Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit of Martini Enfield

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

[QUOTE=fetus]

I don’t know what “Harbour/Massive Bridge” means, but if it means Coronado, you literally did not see San Diego at all. San Ysidro and Otay Mesa are in Mexico as far as I’m concerned, and Coronado is a culture-free zone made up entirely of rich white people and sailors (some of whom are also rich white people!). There are some nice restaurants and a grand historic hotel with a super-clean beach down there, but it gives you a distorted view of San Diego and it’s a nightmare to get on and off the island anyway. The City of San Diego itself is a hodgepodge of subcultures, from La Jolla’s parent-subsidized revolutionaries to Pacific Beach’s stoner-surfer-barhoppers, from Rolando’s Chaldean hookah-smokers to Ocean Beach’s hippie ditchweed-smokers. Not to mention the gay pride of Hillcrest and the indie rocker baristas of North Park.
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That’s the place. Massive bridge across a harbour with some Aircraft Carriers (USS Midway was one of them, I think) and lots of other ships.

I hear lots of good things about San Diego, so next time we’re over I’ll make sure we’ve got a car to get around and can visit more of these places.

San Francisco also looks nice, too- how many hours drive is it from LA?

I thought as much. Florida isn’t especially high on my list of places to go- we’ve got plenty of beaches and old people here in Queensland. :smiley:

42

I know a lot of people liked that place, but personally I think any day that a chain anything (particularly a bar or coffee shop) is rooted out for a local anything* is a good day. The Denver, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Palm Springs, Chicago and late San Diego locations had more in common than their names.

  • I don’t actually know if the new place is local–sue me, I’m 20, and not pretty enough to get into a bar in Hillcrest.

Now, if you want to see local bar culture, I can show you the punk rock circuit bars in Spring Valley that I can get into. There’s an authentic underground experience!

And again, don’t hesitate to call on me for the local tour! I’d even be willing to drive a bit. BTW, you can take a sort of “commercial tour” on the light rail pretty easily these days. A lot of people come to San Diego to shop and visit the theme parks; you can get to Sea World and the major tourist malls pretty easily on the Green Line or the Blue Line, and cheap too. And it’s not tough to get to the beach either.

About 6 hours, with (according to Google Maps) a toll road. I’ve never driven that far up the 5, but if it’s anything like driving to Las Vegas on the 15 it is not a pleasant experience.

If you took the 101 you’d get a scenic view but it’d probably take a while longer. You’d be on the coast most of the time and you’d pass through Santa Barbara (gorgeous!), San Luis Obispo (interesting on a cultural level, as a prototypical California college town), then Monterey and San Jose (never been to either, but I’ve heard good things) before getting to SF. I’m not sure you’d have the time for either, but of course that’s up to you.

As for me, I’ve been meaning to take a road trip up the coast for some time. Ideally I’d go all the way up to Vancouver and back. No gas money, though, and not likely to get enough time off work/school anytime soon. So it’s all a pipe dream for now.

43

[QUOTE=fetus]

  • I don’t actually know if the new place is local–sue me, I’m 20, and not pretty enough to get into a bar in Hillcrest.

Now, if you want to see local bar culture, I can show you the punk rock circuit bars in Spring Valley that I can get into. There’s an authentic underground experience!
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I didn’t realize that Mary’s was a chain until I heard on the local jazz station that they were sponsoring a band that playing a nearby venue and looked for the address online.

I’ll let you know next time I come out to visit the family. I may have to take you up on that!

I have driven both routes. The 5 is an exercise in boredom and attempting to stay awake, but should get you to the bay area from LA in 5 or 6 hours (providing traffic cooperates). My choice would be the 1/101 route, and planned as an all day thing. Hubby and I drove from San Francisco to Hemet via the 1 and had a great time. Stopped at a little dive in Nipomo called Jocko’s and had some of the best steak I’ve ever experienced. It was quite reasonably priced, though I suggest taking your own flatware for dining. Theirs bent. No, I’m not kidding.

We left San Fran around noon, and arrived in Hemet around 10p. That included stopping for dinner and a couple stops for photos and gas. Do NOT stop in Big Sur for gas unless you have a fat wallet.

44

Great OP, Martini. Glad you had a fun trip, and that you were made welcome here in the USA. It’s a great country, even though we’re sometimes far too incurious about other lands, peoples and customs (I mean, come on, any adult American who doesn’t know what and where Australia is, is an idjit).

Next time you come, consider a visit to the heartland. Plenty of Ohio (and other Midwestern) Dopers would be glad to welcome you and show you around!

45

If he wanted to see endless vistas of flat nothingness, populated by weird creatures from some unholy bestiary, he could do that in Australia! :stuck_out_tongue:

46

[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]

Apparently there was some kind of National Cheerleading Championships in Anaheim while we were there, which was why the hotel was full of teenage cheerleaders. Whilst that may sound like a somewhat dodgy setup for a letter to Penthouse, the cheerleaders were all giggly, immature, and bloody annoying. 1am is not an appropriate time to be practicing your “GO COUGARS!” chant or whatever the hell it was your were doing. It’s also considered bad form to knock on the doors of other hotel guests at 6am, yelling “Angela, wake up, we’ve got to get ready for practice!”, especially when it’s already been made clear that there’s no-one called Angela in the room in question, and that not everyone in the hotel is a cheerleader or chaperone.

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I actually have an odd connection to this part of your story. One of those cheerleaders was a girl that I have known since she was born. Two old friends of my parents and their twin daughters were down from Montana for that competition. One of the twins was competing with her school (they took 3rd in whatever division they were in).

They drove up to Hollywood, where I live, to visit. We walked around the Walk-Of-Fame. It was very strange since the last time I had seen these girls they were 4 or 5 at the most. Worst of all I think of them caught me checking out their breasts. I wasn’t even doing it in a lecherous way. It was more of a “(Blank) has boobs now.. That’s freaking weird.”

Anywhooo.. Glad you had a good time.

47

[QUOTE=CBEscapee]
That’s like judging the USA based on one short visit to East Los Angeles and watching Soprano reruns. The rest of México is quite unlike Tijuana. I’ve yet to see a Hollywood movie with an accurate portrayal of México.
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True, and even a lot of Tijuana isn’t like the Tijuana of popular imagination. But crossing the border is a bit of a shock; the southern side has neighborhoods of small blocks right up against the border, while the immediate U.S. side is mostly empty grassland, though large population centers are of course nearby.

MF, glad you had a good time! But I would waited until reaching that very day to tell her. I can just picture her saying to you, “Gee honey, I didn’t know they fly 747-400s to Tasmania.”

WalMart is cheap, and regarding clothes you get what you pay for there. They don’t even sell proper Levi’s there, for instance, because standard Levi’s are too luxurious an item for WalMart.

48

[QUOTE=delphica]
I can’t speak too much to UCLA in particular, but in general, flagship universities are often hotbeds of excellent American architecture (if you’re into that sort of thing). Many colleges and universities also have some sort of community enrichment built into their mission, and will feature museums, galleries, or concert/theater venues that are open to the public. UCLA is known for its Sculpture Garden.

So, it’s kind of like going to a nice park.
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UCLA is all that. Even the newer academic buildings are generally built with flair and grace in a modern style that blends in well with the older “collegiate gothic” buildings nearby.

Especially if you live outside the older urban centers, it’s hard to describe the shock of going from University to real life. You spend four years in a place that has sculpture gardens, grassy quads, and fountains, then go to a real world where little thought is given, in designing things, to satisfying one’s aesthetic needs.

49

[QUOTE=SusanStoHelit]
American Map of the World
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Funny, but I don’t get the Mouse Heads reference. Do an inordinately large number of Canadians go to Disney theme parks?

50

[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
We did manage to get to Hollywood (still an eyesore, IMHO), Beverly Hills (very nice), Santa Monica (also very nice), and the Missions at Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles and San Juan de Capistrano. :
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Hollywood, IMHO, isn’t worth it unless you’re actually specifically interested in film memorabilia, footprints at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and so on. If that applies to you then you can knock yourself out there, because there is quite a bit of history.

Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles isn’t actually a mission, it’s just the oldest parish church in the city. I hope while you were there you made it over to Olvera STreet for a meal at La Golondrina.

51

[QUOTE=Harriet the Spry]
Just dropping in to clarify for our non-US Dopers that sales tax is a state issue in the US. There is no federal-level sales tax. Thus, the amount of the tax and what is taxable varies from state to state. The practice of not including sales tax in the price is standard throughout the country, though.

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And it’s not always by the state; it can vary by county also, because counties sometimes vote to tax themselves extra for some project or other goal. For instance, in L.A. County we have an extra half-per-cent tax that goes towards transit, and I think there’s another one also, but I forget what for.

52

[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
True, and even a lot of Tijuana isn’t like the Tijuana of popular imagination. But crossing the border is a bit of a shock; the southern side has neighborhoods of small blocks right up against the border, while the immediate U.S. side is mostly empty grassland, though large population centers are of course nearby.
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That was something we noticed, too- the change from green fields, well maintained roads and buildings, and general prosperity on the US side to… well, Mexico (for want of a better description) on the other. Having said that, we did see parts of Tijuana that seemed just as “nice” as anywhere else in the world- but also rather a lot of Tijuana which seemed straight out of every stereotype about Mexico you’ve ever seen or read.

The clothes at Wal-Mart aren’t any worse than the stuff you get from K-Mart or Target here, and they’re a lot cheaper. :smiley:

53

Probably the least interesting story you’re going to read today (and maybe tomorrow) -
We just got back from Mexico (Playa del Carmen, not TJ) and whilst there met an Aussie couple. I must have known that Martini was on holiday because I thought, for just a second, that maybe…

But the guy wasn’t wearing a hat with corks on it, so I know he wasn’t really Australian :slight_smile:

54

[QUOTE=fetus]

It helps that you were in one of the biggest tourist traps in a state famous for tourist traps. I’d wager that most of the people you met at Disneyland were from out of town or out of state. Although I think you’d have a similar reaction you’d get anywhere else in the US.
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Nobody does customer service like Disney.

[QUOTE=fetus]

Disney World is a fair bit (10 years?) newer than Disneyland, and it’s (a lot?) bigger. I’ve never been, but it was a real special treat for my classmates who went when I lived on the East Coast. For an American, which one you go to pretty much depends on which one you live closer to. I wouldn’t imagine it’s different enough to justify the fact that you’ll be in Central Florida, America’s capital of invented culture.
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I’ve been to both. Held annual passes for Disneyland for many years and have visited Walt Disney World several times (including a week last December). It’s totally worth it to visit WDW. There’s tons more to do in WDW than in DL. DL is a nice resort tucked into suburban California. WDW is a city.

55

[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
All I have to do now is put our names in the Green Card Lottery or see if I’ve got some sort of skill that’s there’s a shortage of in the US… :smiley:
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Wit?

[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
Talking to a couple of the shop assistants, most of them agreed that the price really should include the tax as well, but no-one could actually come up with a convincing reason for why the advertised price didn’t include the sales tax.
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It’s a lot simpler than you’d think. Unlike in, say, Britain, where VAT is standard across the nation (I think you have VAT in Oz, too, but I was much too young last time I visited to care about such things), sales tax is set by the state you’re in (and possibly the municipality or county).

Now, obviously Joe Schmoe’s Discount Haircut Place, with its one location, isn’t going to have trouble listing its prices with tax included.
Unfortunately, if you happen to be a national (or regional) chain, in order to post tax-inclusive prices you’d have to print out different signage for almost every one of your locations, which, of course, is expensive.

Not to mention that some goods traditionally come pre-priced by the manufacturer- books, for instance. You could put labels on everything, of course, but much simpler just to allow your customers to do a little multiplication.

Some goods- generally staples- aren’t subject to state taxes, so they’re priced as marked. In Florida, for example, bread, milk, and fuel are exempt from state sales tax.