Post #493375 by Mai Tai on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 7:40 PM

Yeah, there are a lot of places that he could have gone to. Probably too hard to cram them into a half hour. I guess our sleepy little island town is slowly becoming more and more diverse. Evidently he's already done another episode on aircraft carriers including the U.S.S. Hornet. It would have been interesting if he would have talked about Neptune's Beach, or the extensive line of streetcars that used to be on the island, or how the dredging of the estuary canal was a practice run for the Panama Canal, or a tour of the Gold Coast while explaining in wonder that a lot of those Queen Anne Victorians were all brought over by barge from San Francisco (wow!). They could have shown a better view of San Francisco as well.

In fact, most of his older shows talk about the rich historical elements of whatever town he's currently pestering. However, if you noticed, except for the theater, Huell pretty much talked about stuff that was currently being developed, or would soon be developed - he talked about the future, instead of the past history. Which brings up an interesting point to this new series.

Huell's latest series, California’s Communities, is a 14 segment series that addresses redevelopment of California statewide, and is funded by the California Redevelopment Association, who's agenda is to expand redevelopment. It seems that most of the places that he visited in Alameda were a part of whatever the CRA and the Alameda Economic Delevopment Dept. had developed, or were planning on developing in the future. The old Naval Air Station is a good example - they spent a good 5 minutes talking about how they were going to re-develop it and integrate it back into the community, plus leave about half of it (about 1,000 acres) as a wildlife refuge. They didn't talk about what goes on there during the present day, like the Alameda Antiques Fair, or Hangar One, but what will most likely happen to it in the future. They went on and on about the Oakland estuary too. To me, that sounds like the CRA having a say in what he puts in the show.

Also, I'm sure that a state agency didn't want to fund a show that promoted booze manufacturers and tiki bars - I'm guessing that family oriented shopping, indoor field hockey and soccer rec centers, waffles, and ice cream were more up their alley. :wink: They even ended the show by talking about how Alameda is a "well kept secret that more and more people are finding every day", and then went on to gush about the history, the sense of community, family businesses, the redevelopment of downtown, and how safe and wonderful it was. It started to reek more of a marketing ploy by the City of Alameda at the end more than anything else.

Next time Huell comes to town, let's take him to Forbidden Island, Dean. He can do a whole segment on the Kill Devil list! I'm sure he'll be amazed. "You mean this is a list 97 rums that you can drink? And when you finish the list, you are a member of the Kill Devil Club? WOW!!!"