.jpg)
I flew to LAX today at noon on Southwest. It brought back memories as this used to be my “every other week” trip when I had a company in SoCal. I figured that I’d go to my dentist and tax guy while I’m close to Manhattan Beach since I’m overdue on both.
I also keep putting off switching my dentist from my old friend and neighbor Arthur (and partner Bea who works with him as a dental hygienist) so they squeezed me in for a 3:30 appointment. Their office is in an office complex next to a building that is the Miami Dade County Police Department. Well, not really, but this is the building where they film most of CSI Miami.
Every time I come to the dentist I get to see them filming a different episode! Today they were filming a scene inside the white Miami Prison bus, another scene in front of the building which normally is the wrap-up scene at the end of the episode and finally another scene with the prison bus only this time all the orange jump suit clad prisoners were outside the bus. Lights, camera, ACTION!!! (You only get this excitement in LA!).
To top it off I figured I’d take a picture of Arthur and Bea for this article (and a little PR for them since they are using Facebook for some promotions now). Arthur went into the room where Bea was working on a customer and posed with her…the customer flat on his back in between them. I asked his permission to take the picture and he said “Sure, no problem!”. Arthur than told me that this guy was famous in that he was the actor who posed as Jack Stephan, the TV plumber on countless commercials while I was growing up in LA. He sat up and spit and let me take his picture and sure enough, it was Jack Stephan, TV plumber! Turns out he’s looking for some work so if you need a classic TV plumber, he’s available.
What does this have to do with our trip to the BVI’s? Coincidences being what they are, it turns out that my dentist and his family (Jeffrey and Steven and their girlfriends) had just gone to the BVI’s to charter a 38′ catamaran in December (what are the odds! This is almost exactly what we are getting ready to do!). So, while Bea was scaling my teeth I got the lowdown on what to do and where to go. I am now on assignment to try to sneak onto Neckar Island…the one owned by Virgin’s CEO Richard Branson. Seems there is some disagreement between Arthur and Bea as to whether it’s private or a public resort. They didn’t have time so we’ll check it out. They also said that Normal Island was the best place for snorkeling.
To sum it up, they had a fantastic time and said that we will have an equal or better time due to the smaller number of people on our boat (there is just the 4 of us). Back in 2000 we went on a similar trip to the BVI’s and brought Arthur’s son Steven who was probably about 10 years old at the time and my next door neighbor. Now, Wes and Steven work together at Cabrillo Yacht Club in their youth program and Steven is Wes’ boss. Arthur’s older son Jeffrey is Geoff’s age and they used to be best friends too!
After the dentist I went and did my second favorite thing in life…meet with my Manhattan Beach ocean view tax guy named Martial to finalize my 2009 taxes. I think I’ve heard the saying that this is as much fun as getting your teeth drilled. I guess that’s why I do both on the same day! He really does have a view of the Pacific Ocean from his office and he always does a great job of making me feel not so bad about paying taxes. More like getting your teeth cleaned than drilled I guess.
Since I’m still having withdrawals about not writing about the history of interesting places I’ll give you a little history of Manhattan Beach. After all, why in the world is a beach on the “left coast” named Manhattan?
It started out as a rancho of about 22,000 acres along the coast. After the original owners died and his family was forced to sell it to pay estate taxes it finally ended up in the hands of developers. In 1888 the Santa Fe Railroad put in the first rail line to Redondo Beach and the development of the sand dunes got underway. There were three main areas being developed. One was named Manhattan after the real Manhattan in New York. No particular reason was given for this. One of the other areas was simply called Shore Acres. As development continued the three areas grew together and it was decided to come up with a common name. A coin flip was made between Manhattan and Shore Acres and Manhattan won. In 1927, the postmaster, frustrated by the fact that there were about 15 Manhattans around the country, added “Beach” to the name and thus was born the famous Manhattan Beach!
While we are at it let’s take a look at two other interesting tidbits about this area. In the 20’2 and 30’s, the Hollywood studios used this area to film desert scenes. Today, right across the street from Arthur’s office, there is a major studio complex (Boston Legal and many other TV shows were/are filmed there) in addition to filming done at other locations here and in Redondo Beach like CSI. Last but not least, in the early 20’s, as development took place, it was all they could do to get rid of the sand that was excavated in the area. Some was used as the base for the field in the LA Coliseum. But the most amazing thing is Waikiki Beach in Hawaii was just coral heads at the time…no sandy beach! The developers researched where in the world they could get sand and selected Manhattan Beach as the best sand around. It just so happened that they had more than they knew what to do with so they moved it on ships out of San Pedro and created what is now those beautiful white sandy beaches. To this day, Waikiki’s beaches are made of Manhattan Beach sand!
Here’s the Picture Gallery for today:
Marlene Shirley - Dear Dale & Family, Sorry I am just now responding. I had set my computer up to notify me of new posts but for some reason it hasn’t. I thought maybe you didn’t have internet access. I am so sad to know that I am behind on your journey. Don’t have to work today so going to get caught up on what is happening. Dale I just have to know how you remember all of the facts that you share, it’s amazing to me! Especially interesting to me about the sand on Waikiki Beach!