L.A. Confidential...and San Diego

Uncle Bill

On Friday the 4th of May, we arrived in Los Angeles after driving through the desert and past gas prices at a whopping $4.99 per gallon. Yikes. (We found LA's gas stations at between $4.09 and $4.45, so no great shakes here either.) My Uncle Bill met us at the Birmingham RV Park in Van Nuys (basically Los Angeles), and we settled into a nice campsite after a minor squabble with the owner over the price. We prevailed. The park is very nice and clean, and superbly located in the middle of town. After settling in, we headed over to Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth's house and then to dinner at a local Italian ristorante. We had a nice time catching up with them.

Point Mugu

Relaxing in Malibu

On Saturday, we drove up to Camarillo to see Ken's old house and found his neighbors still living a couple of houses down the street. We chatted with them for over an hour before heading into Oxnard for lunch at the very yummy Cafe Rio and some much needed toe-dipping at the beach. We also found the first house Ken lived in when he moved to the area in 1974. We then drove south to Point Mugu and Mugu Rock for some scenic picture-taking. After that we continued south along the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu Beach for additional toe-dipping...what a pretty day.

James, Jason, Jen, and Jordyn

Al and Aunt Sallie

On Sunday, we met Uncle Bill, Aunt Sallie and Al for lunch at Lulu's Restaurant, where we enjoyed 99-cent mimosas and bloody marys. Many were had along with the tasty diner food. We chatted for quite a while and then Ken and I drove down to Jason and Jen's place to meet the kiddos and go to dinner. We had a great time catching up and carrying on, and watching James and Jordyn playing with the neighbor kids.

Union Station in LA

On Monday, we did some chores before driving down to Olvera Street in the old section of historic LA. Olvera Street is basically an open-air tchtchoke market waiting for the next tourist to ensnare. We took pictures, but somehow managed not to buy any of the tiny guitars, maracas or skeleton-themed crap available there. We walked over to Union Station to take some pictures of the historic building.

Olvera Street in Los Angeles

Later in the day, we met my high school friend, Robyn, for dinner at the Farmer's Market at 3rd and Fairfax in LA. The Farmer's Market is a unique building made up of small shops and restaurants tucked into little hallways where everything from perfume and pastries to pastrami and pinot is for sale. The market originally opened in 1934 with a small troupe of local farmers offering their produce for sale from the backs of their trucks. Ken and I took advantage of a happy hour at one of the small bars in the market before Robyn arrived. We three caught up on the last 11 or so years of life over dinner at a little Mexican restaurant. What a nice evening, though we completely forgot to get a picture of her! Grr!

On Tuesday, we poked around the campground during the day and then met Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth for dinner at a great Indian restaurant in Woodland Hills called Anarbagh. Very tasty food!

Pam and Uncle Pat

On Wednesday, we drove to Manhattan Beach and met my Great Uncle Pat for lunch. He took us to a tiny Mexican restaurant, Sion, where we had posole, tacos and enchiladas. Yum. After lunch, Uncle Pat took us on a tour of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

Uncle Pat and Pam at SeaLab

We dropped by SeaLab, a hands-on aquarium where we learned from Uncle Pat that the fishing used to be significantly better before commercial fishing in the area reduced the bait fish so dramatically. Virtually every fish on display at SeaLab Uncle Pat has caught at one time or another. We had a great time.

We returned to Uncle Pat's house where he helped us pick fresh oranges, tangerines and loquats from the trees in his backyard before we had ice cream and cookies for dessert. He showed us a photo album of his award-winning dahlias and regaled us with tales of life in Manhattan Beach for the last 90+ years. Coincidentally, Manhattan Beach is celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year and Uncle Pat will be honored as the longest term resident. (He gets to ride in a 1929 Packard in the parade!) We had so much fun visiting with him...it was hard to leave!

De-sanding after toe-dipping at
Manhattan Beach

Nonetheless, we drove a short bit away and dipped our toes in the ocean at Manhattan Beach before driving down to have dinner with Jason and Jen and the kiddos again. Another fun evening with them!

Spence and Ken with the 'Watter Toy'

On Thursday, we drove to Mission Viejo to Spencer and Dawn's house. With Spence's solid plan in place, we drove to Bob and Gail's beach house in Newport Beach. We met Spence and Dawn's daughter, Carrie, there for a ride in Bob and Gail's 'Watter Toy', an electric Duffy boat, one of literally hundreds of them around the bay, each with an electricity-themed name. Spence toured us around the bay and pointed out houses of rich and famous folks before we docked at the Harborside Restaurant for happy hour snacks. So tasty! It was an interesting ride made more interesting with the discovery that the ignition problems we were encountering were due to using the shed key to start the boat. Oops. We wondered if the ignition key would open the shed, but didn't test that theory.

When we returned to the boat slip, we dropped off Carrie, exchanged keys and set out for the Back Bay. After touring for another 1/2 hour or so (this time without incident and with the actual boat key), we returned to the house. Bob came by to water Gail's beautiful plants flowering all around the house, and stayed to chat with us for a bit. We heard about a harrowing Duffy incident where Bob and Gail were run over from behind in broad daylight by a big power boat (luckily, they escaped unharmed), as well as about some interesting hiking trips Spence and Bob have taken over the years to various scenic spots in California.

Dave Skintek, Accordionist

We left and drove to the Phoenix Club, a big German restaurant/bar/club where Dawn's brother, Dave Skintek, plays the accordion on the 2nd Thursday evening of each month along with 8 or 9 other accordionists. We listened to polka music for a couple of hours and enjoyed a tasty German meal. Dave was, by far, the best and fastest accordionist there. We thoroughly enjoyed the show. We returned to Dawn and Spencer's house and chatted with their son, Mike, before heading off to bed. What a fun day!

Pam, Dawn, Spencer, and Ken with their new camper

In the morning, Spencer made us all apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast...yum! A bit later, he and Ken went to pick up Spence and Dawn's new camping trailer to pack up for the weekend. We took the dime tour of it and then said our goodbyes and continued our trip to San Diego. What a great time we had with Dawn, Spence, Carrie and Mike (and their two funny kitties, Gizmo and Gadget)!

Bill, Kate and Ken

We arrived in San Diego in time for lunch at a little Thai restaurant near the hotel and then drove to Bill and Kate's. We spent the next several hours chatting and laughing with them about all manner of topics. We met their sons, Garrett, Travis and Dustin, their daughter-in-law, Rocky, their grandson, Walter, and two kitties, Chubby and Smoky. We had dinner at a little Mexican/fish place called Wahoo's, which was super tasty. What a fun evening with them!

Ken and Anette

Spreckels Pavilion at Balboa Park

On Saturday, we found and took pictures of two more places where Ken lived in the late 60s in San Diego. We met Ken's friend, Anette, at her place on Point Loma and she took us around town to several San Diego specific destinations. We began at Balboa Park, a lovely place with lots of historic buildings and museums. A glass blowing show was on display in the Spanish Village art center and we happened on a pipe organ concert at the outdoor Spreckels Organ Pavilion. We walked around the park and saw hundreds of different flowering bushes and plants, it was absolutely beautiful. From there we drove to Seaport Village, an outdoor mall of tourist shops along the waterfront of San Diego Harbor, complete with balloon animal magicians, hundreds of dogs and thousands of people. We also saw an Asian Festival going on at Liberty Station, where we had a picnic lunch in the grass under a little tree, the only shade in the whole place. We headed back to Anette's house for an afternoon glass of wine or three, and chatted for several hours. What a fun day outside we had!

Aunt Sallie, Al and Pam

We parted ways with Anette and drove through Winchester, California on our way back to LA to look for an old friend of Ken's (thus far, unsuccessfully).

Pam and Tweety Bird

On Sunday (Mother's Day), we met Aunt Sallie and Al at the Whiteman Airport to check out their little yellow airplane, an Ercoupe they call 'Tweety Bird'. Without a battery we weren't able to fly in it, but we still took turns sitting in the cockpit. They introduced us to a bunch of friends of theirs at the airport and we chatted with John over lunch at the little forgettable diner. We had a great time hearing about their passion for flying and working on 'Tweety Bird'. What a nice day!

Phyl, Ken and David

After lunch, we drove out to Palmdale for dinner with our good friend, Phyl, and her son, David. We chatted and laughed about funny stories into the wee hours of the evening. What a great time we had with them, catching up on the last few years.

After a long drive back to the tin can, we collapsed into bed after a wonderful weekend spent with lots of great friends and family.