Summer 2018: Bay Area Road Trip

In June 2018, we embarked on a whirlwind road trip from Big Bear Lake to Napa Valley, so that Dan could attend a work event tied to NASCAR at the Sonoma Speedway.

I was mildly envious that Dan was going to have a VIP NASCAR experience, but I ended up having a grand adventure of my own. More on that in a minute…

We woke up early on a Friday morning and hit the road in our brand-new Hot Wheels 50th Anniversary Edition Camero. I’m happy to report that we made it to the Bay Area in record time and did not incur any speeding tickets in the process. A road trip miracle!

We drove without stopping until we hit Merced, California, where we stopped for a bathroom break at the “Welcome Center.” There are always signs for “Welcome Centers” throughout the state, but this was the first time that I had stopped at one. It is an information area with brochures for local attraction, which also serves as a bus station. The building was very empty, but most important, the bathrooms were immaculate!

Our first night, we stayed at an Embassy Suites in Sacramento. Dan has diamond status through Hilton, so we are fairly loyal to the brand. I like the Embassy Suites hotels, because the rooms are so spacious. Technically, we don’t need the space of a suite, but having a separate living room is nice. The breakfasts tend to be a notch-above other Hilton brands.

This particular stay provided amusement via a teenage beauty pageant that was being held in the atrium. We didn’t see the pageant, but we did see the contestants prepping. The table next to us at breakfast had a young teen girl sitting very rigid ( miss perfect posture), trying to hold a conversation with three elderly women, one of whom was clearly her grandmother. I couldn’t help but think that this young girl probably had a million other ways that she’d rather be spending her Saturday morning. As we were checking out, we spotted the reigning pageant winner wearing her tiara and sash while filming a YouTube video in front of the hotel’s Starbucks. It was all low-rent glamour and awkward.

Our destination was Napa Valley, although a very famous part of California, an area that I had not previously visited. We had no time for wine tasting or touring.It was a beautiful area, however, we did not stay long. We checked-in to our hotel to discover that the air-conditioning was broken. We enjoyed the pool, while engineering looked into it, but they could not fix the problem and the hotel was sold out. It was simply too hot in the room to stay, so we left.

Since Napa was jammed for NASCAR, the closest hotel that we could find was an Embassy Suites in Walnut Creek. It was under construction and some of the amenities were closed, but it was quite a nice hotel.

It was surreal being in Walnut Creek. I attended Mills College in Oakland in the late 90’s, but I spent a lot of time in the Walnut Creek/Antioch area visiting my then- boyfriend and his family. I had not been back to the Bay Area since 1997, yet many things were very familiar.

Staying in Walnut Creek was a hassle for Dan, who had to drive back to Napa for NASCAR, but it was actually great for me, as the hotel was located across the street from a BART train station. I had never taken the BART before, but I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity to visit San Francisco. Taking the BART was extremely easy and inexpensive.

Luck was on my side, as I called my high school friend, Bekah, to see if she could meet up and not only was she free, but she had an extra ticket to the afternoon Giants game at AT&T Park. Bekah lives a fair distance from San Francisco, so it really was kismet.

As soon as I got on the train, I realized that something special was going on. The train was packed with people heading to the Pride Parade in San Francisco. Pride Parades happen all over the world, but certainly San Francisco has one of the most famous events. As soon as I stepped off the BART, I was in the middle of the festivities. I even caught the float from my former employer: NBC-Universal.

I stepped out of the sweltering heat to grab an iced-latte at Starbucks. Starbucks also got in on supporting the love.

The Pride Parade was a cool thing to experience, lots of positive vibes. The only negative is it made it very difficult to find Bekah. It was so crowded that it was hard to connect. We finally made it and we walked down to AT&T Park for the afternoon game. We were handed pride flags as we walked down the street!

Bekah and her kids love baseball and attend Giants games whenever possible. I have a complicated relationship with baseball. When I was in kindergarten, I was picked to be an Honorary Dodger Bat Girl for “Glendale Night” at Dodger Stadium. I was given a uniform and I got to go on the field, pose with the players. I threw a ball around with Rick Monday and Steve Garvey.

I hated it.

I was very shy and nervous. It was not a good experience and then somehow, in third grade, I had to do it again. I begged my mom, but she forced me to do it. The crazy thing, is my mom was in the hospital for gallbladder surgery and didn’t even go to the game. I acknowledge that it was a special experience, but even in retrospect, I wish that they had picked a kid who wanted it. I didn’t even like baseball. I still don’t like baseball. The last Dodger game I attended, I brought a book to read. I go for the Dodger dogs!

Going to AT&T Park was 100% about catching up with a close friend and getting to know her lovely children. I had a blast! The best part was getting champagne in the beer garden. I have no idea who the Giants played against or who won the game, but the catching-up was priceless.

After the game, I caught the train back to Walnut Creek. Being in San Francisco made me realize how much I miss San Francisco. I’m not sure that I’d want to live in the Bay Area again, but I certainly would love to do a longer trip.

The next morning, Dan had a quick meeting in Silicon Valley, while I browsed at Ikea and then we began the long drive home.

Brick and Mortar: The Closing of Samuel French on Sunset

A few days ago, I heard that Samuel French Film & Television Bookshop, is closing its Sunset Boulevard location at the end of this month. I felt crushed by this news. Samuel French, especially the Sunset blvd. location ( other locations still live on,) has been one of my favorite places since I was a teenager. Bookstores are magic and for a theatre lover, Samuel French is the most magical of all.

My love of theatre and plays began well before I discovered Samuel French. It started in elementary school, when I was about ten and I found the play section at our local Crown Books. My mom and I used to have an amazing ritual, where every Friday night we would go the bookstore and she would buy us each a new book. As soon as I discovered theater, I began to amass quite an impressive collection of plays. Neil Simon, especially his Brighton Beach Trilogy, was the first playwright that I really loved. I read plays and became familiar with playwrights, before even attending my first play. My mom had instilled a love for books and movies (our Sunday morning ritual was a trip to the cinema), but she wasn't a fan of live theater.

As soon as I saw my first play, I was hooked. It was a production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. I would guess that many Los Angeles kids of my generation had this same show as their first musical or theatre experience. It ran at the Ahmanson Theatre for four years and to say it was a big deal in Los Angeles is an understatement. I ended up seeing it seven times during its run.

Shortly after, I auditioned for The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and was accepted to begin my sophomore year as a theatre major. I love theater and respect the art of acting, but acting was never for me. I love my high school, the friends that I made, and the many incredible experiences that it afforded me, but I wish at the time that my school had offered a writing department. It would have been a better fit for me. I did take the optional playwriting classes, where I worked on abysmal experimental theater pieces that I’d be mortified if they ever come back to haunt me!

It was through LACHSA, that I discovered Samuel French Bookshop. It changed my life. My passion for plays was no longer relegated to the single bookcase that most bookstores offered, but now I had an entire store of theatrical books. AN ENTIRE STORE!!!

Samuel French had two locations in Los Angeles. The smaller location was in Studio City and it’s lovely, but the real prize was the Sunset Boulevard location in Hollywood. Both bookstores were located about a twenty minute drive from my house, but asking my mom for a trip to Samuel French, was akin to asking her to drive me to Florida. She hated it. I think worse, she knew that it wasn’t as simple as a quick shop, that she could leave me to browse all day. She would agree to quarterly visits or if I desperately needed something for school ( this was the early/mid 90’s, before online shopping was a thing) and she would wait in the car with a novel, while I had about an hour to shop.

When I had my first car and could drive myself, it was bliss. I would spend hours discovering new playwrights. Samuel French on Sunset blvd was my happy spot. I continued to be a regular customer for many decades and it was a bookstore that not only brought me so much joy, but opened me up to new writers and new worlds.

Learning about the closure, I’m not only sad for what will no longer exist, but I feel guilty. Through changes in my life and reading habits, I have not been a recent customer. I have not visited Samuel French in over five years. One of the reasons that the store is closing, is because more customers are shopping online, they cannot justify a brick and mortar store. The delight of browsing and the thrill of discovery is a unique aspect of physical bookstores. I am using this as a stark reminder, to keep shopping at physical bookstores, to keep spending my money in the stores, rather than online. As much as I love the convenience of online shopping, it simply does not replace the magic of a physical bookstore. Online stores cater to well-known authors, rather than exploring new or lesser known talent. The experience for a book lover does not compare.

Samuel French will continue to exist in other physical locations and online, but it hurts that the Sunset location is closing. It really hurts.

Help LACHSA

I just received an email and saw multiple Facebook posts about LACHSA (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts) facing drastic cutbacks. I graduated from LACHSA in 1995 and going there was one of the best experiences in my life.

I know that every public school is facing cutbacks and to some an arts education sounds like a luxury rather than an essential. All I know, is LACHSA is a special place. It saddens me to think that arts teachers will lose their jobs and that classes will be cut. I think the structure of LACHSA allows students to develop deeper bonds with their teachers than would normally develop in a traditional high school. I felt like I graduated with a group of mentors that helped guide me and from that I was better prepared for my future.

I also feel like since my school was arts focused and had abandoned many of the traditional trappings of high school life ( sports, most dances, cheerleaders, et) the students were more driven. People had their group of friends, but there was less of a leaning towards forming cliques or excluding people. I would be hardpressed to pick out the "popular" kids. This all fostered an atmosphere of creativity and learning. I always looked forward to being in class and having new experiences.

LACHSA isn't perfect, but it is something special and worth fighting to save. My life is so much richer from having attended - amazing friends, incredible experiences and teachers/mentors who work so hard. I am really sad to think of what these changes will mean for both the teachers and students.

If you are able, please consider making a donation. It's such a worthy cause!