CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[krbsforty]

I wanted to buy something on the cedmagic.com web site, but the section to purchase it says "Product purchase from CED Magic is temporarily unavailable." Does any one know what has happened? Is there a problem with the web site?

[Rixrex]

That usually happens when Tom (Howe) is away and not around to take or fill orders.

[cedmagic]

I'm back and have re-enabled the Products Page:

http://www.cedmagic.com/home/purchase.html

Coincidentally, I happened to be in San Diego when you made your inquiry, finishing up the Vancouver BC to Tijuana bike route. Here's the very tall fence at Borderfield State Park with the Bullring-by-the-Sea just on the other side:



--Tom Howe

[Rixrex]

Very different from when I was first in Tijuana in 1972. Back then it was an easy walk over to TJ, then a long walk over a bridge that overlooked a big wash with a shanty town of shacks near the water, and the smell of outdoor cooking on fires. TJ itself then was like something out of a Fellini movie, lots of multi-colored buildings, all older adobe, and loud signs announcing all the small tourist shops. No really tall buildings. The biggest one then was the Jai Alai stadium. Many taverns and saloons of the kind you might see in the US in the pre-WW2 period. In fact it was really like stepping back in time to before 1940 or 1950. Best tacos I ever had at an outdoor taco stand and you could drink beer at age 18.

Even better than that was the one trip I took that same summer to Mexicali and Calexico, about 100 miles east of San Diego. It was a rough two-lane asphalt road that went into Mexico. We parked in a dirt lot on the US side and walked over. Ther was no real immigration inspection station, just a small shack like at a state park. One guy sitting there outside talking with the Mexican guard right across the border. Very few people walking back and forth. He looked at us and said to have a good time and don't cause trouble. There was a wooden arm that he could raise or lower for cars. It wouldn't stop anybody really.

The town was like a border town you'd have expected to see in a western. Plenty of bars with the swinging doors, beer was pretty cheap, women with too much makeup hanging around for a drink. At that time the town was pretty small and you could walk it easily in a short time. We had a beer and left to go home since we had been at Salton Sea all day. When we went back over, of course there was no line. The Mexican guard asked us if we bought anything, but we hadn't. The US guard just waved us through without getting up.

Those were two great trips, a real step back in time from what was in the US in those days.