Finding Beauty in Industrial Expanse

2023-03-14

Recently, I’ve been running from my little corner of Santa Clara out towards the San Jose airport. Since moving in last July, I’ve had it in my mind to make it out there to watch airplanes take off and land as I putter along. The Cottage, my affectionate term for my small 1br studio (read: converted garage), isn’t near any big landmarks, so my runs never really go anywhere; I just head out into the surrounding suburbs. When I feel like I’ve gone far enough in any given direction, I turn around. The airport is one of the few exceptions- it’s one of the few things I could call a “landmark” just within running distance.

The path to get there isn’t picturesque by any means. It took me down the side of 5 lane highways, across two sets of railroad tracks, past countless blank warehouses, a Home Depot, and the Movement Santa Clara climbing gym. I ended up arriving at the airport to find a huge highway and two massive fences surrounding the runways, and I nearly turned around before discovering an opening in the outer fence and signs very quietly advertising a bike path.

The “bike path” traces an outline of a quarter of the San Jose airport, starting on the western side and circling clockwise to the north. When the winds blow from the south-west, one can watch the airplanes coming in for landing directly overhead.

I’ve been in love with flight for nearly all of my life, so the airport is a natural destination and the airplanes are a big draw. I’m always captivated by the huge chunks of metal floating through the sky, at the whim of the invisible wisps of air that we can only just feel. Somehow, we’ve turned the same magic that keeps Peregrine falcons aloft into machines like the 777 Dreamliner, the SR-71 blackbird, the ASW-28, and on and on. I can’t help but find myself pulled to SJC see even the “commonplace” commercial airliners takeoff and land.

However, this isn’t just about the SJC airport. Instead, I’d like to talk a bit about the path to get there. I don’t know the statistic, but I would bet the concrete : flora ratio in the south bay of SF is far above 1 : 1. The region stretches out from the foothills of the east bay to the foothills of the peninsula, spider-webbed with highways. The areas between the roads are filled with industrial zones, densely packed single family housing, and more strip malls than anyone could visit in a lifetime. It’s like someone drew a million road lines on a map, then filled in the regions at random. The section stretching from the Cottage out to the SJC airport is nearly all industrial zone criss crossed with highways.

Given that description, I would normally avoid the area on a run, but the pull of airport is too much. As such, I’ve found myself spending a decent bit of time running through regions build to be crossed in a vehicle. In a vehicle, passing through these areas is uneventful- you close your windows, turn on the AC, crank some tunes, generally ignore your surroundings as best as you can. Being out in industrial zones on foot is different. Even with earbuds in, I’m forced to take in the environment around me- I can’t just press the accelerator and fly through.

Some of my favorite experiences growing up were running around as a child in the woods. Everything had a novelty; each adventure farther and farther away from home seemed to yield a new experience, be it a shift in the makeup of the trees, new flora & fauna, a cool new rock or a stream. Even places that I knew would often reveal new secrets when I revisited.

I’ve found very similar experiences to these childhood adventures in my runs to and from the airport. I’m not going to say that I’ve somehow recaptured the same wonder of exploring the woods at 8 years old, but there is a similar sense of adventure if I keep my mind open. The details that evaporate away when you’re flying through at 50mph can be captivating. Maybe it’s a single colored door on the flat white facade of a massive warehouse, or maybe a milkweed bush sprouting up from a concave corner, or the sun glinting off of metal pipework. These spaces feel like they were designed from 1000’, but spending time with them at ground level reveals intricate, gorgeous details.