CRYSTAL COVE

One of my favorite places to be at the beach was Crystal Cove.  I was here one year with Bridget and Megan. We walked along the beach and even stopped at the Shake Shack up on Hwy 1.  

This is one of the beach houses that were abandoned years ago.  

For more on Crystal Cove of Newport Beach, see here.  Crystal Cove is a State Park, so when you buy a parking permit for Crystal Cove it is good for that day in any one of the other State Parks in California.  Neat, too, that you can rent one of the preserved historic cottages on the beach.  Nice, very nice.  You have to create a profile here prior to securing a reservation.  

ABSOLUTE BEAUTY: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OIL REFINERIES

One of the structures that I absolutely love is oil refineries mainly for their complexity and size. They are beautiful. I remember that when I worked for Vons.com in Torrance in 2015 that I used to drive down 190th Avenue and Hawthorne back to the Vons store and past the Torrance Refinery.

The refinery pictured below is a shot I took in 2016 of the Plains All American Pipeline, located at 690 N. Studebaker Rd, Long Beach, CA 90803.  The company has locations all across the country, even a few in Colorado.  I didn't realize that there were so many refineries in the Southland.  Very interesting.  

Then there was the very interesting Wilmington refineries.  

Will never forget the Stevedores strike in Long Beach back in 2015.

SANTA ANITA RACE TRACK

My first memory of attending Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, CA was with my dad, Chuck Pullman, and possibly Bill Conroy.  I was 6 years old.  We were sitting in one of the green booths of the grandstand when Dad asked me what horse I wanted to bet to win.  I liked the number 5 back then.  I still do, so I told him #5.  He bet on it, and the horse placed in the money.  Not bad for a rookie para-mutual bet, eh?  The jockey had a shimmery, silk green jersey with the number 5 in white.  The excitement, the smells--cigars, earth, beer, hotdogs--the sights--the expansive arena framed by the foothills and the exclusivity of the Club House all engulfed me.  The colors and contrasts were stunning, not to mention the roaring crescendo at the leading chargers drove down the stretch to the finish.  It was exciting.  But beyond excitement, the old-fashioned grandeur of the place, the track could also be a place where you didn't have to think while being a part of history: Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Jr., War Admiral, Seabiscuit, winos, gamblers, winners, and losers.  It was a heady mix.  It was a great place to observe society's strata--the well-dressed loser, the modest-attired winner, and a few young men dressed as dandies.  Most in the pavilion wore polo shirts and sunglasses.  A few men puffed on fat cigars.

My dad was no gambler.  But he could be a betting man looking for some prayerful advantage.  His sister's birthday was November 30 (11/30/One of the scenes I love this time of year is the view of the San Gabriel Mountains, Mt. Wilson, and other peaks, from the grandstand at Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia.  

So far, I am relieved and feel content at having dodged what would amount to a devastating demolition of an era and culture that once gone will be lost forever.  I do feel lucky that the owners have yet to surrender their property to townhome developers.  So many wonderful memories at this park.  There was the one time that I'd rushed to the track to place a bet for a friend who had a hunch or a tip.  It had been raining heavily earlier in the week and the track was soggy.  It was a thrill to buy and read The Racing Form, and still, it was not easy picking a winner.  Reading the 

And the Santa Anita Racing Program.  The cultural and literacy of the track was beautiful.  Numbers, names, weights, odds, dollars.  Just gorgeous.

The art, the setting, and the history of the track was storied and beautiful.  Numbers, names, weights, odds, dollars, and the aura of men down on their luck hoping for that big exacta ticket.  I was such a man, a young man.  I was at the track with my brother, Joe.  We were on the infield, combing over the program, looking for meaning in numbers and names and odds.  I asked Joe if I could borrow $10 for an Exacta pick.  I promised to share half of the winnings if I'd won.  He agreed.  And the two horses came in, totaling $365.  Oh, yeah!  

Even the printed materials, especially the printed materials were what built its following.  Fans flocked to Racing Form and Program.  Who wouldn't?  Will never forget how lonely some men appeared, sitting by themselves nursing the wounds from the previous race while trying to find some winning formula for the next in a kind of restitution.  And maybe, just maybe that's exactly how they wanted things.  To be alone, putting their money on chance in a big, beautiful arena with indoor grandeur and Southern California's outdoor magnificence.

The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, 1968-1970

I loved this show growing up, mostly because of Hope Lange, who reminded me, of course, of Petula Clark, whom I adored.  And given the fact that the show only ran for two years, 1968-1970, it must have gotten panned by the critics.  But looking back on it now, or rather watching an episode of it today, I thought that the dialogue was sharp and taut.  Extended metaphors were terrific.  Lots of literary allusions.  It was wonderful.  From a literary or aesthetic standpoint, it was quite good.  You're not going to find anything this thoughtful today. Little did I know then that the TV series was based on a 1947 movie of the same title, starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, and George Sanders.  George Sanders was one of my favorite seasoned actors growing up.  

1980s Music: Anthem to a Young Man's Life

Perhaps the greatest musical period of my life was back in the early 1980s when I was working for United Parcel Service and going out to Mod Clubs and concerts with neighborhood friends.  I used to go to The Crush Bar on Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood and to the Sunset Club, you got it, on Sunset Blvd., a tiny place that used to play early 60's mod tunes, pieces like the Monkees', "I'm a Believer," 1966.  I did go to the Odyssey one year and had a bizarre experience.  I asked a young woman to dance, and her girlfriend came up to her, grabbed her hand, and walked off with her.  Okay, I was not in Kansas anymore.  

Lots of great music.  One song I used to hear on the radio a lot back then was XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel."

The other band that I just loved was Big Country and their hit song "In a Big Country," released in May of 1983, just one month after I started driving for UPS in Beverly Hills. 

I was telling a friend of mine how the Madness video of "One Step Beyond," released in October of 1979, is one of the most iconic of all Mod songs.  I loved Mexican Radio

I loved Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio," released in 1982.  It would come on the radio late at night while driving into Baldwin Park from Duarte to work nightshift at UPS.  

And who could forget Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party," released 1985.  John Simpson and I hosted a party at the Baldwin property, 2006 Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia.  (Will never forget Von's trucks rambling in the middle of the night up to the stores in Arcadia and Monrovia.  Used to get woke by them constantly.)  Someone played this song and all in attendance were up dancing on the living floor.  It was fun.  Loved that song and those times.  They were, to quote a friend, "Off the hook."

And it was Roy Parker who turned me onto the English Beat and their song, "Mirror in the Bathroom," released in 1980, and other classics, like a reprisal of Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown."  

And "Save It for Later," released 1982.  I'd seen the English Beat at Perkins Palace in Pasadena and at the Palladium in Hollywood.   

I also saw the Ramones at Perkins Palace; in fact, I saw them from "the pit."  Oh, yeah!

And though everyone had heard The Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang," 1984, a thousand times, perhaps one of their favorites is "I'll Stand By You," 1994.  

Perhaps the most memorable and loved song from that period was The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," 1987.  I know I loved it then and I love it now, perhaps even more so now.  For more, see here.