America has no culture?

Part I because we've reached the email length maximum

Back when we lived in San Francisco, there was a type of person who would continually badmouth the United States of America.

It’s always the same type too. Physically ugly, some kind of personality disorder, and overeducated. Usually with a Masters degree but with at least a Bachelor’s.

Always had a superiority complex. Overestimated their intelligence. Looked down on working class Americans. But couldn’t fix shit without having to hire a working class person to fix it.

And they’d often say things like “America has no culture,” implying that American culture comes entirely from immigrants.

OK. Let’s humor them. Want to know what American culture is?

(This is about to be my longest post ever, so bear with me. I’m about to make them look stupid.)

We’ll start with cuisine because everyone loves to talk food. . .

What is American Cuisine?

Everyone thinks hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza when they think of American food. But what is American food really? Well, it’s by region.

Hamburger and fries, Salt Lake City 2021

Thanksgiving feast

Thanksgiving was the celebration of 1621, when the Wampanoag people joined the pilgrims of Plymouth after the pilgrims’ first successful harvest.

Thanksgiving didn’t become a national holiday until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared it in an attempt to promote unity.

Turkey of course is the main course. You’re supposed to stuff the turkey with whatever you have available. We usually use croutons, apples, onions, garlic cloves, and spices.

Then of course mashed potatoes and gravy. Cranberries. And a vegetable side dish.

For dessert? Pecan pie, apple pie, or pumpkin pie.

New England cuisine

Of course Thanksgiving originated in New England. So we might as well continue with New England.

New England’s known for seafood. Fish, lobster, clams, and scallops.

New England clam chowder is white and has a milk base. Versus Manhattan clam chowder which is red and has tomatoes. There’s also a Rhode Island clam chowder that is clear.

England and Ireland are the primary nations that influenced New England cuisine, but the Native Americans added corn, maple syrup, and shellfish to the mix.

You’ve probably heard of Boston baked beans and Yankee pot roast. Yankee pot roast is beef seasoned with bacon and root vegetables and cooked with potatoes.

Southern cuisine

Southern cuisine is delicious, but will kill you. The whole nation has an obesity epidemic currently but the South’s is probably the worst. But dang, the food sure is good.

Biscuits and gravy, grits, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, chicken and dumplings, collard greens, pecan pie, southern BBQ, black-eyed peas (especially on New Year’s - brings good luck), cornbread, etc.

Soul Food is a subset of Southern cuisine. One thing I miss about living in San Francisco - right across the Bay in Oakland has some of the best Soul Food.

Then there’s Louisiana cuisine, another subset of Southern cuisine that it deserves its own mention. Cajun and Creole are both languages spoken today. Cajun still has 20,000 speakers today but Creole has less than 10,000 speakers left in Louisiana.

Both are based off French. Louisiana Creole is considered an “endangered language.” But what does this have to do with food?

Gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish étouffée are the most famous ones. If you’ve been to a Louisiana restaurant, they always offer at least the first two, but usually all 3.

Usually served with red beans and rice. Boudin sausage is also quite good. And of course Po’Boys, a filling sandwich with whatever’s available at the time (ranging from beef to seafood).

And last subset - Tex Mex. In my not so humble opinion the most underrated cuisine on the planet.

I could eat Tex Mex every day and not get sick of it. Exactly as the name suggests, Tex Mex is heavily influenced by Mexico, but it’s from Texas. A fusion of both cuisines, it includes fajitas, nachos, chili con carne, chimichangas, and enchiladas ranging from plain old cheese to cheese and meat.

Your base flavors come from chili powder and cumin. You’ll see at the Riva household several spare bottles of both chili powder and cumin. I use those for beef, pork, chicken, and even seafood.

Midwestern cuisine

Fast food? It came from the Midwest.

What a lot of folks call “comfort food” is really Midwestern cuisine.

Best steak I’ve ever had in my life was from Chicago. But St Louis and Kansas City folks will butt in and say “well, have you tried ours?”

I’d love to say Texas has the best steak but I’d be lying.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, bratwurst, schnitzel, Chicago style pizza (deep dish), club sandwiches, Coney Island hot dog (which was confusing because Coney Island is in New York), KC BBQ, St Louis BBQ, poor boy sandwiches (differ from Po’Boys from the South), chicken fried steak, corn chowder, corn on the cob, goulash, etc.

Lots of variation by region. I spent some time in Wisconsin and they put cheese in everything. You’ll see absolutely gorgeous women in college but they get really fat in their 30s. It’s probably the cheese.

Culturally, the Midwestern folks are the absolute best people on the planet to go to pubs and watch a football game with. You’ll suddenly have a dozen close friends who you’ll probably never see again, but the camaraderie is awesome. You’ll have to experience it to know what I’m talking about. You’ll never find that level of camaraderie anywhere else.

If you’re into beer, the Midwest is where it’s at. (Oregon for microbreweries).

I’m leaving out a lot but I haven’t spent enough time in the Midwest to really appreciate the cuisine.

Southwest cuisine

This may be confusing to some folks, but Texas is considered both a Southern state and a Southwestern state. So to avoid confusion, I’m not going to put Tex Mex here too.

But corn is indigenous to the New World. Thus it’s a big part of both American and Mexican cuisines. The Southwest burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, jalapeno poppers, tacos, taquitos, tostadas, huevos rancheros, tamales, guacamole, pinto beans, etc.

Plus Colorado is famous for hunting, so a lot of game meats ranging from deer, elk, wild boar, and bison to some pretty good fishing.

California cuisine

Of all the cuisines, California is the most “political.” So called “California cuisine” is based off of fresh, locally sourced, and sustainability. Alice Waters (Berkeley) and Wolfgang Puck are two of the more famous proponents.

California cuisine is also based on fusion. They love to blend European, Asian, and Mexican cuisines and basically do whatever they want creatively.

Pacific Northwest cuisine

If you love seafood, the Pacific Northwest is where it’s at. Best fish I’ve ever had in my life was during the week and a half Alaskan cruise. Everywhere we stopped, we had the best fish I’ve ever tasted. Often caught that day.

Pike’s Market in Seattle is world famous. You may have seen videos of workers throwing fish.

Not only limited to seafood, Pacific Northwest cuisine is famous for game meats. Deer, elk, and even moose and caribou.

Portland is considered the Microbrewery capital of the world.

Seattle has a strong Asian community and has some of the best Asian food I’ve ever tasted. And that’s really saying something, growing up in San Francisco.

You’ll also see a lot of food trucks in the Pacific Northwest where the chefs take chances, blending various cuisines into something unique.

City notes

Most cities are known for certain ethnic cuisines. For instance, Houston has a strong Vietnamese community. Miami has a strong Cuban community. (Cuban coffee is the bomb!). New York City’s probably the most diverse. San Francisco has the most famous Chinatown in America. Etc.

Summary

So now you know by cuisines alone, America has the most choice of any nation on the planet. And that blows away the jackasses who say that America has no culture.

But I’m just getting started. . .

Cultural motifs

More important than cuisine - cultural motifs. How do you know how strong a culture is? By bringing up a cultural motif and judging by how well a citizen is able to describe it.

So let’s go in chronological order:

The Native Americans

Everyone’s got their opinion on Native Americans but most are wrong.

No, it wasn’t all peace and love like the hippies want you to believe. Tribes varied from relatively gentle to extremely violent. I won’t go into details, but some had some quite gory practices, including torture.

Native American history is fascinating though. You’ll see just how much variation tribes had.

We of course inherited a lot from Native Americans, from a big part of our diet to lacrosse. That game’s got an interesting history. It was nations formerly at war and they took out their aggression during the game, in which players often died. But, that was part of the game.

We all know of the Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee, Geronimo who just wouldn’t die, no matter how many times they stabbed and shot him, Sitting Bull, and during World War II, Navajo Marines speaking Navajo.

Why was that a big deal?

The Nazis tried for years to break our secret code and it was simply a different language.

Sadly, most Native American languages are either dying or dead. If I remember correctly, Navajo is the strongest at around 170,000 Native Speakers. I had a friend who spoke English as his second language who wasn’t allergic to poison oak. We’d go camping illegally and he’d literally move the poison oak aside with his hand so I wouldn’t touch it. Cool guy.

Native Americans still exist today, and alcoholism and diabetes are serious problems in a lot of Native American communities.

Thanksgiving

We all know the story of Thanksgiving. The Indians helped the settlers survive and to celebrate, together, they had a big ass feast.

Thanksgiving is still celebrated to this day. I just described the traditional Thanksgiving dinner above. It’s usually a family gathering where family members get together for one year and pretend to tolerate each other.

The Salem Witch Trials

You all know the stories. You know the various reasons too.

Some said the kids got high on the power and got innocent people killed.

Some horror movies portray them as genuine witches and they often come back from death to kill the ones who killed them, scaring the shit out of the audience.

I had a history professor who said it was all about money. Your great aunt just won’t die so you called her a witch so you could inherit her fortune.

Pirates

Piracy is as American as apple pie.

A true American doesn’t like to be told what to do. So we romanticized the pirates.

A lot of piracy happened in what is now America. Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland is in New Orleans Square.

Blackbeard died in what is now North Carolina.

Most of the pirates were alcoholics and stole to afford more booze.

I know. Not very romantic. But like the Wild West, fiction writers loved to exaggerate what really happened to make it more interesting.

Pirates are to this day a huge motif in American culture. In pro sports - the Raiders and the Buccaneers in football and the Pittsburg Pirates in baseball.

Plus, you’ll see tons of pirate high school mascots all over the country.

The Revolutionary Heroes

You’ve heard Paul Revere’s ride, George Washington cutting down a cherry tree, Benjamin Franklin’s 27 illegitimate kids, Thomas Jefferson banging French babes, etc.

You heard the stories of the British lining up while our rednecks picked them off one by one then disappeared into the bushes.

How much is true? Might be a good book idea.

Slavery and slave revolts

One of the stains on our past, until you research slavery globally and see that every civilization had slavery at one point. And the ones who said they didn’t are either very new or full of shit.

Now, I’m not at all excusing it. It is a stain on our past.

But I’m being realistic.

Slavery is alive and well through half of the world. If you do a quick search, according to the Global Slavery Index, India, China, and Pakistan lead the world in the most slaves today. But if we’re talking percentages, then it’s North Korea, Eritrea, and Mauritania.

Roots was huge in the 70s. You probably heard all about John Brown too.

And of course we all know Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. A huge motif in American culture.

The Wild West

As much as we romanticize the Wild West, hate to break it to you. Yes, it did exist. But it was a shorter time period than most people think.

And no, it wasn’t as wild as people thought either.

Most Wild West was really East Coast fiction writers interviewing guys with big egos who exaggerated their kills. In other words - East Coast pulp fiction.

Yes, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were BFFs. Yes, the OK Corral really happened and the story is pretty close to the movies.

The funny thing about the OK Corral is it’s the most famous gunfight in American history. So, want to take a wild guess how many people were killed?

A whopping 3 - Billy Clanton and Tom & Frank McLaury.

But was everyone just killing back then?

No. Once again, exaggerations by East Coast pulp fiction authors to get their books to sell better. Kind of like Twitter today. Most large accounts are 99% full of shit. Especially when they talk either money or women.

The Gold Rush

You could argue it was a subset of the Wild West or its own motif. Whatever the case, the Gold Rush history’s pretty cool.

Mostly in California but there was one in Alaska as well.

You may now the story. James Marshall discovers gold in 1848 in Sutter’s Mill outside of Sacramento, California. 1849 - everyone and their grandma comes to California to search for gold. Thus the term “49ers,” of which there’s now a pretty good football team named after them.

The Civil War

I’m not going to go in detail on the Civil War as it’s still controversial to this day.

1861-1865 - America is at war with herself. Almost 700,000 Americans died in that war; more American deaths than every other war combined.

The Roaring Twenties/Mobsters

1920 - Alcohol becomes illegal in America. We all know what happens next.

From a historical perspective, I argue that everyone thinks the 1960s was the sexual revolution. Nah man. It was the 1920s.

They partied.

Economy went through the roof.

But not everyone had a great 1920s. A lot of farms failed. Overfarming led to the Dust Bowl of the 30s.

And of course, the guys on the losing side in the mob wars definitely didn’t have a good time.

A fun time to read about. If I had a time machine, it would be the 1920s. But with a caveat - get back before Black Thursday 1929.

To this day, you could find 1920s themed parties. Where the women dressed as Flappers and the men dress as Mobsters.

The Great Depression

Good things come to an end. Black Thursday was in October 1929, and it just kept getting worse.

1932 - unemployment reaches over 23%.

The Dust Bowl. Bank failures.

1933 - America goes off the gold standard.

FDR tried pretty much everything to get us out of the Great Depression, winning 4 consecutive terms. We’ve all heard “the only thing to fear is fear itself.”

But what got us out was World War II, where America turned into the most powerful nation on this Earth.

Japan knew they were waking a sleeping giant. But they were too scared to tell their Emperor.

World War II

You’ve seen the movies. The war arguably started in 1939. But Japan attacked Manchuria years prior to that.

Lacking oil and steel, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. A date that all high school kids know by heart.

We send troops in both the Pacific and the European theater but mostly concentrate on Japan at first.

Japan keeps winning until the Battle of Midway.

From then on, Japan knows they’re fucked.

By October 1944, they send in the Kamikazes. The war becomes increasingly bleak for Japan.

Then of course in 1945, we drop two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bombs developed in the top secret Manhattan Project led by Oppenheimer.

One of my college professors was convinced that we only dropped the bombs on Japan to scare the Russians, as Japan was already finished. I won’t say whether I agree or disagree on that. I also won’t say whether or not I think we knew the planes were coming in Pearl Harbor. Keep in mind, we already had radar.

Other motifs

To this day, we add more cultural motifs. In the 20th century, we had the greats. Elvis, Marilyn, Mohammed Ali, Bruce Lee, various sports heroes as we dominate in every sport except soccer. Who’s the GOAT? Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, (you could make a strong case for Barry Bonds), Tom Brady.

We’re also guilty of celebrating celebrity culture, often to our detriment.

Can you think of any cultural motif that everyone knows about that I didn’t mention?

And before I forget, American urban legends. Every locality has its own legend from Bigfoot in the Northwest to the chupacabra of the South to the New Jersey devil.

Plus, the kid who died eating Halloween candy with a razor blade. We’ve all heard that story. But did you know it was an urban legend?

Same thing with alligators in the NYC sewers, the vanishing hitchhiker, the hotel with the stinking room only to find a dead hooker in the mattress, and my personal favorite - roller coaster boy.

If you live near an amusement park, you’ve probably heard the story of the boy who tried to impress a girl on the rollercoaster. Tons of variations, ranging from him falling to his death to getting decapitated because he took his belt off and stood up.

And no, Mr. Rodgers wasn’t a Navy Seal with 20+ confirmed kills, including several with his bare hands.

Oh, another one of my favorites - Pop Rocks. This was more in the 70s and 80s. I never see Pop Rocks candy anymore.

Anyways, every school had that one teacher who got so sick of his stupid students eating pop rocks in class that he confiscated everyone’s Pop Rocks, then when he went home, he ate them all in one night and his stomach exploded.

I heard for Millennials, it’s Mentos and Coke. My son told me one of his friends said he heard a student died by eating Mentos and drinking Coca-Cola at the same time. So apparently Mentos & Coke is the new Pop Rocks. Watch out!

Have you ever seen that Life Cereal commercial with Mikey? We all said he died in a horrible fashion. Nope. John Gilchrist is alive and well to this day.

By the way, when you were a kid, did you ever try to summon Bloody Mary? A lot of us knew someone who almost got an eye poked out trying to do that.

All American urban legends. And all awesome!

I grew up believing every single one of them. (Except for the Mentos one as that’s the next generation).

And back to motifs, history continues. Ask any American what a hippie is, what a beatnik is, a metalhead, a rapper, 50s rocker, grunge, a raver girl, etc. Let’s not forget Prince, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, with MJ being one of the most well known people throughout the entire world.

American music

Back in the late 90s, I was IRC’ing someone in Iran. We were talking about pop culture when I asked him what American music he liked.

He replied “American music is illegal in Iran.”

So I replied “That’s too bad. So, what American music do you like?”

He listed Michael Jackson, Metallica, and a bunch of other American singers/bands that were popular in the 90s.

American music - so good that you could make it illegal and folks will still listen to it.

Y’all probably have seen the images of people burning Elvis records back in the 1950s. Elvis is corrupting our youth.

Then in the 80s, we had Tipper Gore and the PMRC ass clowns, bitching and moaning about Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Sheena Easton, W.A.S.P., and John Denver.

No, I’m not joking.

John Fucking Denver. The most mellow music ever written. She even wanted John Denver banned because she thought “Rocky Mountain High” was about glorifying illegal drug use. (And yes, I like John Denver. Got his “Greatest Hits”).

What is uniquely American music?

That would be the Blues. From the Blues came everything from Country and Western to Rock n Roll to Jazz to Ragtime. All influenced or even heavily influenced by the Blues.

No, Americans didn’t invent Rap. But we popularized it. Had Americans not popularized it, the whole world wouldn’t have it. And that’s a fact. Sorry Caribbean folks. Just being honest.

Sadly though, American music is so pervasive that traditional cultures are often losing their own music. Which is a bummer because some traditional cultures actually have decent music.

So yes, American music influenced the entire planet. I’m sure some dork will say “well, what about this one tribe in Papua New Guinea?”

Y’all know what I mean. But there will always be that one guy who likes to intentionally be a pain in the ass.

I remember when communism was failing in Russia. Immediately, American Heavy Metal bands headed over there. And they were huge! Played to insane crowds who ate it up.

The Mrs and I traveled to 14 nations on 3 continents since 2014 and everyone incorporated at least some American music into their clubs. Plus, their own native pop music was at least partially influenced by American music.

American movies

Giving credit where credit is due - France invented the movie.

We popularized it.

Yes, a lot of French movies kick ass. We got a bunch of them on DVD. French cinema made me appreciate French women as well.

But the #1 nation for movies is America and everyone in the world knows this.

A lot of us have our top ten best movies ever list. Mine has 8 American films and 2 Spaghetti Westerns - Italian films based on an America theme.

Yeah, I know. I really should study old Japanese films. I do like Japanese horror though. I think they’re the absolute best at that genre.

But if you go to any country, expect to see American movies playing in the theaters.

My Romanian friends? Where do you think they learned how to speak English? (Well, one from playing video games). Which brings me to:

Video games

I don’t know video games as well as a lot of you, so y’all will have to tell me if Japan is #1 and America is #2 or America is #1 and Japan is #2. I honestly don’t know.

I was surprised to find that it was the Japanese, not the Americans, who came up with Space Invaders (1978) and Pac-Man (1980). I always thought we did. I did know that Donkey Kong (1981) was Japanese.

I played all 3 of these games in the arcade in the early 80s.

Atari is American. We had the 2600, which kicked ass up until 2 games killed it - ET and Pac-Man.

I didn’t own ET but the Atari Pac-Man game was one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. Didn’t anyone play test it?

Even when you played on level 6, which was the hardest, it was way too easy. We got bored of it within days.

You may have heard of the console crash of 1983. It was mostly because of those 2 games.

Japan’s Nintendo struck back in the late 80s. Soon, everyone who sold their Atari 2600 in 1983 suddenly had a Nintendo in the late 80s.

So since I don’t know the history as well as I should, I’ll just say it’s up for debate if Japan or America is #1. But that said, no other nations are even in the debate. It’s either Japan or America.

And yes, like it or not, video games are a HUGE part of today’s culture.

The cocktail

Brits would like to believe they invented the cocktail (and the cocktail party) but nope. We invented both.

But before we get to cocktails, which alcohol is truly American?

Bourbon, of course.

Bourbon is American whiskey aged in a barrel, primarily made from corn (which comes from the New World). Americans distilled bourbon from the 18th century. Rules - must be American made, including American territories. So yes, you can have Puerto Rican bourbon. Must be at least 51% corn and must be aged in charred oak. Must be at least 80 proof.

Legend has it that Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, was the originator of bourbon.

I personally drink bourbon straight, but the first time I had bourbon is sometime in the late 2000s, I was in San Francisco and I asked my bartender “what do you drink?”

He responded “Roman, I drink bourbon. Because when I drink, I like to know I’m drinking.”

I still remember his line to this day.

So he poured me some bourbon over ice. And I got it.

From then on, I switched from martinis and girlie drinks to whiskey. I eventually ditched the ice because I loved the non-watered down flavor.

Most famous American cocktails

My cocktail of choice is the Old Fashioned. Either bourbon or rye whiskey, with a blend of sweet and bitter. You got whiskey, sugar, and bitters. Usually garnished with an orange peel or a cherry (and nowadays, both). Usually with sugar syrup but sometimes with a sugarcube. Gently stirred. The Old Fashioned dates all the way back to the early 1800s.

An Old Fashioned, smoked. $26 from the Trump International in Vegas. Yes, there were cheaper options but this was a special request from yours truly and it was worth every penny

My wife’s is the Manhattan. Quite similar to the Old Fashioned. Either rye whiskey or bourbon but with a bit of sweet vermouth. Also with bitters. Also stirred. Garnished with a lemon slice or a cherry (and nowadays, both). Attributed to Dr. Iain Marshall at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the late 1800s.

A Maker’s Mark Manhattan, Vegas 2020

Everyone knows the Martini. Originally mostly vermouth with some gin. Then switched to mostly gin with some vermouth. Nowadays, you’ll see more vodka than gin. But purists will say vodka martinis are just vodka in a martini glass. I’ll let you decide. The glass should be chilled. And you should garnish with green olives. Purists will also say to stir, not shake, although because of James Bond, you’ll see a lot of bartenders nowadays shake it. A lot of bartenders nowadays don’t even bother with the vermouth. Attributed to Martinez, California. Thus the name.

I hope we don’t argue whether or not this is an American cocktail. But the Bloody Mary was invented by an American bartender in Paris in the 1920s. In a bar called “Harry’s New York Bar.” Yes, the bar is still there today. When I go to Paris, there’s no way I’m not having a Bloody Mary in this bar. Bartenders often throw in the kitchen sink when making this. Key ingredients - tomato juice, vodka, Worcestershire Sauce, tabasco sauce, lemon juice, horseradish, black pepper, and celery salt. In a tall glass. Often chilled and shaken.

A Bloody Mary, Trump International in Vegas 2020.

The origins of the Margarita are still up for debate. Both Mexico and America claim it as their own. I’ll let you decide if it’s a Mexican or an American drink. Meanwhile, I’ll tell you that it’s been around since at least the 1930s and it’s made with tequila, lime juice (preferably squeezed, not bottled), and orange liqueur. Sometimes sweetened, but almost always rimmed with salt in a wide glass. For purists, use only 100% blue agave tequila, make sure the limes are squeezed on site, and don’t use the bargain brand orange liqueur.

I’m not going to name every single American cocktail. I just listed those 5 as they’re the ones I usually drink. But let’s not forget the Mint Julep, popular in the South. The Cosmopolitan, an older drink that was brought back from obscurity by “Sex in the City.” The Daquiri, a rum cocktail designed by an American in Cuba and popularized by Ernest Hemingway. The Long Island Ice Tea, featuring gin, rum, tequila, triple sec, and vodka, and one of the most potent cocktails. The Mai Tai, one of those tiki bar rum drinks popularized by Elvis. The Moscow Mule, almost always served in a special glass. Despite the name, 100% American. Created in Los Angeles in the 1940s but named to sell more vodka. The Sazerac, from New Orleans, similar to an Old Fashioned except with absinthe and whiskey. And the Whiskey Sour, with an egg white.

If I didn’t mention a popular cocktail, it’s more than likely not an American cocktail. Like the Mojito. Love it. But it’s not an American cocktail.

American architecture

American architecture in the 18th century started off Neoclassical. This was due to Enlightenment ideals and to associate America with the democratic ideals of Ancient Rome.

Thomas Jefferson is perhaps the most recognizable name. Yes, he was a polymath. Not just a politician, he really wanted to be known for his architectural work.

When we headed into the 19th century, we kept the Neoclassical traditions. But we also added other traditions like Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and of course, Victorian architecture. Many classic horror movies used Victorian architecture because back then, people usually died at home.

The 20th century saw three architectural styles that I loved. Two of them most people like and one of them, I’m one of the few who appreciates it.

The first of course is Art Deco. What is Art Deco? In New York City, take a look at the Empire State Building or the Chrysler building. The San Francisco Bay Area has some cool Art Deco theaters left. I personally loved the Orinda Theater and hope it stays open. It’s a short walk from the Orinda BART station too, and we often stopped for food there after catching a movie.

But my personal favorite is Miami. I don’t remember which one, but one of these buildings is a recording studio owned by Gloria Estefan, from the Miami Sound Machine. Back when we toured Miami in 2019 (by bus, by helicopter, and by boat), one of our tour guides told us she’s worth $550 million.

Art Deco, Miami. Photos from 2019.

So if you suddenly come across a lot of money, buy real estate. Worked for her. She had some hits in the 80s and immediately bought businesses and commercial real estate with that money. Now she’s quite rich.

I have to stop this here because we’ve reached max email length. Part II on July 4th, 2026.