Seasonal Transitions

Top left: John's first swim of 2011
Top right: The martini at Cafe Max
Below: First trout of 2011!


This is a season of transitions on all three coasts.

With the hard winter, it’s tempting to wish your way into the future, hoping for steady warm weather. However, I am finding it’s more fun to just take every day as it comes and find something to enjoy regardless.

The weather on all three coasts is bouncing back and forth between hot and cold and many temperatures in between.

On Easter Sunday, I took my first swim of 2011 - - and my earliest planned swim of my life. My earliest unplanned swim occurred on April 15, 1987, 1988 or 1989 after I tripped and fell into the Battenkill.

The water on Easter was cold but not as cold as the Christmas Day swim. Instead of wading in gradually and losing resolve, I dove right in.

This is a good time to visit the Hamptons. The place is starting to come alive for the summer but the nutty crowds have not yet taken over the place. At Café Max, on Easter Sunday, we had no trouble getting a reservation for brunch. The food was great and Max’s bartender served up a martini big enough to end the drought in Russia.

Further to the north and to the west, trout fishing has been enjoyable. The water is warming up. In upstate New York, the black flies are just starting to come out.

From Los Angeles, reports are coming in of good fishing surprisingly close to the City. A friend came back from a trip recently after having caught a 15 inch brown trout on a fly in a tiny creek. That must have been a pleasant surprise.

The other noteworthy news from the West Coast comes from the Pasadena Casting Club (PCC). The casting pool at the Club has been deteriorating for many years. This year, the restoration of the casting pool is nearly complete. A grand opening is scheduled for Saturday May 7th. From 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., you can enjoy refreshments in the PCC clubhouse. At 11 a.m. Mayor William Bogaard, Councilman Steven Madison and PCC officials will cut the ribbon to reopen the casting pool and afterwards members and the public are invited to practice their fly fishing skills.

Edward Hopper at the Whitney

When my mother, my wife Dorothy and I went to the Whitney Museum of American Art this past weekend, the experience reminded us of how the Whitney ably balances constancy and change.

At the coat check, we met Eric and Donald, the two hosts, who have worked together for 23 years. Eric and Donald served a crowd for five floors of exhibit with kindness and Seinfeld flashes of wit. They were helpful and congenial to a person seeking a wheelchair, explaining how to use the chair and chatting up the visitor to provide a welcoming experience.

After Eric and Donald took our coats, we headed upstairs to see Modern Life: Edward Hopper and his Times. As with snow in the North Country, the exhibit looks great but is about to “melt”- - closing on Sunday April 10th.

The exhibit occupies much of the museum’s second floor, with 71 works, nearly all of which are paintings and 32 of which are Hoppers. Most of the Hoppers in the exhibit are from the Whitney’s collection. Hopper’s widow, Josephine, gave the Museum over 2,500 pieces of Hopper’s art after he died in 1967.

From this universe of Hoppers, the curators chose such classics as Gas, the painting of a Cape Cod gas station at dusk, Railroad Sunset, a railroad interlocking tower silhouetted by sunset and A Woman in the Sun, a nude woman in summer light. Because the exhibit draws from the Whitney collection, you will not see classics such as Nighthawks and the sailboat painting, The Long Leg, from, respectively, the Chicago Art Institute and the Huntington in Pasadena.

Throughout the rooms are informative essays on the walls, with biographical and artistic information about Hopper, the America of his times and artistic contemporaries. His contemporaries include George Bellows, represented by his large canvas Dempsey and Firpo, photographer Edward Steichen, Charles Burchfield and Precisionist Charles Sheeler.

The curator cleverly puts familiar and unexpected images together. My parents loved the painting, Gas and it’s great to see it. However, before coming to Gas, is a Hopper picture called Soir Bleu, depicting an outdoor café. All the diners look unremarkable. In a table at the middle of the painting, however, is a clown, fully made up with a white face!

We came mostly to see Hopper. But on leaving, I realized the exhibit is as much - - or more - - about 20th century American painting and the Whitney’s collection as it is about a wonderful artist.

Five Things We Love about Santa Barbara

From left to right: Santa Barbara panoramic, redwood trees at the Botanic Garden and Santa Barbara Fish House

If you need a place to escape from late winter dreariness, head for Santa Barbara, California.

The Pacific coast at Santa Barbara runs almost exactly east and west. This south-facing orientation, combined with onshore breezes, gives the place a particularly Mediterranean climate. At this time of year, you are likely to see Monarch butterflies starting to fly north.
Along with the climate, architecture and vegetation adds to the Mediterranean atmosphere. The mountains in the Los Padres National Forest and the numerous red-tiled roofs will remind readers of Cezanne’s painting, The Gulf of Marseille Seen from L’Estaque.
Santa Barbara has something for almost every interest. A good place to start is the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitor’s Bureau and Film Commission’s website. Here are our favorites from two days of visiting the city that bills itself as “The American Riviera.”

1. Mission Santa Barbara. On a rise just north of the city is Mission Santa Barbara, founded by the Spanish in 1786. The Mission’s guided and self-guided tours are informative, comfortably paced and reasonably priced. Garden trees and the buildings themselves provide a cool oasis - - even in the heat of the day. The view of Santa Barbara and the Pacific, from the Mission’s front steps, is one of the best in the world.
2. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. It would take at least two days to go from California’s redwood forests in the north to its deserts on the Mexico border. At the Botanic Garden, you can see all of these landscapes in less than two hours! The Garden has three species of redwoods and sequoias which were planted in the 1930’s. Although these trees are not height record-setters, they give a great sense of how it feels to be in a redwood grove. Exhibits, some of which are hand’s on, introduce you to California wildflowers, grasslands, desert plants and plants found on the Golden State’s coast and islands.
3. Beach fun. The water may not be at summer temperatures yet but walking on the edge of the surf is a treat. Santa Barbara has a strong network of bicycle paths that are separate from highways, dedicated bike lanes on roads and on highways where you must share the road. We liked the Shoreline trail and found the people at Wheel Fun Rentals capable at fitting bicycles to riders and informative about places to go. Wheel Fun’s rates are also reasonable.
4. Restaurants. Overlooking the beach are the Santa Barbara Fish House and Eladio’s Restaurant and Bar at the Beach and both have a wide variety of appetizers, salads, food and drinks. Crab cakes at the Fish House were outstanding, and the classic burger at Eladio’s was delightful. In town, we had lunch and dinner at the Natural Café, on State Street. There were enough tasty choices in this place to span the varied diets of vegetarians, careful eaters and oblivious gluttons.
5. Shopping. There is a ton of varied shopping in Santa Barbara, although this is a mystery for me personally. On State Street, you can find an open-air importer of goods from India. Also on State Street is a Cost Plus World Markets. I know West Coast readers probably think this store, with it’s mix of food, wines, housewares and furniture, is nothing much. However, the store’s layout, with its casual arrangement of lots of apparently low priced goods, is appealing - - especially to non-Californians.

Are We There Yet?

A few days ago, I said the "next "tricoastal" post will consider staying found and the value of getting lost while traveling" and asked for stories. So many people wrote in with funny, sad and frustrating stories that I am still sorting them out. So, keep an eye out for a post - - or posts on this subject.

Late Winter Delights

On the left: the view from Washington state, Doug Stauffer photographer

Center and right: a trail and Helderberg Escarpment, John Rowen photographer

Left and center: the view from June Mountain and Yellowstone National Park. photograph courtesy of Dennis Grenninger

Right: Pasadena Casting Club, photograph courtesy of Seymour Singer.

The view out our front door, photograph by John Rowen

Even though spring is less than a month away, you can still find many great winter sports on our three coasts.

Doug Stauffer, an upstate New York expatriate in Washington State, has enjoyed great snowshoeing and winter hiking in his neck of the woods.

In upstate New York, I have enjoyed cross-country skiing on good to excellent conditions with Jon and Rose Cooper. We had one day where ice coated the snow and breaking trail was exhausting and sometimes the wind chill is unpleasant.

But when things stabilize, the temperature rises or an overnight snow shower leaves a coating of powder that enable smooth, fast conditions. I have become fonder of non-wax able skis. They work in whatever weather is found. I used to have beautiful wax able skis but I was not smart enough to get them to work when the snow got thick and wet.

Best of all, you do not need to go far to enjoy the skiing. The snow is great whether you go out the backdoor - - or drive a few minutes to a nearby park.

Downhill skiing is also in good shape on both coasts. Dennis Greninger reports good conditions within a comfortable drive of Los Angeles. I would go but with so much great cross-country nearby it does not seem worth the fuss this month.

Winter also offers snowmobiling, dog sledding and ice fishing. A California friend likes to head inland for snowmobiling in Yellowstone. He and his wife also wing their way to the North Coast, to spend a few days dog sledding in Ely, Minnesota.

If the cold makes you want to forget the cold, you can always head south - - or southwest. My friend Seymour Singer and his family had a welcome time-out at the beach at about the same time as upstate New York received its second or third snow storm of the season.

At this time of year, southern California is at its peak. The temperatures are balmy and rain keeps the landscape and flowers green. In a month or so, things will dry up and turn brown, but now everything is vivid greens and bright colors.

Last year at this time, I enjoyed visiting the Pasadena Casting Club. Some time was spent cleaning up the fall and winter debris. But when the work was done, many people adjourned to the casting pool and started getting their casting arms in shape, on a bright and warm afternoon!

Before, during or after your excursions, you will need restorative food and beverages. In Pasadena, Yahaira’s continues to please. In Eagle Rock, Mia Sushi and Senor Fish’s appealing cuisine has been joined by Four Café - - a new eatery with a seasonally driven menu. In Albany, we enjoyed this past Valentine’s Day at Creo.

In East Hampton, my mother and I had an innovative version of surf and turf at the Palm. The experience was topped off with a schooner-sized Manhattan.

Regardless of whether you are working, playing, drinking or dining, the best part of this season are the longer days. Each day is longer by two to five minutes. That helps sweep out the winter cobwebs for spring!

The experience of being on the Great Lakes, the North Coast of this blog, is too big for the blog format. For a sense of the Great Lakes at their most beautiful and powerful, I strongly recommend you read Peter Geye’s new first novel, Safe from the Sea.

The novel opens with Olaf Torr, and his adult son Noah, in a highly charged reunion on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Noah is angry at his father for leaving him and his sister Solveig after he survived a shipwreck during a Lake Superior winter storm. But Noah tries to set aside his anger when Olaf calls, says he is “sick” and asks for help.

Noah’s wife, Natalie, has had several miscarriages. She has a chance to get pregnant again, but the window could close with Noah out of town.

Once at his father’s remote cabin, Noah realizes Olaf probably has cancer. The diagnosis is not precise; Olaf will not visit a doctor out of fear he will end life in a hospital.

Shipwrecks or family tension are common plot lines. What makes Safe from the Sea noteworthy is how Geye generates page-turning suspense by gradually revealing what happened to Olaf - - and by drawing the reader into the mystery of whether or not father and son will reconcile.

It would be easy to demonize Olaf and make Noah, Natalie and Solveig victims. However, Geye makes each character complete and gives them virtues along with flaws.

I am not sure if the Raganorak, Olaf’s ship, existed but Geye’s combination of careful research and narrative convinces you the ship and shipwreck are real.

These achievements are done with great writing. In describing modern navigation, Olaf grumbles, “Now it’s just a bunch of satellites telling you where you are and where to go. Back then, it was still something beautiful to steer a ship.”

As Noah drives northeast, through the night, “Just clear of Taconite Harbor and the Two Islands he saw the sun rise over the water, remembering the adage about a red sky in the morning. It was red - - the sky over the lake - - and lowering . . . There was [a storm] stewing in the distance.”

Loaded as it is with emotion and landscape, Safe from the Sea is less than 250 pages long, leaving the reader wishing for more.

To order this book, see your local bookseller or contact unbridled books.
For more information on Peter Geye, go to the author's website.
For more information on Lake Superior and its ships, visit the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor’s Center in Duluth, Minnesota - - or go to http://www.lsmma.com/

Pre-Thanksgiving in New York City

From left to right: Nick's Paley Park and Le Mirage Cafe

This year and last, we are spending Thanksgiving with family in New York City.

The great thing about a repeat visit is that the traveler learns more - - more new places and more about existing neighborhoods.

On the way in from JFK, our daughter, Lily, was hungry after flying non-stop from the West Coast. The Belt Parkway does not have any signs for services, as do expressways elsewhere. To find an open restaurant on a Tuesday night required quick reflexes. After missing an exit that may have led to either an Olive Garden or a Home Depot, a box of nails would do wonders for the required daily allowance of iron, we got off at the Flatbush Avenue north exit.

Plan A was to see if King's Plaza had a restaurant with an outside entrance that might be open after the mall closed. As we pulled up at the parking booth, this plan crashed with the attendance's dour announcement that the entire mall was closed.

On the way up Flatbush, Lily saw a brightly lit places called Nick's Lobster. We returned there and when we walked in, the hostess greeted us warmly and congenially - - even though it was towards the end of the night. At this later hour, there were still several groups still in the dining room. We were invited to sit at a table overlooking the tidal creek which flows behind Nick's.

Our waitress was also friendly and well informed about the menu. Nick's has a mix of seafood and non-seafood and she helped us find a set of choices that would be enjoyable and arrive quickly.

We settled on: mozzarella sticks and salad; Manhattan Clam Chowder; broiled sole; crab cakes; and a plate of french fries. The food arrived quickly and was cooked exactly right. Our waitress was attentive without being overbearing.

In milder weather, Nick's has lots of outside seating. But this time of the year, the night view from a well-heated dining room was just the ticket.

On Wednesday, we discovered El Mirage, an excellent cafe and pizzeria in Midtown. El Mirage has: a healthy buffet, with many Mediterranean food choices; sandwiches; hot entrees; and pizza to die for. We ate there for breakfast and lunch. The food quality and service were consistent for both meals.

Later, we walked up and down Fifth Avenue. The big retailers have their holiday windows on view and there are lots of souvenir shops in the blocks between 42nd and 53rd Street.

My favorite part of the walk was a brief period of warm afternoon sunshine. My second favorite part was a visit to Paley Park, a few doors to the east of Fifth Avenue on 53rd Street. Paley Park is a "vest pocket" park that was created in the late 1960's. It has tables, small trees and a beautiful, wide waterfall at the back of the park. Even in the cooler weather, this is one of the most appealing spaces in all of New York City.

Contact and location information:

Nick's Lobster Restaurant and Fresh Seafood Restaurant is located at 2777 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11234. Their telephone number is 718-253-5735. Their website is http://www.nickslobster.com/ and it is informative, with the complete menu and information about daily specials.

El Mirage Cafe and Pizza is located at 20 West 43rd Street, in Midtown. It's telephone number is 212-354-1234. The Cafe does not appear to have a website.

Paley Park is located on East 53rd Street, a few doors west of Fifth Avenue - - on the north side of the street.

Aboard Southwest

The Southwest fleet at McCarran Airport, Las Vegas




When the pilot changed the approach to Las Vegas, I got this surprise view of the front of Hoover Dam and the new bridge downstream of the dam.




With modern air travel, there is stirring aviation inside and outside the terminals. Here is The Barnstormer, a larger than life sculpture by Harrison Covington, at the Tampa International Airport. Photo by David Lawrence.







On a recent spring trip, I saw a wall of fog lifting off the Hudson River, flowing across fields and streaming west to the Catskill mountains.

This spring trip was a Southwest Airlines flight from Albany, New York to Burbank, California. At ground level, I have seen the drama of the Hudson pumping out fog. But you need to be thousands of feet overhead to get the full effect of the collision between warm air and cold water.


Southwest is our main airline for traveling between the East Coast, West Coast and North Coast. It has a convenient, yet efficient schedule, particularly between Albany and the West Coast. The prices are reasonable, there are few nuisance fees and the on-time record is among the best in the industry.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of flying Southwest is its staff. The airline’s reservations and check-in are almost entirely computerized. However, if you have a question or problem, there is a real person available toll-free, at check-in or at the gate. In planning for a trip, I found my reservation was muddled. Gail and Deanna helped me put things right and saved me a walk across several states with deserts or humid weather.

Recently on a trip from Burbank to Albany, I benefited from Southwest’s effective marriage of people and technology. My flight home via Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport was going to be delayed. Rather than let me sit in California and miss the connecting flight, Southwest staff found me at the gate and got me on an earlier flight. The seating was more cramped than it would have been on the later flight but I got home in the same day. (In the interest of full disclosure, I had a similar experience three years ago with a United flight from Iowa to Albany.)

Southwest’s flight crews often bring a cock-eyed wit to cabin announcements. On the Tampa/Las Vegas leg of a flight to Burbank, Susan, opened an explanation of using oxygen masks by saying, “If you are traveling with children - - or anyone acting like a child . . .”

According to Brian Lusk, a Southwest public information staffer, “this wit comes partly from training, partly from personality and partly from the situation.”

The food on Southwest is non-descript. However, the assorted snack packs are served in a welcoming manner and the food on other transcontinental flights does not seem to be much better. It is possible to bring food on-board, something I plan to try to get better food than is found airport concessions.

On a recent flight, the pilot changed course on the approach to Las Vegas. This provided a great view of Hoover Dam and the new bridge nearly complete, just downstream. Last fall, inbound to Burbank, we saw a large, white billowing smoke cloud from the Station Fire. The smoke was as high and wide, it seemed as that from the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

One of the best views on Southwest is when the plane is about to touch down on the destination runway. Of course, this view is bittersweet. It’s nice to be heading on vacation or coming home. But it’s also a little hard to go from skilled and caring people to the randomness of the outside world.

Links:
For more in formation on Southwest, go to http://www.southwest.com/

For information on the Hoover Dam bridge project, go to http://www.hooverdambypass.org/

For more information on Tampa Airport, go to http://www.tampaairport.com/

Five and a Half More Things We Like About Pasadena

Captions:

The Norton Simon Museum (top left) and the Rose Bowl (top right)

Left: The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881

Claude Monet French, 1840-1926
Oil on canvas 39-1/2 x 32 in. The Norton Simon Foundation
F.1975.09.P

This is the follow-up to the January 16, 2010 post about things we like in Pasadena. As in the previous post, contact information is at the end of the post.

1. The Rose Bowl: In addition to the great sports that happen here, the stadium is the centerpiece of an appealing network of running and hiking trails.

2. Norton Simon Art Museum: This gem of an art museum has a wonderful mix of Old Masters, Impressionist and modern art. The collection includes Monet’s bright blue, sunflower-filled painting, The Artist’s Garden at Vetheuil, numerous Van Goghs and Picassos and Matisse’s Jazz. The sculpture garden is calming and attractive, a place to enjoy sculpture and rest in between looking at great paintings.

3. The Pasadena Casting Club: South of the Rose Bowl, the Club takes you back to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the Arroyo Seco was filled with trout, rather than a concrete lining. The Club, a leader in teaching fly fishing and helping conserve California fisheries, is planning to undertake a major renovation of the casting pond and clubhouse in the upcoming months.

4. The Courtyard of One Colorado: One Colorado, a super block filled with restaurants, office, shops and a theater, is on the north side of Old Pasadena. Shops and restaurants are appealing but my favorite part of One Colorado is the courtyard in the middle of it, a great place to rest while shopping or to hear music or see outdoor art exhibits.

5. Sabor y Cultura: This is the Pasadena branch of the famed Beverly Hills coffee house. It has a nice light menu, with many vegetarian choices and breakfast served all day. To be honest, I did not try the coffee, so you need to make up your mind about this. The place has entertainment and we were delighted on a recent visit with the jazz and American standards played by the group 6th Street Jazz.

5 1/2. The Holiday Inn Express and Courtyard by Marriott follow-up: We have been back to Pasadena since our January post and are happy to report both of these hotels remain at the top of their game with excellent service.

Contact Information:

Rose Bowl: In Arroyo Seco Park on 1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena, California 91103, http://www.rosebowlstadium.com/626-577-3101

The Norton Simon: 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, http://www.nortonsimon.org/ 626-449-6840

The Pasadena Casting Club: in Arroyo Seco, south of the Rose Bowl and the iconic bridge over the Arroyo, http://www.pasadenacastingclub.org/ 626-356-7406

The Courtyard of One Colorado is north of Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena, http://www.onecolorado.com/ 626-564-1066

Sabor y Cultura: 716 East Colorado Boulevard, http://www.saborycultura.com/ 626-793-0251

The Slices of New York

Just as Norman Maclean, the author, was haunted by rivers, I am haunted by pizza. Ever since my father brought home a steel-mill sized eight cut from Santora’s Pizzeria in the Kenmore neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, fifty years ago, I have been a pizza aficionado.

No matter whether I am on the East Coast, West Coast, North Coast - - or even in Europe, I will try the pizza.

Of all the pizza on all the coasts, I like New York City pizza the best, so far.

With so many pizzerias and pizza types, there are probably pizza rivalries as intense as gang rivalries. Think of a Martin Scorsese movie called The Slices of New York.

In some parts of the world, pizza toppings are essential to compensate for weak pizza fundamentals, such as the crust, cheese or sauce.

The City is noteworthy because has so many places where the pizza fundamentals are so strong that no toppings other than cheese are required. I hope pizzeria owners will take this as a compliment, even if they lose the price of some extra toppings.

Pizza comes in four styles: thick crust or Sicilian; pizza without mozzarella cheese but with sauce and Romano cheese; brittly thin crust; and thin crust. This post considers only regular thin crust. We would need more electrons than France consumes in a day to address all variations:

1. La Crosta: This pizzeria is on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. La Crosta’s generous sized slices have a pizza crust that is particularly good; it is light and airy, yet strong enough to carry a generous combination of sauce and cheese.

2. Deninos Pizzeria and Tavern: The first several times I visited this Staten Island pizzeria, I burnt my mouth on the hot smooth cheese and the great sauce. After a few blisters, I learned to pause with a soda or beer first. If you eat in, check out the pool table and great jukebox.

3. Rosa’s: There is a Rosa’s in Penn Station and in Queens, each with different owners. The Penn Station Rosa’s, on the Long Island Railroad side of the station, has generous sized slices which have great cheese and sauce and a strong crust. Wonderfully cold beer is available as well. I have not been to the Queens Rosa’s, but fellow bloggers rate it highly.

4. Joe and Pat’s Pizzeria: The home of the first New York pizza I ever had, Joe and Pat’s has a magical oven that cooks pizza like a wood-fired oven - - but for 40 years before the wood-fired pizza appeared. Crust is crispy on the outside but soft and chewy inside, like the best Italian bread. This place uses chunk mozzarella, instead of shredded. It's so good that my sister and her fiance often detour off the expressway for an eight cut on the way to see my mother - - I’d do the same if Joe and Pat’s was on my way to my mother’s.

5. Sbarro in Times Square: Why, you ask is a chain mentioned with such distinguished local places. Well, Sbarro’s pizza’s crust, cheese and sauce may not be as unique as the places listed above, but they are reliable and tasty. The Time Square branch has the added advantage of being convenient for someone craving a pizza in Midtown when other places are closed.

One last pizza pick, for people who live to the east of the City, is Prima Stella, a few exits to the west of Riverhead. I like Prima Stella’s pizza as the chef brings the crust, cheese and sauce together in an appealing manner. Stella has congenial staff and is has convenient hours, if you are coming or going from Long Island later in the day or night.

Note: I will be adding contact information for these eateries over the next few days. But if you need the info sooner, please leave a post!