Convenience Store Heaven--LA County
These are all 7-Elevens unless I note otherwise, such as (AM/PM) or (Circle K).
You don't have to call me a loser. If I don't already believe I'm a loser, then
your telling me won't convince me.
Boy (or girl), aren't you getting a little thirsty?
Los Angeles
(mostly Palms area)
Like I've written before, we lived here in Palms for about 10 months, then lived in
the crap-hole called Orange County for about 2 years, and now we're in Palms again. We've been in Palms (that is, out of Orange County) for just over a year now, so I have more complete
info about all my c-stores...
By the way, I used to talk about the price of refills, but they vary so much, I don't even know what they cost anymore. I went to a store yesterday and got one for 75c, today I got one for 99c, and a week ago it was 99c. It's either 95c, 99c, 75c, 86c, whatever. At least it's still under a dollar. Okay, back to the reviews!
Palms and Motor (AM/PM)
Yea!! They're open again! They shut down in early January to replace their gas tanks (so it would appear).
But as of a couple of weeks ago (mid-April), they're open again.
Luckily we didn't have too many hot-and-dry spells during that time, and it's well before summer so we won't have to go far
to get ourselves a beverage or two. (When I say we, I mean my wife and me; the rest of you have to fend for yourselves.)
(4/26/99)
(and now back to the regular review)
What can I say about this one? This is one of my two all-time favorites
(the other being in Mira Mesa).
It's very close to the apartment where we live in Palms. The only problem is that it's
a little scary to be walking around there after dark. The parking lot is a little tricky, as is
true with most LA convenience stores, but I almost always walk there, unless I'm buying gas.
The people who work there are really nice, which you might not expect in LA, I suppose. The one guy sort of "knows" me, asks
where my wife is, stuff like that.
It sort of replaces the old corner store of yesteryear, I suppose. We go there for the newspaper every Sunday, and often
fill up the cars with gas there, even though gas on that
corner is usually more expensive than other corners for
some reason. But for those of you store owners who don't
think that personality matters.. it matters. A couple of
the stores I have listed I try not to go to because of the
people working there. I guess it helps that there's a
nice concentration of convenience stores around.
In addition, it's quite close to a restaurant named El Nopal. El Nopal is the home of the
World Famous Pregnant Burrito. Wow! What a combo: a big drink and a big burrito.
Speaking of burritos, though, in this AM/PM they've
got these Polaroid
photos taken off their security t.v., showing two guys getting
burritos from the freezer. Written on each is something like,
"don't let this guy in the store, he steals burritos." Each
thief has his own title, too: one is "green burrito bandit," and the other
is some other kind of burrito bandit. Guess they're just trying
to take a bite out of crime. psssh. (They have a new one, too, who's the "soup bandit.")
Venice and Motor
I'm not very impressed with this particular 7-Eleven. It just rubs me the wrong way or something. Maybe because they never have the drink mixture right (it never seems to be 100% diet coke coming out of the spigot). I used to think this place was really bad, but now I think they're all right.. They're getting
more consistent with the drink mixture.
The parking is pretty bad because they share it with two restaurants and a photo developer, and the spaces are
too small (of course). It's kinda cool that you could theoretically get Campos Famous Burritos or fast Chinese food along with a big drink. Actually, I wouldn't rule that out.
If it's not a crowded time of day, it's a convenient store when
I'm coming back from the bank or from the Culver City area.
Across the street is a great Cuban restaurant called Versailles. If you get a chance, go to Versailles.
I think there's 3 or 4 of these places in the LA area. If you get a hankerin' for fried bananas, black beans and rice,
go check it out. I like the saltado-style steak myself. And the
"fried chunks of pork" is a lovely dish indeed. I don't know that I've had anything there that wasn't good. And the prices
are really reasonable considering how much stuff you get.
(That doesn't really relate to the 7-Eleven, but I thought the free plug would be nice).
Palms and Overland
This one has grown on me recently. The parking lot isn't nearly as tight as the above two. And as for the look, they've got a nice mural on the side of the building.
The painter gives us
a giant Super Big Gulp, Slurpee, and hot dog on the wall. I'd like to hire this person to paint
my house some day. The mural was temporarily gone one day, just like that, but they painted a new one with
some kind of new mocha-smoothy thing on it next to the Super Big Gulp.
This 7-Eleven is
about the same as the other 7-Eleven mentioned above, but maybe a slight bit better. They have
that brownie-peanut butter cookie I love so much, though they
sell out often (or don't get stocked often enough). They're
close to a junior high school and an elementary school, so plan
accordingly (otherwise you'll be in there with lots of kids).
There tend to be a few too many little flies, though. That's gotta be a concern.
National and Overland (AM/PM)
This one is across the street from a Blockbuster Video place.
It's about a half mile up the hill, so I don't go here too
often. But occasionally it'll be on the way home, so I might stop by. The gas there is usually a couple cents
cheaper than at our friends at the other AM/PM, but it's not
really convenient unless we're going that way. In fact, it's really inconvenient.
We stopped there
one time, parked by a couple of pay phones. There was a guy on each phone, and
both guys were having very heated conversations. It was kinda scary, but I guess you
had to be there since it was funny, too. This one guy had a raspy voice
like he was some two-bit Puerto Rican criminal you'd see in a cheap movie. Sometimes, the only
word you can use to describe the L.A. experience is surreal.
You could almost call
trying to get gas at this place surreal, too, since it's on a
hill and it's on busy streets and it's often crowded. It's not
impossible, though. I rarely make it to this store since the other ones are so much more convenient usually.
Bundy and Idaho
(It's either Idaho or Colorado or somewhere else between Arizona and Olympic.)
And I guess it's technically in West L.A., though it's almost
East Santa Monica. I know it's a little belated, but at least
I have an OJ connection on the page with a Bundy location.
I didn't go there because of OJ, though, I went there because it's
on the way home from the temp agency I work out of
during summer sometimes. It's actually pretty good: they've got good
drink mixtures and a good cookie/snacks selection, and you're
bound to meet someone weird (LA style weird, of course).
The parking lot is about as tricky as I've ever seen, though,
especially since you have to pull out onto Bundy. If you get
the lights just right, though, it's not as bad as it first seems.
Washington Blvd., ~1 mile west of Overland
There's a Salvation Army down Washington that I go to periodically when my wife wants to get rid of old clothes and stuff. I always see this 7-Eleven but have never stopped by. Well, one day I stopped by. I don't think I will again, though. The drink mixture was all wrong and I guess I knew something was wrong when, out of 6 or more people, nobody bought anything there but Lotto tickets (not even cigarettes). But I thought I'd at least try it once. I'm not dead, so that's good.
Westwood, somewhere between W Pico and Santa Monica Blvd
I don't remember where this one is exactly, just that it's on Westwood. Went there
once when we were going to UCLA to sight-see and stuff. I only mention it
because I think I saw Rob Lowe there. Linda says I'm stupid, but I don't know, it
coulda been. Movie stars get thirsty too, right?
It's not as cool seeing Rob Lowe at 7-Eleven as it was for Monica and Greg to have almost
run over Geraldo Rivera, though.
Westwood, Sawtelle Blvd. and Massachusetts
Talk about a cramped parking lot! And the time I went there, some guy was working (mechanically) on his minivan, as if it
were some kind of work-on-your-car area. I went here because
it's right down the road (Sawtelle) from the VA Center and Red Cross area where I took my CPR class. We had a half hour for lunch, and I didn't want to deal with driving around (and then parking) in Westwood, so I luckily remembered the 7-Eleven down the street, having myself a SBG and a big bite hot dog. It's a nasty little lunch, of course, but at least the chili and cheese are free (which is a little worrisome, having these two weird spigots of chili and cheese, but it didn't kill me so I won't worry too much about it). It's across the street from an old theater (I think it was NuArt) where they were showing Hitchcock's "The Birds." I guess it doesn't get much hipper than that.
Manhattan Beach Blvd and something (AM/PM)
It's somewhere west of the 405, either Manhattan or Redondo Beach.
We don't
find ourselves in Manhattan Beach very often. It's a bit far to drive just to hang out,
but some of Linda's wanna-be hipster friends from UCLA drag us out there once in a while
for sake of the environmental engineer masters class of 1995 support group. We recently
went out there for one of these get-togethers, and we were really thirsty after hanging out
in a smokey bar for a couple hours. We don't drink alcohol, so the whole trip is sorta wasted
on us except we get to see old buddies and whatnot. To give you an idea of how hip
and trendy the place was, we saw a couple late-20ish guys on roller blades, smoking cigars.
I thought exercise was for health, to expand the lungs (among other things).. And I thought
cigars were meant to be enjoyed while relaxing and whatnot. These guys show the dangers of
(looking stupid by) mixing trendy activities. Seems like the activities cancel each
other out, in effectiveness. To each his own, I guess..
But lo and behold, there was an AM/PM on the way to the freeway.
It's a standard AM/PM, I suppose, but their drink selection was
pretty extensive. They had 3 types of those Mexican drinks. I don't remember the other
two, but one is Horchata. One of these days, my brother and I will force ourselves to get
44 oz of Horchata and drink it all. Maybe combine it with a trip to Alberto's or something.
I've had horchata at a couple places. It goes nicely with a chile relleno, I'll tell you that much.
Torrance, Del Amo Blvd.
This one is a couple blocks away from West High. If all goes well (and so far it has gone well), I'll be student teaching there in the fall. It's nice to know there's a place to go after school. One of the teachers I observed even brought her own SBG to class a couple times, though I didn't ask if she got it from 7-Eleven or if it was from home or what.
("So, Jon, any questions about teaching, or whatever?"
"Yeah... umm, I notice you have a frosty beverage cup. I have a two part question: What's in it, and where did you get it from?"
"Ah yes, excellent, you'll fit in nicely here."
Wouldn't that be a trip? Oy. )
Long Beach
CSULB
I go to school here. Before, when we lived in Costa Mesa, my
trip to the freeway didn't take near any local businesses or
anything. But now we live in L.A., and I go a different way
to the freeway, and I pass by all kinds of places. It's allowed
me to get a little more acquainted with the Long Beach area,
or at least on Bellflower between school and the freeway.
There's a food court at school with a Taco Bell, Chick-fil-a, Panda Express,
and a couple other things. The drink selection isn't too bad, though they don't let you
get refills (as far as I can tell), and they're a bit expensive,
which you can count on. They've got the usual
soft drinks, but they also have juices, which is a nice touch. I'll stick to the Diet Coke, though. If I wanted juice, I'd
bring it from home.
It took me a little while, but I finally went to the student center. They made a new escalator that goes from one side of
the above mentioned food court to the front-side of the student center. Anyway, in the past year or so, they've put in a Carls Jr and a Subway down there. As it relates to this page, Carls Jr actually has a 44 ounce cup (the others don't go over 32), and of course 44 oz is the size of a Super Big Gulp. It's outrageously priced at $1.39, though.
Atherton and Bellflower (AM/PM)
This one is usually pretty busy. I probably wouldn't ever
go here since the 7-Eleven is fairly close by, and it's a little
tricky getting out of the parking lot going the way I want to
go, except that they have gas there. Not only that, but the gas there is usually about 7 to 10 cents cheaper per gallon than the gas near home (the AM/PM way up above in Palms), so with a fill up I can save about as much money as a refill costs. Nice how that works out, eh? Their drink and snack selection is fairly standard. Actually, sometimes it seems a little lacking, but
that could be because all the college kids clean it out. I should warn you that the service here can be pretty bad at times. They ran out of gas once, and I stood in line for several minutes, waving my bill (as one who is buying gas would do), and the woman was on the phone. It's one thing to be preoccupied, but at the very least the employee should acknowledge the customer's presence. Even a simple, "I'll be with you in a moment" would do. I've vowed never to buy anything there (except gas, since it's the cheapest I can find without driving out of my way) The 7-Eleven below gets my business.
Atherton and Palo Verde
I happened upon this by accident. I had to get a reader for one of my classes at
the Krishna Copy Center. That intersection makes up sort of the northeast corner
of the campus, I guess, but I never had to go around the back way to get anywhere
before, so I didn't know there was one so close.
Wouldn't you know it, there's a 7-Eleven right there. There's a chinese fast
food place and a pizza place, too, I think. They're probably all related to the Krishna
Copy Center, so they probably all have good karma. I don't see why not.
Anyway, another cool thing is that while the parking is sparce and usually full,
if you have a CSULB permit you can park way on the corner of campus, go through
a couple of bushes, and you're right there. No problem. It must be well known, because
there are usually cars parked right there even though it's the farthest place to park on
campus from anything, and there's open parking much closer. And parking attendant
guys are always driving around checking for permits. Just like the 7-Eleven below,
which I visited first, it has those cool brownie style cookies with the peanut butter in
the middle. It's a special treat.
As a contrast to the AM/PM just above, the service here is much better. The guy behind the counter actually says "hi" to you as you walk in the door. It's the little things that make all the difference, you know? The one guy I know recognizes me. I went there in the middle of summer break, and it was like I had never left. See, I said it before, service matters.
Anaheim and Studebaker
I've passed by this one a
few times but had never stopped by because I usually go to the
place above. But the other day, the one above there was
too crowded, so I kind of found my way to this one. It
was pleasant enough, I suppose. They don't have a huge
selection comparable to others (no caffeine free diet coke,
no big chocolate-peanut butter cookies). But it's not
wholly offensive or anything. It's kind of weird that little area. It's almost like it becomes Orange County somehow, because the people are all different. I mean, where else do you find a 7-Eleven with so many white people working behind the counter?
After all, L.A. is the most ethnically diverse area in the world.
7th and Termino
I don't go to this 7-Eleven anymore because it's out of the way now. I went to it a few times before I discovered the closer one. But this 7-Eleven
is pretty cool, in a 7-Eleven sorta way. The buttons on the drink fountains are
all worn, so you can't see the 'PUSH' on it. It shows that it's been loved, much like
a worn-out teddy bear.
The clerk I'd always see is a mid-eastern type guy,
with a perpetual 28-hour beard (assuming his whiskers grow really fast), and
he's somewhat reminiscent of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Almost an angry artist,
but he's nice as long as you play by the rules. I saw him one day, he was sitting
outside in front of the pizza place next door, smoking a cigarette and looking very
much like one of those ex-patriate intellectual types (except he was wearing his
7-Eleven duds). Hard to explain, but it was quite a special thing to witness. The peach iced
tea on tap mixes in with the Diet Coke, so the
Diet Coke is peachy. If you're into idiosyncracies, though, I suppose it's okay. And since I haven't been there in a while, who knows if they got that fixed. Or if my ex-patriate still works there.
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