One of the nice things about having a Universal Studios Hollywood pass is that for us, this is the closest theme park to home. Do I wish I still could own a Disneyland AP? Sure. But we're really enjoying Universal, Magic, Knott's, and soon we'll be visiting SeaWorld San Diego. For this trip we headed down for opening on a Sunday, got in a handful of rides, ate lunch, shopped, and then stopped by one of our old haunts that just recently re-opened: The Tonga Hut in North Hollywood! We met up with a few fellow Drooling Bastards for our first "inside the tiki bar" experience since the pandemic started. Enjoy!
Magic Mountain Mondays #11: Speedy Cheese
In the mid-90s, someone thought it would make sense to put a kiddie ride in the plaza where Rev and Viper were. Presumably to capture those too small to ride either of those coasters. It did not do that. It existed only to punish ride operators that thought they had escaped Bugs Bunny World.
In August of 1995, I took a bunch of photos (on film no less) at Six Flags Magic Mountain using an inexpensive camera. I was working as an Operations supervisor at the time, and the purpose of the project was to create a slide show for an employee appreciation party for our Operations staff. I’ve carted these slides around for over 25 years and I finally had them digitally transferred this year. About 2/3s of them aren’t available for posting because they are crew pictures and I have no way to request permission to post them. But I do have 50+ available that are just various shots of the park. Enjoy this time capsule from August 1995.
I'm on the inside
This is where it all begins / right here
****
Back in the Hut, July 2021.
When I say Oro...you say Blanco!
Oro!
Bookends
When we drove home from Mammoth Mountain on Sunday, March 15th, 2020, I checked my work email and saw that we were being asked to start working from home starting on Monday, March 16th due to the pandemic. We were instructed to go to the office before then and take anything home that we needed for working remotely. I dutifully went to the office and took home my headset, external monitor, and other peripherals. Then, because it’s what we do, we went to dinner at Figueroa Mountain Brewery in Westlake Village, where we are are proud mug-carrying members. It was busy, and as we talked to the staff that night, there was a sense of “this was it” as rumor had it that California was about to close down due to the looming pandemic. While it was somber, we had no idea at that time how the next year+ would go.
15 months later, on June 15th, 2021, California lifted almost all of their coronavirus restrictions. Restaurants and bars could re-open without capacity restrictions. And vaccinated folks could go mask-free inside those spots. So on June 16th, 2021, it seemed appropriate that we take our usual seats and mugs at Fig for dinner. It was nice to be back at the bar.
This is not to say we didn’t do our share of patio dining during those 15 months. We did (Hi Cronies!). But these 2 bookends just seemed kind of appropriate.