Mission San Juan Bautista, California

Mission San Juan Bautista was founded on June 24, 1797, by Father Fermin Lasuen, the fifteenth of the twenty-one missions. The local Mutsun people were enthusiastic for the mission and helped to build it. Unfortunately, the site is right on the San Andreas fault, so their decision to expand the initial church or build a new one in 1803 was made for them. They built a new church that prospered till secularization in 1835. The church continued to be a parish even though the rest of the mission was sold off. In 1949, the Hearst Foundation funded a restoration to the original design.

We visited the mission as we drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The town of San Juan Bautista is preserved from modernization by the fact that the railroads did not come through the town (they went east to Hollister). The mission church is right next to a state park that preserves the other buildings from the nineteenth century. 

Sing for the mission

Mission bell near the entrance

When we arrived, the mission's staff was having a meeting till 1 p.m., so we walked around town and got lunch. The plaza by the mission has nineteenth-century buildings. The hotel is home to the state park office with gift shop. The jail sign was a bit comical--a sign explained that no one ever broke out of the jail, not because of thick walls or sturdy doors, but because breakfast was so good.

Plaza hotel building

More plaza buildings

The jail

Jail room doesn't look so bad

The stables next door to the jail have spots for horses and for wagons.

A garage in the 1800s

A bunch of wagons

A nearby home

We saw the recent bronze statue of St. John the Baptist, depicted as a local Native American (the Ohlone tribe). This part of the mission is very close to the San Andreas fault, just steps away.

San Juan Bautista

An 1800s home

Home's interior

We walked over to The Smoke Point, a barbecue place, for lunch. I ordered the Single Malt Double Tint Whiskey Porter from Fruition Brewing (9.3% alcohol by volume) and the rib sandwich. It was delightful.

The Smoke Point

The lunch

We returned to the mission and started the tour. The mission has an extensive museum.

Model of the old mission

Many different skills were practiced by the Franciscans and taught to the locals at the mission. 

Bellows and pin pads to card cactus fibers

Writing case with lots of accessories

Dining room

The mission was known for its music and several of the original books are on display.

Extra-large hymnal

Two-part singing with two colors!

Liturgical items

After secularization in 1835, a family lived in this part of the building.

Mid-Victorian living room

The original cross from the bell tower (which collapsed) is on display.

Bell tower cross

The bell tower featured prominently in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, though the tower fell due to dry rot between when the location was scouted and when filming started. Whoops!

A small display for the movie

In the church proper, a side altar has a dramatic cross.

Back altar

Nave

Choir loft and main door

We saw that the main door above was designated as a Holy Door for the Jubilee Year 2025, but it wasn't open!

Pulpit for preaching

Stations of the Cross--Christ Crucified

The main altar has a variety of statues, including church patron John the Baptist in the middle.

Main altar

Close up of the patron

Pulpit by the main altar

A side altar is devoted to Saint Joseph, though the Infant of Prague looks like He is upstaging him.

Whose altar is this?

Even the floor is fascinating. Several people are buried in the church, including one of the priests. Some of the tiles show paw prints!

Burial stone

Leaving a mark

The middle of the mission (inside the quadrangle) was a garden, which it is again. There is also a well for the mission and lots of space to entertain.

Garden

At the back of the church is the Guadalupe Chapel, the oldest surviving part of the mission.

Guadalupe chapel

Last bell in the garden

Book Review: Y: The Last Man Vol. 2 by B. K. Vaughn et al.

Y: The Last Man Volume 2: Cycles written by Brian K. Vaughn, pencilled by Pia Guerra, and inked by Jose Marzan, Jr.

Yorick Brown's cross-country adventure continues as he, Agent 355, and Dr. Mann take a train to California to the doctor's back-up laboratory. Mann has been working on cloning and hopes to clone Yorick so he won't be the last man. A couple of toughs encounter the travelers in Ohio, forcing them to jump from the train. Yorick winds up in an idyllic-seeming town where all the women are nice and caring. The women are welcoming but also fearful because they have a secret they don't want let out...especially to any authorities, like his government covert spy traveling companion. And what about that Russian woman who is going to Kansas for some unexplained reason?

The idyllic town is a little unbelievable given the overall story's set-up. The explanation for why they are in such great shape and of their dark secret both strain credibility. I have the impression the authors are either going for blatant social commentary or subtle Swiftian satire. The problem is how unclear their intentions are. Neither interpretation is satisfactory because neither one is well executed. I don't think it's meant to be a meandering, fantastic adventure with a deeper but obvious meaning like The Odyssey. The deeper message isn't that deep or else it's too deep to be fathomed. Either way, it is not for me. I'm done with Y: The Last Man.

Not recommended.

Movie Review: Vertigo (1958)

Vertigo (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock

San Francisco detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) is forced to retire when his fear of heights leads to the death of a fellow officer during a rooftop chase. Scottie has a comfortable retirement that doesn't last--an old college friend named Gavin Elster gets in touch and asks for help. Gavin is a wealthy shipbuilder who married into the business. Now his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) is acting strangely and he is concerned enough to get someone to follow her, hoping to get enough information to guide his choice for medical or psychiatric care. His big problem is that he thinks his wife is under the influence of an ancestor, Carlotta Valdez, who committed suicide in the mid-1800s. Scottie reluctantly agrees to follow her after he sees how beautiful she is (she is a classic Hitchcock blonde). His voyeuristic snooping lends credence to the ancestral influence. Scottie becomes too close after he saves Madeleine after she jumps into San Francisco Bay. His obsession and her madness build to a horrible twist that's only the mid-point of the film.

Hitchcock had a penchant for using landmarks and famous sites in his movie, sometimes shoehorning them in (e.g. the Mount Rushmore sequence in North by Northwest is great but really the bad guys could have gone just about anywhere). In Vertigo, he uses famous San Francisco places naturally and effectively. In a creepy scene, Madeleine and Scotty visit a redwood forest. One tree has fallen over and has some labels showing how old the tree is--American Independence at this ring, Magna Carta at that ring. Madeleine points to two spots (presumably in the 1800s) and says in her dreamy, possessed-by-Carlotta way, "Here I was born, here I died." Carlotta is buried at Mission Dolores so Madeleine visits the grave. Plenty of other landmarks show up. The "visual tourism" is well-blended into the story.

This film is rightly considered Hitchcock's most artistic film. Madeleine wears grey and black outfits, hinting at the darkness inside her. Scottie's obsession is paralleled in other characters in subtle and varied ways. The score by Bernard Herrmann is lyrical and haunting, enhancing the romantic and hypnotic mood of the film. A nightmare sequence underlines the destructive nature of obsession. The performances by Stewart and especially Novak perfectly embody their characters, often showing their inner feelings through scenes without any dialogue. The storytelling is visual and deep.

Vertigo is well worth watching and does reward rewatching (knowing the plot twists ahead makes the story, the performances, and the details even better). Highly recommended.