Ruben Galvan Fox Channel 6 at the 101 Cafe

Tuesday morning bright and early Ruben Galvan Fox Cannel 6 showed up with his film crew to film some local kids and show San Diego the 101 Cafe once again. Ruben can brighten even a dreary day, but today with all the sunshine and kids he was in his element. Hamming it up with morning waitress Julie G he showed the audience what was hot on the menu and how cool the oldest Cafe on the Historic Highway 101 really was. Over the twenty years we have run the Cafe we have had the good fortune to be shown on TV more times than we can remember.

Merrill's Classic 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser

What fun to come across a 1957 Turnpike Cruiser in the parking lot of the 101 Cafe. At first Glance I thought it was an Edsel. I soon learned from its owner Merrill that this was a car made primarily for the East Coast market. There are only 39 known to still exist. This one is really cherry. When he decided to buy his first one here on the West Coast he had to special order it. He tells me his wife sold to get a station wagon for the family so this is not his original one. He bought this one and had all the restoration work done in Oceanside. Happy to say he is already signed up to do the Third Annual Beach'n 101 Cruise.

Cars at the 101 Cafe

Chris stands next to his ride after eating at the 101 Cafe. No day goes by without seeing hot rods, rat rods, classics or custom cars at the Cafe. The cars remind us of the Cafe's 80 year history and the eras it has lived through. Keep on Cruising.

Southern California Beach Soccer Championship

What a great day for the kids at Harbor beach in Oceanside California. I cruised down to the beach from the Cafe on my classic Schwinn beach cruiser that I trader for cheeseburgers years ago. I took my trusty Fuji camera to document the day. Perfect weather for this tournament makes it even more competitive and brings the crowd to enjoy the perfect Chamber of Commerce type of day in Southern California. There were thousands of spectators, yes mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends with plenty of sports fans just to watch. What a day.

Huell Who

I came into the 101 Cafe yesterday to enjoy lunch with Leslee Gaul, who heads the California Welcome Center in Oceanside. Leslee has done a remarkable job creating new opportunities for bringing in more guest into our community. I am lucky enough to call her a longtime friend. I came into the Cafe just before we were to meet and noticed and employee giggling about something so I walked over to check it out. Well there was Mr. California Gold himself, Heull Howser in all of his glory. Huell had done a show on the Cafe years before and had been a repeat customer many times without his cameraman. After I greeted the King of the California Roads I soon discovered that the giggling waitress had not believed it was Huell even after he suggested he leave message to me from Huell Howser. He was having good fun with her not believing it was him. It was good for a laugh as Leslee came into the Cafe as all this was happening and greeted Huell in front of the sceptical waitress.
I think the fact the Huell chooses the Cafe as a favorite eating place while in San Diego County speaks well since he has been to hundreds of eating establishments throughout California.

How Hot is Hot?

I am not sure I can remember a day in April reaching 95 degrees. I was slow enough to be recruited to do the Second Annual San Luis Rey Marathon yesterday. Since my friends approached me a few weeks ago it seemed OK. Their caveat was I could pick the start time. As the time came closer I choose a 3am start thinking how hot could it be before ten in the morning. I found out quickly Sunday it could be really hot. Maybe mid eighties by 9am. We finished up at the Cafe, shortly after I drove home to discover that it was 95. Like most Coastal Californians we have no air conditioning so it was a tough afternoon.

Being hopeful that today might be better I have had my cool bubble burst. Even Yahoo calls for it being 90 and usually they are low. The best part is the beach is calling and I am going to cool off.

The photo shows three of the participants of the 2ND Annual San Luis Rey Marathon just before the start. I took the photo.

1954 Ford Crown Victoria Visits the Cafe

Cool Cars cruise into the 101 Cafe with regularity. It is not unusual to see a T-bucket, Cobra or a vintage Model A on any one day. Leaning about the car culture that we live in is always a treat. Jim 'JT' O'Connor drove his 1954 Ford 'Vic' into the 101 on the way to a Plate Show on Camp Pendleton later in the morning. JT, Jim gave me a primer on old license plats and his car's was a good example of what they looked like. The California plates looked brand new, but were purchased by a family member for Jim's Vic. He showed me a trick he invented to hide the modern stickers which are required by DMV, but he makes disappear for car shows. Simple and way cool his ingenuity will help make the plates even more attractive to car collectors.
JT tells me you can expect to pay $ 300 to $ 400 per plate for these collectibles.