Hidden Gems

This past weekend, a friend invited me to go to a beach bonfire.  I will admit, I was feeling a little on the crappy side that day, and didn’t want to go completely.   But at the same time, I didn’t want her to drive all the way over by herself.  When she stopped by to pick me up, I checked out a maps app to see how bad the freeway was looking.  It was on and off red all the way down the 101 and the 405 to the place we were supposed to go to the bonfire.  I asked if she wanted to try going the back ways, and she asked if she needed to program it in her GPS.  I told that I would be able to get us to where her written directions picked up. 

We headed up onto the canyon roads which use to be my daily drive to work.  After a few turns, I asked her if she had driven Mulholland before.  She said she hadn’t and that she her closest interaction had been on the Mulholland Drive ride at Disneyland’s California Adventure.  For those of you not familiar with California, Mulholland Drive winds in and around the huge hill between the valley and the west side.  It is one of the curviest roads that I have driven on out here.  Since I was used to driving it and not driving, I tried to point out the sites as we passed that would be interesting to tourists. Or at the least the ones that amused me!  So I began to show her my hidden gem locations of Los Angeles. 

Along Mulholland Drive between Coldwater and Laurel Canyons, there is a turn you go around and then if you are looking up (which please don’t do this while you are driving!) you can see a large blue sign with the white letter D.  I have never done the research to find out if this is true, but based on the font it looks like it could have been part of the original Disneyland sign.  When I mentioned this to my friend, she quickly agreed.  One of my other favorites along this route is a house in Beverly Hills that looks like it was torn from the pages of a storybook.   Seriously, it looks like it should be the seven dwarfs’ house from Snow White.  It’s simply amusing to me just sitting in the middle of Beverly Hills and streets full on large houses and mansions.

We ended up passing some other familiar sites along on the way too, like the place she used to go dancing at and my favorite vegan Indian place, the Samosa House.  We got to the point where we picked up her directions and found our way over to the beach.  We found a free place to park up on the street and walked down to the beach.  We started looking around for the group but weren’t seeing any familiar faces.  I asked her if she knew what lifeguard station they were by, but she wasn’t sure.  And then we realized we had no signal on our phones.  We continued walking and finally found a place where I had a bit of signal and were able to get a hold of the group.  And then we realized we were still probably a half a mile off.

We found the group and after a little while, they started a fire.  After hot dogs and smores and great conversation, I reflected on the last time I had been to beach.  It had been more than a year, I am sorry to report.  I was hard for me to believe it had been that long, because I was having such a great time.  I also reflected on how far away we were from my work, which couldn’t have been more than a couple of miles away.  I am determined that when I start driving again, I might slip out at least once a week to enjoy my lunch at the beach.  Or at least see if it’s feasible within an hour!

It was a wonderful night and the walk back to the car wasn’t too bad nor was the fast drive on the freeway back to the valley.  I can’t believe I had thought about not going! Although not at all hidden, the beach is a gem that I will be enjoying again soon!

What are your hidden gems for where you live?  Have you shared them with others?