GEORGE ROTHERT – Page 20 – George’s slightly off-center view of the world

Tesla Reincarnated

Fun Fact: Tesla Motors began the new year 2020 as the most valuable car company — ever — in the United States. Its market capitalization of $80+ billion is more than Ford Motor Company’s 1999 peak; almost as much as Ford and GM combined. Tesla’s stock price has been on a wild up-and-down ride along with loose-cannon founder and CEO Elon Musk’s much-publicized missteps. The latest stock surge follows vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter 2019 greater than even Musk had predicted

There are enough Teslas on the road now that some are inevitably finding their way into collision-repair shops and scrapyards. Tesla batteries, motors and even drive trains are being rebirthed in vintage Volkswagens, Porsches, Mustangs and other favorites of car buffs. Their fathers and grandfathers increased horsepower of internal-combustion engines and tuned exhaust for just the right sound; today auto enthusiasts are building more powerful, but silent custom cars.

For entrepreneurs, mostly in California, electric vehicle (EV) conversions are a growing business. One shop offers training classes teaching do-it-yourselfers to do conversions. A rusted ’49 Mercury, dubbed the “Derelict,” fitted with electric motor, Tesla batteries, power steering, air conditioning and Bluetooth, has won awards at car shows.

When an unlikely-looking car blows by you — silently — it could be powered by Tesla.

Alternative to Raking the Forests

The current occupant of the White House has generously shared his knowledge, offering advice to fire-ravaged California. He said their problem is poor forest management. If the Golden State raked its forest floors, as he stated is done in Finland, where they spend “a lot of time on raking and cleaning,” there would not be the devastation. #RakeAmericaGreatAgain and #RakeNews soon were flying around the Internet.

The fact is, California’s conflagrations were largely wild brush fires. Forest fires, not so much.

Goats from Environmental Land Management clear a hillside in Anaheim Hills.

We’ll Miss Jimtown

The Jimtown Store is closed. Not to reopen. On Highway 128, nestled amongst the vineyards of Alexander Valley, Jimtown has for nearly three decades been a stop for wine-country tourists as well as Sonoma-County locals.

James Patrick opened the store in 1893. He called it the Patrick Store, but locals referred to it as Jimtown. (Not “Jamestown;” Californians were less formal than their eastern counterparts.) The store was the beginning of a small community, soon with a post office, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a church, hop yards, orchards, vineyards, wineries and a half-dozen homes. By 1913, Patrick put in a gas pump to service the occasional automobile that traveled the rough, unpaved road.

Carrie Brown and her late husband came across the then-shuttered store in 1989 on a visit to Sonoma County. They bought it, moved from New York City and, after extensive renovation, opened in 1991.

The shaded patio behind the store was a pleasant place to enjoy a Jimtown sandwich, made to order, finished off with their homemade cookies. The catered special events in the adjacent barn. They produced condiments and spreads that were sold in stores along the west coast. (Jimtown Fig & Olive spread, has been described by discerning erpicures as “yummy.”)

While the Trader Joe’s store in nearby Santa Rosa was closed for a year and a half from damage by the devastating fires in 2017, Jimtown was unscathed. It also escaped fires in 2018 and 2019. What it didn’t escape was the loss of business from people avoiding the area during what was now seen as fire season. Their catered-events business suffered greatly.

Power outages finally did them in. Pacific Gas & Electric, liable for billions of dollars damages from fires sparked by their inadequate equipment maintenance, has recently been shutting off power when fire danger is high. (Yes, the same PG&E of Erin Brockovich and San Bruno-pipeline-explosion fame.) No power means no cooking. And no water. The store’s water requires pumping from its well.

Carrie Brown decided that after twenty-eight years, it was time to give in. Jimtown Store’s last day of business was December 30.

What Pan Am Did for/to Us

Wonder why Spirit Airlines charged you $26 for your carry-on bag one time but $45 on another flight? It’s called dynamic pricing, constant adjustment of prices based on demand, in general and, more specifically, what their algorithms determine is how badly you want to buy it.

It’s also why if you check flight prices for a particular itinerary and come back a couple days later to discover the fare has gone up. The airline remembers you — think “cookies” — and it will likely cost more the next time you check. They want you to decide you’d better buy now, before the price goes up more.

But what does all this have to do with Pan Am?

Eat Like a Gangster

Las Vegas is ever mindful of its history. In the works right now is a ten-million-dollar renovation of the the storied Flamingo Hotel’s recently-closed steakhouse. Set to open in the spring of 2020, the swanky new eatery will be named “Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse,” an homage to the Flamingo’s developers and founding fathers of modern-day Las Vegas, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky.

Promoters say Bugsy & Meyer’s will be an ode to old-school Vegas, serving dry-aged prime beef and classic cocktails. “We want our guests to feel like they’ve traveled back in time,” a spokesperson says. (In a nod to the twenty-first century, there will also be a vegan menu.) Inside the establishment will be a super-exclusive “Count Room,” door accessible to the privileged few through an unmarked. It will feature its own secret menu. (Hey, “secret menu” works for In-N-Out Burger.)

[Personal favorite: check out the Downtown Cocktail Room on the edge of the original Las Vegas Strip.]

Christmas Football – 1914

Five months – a million deaths – into the Great War, the warring armies had settled into the deadly stalemate of trench combat. Bodies littered the No Man’s Land between the opposing trenches; any attempt to retrieve a fallen comrade was likely to be fatal. Modern weaponry, machine guns, artillery, chlorine and mustard gas all made for carnage as never before. The troops hunkered down in the muck and filth; even raising a head above the trough would present an inviting target for a sniper’s bullet from the facing trench.

On the cold and dank Christmas Eve, 1914, Allied troops heard Christmas carols wafting over from the German trenches. The British soldiers answered with songs of their own. In some areas, the trenches were as close as a hundred feet to one another. In places, German soldiers put up decorated trees on their parapets.