Rainbow Snow Cones & Juice Bar, Santa Paula, CA

Rainbow Snow Cones & Juice Bar

933 Yale Street

Santa Paula,  CA

Santa Paula is an interesting place. 15 minutes from Ventura by freeway, it could be a different world, reminiscent of the small western towns my family would drive through on our way to some national park or other on a family vacation when I was a kid.

My family and I go there every few weeks because of the Regency Santa Paula 7, which shows first run films and who’s matinees are only $5. The large popcorn has free refills, and we always sneak in sodas, so I can take the whole family to the opening weekend of something without having to get a second mortgage.

Place with ping pong

A few weeks back, after we gorged on popcorn watching “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” I told the kids we needed to take a walk and we drove the short distance to downtown Santa Paula.

No Signage

Many of the buildings date back to the turn of the 20^th Century, when Santa Paula was a booming oil town-Union Oil of California was headquartered there, along with being in the middle of a good farming and ranching area. Now, the buildings are generally a bit run down, and have shops that I’m not quite sure what they sell. The clientele now is mainly Mexican, with Mexican restaurants, tattoo parlors and junk stores, along with a handful of  "98 cent+" stores all run by Asian families. The majority of the businesses are geared toward people far more Mexican than I. Still, the area is trying to get back on it's feet, with many of the businesses appearing relatively new, and some rather high end restaurants sprinkled the town.

Fresh fruit in the cooler

While visiting one of those shops on our walk, we walked into a place with a friendly proprietor, a ping pong table, and stock of what seemed like work pants and shoes, along with other seemingly random items in a store that was probably a haberdashery or shoe shop 60 years ago, and the proprietor asked if we were enjoying the evening. I said that we had just gone to the movies and now I thought a stroll was in order. He asked if we had headed to a nearby Baskin-Robbins, and I said that I was thinking about going to a Fosters Freeze for a dipped cone after we were done walking around. Then he said we should check out the ice cream place around the corner, that they made their ice creams and were pretty good.

Our Order

We thanked him and followed the directions he gave. There were no signs outside the building, but there was a line, which we stood in. It had been a hot day, which made the inside of the shop just about unbearable, and I wondered if I really needed to stand in line for this. Most of the people in the shop were speaking the Spanglish of the area, and the menu was written mostly in Spanish. People were ordering fruit drinks, which looked fresh and natural, unlike the Jamba Juices of the world, and fresh fruit bowls with chili powder sprinkled on. There was also a noisy shaved ice machine. There were two tables inside, and no place outside to sit.

Finally, we got to the front. There were 10 or so flavors of ice cream, and all were made on site. I went with a coconut-pineapple, which had both chunks of pineapple and coconut in it. My daughters had vanilla and cookies and cream, while my son had a shaved ice.  

Like Coldstone, the server would mix in a topping, which we all took advantage of. The ice cream was good, not quite as heavy as the super premium Ben & Jerry’s, but certainly with a lot more natural flavor than Rite-Aide, and a better taste then Baskin-Robbins. I picked up a card, which identified the place as Rainbow Snow Cones, Home of the 50 Flavor Wagon. The ice cream with the toppings mixed in was $1.95, and the shaved ice was $2.

I went back again yesterday, and this time was craving the ice cream-always a good sign. I had pistachio, which was very good. My kids went with either cookies and cream or vanilla, and were also happy to go back too.

If you’re looking for ice cream in Santa Paula, I’d definitely head here. I’d like to try their fruit drinks, which also looked good, and I’ll report here.

Sept. 8, 2012 Update

It was warm today, so I tried the shaved ice. Good shaved ice should have the texture of snow, and when it does, it absorbs the flavors. This was good shaved ice, and for $2, a good value. Next, I'll have to try one of their fruit drinks.

Olympians

In the last few weeks, I've met two Olympians, Tony Azevedo, Captain of the US Men's Water Polo Team and three time Olympian and Dain Blanton, Volleyball gold in 2000. Both were out selling products, Azevedo with his sponsor Zumo Water Polo gear and Blanton with "Focus on Freshman,"an Academic Innovations program for schools, but I spoke briefly to both and the both came off as genuinely nice guys that really did want to promote their sports and be positive role models.

As I think about it, I've met many Olympians before. I swam against John Moffet when we both age grouped 40 years ago-I could beat him then, but not for long. I swam on the first club team coached by Dr. Dave Salo, though I was at the end of my swimming career and he was at the start of his coaching career. That team, the Downey Dolphins, doesn't seem to come up in any of his biographies that I found on line. (Dr. Dave did remember me when I saw him a a coaching conference 10 years ago-I don't know if that was good or bad). In college, I lived in the next dorm room to Bruce Hayes, who after coming from the LA Olympics anchoring the 400 meter relay for gold had the worst dorm mate that anyone could imagine. Kevin Young, who'd win a gold in Barcelona in the hurdles, also lived on that dorm floor, and was in my back up band at the dorm floor talent show (I played a very bad version of the Surf Punks, "Shark Attack," and we wrote a song called "Dorm Food Blues").

Actually, as I write, I've had a few other brushes with athletic greatness-but not in sports like football or basketball. Pete Cutino, the considered by many to be the John Wooden of water polo, once dropped by where I was coaching to chat. The most insightful thing he said to me-"It takes a lot of work to get a little bit better." He gave me almost an hour of his time, and copies of his coaching book, and I believe that he was pleased that I knew who he was. Cutino had actually dropped in cold to the school I teach at, the place where he started the water polo team almost 60 years ago, and I was very much aware of the school's place in Water Polo history.

I coached against John Siman, who was on the '84 Olympic Water Polo team, and worked with Dave Laut, the bronze medalist in '84 in the shot put, during the 6 months prior to his murder. I coached against high school water polo teams led by current women's Olympians Kami Craig and Brenda Villa, and remember them both as being pretty much unstoppable. In one instance against Kami Craig, I told my player how to defend against a specific move, and Kami did it anyway. My girl looked up at me and said, "What do I do now, Coach?" My response was something along the lines of there's nothing you can do except applaud, that's why she's on the National Team.

There was some point that I was going to make, and I should get back to it. Some of them I met before their Olympic Greatness, some after, but all seemed to some way stand out.

I've never been the best, or even among the best, in anything. That's not bad, mind you. The vast majority of us are no where near the best in anything that we do, and many of us would do well to remember that. The people above, at least at one  brief point in their lives, were either the best or among the best, and there is always something to be learned from that.

I made my son come to see Azevedo, even though he doesn't want to play water polo. My rationale was that even if we were going to see the world's greatest Pick-Up Sticks players, there is something to be learned. I've met many gifted athletes-but there is something more that makes them the best, something that can't be quantified. Azevedo was very astute about judging his own talent, and the outlined the steps he took to become what he is. It is work and sacrifice, and there aren't any shortcuts.

Focus on Freshman, Matthew Sweet

Matthew Sweet at McCabes

For anyone who's bingo card I signed at the Focus on Freshman conference, yes, I do in fact blog.

Sweet, tuning up for the show

But more important was my trip to McCabe's Guitar Shop, where I saw one of my favorite singer/guitarists, Matthew Sweet, play my all-time favorite album, Girlfriend, in it's entirety.

I've been a Matthew Sweet fan since Girlfriend was released 20 years ago, when I was working on KOTR in San Luis Obispo as their fill-in overnight disc jockey. The album was in heavy rotation at the station, and it's mix of pretty harmonies and crankin' guitars appealed to me. Sweet's just a bit younger than I am, and all of his influences are the same bands that I, too, grew up with, so the sound of that album just appealed to me. At the time I had just ended a long relationship-one of the reasons I moved to San Luis in the first place, and I was juggling a few 'girlfriends.' What I really wanted was the one girl who could represent everything to me. It seemed like that was what Sweet was singing about, so I could instantly relate. Since that time, the album has continued to grow on me, and many times I've tried to count the guitars playing on a track as complex as "Divine Intervention," or "Holy War." In my collection of over 3000 cd's, this is the go to if I want to show someone the type of music I enjoy.

I've seen Sweet once before, in '97, I think, touring with guitarist Ivan Julian, and it was an amazing show at a small Hollywood club, with Sweet pulling out a different vintage guitar for every song. This show he played the whole time with a Fano Stratosphere (except when the McCabe's management pulled a MIM Stratocaster off the wall to loan to Sweet when a string broke), which had a vintage crunch and a cool, space age look. Lead guitarist Dennis Taylor handled all of the Robert Quine/Richard Lloyd parts easily with his Statocaster, and even did a fair job at mimicking Greg Leisz's pedal steel on tracks like "Wynona."

McCabe's is a great place to see a show, and sitting in the third row to hear my favorite album performed live was an amazing experience.

Johnnie's Culver City

I know that Culver City isn’t anywhere near Ventura, but good food should be written about.

The plan was Tito’s Tacos, a Culver City tradition, serving big, crunchy tacos with shredded beef, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream-what I would refer to as a “white man’s taco,” not the street tacos I’ve come to favor in recent years. But when I drove there, the line was incredibly long, and I didn’t feel like waiting. So I went to another Culver City tradition around the corner.

 

Johnnie’s, at 4017 Culver Blvd, has been in the same location for the last 60 years, serving something that I remember from when I was a small child growing up here in LA, the pastrami sandwich.

I remember the pastrami as being a man’s sandwich, something that my dad ordered when he was really hungry, with so much meat that he would often pull some of it off and make a rather healthy looking second sandwich. Back in the 60’s when no one talked about health food, cholesterol or calorie counts, and before the proliferation of bland hamburger chains, there were places serving pastrami sandwiches all over LA, places with names like Jim’s, or Chris’s, or Pete’s. Some, like the local chain out of Alhambra known as The Hat, still exist if you happen to know where to look. Johnnie’s of Culver City is one of those places.

I vaguely remember eating there once with a Jewish girl I used to date 20 years ago and remembering that it was good. Tonight, when I noticed it was busy but with no line, I thought I’d go again.

Plopping down at the counter, I ordered the Deluxe Pastrami Plate ($15.50) from a waitress that looked like she might have been there 20 years ago when I was in last. I also ordered a root beer before I noticed that I could have had a nice draft.

The plate was served quickly, with pickles, cole slaw and a big basket of fries. There were also two slices of lettuce and two slices of tomato, which I guess constitutes a second salad.

The pastrami was lean and fresh, piled high on the roll. The slaw was tangy and sweet, the pickles home made, and the French fries were hot and crisp. It was far more food than I intended to eat, but I tried my best anyway. I still left a half basket of fries.

It was good, plain and simple. For reasons unclear to me, I haven’t found a good pastrami in Ventura, and didn’t realize how much I’d miss them when I moved from LA. I wouldn’t have thought of LA as a pastrami town, but I guess I’m wrong.

If you’re in the Culver City area, strongly recommended.

Los Comales, Saticoy

Los Comales Mexican Food-June, 2012

Crossing through Saticoy, I noticed this place’s outdoor patio in an old section of Ventura. Located just off of Wells on Violetta by the 126 Freeway, Los Comales is a family owned restaurant, in many ways typical of the Ventura County taco places.

I ordered four tacos at the cost of  a $1.25 each. It was an early Saturday afternoon, and there were a few people eating there, locals mostly. The staff was prepping, it seemed, possibly for a busier Saturday evening.

The order came with chips, which they happily refilled for my kids and I while we were waiting. We had Mexican sodas, but they do serve beer in the bottle.

My tacos, with onion and cilantro, arrived reasonably quickly, two asada, one lengua and one barbacoa. The asada was fine, the lengua, too, but the barbacoa was the high point of the tacos, with really good flavor.

The staff was friendly, with one pretty waitress striking a conversation about the fluctuating power, which went out for a few minutes while we were eating. “It’s an old city, and when it’s hot we lose power,” she said. One of my kids also ordered some rice, which was okay.

On the whole, not a bad stop. Not worth a special trip, but I wouldn’t avoid it either. They also offered burritos, mariscos and breakfasts.

Fame Guitar

In the early 70's, the music man came to my elementary school. Just like in the movie of the same name, he came, promising to create a school band, with uniforms and everything. I sat at the school assembly and listened to what he had to say, and knew that I wanted to play drums.

I convinced my parents to come and listen to him that evening, when he gave the same spiel to the parents, and I proudly told my parents that I wanted to play drums. My parents were having none of that, but were interested in me playing some sort of instrument. They offered me guitar.

In the same South Gate music school where Weird Al Yankovic learned accordion, I learned the Chet Atkins'  "Fame" method of guitar lessons, a system involving film strips, a record and an instructor. As part of the plan, it was necessary to buy the "Fame" guitar. Interestingly, it had the pickup that you see in the picture. It came with an amp, probably still in my mother's garage, and a cord.

I diligently took lessons for a few years, until I broke my arm bike riding. By then, I could play the usual beginner folk songs, "On Top of Old Smokey," "Little Brown Jug," and "Tom Dooley," among others, but I would always try to speed them up. I could play the chords A, C, D, E and G, but the F and B were too hard for me.

Though I didn't realize it at the time, I learned to read music slowly. After I stopped taking lessons, the guitar stayed in my room, where I would occasionally take it out and play, but not well. When I went off to college, I took it with me, but again, didn't play very much. I did have a roommate one summer who showed me a couple of things, and would occasionally run into someone willing to teach me more.

As I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I ran through several electrics (including the unplayable-until-recently Crown, and a very difficult MIJ Fender Stratocaster), but never bought another acoustic until '95, when I bought a Epiphone PR-5E, an acoustic-electric cutaway, which was then followed quickly by a Baby Taylor and a Mitchell 12 string. The Fame stayed in the case, and I almost threw it away before moving to Ventura, but was talked out of it.

It's been in the garage since then, and I'd take it out once in a while, but the strings were so old that I never played it. But the summer's coming up and I like to barbecue and I don't really want to take the good guitars into the yard while trying to cook, so I thought maybe I could restring the Fame. I know it was made in Japan-the label is still on the headstock. Back in the 70's, everything made in Japan was still considered cheap, but everything I've been able to find on the internet suggests that by the '70's, the Japanese craftsman were able to make better instruments than what was coming from the USA at the time. The tuning machines still seem to work well. I believe the guitar is a laminate, but the fretboard is rather nice, and as you'll hear, with some decent strings it has a pretty good tone.

I took all the strings off for the first time ever. I remember when I was young, I would only replace a string when it was broken, so it is possible that some of the strings had been on the guitar for the entire time I owned it-in all of my recent playing, I can't think of any time that I broke an "A" string. I dusted and polished the whole guitar with some wood wipes I bought from Lowes. I thought the neck was separating from the body, but now I think the finish is just cracking. It doesn't really show in the pictures.

Considering it's age and the age I was when I got it, it's in very good shape. I always took pretty good care of my stuff, and the guitar came in a pretty good chip board case. There's a few blemishes, but overall, the guitar shined up pretty good.

Using a quarter, here's where the action is at the 12th fret. It's about the same as the Japanese Sigma that I had set up for me not too long ago, which I found rather surprising.

Okay, now for the part you've been waiting for, the sound. I used the iPhone to record, and I'm sitting outside, so there's probably some backyard noises as well. I checked the pick-up a few months back, and it worked. I didn't have an amp to plug into, so I'll try to get another post up with the pick-up plugged in.

If you know anything about the "Fame" course, or you still have your "Fame" guitar and know more about it's manufacture, let me know and I'll post it up.

Tacos Jerez, Ventura

A taco truck that has been regularly set up across from the library on the Avenues (Simpson and Ventura). Tacos Jerez serves only tacos and burritos.

The people are friendly, and the kitchen and grilling area are clean. Tacos are $1.50, with asada, cabeza, lengua, tripa and pollo, and burritos ($5) are all that's on the menu.

Tonight, I went with two asada and a lengua, which were served with onions,

cilantro and salsa verde on the top. Radishes and limes were on the side. They were served quickly, and I thought very well done. The meat was hot and moist-often the meat can get dry, which can negatively impact the flavor. For a basic taco, it was good and for a good price.