For our second Public Square assignment, "This is Where," KPCC and NPR asked you to photograph a place with history, big or small. Here are some of our favorite Instagram images and stories.
Look out for the next theme in a few weeks and find us on Instagram. @NPR and @KPCC
Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi – Pali Lookout: This is where King Kamehameha trapped more than 400 Oahu warriors in 1795, who were then pushed (or jumped) to their deaths off the sheer 1,200-foot cliffs of Nu'uanu Pali. (Lekili Drexler/@lekilihawaii)
This is where my mother moved my brother and I, when I was just a year older than my daughter is now. She worked hard, harder than anyone I know and starting at minimum wage as a new immigrant in this country. She supported us, raised us, loved us, and provided a warm meal for us every single night. I remember the first day she introduced me to this space, my new room. There were no curtains on the wall, the carpets were shagged and a mellow '70s green. The wallpaper was a faded pink from the original design of the house, built over a century ago. There were a few toys scattered on the floor and she told me the windows were small and close to the ground, because they were made just for me. This is now where I can return with my daughter and share in all the love my mother gave me and everything she created for us. She built a good life for us, in her (our) American dream. (@ohdeardrea)
San Pedro, Calif. – This is where the ending to "The Big Lebowski" was filmed. Sunken City was a subdivision until a landslide destroyed it in 1929. Now it's a canvas for graffiti artists. (R.G. Wong/@glomean)
San Francisco – Once the Wartime Civil Control Administration Building, this is where Dorothea Lange photographed images of Japanese Americans and their forced relocation to the Manzanar internment camp in Southern CA in April 1942. Lange was hired to document Roosevelt's Executive Order by the War Relocation Authority. Many of her images were censored. Today, Lange's personal archive is just across the Bay at the Oakland Museum of California. (Bethany Pickard/@blueticket)
Exit Glacier, located in the Kenai Mountains of Alaska, received its name because it served as the exit for the first recorded crossing of the Harding Icefield in 1968. (@blackerhues)
This is where Japan constructed the "Death Railway" during WWII. This was taken on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the setting for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" where thousands of POWs and Asian laborers lost their lives building 250 miles of railway from Thailand to Burma. Now you can charter barges to float down the river.... Even while dressed as Toad from Mario Kart. (@merylfranco)
Atlanta – This is the original site of the pontoon bridge that the Union Army used to cross the Chattahoochee River to invade Atlanta during the Civil War. (Jenny Carroll/@as_ever_photography)
We camped and listened to folk music for three amazing days last month at Planet Bluegrass along the St. Vrain river in Lyons, CO. Lyons is now completely underwater. (@missmelodylynn)
Derbyshire, England – This is Fanshawe Gate Hall, the ancestral home of the Fanshaw family. We were the first Fanshaws to make the journey back from America since the 1800s. This is where my ancestors lived from 1260 to 1944. Our family made it back to visit from America in 2011. (Bret Fanshaw/@bfanshaw)
Elkhorn, Mont. – The trees are taller, the buildings are rubble, but the mountains are the same. This is where my Grandma grew up. (Summer Mishler/@viajera82)
Combine harvester ride. A group of farmers gathered Monday, Sept. 9 to harvest the crop of a friend who died this summer after he planted this field in April. (Ryan Crowe/@plainviewcrowe)
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