DESTINATION Generic 48 Photosets
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| Southern Anza-Borrego, CA | | -
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| | Southern Anza-Borrego, CA | | | |
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Southern Anza-Borrego, CA
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| Car Camping | |
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| | Car Camping | | 1 Day | | |
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| no partners | | After enjoying pie and ice cream in Julian, it was down Banner Grade and on to camp at Vallecito County Park. I like this place for camping, but unfortunately the mistletoe is killing off the trees, so shaded spots are becoming more rare. It is usually a bit cooler and lot less crowded than Agua Caliente County Park down the road.
Next day on my way home, I drove down the road that leaves S2 near Canebrake and follows Vallecito Wash along the route of the old overland stage. I stopped at Palm Spring which was an important water source for the stage line. I then continued on down the road to see the well known "Hollywood & Vine" sign. From there I backtracked to S2 and continued my drive to Arizona.
The history of the Hollywood and Vine street sign is interesting. Here is an excerpt from Lowell & Diana Lindsay's fine book on the area ("The Anza-Borrego Desert Region"): "James A. Jasper, a San Diego county supervisor, was responsible for signing this and many other places about a mile apart along several of the dim and dusty trails threading the San Diego backcountry in 1895. The old emigrant trail from Teofulio (San Felipe) Pass southeast to Carrizo gap was marked in such a manner by Jasper's iron signs. Directions painted on the signs gave distances to settlements and water holes. Long ago a wag painted the words Hollywood and Vine on the metal plate of Jasper's sign here, and the name stuck."
Researching this a bit more, I found comments that attributed this naming to Army soldiers during WW2 tank war games in the area for use as a reference point. But most of the tank exercises were on the other side of the Salton Sea, so perhaps it is the work of Navy personnel, since this is close their air to ground bombing range (Carrizo Impact Area). Maybe the spoof has nothing to do with the military. Less than a year after I took these photos, vandals took the original sign, but since it is so iconic for this spot, other desert adventurers made a new one to replace it. I have heard that the original has been found discarded on BLM land somewhere around the area. All I can say is, "Long live the Hollywood & Vine sign!" 
Here are two videos by someone I know (Kevin) who camps there fairly often. The first one shows the original sign and the second one the new sign:
[ youtube video ]
[ youtube video ]
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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