Krik's Picks

This is a continuation of my story about our recent trip to southern California . My habit is to write about them sequentially, beginning with what happened first. Chapter 1 : We arrived in California . We ate lunch. We went to a museum. The trouble is they get posted in reverse chronological order. You’re about to read Chapter 2: We drove to Santa Monica . We walked the beach. We went back to our hotel. We found a restaurant for dinner. You are presented Chapter 2 before you’ve read Chapter 1. And then, depending on when you’re reading this, you may have already read Chapter 3 (which happened in the past but hasn’t been written yet) before reading Chapter 2 or 1. Now even I’m getting confused. We left the Getty Villa just as the sun sunk below the Pacific horizon. It was a beautiful sunset. Because of the cool weather and a stiff breeze, the air was crystal clear. Not a trace of Los Angeles ’ infamous smog. As we drove along the Pacific Coast Highway back toward Marina...

One of the things that made lunch at Gladstone’s in Malibu so enjoyable was the prelude. My wife and I were heading to Los Angeles for a couple of days vacation before a convention. We were leaving on a Monday morning flight. Naturally, it snowed Sunday night. So I got up early and cleared the driveway. We had ordered a cab. But with the snow, we called and asked him to come a bit earlier. When he arrived, I don’t think he’d ever driven on snow before. We certainly didn’t expect the driver to take chances. But this was ridiculous. We made it to the airport, got our luggage checked, and got through security. We had time for a quick bite and a cup of coffee before our flight left. Arriving in L.A. , we got our rental car and found our hotel in Marina del Rey . We had decided to stay near the ocean and the beach, which also was reasonably close to our planned attraction for the trip – a visit to the Getty Villa in Malibu . We got checked in and then started our drive up ...