walk and gawk

Recently I saw the place where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. My wife and I didn't set out to visit it, we just kind of stumbled upon it.

We've been taking various walking tours around the Los Angeles area, using a book as our guide. It's been nice visiting unfamiliar areas of the city where I live and seeing new things that I didn't even realize existed. One day we did a walk around Koreatown and it ended here, at the former site of the Ambassador Hotel, where Kennedy was shot in 1968. It was odd, thinking about how chaotic that night must have been, knowing that thousands of people drive past every day, probably not realizing that this was the place where anyone was mortally wounded - much less a well-known senator and family member of a political dynasty.

It's strange to realize the historical significance of the ground beneath your feet. We also recently visited the Dominguez Rancho Adobe, nestled in the midst of a bunch of industrial complexes in Compton. This is the site of what I believe was the first major Spanish land grant in California. As we toured the museum we learned about men named Dominguez, Carson, Del Amo - names still found in the cities and streets of the South Bay. I suspect most Angelinos have no idea where these names originated.

And this is by no means a Californian phenomenon. Speaking of historical sites in the midst of industry, a nondescript park near the Washburn Tunnel in Pasadena, Texas has an ill-maintained stone marker. This is the site where Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón - better known to Texans as General Santa Anna - was captured after the Battle of San Jacinto, ending the Texas Revolution. This is a very important place in Texas - and, for the matter, US - history, yet I expect many Houstonians have no idea that it's there.

The ground upon which we walk has stories to tell. What stories wait to be found on the streets you drive and walk?