Flower Power Restaurants

[Rebel Rose]

A friend and I were just reminiscing about our formerly frequent visits to Big Sur, so of course the subject of Nepenthe came up. Aside from the gorgeous views, and in spite of the low-to-mediocre food, just thinking about the place makes me smile, because it is such a throwback. The last time I ate there, the waitresses were all confirmed tie-dye and Birkie types, and st- uh, easily distracted by the beauty surrounding them.

While I placed an order for a sandwich, my waitress cocked her head and stared intently into an upper corner of the room, as though waiting for Gazoo to make an appearance and guide her. After she left the table, my friend and I checked the corner too, but didn't see anything remarkable. When she delivered our meals she set them down dreamily without ever looking down, then floated away. The aroma of *cough* custom-made cigarettes frequently wafts over diners out on the outdoor deck.

California culture, we call it, and a dying breed. Do you have any fave hippie/counter-culture/60's throwbacks, or Nepenthe stories?

[mizducky]

Heh. There's a whole several-square-block stretch of the Ocean Beach neighborhood (or "OB" as it is fondly known here in San Diego) that's pretty much a total 60's throwback--lessee, you gotss yer juice bars, record shops, "antique"/thrift shops, youth hostel, headshops, burger and taco joints, live music venue, organic-vegetarian food co-op, free-form artists' collective ... and a crowd of surf-punks, bikers, young hippies, old hippies, random assorted cranks and street people, and just plain neighborhood folks with kids in strollers who appreciate a little flair in their neighborhood. Easily my favorite neighborhood in this town, and I wouldn't mind winding up living there one of these centuries.

I did make a pilgrimage to Haight/Ashbury a couple decades ago, and it was already way yuppified then. I'm almost afraid to know what it's like today. Did stay at the Red Victorian Inn, though, which at least to judge from their website has still got its freak-flag flying okay.

Obviously not California, but I must mention my favorite hippy-dippy place back in Seattle: Mr. Spot's Chai House. They have definitely got the Left Coast vibe goin' on. (And they make some excellent chai as well as espresso drinks.)

Edited to add: Jeez, I almost forgot! When a friend and I took a driving vacation across the desert a couple of Februarys ago, we were pleasantly surprised to discover a lovely little nest of alterna-groovy attitude out in Twentynine Palms. Apparently a whole bunch of artists and musicians settled out there to groove on the desert. A lot of this colony's activity seems to center on the wonderfully-named Joshua Tree Beatnik Cafe, which mixes old school hip with new-stylee hip (they've got WiFi Internet). We had a nice evening there catching up on our email, sucking down some lattes, and absorbing the vibe.

Edited May 13, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[JFLinLA]

Haven't been in a million years but there's always the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga Canyon.

[rjwong]

It must of been in the very late '80's or early '90's when I drove up the PCH beyond Hearst Castle to Monterey/Carmel area. I stopped at Nepenthe. I ordered the Ambrosiaburger for $9 and ate it outdoors. How do you know the price? I still have a copy of the menu after all these years!

Forget your worldly cares

at Nepenthe's gay pavilion

Where the Phoenix bird repairs

and is feeling like a million.

[Rebel Rose]

Yeah, that's on the cover of the dinner menu, isn't it? Where did that come from? Gosh, I'm so rockandroll illiterate, it's probably a verse from something . . . Joni Mitchell stayed at Esalen for months on end, writing and strumming. Do you think . . .?

[Kouign Aman]

We stopped at Nepenthe for lunch on our honeymoon. Most of the conversation was motorcycles, with the Ducati rider who stopped at the same time. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

There's a cafe in San Diego (Pacific Beach, Ingraham St) called

The Menu. I havent been there in a decade or so, but it was delightfully hippydippy then.

[mizducky]

Thanks for bumping this topic up, Michelle. It incidentally gave me a chance to look back at my previous post and see that I totally forgot to mention The Big Kitchen in South Park, another restaurant and neighborhood heavily imbued with that post-60s headset (so to speak). Judy the Beauty and her whole crew at The Big Kitchen are definitely on that wavelength--heck, there's even a life-size cardboard effigy of Jerry Garcia in the corner, brown rice/tofu scrambles on the (very funky-looking) menu, and retro music over the PA, and when I briefly worked at the gift shop next door Judy was always bopping in for candles and packs of incense for the restaurant. Can't get much more keepin' it real than that.

[Kouign Aman]

Oh my yes! I was only there the one time, a ...few.... years ago.

I dont remember being wild about the food, but the place itself. Oh yes.