April 2013 - Porsche Club of America – Northeast Region

continued from previous page
the acceleration and dodging traffic when Jack said that I was
scaring him and he wanted out. I slowed down and we made
it back without a mark on the car. There were some terrific cars
and engines on display with ‘outlaw’ cars everywhere.
Rounding up the troops we rolled out to Costa Mesa to see
the team at European Collectibles. Another 75 cars to see and
more free food — what a country.
Sunday morning was the big swap meet and while we
weren’t buyers for anything bigger than a carry-on, everyone
piled into the van and off we went after our standard breakfast
at Denny’s. Did I mention that Denny’s is next door to the hotel
and we know the breakfast menu by heart?
The local PCA region had some terrific displays of cars
grouped by year. There was a 356 section, a 911R section, etc.
Lots of cars to see and the prices on parts were reasonable.
The parts for sale weren’t like the stuff we see at Hershey every
year that have been pulled out of a swamp. These parts were
clean, without rust or corrosion, not at all what we pass around
every year. I needed a bigger suitcase.
The cars began to scatter around 11:00 am and by noon
everyone was on the road, including us. The decision was
made to do something that didn’t include cars so I drove to
the Santa Monica City Pier where my brother and I used to fish
as kids. The pier hasn’t changed much, in spite of being rebuilt
after a major storm back in the ‘90s. They did add a Mexican
restaurant out at the end and there was a table for the seven
of us, so we had lunch there. There were street performers
(pier performers?) including a dog with sunglasses and dollar
bills tucked under his collar. Have your picture with a star? We
never did find out what he starred in.
so that the runways could be seen all around it the entire
structure was very futuristic even by todays measure.
I have to admit that it was a great end to the day but not as
exciting as the club that we went to after dinner at Craig’s on
Friday. I promised that I’d come back to this, didn’t I?
Craig’s is a very popular stop where all the stars go to see and
be seen. If it wasn’t for our host, Steve Serio, of Aston Martin
continued page 51
Back in the van we ‘Googled’ Whitey Bulger’s apartment to
discover we were only three blocks away so we drove over to
take a few photos along with a bunch of other tourists who
had done the same. Looked like pretty nice digs.
We weren’t far from the apartment building where I lived in
the ‘50s, so that was another drive by. It didn’t look to have
changed a bit.
The last dinner in town was at LAX in the landmark Encounter,
a structure built in ’61 that looked like George Jetson’s
house. It was a great time and the food was terrific. Positioned
N O R E A S T E R page 49