Daycation Destination: Sun, Fun, and History

 “May happiness follow you wherever you go! May joy and health be with you always!”  That’s the cute little quote on my Daiso ‘Happiness’ journal.  Out of the 20 or so notebooks and journals in my possession, my Happiness journal, is my most valuable book.  Within its pages I keep running lists of the things that bring me joy, trinkets from my travels, notes or stickers with deep meaning from my loved ones, and not one, but two bucket lists.  The first is a regular bucket list with life long stretch goals like seeing the Great Wall of China and the second I titled ‘Destinations’.  On that list I am constantly adding and checking off locations “I’ve always wanted to go”.  Most places would qualify as a daycation destination and at most a weekend get-a-way.  It may seem silly to some to keep such a trivial sounding list but I read about so many interesting places that I’d never remember to go otherwise.  So far, I’ve been able to check of several historic places such as the one-time Hollywood star resort town that is now the dilapidated and smelly (an understated way to express rotting fish carcasses AS sand on a beach in 110 degree weather) abandoned town surrounding the Salton Sea and the original McDonald’s location which is now a privately owned museum and nostalgia mecca.

More now than ever, people are embracing the idea of the daycation; a day taken for oneself in lieu of a more extended vacation, usually somewhere local, where tuning out day to day stress and larger issues for the purpose of recentering the self to be a better, more grounded person going forward.  For optimal daycation refueling, place phones in airplane mode, bring a little spending cash, and be flexible. Big sis makes a point of letting people know roughly what you’re up to to prevent friends from worrying and to try to go no more than six months between daycations.  Once back, share your adventures with friends, teach them about a new place, and encourage them to take a little ‘me time’ outside of their daily bubble.

With 330 days of sunshine on average in Los Angeles, California, outdoor activities are in no short order.  Currently still on hold are the many parades and festivals as well as a majority of museums that draw crowds and sticky children daily.  The beginning of my 2020 agenda book was boldly highlighted with events to attend in the spring/summer like the Lotus Festival, Cherry Blossom Festival (which I miss every year and was determined to get to), concerts, live performances, and coffee dates.  As the weeks went on and the colors faded in the book, the crossed out plans and future blank pages were a new kind of depressing trapped feeling that I knew I wasn't alone in experiencing.  All that beautiful weather was wasted and casual walks were not delivering the same feel of discovery and filling the cultural void.  Some of my aforementioned plans could have been daycations.  Instead, places shutdown for going on a year, limited occupancy, or rescheduled altogether.  While my new routine has become sedentary and filled with far too much screen time, I scrolled upon a post featuring a place called Hojas Tea House.  With the help of Google Maps, I found there is a Hojas not far from one of my Destination list locations, the historic Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro.  HOT DOG! A Daycation!

The last Saturday in August, the Husband and I drove the 35 miles south to San Pedro; the Port of Los Angeles home and harbor with a small town feel and lots to do.  Of course most things are still closed including, the Battleship, the Maritime Museum with about 15 other museums, and the Cabrillo Fishing Pier.  That’s to say maybe San Pedro has lots to do when things are no longer “2020”.  Outdoor dining was still allowed at the time but the plan was to order drinks and a snack, then head to the bell for an optimally social distanced picnic.

Not much info is published about Hojas (translates to leaf in Spanish).  No backstory on their website, close to no acknowledgement of their two sister locations, and just a bit of user plugged info that suggests Hojas is women run and hosts live acts but not being able to interview the busy (and slightly rude) baristas on location just leaves this as speculation.  The place was empty but with a steady flow of customers picking up to-go orders.  Giant glass barrels filled with loose leaf tea made my eyes wide with those cartoon sparkle hearts but I ended up not even trying the tea and going with a default favorite once I fully ran down the menu.  

The brief drive through the hilly neighborhood to the Angels Gate Park was a blink and you miss ride but once in the park grounds, it’s actually a huge park.  Grassy knolls, a basketball court, playground, defunct military bunker, small free parking lot, ice cream truck; the usual public park tenor.  Towards the entrance of the park are all the clues that this home for the bell is an old army station with the addition of a cultural center.  This Los Angeles location was chosen for its connection to the largest Korean population at the time of installation as well as historic parallels with the base.  The massive bell was cast in Korea then shipped to the US while the detailed wooden structure was built stateside.  Pavilion and bell take center stage with cliffside views of the California coast as a backdrop.  I was awestruck at the intricacies and meaning in every carefully crafted and thought out element of this gift to the United States from the Republic of Korea (South Korea).  It is a symbol of friendship and trust given to us in 1976, on our countries bicentennial.  Alongside the pavilion is a plaque with information and two hand carved wooden spirit totems that protect the area from evil.  The bell and totems are based on similar structures in the Republic of Korea.  Although the stunning bell has no clapper (middle dinger-donger) but instead uses a wooden log to strike from the outside.  A limited number of holidays offers a chance to see the bell rung and there are test rings on Saturday mornings.  When talking about size, the (mostly) copper and tin bell is a monster at 17 tons, 12 feet height, and 7 ½ feet around.  In comparison, the Liberty bell, composed of nearly the same materials, comes in with stats of 2080 pounds plus the 200 pound wooden yoke (bell holder), and is a mere 4 feet tall and similarly 7 ½ feet diameter at its wide bottom.  On that summer afternoon the crowd was light, most people wearing masks other than the trio doing a soccer photo shoot but they were very courteous to not hog the bell but snap photos between tourists.  To find out more about the breathtaking bell, here’s a link to a recently penned piece by a local photographer and check out the city of San Pedro page as well.  

What was also breathtaking was the sandwich I ordered from Hojas.  Back to the picnic, I ordered peanut butter and banana on toast but it was so thick and dry, I could barely eat through half of it while breaking it up with my hot lavender latte.  It was ridiculously messy.  Elvis might have unlocked the secret to preventing a choking hazard by frying his sandwiches.  The latte was light, pretty good, but in the back of my mind, coffee and lavender is hard to get wrong but since I have been getting that drink from Barclay’s in Northridge, no one else has come close to how good they make it, so Hojas fell flat like the rest.  The Husband ordered a nacho panini that wasn’t too spicy and Hojas own Matcha Palmer; an Arnold Palmer but subbed sweet tea for matcha tea.  That drink was pretty good but I wasn’t a fan of the bits of something floating in it.  From my review, you can gather that I wasn’t too impressed with Hojas, at least the San Pedro location, but I’m thinking I’m not going to Long Beach or Wilmington to give them a second shot either.  Looking back, I really should have gone with the tea.

Hojas aside, seeing the bell, a bucket list check off, on a gorgeous sunny Southern California day was worth the trip.  The day also included a trip to the Asian marketplace and bookstore, Mitsuwa, in Torrance and outdoor dining at Red Robin closer to home (had to get that free birthday burger).  I truly embraced the daycation, only sending a handful of pictures to one of my group chats and taking notes for this blog.  It’s hard to plan the next adventure until it can be said for certain what places will survive the seemingly unending current conditions but I feel like I should always be planning.  Time to add more destinations to my list!

Peanut butter and banana on pumpernickel.

Nacho panini on sourdough.

Barracks.

Covid closed cultural and information center.

View of the playground from atop the sealed off bunker entrance.