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View On Black

This old rusted Dodge Truck presents many photo opportunities when you are visiting the tiny town of Harmony, California located on California's scenic Hwy 1 between Cayucos and Cambria.

© Lawrence Goldman 2012, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.

View On Black

This is the same truck looking through the front and rear cab windows.

© Lawrence Goldman 2012, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.

View On Black

A decorative door, now shut in an abandoned shop in Harmony.

© Lawrence Goldman 2012, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.

Enjoy a richer visual experience when you View On Black

San Simeon Pier is a wooden structure with pristine ocean views. It is very near Hearst Castle, one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of California.

The small town of San Simeon is steeped in history, much of it relating to Hearst Castle. There is a state park and a state beach at San Simeon. They are located on the beach side of California Highway 1 directly below Hearst Castle, which is operated by the California State Park system. The 1,000 foot-long fishing pier and crescent shaped beach of William R. Hearst Memorial State Beach offers a family picnic area with a grassy lawn on a hill above the beach. The facility measures only 2 acres but is a beautiful spot with a protected cove perfect for relaxing and swimming.

In 1878, Senator George Hearst (father of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst) had a new wharf constructed. The wharf extended 1000 feet into the water that was deep enough to handle the largest ships of the era. Rails were laid on the pier to allow flat cars to move cargo to and from the new warehouse on shore. The pier handled shipments for the quicksilver (mercury) mines in the area. This was necessary because there way no road that could sustain the area which was thus isolated and could be accessed only by boat. California SR1 which now passes close to the beach was not built until the 1950s'. From 1919, all of the building materials for the Hearst Castle and other buildings on the Hearst estate were landed at the pier. William Randolph Hearst, built other warehouses near the pier to house material and goods, which were later taken to the castle.

Today the pier, located on William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach, is used for fishing and is a tourist attraction in itself. Near the pier and within the San Simeon State Park are several large beach front homes belonging to the Hearst Family, a one room school-house built in the nineteenth century and an nature interpretive center.

Tamron 10-24 mm AF @ 10mm. Exposure 1/400 of a second, f10, ISO 200 SOOC. That is not an optical illusion at the ocean end of the pier, it is not leaning. The pier was built with a 30 degree angle turn to the left to make docking and offloading easier.

© Lawrence Goldman 2012, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.

View On Black

Several small groves of tall eucalyptus trees, originally imported to California from Australia, shade the picnic area adjacent to William Randolph Hearst State Beach and the San Simeon Fishing Pier.

Eucalyptus was first introduced from Australia to the rest of the world by Sir Joseph Banks, botanist, on the Cook expedition in 1770. It was subsequently introduced to many parts of the world, notably California, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Ethiopia, Morocco, Portugal, South Africa, Uganda, Israel, Galicia and Chile. In Portugal and also Spain, eucalypts have been planted in pulpwood plantations. Eucalyptus are the basis for several industries, such as sawmilling, pulp, charcoal and others. Several species have become invasive and are causing major problems for local ecosystems, mainly due to the absence of wildlife corridors and rotations management. Eucalyptus has many uses which has made it an economically important tree. They provide many desirable characteristics for use as ornament, timber, firewood and pulpwood. It is also used in a number of industries, from fence posts and charcoal to cellulose extraction for biofuels. Fast growth also makes eucalypts suitable as windbreaks and to reduce erosion.

Eucalyptus trees draw a tremendous amount of water from the soil through the process of transpiration. They have been planted (or re-planted) in some places to lower the water table and reduce soil salination. Eucalypts have also been used as a way of reducing malaria by draining the soil in Algeria, Lebanon, Sicily, elsewhere in Europe and in California. Drainage removes swamps which provide a habitat for mosquito larvae, but can also destroy ecologically productive areas. This drainage is not limited to the soil surface, because the eucalyptus roots are up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length.

The eucalyptus has many commercial uses. It is the most common short fiber source for pulpwood to make pulp. Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus grandis are the most used varieties in papermaking. The fiber length of Eucalyptus is relatively short and uniform with low coarseness compared with other hardwoods commonly used as pulpwood. The fibres are slender, yet relatively thick walled. This gives uniform paper formation and high opacity that are important for all types of fine papers. The low coarseness is important for high quality coated papers. Eucalyptus is suitable for many tissue papers as the short and slender fibres gives a high number of fibers per gram and low coarseness contributes to softness.

Eucalyptus oil is readily steam distilled from the leaves and can be used for cleaning and as an industrial solvent, as an antiseptic, for deodorising, and in very small quantities in food supplements, especially sweets, cough drops, toothpaste and decongestants. It has insect repellent properties, and is an active ingredient in some commercial mosquito repellents. Eucalyptus globulus is the principal source of Eucalyptus oil worldwide.

The nectar of some eucalypts produces high-quality monofloral honey.

© Lawrence Goldman 2012, All Rights Reserved
This work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.