Things are looking up: our umpteenth plumber appointment brought a breakthrough, and on Friday morning, I took a real, working shower, complete with hot water. Turns out our shower head wasn’t allowing the level of water pressure required to make the hot water heater kick in. We chose a new shower head, and that was that. Then, on Saturday morning, after much delay and many un-returned phone calls, I was able to pick up my new iMac, a brand new computer with all of my stuff transferred over from my now-dead 2005 iMac. It works great, and it’s been a pretty seamless transition from one to the other, minus the bit about paying for a whole new computer. So, two of our nearly month-old headaches have been fixed. I went for a run today after nearly a month off, hoping my foot, too, would be fixed, but it seems like that was a little too much to ask. My marathon training schedule starts in a week, but the race is in a bit of jeopardy right now; if this injury sticks around, like it seems like it is, I’ll have to call it off. I’m really hoping I don’t have to, but it’s enough of a challenge to add on the miles each week without having to worry about whether or not you’ll be in pain the whole time.
On Saturday afternoon, we met Michael and Ali at Griffith Park to wander through Fern Dell in Griffith Park, stopping for a great lunch (avocado sandwich and root beer floats) at the Trails Cafe, which I’d seen on an episode of “California’s Gold” with the inimitable Huell Howser. The walk made us question why we don’t go to Griffith Park every chance we can; it was a great day out, nice and shaded down below and a great view of the observatory and the city from up above.
Today, Aimee and I took on another L.A. walking tour, this time in Studio City, where we’d never really been before. We parked near Tujunga and walked through some nice little neighborhoods, coming across houses built in a variety of architectural styles, mostly ranches but with the occasional English cottage or stone hut. There was the house with the “S” sitting on a chair on the front porch, and the house with the Ganesh statue in the yard, and the house with the nice stained glass and the pretty major-looking observatory dome on the roof. And then, there was the house that many people (but unfortunately not me) would recognize as the home of the Brady Bunch.
After the neighborhood walk, we headed to Ventura Blvd., where we parked and caught the last of the farmer’s market and Ed Begley, Jr., driving slowly by us in his electric car. We had a truly amazing lunch at the Artisan Cheese Gallery, hot sandwiches made with delicious cheese and other fresh ingredients, served on cutting boards. We sampled some cheeses at the counter and some yummy “adult peanut butters” from P.B.Loco. We’ll have to go back there some time for more cheese sometime soon.
A little further down on Ventura, we stopped in the ex-Bookstar, now Barnes & Noble, which used to used to be the Fox Studio City Theatre. It retains the “Studio City” name on the vertical portion of the marquee, the “Bookstar” name on the facade, and says “Barnes & Noble” on the movable letter sign. It’s really strange inside; the ceiling is apparently original, but the wall decorations, while they look like they could have been part of a theater, are more modern.
