WOO HOO SANTA MONICA!!!

We have reached the END of Route 66 at Santa Monica Pier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Larry said the last time he drove 66 was in 1966 when he had to report to Travis Air Force Base for duty. He drove with Edna and stopped so she could visit Tommy and stay with Connie.

Santa Monica is the town in which Larry spent quite a few growing up years. It is an adorable beach town with a big difference. There are darling boutiques and cute little restaurants...and the neighborhoods areas are like Oakwood, trim and pristine little houses. I love it here! We walked out to the end of the pier today where they were shooting a music video in and around the famous old wooden carousel that was used in the movie The Sting. (That would be inside the gold building with the arched windows) We also saw all the beach houses built right inbetween the highway and the beach!! The one with the white chimney was Elizabeth Taylor's.

You all may not be so interested, but as Leslie Gore sang, "It's my blog and I'll write what I want to.." Or something to that effect. Larry was surprised that all the houses he lived in were still there! The first house was only a block from the beach and across the street from the Miramar Hotel.....There are lots of tall building in that area now, but so is the house!! The other houses were farther from the beach up in those cute little neighborhoods. We met a neighbor at the one house (who incidentally is the current principal of the John Adams Junior High...the school Larry attended!) She told us that his two bedroom home recently sold for 900,000!!! because the older lady that lived there never updated it. Other big changes are the entire McDonald Douglas plant has been razed and a business park erected. Also, Ramsey Military School is long gone.

Larry drove me into Malibu, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood today. We stopped at Rodeo Drive where Larry made a SIGHTING!! J.K.Rowlings, the author of Harry Potter books was shopping there...why not??

Last night, we discovered a British Pub on the beach in Santa Monica. It reminded us a lot of the Buena Vista in San Francisco. Great food, friendly service, and jovial customers. We ate at a table with a real estate man who was born in raised in Coldwater, Ohio, the head of the Language Department at Cal Tech, and her husband. More best friends!!!

Tonight we went to the trendy little district in town on Montana Street and enjoyed a wonderful Italian meal. Filling the gas tank on the way home, Larry discovered that the fellow pumping across from him was from Kettering and had family in Centerville!! That Larry!!