Everlasting Summer

I live in a beach town called Westside, a place where the days still get shorter but the sun never stops. As the first week of October drew to a close I drove to the Port of LA, meeting a group at the ferry to

Catalina

We gazed up at massive ships — Evergreen (lol) and Royal Caribbean — as our boat pulled out of the harbor, then pulled back in to address a problem with the engine, then pulled out again.

Catalina slowly grew larger in the distance — so slowly that, like Primm NV when you first catch sight of it on the road to Vegas, it seemed not to be moving at all. We occupied ourselves with beer and with the balancing game, until suddenly a man in a pink banana thong hailed us from a boat flying pirate flags, and we’d arrived in Two Harbors.

We hiked to camp, dipped in the clear water, and pitched our tents and hammocks. After stopping by the general store to grab camp essentials such as Pink Whitney, we spent the rest of the daylight throwing pebbles from the beach, a large freighter looming in the distance. As night gathered we grilled food, drank boxed wine, and got more acquainted with each other.

When I woke up in my tent in the middle of the night all I could see were stars.

The next morning we awoke to not one freighter but three, looking like triplets all arrayed in a row. As we made breakfast I realized I’d forgot to bring a coffee cup, but thankfully Nikhil was there to provide the goods, serving me a chalice.

Having eaten enough fruit & nuts for three people, I had ample energy for our hike. After ascending from our shoreside camp we had a clean view of each harbor, the back one marked by a building jutting out into the water, its solitude evoking: a church I’d once seen in New Zealand, a stone structure on Lake Sevan I’d once read about in An Armenian Sketchbook, the flooded village I’d once watched in Spirited Away.

From there our hike went vertical, we passing countless cacti & shrubs, though disappointingly no bison or foxes. We paused at the top, looking east at the triplets and west into the ocean abyss.

On our way back down we stopped at one of the many hidden coves, unable to resist a dive from the dock and a shot with a shark.

After a brief après at the town’s only restaurant, it was time to put our paddleboards to use. The waves were so active that I started out alternating between kneeling and sitting crosslegged, but I eventually stood up and Margot followed my lead. We passed kayakers in a cove and pushed out towards open sea, but then the waves picked up and Margot wobbled and fell — somehow retaining both paddle & board before turning back to shore. I pressed on to the USC Marine Center before turning around and, upon return, alighting by jumping clean into the water.

At dinner back at that same restaurant I ate fish and we all tried the buffalo milk. Then we returned to camp for games around the fire, after which we tried to sleep on the beach but were thwarted by the cold.

Bird

Back in LA the next weekend I adopted a new mode of transportation: electric scooter. I’d thought they looked kinda stupid, but a friend convinced me of their merits, most notably that they’re often faster and cheaper than ubers. Oh, and way more fun.

There are tons of brands — Link, Jump, Lime, Spin — but I generally refer to them all as Birds because that brand’s name best rolls off the tongue.

I’ve never felt so Cali as the day I took one all the way from my apartment in Brentwood to a happy hour in Mar Vista, occasionally stopping at intersections to navigate via google maps. Because you can’t walk the streets of LA as you can in New York, getting a feel for the city has been harder for me. But this provided a way.

To the happy hour I took the straightest shot I could find: right down Bundy. Only problem’s it’s a pretty busy street, so I spent most of the half-hour ride with cars whizzing by, feet if not inches away. I retained composure — it’s not so unlike biking after all — and weaved between parked cars and side mirrors. At the Santa Monica Airport, my scooter slowed down to a halt and I pulled over onto the sidewalk. Had I run out of battery? Oh no, I’d simply gotten too close to the border of Santa Monica, where scooters are not allowed. After walking it past SM, the light stopped flashing and I resumed my ride, crossing Venice Boulevard to arrive at Rasselbock.

The happy hour was for the Craft Beer Club, and I soon gravitated towards the people I knew. As I sipped my pint of IPA, Emma complimented my scootering: “you passed our car and looked like a total pro!” I switched to a stein of hefeweizen as we all watched the Dodgers dramatically knock out the Giants, I sad for my friend Eli but happy that LA > SF.

Closed out the night sitting with others from my section, most of whom would be back with me the following afternoon for our section happy hour.

“First thing when we arrive I’m going to get The Boot”
“Man that thing must give raunchy hangovers”
“Raunchy!?!? What on earth do you mean by a raunchy hangover?”
“You know like a really bad one, where you’re so drunk you’re still throwing up next morning”
“That is not what raunchy means”
….
….
“What can I say, it makes sense in the lingo of my friend group”

The next day I took a Bird right back to that same brewery, this time winding my way amongst side streets as the sun shone hot on my skin. From high on a hill I looked left to Mountain View Avenue and the Hollywood Sign, right to Ocean View Avenue and the sea, and then ahead to Grand View Boulevard and Rasselbock.

I arrived right on time, and had started to sip my IPA stein when in walked Jake, who, true to his word went straight for the boot. “I told my wife I’m only having one beer today.” One two-liter beer. He looked like the happiest man alive.

I followed suit with a boot of hefeweizen, and felt like a proud father. By then the rest of the party had arrived, and I hammed it up a bit with my learning team, Alex posing as an alien. As I was ruminating on how the boot’s calf is so large despite its foot being so small, Lydie walked up and asked “you wanna go to a dinner with ten people tonight?” Sure, why not?

After Jake & I polished off our boots, a group of us hit the beach for some beer die. There Joe & I held down the table for a while, me at one point splashing a cup, and at another point making a diving catch that Michael tried batting out of my hand as if he were a DB.

At sunset, I left in a car with two couples. We called a few places to inquire as to dinner resys, and one laughed in our face that we’d dare think they’d have avails on a Friday night. Oh well. Things worked out as we pulled over at Casablanca to discover they had an only fifteen-minute wait.

That gave us just enough time to sample some margaritas, watch them make tortillas, and wonder how an African name got combined with a French theme and Mexican cuisine. Of course Humphrey Bogart was involved — “We’ll always have Paris” — but that doesn’t quite explain why they serve quesadillas.

I only had time for chips & guac before I had to leave for the Networking Dinner that Lydie had invited me to. You might say that, rather than networking, we really just wanted an excuse to get drunk with classmates to an accompaniment of pizza, meatballs, and broccolini. But I did meet some new people.

We found more classmates at Zebulon, where I got in my dancingtime & stagetime before absolutely hitting a wall and returning home for a long sleep.

The next morning I chatted with my New York Mother about books, the west coast, and Paris, before birding to see Ellis in Venice, where he and his girlfriend were staying until their move to Santa Monica later in the month. I updated them on my life since I’d seen them in Petaluma during my roadtrip, then Caitlin’s friend came over and our hosts made dinner — Ellis stirring up Painkillers and grilling steaks as the fire danced and danced, Caitlin preparing the pinenut salad and asparagus.

The next morning I surfed, and the following one I ran into a motorcade on Sunset Boulevard that made me late to class. Thanks Kamala Harris!

Gameday

Joe & Jane Bruin looked on as trucks arrived to campus on Thursday to set up for ESPN College Gameday. Meanwhile I was hard at work, skipping class to work on a project.

You might wonder what project would merit such effort? Weeks ago, Alex had messaged our learning team asking for help in the Deloitte Case Competition, in which groups of students present competing pitches based on a sample business case. It was mandatory for her because she’s recruiting for consulting, but she didn’t have a team, and given that the time commitment didn’t look too big we agreed to help. There was a chance the post-competition happy hour might overlap with the UCLA-Oregon football tailgate, but it’s not like we’d need to go to the happy hour anyways.

We were surprised to learn, weeks later, that the football game had been moved to the daytime and that UCLA had been selected as the site for the College Gameday pregame show for the first time in over 20 years. People around campus were pretty excited:

“You going to the party on Friday?”
“Hahahaha hell no, I’m waking up at 6am to start drinking!”

Because it’s a day game, we now were sure to miss the buses to the Rose Bowl tailgate. But if our presentation got scheduled into one of the early timeslots — or really any timeslot except the final few — we’d be able to drive over and join. There was technically a small chance that of the 27 teams we could be one of the 5 selected to advance to the final round, but come on, we had no consulting experience outside of Alex. And that’s why she named our team Zero Experience.

We worked throughout the day on Thursday, Caldwell & I stepping out to take our finance midterm. I went that night to a whiskey tasting, beginning with bourbon before sampling Japanese, Irish, Scotch, and Taiwanese.

Friday we did a dry run of the presentation, and I officially became a California resident, noticing that I look just a lil bit different than in my New York days. At night I pregamed at Joe & Hannah’s before we all went to a Halloween birthday party, which was, for your reference, on October 22nd. Apparently we’ve gone from Halloween to Halloween Weekend to Halloween Week to Halloween Fortnight. Had fun with my skeleton friends though.

The morning of the presentation I awoke to the news we’d been given the latest timeslot. That’s… not good. I slowly started to come to terms with the idea that we might not make the tailgate. The benefit of starting later was of course that you could take a leisurely start to the morning, but rather than doing that I got picked up by my friend Jamie and we went to campus to catch the final thirty minutes of College Gameday, it ending at 9am with Lee Corso donning Bruin headgear and Bill Walton waving at the crowd. I then gave Jamie a misty campus tour and changed into a suit to join my team.

Just before we went in to present, we got news that the deliberation over finalists would take the entire lunch break. Despite there being such a small chance we’d make the final, we figured that leaving early could be calamitous, especially for Alex who’d be applying for a job at Deloitte. Thus ended our hopes of making it to the football game.

Why do they have to make these competitions on weekends anyways? It’s not like we have any classes on Fridays.

We presented to a few recent Anderson alums. Small talking at the beginning, the guy asked “you want us to put the game up on my phone while you present?” and we all laughed. The presentation went pretty smoothly — a little too smoothly, in fact — as they barely asked any questions at the end, prompting Caldwell to remark that “we either did really poorly or absolutely crushed it.”

During the lunch break, as we watched on TV as UCLA jumped out to an early lead, we made plans to head straight to the Bungalow and daydrink once we were released.

Deliberation over, we entered the auditorium for the announcement of finalists. “And without further ado, your first finalist is: Zero Experience”

Alex and I cried laughing as they announced the others. So much for our plan to hit the Bungalow — we were first to present up on the auditorium stage in front of everybody. It went fairly well though, we getting some tough questions but keeping things as high-level as possible.

Afterwards I asked Morgan, who’s all-woman team Anderson’s Four Forces had also made the finals:
“Who are the people that ask the questions?”
“They’re partners”
“What’s a partner?”
“They’re like the highest up people at Deloitte”
“…Oh”
“..I feel like that’s why y’all did well: pressure’s off and you’re free to perform”

We watched the other presentations as UCLA fell behind and lost their QB before nearly making a comeback at the end. Then at the happy hour they announced Morgan’s team as the winners! Next they’d head to the national round in Texas.

Belatedly, Alex and I stuck to our plan of hitting the Bungalow, stopping quickly to change into more suitable party attire and arriving not long after the sun had set. Once there we rounded up a group, decompressed from the busy week, and made our way to a very LA house party complete with a live DJ.

Days on Job

UCLA’s MBA program gives first years a week off from class to audit companies in their industry of choice. It’s called Days On Job, or DOJ. Students traditionally would go on-site for seminars and meetings, but as you might expect, it’s all been over zoom the past two years. Rather than engaging with the company culture, students often now just get talked at for thirty minutes to an hour.
Because I’m not in a traditional industry like finance or consulting, but am rather focused on travel and entrepreneurship, the school doesn’t have a DOJ track for me. So I found myself with a week of leisure creating a DOJ week of my own.

Day Zero: Aesthete

I hadn’t visited an art museum since my summer roadtrip, but I had passed the Getty countless times driving too & from school, it looking out from the top of a hill like a figurehead on the prow of a ship. I parked underground at the base of the hill and took the shuttle up.
At the top I wandered around its white limestone campus. From various angles you could see east towards DTLA & Westwood, north into the canyons, west to Malibu, and south out to Catalina.
Watching water run through stone & greenery, I reflected on how well some architects blend the manmade with the natural. Indoors, I reflected on the meaning behind various paintings, sculptures and housewares. It was a beautiful day, so many people milling about.
To cap off the Sunday I dropped the car at home and birded to a cocktail bar not far from my apartment. I sipped & read a novel before chatting with the bartender about their whiskey selection. It made me feel as if I were back in New York.

Day One: Writer

Other than these journalings that I write, I do have one longer-form project underway. I’d taken a break from it for a while but finally got to resume it this Monday morning.
In the afternoon, I met classmates to see Dune at the Century City Dolby Cinema, our chairs vibrating to the sound effects.

Day Two: Hiker

Back in nature, hiking the Temescal Canyon Trail, I felt like a free man.
At night I met my friend Ashton for drinks and got to ride in her new convertible.

Day Three: Gambler

After relaxing at the beach, I hit the Hollywood Park Casino to play some poker. On the very first hand I looked down at Pocket Aces and got it all in against Pocket Tens. He ended up flopping a Ten and so I lost all my chips, but I bought back in and bounced back for a big winning session.

Day Four: Epicure

All alone hiking the Murphy Ranch Trail felt pretty lonely at times, especially in the canyon portion, but AllTrails saw me through just fine. To sate my hunger after, I met up with a group at Tara’s Himalayan Cuisine. I’d never had Himalayan food, but luckily had a few connoisseurs on my side of the table, and we enjoyed a variety of dishes. It tasted similar to Indian food but with a spice palate of its own.
Afterwards I met my friends at a pregame, getting to see them all pretty in pink before we headed to the Bungalow.

Day Five: Entrepreneur

I’m part of an entrepreneurial leadership development group (ELDP) that meets once a month, touring a company site, talking to founders, and workshopping issues of our own. Friday was the first meeting, and it was inspiring to hear from others and to feel the wheels start turning in my own head.
In the evening, my Dad and his girlfriend Sarah visited my apartment before dinner at Gjelina. There we met my cousin Chad, his girlfriend Molly, my brother Johnny, and his girlfriend Rae. Yes, I was seventh-wheeling. To my dismay, they didn’t serve hard liquor, so I went to the store and brought back some bourbon. I got to sample a bit of that “spice water” as well as some apps before I had to leave for my pregame.
That night was the UCLA Anderson Halloween party, and despite the pregame being a random assortment of first & second-years, I did know quite a few faces. One guy from my ELDP group actually helped me with my Iron Man costume when I realized I’d need to unzip the onesie in order to use the bathroom.
For the main event, our school had rented out Citizen Public Market so as to accommodate the over 700 guests. As you might imagine it was quite a madhouse but I got in some good roof chillin, made a new friend, and hung with some old ones before my night was up and I snagged a pretzel-bun burger on the way out.

Day Six: Deadhead

Dad & Sarah came over for the second afternoon in a row, this time for a quick whiskey rip, before Gary pulled up. We hopped in his car and headed to the Hollywood Bowl to see Dead & Co. But first: the Beverly Hills Hotel for some apéritifs.
Seated in the Polo Lounge, we cheersed to Dad & Gary’s continued friendship, nearly forty years in the making. Then we pressed on down Sunset Boulevard, Gary getting us in the mood by playing accompaniment to Casey Jones. We arrived to the bowl early enough to have time to sit back and enjoy the sunset.
Showtime approaching, Dad & Gary went to the pit while Sarah & I headed to a mini box. She struck a quick deal with me vis-à-vis drinks—“you fly, I buy”—and so I went to get a coupla Wolf Pups. The music was comforting and the sea of humanity reminded me of looking out over tents and cookfires at Country Thunder, as well as the first time I saw the masses of houses splayed over the hills of Sydney Harbor.
After traversing the steep hill that lines the perimeter of the bowl, it was time to leave for another party, to which I arrived just in time to catch my friends leaving for an afterparty in Bel Air. Seeing them after being at the show felt like being transported back into another world.

Day Seven: Burrito Influencer

I actually do know a Burrito Influencer. His name is Nikhil and he went to 50 restaurants in his first 50 days in LA. I’d also wager he personally keeps myriad taco trucks in business with his late night snacks.
On this Sunday I channeled a bit of his energy, ordering two burritos for lunch: one regular & one breakfast. Afterwards I felt so full that I never even ate dinner.

Island Boys

As it approached that time on Thursday, I was just starting to wonder if anything was happening this weekend when I got a facetime from Alex & Caldwell.

“Everybody’s going to Lincoln tonight, but first there’s this pregame at Colby. Wanna come?”

A few stiff tequila sodas & animal-patterned seltzers later, we left for the bar in Venice, arriving right as they transitioned from wine bar by day to DJ party by night. Let me tell you, a horde of UCLA students is one sure way to speed up that transition. My night in that dimly-lit room was not to be one for substantive conversations, as I could hear little but the music over the general hubbub.

On my hike the next day I resolved not to take any pics, so as to better absorb the natural scene around me. It was a hazy day, but I could see a plane and its vapor trail curve ahead of me into the mountains.

In the afternoon, I went to buy liquor to stock my newly-assembled bar cart. It was a mom & pop shop, and my purchase was pretty substantial, but I was still surprised when the guy scanned my ID & credit card on his printer so as to save a hard copy for his records. I signed the receipt and was about to ask for my cards back when he exclaimed:

“This signature isn’t the same as the one on your ID! I need you to sign it again.”
*laughs* “Sure but my signatures are never the exact same”
“You have one signature your whole life! You don’t change it!”
“I’m just saying, I’ve never had this problem before.”
“What about the signature on your credit card?”
“I never sign the back of my credit cards.”
“😡🤬”
“…….I can show you a picture of my New York ID. It has a different signature…. I swear I’ve never had this problem before. The transaction was approved, right?”

Yes, of course it was approved. I think the only reason he let me go is because a line had started to build up behind me. Next time I’ll be going to a big chain like Bevmo.

As night fell I stopped by Ellis’s to see his & Caitlin’s new apartment in Santa Monica. Then we walked to Busby’s to watch the USC football game, but all they had room for was UFC, so we had to crane our necks to look at a tiny little screen. I started texting around to see what’s up later and Joe responded: “yeah we’re at the roof party [that was posted in the UCLA Slack] right now but we’re going to Exchange LA after.” We met up and got in an uber together.

“You do have to buy a ticket, but can do so online”
“…They’re sold out”
“Ehh it’s probably fine. Think they barely offered any of the tickets online anyways. You can probably get one at the front.”

I had reason to doubt this statement by the time we arrived in DTLA, however. That’s because there was a line around the block, and because I recognized this mural and realized Exchange LA was the place that had turned me away for wearing flip-flops back in my third week in LA.

“Dude I’m not doing this line”
“Ok well Colleen and I have VIP tickets, so let’s just try to get in that line and see if they’ll let us all in”

I mentally prepared to bribe the bouncers, but that proved to be needless, as once Wade talked to them they escorted us right past the line and to the ticket counter without even confirming whether we’re VIP.

Tickets in hand, we made a grand entrance up the carpeted staircase, the classy interior recalling to mind the City Club of SF where my former babysitter Amanda had gotten married. RBVs in hand, all the boys hopped in the photo booth together, Wade captioning the resultant selfie “Island Boys”

On the floor I saw a girl wearing these hilarious sunglasses and asked if I could try them on and the rest was history.