunt Mali] right now. Look at the stars and be far away from these people…I hate watching Patricia and Carla help each other before bed. Patricia braiding and unbraiding her daughter’s hair. I want that with Mom. With Mali. I just want a hug (183).
With all the hardships and drama that ensued, I honestly forgot about this major theme and was busy following Javier’s journey, rooting for him and the people around him as they repeatedly failed to rejoin their families in “La USA.” But the theme dawned on me again when this young boy named a certain type of cactus as “the Lonelies” (217) and when he wished not to part from strangers who had become a true family:
I want to take my new family with me to California, learn how to tie my shoes and show Chino I can do it like him. Chino, my older brother I never had… I love them. I really love them. A pond, a lake in my eyes. I don’t want to let go. None of us wants to let go. A river (372-73).
Integration of the Spanish Language
Lastly but certainly not least is the usage of Spanish throughout the book. Because I had studied some Spanish, it wasn’t difficult to understand most of the time but I did have to look up online sometimes to figure out what Javier and the people around him were saying. But I think the implementation of Spanish in dialogue as well as in Javier’s internal thoughts (like the word “también” and “La USA”) made this memoir all the more real, easy to immerse into. And I think the Spanish phrases and words, even the punctuations, are great integrations that honor the author’s cultural background and heritage.
Photo by Nicole Geri.
Lasting Impact
My book club leader told us that Solito stayed with her for a long time after her first reading of it, and it led her to designate it as our first book club book of the year.
I can confidently say that it has left such a strong impression on me as well, that it has expanded my understanding of the immigrant experience. It stayed with me so strongly even after I finished that I had to visit an El Salvadoran restaurant and mull over it while eating pupusas:
Pupusas cut in halves: Queso con Loroco (Cheese and Salvadoran flower) and Frijoles con Queso (House black beans & cheese)
And I’m pretty sure that Javier Zamora’s memoir will leave something in you as well.
Conclusion
Javier Zamora’s Solito: A Memoir is a powerfully moving, achingly raw account of a nine-year-old boy. It’s a collection of memories of longing, pain, and loneliness, so vivid and overwhelming even to adults. It forever changes the reader, whether by enlightening, moving, or just leaving a mark – an impression that lingers even long after.
Photo by Tim Umphreys.
P.S. The afterward of the book was fascinating to read, as Javier Zamora shares what his parents had experienced while he was going through the dangerous journey. And it was so touching to read that he wrote this memoir in hopes of reuniting with Chino, Patricia, and Carla.
P.P.S.HERE‘s a video of Javier reading from Solito and HERE is one of his talking about the memoir.
P.P.P.S. The Salvadoran restaurant I visited is called Cafe Platano in Berkeley, CA. Their pupusas and avocado salad were delicious! 😋
Have you heard of “International House,” aka “I-House”? I had never heard of it until 2022 when I found out that such a place existed at UC Berkeley. And after learning about its history and significance, I wish UCLA had an International House as well! Alas, it is only exclusively at Berkeley, NYC, Chicago, Paris, and Tokyo.
I-House in Berkeley, circa. March 2023.
Here’s a post dedicated to International House and its incredible story!
The International House Movement
From International House Berkeley: An Extraordinary History (2022). Available online HERE.
According to official sources, International House, Berkeley was founded by Harry E. Edmonds with the financial support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. It was the second International House to be built after the first one was founded in NYC in 1924 (also funded by Rockefeller Jr.). Harry Edmonds felt the need to create these “multi-cultural residence and program” centers after discovering the lack of community and support foreign students faced in the U.S.
Here is Edmonds’s chance encounter with a Chinese student that sparked the I-House movement:
“One frosty morning I was going up the steps of the Columbia library when I met a Chinese student coming down. I said, ‘Good morning.’ As I passed on, I noticed he stopped. I went back.
“He said, ‘Thank you for speaking to me. I’ve been in New York three weeks and you are the first person who has spoken to me.’
“With my wife’s insistence, I agreed I had to do something.”
Harry E. Edmonds from The New York Times1
When the second I-House opened its doors in Berkeley on August 18, 1930, it was the “largest student housing complex in the Bay Area and the first coeducational residence west of New York” (International House at UC Berkeley). Even UC Berkeley didn’t have coed housing yet!
As part of the progressive I-House movement amidst the political and social climate of the time, it was met with much resistance in Berkeley. According to the official I-House history book, there was much resistance to men and women as well as foreigners, people of color, and whites living under one roof. And so, it’s all the more incredible that Harry Edmonds chose Piedmont Avenue, “home of fraternities and sororities, which then excluded foreigners and people of color,” as the site for the second International House (International House Berkeley: An Extraordinary History, 2).
From International House Berkeley: An Extraordinary History (2022). Available online HERE.
Decades of History
Drawing of International House at UC Berkeley.
Through the decades, I-House truly lived up to its mission of intercultural respect, understanding and friendship. Some major examples include:
In the 1930s, Allen Blaisdell, the first Executive Director of I-House Berkeley, protested against barbers on campus who refused to cut Black students’ hair and changed the practice.
In the 1940s, when Japanese American students faced difficulties, International House “set up a bureau to help these young people reach their homes as soon as government regulations permitted” and “helped them with their finances by locating employment opportunities” (International House Berkeley: An Extraordinary History, 3).
HERE is a really great presentation by the Executive Director Emeritus, Joe Lurie, on the role I-House played in desegregating Berkeley.
Reading the official International House history book and listening to Mr. Lurie and different I-House alumni, it sounded to me that I-House had been a place where students from around the world got to live with each other, learn from one another, and form lasting bonds across borders. I hope that, as the institution approaches its 100th year (in 2030), it continues to do so.
Tenth Decade Cake created by the I-House Dining Staff in 2023.
Architecture
George Kelham with his wife Katherine and son Bruce, 1924. Photo from Ancestry.com. *For a better photo of George Kelham, visit: The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
The man behind the iconic I-House Berkeley building is none other than George W. Kelham, the prolific American architect who also designed the Asian Art Museum (formerly the old San Francisco Public Library); the Roble Hall at Stanford University; Powell Library, Haines Hall, Kerckhoff Hall and more at UCLA; Bowles Hall, Valley Life Sciences Building, Moses Hall (now the “Philosophy Hall”), McLaughlin Hall, Davis Hall, Edwards Stadium, Haas Pavilion, and more at UC Berkeley; and countless more!
Haas Pavilion and Philosophy Hall at UC Berkeley.
And like the many other buildings Kelham designed, I-House at Berkeley is beautiful, with intricate designs and shapes evoking Spanish and Mediterranean architecture with hints of Moorish influences.
The Great Hall.
Staircase leading to the Dining Commons.
And how fitting, too, as California’s long and complex history includes the Spanish colonial period.
Inside International House at UC Berkeley.Images from the actual blueprints of I-House Berkeley!
Notable I-House Alumni
As one would expect from a residential building created for scholars from around the world gathered in Berkeley to attend its top university, there are countless notable alumni of International House. A list can be found on the official I-House Berkeley website HERE. Among numerous pioneers, Nobel prize recipients, professors and founders, here are just a few of the brilliant men and women who lived at I-House:
Photo ofChien Shiung Wu shown in the book, Ten Women Who Changed Science and the World, by by Catherine Whitlock and Rohdri Evans (Diversion Books 2019).
Chien Shiung Wu Yuan – Chinese-American physicist, professor at Columbia University, and pioneer who made great contributions in experimental physics and atomic science and to the Manhattan Project. There’s a photo of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu having dinner at International House Berkeley shared by the Los Alamos National Laboratory HERE.
Photo ofChien Shiung Wu in her laboratory, shared in Ten Women Who Changed Science and the World, by Catherine Whitlock and Rohdri Evans (Diversion Books 2019).
Julian Schwinger – one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, professor at Harvard University, and Nobel Prize winning American theoretical physicist who developed a relativistically invariant perturbation theory. He did postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley under Oppenheimer and assisted in research at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory for the Manhattan Project.
Emmett J. Rice – an American economist, bank executive, and member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who served in the U.S. Air Force during WW II as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. A Fulbright scholar, he integrated the Berkeley Fire Department as its first African American fireman. He was also the father of Susan Rice, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor.
Eric & Wendy Schmidt: American businessman, former software engineer, CEO of Google (2001-2011), executive chairman (2011-2015) & American businesswoman and philanthropist. The two met at I-House.
Screenshots of photos of Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt (née Boyle) found in the I-House Directory for Fall 1976 and Fall 1979, respectively. More I-House directories can be found here: https://ihouse.berkeley.edu/alumni/alumni-directory-archive.
Eric and Wendy Schmidt seem to have revisited I-House a couple of times. Notably, Wendy Schmidt visited when she was honored as I-House’s Alumni of the Year at the 2014 I-House Gala along with another notable alumni, Dr. Ashok Gadgil, and Eric Schmidt came by very recently for the I-House Executive Director’s Lodestar Speaker Series: “The Promise and Perils of AI” event this year.
And I believe, the Dining Commons has been named after the I-House couple.
Countless More Notable Alumni
Historical photos of former I-House residents displayed in Edmonds’ Café.
This blog post would not end if I were to explore all notable I-House alumni, which includes Abdelkader Abbadi (former UN Director of Political Affairs and journalist), Choong Kun Cho (former president of Korean Air), Hans Rausing (former chairman of TetraPak)and his daughter Lisbet Rausing (senior research fellow at Imperial College, London and author), and Haakon Magnus (Crown Prince of Norway), along with Nobel Prize laureates, scientists, scholars, philanthropists, and more.
Plus, I know personally that the list shared on the official website is yet far from being comprehensive, as notable individuals such as W. Harold McClough (founder of Perth construction and Clough Limited), Walter John Jr. (distinguished aerosol physicist, research scientist, and founder), Michael J. Belton (astronomer), Gerhart Friedlander (nuclear chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project), Stewart L. Blusson (geologist and philanthropist), and so many other incredible men and women have also stayed at I-House. This fact alone is a testament to what hub of brilliant minds International House was and is!
I-House Today
Today, I-House remains sitting atop the hill overlooking Berkeley, across from the Law School. Though it retains its old silhouette, iconic dome and other features, I-House has undergone several renovations, including an addition of the ADA-complaint ramp and a complete transformation of its café (from the “I-House Café” to “Edmonds’ Café.”) Sadly, the Heller Patio has now lost the lush trees and greenery that previous residents so enjoyed and referred to as a “garden” within the busy city.
But it still houses over 600 students and scholars (both international and domestic) each year. I truly believe that the magic of the place stems from the many talented residents that bring their unique experiences and stories from around the world. I hope that International House at UC Berkeley, a remarkably unique building steeped in rich history, never loses the passion, faith, and integrity it started out with 94 years ago.
P.S. Here are some useful links related to I-House at UC Berkeley:
The official International House at UC Berkeley website
A blog by Harry Edmonds’ great-granddaughter, Alice Lewthwaite
A blog post on the first I-House (in NYC) written by a recent resident at I-House Berkeley
A fascinating, engaging book titled Perception and Deception: A Mind Opening Journey Across Cultures written by Executive Director Emeritus Joe Lurie. If you are interested in learning about cross cultural understandings and misunderstandings or just want to broaden your knowledge, I highly recommend this book!
A book titled The Golden Age of International House Berkeley: An Oral History of the Post World War II Era, written by Jeanine Castello-Lin and Tonya Staros of Berkeley Historical Society. It’s a wonderful compilation of invaluable oral history shared by residents who lived at I-House during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
P.P.S. 2024 marks the 100th anniversary for the International House in NYC! Here is everything the first ever I-House is doing this year to celebrate: https://www.ihouse-nyc.org/centennial/
Goodman, G. (1979, July 8). “Harry Edmonds, Who Established International House, Is Dead at 96.” The New York Times, p. 35. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/08/archives/harry-edmonds-who-established-international-house-is-dead-at-96-a.html.
The Game of Shrooms has, once again, come and gone. And I must say…What whirlwind of fun that was! I had a blast creating mushroom-themed art and hiding them out in the world like some secret shroom Santa. Plus, I got to find more than one shroom this year! Here are my reflections & takeaways after participating in the 2024 Game of Shrooms.
Experience as a Shroom Artist
Photo by Steve Johnson.
After having participated in last year’s Game of Shrooms, I was determined to join in on the art-n-seek again. And so, I took my own advice from my previous blog post (tip #1) and started early, about two weeks before the day of the event (June 8, 2024).
My pin on the official 2024 Game of Shrooms Artist Map.
Not as early as I had wanted or planned (which was preparing months beforehand), but it was still early enough that I was able to follow my tip #2 and create more than one artwork:
The five shroom art I create for this year.
Thanks to listening to my own advice, I also had enough time to create promotional Instagram posts and reels for all my artworks:
This was a reel that I created for my hint reveal – it was shared around 9 AM on the day of.
Experience as a Shroom Hunter
Photo by Geeky Shots.
I didn’t initially plan on hunting for shrooms. But when I saw that a cute shroom was going to be hidden somewhere near The Cheeseboard Collective, I decided to go for it. I thought I was sure to find and keep it, as I went out to look for it early in the morning on the day of the game. Alas, another hunter had found and claimed it a day before!
I got to the place where artist HH hid her shroom (per the hint she shared via Instagram), but the shroom had already been picked up! 😞
After which, I tried to get to other shrooms nearby, but to my utter dismay, hunters were really, really good at finding the shrooms. Just as it was last year, shroom hunters were dedicated and competitive, determined to find and keep shroom art. Realizing that at the rate at which I was searching I would be shroom-less this year (as I almost was if it weren’t for the artist Tina Banda‘s lit (literally lit, too, as it glows in the dark!) shroom art that I got to find a day after the 2023 Game of Shrooms), I deciphered the location shared by a shroom artist using her hints, lyfted myself to the restaurant/bar and started searching with the fervor of other shroom hunters.
And lo and behold, I found 2 shrooms at the location – a 🍄 magnet and a 🍄 sticker!
I lyfted myself to another location where some shrooms were going to be dropped (per Instagram) and was so very lucky to find more shrooms and even meet the artists as they were dropping off their shroom art!
I was able to find more aesthetic artworks by Eli Wild at The Compound Gallery in Emeryville. Here’s one I purchased:
Noctua C3 by Eli Wild.The Compound Gallery in Emeryville, CA.Inside The Compound Gallery.
Game of Shrooms 2024 Review
For the most complete experience, I think it’s best to participate as both shroom hunter and artist. As an artist, you get to experience the joy of creating and sharing your art with those around you. It’s quite an experience to have your art seen and appreciated by people you’ve never met, to have your shroom be picked up and kept by someone you don’t know. And it’s equally wonderful to go on a mushroom hunt, find beautiful, cute, aesthetic, or fun art by an artist you knew or didn’t know about and to keep the treasure of a shroom for free. And I think the whole searching and finding experience makes the shroom art really special. You get to have a fun story to the shroom art you’re keeping!
Game of Shrooms is such a unique experience celebrating creativity and community in a fun way. Not only is it an outlet for creative expression, but also it’s a way for artists to showcase their works to audiences around the world.
Plus, it’s a great way to spotlight and support local businesses, as done by The Inkcredibles. I mean, what a fantastic idea to feature local businesses while participating in an art-n-seek?
Game of Shrooms Tips: For Artists
Start Early, Make More Than 1 Shroom Art, Create Promotional Materials (Same Tips as Last Year). A year goes by more quickly than one expects! I highly suggest that you start as early as you can to create great shroom art with leisure. And as there seem to be more eager hunters than artists in most neighborhoods, it’s great for artists to create more than one artwork so that 1) they can promote their art more 2) there are more hunters who successfully find shrooms! And as this event is operated mainly via Instagram, promotional materials are key to spreading the word about your shroom to all hunters out there. And if you start early and share your promotional materials early, they might be shared by the Game of Shrooms IG account!
I was absolutely thrilled to find my reel shared by the official Game of Shrooms Instagram account! 😆
Plus, don’t forget about business cards/artist info to hide with your shroom art!
Collaborate with Local Businesses. I think it’s such a great idea to work with local businesses to promote both them and your art, as The Inkcredibles and Tina Banda had done.
Hide Early. I suggest hiding your artwork(s) at least an hour earlier than the time you tell your hunters and IG followers that you’ll hide your shroom, as you might run into hunters eager to find your art. This happens quite often!
Game of Shrooms Tips: For Hunters
Be Quick & Early. If there’s a shroom you really like, then start following the artist’s Instagram account as soon as possible and get all the hints as soon as you can! Sometimes artists start giving out hints a few days before the day of the Games. Don’t wait for the day of to look for it (like me); if they give out hints, go out there and find it! I had seen clues, yet I didn’t start looking until the day of the Games, and so I ended up losing the shroom to another hunter, who had searched for and found it a day before.
Best Chances of Finding Shrooms are in Your Own Neighborhood/Places You Know. Amidst the competition, you have the best chance of finding a shroom for yourself in your own neighborhood/places where you’re familiar enough to quickly use the hints to hunt down shrooms.
Vehicle & Comfy Shoes. It’s all about speed when it comes to shroom hunting! Walking and taking public transportation will NOT be quick enough (as I learned sadly last year). You have to have your own car/bike/electric scooters/Lyft/Uber to get to the shroom ASAP.
Let Artists Know If You’ve Found Their Shrooms. This saves everyone’s time! Plus it’s a great way to show appreciation for the artists’ works.
The Countdown Begins!
Another thing I so very much love about the Game of Shrooms is that the date of the next game is set right away. It has been announced by Attaboy that the next Game of Shrooms will take place on Saturday, June 14, 2025. So… Let the countdown begin!
P.S. Here are some local Bay Area artists who participated this year and whose shroom art I really wanted to find!
P.P.S. I’ve noticed that not all artists from the 2023 Game of Shrooms participated in this year’s game. Hopefully they come back next year! Here are their wonderful shroom arts from last year:
The Time Traveler is an upcoming author who holds great appreciation for both classic literature and history. The author aspires to publish historical fictions and other written works in the near future, in hopes of creating works that entertain, inform, and inspire.
The author also appreciates all things aesthetic and enjoys traveling around the world to learn and observe.
