I recently went to California to visit Carl Ferry

I have known Carl since 1995 when he was going to Tulane and he visited a friend at UMass. I will try to explain how close a friend Carl is. During the Y2K debacle, we had our end of the world party at Carl's house. I would do anything Carl ever asked of me. Don't Anger Carl, or I might have to kill you.
Recently, Heather and I went to California to visit the tall red-head, and it went so well, we are thinking of moving out there. Of course, when Carl lived in Amherst we were thinking of moving there as well, maybe it's Carl and not LA that I loved.
Here's an old saying that's pretty accurate:
After three days, throw out the fish and the house guests. For those of you who don't get it, it means that it's very dangerous to put up with a house guest for more than three days. We spent a week and a half in Carl's bedroom (he slept on the couch in his own house) and it was awesome. First, the weather in LA in the summer is amazing. Second, the beaches were about as nice as I have ever been to.
I grew up on the beach. My parents used to drop my brother and I off at Old Silver Beach in the morning, and we would swim for five to eight hours swimming, sneaking into the hotel arcade, and building sand castles. I lived on beaches, and I normally find them boring and tired. I've been to beaches in Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, and more than a few states, and I have never seen a beach atmosphere like the LA area's.
Carl showed me a history book about the beaches, and it seems like one guy tried to create Venice in California, and like Casino developers, none of the other beaches would be out done.
The first beach we went to was (I think) Manhattan beach. We had just spent 27 hours in planes and airports and driven an additional five hours to get to LA and we immediately decided to find some way to bathe. We walked to the publc showers on Manhattan beach and I saw the Pier from Grand Auto. I couldn't believe how far our into the Pacific it went. I looked across, and about half a mile over was another pier, even bigger, with a hut on the end. There must have been 25 fishermen on our pier, and they were far enough apart to never worry about tangling lines. There were tents with playpens for kids, people who looked like subsistence fishermen, and bunches of characters.
But, this entry is growing waaaayyy tooo looonnnnggg...
Check in another time to find out what an authentic California bar is like.