Know that, on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was... peopled with black women.... Their arms were all of gold.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Al: Ain't you gonna look back, Ma? Give the old place a last look? Ma Joad: We're goin' to California, ain't we? Alright then..., let's go to California. Al: That don't sound like you, Ma. You never was like that before. Ma Joad: I never had my house pushed over before. Never had my family stuck out on the road. I never had to lose everything I had in life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I don't give a hoot in a hollow if there's oranges and grapes a-crowdin' us out of bed, I ain't goin' to California! This is my co...untry and I belong here. This is my dirt. It's no good, but it's mine.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In the East, it may be sufficiently symbolic to take an apartment three subway stops away from the family residence and proclaim i...ndependence. In the state of illusion and vast distances, establishing individuality may require leaving California. The young people of the East, rich and poor, are disciplined by the urban system in which they live. Trains have schedules. Buses stop at marked corners. Restaurants fill up at certain hours. Shops are open certain days, normally not on Sundays. California isn't like that. The young people of the West can almost shape their lives to suit, especially if they own a vehicle that can carry them anywhere at whim. California is home of the all-night market, Sunday shopping, and twenty-four-hour breakfasts in coffee shops. California is easy to rebel against because everything, including disaffection, is convenient. New York is not so easy.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Resorts advertised for waitresses, specifying that they "must appear in short clothes or no engagement." Below a Gospel Guide colu...mn headed, "Where our Local Divines Will Hang Out Tomorrow," was an account of spirited gun play at the Bon Ton. In Jeff Winney's California Concert Hall, patrons "bucked the tiger" under the watchful eye of Kitty Crawhurst, popular "lady" gambler.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
New Yorkers speak more quickly and shift topics more rapidly. We all know that. But the way it's done is fascinating. At least it ...fascinated me when I first moved to New York. Someone has the floor and talks. As soon as I know what they are going to say, I can jump in, finish the sentence to show I understand, and take off into my own turn. The northern California I know isn't like that. Someone talks, and I lie back and listen and let them roll for a while. When they're done, there'll be a pause that will flash like a green light to announce that someone else can have the floor.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Rob: Max, if we lived in California, we could play outdoors every day, in the sun. Alvy Singer: Sun is bad for you. Everythin...g our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat, college.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I can't earn my own living. I could never make anything turn into money. It's like making fires. A careful assortment of paper, sh...avings, faggots and kindling nicely tipped with pitch will never light for me. I have never been present when a cigarette butt, extinct, thrown into a damp and isolated spot, started a conflagration in the California woods.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »