Dreams dwelled here

Los Angeles Times ^ | 1/29/2004 | Thomas Curwen

[liberallarry]

CHAPTER 1

One hundred years ago, California was a dream, and for Baldasare Forestiere, that dream was his home. No rambling estate, no soaring edifice — when Forestiere closed his eyes, he saw a world no one had imagined.

Summers here were cool, winters warm. Lemons grew on orange trees, and orange trees sprouted lemons. Starlight and sunshine carpeted the ground. Fish swam in ponds overhead, and tree roots laced the sky.

The year was 1905, a time when such dreams were possible, and when Forestiere set out to pursue them, he didn't pick up a hammer and a saw but turned instead to a shovel and pick.

Some people thought he was digging a cellar, but when a local reporter visited him seven miles north of town, out where the hog wallows were, the story of a fantastic subterranean dwelling began to emerge:

"Beneath the well cultivated acres of his ranch, beneath the flourishing peach orchard, Forestiere has dug a veritable Tut-ankh-amen tomb, a catacomb such as afforded the early Christians refuge from the persecutions of the Roman Caesars."

[scooter2]

One hundred years ago, California was a dream

Now, it's a nightmare.