As explained in the previous post, while Tim went through hell to get the Trans Am to California, I had jet setted it to Orange County, CA on the 27th of May. My sister picking me up after my niece scored the winning soccer goal against her old team! I spent about 5 days luxuriating amongst the Orange County set and hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and nieces. Orange County really is Pleasantville and I enjoyed the welcomed break from hotel/motel hopping.

My Niece Mikenna’s soccer team:

Sister Time!

My side kick Lisa Gopman had a brilliant idea for her birthday- hit up Los Olivos and Solvang for some wine tasting made for serious drinkers. Wine tasting always starts out casual and civilized but if you’re hanging out with our USC theatre crowd, things will inevitably take a turn. Such is the case when we convinced an awesome wine tasting venue called California Love in Solvang to stay open late just for us if we promised Lisa would do a stand up comedy routine. We gathered passerbys and handed Lisa the mike. Lisa of course didn’t disappoint, she’s my side kick for a reason, love that girl and Happy Birthday!

Lisa’s Birthday wine tasting frolicks:

After the wine tasting we took the scenic route down PCH (Highway 1) to Manhattan Beach for some more luxury living at my brother’s pad on the beach. After staying one night we knew we needed another. Manhattan Beach really is happening with more restaurants and shops (and juice bars) than one could wish for.

Returning to LA for one night we had lunch with Rey Fernandez of whom Tim has spoken of at length in the Special Thanks.  He was our master mechanic for a number of years custodian of the Trans Am for a year.   He was kind enough to pick up the tab AND buy a couple of T shirts.  Rey you are a star.  We then took in a tour of Sony Pictures at the recommendation and compliments of a good friend which was a great experience.  We visited various sets and sound stages and had obligatory photo’s taken by the Breaking Bad RV.  On our way out of the lot Tim unknowingly asked directions from Jodie Foster.  Priceless.

Tim & Rey:

We couldn’t leave California without visiting our old haunts like the Snake Pit on Melrose where we saw our favorite bartender- T. It’s not the same Snake Pit since their fire as it’s a bit more vamped up compared to it’s old dive bar days. There are new restaurants on Melrose which are awesome too including one we hit up called Umbrella. I also finally bought something from a shop I would walk by every day when I lived off Robertson, called Kitson. There are now four of them on Robertson. I bought some flip flops just to say I bought something there finally.

We then found our motel for the evening which turned out to be the worst of our journey thus far, and that’s not just because we were comparing it to my sister’s or brother’s pad, it was literally the worst! I woke up with random scratches from the bed and a foul smell which turned out to be tar. Yep, they literally were dousing the roof in tar as we slept! Still, the TA received some Cali love here, see Instagram post below:

Cali Trans Am Love:

Last bit of the story here, and some may not be interested, but I literally had the best shopping experience of my life. When living in LA, I fell in love with this store called Veronica M. I kind of feel like I discovered them as I’ve introduced the brand to EVERYONE! They use to have 4 stores but they are so big with their wholesale business that they are down to one. We were waiting on a guy to look at the car before heading out to Vegas when I begged Tim to let me pop in there and I’m so glad I did. I go in and ask the lady if there is a sale on. She exclaimed, “Yes, we have a grab bag sale- anything you can fit into the $25 bag or anything you can fit into the $50 bag.” Let’s just say I cleaned up. Normally I pay $100+ for the dresses from Veronica M and I literally stuffed like 12 of them into a $50 bag. Suffice to say I didn’t mind waiting for a part to come in for the Trans Am to be fixed as I was on cloud 9. BTW, Tim can tell you the name of the part we needed as shopping is more my specialty. ☺

Dione, June 4th, 2015