August 3, 2008

On the Santa Monica pier.

The amusement park:

On the Santa Monica pier

Things you might not notice unless you go to the enlargement: pigeons on the roller coaster, toddler has a red squirt gun, the man in front is not eating a hot dog (but a striated pastry of some sort).

Note: We see men in shorts here, but I don't disapprove. It's the beach and the shorts are longish. Many men are wearing heavy blue jeans, which seems unwise. I think the striated pastry guy has the best fashion sense: lightweight, light-colored, long pants.

The merry-go-round:

On the Santa Monica pier

The Lobster — a pretty good restaurant, with a great view:

On the Santa Monica pier

19 comments:

vbspurs said...

Is that Chris handing you a menu, without looking up?

That's such a languorous gesture, full of intimacy and trust all at once.

Cheers,
Victoria

Ann Althouse said...

Victoria, I can't figure it out. It seems odd, especially since I've got the camera in my hands!

Bissage said...

(1) I think the striated pastry guy has the best fashion sense: lightweight, light-colored, long pants.

Long have I awaited a ruling.

Now I know.

*stands up and pulls out shirttail*

(2) Christopher has a “Left Hand of Doom” thing going there.

Hellboy would approve.

Tex said...

Churro.

The striated pastry is called a churro.

Not a bad thing to know, in our increasingly diverse culture.

I’m old enough to remember when most people around here didn’t know what a tamale or an enchilada was. Or, when it was hard to find a Mexican restaurant here in New York. Although, it’s still hard to find a good Mexican restaurant.

Ann Althouse said...

Mmmm. Yummy. Churro. I don't really need to discover more deep-fried foods, but it looks like a crunchier cruller. The striations increase the surface area.

ricpic said...

On the carousel you go round and round,
On the ferris wheel you go round and round,
And it never gets tired going round and round
To the susurrating susurrating background sound
Of the sea, the sea, lapping up and down, up and down.

Trooper York said...

If you need a churro, there is a guy who sells them in the passage way between the F train and the 6 at the 42nd St stop. He usually has them laid out on a flat board cover with saran wrap sitting on top of some milk crates. He is between the guy playing the accordion and the dude with the bootleg DVD’s.

Available with extra powdered sugar. Great to pick up a couple to have with your morning coffee.

Zachary Sire said...

I never buy food from street vendors. Too risky. Who could you sue or blame or seek revenge upon if, heaven forbid, the food you consumed was poisoned or tampered with or spoiled?

You'd buy something (a hot dog, a pretzel, a piece of fruit, a churro), walk away...eat it at your leisure, and then...10 blocks away or 30 minutes later, you'd suddenly succumb to whatever illness or side effect present in the street vendor's food!

How would anyone be able to trace the food, or track down the evil vendor? These vendors, all they have to do is pack up their little cart and they're off, never to be seen again. At least if you ate in a restaurant, and kept your receipt, there'd be some record of what you ate. And restaurants wouldn't dare mess with their food because they're in a fixed location and can always be found.

And if the unthinkable happened, you died, there'd be no way to even provide a shred of a description of the who/where/when to the authorities.

Trust me...stay away from street vendors!

rhhardin said...

Spot these roles on the merry-go-round.

Ann Althouse said...

Zachary, you need to come to the Library Mall in Madison, Wisconsin, where the food carts are licensed and labeled and completely accountable.

ricpic said...

Reginald Marsh painted some damned sexy pictures of healthy women riding the carousel horse.

Maxine Weiss said...

At last ! A restaurant that finally meets with my approval. Fish has mercury, but they have salads.

I would have attended a meet-up, had it been held at The Lobster, most definitely.

And with me there, you'd have gotten a window table.

Love,

blake said...

Available with extra powdered sugar. Great to pick up a couple to have with your morning coffee.

Powdered sugar? I've only ever seen them with cinnamon (sugar).

They always seem greasier than doughnuts to me. (Hmmm. Spellcheck prefers "donut" spelling.)

ZPS--and yet, life goes on, and unlicensed vendor carts sell food to the masses with no great consequence. O miraculous free market!

Some of my favorite places to eat have gotten "C" ratings from health inspectors. (That's as low as they can be and still be open.) It used to concern me but then I realized that what a health inspector considers a problem isn't necessarily what I consider a problem. And vice-versa.

Chet said...

A carousel is different than a "merry-go-round".

A see-saw is not a "teeter-totter", either.

Maxine Weiss said...

I had a very traumatic experience on that particular Carousel, one time.

The best Carousels would be the double-decker at South Coast Plaza, and the King Arthur Carousel at Disneyland.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

Zachary: The street vendors near me seem to be a permanent presence, and some get good reviews on Yelp.

I think in that picture that that's the wine list and I'm taking it away from her.

vbspurs said...

Churros are not really popular with Cubans, so you can't find them as easily down here.

I should correct that: they're popular to an extent -- whenever it's cold, Cuban-Americans head out for hot chocolate and churros in a restaurant which opens at night, specifically to sell them.

In Brazil, amendoim (roasted peanuts, of the salty and sweet variaties) and pipoca (popcorn, ditto) are their street fare.

Don't you love how each country has its own little munchies customs?

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

A see-saw is not a "teeter-totter", either.

It's not?? What's the difference, then? :)

P.S.: Ann, that's very odd then. The fisheye also makes the menu on your side, as if its slightly suspended in midair!

Baron Zemo said...

"I think in that picture that that's the wine list and I'm taking it away from her"

Naughty boy!

She has so few pleasures in her single life.