Still Coasting Along

Frank Stern, Fr. Junipero Serra, and me on my 81st birthday.

We'd been wanting to head north to Santa Barbara for months. Frank and I planned to go to Carpinteria last December to celebrate his 81st birthday. Instead, we finally got there in late June, to celebrate mine. Torrential rains and subsequent mudslides had intervened to ruin our earlier trip. 

What lured us up the coast? We wanted to sample another cheese bagel at Jack's Bistro and Famous Bagels on Carpinteria's main drag. We'd discovered Jack's on an earlier sojourn to San Luis Obispo. We wanted to meet my newly-discovered first cousin, Deborah Crawford Shafritz, at her synagogue, B'nai Brith, in Santa Barbara. And we wanted to explore more of the antique and secondhand shops that line the main drag in Ventura. Plus, Frank doubted he'd ever visited the Santa Barbara Mission. We did it all. 

Juan Rodriquez of Teddy's

On our first evening, we dined on fish and chips at Teddy's by the Sea, a newly-opened Carpinteria restaurant named after Sarah Rodriquez's grandmother, Theodora. We'd arrived late, just before closing, but Juan Rodriquez, our wonderful host, said the restaurant's policy was to remain open until everybody was fully served. I gobbled up a side of terrific pineapple slaw, and we accompanied our meal with a couple of mugs of Hoppy Poppy. a Santa Barbara brew. In honor of my birthday, Juan treated us to a very light flan, garnished with fresh raspberries.

The next morning we headed for downtown Santa Barbara, ostensibly to visit the art museum. We never got there. Instead we visited ducked into The Book Den, established 1902 in San Francisco but operating at this location since 1933. Frank and I, bibliophiles both, don't merely browse in bookstores. We both fade into a hypnotic trance, as we wander aisles all glassy-eyed and bemused. It takes a lot of clashing cymbals to snap us out of our daze.

Frank's cell phone rang, awakening us to the here-and-now. (A quick aside...it was a happy birthday call for me from Frank's son and daughter-in-law.)

We sauntered outside to head for the museum, but were distracted once more when we spied an intriguing sign announcing Karpeles Manuscript Museum. What kind of manuscripts could it possibly house? Just about everything, we learned, including a proposal draft of the Bill of Rights, the

Olympics Torch, 1936

Constitution of the Confederate States of America, key documents related to Charles Lindbergh's "heroic" trans-Atlantic solo flight, drafts from Darwin's Theory of Evolution, and even an original draft of Eva Duarte Peron's "La Razon de mi Vida." And that's just for starters.

There are photographs, sculptures and artifacts, on display, as well, including the Olympics torch from 1936 and a model of HMV Victory, and the weather log kept aboard it by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar.

Sam Tanksley and Frank Stern

We learned from our well-informed guide, Sam Tanksley, who is one of four self-labeled  "attendants" who discuss the treasure of the museum with visitors,  that Dr. David Karpeles, born in Santa Barbara in 1936.  A research analyst who earned a fortune in real estate, he displays his collection of historical documents not only at this flagship museum in his hometown, but also in similar libraries in Buffalo, NY, Charleston, SC, Jacksonville, FL, Tacoma, WA, Duluth, MN, Shreveport, LA and Newburgh, NY. All are open to both scholars and the general public, with no admission charge. Frank and I will be traveling through Buffalo on our way to Ottawa in September and plan to drop in to that museum, as well.

Gardens, Mission Santa Barbara

We ducked out for lunch and decided to skip the art musuem in favor of driving to the mission instead. Glad we did. The gardens are gorgeous.  Visiting any of the California missions makes me reflect on how this state's development continues to fascinate me. I'd been to this one a time or two before, but I never tire of traipsing through California historical sites. I want to go back to once more see two historical museums and gardens in Long Beach now, Rancho Los Alamitos and Rancho Los Cerritos.

The next day, Friday, we went to Sabbath services in the lovely outdoors gazebo at Synagogue B'nai Brith. We enjoyed the "Salsa and Sangria" summery Pre-Neg and the service, led by Rabbi Cohen. And, of course, chatting with cousin Deborah and her husband, Brian. (Deborah's dad, my Uncle Howard, and my birth mother, Jeanne, were brother and sister. We found each other last year through correspondence with an international organist society. Our mutual grandfather had been Jesse Crawford, the Poet of the Organ.)

On Saturday we headed toward Orange County, stopping in Ventura to explore the downtown antique stores and dining at Main Street's Busy Bee, established 1963. It featured juke boxes at every table, with the hits of the Drifters, Diamonds and Paul Anka. Frank, a Coca Cola memorabilia collector, was taken with the Coke theme. Even the bicycle mounted above the front exit door had a Coke decal.

Our next trip north might be just as far as Los Angeles. Now I'm set on reminiscing over my tween years by going to Clifton's Cafeteria!  Not certain I want to wait for my 82nd birthday for that trek.