floatin' an air biscuit: FATHER'S DAY IN BEVERLY HILLS

Sunday, June 21, 2009

FATHER'S DAY IN BEVERLY HILLS

This morning I randomly decided to go to Mass in Beverly Hills. I could've very well attended Sunday service at St. Augustine's, which is literally a 15-minute walk from where I'm staying. Or I could've made my way to Mass in Santa Monica before I went to help a friend move in the same area. But nope - I decided that I'd spend the perfect morning in Bev Hills.

As I entered the cusp of Beverly Hills from the Castle Heights district, I noticed that the sky was clear, and the sun was shining nicely at 11:30AM; such a huge change compared to the "June Gloom" that's been plaguing the L.A. area for weeks now. I originally took Rodeo into BH, but it was blocked off for some weird reason. Unhindered, I took a detour and ended up going down Beverly.

People were out and about relatively early on a Sunday morning. The town usually sleeps-in on a Sunday, but revelers were walking the streets, entering shops, and enjoying brunch at one of the many restaurants dotting the streets. I found a parking spot, and strolled along to Good Shepherd parish. As I sat waiting for Mass to commence, I realized that the last time I was in that parish was on Mother's Day. It was weird that I made it back for Father's Day.

Just then I realized - Duh! It's Father's Day, and that's why people are all over the place!

I'm a genius, I know.

Anyway, I decided to walk back to Rodeo after Mass. I wanted to see what the hoopla was all about. Lo and behold, it was the annual Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance. There were all sorts of exotic cars, classic cars, and even a good number of eco-friendly vehicles; something for everyone. Of course, it was a chore to make my way through the crowd. The usual BH set were out with shopping bags in town. But there was a huge group of non-BHers sluggishly passing through with their eyes popping out of their sockets. (Gotta love the non-city folk.) Oh, and there were all sorts of European travelers also taking snapshots in front of cars and/or store-fronts in-between shopping sprees at Bottega Veneta and Prada. It was nice to be out on Rodeo on such a gorgeous day, but the crowd got super annoying. I eventually looped back to where I started, walked to Crumbs Bakeshop (my original "reason" for deciding to go to Mass in BH), then hopped in my car and headed to Santa Monica to help my friend move.

At any rate, It was a nice way to transition to the afternoon, and I instantaneously knew that I would surely miss the Sunday-morning scene in BH once I'm back East.