First Day of Fall but Summer in Santa Barbara

Today I had lunch at my favorite restaurant in Santa Barbara -- Longboards. It is hard to believe that it is September 22 when the weather is so beautiful.

I had the fish n chips with lots and lots of malt vinegar on it. Yum.

Hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of fall.

Check out all of the photos at my Flickr Page.

Celebrity Sighting: David Morse

I saw David Morse at USC the other day. Just wanted to add this celebrity sighting to my blog.

Barnsdall Rio Grande

Yesterday, I stopped by an old building on Highway 101. After doing some research on the internet, it turns out to have a lot of history.

The Barnsdall Rio Grande service station was built in 1929 and is one of the most architecturally significant service station in California and perhaps the United States. Constructed in the popular Spanish colonial revival style of its time, it was designed by the same architectural firm that was responsible for many of the attractive Richfield service stations of the same time period.

One of the most notable features of the station was its vertical elongation. It covered only 450 square feet at the base but soared 40 feet into the air. The third floor of the tower held a 2,000 gallon water storage tank which provided pressurized water to the station. The station was situated at the entrance to the oil field owned by the Barnsdall-Rio Grande Oil Company and was intended to be a corporate showpiece. The first operator of the station was D.M. Tinsler. Under his management the station received a beautification award from the Garden Club of Santa Barbara and the Montecito Roadside Committee. The Montecito Roadside committee was particulary concerned about the unsightly accumulation of signage around service stations and along the roadways. The contest judges declared the grounds to be “finely kept” and relatively free from signs. In the years to come the station would receive many other awards for “excellent appearance”.

Today the station is located on a side road, but when it was originally built is was on the Coast Highway (now 101) and undoubtedly attracted the attention of the highway traveler. Even if the motorist was not in need of services they would be compelled to stop just to admire the architectural beauty of this unique station. If the service station didn’t stop them, the adjoining restaurant would.

Stopped by the Getty - Villa Malibu

Today, on the way home from Santa Barbara, I stopped by the Getty Villa in Malibu. I was there once before. What an awesome place!

Weekend in Santa Barbara

I had a really fun weekend in Santa Barbara. I had breakfast at my usual breakfast joint, the Brown Pelican. I've been there so many times that they know what I want before I order it. I can just say, "the usual." Then I went up to the Firestone Brewery in Buellton, CA for some pretzels and a beer. On the way home, I stopped by the Circle Bar B Ranch.

See all of the photos at my Flickr page. Go now!

Celebrity Sighting: Dennis Miller

Today in my building at USC, I saw Dennis Miller. He looked like he was lost. I was at our student services counter and he walked through the lobby and paused right in front of me for a second, then kept walking. My favorite Dennis Miller movie is "The Net".

I know they are filming something on campus today, which happens all of the time. USC is practically a movie backlot. Because of USC’s proximity to Hollywood and being home to the top-ranked USC School of Cinematic Arts, the university has been used in thousands of movies, TV shows, commercials, and music videos. With the historic looking brick and Ivy College setting, USC serves as a popular spot for filmmakers, standing in for numerous other universities, “playing” institutions such as Harvard and Oxford in movies and on television. Some of the movies filmed at USC include Forrest Gump, Legally Blonde, Road Trip, The Girl Next Door, Ghostbusters, and The Graduate.