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“Car Week” on Monterey Bay got Murphy thinking.  This is an experience that all his gearhead friends should be able to have, but cost – in cash and relationships – can be formidable.  Let’s face it, our “significant others” put up with our automotive obsessions, but they rarely share them.  So you can’t just run off and drop a couple grand all by yourself…not without becoming a single bear again, anyway.

Well, the Bear was paying attention last week and he realized there are ways to take your squeeze along and manage the time and do-re-mi in such a way as to make everyone happy.  The trick?  Find the less expensive car events, use the money you save to do some serious partying with your better half, and you’ll come away with her (or  him, not to be sexist here) remembering a great romantic time in one of the most beautiful places on the globe while you go home having had that awesome car experience.

Did you know that a ticket to the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach – a one day event – is $175?  Each.  For the Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca, $125.  For Corso Italiano, $150, the Quail, $150.  Seen the Barrett Jackson auctions on Speedtv?  The “big boys” are playing during car week – Bonhams & Butterfields, $75 bucks will get you in.  Gooding and Co., $30.  So far, that’s seven hundred bucks to go “first boat,” as they say, fourteen hundred for those of you who play together.  Get the picture?  Did you know that you can skip all these while taking in free events that will get your black little car-loving heart racing as never before?

The Bear might have stuffing for brains, but he’s no dummy.  Here’s his car-romance-stay-off-the-couch week.

First, don’t even think about the “official” Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca.  Go to the “Pre-historics” the week before.  No, that doesn’t mean Barney, Fred and Wilma, it simply means many of the same cars on Saturday and Sunday before “Car Week.”  Free.  Yes, free.  Historic F1 cars?  Check.  Pre-war?  Check. Historic IMSA?  Check?  Gullwing Coupes?  Check.  Crowds.  None.  Paddock access – no, unless you buy an associate membership in SVRA or some such organization.  But you can go anywhere else around the track.  The Bear saw his friend Mat shooting photos at the Corkscrew, and took a few himself.  So there you’ve got your start, Saturday, Sunday, or both.

 

So now it’s Monday, and there won’t be much going on of the car kind until Thursday.  Bad news?  Not if you’re a smart Bear, because this is where you get to be a hero, with all the conjugal benefits that brings (which is exactly why the Bear doesn’t recommend staying on some friend’s living room floor).  A good start will be Monterey, its historic downtown and the wharf.  Did you know that this was the headquarters of the whole California Mission system back in the day?  That it was the Spanish and Mexican capital of California?  History buff?  You’ll have no trouble entertaining yourself here.  There’s the Path of History through Old Monterey, and the Maritime Museum on the plaza, right at Old Fisherman’s Wharf, which most aficionados of such stuff will tell you is far more charming and entertaining than the one in San Francisco.  For dinner, there’s Rappa’s at the far end, with fabulous views of the harbor, plus Dominico’s, Fisherman’s Grotto, and Café Fina, where Rachel Ray found dinner as a part of Monterey on $40 a day.  Wander over to Wharf #2 for crisps, pickled eggs, fish and chips, plus a good selection of ales and such at the London Bridge Pub, or stop in for a bump or a bite at the Sandbar, where Jessica Walter did the freak-out number on Clint Eastwood in “Play Misty for Me.”

Tuesday would be a good day to do something completely different and cruise down the Big Sur coast in a replica 1929 Mercedes SSK from “Rent-a-Roadster” (to stick to your budget, pass on the Mercedes).  If you want to visit the Henry Miller Library – yes that Henry Miller – you’ll want to re-arrange your calendar.  It’s closed Tuesdays.  At the far point of your drive, stop for lunch at Nepenthe, its stunning views of the coast that Robert Lewis Stevenson called “the greatest meeting of land and sea” featured in the Elizabeth Taylor- Richard Burton film “The Sandpiper.”  Staying with our literary and movie theme, since you’ll be on Cannery Row when you rent the Mercedes and when you bring it back, Murphy thinks you should stop in at Clint’s real “Misty” haunt, The Sardine Factory on Wave Street.  The Bear has trouble getting past the bar, Big Mike, and its tappas menu.  Sauteed New Caledonia Prawns with basil & olive oil on grilled polenta cake with smokey tomato coulis, and Baked Oysters on the half shell with steamed spinach, creamed leeks, pernod, and toasted herb bread crumb topping, are just two of a dozen picks, all just $6 during happy hour from five to seven PM.  Stay after seven for mellow romantic popular tunes and vocals by David Conley at the piano.  If you’re lucky, Elvis will stop in to do a set – he does about once every other week.  This is not a time to hang around on The Row; there’s a warm bed beckoning on a cool coastal evening.

You’ve done Monterey and Big Sur, plus a taste of Cannery Row on Wave, so Wednesday – after sleeping in -  you might want to pretend to literati status and visit the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas in the morning and then return to Cannery Row for the afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After that, the Canneries, on their piers jutting into the bay, are restaurants and night spots, so live it up where Mac and the Boys threw parties for Doc and where Dora and the Girls entertained the fishing fleets and the boys from Fort Ord.  The Fish Hopper is good food and drink, and the glass walls look out over the antics of gulls, pelicans, and sea otters in the early evening.  Go early to get the best tables on the ocean, and it will be light enough to enjoy the sights.  Want Mexican?  El Torito is also right on the ocean.  Likewise Louie Linguini’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and others.  For music, singing, dancing, comedy, and other nefarious activities check out Sly McFly’s,  Bullwacker’s, and Planet Gemini.  Of course, you can leave the Row for downtown Monterey to celebrate what-ever-it-is-you-want-to-celebrate before another one of those memorable nights of…

Is everybody happy?  Good, because it’s back to a bit of car heaven on Thursday, blended with a memorable day in Carmel-by-the-Sea.  This little cottage town of just 8,000 on the California coast is where the glitterati go when they are tired of the glitter.  Keep your eyes peeled for Jennifer Anniston, Doris Day, John Madden, Brad Pitt (probably not with Ms. Anniston), Kim Novak, Betty White, Charles Schwab and Leon Panetta – all among the residents of this little village.  Since it’s Car Week, that list will be augmented by Jay Leno and others here on the Peninsula for the festivities.  What you’re here for, though, is this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance cars in the Carmel Vintage Parade and Display – they’ll arrive soon after 11:30 AM and park along Ocean Avenue (that’s the main street that goes down to the beach) over lunch, then parade out of town onto 17 Mile Drive.  Before and after the car festivities you can wander through the shops and galleries, many in nearly hidden courtyards.  Murphy’s advice is to leave the credit cards in the lock box if you want to stay out of the poor house. Restaurants are as ubiquitous as the art galleries, Tiffany & Co., and Louis Vuitton, you might pick up a copy or check the online version of Guide to Carmel.  Some of the Bear’s favorite spots for lunch include Jack London’s Bar and Grill for an inexpensive “build your own sandwich, or the famous Tuck Box for breakfast, lunch, or afternoon tea.  Other options for lunch or an afternoon break include The Hog’s Breath Inn behind the Eastwood Building, and Merlot! Bistro on Ocean Avenue.  All that should keep you busy until about 7:00 PM, when Murphy suggests you head over to the Mission Ranch, near San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo Mission.  Take Ocean down toward the Beach then turn left on Scenic Drive.  After passing Carmel River Beach State Park, turn right on Santa Lucia and right on Lasuen Drive.  Mission Ranch is just a small white sign board to your right; if you get to the old mission itself, you’ve gone too far.  Mission Ranch is the Bear’s most favorite place.  Again, he and his friends don’t get much further than the piano bar with jazz pianist Gennady Loktionov.  The bar menu is reasonable, including an excellent hand-ground hamburger; they’ll even let you split it.  You can sit by the fireplace, or at the bar, and later at the piano (no food at the piano).  Gennady in there with jazz from 8 PM until the sing-along featuring talented locals – and sometimes your proprietor on trumpet with his favorite white wine – starts at nine.  The Bear suggests it’s cheesy to take photos of Clint.  Gennady, who arranged and scored “Mystic River” and “Million Dollar Baby” is worth an evening, even if the boss doesn’t show.

On Friday, head for 17-mile Drive (an $8.25 toll).  Enter the Highway 1 gate and do not take the shortcut to Pebble Beach, take the long way around to see some of the most beautiful coastline (and homes) in the world.  You’re headed for Pebble Beach, and the Blackhawk Collection’s Show of stunning, significant, odd, and historic cars, from the 1948 Porsche Weibel Prototype Custom Sports Cabriolet to Howard Hughes’ 1929 Duesenberg J Murphy Disappearing Top Roadster, a 1986 Sauber Mercedes Kouros Group C, and the 1978 Dick Barbour Le Mans Porsche 935, fifth overall. The cars are in a tent and spread around the Peter Hay Golf Course.  Just beyond are the manufacturer’s exhibits (stop at the Mercedes pavilion for a free glass of wine or beer), and RetroAuto, a memorabilia show of books, art and other collectables.  You can stop in at the Lodge at Pebble Beach for a libation or (pricey) lunch in the Tap Room, or just gaze down from the veranda on the famous eighteenth hole.

From Pebble Beach head to Pacific Grove (there’s a gate the drive) for the Classic Car Rally. An eclectic range of cars are on display in downtown Pacific Grove from 2-6 PM.  They simply park ‘em as the arrive, so you’ll see Healeys next Corvettes, next to Ferraris and California hot rods.  New and old, it doesn’t make any difference.  A street band entertains with standards, “Dead Man’s Curve,” and “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” and “Little Deuce Coupe.”  This is probably a good place for a late lunch, assuming you didn’t want to pay the freight at Pebble Beach (or Jay cut in line for a table ahead of you).  Achie’s American Diner, a couple blocks off Lighthouse and a bit back toward Cannery Row is a good option that fits the theme, and there are a number of good option right along Lighthouse Avenue, where the cars are displayed.

For a farewell dinner, stay in Pacific Grove for the Victorian Corner, or you might try Shane’s Irish Pub, at 401 Lighthouse above Cannery Row, another of Murphy’s favorites.

Saturday, you’re on your way home with your memories, your honey, and (some of) your money.  Life is good – even for “the rest of us.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 2:35 am and is filed under People & Places. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.