calherewecome

Okay, it’s been a while since last I wrote. We’ve been busy. So it’s about time for an update.

We’ve been in California now for about three weeks. That’s enough time to get a feel on what things are like here compared to New England.

First and foremost, Sept 1 is only a date. The seasons don’t change. It doesn’t get cold. Weather is the same. Temp in the 80’s and blue sky. Why they have weathermen out here is beyond me. Maybe they don’t pay them as much as back east. They certainly don’t have to think very much on what the weather will be tomorrow.

The culture seems to be much more bi-lingual. The dominant cultures that I see here is White folks and Latino folks. One hears people speaking spanish much more than back East. Though, the Lowell area has had big upswing in Cambodian/Laotian and Vietnamese. Not good or bad, just different.

There are lots of familiar brands out here. We have the usual Home Depot, Target, CVS, etc. In fact, having a CVS out here, made it real easy to get our Prescriptions refilled.

Grocery chains are different. No Stop & Shop or Demoulas. The big chains are Ralph’s, Albertson’s and Von’s. We tend to favor both Ralph’s and Albertson’s. Both being close to home. It’s taking us a while to get used to where stuff is located in the stores. We are also trying to get used to various store brands.

Many good restaurants out here. Some good, some not so good. We use Yelp to guided us (See: www.yelp.com ) There is an iPhone/iPad app for Yelp. Click here for the mobile Yelp apps. There are the usual franchise restaurants like Denny’s, IHOP, etc. We usually go out for brunch on Sunday after services. My favorite is Pacific Diner (Here’s the Yelp review.)

One other business that I must write about is a local car wash in Lomita called the Mirage Car Wash. Service is remarkable. When you pull you get out of your car. Then they vacuum it out. Then they drive it through the mechanical car wash. Meanwhile, you go inside the building to pay for the car wash. You can get a cup of coffee. Then you go outside and sit under an awning to wait. Once the car goes through the machine. One of the employees takes your car and pulls it under and awning and touches up every thing. Wash windows inside an out. He or she waves when done. By then you should be done with your coffee. And off you go. Tipping is encouraged. My car hasn’t looked this good in a long time. Yelp review is here.

Everything out here is air conditioned. I went to LA Harbor Lodge stated meeting last week with Mike. Very comfortable and very casual. Not a tuxedo in sight. I felt over dressed wearing long pants and shoes. Our first OES meeting is next Monday.

More later. Thursday we have an appointment for Steinway private sale in Downtown LA. Don’t think we can afford a Steinway piano, but we’ll go look for fun.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

This entry was posted on September 11, 2012 at 6:07 am and is filed under California, Moving. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: California, Moving