Surf Cities, Waterfront Hilton Hotel

"No dark coffee today...It is my birthday and I wish to celebrate..Think I will have a  Mocha today?
"What kind would you like? We have strawberry, banana, mango ...so you wish the strawberry.?   Should I mix in other fruits?"
  "Any extra charge?"
  "No..That will be four thirty five."
  My pocket watch said eight o'clock. My #25 would be here at exactly eight twenty five. The Waterfront Hilton Hotel is my first stop for today. Off the ocean, I enjoy the view of the crashing waves, the beach and pier. 
  From my corner table, I have a first hand view of the Surf City Beach.  off of P.C.H.  Outside by the pool is a large breakfast buffet but I must remind my stomach "not today". With a straw I sip my mocha drink and hear the news from the T.V. inside the Coffee Clutch.
     I delete from my mind anything said about Trump but zero in on the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Today was also my 78th birthday, and no Trump or the panhandler who pushed me will spoil it.
    I remember the  words of my oldest daughter Olivia as we walked to the Century Theater at the Bella Terra shopping center. My youngest daughter held the hand of my three year old Allison. I extend my left hand to Olivia, my six year old grandchild
   "Grandpa, I do not need your hand!"
    "Why not?"
    "Cause I am independent!"
  "Two busy to beat the heat, I didn't know  how funny yet sophisticated it was for a six year old. I repeated what she had told me to everyone that included the Senior Center.
    I remembered a radio show broadcast on top of the Pickwick Hotel in San Diego in the 30's. I had lived there at the Y.M.C.A. before moving to Huntington Beach.  Its two towers were finished in 1938 and broadcast a radio show from there.
    An Alumnus from San Diego High School , Art Linkletter began his career on top of that building with a program called Man on the Street Pickwick. Since the stage line stopped there as well as the Greyhound bus, many people came to watch his show.  But later he began a show, Kids Say the Darndest Things. and .
    Oh yes, another alumnus by the name of  Gregory Peck matriculated to the school and was a member of a drama club, and the J.V. football team. He admired the play of one Ambrose Schindler but never had his body or athleticism. So the chagrined Peck had to eek out a living by becoming movie actor.

Nuts and bolts for today: The cell phone does not have the personality of our kids today. Listen to them, they are full of gems.