BritWeek sounds smashing. It naturally makes one think about all the
local reminders of Great Britain. Never having been to England (something that's scheduled to
change very soon), these evoke memories of that jolly old
land.
1. Westminster.
There's a city by that name sandwiched between Huntington Beach,
Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Seal Beach. Strange but true: there's
one in England, too. Someone named Abbie lives there.
2. The other Olde Ship.
The
British owned and operated Santa Ana pub/restaurant is mentioned so
frequently as a BritWeek locale you would be forgiven for forgetting the other
Olde Ship in Fullerton. But there it is, looking amazingly
similar on the outside to the Olde Ship in Santa Ana. Fortunately,
that's not all that is the same. Some watch
soccer matches in the wee hours at the Fullerton spot, too. The menus
are much the same, and the taps at either locale
spit out Newcastle, Tetley's, Guinness, Murphy's, Young's Oatmeal,
London Porter, Fullers ESB, Smithwicks, Harp, Bass, Boddington-Ale,
Babycham, Old Speckled Hen and Beamish.
3. Newcastle in a bottle.
When I used to be able to afford it, this was hands down my favorite
ale at the supermarket, despite the protests of vegans in the family
who claim it is made with meat. I've since switched to Taurino, the
Salvadoran beer Fresh N Easy was practically giving away at $5.77 a
12-pack last week. But if you're buying . . .
4. Union Jack Fish N Chips.
This apparently has joints in Costa Mesa and Fountain Valley. I've
never been as I'm constantly striving to maintain my girly figure. You
know what they say: “A second of a glob of hot batter and
bottom-feeding cod on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, unless it
dislodges itself and moves up to your aorta.” But if you've got a
craving, at least it must be better than Long John Silver's.
5. Double-decker buses. You've seen these around the county. Orange County Doubledeckers
rents them out for birthdays, weddings and other special events. They
also book trips to LA, Vegas, Palm Springs, San Francisco and even the
Grand Canyon. Wonder if they pass the London
Bridge on the way? Wonder if it's falling down, falling down? Huh? Huh?
Well is it, my fair lady?
6. Pasty Kitchen.
This is a little
hole-in-the-wall in Los Alamitos, if it is still there. I heard raves
about the pasties here before I finally checked it out. Either someone
was playing a cruel joke or these are one of those acquired tastes.
Then again, if I could have afforded a
Newcastle to wash it down with, or even a Taurino, perhaps I would not
have had to pft-tew the pasty onto the sidewalk.
7. Pepperland Music. The store
for CDs, DVDs, musical instruments, instruction and more at 850 N.
Tustin Ave., Orange, uses a cartoon of the Fab Four and a yellow
submarine against the Union Jack as its logo, even though the place is
named after Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In
Pepperland's defense, it would have been hard to fit all the people
behind the Beatles on that famous album cover in a tiny logo.
8. The old white British guy who
did
brick work at my house. His accent was so much classier than my own
that I felt I should take the bricks out of his hand, take orders from
him and even succumb to taxation without representation. BTW, this
probably is not a photo of the retired, 107-year-old bricklayer who did
small jobs on the side when he wasn't
playing soccer or presiding over Tony Blair and the Freemasons.
9. Annie Lennox impersonator
at Club Ripples. Sweet dreams were made of this guy! He probably does other chicks at the Long Beach club also. BTW, for the
lone LBC reference on this list, I was originally going to cite
the Queen Mary. However, the last time I mentioned the QM on this blog, I mistakenly used a photo of the QM2. So, afraid of repeating that embarrassing error, I went with this. I just hope I did not upload a photo of Lennox Lewis.
10. My Elton John record collection. Remember way back when Sir Elton was peeved at comedian Sam Kinison, who shot back with a homophobic joke about “the dirt” referenced in Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy? Good times! Hey, whoever borrowed my Madman Across the Water to, can I have it back?
Okay, Orange County, surely I'm forgetting something else British.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.