Silver and gold in Northern San Diego County.

Talley-Jones, Kathy

We all fantasize about winning things--the California Lottery, say, or the new convertible Mini Cooper on the public radio pledge drive. So winning a night at the Pala Indian Casino in northern San Diego County was--if not a dream come true--a great opportunity to get out of Los Angeles during the end-of-year madness.

My husband John and I had passed through the Pala Indian Reservation while exploring northern San Diego County's back country in the past but had never stopped at the Mission San Antonio de Pala. It had looked private and modest, and I hadn't wanted to intrude on what clearly was a working church and not a tourist attraction. I knew from a presentation at a conclave given by California Indians in conjunction with California State Parks that Cupeno and some Kumeyaay Indians had been forced to leave their homes and settle at the mission.

Part of the band had called themselves the Kuupangaxwichem, or "people who slept here." They had originally lived in a settlement called Cupa and were forcibly relocated by government authorities in 1903 to join the Luiseno who lived there already. Rosinda Nolasquez--survivor of the expulsion--later testified that "Many carts stood there by the doors. People came from La Mesa, from Santa Ysabel, from Wilakal, from San Ignacio ... to see their relatives. They cried a lot. And they just threw our belongings, our clothes, into carts.... "

As the tribe's website notes, "the Pala Indians are an industrious people, however, there are few jobs and little economic activity to stimulate the local economy." Hence the casino. We approached it by night, which meant that the Big Box developments that stretch from Corona to Temecula were hidden and not as depressing as they are when you drive down Interstate 15 from Los Angeles during the day. We saw the Pechanga casino from the freeway, garish bright lights that are probably visible from Mars. The Pala casino, in contrast, was lit by golden yellow lights--symbolic of the winnings possible within? But more about those golden lights later.

While it would be a stretch to call the Pala casino elegant, it is, well, tasteful. For a casino that has dozens of one-armed bandits with names like "Jackpot Party" and "Hexbreaker," the non-gaming areas were calm and nicely designed. It opened in 2001 and still feels brand-new. Evidence of its tribal connection can be found in displays about traditional gambling games played by southern California's native peoples--there were several period photographs from the early twentieth century and some traditional game implements.

I was astonished at daylight to find that the casino has a back deck that overlooks the San Luis Rey River. Red-winged blackbirds cadged crumbs from early breakfasters or gamblers having a last Bloody Mary before going to bed. Unusually athletic coots--it must have been the warm weather--chased each other across the water. The wonderful deck is reason enough to linger at the casino, and the architect should be commended.

John's holy grail has long been to buy a mug at the Mount Palomar gift shop, since it was closed the last time we were up there, so we headed up the mountain as soon as we thought it might be open. The route is a motorist's mecca, and we passed the usual packs of Harleys, a squadron of vintage Porsche 911s and 912s, and a flock of colorful Mini Coopers, including the coveted convertible. The cars passed hardy bicyclists, all intent on torturing themselves with the closest thing San Diego County offers to the Alpe d'Huez experience.

Mount Palomar Observatory is a jewel among observatories. Constructed in 1936 and incorporating hints of Art Deco design, it has all the glamour and fame of a movie star of that era. Think Jean Harlow with her white-blonde hair and slinky silver dress. Installation of the Hale telescope's 200-inch mirror was delayed by World War II, and it saw first light in 1948.

The observatory is not just a shrine to George Ellery Hale's ambition to build the world's largest telescope, but has been upgraded by Caltech, which operates the astronomical complex, with new electronics that make it one hundred times more sensitive than it was sixty years ago.

We had been lucky enough to see the big mirror moved back into its cradle at the Mount Wilson Observatory the year before. It had been resilvered, and six engineers had settled it exactly back into place, measuring the gap between the mirror and its cradle using wooden rulers. It had been like a glimpse back in time. Nothing that exciting was going on at Mount Palomar, but like a casino, the thrills don't really start at an observatory until the sun sets.

After checking out a vintage display on the advances of 1960s-era astronomy (distant galaxies! pulsars! Quasars!), John bought his Palomar Observatory mug, which has contributed greatly to his happiness and sense of wellbeing ever since. We asked the cashier what she thought about the casino, and she said she was glad it had installed the mercury vapor lights, which didn't add much light pollution to the night sky. Thus the golden glow.

The town of Julian is a short trek down the mountain. The former 1870s mining camp attracts people interested in objects such as teddy bears and teddy bear accessories--and apple pie. Fortunately for those of us who are not very interested in teddy bears or pie, there's a great used bookstore, the Old Julian Book House, just past the half-dozen apple pie cafes. The huge Cedar Fire in October 2003 licked the edges of Julian, but the conflagration spared most of the town.

I asked the bookstore clerk what that had been like. He had abandoned his newly built Victorian house and the firefighters had dragged their hoses right through. It was a mess but the house was saved. And the casino? Well, he didn't like all the congested and sometimes tipsy traffic along the narrow and winding Highway 76, but he was glad that the casino brought work and prosperity to a sector of the economy that needed a boost.

Because we got lost and somehow ended up in Escondido, we never did make it to the Pala Mission. The road bypasses it now, making it even more private than it seemed years before. When we got gas at the station next to the casino for our drive back up to Los Angeles, however, a truck pulled up behind us. It had huge tires and was bigger than our Pasadena bungalow-and probably as energy-efficient. A feathered dream-catcher hung from the mirror and the license plate said INDIAN POWER.

RESOURCES

Pala Indian Tribal Website http://www.palaindians.com/

George Harwood Phillips, Indians and Indian Agents: The Origins of the Reservation System in California, 1849-1852 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973)

Pala Casino, Resort, Spa 1154 Highway 76 Pala, CA 92059 USA 1-877-WIN-PALA (1-877-946-7252)

Mount Palomar http://www.astro.cattech.edu/observatories/palomar/

Julian Chamber of Commerce http://www.julianca.com/

Kathy Talley-Jones is managing editor of California History.