I love this town

File under a fit of self indulgence

Sanatorium sanctum lies a few miles east of a small town – here are a few things that are unique to the area

For starters, a few year ago some book proclaimed it as in the top 10 places to live in North America (number 6 actually) and number one in CA zzzz’s

The Doobie Brothers dedicated a song to it (On the Captain & Me)

We have a bit of last century Americana roadside kitsch

There is this place
City of 10,000 Buddha’s – used to be an insane asylum - no further comments

We also had one of the few Masonite plants (since closed, the aroma was not quite as bad as the pulp mills in Eugene Oregon or the Beet processing in Rigby Id, but it was unique)

we have one of these – one of 6 Latitude Observatory’s on this 3rd rock from sol
Photo from NOAA archive



In 1899 the International Geodetic Association reached an agreement to establish a program known as the International Polar Motion Service. Six observatories were built for the purpose of measuring the variations in latitude caused by the earth's wobble on its polar axis. These were all placed at 39 degrees 8 min north latitude (to simplify the computing, which was all done by ‘hand’) and were located here and in Gaithersburg, Maryland; Cincinnati, Ohio; Mizusawa, Japan; Charjui in Russian Turkestan; and Carloforte, Sardinia, Italy.

Economic constraints forced the closing of the Cincinnati observatory in 1932. The Charjui station was lost in World War I, and an observatory was substituted for it at Kitab, near Samarkand in the Soviet Union.

This one was used until 1977 and will be undergoing renovation one of these years as an educational resource for local schools

And the first Brew pub in CA since Prohibition (well, they started just south of here but the brewery is here now)

Speaking of Prohibition, We are one corner of the Emerald Triangle

There is also some infamy with the area, Jim Jones set up camp just north of here before going to Guyana and the Kool Aid binge

Bonus Round

I’m willing to wager a reasonable amount of the local brew(s)that your town does not have one of these!

located at N39° 8.951' W123° 12.453'