Other than what appears, at first blush, to be the front entrance to the official Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Sewer System, the entire complex, shining at the top of a hill in Simi Valley, CA, is beautiful. Had we not arrived so late in the day, we would likely have paid the somewhat pricey $21 per head entrance fee to tour the actual museum, see the old Air Force One that is on display and, perhaps, even pay the extra $6 to check out the “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives” exhibit which is also currently on display there, for some reason, until the end of the month.
As late as it was, however, we decided this time around to just enjoy the grounds, the memorial site, and the gift shop — all free to access — and make a mental note to try to go back for a full day at some point in the not too distant future.
But we were still able to take a few photos that you may enjoy, including this one just outside the entrance to the museum portion of the Reagan Presidential Library. I call it: “Trust But Photograph”…
Here are a few more of the photos we took yesterday, some odder and/or more ironic than others…
Desi Doyen (of The BRAD BLOG’s Green News Report) observes the “No Dancing” sign at the Reagan Memorial Site on the grounds…
Here’s a somewhat creepy — almost Joker-ish bronze bust – near “The Peace Garden” (not to be confused with “The Freedom Path” which leads from the parking lot to the main structure and where, we surmised, we might not be quite as free to do whatever we wanted, as the name otherwise implies)…
You’ll find that bust right near this…
There is a series of actual fading magazine covers framed along the wall in the “Reagan Country Cafe”, including this one…
Not far from this one (note the NRA Endorsement on the bottom)…
Next to the cafe, we find the excellent gift shop, with lots of cool stuff, including books from many Rightwing authors, and the occasional historian.
Here’s a copy of George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation, right next to an autographed copy of The Joy of Hate by Greg Gutfeld of Fox ‘News’…
The book by former RNC Chair Michael Steele doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly…
Neither does this one by this guy…
You can also purchase this blonde woman in a plastic bag at the Reagan Library Gift Shop…
What a twist! Obama gets co-opted for a Reagan t-shirt!…
Of course, at the Reagan Library Gift Shop, freedom isn’t free. It’s $2.95 plus sales tax.
And then, the final and perhaps cruelest irony from our photographic tour of the Presidential Library gift shop and grounds of the President who took down the solar panels President Jimmy Carter had placed atop the White House…this sign spotted above each urinal in the men’s room…
Hope you enjoyed the tour. We’ll be back to tour the actual museum exhibits themselves someday. If they let us…
What?
No twenty mule team Borax display?
Thanks for the great tour…I can cross that off of my “bucket list”…Now, what to do about the choice of the George the Younger library, or the “Largest Ball of Ear Wax, and Sex Toy Museum”…Hmmmm
I’m sorry, but any publication that calls itself “American Rifleman”, and doesn’t show Chuck Connors on the cover is bogus.
All kidding aside, I have been addicted to “The Rifleman” for the last year. Chuck Connors played a well read man who usually gunned somebody down in every episode who deserved it, but NEVER shot a man in the back.
Great television fantasy.
Who is that distinguished looking gentleman with the sprinkles of gray in his hair?
(I know, who asked me right 🙂
What … NO NANCY ???
No diorama with a Ronnie waxwork waving at the press while Nancy whispers comebacks to their questions ?
No replica of the 4,370-piece Lenox china (place settings of 19 pieces for 220 people) Nancy bought for $209,508 but, due to public outcry, was ultimately paid for with donations ?
Sorry, but no Nancy ? No fancy !
Excellent! Although I must say from your tone it’s a bit disappointing that apparently zero class rubbed off on you whilst you were in the midst of such greatness. That’s kinda sad…
With everything Reagan, the letter ‘R’ replaces the letter ‘L’, thus turning class to crass.
The Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan Presidential Libraries are a marked study in contrasts.
The Carter Library is scholarly, a library dedicated to the Carter Presidency both its successes and failure; an educational institution.
The Ronnie Library is a shrine to Ronnie and Nancy.
Here is where Ronnie and Nancy drank their first milkshake, here is Ronnie’s jet here is Ronnie’s cowboy hat and all this is guarded by ramrod straight, blond or silver haired, blue eyed men and women with shinny white teeth.
The Ronnie place gave me the creeps.
GWN @ 4:
Answer 1) What gray?! That’s a trick of the light!
Answer b) Exactly! 😉
When I saw the Sloan water-conservation photo at the end of this piece, I burst out laughing, remembering my March 2010 interview with Morris Fiorina, who noted that the GOP abandoned environmental concerns during the Reagan era to pursue campaign contributions from developers who opposed environmental regulations:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dr...rew-c-mccarthy
And what is up with those trees on the library grounds? Didn’t Reagan say in 1981 that trees caused more pollution than cars?
no mention of hreagans and ollie norths treason committed in the white house ?
Ronald Reagan = greatness?
Sad that I suspect Steve Snyder is still taken in by the Teflon President.
@Earnest (#12): Face it, if Steve is the wingnut, then Reagan is the screw he’s wrapped around…
Great. Now I feel ill. His girl friend was in the AlterNet news today…
Margaret Thatcher Was a Privatization Pioneer, and This Is the Story of How Her Agenda Did Nothing But Make Life Worse for Millions of People.