Orange County Metblogs » oc_miles

9th Annual Surfside Seventies Contest

oc_miles — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 18:32:14 +0000

I haven’t attended this event before — indeed, I’d much rather forget the 70s — but this looks like it might be fun. What else do you have to do tomorrow?

… taking place on Saturday September 29th at Anderson St. in Sunset/Surfside, Orange County, California … a great time to check out some funky shapes and see some great surfing.

Being that this is the ninth year running the event has almost lasted as long as the actual 70’s decade …

Trophies and prizes will be handed out for Best Barrel, Best Seventies Style, (Worst Wipeout or Deepest Pearl), and Best Mustache. Awards ceremony will be held at the new and improved Sam’s Seafood with special secret guests. Sponsored by Kanvas by Katin and Lost.

(via globalsurfnews.com)

The Doll Hut

oc_miles — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:34:37 +0000

Saturday night I went to the Doll Hut, the former truck stop that, under the previous owner (as Linda’s Doll Hut), served as a launch pad for a number of local punk bands. I’d been meaning to check it out since the new owners sorted out their little permitting problem. The place was perfect. Smaller than some of the garages in south county, it’s a dive bar overlooking the 5 FWY in the semi-industrial part of Anaheim just north of Disneyland. The most popular drink seems to be a 24 ounce can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $5. For food they sell Cheetos and provide Tabasco on request. Still, I knew I was in the right spot when, shortly after I arrived between sets, the juke box began to play The Animal’s “The House of the Rising Sun.” Suddenly, the patrons started whooping and soon most of them were singing along. The highlight of the evening was the set by Brass Knuckle Voodoo culminating with a cover of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child.”

Escaping the Heat

oc_miles — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:23:20 +0000

I was out trying to escape the heat yesterday and ended up at Borders Books at the corder of 19th Street and Newport Blvd. in Costa Mesa. The “official” temperature in Costa Mesa was 92 degrees yesterday, but it felt even hotter than that. My plan was simple: have an iced tea, sit and read a bit. I wasn’t surprised that a number of people shared my idea. In fact, the place was full and seating was at a premium. One group even brought a deck of cards and played bridge. What surprised me however, was how cool management kept the store. Forget setting the thermostat to 78 degrees to save energy — I suspect the store was cooled to the low 70s. I spotted one one woman wearing a thin shawl, and a couple of other people wearing light sweaters. Saving energy, however, was not the goal — the goal was to lure people into the store. And on that front the strategy seemed to be working.

Saturday Brunch with Sue Ann Jaffarian

oc_miles — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:12:52 +0000

I had brunch on Saturday with my friend Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of the Odelia Grey mystery series, at the Harbor House Cafe in Sunset Beach. While updating one another on the little dramas currently invading our lives, I tried the Harbor House’s Belmont Omelette, a huge creation stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes, and covered with a mild cheddar. The omelette was served with home fries that were disappointing in their lack of texture. Overall the food and service were fine. Not great. Not bad. Just fine. Oddly, what I remember as the standout item served was the toast – good, thick slices of wheat toast that stood up well to butter (as opposed to the shingles served at many restaurants that collapse at the sight of a little butter).

Afterwards I tagged along while Sue Ann wandered through Seal Beach researching the area for the novel she’s currently working on. It was a hot, crowded summer day at the beach with the city lots near the pier crowded with people crawling through them hoping to find a parking spot. As usual one of the parking pass machines was broken with a crude note directing people to one of the other machines. As much as I enjoy the beach, roasting on the sand on a hot day is not my idea of a good time. Luckily, Sue Ann was more interested in driving the neighborhood to get its feel and stopping for coffee at Bogart’s to continue our conversation from brunch.

Secret Spot Morning Report

oc_miles — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 02:12:26 +0000

I’ve been away from the water for a while due primarily to the recent turmoil in my personal life. In the last few weeks, though, I’ve returned to the water. Bolsa Chica has grown even more crowded than usual, so I haven’t surfed there much this year. (Clearly, my earlier admonitions — here and here — had little effect. ) Instead I’ve been going to … never mind. No need to draw attention to the new “secret spot” else half of Orange County might follow. Not that the surf was that good this morning. Indeed, there were a few occasional knee high sets interspersed with long periods of near glassy conditions. The highlight of the day was when one of my buddies caught the “wave of the day”, slipped as he attempted to stand and ended up nearly doing a face plant on his longboard. Seeing this I laughed so hard that I missed the next best “wave of the day” that rolled in right behind it. But it is a treat to surf until 10 am with only a small handful of other surfers within 100 yards.

Driving home I passed Bolsa Chica and I was surprised to find the place at nearly 80% capacity (based upon the number of occupied parking spaces). Feel like hitting the beach? Head on down to Bolsa Chica, there may be a little room left.

Hootenanny ‘07 Heads Up

oc_miles — Sat, 05 May 2007 02:58:43 +0000

For those of you who get the itch about this time of year, the line up for the 2007 Hootenanny is out and includes Social Distortion, Nekromantix, Roger Miret and the Disasters, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mojo Nixon, the Blasters and others. Tickets go on sale Saturday. See you there.

They sold the whole county?

oc_miles — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:20:15 +0000

I did a double take when I saw this item in my google personalized news:

At first I thought it was simply a matter of google truncating the headline, but no, Bixby Land Company purchased the whole damn county — at least according to this headline.

Newport Beach Film Festival – April 19-28

oc_miles — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:36:39 +0000

Scarlett Johansson hasn’t called yet about accompanying her to Cannes. And I’m not a big fan of cold weather so Park City and its oh-so-cool Sundance Film Festival is out. Luckily (for my wallet if nothing else) the Newport Beach Film Festival is just around the corner. You can read all of the usual promotional text (”more than 400 films from around the world”, “interactive panels that focus on the art of filmmaking,” etc.) here. And of course every event these days needs its own blog.

So what’s special about this years festival? First, the Duke as he was ment to be seen: in his own back yard on the big screen! To commemorate John Wayne’s 100th birthday, the Newport Film Festival will feature a number of his films including “The Cowboys”, “Rio Bravo”, “The Quiet Man”, and “True Grit”.

Also, a film I’ve been looking forward to for a while will be showing in Newport a few days prior to its west coast opening: “Paprika” produced by Satoshi Kon.

Time Warner Cable Guy Out

oc_miles — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:31:45 +0000

Sensing that not all was well in their Southern California empire, it seems that Time Warner axed their local cable executive due to reports of “maddeningly long — and sometimes futile — waits to reach a human by phone.” As a customer who recently experienced their bottom-rung phone center, I say “What took so long?” Maybe I’m just lucky in most of my other consumer transactions, but I don’t recall the last time a customer service rep has out-and-out lied to me the way Time Warner’s phone center reps did in January.
Time Warner seems to have decided that it will take two executives to clean up their mess. That’s cause for hope for their cable customers. In the LA Times article, however, Eric Burton, the fellow who managers their local call centers is quoted as saying “But we do feel comfortable that the quality is at a level that we can build on.” This may be just corporate happy-talk. On the other hand, if that’s your true opinion, Eric, I’d recommend polishing your resume.

John Wayne (SNA) Shortcut

oc_miles — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 14:07:00 +0000

The arrivals lanes at John Wayne Airport are often congested and late last night was no exception. I was there to pick up my son and ran into much more traffic on the lower “arrivals” level than I anticipated at 10:45pm when I remembered this tip from Matt Haughey (A Whole Lotta Nothing via 43 Folders):

When picking people up curbside at the airport, tell your friends/family to meet you in departures, not arrivals. Especially on weekends and holidays, the arrivals area at most major airports will back up ridiculously as people hog the lanes and wait for people.

There are clearly some flaws with this strategy — certainly if everyone did it, the airport would be total chaos. But my son had no baggage and was already at the curb when I pulled up so it worked like a charm!

Now if only the nearby Fatburger had been open late …