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2006 November Trip toSouthern California Day 1
November 4t
The Day Before:
I had to work the day before we left and I did not get home until 10:30pm. Elsa had taken our new car down to her parents so it would be safe for the next 10 days while we were gone and they gave her a ride back to our apartment. We were going to leave my car here but it’s a 1990 Mazda 626 with 230,000 miles and lots of rust so we where not too worried about it.
I have a very hard time sleeping the night before any trip so I decided I was just going to stay up since the airport shuttle was scheduled to pick us up at 5:00am anyway. So I proceed to do laundry and finish packing our suitcases. I realized that I had forgotten a couple of items we are going to be needing on this trip so I decided to make a 4:00am run over to the Super Wal-Mart that is 5-minutes from us.
Our apartment can be hard to see as it’s in a very spread out complex where all the homes are one or two level. The company that provides service to the airport uses Yellow and Blue vans that do stand out from the crowd. When I saw him start to drive by I waved a flashlight as him as the person that picked me up the last time appreciated it. However this guy did not seem to notice. He must have realized he had gone too far because within a couple of minutes I saw headlights coming back and he turned and came to our apartment.
Trip to the Airport:
The guy backed up and we loaded our luggage into the van. Since we are not allowed to take liquids on the plane we check in 3 suitcases instead of two and put our overnight back in the one of them. The driver was very chatty which after being up for almost 24 hours now I did not need but tried to be friendly. There were a couple of times that I thought he was going to kill us as he made rather quick moves. This was the first time that I have used this shuttle that we did not have to pick up someone else so it took only about 25-minutes and we were unloaded at the Delta terminal.
SaltLakeAirport:
We checked in our three pieces with the skycap and started heading toward security. I like the Delta terminal in Salt Lake City because it seems that the lines for security are always shorter. However this would not be an easy journey through security for us as my wife had accidentally left a pair of scissors in her bag so we had to buy an envelope and mail them back to us.
We then headed to the Delta E terminal which is the terminal for all the SkyWest commuter flights out of Salt Lake City. After about 30-minutes we started getting hungry so I went back upstairs and over to Burger King and bought us some breakfast. We did not know how late we would have lunch so we wanted a nice breakfast (good thing to since lunch would come at about 3:30pm).
Delta Flight to Long Beach, California:
We boarded our plane which was a Canadair CJ200 which seats 50 passengers. I had flown these little planes a few times in the last year to take care of my mother. The only thing I hate about this terminal is that you go through the gates and unless you one of the lucky three or four destinations (I never am) you have a long walk down to a 'y' and then have to walk even further to find your actually plane. It seems that every time I fly out we are one of the last gates and sure enough it happened again today.
Our plane took off right on time and we head north before turning southwest and following the Union Pacific Salt Lake City to Las Vegas line. As we approached the Las Vegas are we turned more toward the south but still flying southwest, and crossed over LakeLas Vegas and to the south of MclarenAirport. We then continued to follow I-15 and the UP line until just east of Barstow where we turned due south and then turned west somewhere around Perris. You could tell we where coming into Southern California as it was very hazy. We arrived in Long Beach right on time and proceeded through the terminal.
Long BeachAirport:
The Long Beach airport is very small and the luggage carousel is still outside. In fact the terminal reminded me very much of the Burbank,California airport that my dad flew out of on a regular basis when I was growing up. We collected our luggage and I walked across the street to a double wide trailer that houses the rental car companies.
After walking into the facility I saw the Alamo counter to the far left of the room. We had reserved a small SUV which we got at a price lower than the regular price on a mid sized car because of a special. Since Alamo uses all GM cars and they said it would be a Chevy or similar I was hoping for a similar and to get the Pontiac Torrent. I had to wait in line for about ten minutes until it was my turn. Is it just me or does Alamo makes sure they hire counter agents who don’t smile? I have never seen an agent from Alamo actually smile in the times I have rented from them.
Another thing about Alamo, I used to work for a rental car company in the early 90’s. When we had all the person’s information we were able to do the contract up before they got in or it would take just a minute and it would be printed out ready to be initialed and signed. However, even though Alamo has all my information and I pre-check in it still takes them 10 minutes to do the contract. Does Alamo think while there making you wait that you will suddenly decided to take their coverage’s?
Finally the lady handed me the keys and we started walking out to the car. When I was putting the luggage in the back I noticed a baseball sized dent in the back tailgate. Since Alamo doesn’t tell you what they marked down on the car (then they can say the damage wasn’t there) I walked back into the office, the lady that helped me had gone out for a smoke so I made the other agent write down the damage I found and then we where finally on our way.
Drive Through Seal Beach and Long Beach:
We drove out to Lakewood Blvd, which we took to Carson Street and on to Norwalk Blvd. My wife had never been to this part of Southern California so we decided to drive through part of Long Beach and Seal Beach so she could see the area. Norwalk Blvd turns into Los Alamitos and finally into Seal Beach Blvd. We went past Leisure World and then stopped at the Los Alamitos marina to take some pictures and get more situated.
We then drove through Naples Island looking for were the Pacific Electric used to operate in the area then headed down 2nd Avenue which turned into Livingston and finally into Ocean Blvd. There was a lot of beautiful houses in the area so we drove slowly to check everything out.
Cherry Avenue/Garfield Avenue:
Our next goal was to drive north along Cherry Avenue and Garfield all the way to South Pasadena. In the years I lived in Southern California I had taken Atlantic, Lakewood, and other routes between Pasadena and Long Beach but had never been along Garfield south of Montebello so we decided to try it out.
We look for a place to get something to eat, we did not want something big since we where planning to eat at Rick’s Tacos in Pasadena, so I stopped at an AM/PM mini mart for some snacks. I bought a burrito and Elsa bought a hot dog and we each found something to drink. I was not impressed with their selection but it would get us through till we had our next meal.
The Cherry/Garfield route is not the most beautiful route to travel on we would learn. It was made up of mostly commercial and industrial business and very little residential. What little residential we encountered appeared to be gang infested and graffiti was found every where. Just north of Firestone Blvd, Garfield and Eastern Avenue split at a ‘y’. Once again I have never been on that section of Eastern so I drove north along that route while Elsa took a nap. Where Eastern Meets Atlantic I was going to turn left but you could only turn right. So I had to cross Interstate 5 and then turn on Telegraph. I finally found a place to turn around and all I could say was I would not want to be in this area after dark, heck even in the daylight was not very comforting.
I was finally able to turn around, get going south on Atlantic before getting on Interstate 710 and heading back to Firestone Blvd to continue heading north along Garfield. Everything went well until we got to the intersection of Firestone and Garfield where it took us 5 light changes to be able to finally make our left turn due to excessive amounts of traffic.
There is a nice stretch of Garfield between East Los Angeles and Monterey Park that goes through the hills and has some really nice homes along it. Some of them looked like they needed some TLC but overall I was about the way I remember it. We encountered a large amount of traffic from Garvey Avenue all the way into downtown Alhambra. The Pizza place my parents always took me to that was on Garfield just south of Valley is still there but it is no longer a restaurant.
Once we arrived in the main part of Alhambra, I drove over to Main and Chapel and parked next to a bank. I went over and took some pictures of the art deco building that sits at the northwest corner. This building housed a FW Woolworth stores for many years and that is where I held my first job years ago. Woolworth closed not too long after I moved out of Southern California but it still looks much as the same as it did when I worked there.
After leaving there we continued our drive up Garfield Avenue. At the triangle which is the intersection of Atlantic Blvd, Garfield Avenue and Huntington Drive I noticed some changes. The old Winchell’s Donuts which sat dead center of the triangle of the intersection that I used to stop at for many years was now a Pizza Hut and the Larry’s Unocal 76 that several friends of mine worked at after we graduated from High School has closed but has moved farther west on Huntington Drive.
South Pasadena and Pasadena:
We continued down Garfield Avenue and have now entered South Pasadena. This section of Garfield has not changed in the years since I moved away. We turned north on Fair Oaks then turned on Glenarm and Raymond. We passed the former Santa Fe station that is now a restaurant and the Del Mar stop of the Gold Line light rail service before heading toward Orange Grove Avenue.
Gamble House:
Our next stop was the Gamble House on Orange Grove Avenue. This beautiful old home that has been restored is well worth taking a tour of. For “Back to the Future” fans the house was used as the 1950’s home of Doc Brown played by Christopher Lloyd. The house was built in 1908 in the American Arts & Crafts style for the Gamble family of Proctor and Gamble fame. This was their winter home to escape the brutal winters back east.
The tour showed us most of the rooms many of which have been restored to the way they looked when the house was finished or early in its life. What was interesting is that the children’s bedrooms had a balcony area where they could go out and sleep on warm nights. Can you imagine letting your kids do that in this day in age in most urban areas?
After the tour we took several pictures of the home and the gardens and took a stroll through the gift store which is in old carriage house. After words we got back into the Torrent and headed over to Rick’s Tacos for our late lunch/early dinner. Rick’s blue and white building was sitting there at the corner of Walnut and El Molino ready to great us as it has greeted me so many times before.
Rick’s Drive In:
Rick’s opened up in 1964 just a year before I was born. Shortly after I was born we lived in a place on Oakland Avenue (bulldozed for Interstate 215) and my mother would bring me here in my stroller. Rick’s’ was a regular fixture in our lives until I moved out of Southern California but every trip back Rick’s is one of the first stops.
After ordering we came to find out the Rick’s days are numbered. Apparently the land was sold from under him and they will have to close in a few months. Rick’s is one of the few special things left from my childhood. I would love to forget a lot of my childhood but Rick’s was always special. To here that it would be bulldozed for Condo’s was so upsetting but I guess life goes on.
I ordered my usual which is a Combo Burrito w/ extra Hot Sauce (Rick’s applies the hot sauce themselves), fries and a chocolate shape while my wife had a taco, fries and a shake. Rick’s has a special way of melting the cheese and putting the other ingredients in and I have found no other place that compares. Del Taco comes closest but they still pale in comparison.
Rick’s has no inside seating, it is an old fashion drive up place with the counter in front and some outside seating facing El Molino Avenue. Most people take their food and eat it somewhere else but my wife and I ate our food right here. We decided that we would go ahead and eat here on Monday while doing our Pasadena sightseeing so we could have another last time at this special place.
A trip down the legendary Pasadena Freeway:
My wife had never been on the legendary Pasadena freeway so we decided we would head toward downtown via the freeway so she could see what it is like. We stopped at a place in South Pasadena to get some soft drinks for the night then we headed directly for the Westin Bonaventure Hotel for the night. We were able to get a room at the Bonaventure for just $60.00 per night which was cheaper that anything in Pasadena.
Checking into the Westin Bonaventure Hotel:
I dropped off my wife and then tried to find a parking place. I was finally able to locate one across the street so I came across and my wife wanted to know if it was ok if the bellman took the suitcases (my wife was not used to staying in a place like this so it was a new experience for her). The bellman who was really friendly took our luggage and then I went inside and checked in. They check in process was quick and easy (Alamo you can learn from them), and then we headed to our room that was on the 25th floor.
Parking the car:
After getting settled in I left my wife with a tip for the bellman when he came up with our luggage and I headed back down to the Torrent. Parking at the Bonaventure is $25.00 a night so I drove down to Union Station and park in the Metro parking lot behind the station in a section for long term parking such as the Flyway buses to LAX. Parking here is only $6.00 per 24 hour period so the price is much better. After dropping off the vehicle I took the Metro Red line to 7th/Flower and walked back over to the hotel.
After the long COUPLE of days we have had it was time for some shut eye and the Heavenly Bed of Westin did the job.
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