Our second stop in California was in “The Valley” north of Los Angeles. We needed a location, which was central to all the folks we planned to see and found the perfect spot at Walnut RV Park in Northridge. Unfortunately, as we crossed the mountains and descended into the valley, the temperature soared from 87 to 102 degrees. We were back in the incredible heat again.
First on our must-see list was MFI’s older brother Steve and the Raffauf family: Trevor, Linzi (Steve’s daughter), and their 15-month old, Kayden Jaxon. They eat breakfast together every Saturday morning at the nearby NoHo Diner, and we joined them. Trevor wasn’t there because he’s a golf pro and works long hours nearly everyday. Kayden was quite the little charmer, and everyone there knew his name and catered to him accordingly. After breakfast we returned to Steve’s house and continued catch-up conversation. They had done major improvements to the back and side yards and wanted to show us the results. Very impressive! Later that week, we had the same gang plus Hanna over to the RV park for a small cookout and to give a tour of Arthur. Steve really liked the Airstream. We failed grandparenting though. Thinking we had everything up and out of Kayden’s reach, he found a stoppered wine bottle we keep in a basket on the floor. Before we could react, he had opened it and was drizzling wine on the floor. We wiped it up and washed the rug. No long-term evidence.
We finally got to spend time with Trevor when after work one day he took everyone to dinner at the historic Smoke House in Burbank. It was built in 1946 and is sited next to the Warner Bros. studio lots. It has always been a popular spot for movie stars and film industry employees. In the 1960s, it was common to see the restaurant filled with western movie extras having lunch in their costumes. We all just dressed casually, and had a terrific evening. Trevor has diverse duties as the club pro, one of which includes giving golf lessons. He told us he was teaching a guy when after several lessons he asked if Trevor would mind giving his wife lessons too. The husband explained her availability would be at odd hours due to her busy work schedule, but Trevor agreed without hesitation. Turns out she was Margot Robbie, who most recently starred in Barbie. During the lesson, Trevor said his phone was blowing up with texts from friends and family asking questions about her. He described her as being very pleasant and quite athletic. Stuff like this only happens in Hollywood.
A few days later, Linzi and Kayden joined us at the RV park for a swim. We enjoyed playing with Kayden (it’s a grandparenting thing) and talking with Linzi (it’s an aunt and uncle thing). Linzi is an excellent mom, and we figured being able to visit with us was a good distraction from her daily routine. We sure appreciated the time together.
Some how, as is too often the case, we never got a group picture or pictures of us with Steve or Linzi. So we share this one from just after Kayden was born. That’s Trevor and his dad on the right.
Our niece Hanna was the final Wittmack family member we needed to see in California. MFI arranged a breakfast coffee meeting at Topanga Living Cafe in Topanga Canyon.
Hanna has completed her undergrad degree at UCLA and is about to start her second year of a 3-year graduate Architecture program, also at UCLA. Incredibly, she’s working two jobs to help survive by teaching an Architecture introductory course to High School seniors who are transitioning to the university and modelling buildings using 3D printing for an Architectural firm. She’s also hoping to teach as a grad student to help reduce her tuition. We’ve always known she’s smart, hard-working, industrious, and definitely headed places; but potentially working 3 jobs while being a full-time grad student, we were blown away. Of course finding affordable housing has also been a economic challenge. During breaskfast, she described her current place in nearby Topanga and invited us over for a look. The uphill winding drive to her address was more than exciting.
She’s in an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit), attached to a retired teachers home. There is one room, which is her bedroom, office, and kitchen (although there are no kitchen appliances), and a bathroom with shower. She has a well-used toaster oven and just recently purchased a refrigerator that sits outside her front door (no room anywhere else). She elevated her bed to provide storage underneath and built a corner closet. As full-time RVers living in about 200 SF, we appreciate the efficiency and comfort of her digs. What we couldn’t appreciate was the price she was having to pay for it. While the ADU is small, she has unlimited access to and use of a large backyard area. A guy lives in an Airstream in that space, but there is much landscaping, a creek when it rains, a table and chairs with umbrella, and she’s only 30 yards from a rear entrance to Topanga State Park with its 36 miles of trails. She uses the trails to train for half marathons she has scheduled. She loves her bohemian lifestyle.
We speak almost weekly with our friends, Cindy Cogburn and Nick Muszynski. Cindy and her three brothers inherited Pisgah View Ranch, and we brought Hanna to the ranch for each of our last seven years volunteering there. As such, we’ve all known Nick and Cindy’s son Colton since he was 9 years old and have watched him grow into a handsome young man, now about to start his junior year at Wake Forest. Anyway…we learned from a recent call with Nick and Cindy that Colton was in Los Angeles visiting a friend for the summer. So we planned one more dinner with Hanna and invited Colton to join us without telling him Hanna would be there. He was genuinely surprised, and we shared a fantastic “Love Boat” sushi dinner at Wokcano Topanga. After dinner, Colton joined us for more conversation at Arthur. It’s been comforting to realize that the future of this country lies in the hands of intelligent, talented, and caring young people such as Hanna, Colton, Max, and Natalie. Democracy isn’t doomed afterall.
We first met Claudia Schlosser while stationed at Patrick AFB, FL in the early 1990s. She later married Nick Fermor, and we’ve been close friends ever since. They lived in Santa Clarita, just 30 minutes north of our RV park. We spent three memorable days and nights with them spread over our two week stay in The Valley. Claudia invited us over to their house for dinner the first evening. Nick, an aerospace engineer, was working out near Mojave, CA on a new hypersonic aircraft. Because the commute to and from Santa Clarita is so far, he generally spends the work week out there. As such he wasn’t at dinner; however, to our complete surprise, he drove in to see us before we headed home. What a great guy!
Claudia is an artist whose talent extends into interior design, decoration, and house renovation skills. As such, she customizes every home she’s owned, and was excited to show us all she’d accomplished on this one. The house had not been upgraded since being built, and the previous owner was a smoker who was comfortable with most everything being out-of-date. Fortunately, Claudia saw the potential when they bought it and spent two years working her magic. She shared her dream-list of new improvements as well.
On the weekend, they invited us out to brunch at Le Chêne (translated asThe Oaks) French Cuisine in the Sierra foothills near Agua Dulce. We had a great meal with plenty of mimosas and a little wine. The restaurant has a long and colorful history. The 160-acre homestead property started as an auto garage and gas station in 1917. Huge Centennial Oaks, which over the years played an important role in naming the various retail enterprises, dot the property. Originally, a refreshment stand stood next to the Oaks Garage, and over 63 years, the building transitioned into a popular roadside cafe and eventually today’s restaurant. In the 1940’s and beyond, the cafe became a favorite hangout for Hollywood stars and employees because so many TV films and movies were shot at nearby Vasquez Rocks. Steven Spielberg used the cafe as a set location in his first feature length film Duel in 1971. Juan Alonso has owned the property since 1980. He opened the restaurant that year and has since created a vineyard, landscaped the gardens, and created a multi-use venue, which has been successful for over 40 years.
On the way back from brunch, Nick and Claudia decided we should stop at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, and we couldn’t think of any reason as to why not. Vasquez Rocks is a 932-acre park located along the Sierra Pelota Ridge just south of the San Andreas Fault and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was named after Tiburcio Vásquez, a notorious Mexican bandit in the 1870’s, who hid among the rocks to avoid capture. The park is famous for its unique sedimentary rock formations, which resulted from seismic uplift starting around 25 million years ago and subsequent millennia of erosion. The park was other-worldly for sure.
Claudia has a “thing” whereby she takes pictures of Mr. Spock in a variety of locations in which she and Nick find themselves. Vasquez Rocks was no different. She has now added to her collection.
Because the park is only 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles, it’s within Hollywood’s “studio zone,” which has made it an extremely popularand economical filming location. Since 1928, over 200 television and movie productions have been filmed their. Some of the best known television shows were: The Big Bang Theory, Bonanza, The Cisco Kid, Fantasy Island, The Fugitive, Lassie, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Westworld, and Zorro. Some of the best known movies were: Planet of the Apes, One Million B.C., The Ten Commandments, Star Trek into Darkness, The Muppet Movie, and Cars.
We were having such great times with Nick and Claudia they invited us back for dinner at their place one more evening before we had to share our visits with others. They broke out some terrific wines, we shared an outstanding vegetable tray with dips, Claudia baked the fish while Nick grilled the steaks, and we all dined like royalty. Even her dinner plate was artistic.
I was assigned to Los Angeles AFB from 1986 to 1989. MFI got a job with Tanzman Associates and there she befriended Suzanne Feller-Otto. We subsequently met her husband Harry Otto and daughter Carmell, and we’ve been friends ever since. Over the years, their careers transitioned into the film industry, where Suzanne went from being a set designer to teaching it at the American Film Institute, and Harry became an Art Director. Several of Suzanne’s credits include TV sets for Seinfeld and Ally McBeal episodes, and several of Harry’s include Set Designer for Star Trek (2009), Assistant Art director for The Terminal (2004), and Assistant Art Director: Vehicle Design for The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2002). These two always seem so connected to the film industry.
We had them over for lunch at the RV Park, never missing an opportunity to show off the unique Airstream features of Arthur, especially to people who have a high appreciation for distinctive design. They reciprocated with a killer taco lunch at their place. They live in a beautiful house overlooking Silverlake. We’d been there years ago so hadn’t seen it since the landscaping matured. A beautiful property!
We spent a lovely afternoon catching up and hearing about their successes, while enticing them with the pleasures of our retirement journey. Harry won an Emmy for an episode of Glow in 2018, and we of course took the opportunity to hold it. Yes, it is bigger and heavier than you’d expect.
We learned Harry designed the Flintstone’s auto as part of his work responsibilities on the movie, and we definitely plan on deriving great fun from telling people we know the guy who created Fred’s car. In a clear case of serendipity, many of the Flintstone movie scenes were shot at Vasquez Rocks. We continued the afternoon sharing more stories of our travels and hearing about the substantial art collection they inherited from a beloved uncle.
Our three week visit to SoCal had come to an all-to-fast end. We consider ourselves fortunate to have been able to hook up with the west coast Wittmack’s, growing Raffauf family, and a fair number of dear friends. A big thanks to everyone for making our time with each of you so special and creating new memories with us. Looking forward to returning to this part of the country during 2025.
