Thursday, June 05, 2008

Jack slept here.


Jack slept here.
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.
Sorta.

Jack London's Cabin on Jack London Square in Oakland, California.

Built from the logs of a cabin that a fan is pretty sure Jack wintered in up in Alaska. The fan shipped half of the logs to Oakland, and half of the logs to Dawson City, Canada. From there each town did what they could with what they had.

It's a squat little cabin with a sod roof and grilled off windows. A scattering of folksy log cabin like artifacts fill the interior. Folks toss coins through the grillwork (for luck I guess? a steady quill? the nerve to write like London did?) and a sign on the wall says that all proceeds go to UNICEF. The cabin sits in the middle of a spare brick lined square with some vegetation -- young trees and prairie grasses -- looking out over a harbor filled with luxury craft.

It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon and this whole place has that lonesome feeling of being forgotten.

What I think? I think it would depress the hell out of Jack.

Posting by cameraphone from the Bay Area.

1 comment:

bobcat rock said...

"a steady quill" - what a beautiful phrase. that's gonna stick for a while...

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