detail from: KRK Art dizajn

CALIFORNIA, 1988

It was February 1988, a pretty warm day, when I found an ad in the Politika Travel for America. The price of the arrangement was acceptable, and our girls, Stasha and Maja, aged 18 and 14, were excited to be left alone at home. My wife Bosa and I applied, and we left on February 15th. Already at the Belgrade airport, we noticed that a lot of passengers know each other from previous trips. And while they were hanging out, the two of us were lonely. A Pan American plane, a Boeing 727, was flying to Frankfurt, and a Boeing 747 was flying from Frankfurt to New York. This plane was full, about 500 passengers. We landed at John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport in New York and waited there for a long time while the leader of the arrangement, Slobodan, provided us with a bus to take us to the Century Paramount Hotel. Along the way, Slobodan warned us about huge crime, possible raids and pickpockets on the streets of New York, and advised us to move in groups everywhere.

And as soon as we settled into the hotel, we went out to Times Square to stretch our legs and orient ourselves where we were. I had previously been to New York four times, but this was Bosi's first visit. That evening, we saw the intervention of the police in Times Square, which was managed quite successfully by one policewoman.

The next day, by bus, driven by Mr. Tom, a tour guide, we set off on a city tour. Tom acted very professionally, he told us all the sights about every building he drove us past. We went in this order: Anchored aircraft carrier on Hudson River, Madison Square Gardens, Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Opera House, New York State Theater, Fisher Hall, Flatiron Building (triangular base building at the intersection of Brooklyn Street and Washington Square), Little Italy, ChinaTown and Soho. There, in Soho, we saw from the bus how a black man snatched a woman's bag from her hands and disappeared in a crowd of passers-by, while the police intervention on the spot was unsuccessful. That is how we became convinced of the reality of Slobodan's warning. After that, we walked along Wall Street, the center of world capital, passed the Twin Towers Center and watched the Statue of Liberty from the shores of Hudson River, on Liberty Island. The surrounding skyscrapers delighted us, each architecturally different, from each other. At Trinity Church, a guide told us that funerals there cost $ 40,000 at the time. Driver Tom still drove us through Harlem, to 125th Street, a black neighborhood, famous for crime of all kinds. He told us that when apartment owners fail to collect rent from the poor black population, they set fire to their own building, and so they drive them all out like rats. And the comment of our passengers on that was: "That's American democracy." We also visited Central Park, which, the driver drew our attention to, is not recommended to go alone even during the day. And it is known that Americans distance themselves from everything, by putting written warnings in visible places, and thus transferring responsibility at your own risk. We saw the house of John and Jacqueline Kennedy and the Guggenheim Museum, stopped at the Metropolitan Opera House, and from there we continued our journey under Brooklyn Bridge, going to the United Nations building. On the way back from Harlem, we passed Columbia University, where the famous "Mihajlo Pupin" institute is, with 14 Nobel Prizes won so far. When we heard that, we felt proud of our Mihajlo Pupin. Tom left us in front of the United Nations building, with his bus, and we walked through the building, bought souvenirs and ate sandwiches.

From the United Nations building, Bosa and I walked down 42nd Street. The distance to the hotel was quite long, but we had time and we wanted to walk and enjoy looking at the gorgeous shop windows. Along the way, we entered the UNICEF building and put coins in the fountain, and from there all the way to 32nd Street on foot, we also stopped at the Empire State Building. We stopped by Tiffany's, remembering the movies from our youth out of desire, drank coffee and ate some sweets. It was really nice. In the evening, we watched the Winter Olympics from Calgary at the hotel.

The third day in New York was our day off. Bosa and I walked the seventh, sixth and fifth avenues, as well as the avenues America, Lexington and Madison, and then the streets from 31st to 62nd. Along the way, we climbed to the top of the Empire State Building. We have noticed that there is a lack of trees among the many skyscrapers in New York. Even if it did, it would not be noticeable from too high skyscrapers. We also noticed that we did not see gas stations anywhere, and the city is full of cars. There are no large shopping malls in the central part of the city, which means that New Yorkers are probably supplied in remote centers or more expensive stores in the city itself. Concrete and skyscrapers have pushed cemeteries out of the city, and certainly New Yorkers are dying every day. That day, we bought some trinkets for our girls and spent all the cash we had.

Leaving New York, on the fourth day, we took a bus past the Amish settlement and saw them working diligently on their estates. We flew to San Francisco in the afternoon and arrived there at dusk, in the evening, including a time difference of three hours. We were surprised by the sight near the Oxford Hotel, where we had accommodation, that a lot of black people were lying on the streets. True, it is quite warm in San Francisco, the climate is pleasant, but mostly those were men who did nothing and took drugs.

The next day, also by tourist bus, we toured the city. The driver was also a tourist guide and gave us all kinds of information about the parts of the city he drove us through. We were first taken along California Avenue, which is undulating and picturesque in its own way. When he drove us through Knob Hill, he said that because of the high price, the citizens here call that area Snob Hill. China Town is phenomenal, the first largest in the world, with the exception of China. The city of San Francisco began to develop on the site of Ports Square in the 1820s. We walked along the bay next to the famous and notorious Alcatraz prison and saw the double Oakland Bridge, on which each floor uses one direction of travel, with five lanes. In 1849, gold was discovered in Sacramento, after which the city of San Francisco increased tenfold in population.

The most important date in the history of the city of San Francisco is April 18, 1906. It was Sunday, the strongest earthquake happened, which broke all gas and water pipelines, so the whole city burned for four days, and there was no water to put out the fire. Over 4,000 buildings and over 1,000 people were burned. It was a real cataclysm. Even in the age of the gold rush, barbarian gangs dealt with each other by frequent arson. One part of the city is still called the Barbarian Quarter, where criminals, wanderers, gamblers and the like live, and some streets are named after the names of famous prostitutes, Clementine, and others.

The city of San Francisco lies on a peninsula, measuring 11 x 11 km. Twin Hills consists of 43 smaller and 7 larger hills. From there is a beautiful view of the entire city and the Golden Gate Bridge. Twin Hills is considered a gay city, which Americans are proud of, which is unacceptable in our terms.

The famous park, named Golden Gate, was built in 1860 on sandy, desert terrain. Its founder, John McLaren, received the land as a gift from the city, and he first covered it with humus, and then built windmills to pump water. Since the park became green, the climate of the city has changed. A botanical garden was built in the park, as a copy of Kew Gardens in London. The park now houses the Planetarium, the Academy of Sciences, and the Japanese Pagoda. The park is full of blooming rhododendrons, magnolias, cacti, calla lilies and countless beautiful flowers.

Richmond, a rich part of the city, was mostly bought by the Chinese, who socialize very compactly as a national entity. We have heard that there are about 4,500 different world restaurants in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge was designed by engineer John Flimont. The diameter of the steel ropes is 810 mm, twisted from a wire with a total length of 138,000 km, approximately 3.5 times the length around the equator. Not far from the Golden Gate Bridge is Alcatraz, which has narrowed as a prison for the most notorious criminals. It served as a prison for about 30 years, and when it became more expensive than the most luxurious hotels in the whole world, it was turned into a tourist attraction.

From the lagoon next to Alcatraz, we climbed to Chestnut Street, and from there to Lombard Street, with eight serpentines, bordered by the most colorful flowers of all colors. Numerous newlyweds of the city are photographed in this street. After climbing the hill on California Avenue, we waited for the tram, which we named after the famous movie, "Tram called longing". When we entered and the tram started going downhill, the brake driver asked: "Does anyone want to ride the tram?", Honestly not expecting anyone to report. I answered and approached to take command, and many passengers shouted, "Please don't, don't give it to him, please." And I return the helm to the brake, thank him and apologize to the passengers.

In Chinatown, we visited all the shops and saw beautiful Chinese inventions. These stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On the way back to the hotel with Živka and Jelena, from Belgrade, who knew my uncle brother Dr. Predrag, we drank coffee, which we all enjoyed.

And on the third day of our stay in San Francisco, we set off again on foot with Lucia and Denis from Pula, in the direction of Golden Gate Park. It took us a full hour of walking, but it was very pleasant. In the park, we toured a Japanese garden with countless bonsai trees, of different species. There were about 700 species of trees, each marked by the origin and year of the plantation. I expressed a desire to walk the Golden Gate Bridge, back and forth, but my companions forbade me to do so.

The next day, early in the morning, our plane to Los Angeles flew at 6.30. When we left San Francisco, the city seemed sleepy, almost no one on the streets, except black people sleeping on the sidewalks. The Boeing 737, an A-300 airbus, flew so that the Pacific was on our right and the Cordillera mountain range on our left. It was a pleasure to look at both sides, and when we flew over Los Angeles, it seemed to us that the city was endless. On the hill above the city, we saw HOLLYWOOD written in large letters.

The first information we heard about Los Angeles was that the city was created by merging 57 settlements, which gave it 13 million inhabitants.

Riding the bus from the airport, we passed through Twentieth Century Fox, through Century City and ABC Broadcasting Corporation. We entered Beverly Hills and Wilshire Boulevard, 25 km long. We saw the company's Pier Carden and Kartier. The driver told us that there were houses in this area whose value reached 500 million dollars. A little further on, from there, is the house of 637 Doheny Drive, of Marilyn Monroe, where John F. Kennedy came to her. The bus took us further, along Sunset Boulevard, and we took a break at the agricultural fair, where we had breakfast. From there, we continue driving along Melrose Boulevard and Santa Monica, next to Charlie Chaplin's house, after which we have a stop and look at the signatures of the actors in concrete. There’s also Hollywood Boulevard and it’s all already Hollywood. There is the Fox TV Center and Century Fox Studio. We saw the Children's Museum. El Pueblo de Los Angeles is a restaurant on the Mexican market. We take Alvarado Avenue to the hotel where we are accommodated, where we get room 716, from the window of which we can see the Hollywood sign on the hill.

After the break, we had lunch with Lucia and Denis at the Jack in the Box Hotel and arranged to visit Disneyland. We did that the next day, on February 22, 13 of us took a city bus to Disneyland, and I was their leader, because I knew English best. We spent the whole day at Disneyland and toured everything on display. Everyone enjoyed it, the day was wonderful and everything was unforgettable. The final part of the tour was in the submarine Yellow Submarine, which is certainly an unusual experience for every visitor, unless someone is a sailor. The last day of our stay in Los Angeles, February 23, was left to us as free, for buying souvenirs and arranging impressions.

The next day, we flew back to New York. Two of our passengers remain in Los Angeles, picked up by their relatives, and we continue our flight over Arizona, Utah and Colorado. The plane was almost empty, so the flight attendant allowed us to move to first class, next to the window, through which we looked at the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River. The day was sunny, the view extraordinary, and the pilot led us right along the entire canyon, so we saw it along its entire length from a bird's eye view. The view was perhaps better than if we had walked it. Leaving the Grand Canyon, we flew further through Kansas, the granary of America, and then through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, arriving in the evening in New York. Another passenger left us there as well, and the same evening we received our flight to Frankfurt and the next day, after a little sleepy night, we waited for the flight to Belgrade at the Frankfurt airport. And that part of the way we flew in a Boeing 727 plane. At home, our girls greeted us, full of admiration, rejoicing in the gifts we brought them. This trip, among many, left an unforgettable impression on us, at a time when we loved America en masse.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

SHARE THIS PAGE ON: