I Am A Wishbone - Pulled in Two Directions

Our new home is in a 55 Plus community that sits right at the boundary between San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes.  When we drive out past the gatehouse to 25^th Street, we can turn either right or left. 

Gate House at Palos Verdes Shores

 If we go right, we head down to San Pedro.  San Pedro is a very eclectic, ethnic town that has been the “put down roots” place for many immigrant groups.  Fisherman from Croatia and Italy and Greece settled here in the early 20^th century and their descendants continue to offer food, wine, music, and culture at local haunts.  We have yet to visit the Croatian Club or the Dalmatian American Club but we have been to the Italian American Club and we have shopped at A-1 Imports.  The residents of San Pedro are proud of their heritage and love to share it.  It is fun to drive through the neighborhoods of small, traditional, World War II housing,  to drive to the end of 22^nd street and see the wholesale fishmongers, to stop at The Corner Store to browse or buy a Chicago Hotdog!

There is also the port area, the less prosperous part of town.  Here we experience loud bars, noisy motorcycles, and some “urban outdoorsmen” as Jay calls them, sleeping on benches or looking for a handout.  Some families crowd into tiny homes with children playing out on the steps.  Some trying to rehabilitate themselves take advantage of organizations like Beacon House, where recovering residents sober up and attempt to put their lives in order and learn new skills, like restaurant serving and cooking.   

The Beacon House

 We attended a wonderful Bistro Night dinner there, enjoyed a great fish dinner and were even sent home with cookies!  We hear they also have Sunday Breakfasts and while you are eating you can have your car washed across the street for $5.  This is San Pedro and it is the vibrant culture to our right.

If we go left, we head to Rancho Palos Verdes.  Rancho Palos Verdes is one of the most scenic, beautiful places in Southern California.  While driving along the coast, seeing the cliffs reaching down to the rocky shore, the greens of Trump golf-course, the Wayfayer’s Chapel, the mansions spread out on the hillsides, the cyclists with their slim bodies peddling for all they are worth, the coves of tidepools you cannot help but feel like you are in an automobile commercial.  You ask yourself, “Is this for real?”  

  

We travel this way to get to the Palos Verdes Library, where we obtained our new library cards.  In this direction is the South Coast Botanical Gardens where we purchased a year’s membership so we can attend events, go for hikes and moonlight walks and learn more about plants and gardening.  

 

The Botanical Gardens

 This is also the direction we would go to drive up to Marymount College, where as members of Peninsula Seniors we can audit for free various classes.  It is fun to think of learning in the same rooms where I attended high school, but now as a Senior auditor!  Sunday we headed in this direction because I wanted to attend the weekly Palos Verdes Farmers’ Market. We drove the beautiful coast, stopped at a lovely Yellow Vase Café for a light breakfast and sat outside looking at the ocean with “the beautiful people,” sipping a vanilla latte.   

Yellow Vase Cafe

 Then we continued to Peninsula  Center where many vendors had their fruit and produce.  I bought beautiful heirloom tomatoes, some fresh dill, colorful peppers. Then I spotted the succulent yellow peaches that cried out to be baked.  As I was selecting my peaches, another man had his purchase ready which he handed to the farmer with the question, “Do you have change for a $100?”  This is Rancho Palos Verdes and it is the culture to our left.

Two different worlds, two different life experiences, separated by just a few miles.  We, living right on the edge, get to experience both!