PHOTO ESSAY - 
​      A Vista Treasure Hunt      
I 280 - Hillsborough, CA    -    Mike Lambert

Crystal Springs Rest Area
I 280 North  -  Hillsborough, CA;
​A Lesson in History, Geology and Civics
​​By Mike Lambert

I have lived on the 500 Block of Junipero Serra Boulevard in the southwest corner of San Francisco for 38 years.  It is a nice neighborhood - chock full of 80- to 90-year-old Spanish Mission style houses with stucco exterior walls and clay tile roofs, built in the 1920s and 1930s, before the Great Depression shut down the U.S. economy.
 
Although I am not very religious, I have been aware since moving to California that Father Junipero Serra, a Catholic priest from Spain, led a major effort to build Catholic Missions in the Spanish territory of Las Californias in the 1770s to 1790s.  He is credited with founding Catholic Missions in several locations including San Diego, Carmel, San Luis Obisbo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco. 
 
In recent years, Father Serra has also been criticized for enslaving hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Native Americans living in Californias. Critics of Serra have advocated removing all statues and other memorials to Serra, whatever the original intent and merit of the memorial.  
 
A statue of Serra was built by volunteers, high on a hill in 1975 in a highway rest area near Hillsborough, Ca, presumably with the permission of the California Department of Highways. The statue is visible to passersby on highway I-280 if they look eastward and upward at the right time in their journey.  I remember seeing the statue several times as I passed by the area on my occasional trips to and back from visits and shopping down the peninsula.  But, I never got close to the statue. 
 
When I heard of the Vista Treasure Hunt theme for this issue of Vistas & Byways, I decided to take a drive and see if the Serra statue was still there.  And, find out what vista the Good Father is enjoying. 
 
The statue is still there. But it is not very accessible. Let me show you.  
​The Crystal Springs Rest Area is named for a large freshwater reservoir one mile west of the Highway. The reservoir is owned and maintained by the San Francisco Water Department. When driving into the Rest Area, there are no distinguishing features: two buildings holding the rest rooms, aluminum stands holding the now vacant pay phone stations, and a sign explaining that I- 280 has been designated as a Blue Star Memorial Highway, recognizing the many men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces over the years. There are parking places for, maybe, 30 cars.  
One of the lonely signs on the aluminum signboard describes the history of the 26-foot-high concrete and steel statue of Father Junipero Serra that was added to an adjacent hill in 1975. The sign warns that the statue is accessible only by means of a rather steep pathway which begins at the back of the rest area site between the two restroom buildings. 
 
When I went to that area, holding my camera in my hands, I found an imposing black iron gate, complete with lock and chain, blocking the pathway up an impressive sized hill. “Phooey!” I exclaimed to myself. I looked around. No pay station! No explanation of the open hours for the exhibit! “Alas! Is my trip in vain, today?” I asked the gate. No response!
 
I returned to my car. Then I spotted a man in a yellow construction vest sweeping up debris in the parking lot. Perhaps that guy will know something, I thought. I went up to the guy and gave him my best middle-of-the-morning smile. “Is this the place with the Serra statue?” I asked. “I didn’t see it from the highway as I did years ago.” 
 
“Yup, this is the place. But the site has been closed for several years, due to vandalism. Somebody threw red paint onto the statue a few years ago. We can’t take any risks of more damage being done.”
 
I told him that I had hoped to write a story about the statue and take a few pictures. I showed him my camera. He looked me over - perhaps judging whether I was a legitimate fan of statuary.  “I could let you into the gate for a little while, if you will be careful climbing the hill,” he said with a smile of his own. 
 
My mission was back on track.    
The walkway uphill was only medium steep, and not as bad as I had feared when reading the sign below. A variety of plants lined the walkway. They looked well-tended.
 
There were a series of markers on the way describing geologic conditions of the area, including the existence of nearby geologic fault lines that created the valley for the nearby water reservoir, and a description of Serpentine, California’s State Rock.  (Gee, I didn’t know that.)   
After a 10-minute climb, I found Father Serra waiting for me.  His left arm was by his side and his right arm was pointed out to the world. The introduction sign in the parking area cited 3 possible interpretations of his gesture: pointing to the Pacific, pointing to the path taken by the missionaries going north, or perhaps, pointing towards the path to heavenly enlightenment. 
 
Not being so enlightened, I chose to think that he was pointing to me and saying, “It’s about time you came to see me, Mike! Have you been to Confession recently?”
 
The vestiges of red paint that had been applied by vandals a few years ago was visible, but not obtrusive.  I suspect the weather on top of the hill has softened the effect. 
Looking to the West, Father Serra is enjoying a vista of California Hill Country. A thousand-foot-high hillside provides a major watershed for the reservoir below, which is not visible from his perch.  Auto and truck traffic whizzes by on I-280 northbound.  He must have been surprised to see such things when he first got to this site in 1975, but he surely has grown tired of the traffic scene in the intervening years. 
 
I wonder if he knows that the vast Pacific Ocean can be seen from the top of the yonder hillside.  On second thought, I suspect he knows of the Ocean. He is reported to have trekked by foot from Baja Californias to the new land up north -  all the way to San Francisco – but way back in the 1780s. Does he remember that journey? Surely, he saw lots of ocean on that journey. Is his memory better than mine at his advanced age?     
​Having discovered a pretty routine Vista for inland California, I turned my thoughts to what had I learned.  My quick thoughts:
  1. I should read something about Father Serra, for whom my residential street is named. Would he be in Wikipedia?    California History! 
  2. I had heard of the San Andreas Fault, with its potential for causing an earthquake. But I had not known that the hills and valleys of California were also caused by earth faults, as cited by the sign at the bottom of the hill. And how about those geologic displays on the way up the hill? Geology 101!
  3. Civics! Who gets to choose which persons get honored with a statue for our citizens to view? Think about all the controversy in the past few years about our historic figures:  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson – slave owners; Robert E. Lee – initiator and leader of a Civil War, or in modern terms: an Insurrection.  Who gets to decide which statues to tear down, or splash with red paint, or remove their names from streets and schools? ​AMERICAN CIVICS!   Hmmmm!
​Mike Lambert is a long-time resident of San Francisco and led the effort to start Vistas & Byways in the fall of 2015. In an earlier life, he worked in the telecommunications industry for 35 years and taught at San Francisco State University’s College of Business for 15 years. He refutes the adage about old dogs and new tricks. He took up creative writing as a hobby at age 75. He recently self-published two novels and a collection of his short stories. His main fictional character is Jessica Jones, a single working girl in contemporary San Francisco.  See his Author page at Amazon under the name of M. L. Lambert for more details.  
Other pieces in this Issue:  
Inside OLLI
Interview with David Perper
Interview with Jane Hudson
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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
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​Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  ​volunteer staff.