By Emi Gruender
[INSTALLMENT 12]
Every year, the 1920s trundles back into the Bay Area, complete with a horde of smartly-dressed ladies and gentlemen, flapper dancing in wool swimsuits, and vintage car shows. Usually, this zone of anachronism confines itself to an elegant park in Oakland, but this year, Gatsby and his crew have decided to grace San Jose through History Park. As a result of The Art Deco Society’s generosity, The Shield received an envelope full of coveted tickets to one of Gatsby’s famous parties: or more appropriately, picnic. Join writers Giovanni Arteaga, Mia Hanuska, Laura Lipcsei, Logan Mendelson, Wesley Adams, Logan Whiteson, and Averi Halbert for this issue of The Daily Explorer to step back into the 1920s: complete with trolleys, silent movies, and of course, lots of Charlestons.
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Welcome back travelers, to The Daily Explorer. In this series, we travel to interesting places within the Bay Area, hoping to inspire the readers of The Shield to explore their hometown. Keep an eye out for some of your favorite writers from The Shield. If you have any favorite places, restaurants, parks, etc, please email me at emi.gruender@gmail.com to issue a recommendation. Your name and input about the place in question will be credited, of course.
Without further ado, buckle up and enjoy the blog-style ride of The Daily Explorer!
SUNDAY, September 14
2:30 pm, Our Automobiles Arrive
We were to arrive fashionably late, we decided. I had only been to such an event once before—The Great Christmas Dickens Fair—but despite the immersive nature of that event, there were many people visiting in ordinary 21st century garb. By comparison, The Gatsby Picnic required 1920s style, or at least the clear effort of the attendants to emulate the style. As the eight of us waited in line to pay for parking, we marveled at the jaw-droppingly accurate period costumes on every attendant that passed us. Mia and Averi had opted to wear classic frilly flapper dresses with the classic feather headbands, but quickly realized they had slightly misunderstood the casual dress code. We assured them that despite their difference in attire, they looked very “1920s” regardless.
3:02 pm, Complete Immersion
From the moment we stepped foot onto the History Park premises, it was like we were directly transported into some pocket dimension where the sun was shining down upon some quaint downtown in Pennsylvania in 1919. There were scores of flowing dresses on elegant ladies and smartly-dressed fellows in straw hats. After setting up our picnic blankets near a bright red water pump on the grass, we found the Art Deco Society Administrative Director that had generously organized The Shield’s visit, Kathy Cabral. We took photos in front of the town’s Printing Press, as budding journalists ourselves, and even got to print our own invitation card with a classic press. The men working there were very kind to us, and when I mentioned that I had seen processes like this on Instagram, one of them suggested that I might have seen his account. Go visit History Park’s printing press account on Instagram @jim.gard!
3:50 pm, Clang, Clang Clang, Goes the Trolley
To be honest, we were a little bit overwhelmed by all the things to do and see during the Picnic. It very much appeared that we were some of the only teenagers in the park, but the few stares that we did attract were all well-meaning. When we rode the trolley, we didn’t hear the instructions from the trolley conductor, so he was a little gruff with us until he realized that we were genuinley here to enjoy the event and learn, not simply fool around. He even let me ring the bell with the footpedal. Though we only traveled in a short horseshoe-pattern, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We stopped by the ice cream shop to share a couple cones, and popped into the plentiful history museums dotting the premises to learn more about the history of San Jose as well.
That isn’t to say we didn’t have a fair share of problems. While eating our ice cream, we decided to run down to our picnic blanket (which we felt was safe enough to leave unsupervised while we trotted about) to enjoy our sweet treat. However, the ice cream started melting faster than we could eat it, and I made quite a mess of myself and my white gloves. Logan M.’s immaculate dress-shoe completely fell apart, sole and all. Laura’s dress had split right down the middle of her back, so she couldn’t even sit down.
But we improvised, as good journalists must. We tacked Logan’s shoes together again with leftover tape from his lunch and mini Band-Aids. Averi lent Laura her dress when she had to leave early. I used some extra water to wash the dairy from my gloves. And we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly by our unfortunate circumstances.
5:01 pm, The Bathing Beauties’ Revue
A while before the 1920’s wool swimsuit performance began, we sat on our picnic blankets, enjoying some down time to play a card game or two. When Wes got thirsty, he went and asked a nearby group for some water, to which they generously obliged. A nice lady came over and talked to us about our journalistic endeavors and her own history with the Picnic. She was going to be performing at 5:00 pm, she told us. We enthusiastically told her that we wouldn’t miss it.
True to our word, we stood at the foot of the dance floor as a man in a spiffy cream-colored suit introduced the Bathing Beauties to the congregation below the stage. In true 1920s fashion, the women wore colorful wool bathing suits complete with knee-high stockings to perform their charming revue. And as promised, the new Miss Art Deco of 2025 was announced! She donned the tiara and sash elegantly, all the while flaunting her unique dress’ 20th century plane-inspired wings.
We even had the opportunity to take to the dance floor ourselves, and despite Logan M.’s complete lack of shoes, I think we did pretty well. “You would have won the Charleston contest!” a nice man told us. Unfortunately, we had missed it by a hair; we’ll have to catch it next year.
6:20 pm, A Far from Silent Movie
Tucked in the far corner of history park, there was a small black tent with a couple of benches inside and a vintage popcorn popper in the back. When our plucky troupe entered, we were met with the charming tinny piano of “The Entertainer” coupled with a man struggling to stay afloat in a sinking boat. We caught the tail end of The Boat by Buster Keaton, and to our surprise, were very thoroughly entertained. We expected silent movie comedy to be over-the-top slapstick riddled with less-than-incredible humor, but we were the loudest laughs there. We decided to stay for another viewing, this time of The Pawnshop starring Charlie Chaplin. Twenty minutes came and went in a flash.
“I’m gonna add that to my Letterboxd,” said Logan as we exited.
6:43 pm, Our Cue to Leave the 1920s
The sun was falling low to the horizon, now, and the festivities were coming to an end. Just as we had packed up, a couple of staff members, including Mrs. Kathy Cabral, approached us and thanked us for visiting the picnic this year. We assured them that we had a great time, and given that we were all not off to college next year, we would definitely return. As one last measure of kindness, they gifted us their extra tote bags from their Downtown Abbey stand, which contained an Art Deco Society Pin, several custom envelopes and letters, and an invitation to an AMC viewing of Downtown Abbey, courtesy of the Society!
Many of my fellow writers have confided in me that this has been one of their favorite, (if not their favorite) Daily Explorers thus far.
“It was really well organized and there was a lot of passion from the people who were attending,” said Mia Hanuska. “Everyone really cared and wanted to have a good time.”
“The ice cream was a ten out of ten,” effused Gio Arteaga.
“I loved how everyone was dressed up,” Averi Halbert added. “If people weren’t dressed up, it wouldn’t have had the same effect. But bring a sewing kit and some duct tape, because fashion emergencies wait for no one.”
“I LOVED the silent films. They were so funny,” exclaimed Laura Lipcsei. “They managed to convey everything really well.”
With aching feet and full photo albums, we trundled back to our decidedly 21st-century vehicles and puttered off into the distance, already excited for next years’ picnic. The Gatsby Picnic is held annually in September; though we were some of the only teenagers present, it was a lot of fun. We believe that this immersive and educational (not to mention very fun) experience could shake up the daily monotony of Bay Area adolescence. Instead of a hike, don some frills and give this event a chance!
PHOTO ALBUM:
THE VERDICT:
- Make sure to bring a sewing kit and duct tape. Like Averi said, fashion emergencies wait for no one.
- If you’re not comfortable walking in heels for long amounts of time, bring (period-appropriate) flat shoes as well!
- Above all, this is a picnic. We left most of our belongings unattended for the vast majority of our time there, since it was both a private event and a very safe family atmosphere.
- Try to dress in 1920s picnic-wear, not flapper-wear.
- Teenagers should come and visit! The Society needs a larger cohort of young people willing to carry on this charming tradition.
Join me in the next issue for yet another adventure, hopefully without such dramatic fashion debacles.
Signing off until next issue,
The Daily Explorer