"Uptown girl
You know I can't afford to buy her pearls But maybe someday when my ship comes in
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been
And then I'll win"
This is straight from the lyrics of the 80's song by Billy Joel. Great singer, with a "regular Joe" (pardon the pun) looks. Some say he wrote it for/when he was with his wife model/actress Christie Brinkley; but I'm not a 100% sure.
Place: Uptown Dog Park
Address: 4600 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90807
Directions: Take the 710 South Freeway, exit Long Beach Boulevard, and it's about a mile south to your left.
This dog park is fairly small than most; but it's clean; and it's fairly brand new/renovated. The fences are new, and there's a section for small dogs and large dogs. We got in there early; hence the mist on the ground. It's in the middle of a larger family park, with picnic benches, etc. I like the fact that the benches, even though there's only 3 or so of them; are clean and brand new, there's a station for recycled poop bags (give one, take one); so it's earth-friendly; and the water area is one of those self-replenishing water bowls (think toilet bowl) where the water gets filled automatically once it goes down to a certain level. I like it because it prevents excess water - - hence muddy/gross watering area; but I am not particularly crazy about Tico drinking from the same bowl as 100 other dogs. And with the slobbering, spitting, etc.; we hope he does not catch anything from one of those incidents. But then again; Tico eats his poop whenever no one's watching; so I guess it's a fair game. The dog park is next to a trailer park just north of the Bixby Knolls area; which is an up-an-coming area of Long Beach.
We enjoyed the place because we were the only ones inside for a while. We got there with a young 20-30 something girl with a large female doberman. The minute we got in; she started asking if our dog is friendly. We said yes. So her docile doberman started hanging around with Tico, but Tico was not having any of it. He is there to catch balls. So the minute Tico growled; pretty girl called it a day. We felt bad, but she said it's okay. She was ready to leave anyway; but hung out for a minute once she saw us coming. She then got out of the dog park, and took her doberman for a nice walk in the family park called Scherer park; where the dog park is in.
We hung out for a little bit, but it's not a large space, so B had to make sure he controls the chuck-it good; or else the ball will go over the fence easily. It did once; and he had to get out; and on his way in, he noticed the dog park rules - which mentioned the need to have a Long Beach license. Dog-gone it. Another city bit the dust for us. For fear of being fined, ergo unexpected expenses, we bailed out of there.
Speaking of dog rules; this one has a very good dog rules, respectfully.
1. They don't allow dog walkers with more than 3 dogs - - so the owner to dog ratio does not get out of control.
2. Dog owners must be in the park and within view of their dogs all time (MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE - - unattentive dog owners!)
3. No children! Yay! I love children, but I am always watchful when I see children around Tico, because sudden movements will get him nervous.
4. Aggressive dogs are not allowed.
5. No female dogs in heat
6. Must be current with their vaccinations
I do have mad respect for the City of Long Beach; because for a city in LA county, they are very dog-friendly. I feel the same way with Huntington Beach, in the OC. After all, LBC has a dog beach, and a dozen dog parks all on its own. So for them to restrict some parks to LBC residents, I give them that; because we don't pay taxes that help provide amenities such as these. But I wish that they would be less restrictive, so wanderers like us can enjoy their parks as well. Which will entice people further to move to their cities, or at least do business\shop\eat in their cities. All I'm saying.
Anyhoo, going back to the dog park - - it is true that the locals are very friendly here. On our way back to the parking lot, we came across an older asian man with two large dogs, one was a GSD and another one a lab; and we chatted for a while with him. A few steps away, we came across two older black ladies with their pretty yippy dogs (not much of a small breed know-it-all, so I generalize these dogs as yippy); and they loved our dog, because each of the ladies have had a GSD before as well. Then they reminded us of the hip thing. GSD's are known to have hip displacement when they get older (maybe once they turn 10 or so); so this enticed me to get Tico back into taking calcium pills. He's very energetic right now, I just want to make sure his last few years with us will be less painful, if we can help it.
Since we left the dog park earlier than normal, we still need to give Tico his due exercise for the day. So we got on the 405 freeway, exited on Seal Beach, made a right on PCH, and left on 2nd Street to hang out in Belmont Shore. http://www.belmontshore.org/
I like Belmont Shore. When we were apartment hunting two years ago, we were considering LBC\Belmont Shore area because of it's dog-friendly-ness. The shops and restaurants in this dozen-block area are a great mix. There's something for everyone's budget here. You'll come across shops like White House/Black Market, as well as $15 clothing boutiques. There's expensive and affordable restaurants galore. We've only eaten at a local Indian restaurants here, but one of the locals mentioned a great Meditterranean just down the road that he feels we should check out as well. Buffalo Exchange, a Goodwill-type used clothing store, is also here. Surprisingly, Pussy and Pooch (http://www.pussyandpooch.com/), apparently a chain dog supplies/grooming salon, is also here. We go to the one in Downtown LA, but it's always nice to have an option. One thing that this store does not have, is a self-serve wash area. They groom for $35 for Tico's size, but when we self-serve, it's $15. Since we're on a spending freeze, we won't be coming back here yet, but it's always nice to know it's here in case we go to the Long Beach dog beach just down the road.
One thing that I like about LBC is that their residents are a mix of people, and for the most part, they are happier and chattier than other cities, IMO. B mentioned that people come up to us more often than normal. That's a great thing about having a dog, they are a conversational piece. I don't think people would normally come up to us if we don't have Tico, so he's a great icebreaker; and makes it easy to chat people up with local news, weather, business ventures, etc. So dog ownership is a great social networking tool all on its own. But for non-dog lovers, it's a social deterrent. Oh, well. On a side note, Tico does not like sudden movements. Skateboarders, motorcycles, vacuums, etc. makes him nervous. So we managed to tick off a surprised skateboarder. We apologized, and he mouthed off about not bringing Tico in public. I wish I had time to retort that being 40-something and still skateboarding is also a no-no. But skaterboi was already gone.
Right next to one of the Starbucks is the Sprint store, and one of the clerk went up to a tied up pretty yippie dog; and yippie climbed up against Alex (the Sprint guy)'s leg, begging for attention. I thought that was adorable, so I took a picture. There was another Jack Russell who climbed up on B's leg, when we went inside Pussy and Pooch. It's a great dog-day (mid) afternoon in the LBC.
Tico's "bed" is this leather loveseat. During the course of the day, he's here. It's his domain. Once in a while, I will lie with him in this couch, and last night was one of those night, when I fell asleep watching "Friday" the movie. I woke up at 2am finding myself contortioned on the other end of the couch, while Tico will stick his butt for as much as he could so he has more real estate. We'd normally sleep together sometimes in the larger sofa, but B took that up too. To avoid further back problems for me, I got up and slept in the cal-king bed. Ah, the Friday night excitements in our household. Hold on to your seats. Literally.
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