Dave's Travel Adventures: Long Beach, Carson, and Cerritos (CA) -- October 2014

DAY THREE – 22 October 2014

I came down as soon as the breakfast area had opened. There was a waffle maker and coffee, but that was the extent of the “hot” items available. Having a “hot breakfast” was one of the reasons why I booked here. There were some hard-boiled eggs which I had for protein. Beyond that, I had cereal, toast, and fruit (which was getting close to the end of its ripeness). I hoped I could find something else during the day, so I wouldn’t have to rely on the protein bars. I’d called Evert to let him know I’d be waiting outside by the street, so that way he just needed to pull off to the side of the road to pick me up.

Today we were hitting the “points north” of Sunset Beach (which was centrally located to the dealers in the region). We went up PCH through Long Beach, and I recognized the area from the previous visit. I pointed out the In-N-Out Burger my group had lunched at on our first day in.

I was amused at one used clothing store I saw off of PCH, after we’d gone westward past the traffic circle. (Okay, that will make sense to those familiar with the area, and it’s a way for the rest of you to find this.) I first spotted a pink roof, with a coat hanger on the marquee (which also happened to be pink). The place was called “Out of the Closet,” and it listed its services as “second-hand clothing, pharmacy, and HIV testing.” The traffic wouldn’t let us slow down enough for to get a shot. I don’t think it struck Evert as funny as it did me, but I knew Bill & Bobby was get a laugh out of it.

The first dealership we stopped at was north of the area, so still in Long Beach. One thing I did notice was the number of oil wells in the area. These were the ones which look like a T setting diagonally. While some were sitting behind buildings, others were fenced off in the middle of parking lots. Evert explained this used to be a big oil area at the beginning of the 20^th Century, before the boom in Texas. They thought the oil had been tapped, but the last decade or so the fields are being explored further with new technology to obtain the oil they weren’t previously able to reach. Evert didn’t believe they were frakking the area, but he didn’t think so.

From there, we shot a little west to Carson, which was in the more industrial area. We passed a fire house which looked really familiar to me. I don’t know if it was the actual exterior locale used for the Emergency TV show from the 1970’s, or one which just looked similar. Evert tried to slow down to let me take a picture, but the flow of traffic wouldn’t let him. That’s what this picture was supposed to be of.

Evert did mention because this was in the “TMZ,” of “Thirty-Mile Zone,” that’s very possible that was the same building. The TMZ was the area where filming is allowed to take place without some special permits and such were needed.

Part of the nice thing of riding with Evert was he was able to show me different routes that I may need to take in the future, or give me little tidbits of the area. Since we were in a nice area, and it was getting close to noon, Evert made a recommendation for lunch. We went down to the section of Long Beach where the Los Angeles River dumps into the Pacific, an area known as Shoreline Village. This used to me more of a tourist destination for shops and such, but it was just barely hanging on. I found that surprising, considering some of the interesting items which were in the area, like the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Queen Mary across the bay.

There were a few well-recommended choices in the area, like Gladstone’s and Tequila Jack’s, but we went for the Yard House. With a nice outdoor patio and great weather, Evert and I had a great view of the harbor. Yard House had a menu varied in the way that Cheddar’s or Applebee’s does, but of much better quality. The lunch combo of BBQ chicken pizza and chicken tortilla soup was fabulous. Evert noted with a smile that I must like chicken.

Across the harbor was the Lions Lighthouse for Sight. I didn’t know much about it, but I took a picture of that for Mum. She likes lighthouses, so she’ll get one on this trip. And if I ever drag my parents here, we may want to visit it. I’d have to research later if there’s any significance of it.

Leaving the parking lot, we could look across to see where the Queen Mary was parked. I knew that was a tourist attraction from one of the brochures I’d picked up at the hotel.

Our first two stops had taken a little longer than expected, and the lunch was a little out of the way, so we had to make up some time. We cruised up to Bellflower, and then over to Cerritos (a different section than I visited the last time I was here). One of the main drags here was called Artesia Blvd, which was named after all the artesian wells in the area. Evert noted his Dutch heritage, and said this was the section where he grew up. He mentioned it was weird to drive around these sections decades after he’s lived there. I commented having a similar feeling go around Glens Falls when I got back up there to visit.

We reached our last stop of the night in Buena Park. Ironically that was close to where Evert lived, but he had to still drive back a ways in order to drop me off. He did let his wife know he’d be late because of that. I had a chance to say to Mrs. Evert over the speakers of the hands-free system.

Heading down Beach Blvd (Route 39), we passed Knott’s Berry Farm. Originally this had been a working farm (back when this was a heavily agricultural area), but then wagon hay rides changed to carnival-type activities. This was the first actual “amusement park” in the area. When Walt decided to build his version in Anaheim, he saw what worked at Knott’s and implemented into his. Evert noted that Knott’s Berry Farm struggled for a number of years, but has stabilized economically to become a less-expensive competitor to the House of Mouse nearby. That tale reminded me of how Charles Wood took the fledging Storytown in Lake George (NY) and rebranded it into the successful Great Escape.

After Evert dropped me off at my hotel, I changed into some casual clothes so I could go out to find some dinner. Alex wasn’t working the front desk tonight, so I didn’t follow one of her tips. I’d been checking stuff out for myself, and narrowed it down to two potential targets. The second was a deli called Brix, the first was an inviting-sounding pub called Nadine’s Irish Mist.

Nadine’s didn’t look like much from the outside, as the building was small and there wasn’t much parking available. Okay, the only reason why I drove instead of walked was because I still wanted to try to get some actual work done this evening. I would’ve enjoyed the stroll up PCH, but on this work-trip my own time has been limited.

Once I walked in Nadine’s, it looked for like a bar than an actual pub, as there weren’t many tables sitting around. I didn’t see anyone sitting at them eating dinner, and if the menu was limited to only the items which could be grilled and/or deep-fried, I was going to head to second choice. The bartender (Gavin) gave me a menu, and since there was some decent filling food here, I took a place at the bar. Figured I’d get more stimulating conversation that way. I ordered the shepherd’s pie.

While I waited I struck up a conversation with the brunette sitting next to me. Her name was Ariel, and was also here on business. Ariel had flown in from Detroit in order to check on information about the oil rigs in the area. We chuckled about how I’d come from Texas to check on the car dealerships, and you’d think the Texan would be checking the oil stuff and the Detroit person the car stuff. We also ganged up on Gavin to prove to him that Bailey’s Irish Crème actually did contain some dairy products, as Gavin had said there was no milk in there when he made Ariel a White Russian.

The shepherd’s pie I had was very good, as the meat was ground properly and it wasn’t outnumbered by the veggies. During my repast, I had good interaction with Ariel, and she liked my stories about the Rum Experiment of 2011 and when I baked cookies in my car. Her rum of choice was Sailor Jerry’s (which is a great one), but she’d never heard of Cruzan.

She was flying out real early Friday morning, and she just had one work thing to do tomorrow afternoon, so tonight was her “play night.” She was staying only a short walk away, and had come here because it was close by. Well, I could reasonably argue that because of internet issues I wasn’t going to get any work done tonight, but I still needed to be in some condition for my dealer visits tomorrow. If I was going to spend the most of the next day just sitting on an airplane, then I would’ve stayed longer. It was a great interaction we were having.

Ariel commented that she hoped to be coming to Austin within the next month or two. Numbers were exchanged, and I made an offer to show her around the area when she came down. About that time the karaoke had started, and it made the area noisy so it was difficult to hold a conversation. Ariel was going to have a couple more drinks to help use up her expense account, and I head back to my hotel.

Yeah, I had done much playing on this trip, but with being out-of-pocket during my dealer visits (plus connectivity problems), I hadn’t done much work either. I figured I’d play some catch-up on Saturday when I was home. But one thing I wanted to do was to watch an actual sunset over the Pacific, something which I hadn’t seen yet. And based on where Evert and I were heading tomorrow, there was a chance of that happening on Thursday.

For more information on the places visited or mentioned:

Long Beach (CA): http://www.longbeach.gov/

“Out of the Closet” (Long Beach, CA): http://outofthecloset.org/

Carson (CA): http://ci.carson.ca.us/

Shoreline Village: http://www.shorelinevillages.com/

Aquarium of the Pacific: http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/

The Queen Mary: http://www.queenmary.com/

Gladstone’s: http://www.gladstoneslongbeach.com/

Tequila Jack’s Cantina: http://www.tequilajacks.com/

Yard House: http://www.yardhouse.com/CA/long-beach-restaurant/

Lions Lighthouse for Sight: http://www.southlandarchitecture.com/Building/5176/The-Lions-Lighthouse-for-Sight.php

Bellflower (CA): http://www.bellflower.org/home/index.asp