| Author | Message | ||
     Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 74 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hi, I'll be travelling to Long Beach for a user conference in May and was wondering if anyone is familiar with the area and has any suggestions on things to do and see, places to eat, etc. I've never been there or to CA and should have some free nights to explore a bit. I heard they have a good aquarium... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 381 Registered: 03-2006 |
Didn't the Go-betweens actually play in Long Beach once?...That's to keep your query from being moved "off-topic", Matthias...lol, we'll see if it works... But anyway, though I live in nearby Orange County, I only go there occassionally, but have a coupla faves when I do: 1) The Aquarium really is great and well-worth seeing.. 2) If you like beer, there's a place called the Yard House that has every beer known to man (they even have my beloved Abita Springs Purple Haze, from Louisiana -the only place I've found it in CA) and, here's the kicker- if you sit out on the patio, it has a stunning ocean view...lotsa good, chi chi, but tasty, appetizers and entrees...an excellent place to kick back and get a little buzz on... 3) If you like seafood, particularly crab (my own favorite - I just can't seem to get enough of it), The Crab Pot is exceptional...if you're going with a mate, there are great boiled and grilled platters, built for two to share...it also has a (bay) view... Long Beach, overall,is really nice...it's recently been gentrified and re-vamped a bit. The airport is kind of small and homey, too, so it's no bother to deal with, unlike say, LAX... If you have access to a car, be sure and get out to the Pacific Coast Highway, or the PCH, as the natives call it, and explore up and down the coast - one of my favorite things to do. It's ridiculously gorgeous... ps - Before driving on the PCH, though, be sure you get advice from the real locals about the sections to avoid in Long Beach, as parts can be dicey...not so much when you wend your way down to Orange County, though, which is completely worth seeing. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 384 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah, my stratagem didn't work  Our Admin is a very assiduous and dedicated man... More on Long Beach: If you have that car, part of Long Beach, called Belmont Shores, is very nice and is almost exclusively gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)...Fun to walk around, nice shops, etc. Amusingly, there's an apartment bldg. with a huge sign that reads, "Gaytonia" (I kid you not) - you can almost see it for miles...I don't know if being gay is a requirement for living there, but it probably doesn't hurt... Just below that, south on the PCH, is a great, quaint little beach town called Seal Beach, with easy parking and a great pier. And, there's an excellent, but expensive seafood restaurant there called "Walt's Wharf"...if you've got the $$, definitely worth it - highly recommended. Of course, I always get wine, which greatly ups the bill - if you don't have that vice, it's a lot cheaper... | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 75 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks Admin - didn't search for an off-topic catagory as I've only posted about GBs before... Hardin, thanks for all the good suggestions. I really appreciate it. Anyone else please submit as well. I'm staying at a convention center there (don't know if there's more than one) but someone said there's a great pub across the street. I wonder if it's the one you mention. I'll definitely check it out. Also, which way should I go on the PCH? It sound like you recommend South, right? Hopefully the aquarium stays open later (after work). | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 388 Registered: 03-2006 |
Don't know the pub, but yeah, go south, young man! But seriously, be sure you ask someone from Long Beach which parts of PCH are okay there...basically going south thru Orange County is completely safe and has pretty sights...if you go north on it, towards L.A. you go through areas where Snoop Dogg actually is from, and where many of his gangsta sagas are set, if you get my drift...I'm not saying there you'd be the target of a drive-by, but hey, why indulge in risky behaviors... If you are up for going south and have a half day, drive down thru Seal Beach, Huntington Beach (Surf City -lotsa fun to watch surfers off the pier, where all the good ones go), Newport Beach and Laguna Beach...if you were really ambitious and had time, you could go all the way to San Juan Capistrano, which has a great old mission, known for its swallows that return every year after migrating for the winter... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 368 Registered: 03-2005 |
Matthias, PCH won't get you in trouble anywhere, except in terms of traffic. It's designated "Highway 1" and can become a little bit tricky to follow as you proceed up the coast beyond Hermosa Beach because it hops onto some other city streets. One of the odd things about Long Beach itself is that its coastline runs largely west to east instead of the north to south that you would expect. If you go away from the coast in Long Beach, you are going north. It DOES become, shall we say "interesting," if you are inattentive to where you are going when you go north. In fact you can wind up in legendary Compton. I think most people stick around the coastal areas in Long Beach and then just hop onto a freeway if they want to go somewhere else. A lot of Long Beach's nightlife is centered around Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue and maybe a bit on Broadway. Hardin's specific recommendations are probably all good places to try out. I wouldn't characterize Belmont Shore as "exclusively gay." I'd say it's mostly for Long Beach yuppies, gay and otherwise. If you want to go northward to places like Santa Monica or Hollywood, I recommend that you get a map first. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 392 Registered: 03-2006 |
Aahhh, listen to the voice of experience, which in this case, definitely is Randy, who I'm guessing is an Angeleno of long standing...I'm still relatively new to So Cal... I forgot one, though: if you have the $$ and a day to kill, you might want to consider taking a boat ride to Catalina...it'll cost you about $40 bucks and makes a great day trip...yet another ridiculously gorgeous place. CA is lousy with them! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 373 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yes, but you are closer to Long Beach, Hardin, so your specific recommendations are apt to be better. I can supply the general overview. And believe it or not, after 28 years living here I haven't been to Catalina. It took me about 20 years to get to Palm Springs. It wasn't worth it. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 395 Registered: 03-2006 |
Only know vaguely about Palm Springs...snotty rich-people enclave, right? Hot as hell, too, they say... Definitely recommend Catalina, long as you don't mind long boat rides and aren't prone to getting seasick. On one of the boats once, I saw this guy holding his projectile-vomiting 2-year old at arm's length, doing a real number on the facing wall.... Though I can attest to the excellence of all the specific locations I cited, some of my impressions of Long Beach and L.A. are received wisdom, handed down from my boss, who is longtime OC and a little provincial about it...It is funny, a lot of people here are incredibly reluctant to go up to L.A. - too hot, too much traffic, etc...Me, I love it. OC may contain a lot of beauty, but all the culture's up there... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 375 Registered: 03-2005 |
My impression gathered from the folks who work for my company's OC offices is that they are all afraid that they will be murdered if they come to LA. But I think it's the fear of Democrats. Palm Springs? I'm sure the southerners have a colorful expression for it but it was so bone dry that my eyes itched all day I was there (during autumn) and then my nose started bleeding as soon as I got home. Hell. And, yeah, it was boring, like something your parents might drag you to. | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 76 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks to your suggestions, I looking forward to my trip. I may even get a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium from another kind soul (different forum). Now, I'm thinking of some driving music for the PCH. I rented some beach boys from the library. I'll cherry pick of few from there and add some Jack Johnson, Summertime by the Sundays, California Dreamin' by the M&Ps... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 399 Registered: 03-2006 |
Too right, too funny, Randy. That has to be the underlying fear: Democrats (or getting murdered by Democrats)...OC is one of the few places all of Arnie's bogus propositions from last year passed... Matthias, those sound like great road music choices..Jack Johnson is huge in this part of the world, being a local boy made good - I believe he's from Santa Barbara, and a big surfer...speaking of which, how about actual surf music. I'm somewhat of an afficionado of that as well (haven't gone into it on this board - too many obsessions), and it does go really well with the environs...My favorite (current) surf music group is called Los Straitjackets, who are not only a completely kick-ass rock and roll band, but have the added entertainment benefit of wearing Mexican wrestling masks when they perform...they have an excellent live album called "Damas Y Caballeros! Los Straitjackets" that would be perfect for your sortie up the coast... Now, if we can just get you into a convertible... | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 78 Registered: 05-2005 |
So I had some quiet time yesterday evening and after thumbing through the old cds collection I came up with the following as a first pass; no order yet. A mix of old and recently discovered songs for a good drive down PCH: San Andreas Fault - Natalie Merchant Tripping Billies (acoustic) - Dave Matthews California Dreamin' - Mamas and Papas I Get Around - Beach Boys Better Together - Jack Johnson Walk on the Ocean (Live) - Toad the Wet Sprocket Find the Time - Hothouse Flowers I Need You - Jars of Clay This is Your Country - Luka Bloom Less Than Love is Nothing - Jonatha Brooke Ask - the Smiths 121 - Robert Forster Obscurity Knocks - trashcan sinatras Kiss Me (acoustic) - Sixpence none the richer Disappear - Jars of Clay Holes To Heaven - Jack Johnson What Can I Do? - the Corrs God Only Knows - Beach Boys | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 405 Registered: 03-2006 |
Sounds great, Matthias, like a veritable hit parade indeed, but I might suggest throwing in a couple of more rowdy and raucous tunes, to get you in the right frame of mind and balance the gentle mood you have going there, so howzabout adding any of these, if you have 'em: Debaser Here Comes Your Man Bone Machine All by the mighty Pixies This Year's Girl What's so Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding Brilliant Mistake all by Elvis Costello Thunder Road Born to Run Badlands The Promised Land all Bruce Springsteen In Bloom Smells Like Teen Spirit Lithium Nirvana And, of course, corny as it may seem, "Streets of Your Town", being the perfect, sunny day pop song, is ideal PCH music, as is most of 16 LL. As are "Bye Bye Pride" and "Right Here".... And Matthias, not to cut into your vacation time, but if you're in my area (Huntington or Newport Beach) and wanna have lunch or coffee, etc., give me a "holler". ps - Aw dang, I left out reggae...might I suggest a little Toots ("Pressure Drop"), Desmond Dekker ("Israelites") and Marley ("Jammin'", "Lively Up Yourself"), to add a little flava? | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 79 Registered: 05-2005 |
Good suggestions. I definitely consider. I do find that I tend to pick more somber numbers and have to re-check. I just love those moody tunes. I considered Streets of your Town but it's a bit overplayed by me. I wanted songs I hadn't heard in quite some time that had a newness. So instead I picked Robert's rocker 121. Here comes your man will make it. I used to love the Pixies. That one has that surf quality. I thought Marley too but they all seemed so Mellow. Have you heard Sinead's take on Reggae. She does Pressure Drop. I do like several tracks from her album. Not sure where you are in relation to Long Beach... Never been out there. You're obviously close. I'm not sure about my schedule there yet. I'll be in touch. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 381 Registered: 03-2005 |
Matthias, you need some instrumentals. If you have Paul Kelly's "Ways and Means," try "Gunnamatta." It's perfect for the experience. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 340 Registered: 05-2005 |
What about listening to the Long Beach Dub Allstars? I called a guy I went to school with on his mobile phone one day and he was working with them, taking pictures for an album sleeve or something. He said they were crazy guys to work with and didn't stay on the call for too long. | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 135 Registered: 05-2005 |
Is Hardin and Little Keith, one and the same? Why the name change? I wanted to get back to you about why I didn't get back to you. There I was in May, wandering around Long Beach in shock over Grant's death and no one to talk to about it except skipping those technical reviews at the conference to read the tribute thread for some sense of consolation. I could have met up with you and we could have cried in our beers until they thew us out of the Roadhouse! I had no way of contacting you because all other boards were locked out. So there you go! My loss. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 790 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hey Matthias, sorry that didn't work out - that would've been fun. Not that I need an excuse to drink beer, and that place is amazing. I truly believe that there is no beer they don't have. And the view is to die for. So, how'd you like LB? Did you get to explore up and down the coast? Did you see Snoop Dogg? LK is a character out a Martin Amis novel and I dunno, I changed names partially out of a desire to gain a different perspective and partially out of a desire to be amusing (if only to myself)... Hey, if you ever make it back to the area... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 210 Registered: 01-2005 |
Hardin, How about a couple of songs about Mendocino? Not the same song however! Mendocino - Kate and Anna McGarrigle Mendocino - Sir Douglas Quintet | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 136 Registered: 05-2005 |
Long Beach was unimpressive. I mean the waterfront was rather nice. I toured the Queen and got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Aquarium - truly cool. I even petted the sting rays and fed birds. I was expecting a "Boys of Summer" coast line but there weren't pristine beaches for miles and miles and once you got in a few blocks, it got pretty seedy. I found fingerprints and that Belmont Shores area (is that where the record shop is?) looked cool and bohemian. My expectations were way too high. Next time, I'm heading up to the Troubadour to catch a show. I'll be back in April for next year's conference most likely. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 606 Registered: 04-2005 |
Matthias, I bet you wouldn't have pet the stingrays if you'd known what was going to happen to Steve Irwin in September! (Actually, I'm pretty sure they remove the barbs from the aquarium stingrays. I pet them at the Monterey Aquarium years ago. Cuddly li'l fellas, aren't they?) | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 792 Registered: 03-2006 |
Them stingrays is cool-looking. It's a shame some chuckleheads have been killing them, apparently, as retaliation for Steve Irwin. Ignorance is a growth industry. Yeah Matthias, seedy blocks, mixed with pristine beaches, is the name of the game...once you get considerably south of where you were, you do get into some long stretches of beach, 10 miles at a time, or so... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 793 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ps - though that be's up No'th, thems some good songs, Michael. SDQ's Mendocino is an excuse to break out the beer, even on the grayest of days... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 608 Registered: 04-2005 |
Who needs an excuse? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 795 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hey, I have standards. It has to at least be a day of the week ending in d-a-y! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 216 Registered: 01-2005 |
Hardin, I lived in California for a couple of years after High School, Stockton to be specific. When I think of California, it's the great times hiking in Yosemite, trips to San Francisco and the towns north along the coast, Kings Canyon and the Nappa Valley. I only traveled down to the southern parts a couple of times. This was back in the 70's and LA was pretty smoggy back then. I liked San Diego a lot and Santa Barbara as well. I suppose if I had lived in southern California, my perspectives would have been different, but I would have still fallen in love with the Sierra Nevadas! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 565 Registered: 03-2005 |
Stockton! I remember when I lived in Fresno, people tended to look toward SF bay more than So Cal and I'm sure that would be even more true in Stockton which really is very close to the bay area. And, yes, the smog has improved enormously since the late 70s when I moved here. Los Angeles' municipal motto could be "always less than you expect" but actually if you dig around, sure enough, the advantages inherent in the huge population grudgingly reveal themselves. It's still ugly though. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 610 Registered: 04-2005 |
Randy, I may have asked this before, but when did you live in Fresno? I went to college there from '82-84 and stayed a few years extra after I got a job there straight out of school. I still have nightmares about living in Fresno. What a wasteland. Most people seem to lump Fresno in with Northern California--I guess it is a quicker drive than it is to LA--but I knew more people in college from So Cal than No Cal. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 796 Registered: 03-2006 |
Never been to Stockton, so I don't know anything about it. Have been to Fresno, on bidness, and though Sam Peckinpah came from there (which means it can't be all bad), I pretty much agree with what seems to be the consensus. Oh - it's also the country's largest test market for fast food...still, I had no wistful feelings leaving it. The No Cal vs. So Cal debate is a perpetual one, and truly, both have their charms...both have a lot of the same drawbacks - too many people, too expensive...I do love SF though and have been to Napa and Sonoma a few times and enjoyed the hell out of that, too. I could definitely see the charm of living in Napa, having your own winery, etc.(why not dream big)... But I do like So Cal and there really are all kinds of oasises of great beauty. Santa Barbara is great, Ventura... Matthias didn't apparently make it to 'em but there are great stretches of beautiful coastline, up and down from Long Beach. Being a beach person, that's what is the tiebreaker for me. Also, OC has the most agreeable weather I've ever encountered - perpetually sunny and in the mid-70's most days...L.A. is a little hotter being inland and in a basin...But I like L.A., too. Great culture, diversity - fantastic restaurants and bars. What's not to like? I don't make it out to see them as much as I should, but any musical act worth its salt will swing through there sooner or later.... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 577 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've been to So Cal once (1989) and No Cal twice (1999 & 2001). I liked 'em both. LA was my So Cal base and Mountain View my No Cal base. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 566 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kurt, any time spent in Fresno is hard time indeed. Although somebody told me that John Doe lives there now I'd need to hear it from him to believe it. I left in the summer of 1978 to go to grad school and that was the end of it for me other than my semi-annual visit to the family. The only way to deal with Fresno when I lived there was to smoke a lot of weed, take LSD and search out the most obscure music you could manage. The radio stations only played crap like "More Than a Feeling" (sorry, Spence, I couldn't resist), "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "Saturday Night Fever." When I first saw "Blue Velvet" I freaked out because it totally reminded me of people I knew in high school in Fresno. The SF area is terrific. If I'd gone to grad school there I'm sure I'd never have moved away from there either. Damn UC Berkeley and their fussy admissions standards! California now has something like 35 million people. I think it had about 20 million when I was in college. The continual influx of population has not been beneficial to the aesthetics of the state nor to its infrastructure but the culture has blossomed enormously. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 611 Registered: 04-2005 |
Mountain View! That's the first place we lived when my family moved to California from Pittsburgh back in, well, let's just say a few decades ago. In '99, I used to go to the Tower Records in MV all the time, Padraig (I lived in San Mateo). Perhaps we crossed paths then! Randy, I totally know what you mean about Fresno. I don't think it ever got much better (it's been close to 20 years since I've last paid a visit), though at least there was a college station by the time I arrived that played decent music. And I actually saw a couple of good shows there (Fables-era R.E.M. and Avalon-era Roxy Music). But most of the time in Fresno, when I wasn't at work, I was sitting inside my air-conditioned but otherwise crappy apartment pondering the eternal Fresno question: commit suicide or just have another beer? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 579 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah Kurt, I spent some hours in that Tower and also in the nearby enormous second hand place. One day the friend I was staying with just dropped me off and picked me up again about six hours later. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 797 Registered: 03-2006 |
One more factoid about Fresno. I was just reading Entertainment Weekly, so I know this. It's where the actress Anne Heche was found wandering in 1997, totally bat-shit crazy, calling herself "Celestia" and looking for her spaceship... Speaking of Tower, it is in serious trouble. I dunno about the ones in your own locales, but the one here apparently can't even afford air conditioning - they have fans set up...a casualty of downloading and record company greed about to happen? | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 612 Registered: 04-2005 |
I also read that about Anne Heche. What was she doing in Fresno? To be fair to her, that place would have anybody wondering around looking for their spaceship in record time. I haven't been in a Tower Records in years. The chain's been totally eclipsed by good independents and online CD retailers. How the once great have fallen... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 567 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kurt, your "eternal Fresno question" cracked me up. When I first moved to LA (1978), the Tower on the Sunset Strip had a whole aisle of indie 7 inch singles. Just bin after bin of wonders like Laurie and the Chameleons, or the Dishes, or the Dils, or the Weirdos. Their buyer was a genius. I guess things like that never last long. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 217 Registered: 01-2005 |
Stockton was a pretty cool city of about 125,000 folks when I lived there. It's pushing 400,000 now from what I've read. People live there and work in the Bay area now due to less expensive housing in Stockton. You could see the Sierra Nevada's to the east and the large hills east of the Bay area to the west. It is also a port city, despite being in the middle of the huge central valley in California! It's pretty bizzare seeing a ocean freighter peaking above the top of the leevees smack in the middle of farm county! It's great bicycle country. I use to due some time trials and short 25 miles races with my Peugeot P-17. I never got up to the 100 milers though. Going downhill on the Priest Grade road in Yosemite at 60 mph with a thousand foot drop if I went off the road or blew a tire was real exiting. The folks in the car that was behind me for a couple miles all aplauded when they finally passed me on a flat section. It made up for the biking up the mountain experience of a couple days earlier! |