New Road’s Arches Fail to Elevate

Newport Coast Drive is open, beckoning to all who will to come fly the hills and vales of formerly proscribed lands from the ancient and venerable PCH to MacArthur Boulevard: one non-place to another.

But, stay awhile! The mind and hand of man have not been hesitant, have not been quiescent, but have arisen, nay, have arched to meet an unasked-for challenge which will grant definition and meaning and, therefore, a certain grace, to this bastard descendant of the Roman Way.

I draw your attention please to the pair of arches, symmetrically angled on the PCH egress/access. Where is the triumph, where is the magnificence, where is the glory, and/or where the grandeur?

Lost, alas, in paired piles of Lego blocks, with no more references to an Arc de Triomphe or a Washington Arch or a St. Louis sky bridge than the simple-minded elements of a child’s toy. Apparently, we Californians cannot countenance triumph, magnificence, glory, or even grandeur but, rather, need two piles, properly humbled yet tastefully displayed in front of defined woods of palms which in the passing will make our lives’ journeys stylish but without distinction.

ANN H. TASHJIAN, Laguna Beach