Heritage Park Is A Time Machine

I felt nostalgia for my native Boston area when my husband and I took a Sunday walk through Heritage Park in Cerritos California. I chose the park, which is always potentially dangerous.  That means it is likely to have ducks, architectural curiosities and (disaster of disasters) other people — including children. It had all of the above.  In particular the architectural curiosities included a miniature version of revolutionary Boston.  It was maybe 2/3 or 3/4 size.  It was easy to tell for some one who had grown up in close proximity to plenty of (downtown Boston) statuary that this was no life-size equestrian statue.

In the same token, I cannot tell the exact size reduction.  In “Boston Village” a life size human (me) could slip inside the human-sized doorways, which seemed rather large for the buildings. But when I finally was, on a brief vacation return, free to wander through historical downtown Boston, the original 18th century buildings seemed too small to be life size.  I wondered if people had been shorter then. The children romped around everywhere all over the park, running interference against my assiduous husband-photographer as well as hobbling me, with my trusty “Catchke” — my duck-headed cane — defending me on one side while my husband took the opposite hand. Life is quite strange for the east-coaster who comes to California.

A patient who had flown to California from New England for substance abuse treatment lamented to me: “I miss all the cute little brick buildings with domes. This whole place is just one big strip mall.” So someone had the amazing presence of mind to build Heritage Park in Cerritos California. I cannot help but think this was a very good idea for the young folks and maybe some older ones of Cerritos California. And me.