As the COVID-19 pandemic peaks again in the fall and drags on into winter, 2020, it is our duty to provide this update, our latest attempt to make a positive contribution during such a pivotal and painful year in California history. This story is dedicated to the thousands of Californians (approaching 18,000 by November and more than 25,000 by the end of the year) who have lost their lives to COVID-19, the thousands more who have suffered irreversible damage to their health, and the thousands of families that continue to be directly impacted by this virus. We also recognize the millions of Californians who have lost jobs and businesses to the COVID pandemic, those who are fighting to save their jobs, and those who are struggling to secure shelter and to put food on their tables. Some of these heartbreaking losses may not be evident in the following images that illustrate how we have attempted to stumble out of the despair wrought by COVID-19.
Setting some Guidelines. This National Recreation and Park Association sign was posted on the trail at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The sign informs visitors about how to enjoy the great outdoors and avoid COVID-19 while learning some natural history at Southern California’s largest coastal wetland, where the polluted Tijuana River crosses into the U.S. and finally meanders to the sea.
Here, we transport you into some of the iconic landscapes that help define the Golden State, places where Californians have been trying to escape the grasp of this virus throughout the summer and into the fall of 2020. Data to support the text in this story has been gleaned from recent and relevant research, publications, and direct observations throughout the year as we try to summarize California’s pandemic predicament. The snapshots will transport you from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of the Golden State, combining to create a colorful pandemic picture book.
Migrations of Desperation. This scene at the Tijuana Estuary at Imperial Beach reminds us how pandemic issues may be secondary for some people in the world and in California, people who were already so desperate and struggling to survive. These plastic bags and other debris are typically discarded by migrants who swam through the sewage-polluted Tijuana River to cross illegally into the U.S. Nearby, you will find a makeshift memorial to one young man who lost his life in the process. Here, they unsealed their valuables and launched themselves into a state with a high-unemployment economy crippled by COVID-19. The most desperate workers are often exploited into working in inhumane and unsafe conditions that make them most vulnerable to the virus. Whether the pandemic encourages us to ignore the other issues and problems facing California or pushes them into the spotlight may depend on your situation and perspective.
Geography of the Pandemic The pandemic continues to at least indirectly impact nearly every landscape and person as it carves widespread lasting imprints on the human geography of California. Particularly hard hit are the densest urban neighborhoods on one end and rural farming communities on the other. Long-term health care facilities, prisons, and labor-intensive industries such as food packing plants have also become epicenters, or what might be considered producers of virus clusters and super-spreaders. The results, geographically, have predictably followed many of the trends we outlined in our spring update from half a year ago. Throughout the centuries, geographers and people who think like geographers have contributed their perspectives and expertise to help us better understand and help control such pandemics and this one is no exception.
Empty Recreational Spaces. Who could have imagined that this baseball field and surrounding sports and recreational facilities at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach could be closed off and empty on a beautiful autumn weekend day? An eerie calm dominated this pandemic landscape during weekdays, when students were distance learning, and on weekends, when the athletic fields were closed to baseball, soccer, football, and other sports. Where communities have taken extraordinary precautions, the pandemic has challenged us and our younger populations to search for safe open spaces and new options that will nurture our physical and mental health.
Two-tiered Risks and Impacts Near the beginning of the year, COVID-19 may have been initially introduced into some middle- and upper-income circles by those who could afford international travel. But it quickly spread and has since been infecting, sickening, and killing much larger percentages of working-class populations living and/or working in more crowded environments. These include a larger percentage of people of color working in blue-collar jobs, such as service workers, who are in direct contact with the public and cannot fulfill their duties on line, but are exposed beyond the safety and comfort of their homes. These laborers are first pushed back into what could be risky work environments by personal economic pressures and then confronted with inadequate and/or budget-busting medical care when they contract the virus. These infections were often tragically spread to their elders in a state where about 74% of all COVID-19 deaths have been people age 65 and older. The data show that a much larger percentage of working-class people first lost their jobs to the epidemic, then were forced to return to work, and finally caught the virus. Those with greater education and higher incomes suffered much lower percentages and losses statewide (up to three times lower) on all three fronts.
Symptoms of a Pandemic. In cities and towns across California, pole banners and public street signs that once advertised annual festivals and other local attractions have been converted to public safety announcements to slow the spread of COVID-19. Businesses know that efforts to keep the virus under control may determine whether they can remain open and survive the pandemic.
Concentrated Clusters and Super Spreaders Other super-spreader events have erupted when some Californians have chosen to ignore scientific evidence and to dare nature’s statistical probabilities. These clusters of choice have sent out super spreaders that have locally and dramatically spiked infection rates and further slowed our recovery. So, we have learned that the geography of COVID is less about widespread infections blanketing the land and more about specific, concentrated clusters and super-spreader events that radiate beyond the confined spaces where they started: workplaces, neighborhoods, extended families, social gatherings, or congregations of cultural groups.
Pandemic Winners and Losers. The pandemic first closed piers up and down the coast, but when they reopened, new behavior patterns evolved. Fishing became more popular as a perceived safe outdoor activity for some and to help put food on the table during hard times for others. The water quality along Imperial Beach may be dubious, but it didn’t stop these folks on the pier from competing for the latest catch. Unsuspecting fish were the losers.
Learning from our Mistakes Some of the most fascinating and tragic lessons we are learning from COVID-19 focus on our flawed psychology. It’s as if COVID is teasing us into looking into our mirrors. We not only see how particularly inept we have become at dealing with such a pandemic, but we are forced to reevaluate our lives and the world around us with probing questions and solutions that could lead us down more innovative paths, potential epiphanies toward improvement. Our first mistake was ignoring the power of science, the importance of understanding and using the scientific method, and the consequences of being ignorant about it. Our second mistake was retreating – often encouraged by the poison on social media – into our particular cultural and political tribes with blinders in place. We are now experiencing the pandemic fatigue that naturally follows our failures to stop the spread of this virus.
Converting Downtown Landscapes. Cities and business districts across the state used a variety of barriers to cordon off emptied parking spaces, allowing restaurants to spill out into the open air on the streets, hoping to keep businesses above water until the pandemic wanes. San Diego was no exception.
Entrenched Beliefs and Politics versus Facts and Science How have we allowed the politics to overcome the science and why do some people trust the words of their favorite uninformed demagogue over the scientists that have dedicated their careers and lives to finding solutions and saving lives? Had fatality rates from the virus been greater, say 20%, we would see bodies being dragged out of homes and carried away, repeated tragic scenes that would compel everyone to take extreme precautions. At the other extreme, if ICU admissions and fatality rates were similar to the common flu, there would be little need for extra precautions. But this COVID-19 continues teasing us with a dangerous in between, as every time we let our guards down to open up and dismiss what may seem to be an invisible threat, infections, serious illnesses, and death rates spike. Too often, entrenched belief systems become more powerful than overwhelming evidence, science, and facts, particularly when people within our narrow tribe are not negatively impacted and victimized.
Outdoor Dining Takes to the Streets. San Diego’s Little Italy district is famous for its quality restaurants that attract thousands of hungry visitors every day. Will the switch to safer outdoor dining be enough to keep them afloat?
Smart Personal Geography How do we decrease the statistical probability of getting infected? That’s a pretty straightforward scientific question that means life and death for tens of thousands of Californians and many billions of dollars in income for millions more. And it’s mostly about geography. Like all things science, we must modify our understanding of COVID, and hopefully adjust our behavior and decision-making, to fit the available evidence of the day. This moving target, as we gather more scientific evidence, has been a difficult concept for a large percentage of the population that has ignored nature and science for too long. The destruction and suffering resulting from this ignorance is enhanced as we retreat into our tribes instead of working together to understand and respond to the threat.
Coping in the Neighborhood. San Diego’s Barrio Logan Latino neighborhood and business district struggles to reach out into the safe open air on this weekend day and to residents and visitors who might circulate just enough money so that local businesses can survive the pandemic.
Barrio Cultures Emerge above the Pandemic. San Diego’s historic Latino district along Logan Avenue erupts with activity on this autumn weekend when locals can celebrate their methods of escaping and shedding COVID precautions and restrictions fatigue.
Sensing our Spaces and Places We must first confront the geographic term that COVID forced into every household: social distancing. Super spreader events that produce clusters of cases have included large and small congregations of people with only one or a few infected persons, who then transfer the virus to the others so they can spread it on to their families or cohorts. This results in dramatic, concentrated, local spikes in infections and deaths. The good news is how people are being forced to become better geographers, sensing their environments as they become more aware of whom or what surrounds them.
Neighborhood COVID Retreat. Precious public art spaces take on new meaning after residents suffering from pandemic fatigue have been confined to their personal spaces. Chicano Park in the densely populated Logan Barrio of San Diego offers opportunities to get out into the safe fresh air and open spaces.
Reevaluating our Built Environments Countless practical geography lessons rise to the surface. For instance, many years before COVID, especially coastal Californians were demonstrating how poorly ventilated enclosed spaces can be replaced by healthier, more productive, naturally-ventilated living and working environments that cost a lot less to keep reasonably comfortable. Those who reevaluated their spaces and places to reconnect to their surroundings are now reaping the benefits. Those who ignored these realities are now stuck with the most dangerous, deadly, and expensively-maintained closed COVID spaces that understandably make us all uneasy and anxious, and sometimes sick. Closed indoor malls, sealed office spaces, and confined classrooms in California are examples of the flawed public spaces left behind by this archaic thinking.
No Large Gatherings Here. Chicano Park’s revered outdoor art looks over a relatively quiet landscape only scattered with COVID escapees from San Diego’s surrounding Logan Barrio. Throughout California, events were cancelled that would otherwise pack parks and other public spaces such as this one with throngs of weekend revelers, but now leave plenty of room for those looking for safe spaces in all the right places.
Crafting the Message. Every California city creates unique caution signs that attempt to educate park visitors so they might enjoy the outdoors in the safety of local spaces. They often use templates, but a lot of creative thought goes into this local messaging that could prevent super-spreader events.
Please Come in and Circulate the Wealth. In the spring, the pandemic first shut down business districts and public spaces. As our landscapes and economies gradually reopened, there has been fierce competition to attract visitors and capital that might safely save businesses from bankruptcy. The welcome signs here, at one of San Diego’s most historic and popular attractions, couldn’t be clearer.
Sensing Your Air Geographic awareness also helps us safely navigate our more open, outdoor spaces. Your 6-feet or 12-feet distancing rules only apply in relatively calm air. Sense the wind direction and speed. If you are upwind, the contamination from a potentially infected person is being transported away from you, but if you are downwind, twelve feet might not be far enough. Furthermore, your motion in relation to others could easily transport you into or away from their plume of contamination. Add more distance if you notice coughing, sneezing, singing, or shouting. For those of us who have always been cognizant of these people, spaces, and places, our senses have become sharpened. For those who had previously checked out on your screens and ear plugs and dismissed your relationship to your surroundings, welcome back to Planet Earth. The most geographically aware are more likely to increase their probability of surviving with their health.
Transforming a Street to Save the City. As reopening commenced, businesses across the state applied for and received permission to convert sidewalks and street parking into outdoor dining and retail. These desperate attempts to survive and attract some revenue had some success, but it was too little, too late for those already on the brink. As winter sets in, it will be easier for restaurants like this one in La Jolla to keep loyal customers, compared to cities and towns, especially in northern California, that feel the cold and storms of the season.
To Mask or not to Mask: That is often a Geography Question And speaking of aware, how have masks become political in California and across the nation? For decades, surgeons, doctors, nurses, and other health care workers have protected themselves, their patients, and their colleagues from spreading sickening and deadly diseases by using masks that provide barriers to countless pathogens. Pathogens and masks don’t care about your politics. It’s weird that we even have to mention this. More recently, every COVID-19 study of masks has shown their benefits and discounted suggested negative health impacts. And for the other extreme, the virus comes from infected people who get too close, not from fresh air. Here are just two examples of how fear can overcome the science. A friend of mine tried to shame me for not wearing my mask, after I stopped on my bike to say hello, across the street from her, on a street with no other people around. My mask remained in my pocket and I was not hesitant to set her straight with the geography and science. While walking her dog on a completely empty street at 6am, another friend of mine was scolded for not wearing her mask; the lone complainer felt the need to yell at her from nearly a block away. We’ve seen enough studies and had enough experiences to know better and to behave smarter by now. Wearing masks or not wearing them should never be likened to political pins or slogans or emotions, but how and when we use them may signal our knowledge of science and our connections to nature and reality.
Iconic California Retreats. A long, hot summer brought out scores of swimmers, snorkelers, divers, and kayakers to celebrate the Golden State’s iconic coastal resources, surrounded by relatively safe fresh air, along the La Jolla coast. This is a good example of how coastal families sought refuge from the pandemic in the great outdoors.
Two Californias Stumble Forward In a frustrating COVID world where we are discouraged from behaving in our most fundamentally intimate and human ways, where we have lost the magic of a human touch, we are constantly challenged to redefine personal space and our relationships with one another. Too often, our personal geographies and behaviors begin to reflect our entrenched beliefs and politics. For instance, as a larger percentage of urban dwellers have been protecting themselves and those who surround them, a larger percentage of rural and inland Californians, who may have always lived and worked somewhat socially distanced, have often resisted rules and ignored precautions that they believe might conflict with their more traditional, conservative, or libertarian values. And so, you can still watch these two Californias expressing themselves with masked or unmasked faces; this behavior has resulted in some very interesting and even confounding infection and death clusters that are ripe for research.
No COVID here. The Sea Lions lounging around La Jolla Cove may wonder why so many human visitors are so happy and relieved to enjoy the great outdoors. It might be a good opportunity to think about how humans’ misunderstandings of their relationships to wildlife and nature likely started this pandemic.
Geographic Distributions are Moving Targets By November, California’s recorded infections (nearing one million total) and deaths (approaching 18,000 total) kept our state’s per capita rates (out of 40 million) slightly below the national average. Ranked by new cases/100,000, the state’s top ten (worst) counties in October were mainly rural, economically dependent on primary industries, and mostly in central and northern California. Ranked in order, they were Shasta, Kings, Tehama, Sonoma, Glenn, Monterey, Alpine, Tulare, San Bernardino, and Imperial Counties. All urban counties ranked below (better than) them, but were not the lowest. Perhaps the most notable stand out was San Francisco; at 44th, it was, by far, the urban county with the fewest number of new cases. Little Sierra County ranked last (or best) of all counties, though only a few new infections could drastically change the ranking of counties with such small populations. We are reminded that infections, deaths, and rankings are changing by the day as each new cluster emerges. (And this December update: It is not surprising that the best and worst counties had shuffled a bit by late December, when infections and hospitalizations had exploded again across the state to new all-time highs. Cases even spiked in San Francisco and other Bay Area communities that had previously gained some control of the numbers. By the end of 2020, the suffering in California had grown to more than 2.2 million total cases and more than 25,000 deaths, with rates rising to about one death every 3.5 minutes or 400/day.)
Treading a Fine Line. A different design for a city sign illustrates how another city is trying to attract visitors without encouraging super spreaders. Spiking infection rates have become the greatest threat to business as usual in every California community.
More Positive Probabilities Of course, savvy geographic awareness and rational behavior doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get infected with COVID-19 or any other pathogen. But the science informs us how you can greatly decrease your probability of getting sick or dying. This is why most people try to eat well, exercise, avoid smoking, and don’t drive recklessly; those with healthy lifestyles who drive safer will greatly decrease (but can never eliminate) their chances of dying a painfully slow death or being killed in a car accident. Likewise, recognizing accumulating facts about COVID-19 encourages smart personal behavior that is likely to protect you and greatly decrease the chances that you will infect or harm others.
Sensing Your Surroundings. You can’t get COVID here at this moment, but these signs posted all along entrances to California’s beaches warn visitors to keep vigilant. Narrow passages, suddenly densely populated by infected passersby who might bump against others, could quickly become surprise contamination scenes. This is why visitors are encouraged to wear face coverings at least until they reach the open beach. Sensing the wind direction and speed and other environmental conditions can also give you an advantage.
Weighing the Evidence, Finding Our Balance So, our debates should not be about the obvious scientific evidence, but how we respond to the realities and threats that confront us, and how our public responses and policies can either ease the pain or cause a lot of inconvenience and discomfort. Each of us has our personal, unique comfort zone as we try to navigate these dangerous waters. Some have isolated themselves, terrified to leave their homes. Others have been cavalier and even reckless, behaving as usual, pretending as if there were no COVID-19 filling the ICU’s and killing people. Most of us continue to search for that personal sweet spot between the two extremes that allows us to live our lives the best we can without getting sick, or worse yet, infecting our loved ones. In such a free society, finding this balance becomes more difficult while making public policies that can impact, sicken, or kill such a diverse population.
Rethinking the Business. Since hair cutting and other cosmetology businesses require intimate interaction with customers, they were the first to shut down and then to invent some creative ways to go back on line when we were reopening. Confined fitness centers and studios that didn’t or couldn’t expand outside weren’t so lucky. In both cases, professionals sometimes moved their services to other outdoor locations or home visitations.
Science and Facts Must Drive the Response and Policies Debates So we also struggle to find that public sweet spot that will protect the greatest number of people from the virus, while doing the least amount of damage to our lives and our economy. This response debate is healthy and should be carried out in an open atmosphere of respect for those who might see things differently. But, if we are to survive COVID, we are required to come to some general consensus that finds the best balance. Otherwise, we are plagued between the dueling extremes that proclaim, “I don’t want to be around people who want me to wear a mask no matter the situation” and “I don’t want to be around people who don’t wear a mask no matter the situation.” Or, consider the contrived conflicts between those who want to shut everything down and shutter everyone at home versus those who want to remove all restrictions and let the virus have its way with us. The potential inconvenience of proposed responses and policies should never change our understanding of the science as we find a rational middle ground between the extremes.
How Do We Define Congregations? Many Californians found refuge from the virus, and a brutally long and hot summer of 2020, at our cherished beaches. Fresh air and open spaces beckon with heathy recreational opportunities, and it looks here (at Solana Beach) as if families that likely already share the same living spaces are clustered together under their umbrellas. But, what about those occasional events that have drawn hundreds to cluster into small areas on the beach and at other public places? Who determines how many people in a cluster is too many, how close is too close, and who enforces such rules? This makes it difficult to slow the virus spread in such a diverse society.
Public Images and Personal Stories This brings us to our images of California’s COVID landscapes that demonstrate how diverse people from different parts of the state have been impacted and are responding through the summer and fall of 2020. How have folks been searching to find balance and how have their behaviors changed the human geography of the Golden State? We focus on local scenes, mainly from smaller cities and towns within iconic landscapes across the state. Our snapshots begin in the southwest corner of California and transport you toward the northeast corner of the state. We know that, even with all these images, we have missed many locations and have just scratched the surface.
As we travel along, we must remember that each Californian has a personal story to tell. One of the best ways to learn about these personal COVID experiences is from the best and most credible sources. The unprecedented nature of this pandemic encouraged the prestigious California Historical Society (CHS) to launch an informative project, Tell Your Story – California during the time of COVID-19. Here are just three excerpts from their project that continues to gather a wealth of diverse personal stories. We encourage you to visit the CHS web site for more:
Adriana, Age 37, of Sacramento: “My son asked me a little while ago what it was like when I was a kid and my school shut down for coronavirus, and I had to tell him that this is the first time something like this has happened in a hundred years, that it never even happened to his great-grandma.”
Natalia, Age 24, of North Shore, Salton Sea: “We live in the unincorporated city of North Shore with a majority migrant/immigrant population who are mostly farmworkers. COVID-19 has hit our community hard as most farmworkers cannot afford to stay home. Those who were laid-off or had to stay home to take care of children are in great disparity from being evicted, starving, zero access to clean water, and/or are high risk for contracting COVID-19. The line to get free food from the local food bank stretches over a mile, easily.”
Sean, Age 44, of San Francisco: “I am a massive extrovert, so the ‘shelter in place’ felt suffocating immediately. I don’t thrive working from home but had already been doing it for 10 days straight. Once Mayor Breed put in the order my trainer canceled on me, my gym closed, my barber canceled and so did our yard service. Nearly all businesses and human contact came to a halt within hours or days. It has been 4-5 weeks already and although I am lucky my job is fine and my family is healthy, I am starving for human connection beyond Zoom calls and 6 foot distances.”
Opportunity Springs from Misery. Testing for COVID-19 has been plagued with problems from the start, too often depending on who you are and the resources you might have available. But, some California businesses (such as this one in Encinitas) have figured out how to offer some peace of mind at any time, if customers can pay for it.
Urban Center Pandemic Landscapes The most dramatic changes continue to transform the densest downtown districts within our major cities. Though some recovery from the more severe lockdowns earlier this year is evident, there remains an eerie quiet and lack of activity in businesses and on city streets with no sense of excitement. One resident of downtown L.A. described it well, noting how the construction and long-term resurgence that you can see and hear in the background continues to erect buildings that were planned years ago. But this assembly of new buildings is now occurring in the absence of an assembly of people, as if someone has pushed the pause button. And you can see the strain on people’s faces and the tension in the ways they interact with one another. These more extreme pandemic scenes tend to radiate out like a wave that is propagated by the impact of a rock in a pond, usually becoming less evident as we move away from the urban cores. Even the infamous freeways and public transportation networks that connect these urban centers and their suburbs, and their exurbs beyond, continue to exhibit unusual and sometimes unpredictable traffic patterns that generally flow more freely compared to the vicious commutes of pre-pandemic gridlock.
Signs of the Pandemic. Encinitas displays their own pandemic caution pole banners that replaced the traditional advertisements once toutng the many festivals and other public events that made their community so grand, but have been cancelled by the pandemic.
Coping with COVID in California Cities There are many examples of how neighborhoods near denser downtowns such as San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, L.A., and San Diego are finding creative and even ingenious ways to cope. In San Francisco, a program called North Beach Delivers was formed by North Beach Neighbors to simultaneously save local restaurants, distribute food out to the community, and offer exercise opportunities for locals. In their own words, they are… “neighbors who care about supporting the backbone of our community – our neighborhood small businesses. Each week, we walk, ride, and (sometimes) run up the hills of the northeast corridor of the City to provide free delivery for our featured restaurant. We believe in the importance of supporting neighborhood businesses and spending our money locally.” And, “Since we’re volunteer-driven, North Beach Delivers runs with help from neighbors, like you. Whether you’d like to help make deliveries or find out about the restaurants we’re featuring each week, sign up to stay in touch!” You might try connecting to similar initiatives and programs that are springing up across the state in hopes to save your cherished neighborhoods and businesses.
Visitor Center Distress Signs. The pandemic closed the little Encinitas Visitor Center, even on this summer weekend, leaving the few visitors to this beach town to wander by, mill around, and move on to explore downtown without a plan. Thousands of escapees were having similar experiences across the Golden State.
Reinventing Cityscapes We – from larger to smaller cities – have also reinvented our street spaces. Many businesses, previously hesitant, are now eager to give up parking spaces in business districts, especially with the decrease in traffic and abundant empty parking. Decades ago, retail businesses discovered how the combination of dining and entertainment experiences increased foot traffic into stores. Suddenly, COVID eliminated those options and attractions, such as theaters. Now, restaurants have been converting one or two or more parking spaces into dining areas. This may be just enough to keep some local restaurants and retail afloat until the COVID turbulence calms. One geographic glitch emerges with winter weather, especially in northern California. What happens when outdoor heaters aren’t warm enough and umbrellas aren’t large enough to protect diners from inclement weather?
Spiritual Social Distancing. Many religious organizations and communities across the state have had to discourage congregating and have limited or cancelled group activities that require in-person contact, especially within closed confines. Several congregations that revolted against and ignored COVID-19 warnings and restrictions have become super spreaders, suffering serious outbreaks, illness, and even deaths. The gates were closed and activities put on hold at this Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas, illustrating how just one of what might be considered less mainstream religions and spiritual philosophies that decorate California cultures is trying to cope with the pandemic and set a positive example for the greater community.
Working around COVID in Two Californias We are reminded that those city streets and office buildings are quiet partially because it is so much easier for white-collar and gold-collar professionals to work remotely. COVID’s economic ripple effects are far more pronounced for the blue-collar working class. As white-collar jobs have mostly rebounded, blue-collar jobs are coming back much more slowly, often casting lower-income workers into more COVID-contagious environments. Now, economists warn that we may continue to experience what is known as a K-shaped economic recovery that will exacerbate existing inequalities. This occurs when well-educated and highly-skilled professionals (such as in high technology and software services) and investors enjoy prosperity and growth out of the COVID recession, while those with less education and skills (such as in the travel, entertainment, hospitality, and food services industries) suffer continued decline. Economic data supports these assumptions as workers earning more than $60,000/yr. have been recovering more rapidly than those earning near minimum wages and less than $28,000/yr., who are recovering much slower or not at all. And, as if the pre-COVID job market wasn’t already unsettled and transient enough, there is a growing number of roaming pandemic workers (usually younger and without families) who are willing or desperate to move around the state to find work.
Safe Camping at the Beach? As we started reopening after the initial lockdown, parks and campgrounds along the coast implemented rules to discourage congregating and other behaviors that might lead to super-spreader events. Most of the restrictions became difficult, if not impossible, to enforce, but the open air spaces and fresh summer breezes created naturally safer experiences that helped saved the day.
Finding Healthy Learning and Working Spaces Inequalities have surfaced in so many other spaces and places during our partial and spasmodic openings and recoveries. One of the most striking can be experienced at home, within the quiet and order of spacious private rooms where some students can concentrate on their on line classes and assignments, versus the confined students crammed into small, shared living spaces, often with other siblings taking different classes, sharing whatever technology and screen might be hanging on by a thread. Homeless kids and their parents face even more obvious and extreme challenges while schools are closed. We will all pay a high price for letting some of these students, with the potential to excel, succeed, and make their own contributions, slip away from us without proper supervision or mentoring. And health officials are already measuring increasing problems within our younger populations that include obesity, particularly among those who relied on their schools’ playgrounds, physical education classes, and sports programs to invite them outside and keep them fit. Again, the physical and mental health problems appear more severe in denser, working class urban centers where people were already suffering from growing nature deficit disorders.
By the fall, people of all ages were being lured back out into the open by a diversity of organizations and entrepreneurs. They included schools and youth groups that reintroduced after-school and weekend athletics to local parks, soccer fields, and other open spaces. And they included local businesses that offered beach picnic packages for couples and small families, and yoga and other group fitness classes in parks and on our beaches.
A Pandemic Summer to Remember. When lockdowns eased and parks reopened, cooped up residents desperate for fresh air and great outdoors experiences quickly filled reservations weeks ahead of time to secure beach camping spaces. Extended families and friends crowded limited spaces from San Onofre to San Diego to celebrate one of the warmest southern California summers on record.
Roommate Landscapes This brings us to the remarkably uneven impact the pandemic has had on real estate and rental markets. We’ve all seen the “for rent” and lease signs that continue to multiply as struggling renters move out and then back in with family and friends, and as offices are vacated by failed businesses and those lucky enough to work remotely. Again, our urban areas are hit the hardest. News stories such as on NPR have noted how the majority of 18-29 year-olds now live with their parents. You can see the extra cars parked on residential streets that are home to growing sandwich households. And you can see the used furniture scattered along the sidewalks in those evacuated urban landscapes, while many second-hand stores are so flooded with furniture, they are rejecting donations. The impacts are particularly remarkable in college communities that have been vacated by students attending classes on line, leaving behind many of the dorms, apartments, and businesses that served them, from communities surrounding larger campuses, such as UC San Diego, to smaller college towns in northern California.
Strict Rules to Keep the Beach Safe? After the initial lockdown, when the beaches and parks first reopened, specific guidelines and restricted uses were imagined. Soon, as more information about virus threats emerged, the warm summer weather and crowds quickly swept many of the rules away, as every southern California beach cove and strip of sand seemed to fill with revelers, especially on weekend afternoons.
Urban Booms Gone Bust And just as landlords were enjoying skyrocketing rental markets in our cities before the pandemic, the bottom has dropped out, driving rents down as much as 20% in neighborhoods within hipster San Francisco, San Jose, the Wilshire District of L.A., and its higher-end, luxury, downtown apartments. California’s dense urban cores are – at least temporarily – no longer booming. The cosmopolitan lifestyles that urbanites embraced have been upended by closed nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, sporting events, and the cancellation of festivals and other events that defined our exciting cities. The great migrations and gentrifications that brought wealth and culture back to our cities during the last few decades have temporarily stopped.
Early Stages Pressure is Flipped by Public Pressure. During the early stages of the pandemic, officials were pressured to keep infection rates down by initiating closures and making strict rules. As summer approached, we learned more details about the virus, and public pressures to reopen overwhelmed those efforts and made any form of serious enforcement impossible, ushering in a seemingly endless summer along southern California beaches.
Deficit Landscapes As local businesses shut down, large delivery companies thrive, serving on line shoppers who aren’t recycling money – and taxes – within their neighborhoods. Many family-owned businesses that survive are losing their savings and incurring larger debts, pushing more businesses and real estate into the hands of the largest players with the most capital. Will our pandemic public spending continue to exceed what we earn, as funding for city, county, and state projects dries up? Will this leave neighborhood and community improvement spaces vulnerable to become more generic privately-owned properties, leading to deterioration of our public spaces in the long run? Since many of these urban landscapes will be under stress long after COVIC-19, these are questions that need our attention now.
No Virus or Cabin Fever Zone. As summer approached, many Californians began to complain that the lockdown had restricted them to hunker down in densely populated neighborhoods, while wealthier residents, such as those living near the beach, enjoyed continuing access to our cherished and previously-easily-accessible public open spaces. Here at Table Rock in Laguna, social distancing comes natural for those lucky enough to stroll down their neighborhood stairs. As the weather warmed and parking and access improved, these coves would fill with folks from the cities seeking pandemic relief and refuge. Interviewed on a local news station, one local Orange County beach resident remarked why he agreed with the lockdowns: “We don’t want those people coming into our neighborhoods and spreading the virus.”
Urban Cultures Strain to Adapt Those who moved to the big city have temporarily lost much of their urban cultures as surrounding businesses shut down. By the fall, urban residents desperate to celebrate some form of culture had been flooding open-air flea markets and lining up at makeshift drive-in entertainment events. The sense of personal and family safety in isolation was fueling a temporary resurgence in car cultures of choice and leisure unrelated to the workplace. Public transportation systems have been crippled as fearful riders abandoned and escaped what they perceived as overcrowded contaminated spaces. Though this trend back to the car was slowed by families suffering economic hardships caused by the pandemic, it was fueled by slumping gasoline prices that lowered the costs of car trips in a recession-like pandemic world that was buying and burning less fossil fuel. Many traditional models once used to explain and predict economic trends and human behavior were being reworked by a pandemic that changed the rules and reshuffled winners and losers.
Summer Recreation during the Pandemic. Here at Dana Point, you might never know that we were mired in a health and economic crisis, as folks found multiple ways to celebrate summer, 2020.
Moving to the Countryside You will find remarkable real estate winners just about everywhere else, assuming we are talking about those who already own property. The turbulent trends have been highlighted by industry mainstays such as Redfin and Zillow. Rock bottom interest rates that were further lowered to speed recovery have fueled exploding housing prices away from concentrated city centers. Armed with their high-tech devices and communication software, many urban professionals have at least temporarily relocated to the suburbs or even farther, where real estate prices have skyrocketed. They have temporarily settled for months or longer in places as far as Lake Tahoe and other resort locations, at least until in-person contacts can resume. These remote vacation resorts have been further populated by those looking for safe retreats and short vacations to ease their cabin-fevers-in-the-city, as they try to escape urban areas gone silent. After the initial lockdown drove many vacation businesses to the brink, restrictions were lifted, opening a floodgate of B&B seekers to crash into the great outdoors. Numerous resort towns and their businesses throughout the state are now thriving. You can see the throngs of urban escapees competing for space and looking for ways to spend their time and money, especially on weekends. This leaves many resort town residents to appreciate the booming business, but worry that a few infected visitors from the city could become the super spreaders in their hometowns.
Who is this Masked Man? The Old Man and the Sea is used to add some humor to what was otherwise a challenging, frustrating, and sometimes tragic early summer, even at places such as San Clemente Beach.
Escaping into the Great Outdoors This exodus from the cities also helps explain the boom in recreational vehicle rentals that became so common on our roads by summer: families and friends looking for safe, confined transport and living spaces. We can also understand how campers escaping COVID and cabin fever combined with increased homelessness and limited entry to national and state parks to force large numbers of visitors into U.S. Forest Service lands. Some of them then became victims of the worst wildfires in state history: whiplash migrations from one disaster to another.
Safe Dining along the Coast? San Clemente Pier provided the perfect example of relatively safe outdoor settings with fresh breezes that encouraged locals and visitors to sit down at their table settings with confidence.
Competing to Reconnect to Nature Now that we have transported you from California cities to the great outdoors, we can see how COVID has changed some of our most remote spaces and places. The initial, more extreme lockdown first closed our city, county, state, and national parks and emptied the roads and resorts connected to them. Wildlife began to fill the gaps, roaming, grazing, hunting, and lounging around in places previously crowded by ecotourists. And as we warned in last spring’s COVID update, there was no coordinated effort to reopen all of our public parks at the same time. Instead, individual parks and trails that first opened were swarmed with visitors informed by social media. By early summer, traffic jams and waiting times to gain entrance to numerous trails and parks (as far away as McArthur-Burney Falls State Park in remote northeastern California) forced visitors and unhappy campers to change plans and turn back. As summer progressed, Yosemite National Park was forced to initiate a reservations-only entry system that quickly filled weeks ahead of time and turned back disappointed escapees, who then flooded nearby National Forests.
Safe Social Distancing comes Natural in Paradise. Using open spaces, fresh air, and salt water to cure your pandemic fatigue: medical experts have concluded that swimming and surfing in saltwater environments like this one in San Clemente is relatively safe. You can see how the public got the message loud and clear this summer.
Connecting to the Bigger Picture These inconveniences and attempts at closer encounters with nature serve to remind us about a larger, global human/nature dilemma: As the world’s expanding 7.7 billion people continue to encroach on wild areas, the increased human interaction with wildlife is likely to unleash new viruses and pandemics that follow COVID-19. Could this pandemic be a recurring new normal instead of the exception? If this rings true, 2020 could be a dress rehearsal, a dystopian view into our future world, if we don’t get our acts together and learn from our suffering.
Fishing Gear Traffic Jam on the Pier. Similar scenes were repeated at the end of nearly every reopened pier in the Golden State as folks crammed together looking for fresh air, food, leisure, and recreation. Some used the pandemic and economic slowdown as an excuse to rediscover the joys of fishing, at the expense of the fish.
An Excuse to Work Together for Positive Change One way we must cope is to rise from the ruins and find the silver linings in what we have. Are we using these unprecedented opportunities to rediscover and reconnect to our health, our environment, and to one another? Here, we harvest some inspiration and two suggestions from leading psychologists interviewed within the media during the last few months: Name three ways your life has improved since COVID hit. Name three activities you have done or new discoveries or accomplishments you have made due to COVID.
In that spirit, we also hope you are informed by our visual snapshots of California places that have been transformed by COVID-19, summer and fall, 2020. As you now see, they started in far southwestern California and will end in the more remote northeast. Though they mostly focus on smaller towns and cities and some locations of escape, they illustrate places where all of our lives and landscapes will never be the same. As we and our loved ones tend to our personal physical and mental health, we remain connected by these spaces and places.
Reserving Space for the Big Beach BBQ. Californians have learned to set up shop early in the morning to reserve their spaces in the few places where beach fire pits are still permitted. The hot pandemic summer intensified competition. This family left no question that they are settled for the day and likely to remain into the evening: don’t even think of invading their pandemic relief space.
California Pandemic Living Beats California Dreaming. The spectacularly warm summer brought out thousands to test the air and water until many southern California beaches became more crowded than normal. Pandemic etiquette is being followed more by some, while others have grown impatient and more cavalier.
Street Barriers from the Farm. Bales of hay are among the barriers that have been used in several California cities to successfully extend restaurants and other businesses into the safe, fresh air of local streets. This attempt to survive through the pandemic is in San Clemente, where relatively mild summer and winter weather will allow such year-round outdoor activities.
California Dreaming, Trestles Style. Looking for Safe Spaces in all the Right Places? If you discover this hideaway – free of COVID and the crowds trying to escape It – near Trestles, or on any beach in California during the pandemic, count your blessings!
Redefining Safe Transportation. An announcement on the side of one of the train cars reads, “Stay Alert, Stay Alive.” Amtrak has taken great care and precautions to make potential riders confident that they will be safe from the virus. Every transportation system in the state is struggling to bring their riders back, while those without cars are forced to choose public transportation during the pandemic.
Waiting to Experience the California Dream. Waiting times to get in to crowded San Onofre State Beach on this warm summer weekend afternoon increased to up to two hours. Social media helped herd throngs of Californians from one gone-viral location to another, as they looked for safe open spaces to relieve their nature deficit disorders and COVID fatigue. Thousands of frustrated potential park visitors across the state were turned away.
Where have all the Tourists Gone? San Juan Capistrano’s Los Rios District is advertised as the oldest neighborhood in California, and so, it usually attracts thousands of visitors each weekend day. Not this summer. The pandemic shut down some businesses and supporting services and cut off international tourism. The result, on many days, was a heartbreakingly quiet pandemic landscape.
Biggest Losers? Already struggling theaters across the state were temporarily closed by COVID and some of them were forced to close permanently. This jolt left many surrounding businesses to fend for themselves in unfamiliar and uncharted waters, sending crippling economic ripple effects through nearly every business district. This is in San Juan Capistrano.
Plenty of Room to Learn. San Juan Capistrano’s old stone church usually attracts huge crowds on weekend days, but not during this pandemic summer, when photographers often had to wait for visitors to get into the picture. While we are constantly rewriting our history and debating who were the heroes and villains of our past, Californians are learning far too many lessons virtually, in the safety of their confines, but without truly gaining a personal experience understanding or sense of place.
Missions without People. San Juan Capistrano might be one of the most famous of California’s missions, but the mission grounds that would usually host crowds of worshipers and curious history buffs are nearly empty on this weekend summer day of the pandemic.
Disappearing Tourist Income. Businesses like this one that rely on tourist dollars are either struggling to stay afloat or have already tanked. The buses full of students and tourists disappeared during the pandemic and so did the foot traffic. Wealth has not only stopped circulating through local business districts, but tax revenues are drying up in every town, city, and county that will be dealing with severe deficits and budget cuts for many years into the future.
Struggling to Stay Open. Efforts to reopen and stay open during the pandemic are only successful if infection rates are kept under control. Responsible businesses, churches, and other organizations know this and are often proud to advertise how they are creating safe environments that will not only attract more people, but serve as role models for the rest of the community.
Solitude Without Anxiety. By now, you must have noticed that fishing has been highlighted as one of the common discoveries Californians have made to successfully escape COVID. Unlike the crowded coastal piers, some have found safe refuge and solitude away from the virus while freshwater fishing, such as here on Lake Fulmor, high in the San Jacinto Mountains.
Small Resort Towns Go Bust and then Boom. The first COVID-19 lockdowns isolated and crippled the economies of many of the state’s abandoned resort communities, such as here in Idyllwild. Everything changed when counties’ restrictions opened up. Resort towns were flooded with new-born nature lovers attempting to safely escape the confines of silenced cities. Individual vacation cabins and B&Bs suddenly became the perceived safe choices for escape and the boom was on. Property management companies that had nearly collapsed suddenly thrived and so did the business districts in most resort towns.
Nature’s COVID-free Zone. As the pandemic first spread into spring, many park and trail access points were closed. As summer approached, gradual and selective reopenings conspired with social media to overwhelm particularly accessible and popular parks and public spaces beyond capacity. More distant wilderness trails like this one had lighter traffic; that is a good thing since many ranger stations that once issued permits were closed, leaving visiting hikers to rely on their own geographic and survival skills.
Another Small Theater; Another Frustrating Delay. Like hundreds of others across the state, this local play and theater have been waiting for several months for the green light. It serves as just one example of the back log of jobs to be done, creative ideas and productions to go forward, and other great initiatives and achievements that are waiting to flood into our lives and onto our streets…when the pandemic wanes and the way is cleared.
Finding Relief from a Pandemic Heat Wave. It is not easy to social distance while everyone seems to be flocking to the beach to escape unprecedented COVID AND unprecedented heat waves. Luckily, visitors here found a lot of open sand and water that may have contrasted with their more crowded living and working environments. Even one of the world’s most famous piers (Santa Monica) eventually opened to controlled numbers of visitors. Working Out in the Fresh Air. Various children’s beach camps, yoga studios, fitness centers and their trainers, schools, and other organizations continued exploiting these safer open spaces for recreation well into the fall. By October, one local startup was even charging eager customers $35 to spin on their stationary exercise bikes (placed in line on the sand and then collected and carried back each day) on the beach. Here, the bikes are transferred on to pads that keep them from sinking into the sand, in anticipation of the enthusiastic spinners who will soon be panting and sweating while they and the surrounding gulls watch the sun set.
Masked Soccer Lessons. Lucky parents and kids with the time and resources began enrolling in organized classes and leagues that brought outdoor relief from COVID cabin fever. By fall, soccer fields and pumpkin patches were among the relatively safe spaces that attracted families looking to sooth their pent up anxieties. Health experts (and everyone else) were searching and debating to find the best middle ground between improving our physical and mental fitness versus avoiding the virus. The answers to these questions may be quite different for Californians who tend to cherish their outdoor physical activities within the famously open spaces and mild climates of California, compared to those in other states and countries with more hostile winters. And we are reminded how access to safe outdoor public spaces becomes an even more powerful environmental justice issue as we acknowledge the two Californias.
Park Pandemic Etiquette. After each park and natural area reopened, the tougher COVID-19 rules, regulations, and enforcement seemed to ease with time, with tremendous differences and inconsistencies across the state. The common results have included lots of signs with guidelines, but with few resources for enforcement, as officials and rangers must entrust visitors to be respectful.
Taking it to the Streets. Many of the local gyms and fitness centers that could move their activities outside have survived, while those stuck with enclosed indoor facilities remained closed or went bankrupt as the pandemic dragged on. Each city and county made their own regulatory decisions based on the number of local infections. Here, a trainer pushes his latest “victims” to get pumped up on Main Street, Santa Monica.
Upscale Pandemic Dining and Shopping. Higher-priced restaurants and shops in Pacific Palisades have the advantage of moving their businesses outside into the open air, spacious surroundings, and famously mild climate. They advertise Palisades Village as a “walkable village filled with curated boutiques.”, which turns out to be the ideal prescription for COVID fever fatigued shoppers. Even the stylish signage is careful to convey soft messages (that team up with the classy elevator music emanating from strategically-located speakers), all to encourage safe pandemic behavior in an atmosphere that may seem disconnected from a struggling outside world.
National Parks Fight COVID. As visitors searching for pandemic refuge enter California’s national parks and recreation areas, they are greeted with these National Park Service banners. Our national parks that first struggled with where to reopen and how to reopen now advertise their own protocols, with some differences from local and state regulations, about how visitors can keep the virus out of our cherished parks so that we can keep them open and keep park visitors, rangers, and other employees healthy. The millions of foreign visitors who regularly visit our state’s parks dropped to near zero during the pandemic, devastating local tourist industries, but opening up spaces for residents. This is at the entrance to a popular trail in Solstice Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Please Wait Here. We’ve all waited on these placements and in chairs lining sidewalks outside eateries and businesses throughout the state. They remind us how COVID-19 has changed our perceptions of safe spaces, our relationships with one another, and how we sense our surroundings.
People Return. This is the same Malibu parking lot (photographed in our spring COVID story) that was emptied by the initial COVID-19 lockdown. As in many California places, eager customers have returned to the perceived safety of outdoor dining, shopping, and other activities that may keep surviving businesses afloat.
Another Theater, Another Victim. Countless theaters across the state were struggling through the fierce competition created by new, convenient technologies long before COVID hit. The pandemic finally destroyed many of these historic theaters that once served as business district landmarks.
State Street Moves Outdoors. Santa Barbara’s celebrated State Street is just one more example of how the pandemic drove cars off of main street California and transformed downtown districts into safer and healthier outdoor dining and retail meccas. Let’s hope it was enough to save most of these businesses.
Each City Navigates through the Pandemic. As if people need to be reminded, familiar signage illustrates how Santa Barbara intends to keep customers and employees safe from COVID-19 without destroying the economy. The adversity brings opportunity to street artists and others creative enough to reimagine our public spaces.
Waiting it Out. As some theaters attempted limited reopenings with paltry admissions that would promote safe social distancing, others remained closed, with looming bankruptcies threatening their future survivals. Again, there have been remarkable differences from city to city in such a diverse state.
Public Events on Hold. To celebrate community or not celebrate community, that is the question. California’s thousands of local festivals, fairs, parades, and other public events have been paired down or cancelled during the pandemic. These celebrations not only served to bring communities together, but they often attracted crowds of visitors from around the region, the state, and the world, who would boost business. In 2020, they were sometimes relabeled as feared super-spreader events.
Taking Your Yoga and Fitness Outside. Local fitness studios and trainers that could move outdoors still have members who have grown hungry for workout classes in safe outdoor spaces. California’s iconic and sometimes stereotypical lifestyles, cultures, and landscapes were popping out of the pandemic here in downtown Santa Barbara.
Odd Mix of Winners and Losers. We see these signs in every downtown California. The only odd part about this scene is that many takeout restaurants, such as pizza eateries, have rebounded and even thrived as hungry customers look for prepared food options that they can take out to eat in the safety of their homes. This suggests that many of the businesses that were already struggling before COVID have been hit the hardest and those that were thriving are more likely to survive the pandemic, reinforcing the K-curve recovery and the wedge between haves (established with plenty of capital) and have nots (startup entrepreneurs with lots of debt).
International Tourism Tanks. Like so many established hotels in California, the flags on display speak to the international tourists this Sana Barbara hotel has been attracting. Though COVID initially crushed the entire hotel industry, those businesses that depended on foreign tourist dollars have been slowest to recover. One of the most famous recent examples is the failure of historic Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Not Just another Crowded Fishing Pier. Recreational fishing was already a multi-billion-dollar industry that included between 1.7 -2.8 million anglers in California, depending on the year (CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife data), long before COVID. But this tradition experienced a renaissance during the pandemic that brought the old and the young into the outdoors, even around the mostly upscale, high-income communities around Santa Barbara Pier.
No COVID Zone. With a population around 40 million people, we are lucky to live in a state with so much beautiful open space and so many alluring options to escape the virus, such as on this cool day along what has sometimes been called California’s American Riviera. We are also especially lucky now that Californians have fought for decades to keep these resources accessible to all. Still, those who live and work in our more crowded low-income neighborhoods may not have the time or financial resources to escape to such safer places that are more distant to them. The science helps us understand why the folks caught in this image are less likely to be infected by COVID-19.
Competing in the COVID Market. Luxury Hotels like this one lost most of their international customers to the pandemic. One way they have responded is to reach out to Californians by offering residents 5% off on weekdays. Don’t get too excited, unless you’re willing to part with around $700/night for a basic room after the summer season has long passed. They know that their customers have plenty of money to choose local safe vacation options to replace their international travels, especially where State Street meets the beach in Santa Barbara. This landmark hotel (1925) was one of the first to feature the new Spanish Colonial Revival style that defines today’s Santa Barbara architecture.
Mass in the Great Outdoors. Across the state, churches and their worshippers were challenged to find ways to congregate safely outdoors. A few renegade churches balked at the restrictions, insisting on inviting large congregations to crowd together indoors, leading to multiple super-spreader events. Here, Catholic Mass is celebrated relatively safely outdoors at one of the most storied California missions in Santa Barbara. Even our mild California weather would create new challenges for congregations throughout the state during winter, especially in northern California.
Can Small Congregations Become Big Super Spreaders? This scene in Santa Barbara has been repeated in local parks and back yards throughout the state as the pandemic has dragged on. Extended families and friends get together and reconnect with folks beyond their closed confines for a few hours. Health experts warn that multiple super-spreader events have been born even from such relatively safer, open, fresh air gatherings, when several people crowd close together without protection. We are all finding a different middle ground of compromise between safely and responsibly stopping the spread while maintaining our physical and mental wellbeing. This is not easy in the world’s most diverse state.
Breaking Out the Windows. This restaurant responded to the virus by opening its shutters and creating outdoor-like spaces that extended well into the building. This increases the number of tables that can welcome customers hungry for a safe dining experience in the fresh air, increasing profits until better times.
Outdoor Markets in a Precarious Economy. Another closed theater looks over this outdoor market, a scene that has been repeated hundreds of times in towns, cities, and business districts across the state. As the pandemic wore on, consumers flocked to merchants who embraced the safer open air flea-market concept. Compared to every other state, California’s street markets remain less vulnerable to weather extremes.
Jumping North. We will now take you to the second part, or volume, in this series of COVID-19 snapshots that help document how California has weathered the pandemic storm. We will first jump into the spine of the Sacramento Valley. Then, we will explore some of the state’s least populated places in eastern and far northern California, landscapes and cultures on the opposite corner of the Golden State that stand in stark contrast to the iconic southwest coast already surveyed.
History Made Again. Old Sacramento displays past Wild West landscapes that tourists expect to find here, recalling when gun fights in the streets were daily events and gold nuggets were hauled into town from the Mother Lode. In 2020, local businesses were initially locked down by COVID-19. By summer, they were reopened, but struggling to recover and welcome the few history buffs and consumers who were mostly Californians experiencing another dramatic turning point in state history.
Urban Renewal Temporarily On Hold. After years of reimagining and redesigning the old Downtown Plaza with intentions to draw throngs of enthusiastic hipsters and consumers, Sacramento’s new and improved Downtown Commons was born. But the 2020 pandemic had other plans, as the linchpin Golden 1 Center, as with other indoor urban arenas around the state, was shut down to prevent super spreader events. Virus fears have temporarily thwarted efforts to concentrate people and activities into revitalized downtowns in California cities, leaving landscapes without people like this one. As other examples, the Los Angeles Lakers won basketball’s 2020 NBA Championship and the Los Angeles Dodgers won baseball’s 2020 World Series without playing a game at home, breaking tradition, and leaving their cherished arenas and stadiums and neighboring business districts deserted.
Virtual Government. This is what our deserted capitol looks like when California’s government goes on line. From businesses, to schools, to nonprofit organizations, to government agencies, to our personal lives, we have been challenged, and sometimes tortured, by the impersonal robotics of communicating only through our technologies. Government officials, including Governor Newsom, have been caught in historic vice grips: shut the state down to control the spread and limit deaths, or open it all, hoping to revive the economy and rapidly recover from the pandemic. The greatest leaders will show us how we can find the best middle ground to do both.
Finding Freedom on the Sundial Bridge. Since its completion in 2004, the cable-stayed Sundial Bridge in Redding has attracted admirers from around the world. During the pandemic, the bridge and surrounding open parkland and outdoor art exhibits became safe meeting places for those wanting to get some fresh air, exercise, and reconnect with friends and family. Here, a flood of local bicyclists and pedestrians searching for physical and mental wellbeing beyond the pandemic replaced the tourists that once crowded along the Sacramento River.
Retail Coffin Nail. The Retail Apocalypse that developed, as consumers used modern technologies to order and purchase on line, had already crippled many traditional brick-and-mortar stores across the Golden State. This Kmart in Bishop was one of 45 Kmarts and even more Sears stores that the owner corporation closed around the country, including several across California, just before COVID-19 hit. It was just a part of the ripple of failures that reverberated through surrounding businesses and landscapes. Similar to other cities, just as Bishop officials were debating what might replace it, the pandemic spread, forcing even more consumers online. The ripple became a tsunami of business closures that have crippled the economies of smaller towns and larger cities. Here, the abandoned parking lot has become a short-term restocking and staging area for campers and others wandering around the eastern Sierra Nevada, looking for their COVID relief in nature’s open spaces.
Gambling on Health Versus Revenue. The Bishop Paiute Tribe Casino and gas station is similar to many of California’s Native American casinos located far beyond major cities and just outside of town. They rely on local customers who would otherwise spend their hard-earned money in town, and on travelers headed toward Mammoth or eastern Sierra Nevada’s many other ecotourist destinations. The pandemic forced closure in March. It reopened in June with safety and health restrictions that became more relaxed into summer. By September, 2020, the Bishop Paiute Reservation remained in a “State of Emergency to minimized the threat and spread of COVID-19” onto the reservation. The more than 180 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in relatively sparsely-populated Inyo County included at least 6 in the tribal communities. By late October, their big Wanaaha casino expansion was scheduled for a Halloween grand opening. How the pandemic will affect its future success was a real crapshoot. Throughout the state, officials have been sparring with local tribe leaders who insist that their casinos provide essential revenue and must remain open, though many are feared to be ideal super-spreader environments.
Bewildering Pandemic Tourist Revenue. This antique store just outside Bishop relies on some locals and a lot of travelers along busy Highway 395. The pandemic first cleared the roads and decimated businesses along this strip. But as summer progressed, vacationers trickled back in their searches for safe open spaces and soothing summer vacations. By October, shop owners and other Californians could only speculate how COVID and our reaction to it might shape their business futures.
A Mammoth Resort without People. Anyone who has skied Mammoth in winter and spring or biked or hiked Mammoth in summer and fall knows how strange the village looked after people cancelled their vacations and made other plans to avoid crowds and the virus. As in other California towns, some businesses suffered while others closed for good.To Ski or not to Ski Mammoth. Ski Resort officials are debating how to fill ski lifts and keep the skiers feeling safe and happy when the snow returns to one of the most popular ski resorts in the world. Anyone familiar with skiing and the culture knows that this will be a challenge of mammoth proportions, especially when one major super-spreader event could close the entire operation.Masked Riders on Local Mass Transit. All around California, potential public transportation riders are trying to avoid becoming potential victims of COVID-19. Public transportation officials are working hard to bring apprehensive riders back to transportation systems designed to cut congestion and pollution. Here, shuttles in Mammoth were dispatched on routes to make your visit easier and more convenient, but the system wasn’t built to combat a virus pandemic.Activities and Commerce Spin into the Safer Outdoors. The good news is that many pandemic-weary Californians have been encouraged to rediscover outdoor recreation that can keep them fit and healthy, and businesses are responding. Mammoth has long been established not only as one of the greatest ski resorts, but boosters have successfully sold tourists on the advantages of hiking and biking Mammoth during their summer vacations. Here, owners have made sure you don’t even have to line up and wait to get inside the store if you want to rent a bike for the day. All transactions are done outdoors in the fresh air.June Gloom? June Lakes resorts are examples of how the unsettled whiplash economy caused by COVID-19 is challenging the strongest to survive. The initial lockdowns closed local parks, businesses, and other attractions, and delayed the start of their storied fishing season and campground openings. Gradual reopenings in June brought some of the tourists back, but was it enough to save the day? Here we are at the business epicenter of the June Lakes Loop in late summer wondering if it was the pandemic or the start of school that drove everyone away, or both. Takeout eateries, such as those on the right, have generally faired a lot better than sit-down restaurants, for obvious pandemic reasons. Social Distancing Aplenty at the Lake. It’s the end of summer, but June Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada offers perfect weather and very comfortable swimming without the crowds you might find at southern California beaches on the same day. COVID-19 feels as far away as those crowded coastal cities hundreds of miles from here.
Camping without COVID. Unlike the reservations-only nearby entrance to Yosemite National Park, this small first-come-first-serve national forest campground at Tioga Lake seems to offer nature’s magic without the crowds and virus anxiety. Unfortunately, even near the end of summer, social media and word-of-mouth added to a long line of starry-eyed and road-weary weekend campers from the city. They were stuck along the road behind us, many waiting in their cars and RVs since after midnight, hoping to be lucky to grab a space for family and friends. Within an atmosphere of uncertainty, competition to escape unprecedented COVID fever in the city had become competition to escape the pandemic within our shared wide open spaces.
Reservations Only at Your Favorite National Park. To combat the pandemic and unpredictable spontaneous vacationers who might spread the virus after escaping it, entrances to Yosemite required reservations this summer. The on-line system quickly filled with nature lovers who were forced to make plans several weeks ahead of time if they wanted to experience one of most spectacular national parks on the planet, and that was without the usual throngs of international travelers and packed tourist buses.
I’ll Take a Pass. Looking down toward Tioga Pass and elevations above 10,000 feet, this adventurer has escaped to his safe space, worlds beyond any viruses or pandemics.
Twin Challenges at Twin Lakes. When resorts such as this one, at easily-accessible Twin Lakes in the high eastern Sierra Nevada, were allowed to reopen for summer, a sort of boom or bust Wild West atmosphere of uncertainty prevailed. How could they keep campers and families in their recreational vehicles, trailers, and cabins safe from the virus while anticipating who and how many other escapees might show up?
Meet Daryl, the Unofficial Twin Lakes Mascot. Daryl seems to have become personal friends with many of Twin Lakes’ Mono Village regulars and staff. Just when you think you’ve escaped any hint of the virus, he seems to be guarding the little general store to make sure you adhere to the pandemic rules and expectations posted on the entrance behind him.
Temporary Ghost Town? Historic Weaverville in northern California’s Trinity County is usually teaming with ecotourists and others seeking outdoors experiences and small town America during early summer, but not this year. The pandemic initially shut it down and drained energy off of its old Main Street. Here, by early summer, there were a few signs of reopenings and new life, but you could see that a lot of damage had been done and some businesses would not recover. Everyone was wondering what to expect in the months ahead, during an unprecedented summer and beyond, in this place so dependent on primary industries, travel, and tourism.
No Pandemic Here. Only a few people were encountered on our roughly 15-mile hike into the Trinity Alps Wilderness past this treasured meadow. The few friends and family members on the trail included one wedding party. The bride and groom had to cancel their plans for a traditional wedding that would have required a large, risky congregation. Instead, they invited their friends and family to join them and their dogs for a wedding in the wilderness, far removed from the confusion and distractions of COVID and the city. The ceremony included the traditional wedding dress and tuxedo and Champaign, all packed in with the required food and camping gear. How would you like to have this as your wedding backdrop, many miles away from a pandemic to remember, or forget?
One Wilderness Lake, Two People. Emerald Lake reflects glacial topography high in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. As COVID-19 continued threatening crowded flatlanders in the cities, only two people were seen around this remote lake on this afternoon, a perfect opportunity for a refreshing swim 15 miles from the trailhead.
R&R at the Resort. Far up in the mountains of northern California, near the end of the road, resorts such as this reopened to welcome a summer of pandemic escapees. Here, their ads start out with: “90 private acres of paradise surrounded by 500,000 acres of wilderness – there’s no place else in the world like it! Feel the history, touch the life, experience the joy that generations have discovered – Welcome to Trinity Alps Resort!” And their words to sooth COVID anxiety are unmistakable: “The atmosphere here is one of gratitude and joy, people are so happy to be able to reconnect with family and friends, and social distancing is pretty easy to do with the individual cabins. Masks are required at the store and Restaurant. The Bear’s Breath Bar & Grill is open for dinner through Saturday of Labor Day Weekend with patio dining along the river or take out.”
New Signs of the Times. When entering the little general store at Trinity Alps Resort, you are met with the usual humorous “Bigfoot” and “Public Drunkenness” warnings. But visitors are now also reminded to follow the pandemic guidelines that will keep visitors and the staff safe and healthy, and possibly keep the resort open for future guests.
No Pandemic Unemployment Here During COVID. In far northern California’s relatively remote Scott Valley, crops are raised to feed hungry people and cows that will have to eat, COVID or no COVID. The pandemic is a much different experience requiring very different (and often, fewer) precautions for rural Californians who work in the outdoors in our primary industries. Pandemic problems arise if and when crops and natural resources are harvested and then transported to densely-concentrated processing and packing plants.
Independence from COVID Regulations? The sense of personal freedom and fierce independence that helps to define many remote, rural California cultures has led to local revolts and calls for succession from what were often perceived as California’s big city values. When the pandemic hit and statewide guidelines and restrictions were crafted to stop the spread, many folks out here were further incensed, offended even by the thought of following rules that were designed to control the virus in urban areas. Do you think wearing masks and various other enforcement efforts were popular here?
Small Town Meltdown. Though small town spaces are relatively safer than crowded cities, COVID-19 first locked many of these places down. The second blow came after carefully and gradually reopening: summer tourists who normally stop and spend some cash in towns like Yreka, before continuing along busy Interstate 5, were reduced to a trickle. Businesses who relied on them struggled to open and then to stay alive. The result is that most of these distant northern California towns and their people are suffering the economic consequences of the pandemic as they slide into what looks like a long, quiet winter.
Storm Clouds in McCloud? Community churches across California, including within small towns such as McCloud in northern California, have been assembling outdoors and on line to try to keep their congregations together through the pandemic. Most of the state’s religious communities and faith-based organizations have tried to set good examples of how to avoid COVID while continuing to worship. A few more rebellious congregations have insisted that they have the right to congregate in any way they choose, without government or community interventions, regardless of the risks and health consequences to everyone else. You’ve probably followed or participated in these debates about how we might interpret our constitution to protect our health and our religious and human rights, as we attempt to navigate COVID as responsible adults. You might find a larger percentage of rebels in these smaller rural towns.
Avoiding COVID on the Road Again. Yes, after more than 50 years, there are still some real and proud modern-day hippies traveling around California in 2020 and these young ladies and their German Shepard dog were not shy about it. They were wandering through far northern California during the COVID summer in their old van named Trixie (temporarily replaced in the fall by a bus named Sage), transitioning between their work on various organic farms around the country. They might have some transient tips for the growing roaming labor force that was joining them, thanks to economic upheavals caused by the pandemic. From Lavender’s own posting: “forever filling up my heart space livin fast n free // here’s to some of the most lovely humans I know • to California, thank u for existing. for constant growth, inspiration n beauty. u are magic.”
Into the Relatively Safe Great Wide Open North and East. Campsites like this one in northeastern California dramatically contrast with the crowds, exorbitant land values, and densely-packed campers within wildly popular campgrounds along the southern California coast. With a few notable exceptions (such as rural prisons, long-term care facitilites, and labor-intensive packing plants), the farther we move into the rural east and north away from California cities, the easier it is to escape virus threats and pandemic anxieties.
More Primary Industries Distant from COVID Anxieties. The pandemic didn’t quench demands for our valuable natural resources, but it reshuffled these industries. Initial lockdowns closed some sawmills and caused supply chain disruptions. Later, construction projects planned long before COVID-19, some resurgence in home improvement projects, and other demands for forest products, supported employment in these relatively less risky, extensive primary industries that remained disconnected from the crowds. Forestry markets research reported that US raw wood material consumption dropped by 6.7% between January-July 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, resulting in a 13% reduction in delivered wood. In pulp and paper industries, that initial run on toilet paper and the continuing demand for paper packaging has been countered by a decrease in demand for office paper, printing, and writing paper after offices and schools had closed. Predicting future trends is even more difficult during this unprecedented pandemic.
“Bullets, Booze, Beer, Lotto.” Some locals might consider this to be a biased and unfair stereotype; others might consider it to be a humorous form of small town street art; most might just call it a sign. But, if you’re from the big city, welcome to the other California. Small towns and their residents in remote northeastern California have their unique traditions and personalities that may seem foreign to popular urban cultures. You will notice a larger percentage of people working in primary industries and spending their time and money on outdoor recreation that includes hunting and fishing, plenty of space and a slower pace, but with a much smaller percentage of people wearing protective masks or worried about pandemic protocols.
On and Off the Pandemic Market? This historic landmark hotel (built in 1939) is in the geographic and cultural center of the little town of Fall River Mills in northeastern California. It was advertised for sale at about $1.3 million in the summer of 2020, roughly the price of a small condominium in the distant San Francisco Bay Area. But this property includes “15 guest rooms, a 1500 s/f manager’s quarters (3 BR/2 BA), restaurant (cafe and dining room), plus adjoining bar (includes the town’s only full liquor license), a favorite gathering place of locals.” By autumn, it had been taken off the market. It is difficult to assess or predict if COVID-19 is a major player in such real estate markets that seem so removed from the pandemic.
Quiet Town or Pandemic Stricken? Also in contrast to Golden State’s cities, the Fall River Mills population is only about 570. Census figures show its population is about ¾ white, older, and with a smaller percentage of multigenerational households (3 or more generations) compared to urban and suburban California. Here in early summer, it looks like the pandemic has temporarily cut the number of tourists and other visitors from afar, leaving a rather deserted scene more reminiscent of their bitter cold off-season winter months, only without the ice. It also left some locals wondering if there would be a flood of pandemic-weary escapees (hopefully, without the virus) as summer progressed.
History for Sale, COVID Style. This little Fall River Theatre started up in 1941 as the Town Hall Theatre with 40-cent ticket prices. Like many small-town theaters, it became a social gathering place for the community until it fell on hard times, exacerbated by new technologies that gave local folks more entertainment options at home. It is sister to the nearby Mt. Burney Theater in Burney, which opened in 1940, about 16 miles, or 20 minutes away, which also became a social hub of that community. Unfortunately, Mt. Burney Theatre was also forced to close. When locals ask the owner when the two theaters might reopen, she answers that reopening requires customers to return. But, the pandemic kept even some die-hard loyal supporters on edge, though COVID-19 had not yet invaded locally. The result is that you can buy both theaters for a grand total of $600,000, and that includes all the land, recent refurbishing with more comfortable seats, and all the digital equipment. Ripples of the pandemic can seem very different, yet the same, in the two Californias.
Museums Gone Silent. The unique Round Barn grabs your attention at the Fort Crook Museum in Fall River Mills, Shasta County. The fort was established in 1857 to protect travelers along the adjacent road and on Lockhart Ferries. Here, you can learn about northeastern California’s Native American and early farming history. But it was one of hundreds of museums across California shut down by COVID-19. Travelers across the state were left to focus on self-guided natural history and landscape tours, or to research local human histories on their own.
A State United by Pandemic? As these utility workers increase access to modern technologies that strengthen our connections, why does it often seem that we are increasingly disconnected from one another, locked within our tribes? Reasonable people within community, social, and faith-based groups, nonprofits, and political organizations across the spectrum are springing up throughout our state, in every region, from all of our diverse cultures and political organizations, attempting to heal wounds and build new bridges that can reawaken and reconnect us…and reimagine the California Dream for everyone. We look in the mirror to see our future, knowing that new opportunities can rise from the pandemic. Whether we agree or disagree with the particular people and organization responsible for this sign, it is difficult to argue with the message – or its messenger.
The 2020 Pandemic Election at Your Doorstep. Thanks to lessons learned from previous elections and additional measures to keep voters safe from the virus, Californians could cast their 2020 votes through the mail, or drop their ballots at official drop boxes or polling places, or go directly to polling locations to vote early or on the day of the election. Even with a flood of information overloading social media, campaign materials piled up on doorsteps across the state. This might lead one to wonder where particular campaigns are getting so much money and why too many Californians are persuaded by paid advertisements, rather than learning about the motivations, intentions, and substance of the issues and candidates. Would 40 million people working within the 5th-largest economy in the world serve as an example of successful democracy? Regardless of your political ideology, the future of the Golden State arrived in many forms or embodiments at our doorsteps during the challenging pandemic of 2020.
Additional COVID-19 Pandemic Sources. If you are interested in details, statistics, and some informative maps, here are some updated sources we listed in our previous California COVID-19 story from last spring. Good luck!:
