My Old Neighborhood

I had dinner last night with Brande at our neighborhood pizza place, Marri's! It is just around the corner from my house and we could have walked but it was raining. I use to eat at Marri's when I was in high school! Yes, it's been there THAT long. They have great pizza, so-so service, and really, really horrible Italian music playing. My friend Ginny had emailed me asking me a question about how to do something on her blog, which by the way you should go read! I was emailing her an answer and also about the place I had dinner at. Still being amazed that I've eaten there since I was in high school. Actually it was our hang out back in the day! Right next to Marri's is a dry cleaners, Montgomery Cleaners. That was my very first job, I made $1.65 an hour! But back in the day, it was enough to join my friends at Bob's Big Boy for a combo plate. And actually the building Bob's was in is still nearby, but is now a Blockbuster. I hated that job. They did the cleaning on site, and the smell was enough to make anyone gag. God only knows what chemicals they were using way back then! I went to Millikan High School, and as you can guess, that too is just "down the street"! I was in a soriety, Tabu, and that is a soriety picture of me above (not sure why its so big though. I loved high school, but not because of the academics, but because of my friends and hanging out at places like Marri's and Bob's Big Boy! I ate meat back in the day, which I gave up a very long time ago!! Life seemed so simple back then. As many of you know, Katie and her family bought my parents house after they passed away, the house I grew up in, just a short distance from where I live now. Riley has joined us for dinner at Marri's, bad music and all. I love East Long Beach, the part of Long Beach I live in. Cal State University Long Beach is within walking distance. The beach is only a ten minute drive, a nice mixture of people in my neighborhood, and now my grandbabies are growing up in the old LBC too! I like simple, you know, it makes me happy. Here's a link to an article that was in our local paper this morning. Wilson HS was always a big competitor against Millikan's football team, "back in the day". This article is just another example of why I LOVE Long Beach!!