Downtown Thursday Surf & Culture Report
Lost Boys & Co...
So, what's the oldest bar in Los Angeles? King Eddie's Saloon...? Pretty good! The new owner Mike Leko took us on the cook's tour, but let's check out the surf first and then head downtown...
The fog was trying to cloud things up in the corners, as the sun kept peeking through in the middle of the block. 5 miles visibility. Winds were calm and the sea surface was smooth at checkout. The air temp was 59.7° and the water was up a full 3° to 63.0°. Low tide was at 10:28am +1.6' and high tide follows at 5:26pm +5.7'. We have a SSW swell out of 209° at 2.3' and there were some serious knee slappers this morning... Which, by way of keeping us out of the water, lead us to some very interesting endeavors...
The Professor and Danger Boy were checking out the surf at the top of Topaz Bay, hangin' with the Ché, Birdie, Mark the Poolman, Buffalo K. Holmes and the usual suspects when the Professor's phone rang. It was Ronnie from Brother's. "Hey, Professor! Mike Leko just bought the oldest bar in Los Angeles and we're goin' downtown for a fieldtrip. Lots of cool stuff!" The Professor kinda hems and haws and says, "Well I promised that I would take Danger Boy to the Harley Store to redeem his Harley Bucks..." Danger Boy, sitting right there, looks at the Professor and says, "That sounds like a lame ass excuse." The Professor looks back at the phone and says, "What time do you want us there?"
In record time we're in the Brother's Burrito Van heading to LA with Ronnie, Laurie, Ivan, Clark, Ocho Cinco, Danger Boy and the Professor. We meet up with Mike and we start out with a visit to his Spring Street Sandwich Shop which just happens to be right below his apartment. Mike owns a number of downtown eateries that also include Urbano's and the Library Bar. All have excellent food, prepared by star chefs and are known for their no nonsense drinks. He gives us a walking tour of the area and just like that, we're standing in front of King Eddy's. King Eddy's looks like photo #1. It's a dive bar. It's motto is: "Serving You Assholes Since 1933." But hell, 1933? That wouldn't make it the oldest bar in town. Nope, for that we head down to the basement☞ In the dim light of the stairway we head down a flight of well worn concrete steps, with a ramp down the side to slide crates of booze. At the bottom, a wooden door, with a sliding peek hole lays against the wall. In the dim light there boxes of stuff, racks of dusty bar detritus stacked to the low ceiling. But on closer inspection the walls are covered in murals from the 20's, maybe before. It was LA's premier speakeasy! We'll run more photos tomorrow, but #2 was our fave. It's a cop with a bottle in his back pocket, rousting a bum. In the far corner of the space there was a passageway - pitch dark. The Professor, in a rare spark of preparedness, brought his Mini-Maglight™, what they found was pretty amazing...
Tomorrow: The underground railway, the plan, the penalty box, delicious lunch, Clark follows his 6th or 7th sense...
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"When the surf breaks, we'll fix it..."
The Professor!!
The Professor!!
