Hello, After weeks of anticipation, we teenagers were always looking forward to the long drive up the mountain to Big Bear Lake and the City. It was a traditional thing for all Long Beach area teenagers to gather and have fun. The real estate agents had a field day and it was a very profitable week for them. It was provided by the scores of teenagers and their chaperones renting cabin after cabin, covering the whole Big Bear Lake area. There were plenty of hot rods and family sedans ready for the "out of the main town," drag races in the woods. The main drag in town, was the hang out for most every one and the hissing of the hot rod motors was evident. The high altitude played tricks on the hot rods and cruisers. Most did not know why their motors just did not have it, in any acceleration up in the mountains. Our family mechanic had told us to take off the air cleaner and adjust the carb to make it idle at mountain elevation. Everyone thought that it was a matter of just taking off the air cleaners and that was the source of the “big” hissing sound heard everywhere. Despite what the car looked like, and how loud the hissing was, if it was not adjusted, it ran terrible in town and outside of town in the forest races. Jnaki In the years we attended this winter event, it snowed once and had snow on the ground on the other times. So, we never had to put on chains for winter driving. We just waited it out for the big plows to clear the road back down the mountain. It was a good thing we had all week to plan our descent back down to the lower elevations and freeway driving back home to Long Beach. Once, we had to go out of the back of the mountain resort area into the lower, desert area and come back around to “civilization” through the North Palm Springs area due to bad weather. The front side of the San Bernardino Mountain range was taking the brunt of the storm and the back road to the desert area was clear for travel. But, it was a round about way to get back down the mountain and to fairly level freeway roads. I am not sure if this unplanned event, that was so big in our high school history, is still going on, today. It was the hottest cars from the greater Long Beach area, cruising down the main drag of Big Bear City while all of the sidewalks and corners were full of teenage guys/girls. It was just ripe for some teenage banter and a short drive to the proving grounds just outside of the city’s downtown area. This year, it has been raining for days, the snow came early, and the roads are slow/slick. But those memories still bounce around from time to time with all of the fun that went on with parties, girls, walks in the snow, teenage bravado down the main drag, and of course, back woods, drag racing.
125 feet tall Hello, For a lot of people during this strange 2020 holiday season, it won’t be a “Happy Holidays.” But, for visitors to the newest outlet center in So Cal, there is a big thing to admire. A 125 foot tall tree that was just put up in the Western quad area of the San Clemente’s new Outlet Center, just off of the I-5 freeway in South Orange County. It is the "tallest tree on display" in the USA. A roadside attraction for sure. For some reason, the weekly attraction at the Outlets is the Cars and Coffee event. Over 500 people attend with varying hot rods to sporty cars. Without masks is a shaky deal… for sure. The tree can be seen from the I-5 freeway going North or South in the OC at any time of the day or night. It is pretty tall and sticks out like a sore thumb. With the ocean in the background, it is a nice contrast. Shopping, dining, or strolling around will certainly be different this year. This tree will perhaps make the season brighter. At least it is on the nighttime horizon from the freeway, even going the legal 65 mph. It sticks up as it should, being 125 feet in the air. Christmas trees always look better at night. This year, South Orange County as elsewhere, has cancelled annual winter holiday events and anything to make the "spirits bright..." is a good thing. No one wants to be the "spreading" event during the pandemic. So, check it out from the freeway or the parking lot. Jnaki Someone or some group of workers had to put up all of the branches and a million light strings/bulbs. What a festive job… ! Stay safe a.gibby photo
Well, alright! It's THAT time again. Some holiday traditions just stand the test of time. Traditions like finding the perfect Christmas tree and loading it into the old red pickup, almost falling off the ladder, trying to fix that stupid, crooked ass star on the tree... again, spiking the eggnog, rolling a nice fat "yule log", sitting on the porch watching the neighbor's young wife put up decorations in her yoga pants. I mean sure... it'd be nice to live somewhere in a Currier & Ives painting during the holidays, but have you seen my neighbor's wife in her yoga pants? Look, 2020 has been a big steaming pile. So, let's send it out with a bang. Crank up the tunes and extend our best holiday middle finger, and tell 2020 to pack it's shit. Watching you guys fight has been one of the things that has gotten me through this turd of a year and I thank you all for that! But, I digress. Now I have to run, because Aunt Brenda is here and she plugged up the shitter... again. So, I'll leave you this morning with one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. Merry Christmas everyone!!!
I can't believe it's been a year already. I'm having flashbacks to the first page. The wife was like "this is just like a Hallmark Christmas Movie except I'm not a successful, single female executive, home for the holidays, and you're not a lowly gardener who repulses me until I find out you've been rich this whole time.". 'Not sure how I should take that, but okay.
The Jalopy Journal
