With the incredibly frequent dysfunctions of the US air traffic system I felt it prudent to get to L.A. on Wednesday afternoon so as to have NO chance of missing my Friday night flight to Fiji. I have a few hours to chill at hotel before meeting with the mission group at LAX so will do some writing.
I lived in Long Beach from 1990-1994 while doing my Anesthesiology residency at UC Irvine and the Long Beach VAMC. It was a rough period with the Rodney King riots, the Northridge earthquake, some fires, etc. It has been 10 years since I have been here, mostly because once my dad retired to the SF Bay Area my west coast trips were mostly up there.
100 miles from L.A. just desert but near Palm Springs was the 11,000 foot San Gorgonio Mountain.
For such a huge airport, LAX really was very efficient at getting me my luggage and quickly shuttled to Avis. I was supposed to have a “midsized” car but got a funky AWD, plug in Hybrid Jeep.
I elected to stay at a hotel at airport to make it easier to get there for my late night flight. Very nice Homewood Suites.
I chillaxed by the pool for a little while and then caught an hour nap before driving down to Huntington Beach for dinner. Rush hour traffic was as bad as ever. It took 90 minutes to get there but only 45 minutes afterwards to get back without the traffic. I drove past Long Beach and also Bolsa Chica State Park south of Seal Beach where I used to “surf”.
I had forgotten about the amazing water tower house in Huntington Beach.
I can remember going to see a Surfing Contest at the Huntington Beach pier when Kelly Slater was a young newcomer. He is in his 50s now and still competes! Fittingly Ghada chose Duke’s restaurant.
Great decor and perfect view from our table. If you don’t know who Duke Kahanamoku was then you need to read up on him. Born as minor royal before USA eliminated the Hawaiian Kingdom he won gold medals in swimming in three Olympics, popularized surfing in California and acted in films.
My medical school classmate Ghada. I don’t think I have seen her in 30 years. It is not surprising she became a plastic surgeon as she was the most talented artist in our medical school class. It is fun that whether I am in Seattle, Chicago, or Boston or NYC or L.A. I have friends from med school I am still in touch with.Thursday morning I drove (a short 25 minutes) past Marina Del Ray to Venice and parked by the Venice fishing pier. I ran north to the Santa Monica pier and then did a couple of loops. I ran at easy pace and was planning on 10 miles but with all the photo breaks I took it seemed 1:30 running time was enough. It was a little humid but not hot, the “June gloom” marine layer was quite thick for my whole visit, usually not burning off until 2 or 3 in afternoon when it would be sunny finally. Venice was fairly quiet at noon on a cloudy weekday but some of the characters were out, fire juggling, babbling incoherently, selling handmade jewelry and artworks.
While running I listened to Everclear and The Red Hot Chili Peppers on my iPhone. Quintessential L.A. music.
After running out of sidewalk on heading south after out and back I went into Venice a block and saw a sign to the “Canal Path”. I knew that the developer of the Venice neighborhood had planned for Canals but didn’t realize so many were still intact.
Very nice houses, all different styles and so many with gorgeous, fragrant gardens of tropical plants.Yes, I did stop to smell those roses. When I finished back at the Venice Pier there were a few surfers out. The wind was coming from offshore which is bad but I saw a few good rides. In this one the guy got up great and then immediately got wiped out. Last second before tumbling.Friday morning I did an hour on the cycle, my last bike ride for next few weeks. I watched the first episode of the new Keifer Sutherland show “Rabbit Hole” on Paramount+. Enjoyable if unbelievable, but so was “24” years ago.
I drove up to Griffith Park and did a short hike around the Observatory Area. I didn’t have time to go up to Dantes Peak or see the Hollywood sign but the park brought back fond memories of hikes there with my late friend Brian Frisch. I also remember once going to see a Dylan/Santana concert at the Greek Theatre in the park. Santana was great and Dylan awful as he has been every time i have seen him live. I wish he would just lip-synch to the studio versions of his songs like all the pop artist do 🙂
Such a peaceful respite from the TRAFFIC and crowds of L.A.
I was then off, through MORE traffic, to visit my Uncle Lenny and Aunt Harriet. Lenny is my late father’s younger brother.
The Skirball Cultural Center didn’t open until 1995 after I left L.A. It has beautiful architecture and gardens.The permanent exhibit of Jewish cultural history is amazing.The main temporary exhibit was a very comprehensive one about the affect on Hollywood artists and writers during the dark days of the McCarthy era. Ironically I guess the exhibit would be banned by Desantis if a Florida college tried to show it. A smaller exhibit about Krasnow, born in Ukraine in 1902, he came to US at 20, was devastated by the events of WW2 and tried to make bright art afterwards.Lenny is still working in the film industry at 81, Harriet was volunteering at museum but they made her an employee, staying active has them both doing amazingly well physically and mentally. We played tennis last time i saw them 2 years ago in Scottsdale where both their daughters (my only 2 first cousins) live.
Lenny’s IMDB link above does not mention his recent involvement with the amazing “Loving Vincent” which I highly recommend. Hand painted animated Van Gogh story.
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I just finished the audiobook of Tastes Like War, a very difficult but amazing memoir by a Korean-American woman whose mom developed Schizophrenia at 40. The Existentialist book is a quick survey of the Existentialist’s philosophy, lives and influence on the world. I liked it but it is a little deep.Will start these both on the 11 hour plane flight tonight.
Wow Dave amazing summary and pics! You know more about this area than I do and I have lived here 23 years😄
Ghada
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div dir=”ltr”>Nice post. I believe Dylan/Santana was
Enjoyable blog