Michael: The Waiting

She doesn’t worry
That we sleep with the devil
So long as it’s dark.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Perhaps for Tom Petty, the hardest part is over; for the rest of us it seems to be an eternal recurrence.

Yesterday the waiting for me was for my tires to be replaced at the American Tire Depot in Tarzana. Tarzana is one of those cities whose name I’ve probably known about since I was at least a teenager but couldn’t tell you where it was until yesterday. Now I know it’s just a short distance east from where I now live in Topanga. And that’s about as far as my knowledge and curiosity of Tarzana’s ever going to get.

There are a lot of cities like that in Southern California. And I’d say after walking through the small section of Tarzana on Ventura Blvd. if I drove through it again, I’d be hard pressed to recognize it; except for a few small businesses I’ll revisit when again I take my car to American Tire Depot. That’s what waiting and walking does for you. It turns those broad boulevards into a few distinguishing businesses worth going back to.

That to me is the joy of waiting. Sure, I could’ve sat there in the small lounge and listened to the clerk repeat endlessly, “Hello, this is…we have the lowest tire prices in Southern California guaranteed. How can I help you today?” And though I do find that rhythmic mantra kind of hypnotizing in a dull nauseating kind of way, I usually take my waiting time as a time to go on a neighborhood stroll to see what’s nearby.

I had three items on my agenda; coffee, a hair cut, and a car wash. All three were within short walking distance. In fact I could see the Starbucks sign from the car shop. But this was no ordinary Starbucks. It was a drive thru so I initially took a pass and sat outside the first hair salon I came to. Inside there was an older woman who didn’t look very busy so I decided to call the number on the window and ask about pricing or an appointment. She answered but were shortly disconnected, so I decided to pass on this place and just sit outside at a small table and enjoy the shade. That was short lived as a young woman came to the shop and then both women came outside and stood near me and started smoking. Subtly or not, I took this as a sign to leave and they both happily sat themselves as soon as I did so.

Back to the Starbucks for at least a cup of coffee at the walk up window. They also had outdoor seating in the shade, but again this wasn’t to last. A young woman sat down with a headset on but it was so loud it again drove away.

Fortunately there was a small unoccupied bakery where I had a delicious chocolate ganache cake.

After hanging out there a bit I crossed the street to another hair salon that didn’t look too busy and sat. The man and woman working there were speaking Russian I believe, or some other Slavic language, and so was one of the customers. Then another woman came in and introduced herself as Anna and said she’d be right with me. I liked the cut she gave me but was even more impressed with the her customer service. Instead of asking me if I wanted my hair washed she just said, “Come. I’m going to wash your hair.”

Crazily enough, I almost hit the trifecta as there was a car wash nearby called Crazy Car Wash that even crazier, seemed to be attached to a fast food place called Crazy Falafel. But even crazier for me was the one hour wait. So I skipped the wash.

And that was my afternoon touring the Ventura Blvd. section of Tarzana. In a few months I’ll be back to get my oil changed and maybe my brakes done. I’ll go back to that bakery and have Anna cut my hair again and do whatever else she tells me to do.