STOATMOBILE WORLD TOUR! (all are welcome)

Stoat, I dig you da moat. Great dialogue, and Vinnie must be your cousin.

California Dreaming

The Mammas and the Papas

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day

I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day

Stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Oh, I got down on my knees
And I pretend to pray

You know the preacher likes the cold
He knows I'm gonna stay
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day

If I didnt tell her
I could leave today
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day

(California dreamin')
On such a winter's day
(California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

(((((furry smile))))) awwww Letty thank you very much for your kind words.

Actually, Vinnie and I aren't related; he and Throkko are a couple of Mafia 'enforcers' that I met on an Abuzz stoatmobile trip long ago and they have really enjoyed coming along on subsequent trips. Don't let Throkko's appearance frighten you, he's really quite friendly unless provoked. Just don't get between him and his dinner :-)

Let's take a little ride down Sunset Boulevard in the Stoatmobie to the Stars.

First, a photo from a blog that mentions Sunset Blvd. The photo was taken in 1978, it says, quite a bit inland from the Pacific Ocean, in Los Angeles. (click on photo to see the blog)





A view of the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip - in the 8200 block of W. Sunset Blvd (West Hollywood)



Wikipedia on Chateau Marmont and its history - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_Marmont_Hotel



A view of the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Beverly Hills. I got to stay there for a while as a child - I think that was in 1952. My clearest memories of that were a) staring at the pool, sitting on the edge and putting my feet in, and b) having a chocolate sunday at the Polo Lounge restaurant at the hotel. The building has had new owners and probably multiple renovations since then.






The northern boundary of UCLA campus in Westwood (West Los Angeles) is Sunset Blvd.

A view of Powell Library -





Across Sunset Blvd. from UCLA, looking north, is Bel-Air - famous for splendid residences and some spectacular fires.
Osso keeps getting photos of Chevys when she googles Bel-Air images...

Well, here's a photo of part of the Bel-Air Hotel





And here's Wikipedia on the Bel-Air area of West Los Angeles -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel-Air%2C_Los_Angeles%2C_California





I'm going to park the Stoatmoble on the UCLA football field for a bit, to rest (and ward off the loss of all these links by some stupid finger tapping on my part.)


After a dip in the UCLA outdoor pools, or a match or two on the tennis courts, we'll set out a selection of falafels and burgers and salads and desserts. Later we'll continue along Sunset Blvd. to the Ocean.

Moving along on Sunset, we have Will Rogers Ranch Home -







Sunset Blvd. winds its way through the town of Pacific Palisades





Just a bit off of the intersection of Sunset and Chataqua is an icon of modern architecture, the Eames House -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_House




We'll talk a bit more about architecture in southern California when we get to Venice - just a splash and dip into a large subject. But, before we leave the Palisades for the ocean, one more architecture link if I can find it -

ah, yes. The house is in Rustic Canyon, which is just south of Sunset Blvd. as it curves into the Palisades town proper.





Kappe's website -
http://www.kappedu.com/RayKappe.html

and I found this interview of Kappe very interesting -
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2006/12/curbed_la_inter_4.php

Letty, one of my old friends once lived across the street from one of the Beach Boys in Manhattan Beach. Alas, I forget which one. She had a small apartment (aggggg, and a small white porsche) and he lived at the corner house (or at least was there once in a while).

Thanks for the music!!

Love your tour, osso, especially Will Rogers' ranch. My dad loved him. I do recall that one of The Beach Boys got involved with Charles Manson, and it may have been Brian Wilson, but I can't recall. It's difficult to tell the difference between The Four Freshmen and The Beach boys.

California Girls by the Beach Boys

Well East coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I'm down there

The Mid-West farmer's daughters really make you feel alright
And the Northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night

I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls

The West coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a french bikini on Hawaii island
Dolls by a palm tree in the sand

I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldn't wait to get back in the states
Back to the cutest girls in the world

I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls

I wish they all could be California
(Girls, girls, girls yeah I dig the)
I wish they all could be California
(Girls, girls, girls yeah I dig the)
I wish they all could be California
(Girls, girls, girls yeah I dig the)
I wish they all could be California
(Girls, girls, girls yeah I dig the)

I forgot to say, that was the Kappe house, that last one. If you look at the images on Kappe link, it'll show more how it works like a very nice tree house.

Letty, my memory was that it was Brian's place, but I could be wrong.

There are a lot of photos available on the Will Rogers house and state park..

I didn't give enough of a link, will be back one.

This is a great link for the Will Rogers House - lots of good photos

http://www.alamedainfo.com/Will_Rogers_ranch.htm

Here's a photo I like of the patio -

Thanks for the link, osso. It will take a while for me to view all of the pictures since I have dial-up.

Incidentally, It was Dennis Wilson who was involved with Charles Manson.

I like his patio as well.

Thinking of The Beach Boys and The Four Freshmen who did this lovely song a capella

There's a story told of a very gentle boy
And the girl who wore his ring
Through the wintry snow
The world they knew was warm
For their hearts were full of spring

As the days grew old
And the nights passed into time
And the weeks and years took wing (was, "wind")
Gentle boy, tender girl
Their love remained still young
For their hearts were full of spring

Then one day they died
And their graves were side by side
On a hill where robins sing
And they say violets
Grow there the whole year round
For their hearts were full of spring

Wow! that made me cry a little since Bud met the Four Freshmen.

I don't remember much about the Four Freshmen. I do remember Jan and Dean - Jan was my physics lab partner for... one week (he dropped out). I should have dropped out!

And Dead Man's Curve was on Sunset Blvd. by UCLA (I think).

Looks like I'm wrong about where Dead Man's Curve was, and, maybe, the number of that Ventura highway from Ojai to Santa Paula. Back with corrections.....




edit, I'm baaaack.


I was right about Dead Man's Curve, the one in the Jan and Dean song, being right by UCLA, according to Wikipedia -
"A stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California was immortalized by Jan and Dean in the song "Dead Man's Curve". It is located near the Bel Air estates just north of UCLA's Drake Stadium".

It turns out that a lot of road segments are called that - which makes sense.



The number of the Ventura highway through Ojai is 150, not 156.

<nibbling>

Thank you all so much for the wonderful tours you've been leading. I'm glad you are including maps, vintage pictures of old-time glories, and fabulous photos. The focus on architecture is wonderful!

Although I live in Northern California, I haven't been in Southern California for a very long time (LAX International Airport doesn't count), and it seems almost like being in another country.

<Smiles>

Aa, I am concerned that you MAY not be getting enough chocolate. This is a serious concern, you know, because if you don't get enough sugar you might become faint, fall down and hit your head, which would cause all sorts of troubles. And all because you didn't eat enough chocolates.....

<After sampling the Godiva, Eva's heart rate returns to normal>

This has been such a good tour! I lived in Ventura for a few months in... 1974, I believe it was. I remember the banana tree outside my apartment window. And the smog. I had to clean black stuff off my windshield constantly. <sigh> I wish Ventura looked as good in my memories as it does on Osso's tour. I am anxiously waiting to hear about Venice. I never made it down there, but always wished I had.

Los Angeles was most ugly smoggy, in my memories and I think statistically, back in the fifties. For the last decades I lived there I lived fairly close to the beach, where smog was less of a problem. I was really spoiled, though, up north in Humboldt County, where my town was bordered by both bay and ocean and the air was grand...

will be back in a bit with more...







Osso grabs a nice cup of coffee and three or four (oops! five!) Godiva chocolates.

I include this graphic to orient the Stoatmobiliers to our relative position on the Pacific Coast Highway as we leave the famed Sunset Boulevard for points, um, north and south. North, because I forgot Malibu, and south, because that's my neck of the woods, as they say.





Well, here's a lucky google find: I was about to give up. This photo includes the intersection of Sunset and PCH...



We'll park the Stoatmobile at the beach parking lot, and use the collection of Bugatti's shown by Dylexia earlier in the tour to putter up the highway towards Malibu. All abooooooaaaarrrrdddd!!!

The Getty Villa in Malibu has recently been refurbished/remodelled, to incomplete acclaim. I haven't seen it after the remod, in progress here, but liked it a lot in the first place.






Wikipedia on the Getty Villa



Malibu Pier -





Malibu Beaches -

at Malibu Lagoon State Park




aerial view with both the Lagoon and the Pier -



Malibu Colony - I have some friends who have a second home in the colony. Pretty snazzy and the positive aspects are obvious. The negs are that traffic can be a bear in the summertime, and sometimes fire comes pretty close -


some fire history -
http://www.malibucomplete.com/mc_hazards_fires.php


See 3rd photo/discussion on this link re a recent fire in the Colony
http://capnbob.us/blog/category/current-events/



I've seen Malibu developed heavily in my lifetime. I remember walking on the grassy meadow above Trancas Beach with my dad in the late fifties, and that was just one more section of undeveloped land. Now to drive through Malibu is an exercise in eyepopping, not all for the better, in my opinion.

Well, time for a nice italian meal, hmmm?


My favorite Malibu restaurant. Well, 'my' only Malibu restaurant...

("These are fat-free chocolates, right?" she said, helping herself to another.)

Enjoying the tour.

The particularly vivacious Belgian lady at the Godiva counter assured me that they were all entirely fat free, and not to worry.

Also, I think it's very important to distrust food products that have been altered from their traditional forms, such as by having essential ingredients removed. This business of tampering with God's Bounty of Food is destined only to invite trouble, including possibly dire health concerns. Who knows what has truly been removed, and what is in it's place?

It's best to respect the timeless wisdom of the Beautiful Belgian and Italian Ladies who formulated the original chocolate recipes so faithfully reproduced today by the proud Godiva Chocolatiers.

Ah...what I meant to say was -- "yes of course, these fabulous Godiva chocolates are full of fat and natural healthy ingredients which is what makes them taste so heavenly, BUT, because we are on the magical Stoatmobile, there will, of course, not be those annoying gains (of the spare tire variety) resulting from an overindulgence in them." Right?