Santa Monica Mirror: Eating at the Beach

Finally, the weekend and a day off. Who should call but my editor? "How about (that's her way of saying, gotta do it dude!) taking a bike ride and giving our readers a report about eating at the beach?"

Actually, I was getting hungry and there was no food in the house, so I agreed. My nephew and girlfriend joined me.

We began at Gladstone’s to check out breakfast at the highest grossing restaurant in Los Angeles. It was pretty slow, the deck was empty and there appeared to be no waiting.

After checking out the surfers off Sunset Point, we headed for my sister’s favorite breakfast eatery, Back on the Beach, with plenty of appetite.

Problem was, at 10:15 Sunday morning the place was packed and we were told there was a 45 minute wait, which in our local restaurants could have meant waiting until dinner. No problem, we got on our bikes and headed south.

Our next stop was at Perrys #3, just north of the Santa Monica Pier, next to the sign that says Free Volleyball.

Perry's #3 North of Pier

The menu was pretty basic...smoothies, shakes, burgers. My nephew went for the power bar, which, as he most aptly put it, "sucked". I had an Arnold Palmer -- Lemonade and iced tea, Stephanie had the Chai iced tea. Since we were on the move and just sampling, we left most of it and headed to the Pier.

The crowd on the bike path was starting to thicken, but the thought of a Hot Dog on a Stick and a lemonade at the stand I’d been frequenting for 40 years drove me southward. But we stopped at the Pier to check out the fare.

We headed to the west end to take some photos of one of the dumbest buildings in the world. With the north Santa Monica Bay coast in full view, the designers chose not to put ANY windows on that wall. The Mexican restaurant’s seating area faces the inside of the Pier as there’s no a direct ocean view north. What were they thinking? We decided to move on.

Of course, we didn't get far as Jason wanted to play Arcade games and Stephanie wanted to go on the roller coaster. So much for our food tour.

No matter, we all indulged each other and as our pact was to keep moving, we each chose one fun thing to do (mine was getting off the pier and back on the bike path) before leaving.

To my dismay, the Hot Dog on a Stick stand was located behind a maze of fences and construction. The absolute best lemonade in the world would have to wait until Santa Monica was done with its "Beach Improvements" (though I always thought it was just fine the way it was).

We were able to make it through the barricades and go on to Shutters. We stopped for lunch at Pedals, the casual downstairs restaurant, There was only a 20-minute wait at noon. "Shortest wait we have had all day" said the youthful looking host.

But the staff must have been exhausted by then because the food was uninspired and lacked any real zest. Still, the elegance, the air conditioning and especially the iced tea renewed our energy and sent us looking for the next snack.

South of Pico are two very busy Perry's pizzas. Perry's won the franchise for snack bars on Santa Monica beach, primarily because they knew how to deal with "flex" time, meaning they can structure their business to handle seasonal fluctuations. McDonalds had the franchise for several years, but abandoned it because they could not deal with the flexibility required. Their formula was all business all the time and it didn't fly at Beach stands noted for slow seasons.

Perry's has also become noted as a hangout of sorts. Most people were be attired in bathing suits and roller blades drinking something in pepsi cups, gawking at passing men and women similarly unclad. Felt like joining them actually, but my nephew and girlfriend wanted to keep riding.

Once we hit Venice and the huge python cage, we decided to walk. This tour would have continued had all of my remaining cash not been spent on $10 blue jeans (later discovered a place that had 3 for $12) and $6 dollar sunglasses. I was broke and still had to pay for the bike rentals. So we headed north, through Perry country, barricades and fences.

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