Natalie, Dick and Wolfgang

Catalina could almost be the "Cinque Terre" in Italy

Brenda practising her "Presidential" departure at the Nixon Library

Rated #3 in the US - It lives up to its billing

Remember the bad, old joke….”What kind of wood does not float?” Answer…….Natalie! For those whose memories may be foggy, Hollywood starlet Natalie Wood drowned while swimming off the stern of a yacht, rented by she and her husband, actor Robert Wagner, while anchored in a bay on Catalina Island. VERY bad joke!! Sunday, we took the ferry to Catalina from Long Beach. The major town on Catalina, Avalon, is reminiscent of Mediterranean, Italian, sea-side hill towns. You wonder what is anchoring some of the houses to the hill. A very unique tourist destination and, very busy on an 85°F winter day. Glad we visited in off-season!

Saturday, we visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. Another excellent history lesson and, in light of events surrounding the Nixon resignation, a very interesting tutorial in marketing!! The facility dealt at great length with the Watergate situation and presented what amounted to a balanced reporting of the events. The Spiro Agnew resignation got almost no mention. I guess Tricky Dick wasn’t responsible for that one!! John Dean was certainly made out to be the Watergate “Bad Guy”. We met Dean and his wife many years ago and……… he seemed pretty sleazy then.

After the library, we talked our way into a dinner reservation at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, in Beverley Hills. (We’re actually getting quite good at last minute tables in good eateries……the first maitre de said “no way” but, a sweet young blonde said……”sure…no problem” ). Our dining success rate has been about 50/50 at celebrity chef restaurants so, our expectations were muted. Often it’s a case of the “emperor has no clothes” but, not at Spago. The staff was the best, the service excellent and the food…….. unbelievable. Brenda was hoping for Puck’s signature smoked salmon pizza appetizer but, it was not on the day’s menu. No problem…..voila……one smoked salmon pizza. That’s service! The entire meal was memorable and excellent.

The air in LA is much more “chewy” than we remember from previous visits and, the razor wire surrounding highway signs suspended from I-10 freeway overpasses to prevent tampering tells a story. Not a happy one methinks. All in all…… LA is nowhere as “livable” as San Diego. Next!