| Best Small Town Cafe | Eel River Cafe Garberville, CA |
This restaurant is located in the heart of the Redwood Empire in Garberville, California. The atmosphere is strictly local. We had one of the best breakfasts ever. The eggs were buttery, the bacon crisp, and the hastbrowns were nice and crusty. The service was excellent and everyone in the restaurant seemed happy and having a good time talking! |
| Best "no sales tax" and "no shipping charges" website | Drugstore.com | Since I really hate how our California legislature wants to RAISE the sales tax because they don't have enough money to spend (just don't spend as much---isn't that what we people have to do!), I take delight in ordering much of my stuff from this site. They do not charge sales tax! For us in Los Angeles, that's a whopping 9.75%!) And for a minimum order ($30) they do not charge for shipping! A great deal! And to top it off, they have a lot more than just drugs for sale. |
| Best "On The Road" Restaurant |
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I REALLY REALLY REALLY love the Waffle House. It is a chain of small restaurants (with counter seating and small table seating) with the cooking area right behind the counter. This is NOT a fancy place and doesn't try to be. Not only do I like their food (their specialty is hash browns), but their waitresses and cooks are right out of an old movie (I compare everything in life to movies!)---they all seem to be hard-working real people who don not try to put on any kind of airs. The prices are reasonable and it is fun to watch the cook make your food right before your eyes. They are all over the midwest, and, sadly, none are in California (The closest one to me is in Phoenix, Arizona!) |
Best Onion Rings (in La Canada!) |
Magpies |
Magpies is a nice neighborhood restaurant that has a well diversified menu (Monte Cristo Sanwiches, BLT, Steaks, Chili, Burgers). Their Onion Rings are delicious! They are custom made (no frozen rings here) and are greasy enough so that they are not only authentic rings but are also the most tasty rings around these parts! |
| Best Electronics Store | Fry's |
Fry's. It's Huge. It's Big. If it runs on electricity, it is here! |
| Best Donuts | Foster's Family Donuts 2601 Foothill Blvd. La Crescenta, CA |
Being a donut afficionado, I have found these donuts at Fosters to be the best. They are moist inside and the crust is cooked just right so as to be a little crisp. My favorites are the Butterfly, the sugar twist, the apple fritter, and the maple eight (out of this world). |
| Best Mexican Food | El Coyote Cafe 7312 Beverly Bvld. Los Angeles, California |
El Coyote is an unpretentious Mexican Restaurant that has a fun atmosphere. It's classic in decor---what one would consider stereotypical Mexican. It serves good old-fashioned Tex-Mex style food---none of that less tasty "authentic" food some of the upper scale Mexican Restaurants serve. When there, try the "Howard" Enchilanda." |
| Best Popcorn | High Mountain Midnight Popcorn |
This is a large kernal popcorn that is indeed black. It pops up into a large extremely crisp pieces of white popped corn. It's available thru PopcornLovers.com |
| Best Birthday Cakes | Vons Supermarkets | Even though I hate Vons as a Supermarket, they do have the best birthday cakes. Thier best is the white cake with white frosting. One can get more expensive cakes at upscale bakeries but they will not be as good as these! |
| Best Place to See an Old Movie | Egyptian Theater Hollywood |
The American Cinematheque has their headquarters here. They have restored the Egyptian Theater in a way where they have preserved the beautiful walls and ceilings of the theater but have added acoustical panels to help the sound. Seating has also been changed to stadium style. Although they show a mixture of new, old, arty, and foreign films, they excel when they show old films. They always try to get brand new prints whether it is an old 35mm print from 1933 or a 70mm print from 1965. Sound and picture presentation is impeccable. A couple of years ago they got a new print of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and presented it in its original Cinerama negative ratio which is something like 2.75:1---Amazing!!!! One can see what's coming up by going to their website calendar. |
| Best Hardware Store | Berg Hardware |
I discovered this store through a friend who recommended it. I went here to find a particular screw I needed to repair a pot. They literally spent 20 minutes trying to find it and making sure it was the right one. Two other people who worked there also got engaged in finding the right screw. When everything was done...all they charged me was 17 cents for the screw. Athough the store is small and doesn't carrry everything it still has a lot of stuff and lots of hard to get stuff. Great place!!! |
| Best French Fries | Nate 'n Al's Deli |
The Food Police has basically succeeded in destroying French Fries. I haven't really gone nuts over fries in awhile until I tasted the French Fries at Nate 'n Al's. They were absolutely delicious. Their thin fries (they also have steak fries which I did not try) were coated with a tiny tiny bit of batter, they were crisp without being dry, and with a little coat of oil on the outside to give them the old-fashioned flavor of days gone by. Maybe it is the oil they cook them in, but I will be happy to go here just to order a big plate of French Fries. |
| Best Value Thrift Store | Sun Thrift |
Sun Thift is the best place to find used clothing. They are not one of the "boutique places" where they charge high prices for "vintage" clothing. They have a huge selection at the absolute best prices ever. The only drawback is that they have no changing rooms. However, one can really find some cool stuff here---especially men's clothing. (And they are clean and they keep their clothes orderly!) |