On The Road — Page 25

Heading Up the Coast

July 11, 2017 at 11:29 am by Claudia

Photo heavy post ahead.

Closing night was great! A full house of Parrotheads – hearing their enthusiastic reaction to all the jokes and songs was such fun. Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful ending to this run. Everyone in the cast is lovely and they are truly going to miss each other.

Yesterday, we got up and started packing up the car, which took a long time as Don has been here for over 3 months. Then we stopped at DSW so he could get some sandals, whereupon I bought some new Birkenstocks, whereupon we ran to Whole Foods to get some breakfast from their hot bar and some coffee to go. So we got on the road a little later than we’d planned.

The beach near Laguna Beach on the Pacific Coast Highway.

As you might imagine, we hit the brakes when we saw this sign.

Don was hoping they sold t-shirts, but alas, they didn’t.

We went through countless little towns. As we were traveling through the South Bay area of Los Angeles, I looked up to see this sign:

As my shriek echoed through the car, Don took his cue and turned the car around.

I’ve heard about Antique Stove Heaven for years. This well-known little shop restores vintage stoves and yours truly has wanted an antique stove for YEARS.

EEEEEEEEEK!

We went inside to find a funky shop, short on decorative appeal, but long on beautiful old stoves. Marcos, who was working there yesterday, restores many of the stoves and he spent a lot of time with us, explaining the process, taking us on a tour, letting us pet his cat and his dog. We learned so much.

Could you die?

Here’s the big news. Don has fallen for these beauties! We’ve fallen in love with this one, specifically:

An O’Keefe and Merritt from the mid-fifties. We also like the one to the left.

Here it is with the cover up and converted to a shelf:

See those white protrusions at the top above the clock, etc? Salt and pepper shakers.

We’re very serious about this baby. We would have to have it converted to propane, but Marcos told me they do that all the time.

What do you think Don was saying to me here? (I’m not sure, but this photo makes me laugh – also, he’s holding my phone for me.)

After our time at Antique Stove Heaven, we drove toward Santa Monica, where we stopped, put on our bathing suits, and jumped in the Pacific Ocean.

That’s the famous Santa Monica Pier in the distance.

Don did a little body surfing, I played in the waves…it was glorious.

Then we drove through stunning Malibu.

We stopped at a lovely, intimate Italian restaurant and had a delicious meal. And then we drove for quite a while until we found a motel for the night.

Today: More driving up the coast of California.

Happy Tuesday.

Strange, But Good

July 7, 2017 at 11:30 am by Claudia

A strange day yesterday, but good.

Breakfast at Harry’s:

According to Don, the original Harry was a bat boy for the Brooklyn Dodgers and he followed the team out west when they moved to Los Angeles. The walls are covered with baseball memorabilia and Norman Rockwell paintings, so yours truly feels right at home there. It’s still family owned and Harry’s son runs it now. It’s very popular, as you might guess, and the staff is fantastic. Of course, everyone knows Don by name. I expected nothing less. He’s a charmer, our Don.

By the way, I’ve only been here a few days and we’ve been stopped twice by people who recognize Don. The first time was in Ocean Beach on the Fourth. The second was at a coffee shop in Pacific Beach, where it turns out one of the employees had seen the production and asked me to take a picture of him with Don.

This is nothing new, by the way. It used to happen all the time when we lived in San Diego. When he was working in Williamstown, MA a few years back, people shouted out to him as he walked down the street.

After Harry’s, we drove to Ocean Beach or as we say it, OB, to visit the antique shops. OB has always been know for the antique shops and malls that are on the far end of Newport Street, a street that stretches down to the ocean. My favorite, Vignettes, is located there. I went inside Vignettes, but Lori, the owner wasn’t in, so I didn’t get to say hello to her. It’s really lovely there, beautifully – dare I say it? – curated. In this case, curated is the perfect word for the way in which the shop is staged.

And then I noticed that the shop next to Lori, which used to be a multi-dealer antique shop, was now a ‘brewery/bar.’ That was unnerving. I walked by it to another multi-dealer shop that I’ve always loved and had an enjoyable time perusing the aisles. Then I crossed the street to a newish shop, which was lovely. As I was leaving, I spoke to the owner, complimenting her on the shop and we got into a conversation about OB and Newport. It turns out that the multi-dealer shop across the street which I had just been in and which has been there as long as I can remember, has been sold to some chain store.

And the micro-breweries have been taking over Newport Street. I found this so depressing. Soon there will only be a couple of shops still standing and Newport will be one long stretch of bars, restaurants, tattoo parlors and head shops. Just another scruffy beach town.

“You can’t go home again” resonates for a reason. It’s never the same. Those shops were the treat I would give to myself when I had a day off during the summers I coached the Shakespeare Rep at the Globe. I don’t want that to change. But it is.

We got back in the car and were about to head up the 5 to Orange County to visit another favorite: Country Roads (an antique shop) but the traffic was so backed up that we turned around and headed to La Jolla, where we poked around in a vintage bookstore.

Don was really tired yesterday, so we went back to the apartment so he could rest before his evening performance.

Don went to elementary school here.

Dog Beach brings back lots of wonderful memories. Winston loved it there – we went often – and when Scout joined our family, she also learned to love it there. So many stories from that beautiful stretch of sand. Beautiful and bittersweet at the same time.

I don’t know yet what we’re going to do today. We didn’t end up at the beach yesterday, so I’m sure we’ll be there at some point today because Don won’t really have any time to do that Saturday and Sunday with two shows each day. His time here is winding down and he’ll miss it. He loves the show and the cast and having a Whole Foods nearby, as well as Harry’s Coffee Shop and the beach.

Happy Friday.

On the Road: The Fourth

July 5, 2017 at 11:22 am by Claudia

I hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday.

We did.

We started off the day with breakfast at the famous Harry’s Coffee Shop in La Jolla. It’s been there since the sixties and there’s nothing better. I sat across from this guy – so, so good to gaze upon this dear face once again.

Then we walked around that particular area of La Jolla. We went into a bookstore I used to go to when we lived here, the wonderful Warwick’s. La Jolla is beautiful.

Then we headed to Ocean Beach, which is where we met 23 years ago at our friend Kathy’s Fourth of July party. She lived a block from the beach.

Just down that beach and beyond the point was the site of our first meeting.

Every beach was packed. People with tents, with elaborate all-day set ups for friends and family. It was a bit too crowded, frankly, but I really appreciated seeing everyone frolic and celebrate. They had to arrive early in the am to stake their claim to some area of the beach sand and each set up was quite elaborate. And everyone was having such fun, especially the little kids.

The Ocean Beach pier, where we happened upon a guy proposing to his girlfriend. Everyone applauded and we congratulated them. As Don proposed to me on the Fourth – four years to the day after we met – we told them they couldn’t have picked a better day to make that commitment. They were delightful and so happy.

Surfers at OB.

We asked a nice lady to take our picture.

No, we didn’t plant wearing our show t-shirts at the same time. But, it was sort of neat!

I like this photo a lot.

After a stop at the apartment (actor digs are not very big and this apartment is particularly small; don’t get me started on the small bed) we went to La Jolla Shores beach, where Don has been body surfing lately. Just as crowded, if not more, than Ocean Beach, but Don’s parking karma somehow got us into the parking lot (which had been closed) and into a spot right by the beach entrance.

It got overcast as the day went on, but that was a blessing, I think. Not as hot as it could have been.

We stayed there for a few hours. At one point, we walked to a restaurant where we dined on delicious portobello mushroom burgers and spicy fries. Then back to the beach.

We considered staying for the fireworks, since we also watched fireworks on the day we met, but we were tired. So we headed back to the apartment.

I’m still coping with the time change, with adjusting to sleeping in the same bed as Don. It’s a full-sized bed, instead of our California King, and it’s too damned small for two tall people. And to hearing Don snore. I’m sure we’re both longing for our bed at home!

Today? I see the matinee of Escape to Margaritaville!

Happy Wednesday.

Heading Up the Coast

Strange, But Good

On the Road: The Fourth

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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