This past March my whole immediate family decided to take a trip together. It’s not easy scheduling everyone to be free at the same time and the whole planning process is complicated, and we hadn’t attempted it before.
We decided on southern California and Hollywood instead of making another trip to northern California to see my sister, because we’d been there several times and seen all the great sights including the redwoods and all the San Fran fun. Our goal was to take Steve’s ashes to sprinkle on movie stars and footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. My late husband Steve was a film buff and had a collection of probably 2,000 movies on tape. He could hear one line from a movie or see one quick clip and tell you who starred in the movie, who was asked to do the movie, but declined and the movie name and year made. Our kids are movie buffs too — our daughter dressed as Cleopatra one year for Halloween. She was shocked when the other 5th graders at school had no idea who that was, let alone who Elizabeth Taylor was. Our son was the “Errol Flynn” Robin Hood for another Halloween, because he knew the classic movie too.
My daughter is the best at finding Airbnbs and hotels. She found us a 1906 house that had been renovated and had 4 bedrooms (including a garage with an apartment) and 3 baths. There were eight of us: me, my sister and her fella, my brother, son, daughter and 2 grandkids (ages 8 & 13). The house had a wrap- around deck with a salt water pool that filled the entire backyard and a hot tub. The kitchen had all new appliances and the furnishing were like we dropped in on a favorite aunt. It was very comfortable with even a loft bedroom with spiral staircase. The whole family wanted me to have the spacious loft (I’m the oldest and matriarch) but the bathroom was down spiral stairs and at my age I don’t want to try that in the middle of the night. I took the den below with the pull out sofa, which was the best bed in the house – I laid on all of them to test. The living room was large with a fireplace and big screen TV (which I never saw one minute of – too busy). There was a large dining area at the end of the living room with an alcove containing a huge selection of vinyl records and a turntable. We listened to golden oldies every night at dinner. The alcove had a stained-glass church like window and there were leaded French doors from the living room to the deck. It wasn’t cheap, but cheaper than 3 or 4 hotel rooms per night. We were located in East Hollywood on a quiet street off Melrose and near Wilshire Blvd. (all those famous street names you’ve heard of). It was in a nice neighborhood with older homes with character and tile roofs.
We all flew in on Southwest on the same flight from Indianapolis. My sister was worried that we all travelled on the same plane. I told her if something happens to half the group, I don’t want to be among those who survive.
My sister lives in Oakland (next to San Fran) so she and her fella drove their van down full of supplies for a week of cooking. The rest of us rented a van at the airport for the week. That way we could split up on sightseeing. Vans only hold 7 and there were 8 of us.
My brother has IPAD which is hardening of the arteries making walking very far a challenge, so I made arrangements with the airlines for a wheelchair at the airport entrance, which worked out great.
We got in late that first day and my sister wasn’t driving down until the next evening, so the rest of us went to Santa Monica Pier on Day 2. It’s an amusement park on a pier lined with restaurants, and shops down to the ocean with a century of history. My daughter had a friend who has relocated near there several years ago with a son the same age as my granddaughter, so she made arrangements to meet them there. My daughter and her girlfriend and the kids walked down the boardwalk to do all the fun stuff, while my brother and I waited for a table at Bubba Gump’s Restaurant (Forrest Gump movie themed). We lucked into tables that faced the ocean view and enjoyed a great seafood lunch.
Santa Monica Pier has great views and a century of history.
Next time: Day 3 of an 8 day trip to California!
