Red Barns

Friday, Aug. 9, 2002 -
Ap�sl�min ida corbalanyrtne 'ls�o rohl'daathi�m v� nen�a iroyss�rd.

"One thing in passing, is it the law to have every bloody barn in this country painted red? I mean, I always thought that red wasn't the most popular colour after the 50's, but any structure bigger than a trailer is painted this dark crimson colour..."

Because of this man, today I was haunted by the specters of red barns. Tom Waits' dirge, Murder in the Red Barn, echoed in my mind's ear at incongruously mundane moments. And I was compelled to scrutinize every barn with a gimlet eye as I drove half-way to Santa Barbara and back (hauling Percherons). I was looking for red paint. I didn't find any.

It's slightly weird to realize I had never noticed that the prevailing color for barns in California, or at least in this part of California, is brown. I had never realized that there was a dichotomy of barn color between the East and the West, until I tried to picture the red archetype learned in childhood (I'm sure Old MacDonald had a red barn, eeyi-eeyi-oh) cheerily nestled in our sun-baked hills. Nope, wouldn't look right. Not with the dry dun-colored grass, the scrubby native oaks, the dusty pines, and the somber grace of the eucalyptus. Best are the old snuff-colored barns that have not the dull latex sheen of paint, but have a tarry brown patina, the oldest of them silvering into shades of gray.

However, two of the best places to shop in southern Calif are housed in red barn-like structures: the Red Barn Feed and Saddlery, where the true cognoscenti shop for tiger clump and flamingo feed. It's in Tarzana, where once lived the man to whom we are deeply obligated for the iconic significance of the loincloth in modern Western culture. And then there's Bargain Circus (equidistant between Hollywood and West Hollywood) the place to find the things you need that you didn't know you needed. Go in with modest expectations and come out with treasure. Like the day I walked out with a golf umbrella, a cast-iron hibachi, a winged corkscrew, a coffee carafe, and a leopard-printed vinyl jacket lined with sheepskin, when I would have been happy with eggs and chocolate.

<~>
Ap�sl�min ida corbalan� 'lse nesgla ugar�-cham sa cru ogrulho bat�oltha al�mv�sde.

last eleven: