When Jay first moved to LA, he lived in Venice Beach and worked at a restaurant called The Sidewalk Cafe. I had never been to that area before, but had heard many stories about what goes on and so I was anxious to see the famous Venice Boardwalk and this other side of CA living.
Hugging the Santa Monica Bay in an arch, the desirable communities of Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice move from the ultra rich, ultra casual Malibu to the bohemian/seedy Venice. They have cleaner air, mild temps and an emphasis on the famous beach focused lifestyle that is considered the hallmark of Southern CA.
We met Jay's childhood friend, Lanny, at Jay's former job, wait-staff at the Sidewalk Cafe when he lived a block away in Venice Beach. He was greeted all around by the staff like he had seen them yesterday, although he hadn't been out that way for about four years. We ordered Bloody Marys and burgers and sat in the outside cafe watching the scene in front of us. What a spectacle!
Boardwalk is something of a stretch, it's really a five-block section of paved walkway-but this place offers up year round entertainment.
There are clowns, (some rather frightening), bikini-clad rollerbladers, magicians, fortune-tellers, tattoo parlors, jugglers, all vying for attention from the crowds. One man stood very quietly watching it all, then donned a black cloak (look carefully at the photo) and stood with his arms straight up, like a statue covered in black fabric. As the tourists walked by, he would reach out and tap them on the shoulder, instantly getting back into statue mode. It was hilarious watching the reactions from passers-by as they turned to see who had touched them. After that, this same person (Jay told us his name was Jules and had been doing this same routine for years) watched the crowd and began to mimic people at random. Following close behind, he would imitate their strut and facial expressions. It was terribly funny to see these poor clueless folks who had no idea why the crowd was laughing.
There are rock bands playing loud music on the corner, bodybuilders pumping iron, bicyclists zipping along and skateboarders weaving in and out of the throngs. A true carnival atmosphere. I admit to thinking to myself:. "I know I'm not in Connecticut anymore". It was fun and I'm glad we went, but I'm happy Jay doesn't live there anymore.
Another attraction we visited was the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
I don't think I would have been interested in seeing this elegant old ocean liner except for the fact that my parents crossed the Atlantic on her in 1950.
This beautifully preserved ship was launched in 1934 and made 1001 transatlantic crossings before ending up in Long Beach in 1967.
On board we took a behind the scenes tour, excellent and informative. Amazing to visit this old fashioned era of glamorous, ocean travel which eventually was overtaken by jet airplanes. Unlike Titanic, no gates between classes but there were classes. First got the center of the ship (top to bottom), the most stable, second was aft (they felt the rumble of the engines and prop shafts), and third, "Oh My", they were in the bow which had the most movement of any part of the ship. Think 30-60 foot waves and how much the bow would have moved versus the center of the ship!
There is a new namesake, the Queen Mary 2, and our grandchildren can see her from the top floor of their home when she is docked in Redhook, Brooklyn. They are fascinated by the sight and call her the Mary Queen. The new ship is very high tech and fast, and fun to travel on, in fact my sister and her husband have taken several trips aboard the Queen Mary 2.
Throughout the tour, we saw photos of celebrities who traveled aboard such as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, and the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, all dressed in formal attire and looking very chic.
The highlight for me was stumbling onto an enormous ship's manifest. It is the size of at least two NYC phone books, and I found my parents' name and the name of my aunt and uncle who had traveled with them in 1950. Our Uncle Ray, whom we all remember very fondly, was a Ford dealer, the owner of Lee Motors. He shipped a brand new 1950 Ford in the hold which was off-loaded in La Havre and my parents and Uncle Ray and Aunt Betty were driven across Europe by Jacques, a French driver hired on the dock! Someone in the fam has the photo's of Mom and Dad in their French beret's (Em's?). They took what was then known as The Grand Tour.
I was thrilled to be walking the same decks on the Queen Mary that they had strolled all those years ago. It brought a tear.
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