by Chris Barrus
The tour of airport cafes continues…
The relatively new terminal at El Monte Airport (EMT) doesn’t have the old charm of Fullerton or Long Beach, but the outstanding breakfast at Annia’s Kitchen inside is the current champion. The best deal is the “Airport Special Breakfast” which loads you up with at least two of everything for $4.99
The L.A. record store massacre continues… Arons Records closed a couple months ago and now Rhino Records in Westwood is shuttered.
Happily, Rhino Records in Claremont (noteworthy as the first record store I ever shopped at) continues.
StreetWars arrives to Los Angeles in March and I’m stumped to think of any 
remaining 70s-era geek activities that haven’t been transmogrified into a new 2006 edition. Next thing you know I’ll be playing Asteroids while waiting on a new season of Battlestar Galactica. Oh wait…
The potential downside of the new LA edition is simple geography. You live in Long Beach, your target is in Chatsworth, you work in Pasadena, etc. Much of that three week game duration would be spent in traffic. Still it’s kinda neat to see that the authorities are just as angry now as back when we were playing it at sci-fi conventions. Steve Jackson Games (Cthulhu bless ’em) still publishes the original rules such as they were.
Anyway, every good cult activity deserves an exploitation movie and you can’t go wrong with Tag: The Assassination Game. It’s not particularly good and is probably more noteworthy now as a Linda Hamilton trivia answer, but having both Michael Winslow and Frazer Smith guarantees it’s spot in a future episode of “I Love The 80s.”
Good luck guys – don’t get shot by the L.A.P.D.
Ran across a photo that gave me a brief pause…
Kinda miss the days when a moon rocket would block traffic. Here’s the same intersection today, it’s at Seal Beach Blvd. at Leisure World in Seal Beach.
Five things overheard while watching last week’s DARPA’s Minotaur launch from Vandenberg from Long Beach (all quotes verbatim from actual Long Beach residents):
1. “Look at that contrail, it was totally out of control!”
2. “It looks like a spaceship blew up!”
3. “Yeah, it was something launched from the desert”
4. “Did something crash?”
5. “As soon as it dumped that jet, it hit the rocket and just took off out of there!”
The launch contrail as seen from Mt. Wilson’s Towercam.
I’ve blogged about the Long Beach Airport (LGB) before – vintage terminal, free wireless, and happy times on JetBlue. I’ve never been to the cafe before though, so it was time for another round of coffee, pancakes, and bacon.
The food was your basic above-average diner quality and the wait staff kept the coffee flowing. The real winner though is the view out of the window where you’ve got a panoramic view of almost all airport operations. I could easily sit here, drink coffee, and stare out the window all day. Did I mention the free Wi-Fi?
Just down the street from the LGB terminal is the old McDonnell-Douglas aircraft plant. Boeing took it over when they they bought out McDonnell-Douglas and renamed the MD-80 descendants the Boeing 717. Boeing shortly phased out the 717 soon enough anyway. Still, the real tragedy is that the giant “Fly DC Jets” neon sign on the roof is no longer lit.
The final lawsuit to block the razing of the Ambassador Hotel was dismissed today so it looks like the demolition is going to proceed. Nothing good to report here, except that it looks like all of the Ambassador Cats are going to find homes.
We interrupt this series of airport cafe pictures for the following…
Are you in Long Beach? If so, go directly to Provence Boulangerie in Belmont Shore. Order anything on the menu, it’s all good so you can’t go wrong. Personal favorites are the turkey brie sandwich and the tarragon chicken salad (pictured), but everything there has been superb.
Provence Boulangerie
191 Park Street
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-433-8281
This week’s visit was to the Fullerton Airport (FUL) cafe a.k.a. Tartuffles. I’ve been there dozens of times before so it wasn’t any big surprise – yummy food, direct view of the tarmac, and pretty reasonable prices (the whole breakfast was $7.00 including coffee).
