Tuesday, July 7, 2026
As fate would have it, today was my 79th birthday!
Our good friend from Lyon, France noted that this coming year would be the last where my age will still legally be an Offensive Lineman's number.
That was a somber thought for me.
Brian FitzGerald manufactured
this scurrilous photo of me for
the celebratory occasion
One can tell instantly that it is completely inaccurate as I am not holding a mojito in my left hand.
Now, as to the Big Deal of the Day . . .
Our always generous friend, Paul Sabolić,
gifted us his two prime tickets for tonight's
Dodgers-Rockies game starting at 7:10 p.m.
We decided to leave Camarillo at 1:00 p.m. in order to make a day of it.
First stop, a late lunch somewhere in the greater Los Angeles downtown area.
But where?
El Tepeyac, Langer's Deli, Bob's Big Boy, Phillippe's and Howlin' Ray's all were in the mix.
Then, as we drove into Hollywood on the 101 Freeway, it hit me.
We would eat at the spot in Hollywood where Laurie and I dined on our first official date back in 1965.
Original Miceli's Pizzeria
billed as Hollywood's
"Oldest Italian Restaurant"
Miceli's was established in 1949 making only 77 years old.
It still stands elegantly at 1646 N. Las Palmas Ave. in the heart of "Tinseltown."
The kitchen area was quiet
as we entered our ancient haunt
We had definitely arrived during the lull between the end of the lunch time rush and the more leisurely dinner clientele's gathering, there were only two other customers in Miceli's sharing the place with us.
My ever vivacious Bride, still as
radiant as she was 61 years ago
I appear quite serious here as I
try to decide between pasta and pizza
The view of Miceli's main
dining area from the bar
What the heck was this contraption
that I found in the bar?
It left me scratching my head, if any of you want to hazard a guess, let me know.
Miceli's has old Chianti bottles
hanging from the ceiling . . .
. . . LOTS of Chianti bottles!
Up close, you can see that each
Chianti bottle has been inscribed
by a long ago patron
As we were too young to legally imbibe in 1965, we did not have a memorable Chianti bottle of our own in the Miceli's rafters.
While the food was still acceptable, the ambience and memories were still fabulous after all the years.
Nutrition taken care of, we now headed into Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) in search of more Time-Life Civil War books to add to Michael and Jacob's collection.
Mural by a parking lot near
our destination . . .
. . . in search of more Civil War books
The Last Book Store is a gigantic treasure trove of used books located at 453 S. Spring St. in DTLA.
It is a book lover's dream.
A labyrinth upstairs they said . . .
. . . The Last Book Store is HUGE!
It is housed in an old bank
building that still includes an
intricate and secure safe
missing tomes
The Last Book Store had a total of five volumes for sale in the 28 book Time-Life Civil War set but only this one, "War on the Frontier," was on our Want List.
By buying it, Michael and Jacob now posses 21 of the hard to find books.
Our Pleasure!
We still had time to kill before the gates of Dodger Stadium opened, so we headed over to L.A.'s Chinatown area.
The Lakers Kobe Bryant and
the Dodgers Mookie Betts
They both linger above the parking lot of . . .
. . . Los Angeles iconic dining spot,
Philippe the Original
1001 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles
This sandwich spot serves, for my money, the best French dip sandwich in the known universe.
This afternoon, it attracted a large pre-game crowd all decked out in Dodger Blue.
Dodgers Great Fernando Valenzuela,
"El Toro," has a place of honor
in Philippe's . . .
. . . as does this "Boys of Summer"
hero, Jackie Robinson
Philippe's first opened their doors in 1908 and moved to their current location in 1951.
We were still quite full from our earlier sumptuous Italian meal, so instead we shared a slice of their delicious apple pie and a lemonade.
GREAT PLACE!
Finally, it was on to . . .
"Blue Heaven on Earth"
Fernando, yet again, greeting
us as we entered Dodger Stadium
Our first 2026 peek at the field
Man of the "Boys of Summer" played
on Brooklyn's only World Series
Championship team 71 years ago
Paul's tickets put us in the
Left Field Loge
Section 111LG
Row C
Seats 3 and 4
The view from our seats as the
Groundskeepers were hard at work
preparing the field for the game
The Los Angeles Dodgers
First Place in the National League West
60 Wins - 32 Losses
The Best Record in the Major Leagues
vs.
The Colorado Rockies
Fifth Place in the National League West
37 Wins - 55 Losses
The Worst Record in the National League
THANK YOU, Paul,
we had a GREAT time!
First Pitch of the game before an
announced crowd of 47,806
Superstar Shohei Otani about
to bat for the first time tonight
Weird photo effect from the protective netting.
Otani took this first pitch before
depositing the next pitch in the
Left Field bleachers to give the
Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the bottom
of the first inning
Late in the game as the wheels came
off of the Dodgers in the Rockies
three run, eighth inning
We stayed until the bitter end
Did I mention how grateful we were to Paul Sabolić for our fun night at the ballpark in Chavez Ravine?
Well We Are!
The last two games of the FIFA World
Cup Round of 16 were played today
while we were gallivanting around
the Southland
Argentina (5-0) beat Egypt (2-1-2), 3-2
Switzerland (4-0-1) and Colombia (3-1-1)
tied 0-0 before the Swiss prevailed in
the Penalty Kick Shootout, 4-3
Argentina (5-0) and Switzerland (4-0-1)
will meet in a World Cup Quarterfinal
in Kansas City on July 11th
The full World Cup slate of
games left in the Round of Eight
We have now experienced 100 World Cup games this Summer with only seven more to go.
My picks in the Quarterfinals are France, Spain, Norway and Argentina.
The cheapest tickets to the
World Cup Final in New York-
New Jersey will cost you the
proverbial "Arm and a Leg!"
Who can afford these bloated prices?
Let them eat cake.
Since 2002 there have been
six different countries taking home
the World Cup
2002 - Brazil
2006 - Italy
2010 - Spain
2014 - Germany
2018 - France
2022 - Argentina
2026 - ???
I have to get back on the
Taco Tuesday Bandwagon
next week
Finally, thank you to all of the well wishers from all of the globe who took the time to give me a shout out on my birthday today, it was greatly appreciated.
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