A Curmudgeon Abroad : Dateline: Anaheim, CA

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Dateline: Anaheim, CA

It's been a while since I last saw the Pacific Ocean

Greetings from Anaheim, California, home of the original Disneyland, and of the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels baseball club. And we won't be seeing either one during our brief stay in southern California. My daughter went to Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida earlier this year, and doesn't want to repeat herself when it comes to amusement parks. And while I would like to see Shōhei Ōhtani 大谷翔平 in action, the Angels (my favorite team as a boy living in Orange County) are currently on the road in Miami. Nevertheless, there are many other things to do and see in the Los Angeles area, as you will see when you read on...

Yesterday was Independence Day, but we didn't have a chance to celebrate as we spent most of the day on the road. Leaving Indio, CA in the morning, we made a brief stop in the desert version of Rodeo Drive, El Paseo in Palm Desert.

Einstein relaxes on a bench, soaking up some desert sun. Amber picked up on the number of senior citizens in the area, pointing out the garage where we parked had spaces reserved for golf carts:

Still driving through the seemingly never-ending arid, sandy wasteland:

As we reached the greater Los Angeles area, it was time to drive down memory lane. My elementary school years were spent in Corona, then a small city of fewer than 30,000 souls, now a growing suburb of more than 150,000. The old house was still there, but the surrounding area was unrecognizable. Gone were the empty fields and orange groves where I had played as a kid, replaced by the housing tracts, shopping centers and green parks that come with suburban sprawl.

The next place we visited still retained much of its familiarity, because the neighborhood in Garden Grove where I resided during my early teenage years was already developed by the time I was attending junior high school in the mid-to-late Seventies (though I'm sure the strawberry fields I remember from living in Orange County have long been sacrificed to the interests of property developers).

My elementary, junior and senior high schools are still around, but the social sickness of school shootings means that the open campuses that I remember from my youth are now fenced-off fortresses.

We reached Anaheim in the late afternoon, and checked into our hotel. And while we won't be visiting the Magic Kingdom, we did get a pretty good view of Disneyland's evening fireworks show from the hotel's parking lot:

I asked my wife what she would like to do today, and her preference was to see some ocean scenery. So we drove down to the Palos Verdes Peninsula to cruise south along Palos Verdes Drive:

Amber looked online and couldn't find any residential properties in the area that were selling for less than $1.5 million:

They're virtually impossible to see in this photo, but binoculars revealed at least eight sea lions resting atop the rocky islet to the right:

The Point Vicente Lighthouse. Built in 1926, it's a 67-foot (20 meters) tall structure that sits 197 feet (60 meters) above sea level:

A rabbit that seamlessly made its way through some cactus without any apparent discomfort:

The Abalone Cove Reserve:

We made a brief detour to visit the charming Wayfarers Chapel. The opening words to the Lord's Prayer are etched into the altar - my daughter wouldn't believe that way back in 1974 a pop-rock version performed by an Australian Catholic nun was a Top Ten hit. That is until I played her the proof on YouTube:

Santa Catalina Island could be made out, roughly twenty miles across the Gulf of Santa Catalina:

The scenic drive ended at the Korean Bell of Friendship:

There appeared to be a classic car show taking place below:

As we entered San Pedro, we stopped for a view overlooking the massive Port of Los Angeles:

Lunchtime. When Amber learned that southern California is home to some 50 Yoshinoya 吉野家 outlets, it was inevitable that we would be having beef bowls at one before moving north. The closest restaurant turned out to be in a gritty area in Wilmington. The 牛丼 wasn't bad, but the ambiance was quite different from what I had been used to in Japan:

After lunch (and continuing with the Japanese theme), we drove across LA to the Little Tokyo リトル・トーキョー district. Going by the number of such restaurants in the area, it would seem Japanese food to most people equals rāmen ラーメン:

Los Angeles' iconic City Hall building rises in the background:

スコール!:

The district may be the "heart of the Japanese-American population in North America", but boba tea, Chinese food and K-Pop have all staked out a presence: