Notes on a Trip to Manhattan Beach (4/8/16)
TimeTravlr took us to the Shellback Tavern in Manhattan Beach last Friday night. I was drinking club soda and it took me longer than usual to get comfortable. There were a couple moments where I thought to myself “we’re here… now what?” Finally, we worked up the courage to “get in the game,” and the night began to get interesting. ...
Soon it was time to go exploring again. Kyle knew of another bar in Manhattan Beach called Baja Sharkeez where he had an epic night one of his first weekends in LA. So we decided to walk in that direction and try it out.
Baja Sharkeez turns out to be a raucous nightclub. The crowd committed to having a good time despite the fact that the bartenders are slow and the drinks watered down. A DJ spinning EDM, dubstep, and hip-hop – “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman” – had bodies hitting the dance floor pretty energetically that night.
I went outside to take a cigarette break. The bouncer politely informed me that smoking in public places is illegal in Manhattan Beach and that I should “be careful.” A few moments later I heard someone yell at me to “stop smoking!” from an open car window. Time to bounce, I guess.
Our driver on the way back –a Nigerian-American who waxed poetic on geopolitics and the international oil economy– confided how frequently his passengers use their Uber rides to talk about their problems, confess sins, or otherwise bear their souls to him. Often he will park the car and turn off the meter for 30 minutes or more just so that they can finish talking, he told us.
“Los Angeles is full of people,” he said. “But it’s very empty.”