A Hangin' Tree

O DINNER LAST NIGHT with the in-laws to a nice seafood restaurant in Calabasas, directly opposite Sagebrush Cantina, where desperado bikers still gather of a weekend. Limping and sticked with arthritis, took a moment to pause at the entrance. Now, I've been to this same place many times before, but had never paid any attention to the bell at it's door: one of the original bells that marked El Camino Real - the long dusty trail between the Missions that founded the State of California?

We see these bells everywhere - they are quite distinctive - planted at the sides of freeways and other routes. This one, however, according to a placard at its base, had been positioned at this place in 1876, under the shade of a beautiful and ancient gnarly oak: an oak that had, the placard read, "served in the furtherence of Justice."

It turns out that Calabasas, this sumptuous little town now favored by Wealth and Simpson Newlyweds, was not always so genteel, and had at one time "a reputation as one of the toughest and wildest spots in California."