H G: A Little Cruise Around Town

(Los Alamitos, 2/16/2012)  What are your favorite Los Al places?  What could use some work?  Compare your take on the town with that of our Highlands Guy as he takes a little cruise around town.  (Any relationship to the cruiser in the photo is strictly coincidental!)

I have partaken of the goods, services, and products of Los Alamitos for many years. I’m talking about stuff on the public side as well as on the private side:  From the schools, to the restaurants, to the real estate professionals, to the tennis courts to the markets. . . well, you get the idea.

For the most part my customer satisfaction index has been pretty high. Although I must admit that many, many times I have to go “out of town” to get what I need, even though that may be just a few blocks away.

I thought I might share a few comments about local places and my often skewed point of view on them.

I’ll bet there are folks out there who feel like I do about some of them, even though my wife thinks that I’m out of it most of the time.

Caveat: This is non-political banter, and reflects only the small thoughts from my little brain. That being said, I’m thinking that there are a bunch of community members who can add some interesting historical perspective.  

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One of my first contacts with Los Alamitos was via Sango Sushi in the late 1980’s. There is little to compare with sitting down at a traditional Japanese sushi bar, sipping warm Saki, while being offered a large piece of Maguro sashimi prepared by an expert and friendly sushi chef. We still go there because the quality is still good, but not hardly as often, since its metamorphosis into a fast food joint, with staff that is not always up to the challenges of the restaurant’s former ambiance.

DA MARKET. So this is a bit of a touchy subject. I like to “buy local”, and while I do frequent the Los Al Vons, there are times when the size, selection, and prices do not offer the same opportunities as the bigger market a mile or so South. Vons is convenient, with easy access, and I appreciate the friendliness of the staff. But I must admit that the availability of CVS, Target, and some reasonable fast food in the same location keeps me going South. And I can zip across the street and pick up some cheap wine at Sprouts.

I’ve been playing tennis since I was about the same height as my first wooden Wilson Jack Kramer racquet. One that is sill up in the rafters of the garage. And I and my family have played at the Laurel Park courts many times over the years. They are pretty well maintained but lack a few amenities that could put them on the same level as those at Rossmoor Park…where I would rather play… if a court is open. Higher quality surfacing, up-to-date lighting, enforcement of private lessons ban, sign-up/reservation system, and better on and off-court benches, would all contribute to the total experience.

Although the name and the zip code show the connection to Los Alamitos, the Joint Forces Training Base has multiple owners/operators and tenants. And I’ll bet when push comes to shove our neighboring cities will jump on the “ownership” bandwagon. I would have to say that its size, its mission, and its myriad contributions to our City cannot be overstated.

I first knew the base on a personal, daily basis when it was NAS Los Alamitos. Whether the July 4th celebration, the Race on the Base, the baseball diamonds, the pool, or just the open space (free from houses and stores) it provides, we should do what we can to support its mission.

Guess I have to throw in Tenant’s Los Al Medical Center. From personal experience the quality of care is good. But from listening to the parade of Dr’s in front of the City Council last year, they are way behind the technology curve and need to rebuild emergency and diagnostic units. So what’s first on the corporation’s building list?  Medical offices. What’s up with that? As the old saying goes…follow the money. Aesthetically, it’s a mess. I sure hope the City required big set backs, lots of flora, open green spaces, and a traffic flow that makes sense.

“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity”.
- Lewis Mumford, (1895-1990), American historian, Sociologist, Literary Critic.

…And that’s just the way I see it.

Agree or disagree?  What’s your favorite Los Alamitos place or business?   What does our town most need?  As always, your perspective, diplomatically expressed, is welcome.

Related posts:

1. H G: Cruising Around Town…Part Deux
2. One hot town: 103 in Los Al!
3. The best place in town to buy your Christmas tree
4. A new sheriff in town?