What's better than two days in Santa Monica? Three, of course.
Let's see what else there is to eat around here...one of the other food items I pine for when I leave L.A. are the burritos from La Salsa, a chain of fresh Mexican grills. What sets them apart are the fresh ingredients, fresh salsa and meat grilled fresh (rather than pulled from a stainless steel container that's sitting over steam.)
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| There have been times when I've eaten here in 3 times over 36 hours |
Even after passing through Texas and New Mexico, no burrito has come close to the Grande Burrito at La Salsa. If I'm going to spend more than the $3.50 to get a chili-cheeseburger at Tommy's, I'll spend $8.50 for a grande burrito.
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| Grilled chicken, rice, beans, jack and cheddar cheeses, fresh salsa, guacamole, lettuce and sour cream all stuffed into a flour tortilla. |
Los Angeles is as much of a melting pot as any city. There are at least 224 identified languages in Los Angeles County, not including differing dialects. My wife, Susan, is a 3rd-generation Japanese-American. As I mentioned previously, both of her parents were interned during WWII. Anxious to explore some of her heritage, Lani and I went to the Japanese-American National Museum.
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| Lani's primary interest was reviewing the microfilms of the original government records that logged the biographic information of each Japanese-American before they were bused to an internment camp. |
The library in the museum contained an extensive collection on the history of the Japanese people in America...more books than I could have imagined.
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| The librarian was incredibly helpful and patient as she and Lani reviewed microfilm records from 65 years ago. The librarian printed off several pages of documents, which Lani proceeded to leave behind. |
The museum had several other exhibits that I wanted to see, but we were short on time.
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| Prior to the opening of the current modern museum with its sweeping lines, the 1925 historic Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple building-used in 1942 to process Japanese and Japanese-Americans for wartime internment camps-housed archives of the Japanese-American experience. |
The museum is in L.A. Little Tokyo, once an area of 30,000 Japanese Americans, but now mostly a collection of stores, shops and offices.
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| Little Tokyo is just a little too civilized for me. Give me Chinatown and its disheveled hustle. |
What else do I miss about the LA Westside? For one, I miss the competitive and deep wine market. The 2020 Wine Merchant has a vintage wine room that makes me want to kowtow each time I enter.
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| This is where I go to find a special bottle of wine for a special dinner. I am enologically humbled whenever I come here. |
Returning to Southern California allows all of us the opportunity to meet up with old friends. Lani, through the Book of Faces, arranged to meet up with a childhood friend, Amy Louff, a graduate of Cal State-Northridge and currently working as a CSUN administrative assistant.
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| Amy and Lani go back to pre-nursery school days. I last saw Amy about 20 years ago. She was about 5 and a lot shorter. |
The best part of the day came late that night, when Susan and Russell arrived at LAX. I had not seen Susan since New Orleans and Russell since before Lani and I left Gainesville on 3/13/2011.
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| Russell is so excited to see us that his cheeks are about to burst. |
Susan and Russell were going to spend a week with us in California.
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| I was happy to see Susan, too. Photographically, I shot this at ISO4000 which allowed me to get away without using a flash at the expense of increased grain. Russell remained ever-jubilant to see us. |
It was late, 11pm, and we returned to our Santa Monica motel.
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