... Tim-style!
Manhattan Beach must have more children per capita than any other city in the USA! I'm completely serious! I've never seen a place with more children--really young children. Thursday and Friday nights I ate dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and Chili's respectively. Both evenings the number of loud and generally badly behaved children was unbelievably high.
As incredulous as it may sound, on the half of the restaurant I was in, on Thursday I counted 37 children under the age of about 5! What if they all spontaneously decided to take over the restaurant? I swear there were not enough adults to have prevented it! Screaming, crying, doing what less-than-1-year-olds do, the place was out of control. The dining experience was completely unpleasant. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Chili's the next night was little better.
By California standards, these are inexpensive places to eat. So I guess the moms and dads take the family out to eat here. I actually asked the waiter at California Pizza Kitchen if Thursday nights was kids night. (I was going to avoid it in the future.) He rolled his eyes and said with a bit of disgust in his voice, as some toddler let out a particularly shrill screech: No, believe it or not, it's like this every night.
So when the girl that cuts my hair told me about the ArcLight Theater at the Cinema Dome in Hollywood, describing it as kids-free and very well done, I immediately wanted to go there. The tickets are pricy: $15--hence no children: indeed, a small price to pay. A large, very nice theater (with reserved seating) on Sunset Blvd., I had a fantastic time enjoying a dinner and movie: Mamma Mia!
The movie's setting in the Greek Isles was spectacular. The music is, well... you know. I bought the soundtrack. Meryl Streep was a sensation. She can sing, too!! Is there anything she can't do on stage?! Pierce Brosnan?? Was the casting director snorting cocaine, or what?! The man can not sing. At least the audio mixer amped up everything else to drown him out.
This was a great feel good movie, and the only thing loud and out of control was the awesome music. I highly recommend it.
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