At around 12:30 pm, on Sunday, February 12th 2017, I drove to the Santa Monica Pier from my house in Sherman oaks. I am wearing a black top, dark blue jeans, and a warm grey coat, and am slightly to hot.
When I arrive at the parking station, I notice that the beach is already very crowded and there is hardly any parking available, this makes me nervous, because I am not good at parking on a good day, after a good 15 minutes of circling the parking lot, I spotted two people who may have been going towards their car, one person had short blond hair and was wearing orange and blue striped swimming trunks, without any shoes or a shirt, and was carrying a large icebox, while the other was wearing a long floral dress and black flip flops.
I rolled down my window and asked if they were leaving, they confirmed that they were and I followed them to their car in order to park in their spot, which was luckily located very close to the pier entrance. After parking, I made my way towards the pier by walking through the sand, all the while cursing my decision to wear rain boots. On my way, many people pass by me on bicycles, going very fast and making a little nervous. When I finally arrive to the pier, I am instantly swept into the too large crowd, being pulled from one side to the next, the sound of jazz music coming from off into the distance.
I decide to eat something first before continuing into the chaos, and so I duck into a little burger shack called “Beach Burger” that was colored in washed-out blue, green and yellow. After ordering a veggie-burger and some fries, I look for a place to sit while avoiding the many pigeons that flying all around. All the round, umbrella covered tables seemed to be full, so I approached a table that had a spot open, and asked the three occupants if I could sit with them, they agreed, and went back to talking to each other in a language I didn’t recognize, intrigued, I asked them what language they were speaking.
One of them that had long blond hair, pale skin, and large black sunglasses, and was wearing a flowing pink dress and a black coat, said they were speaking Castellano, and that they were from Argentina, another one, who had short wavy brown hair and freckles said that it was like Spanish, and asked me where I was from, I said I was from Iran and that was there for an assignment from my university, I then asked them why they were there, the blond told me that they came to America to learn English and that they were tourist at the pier.
Their names were Camila (the blond), Katalina (the short haired brunet), and Marry (the silent one with long brown hair with a blue streak). I asked them where they were going next and if I could go with them, they say that they were just going to walk around and that I should come as well.
As we walk I see an overweight person, wearing an orange shirt that said “Fanta” on it and some white shorts, pushing a stroller with a small bald child in it; this person was leaning on the stroller and petting the child’s head as they speak to it in Farsi, I get a little closer, because I speak Farsi and am curious as to what is being said, and hear her say, “look at momma ugly little bald boy, god knows what to do with you” in a loving tone I remember my own mother using quite often, laugh and translate what was said to my group, making them laugh.
They then decide to go on a few rides, and when hearing about my fear of heights, drag me along towards the “Sea Monster”, which is a large boat like ride that swings from side to side like a pendulum. As we push past the large crowds towards the ticketing station, I notice a ring tossing game and ask if we can play that as well, Katalina agrees while Marry and Camila leave to buy tickets for the ride, we toss the rings that were given to us by the person who was in charge of the game, who was very tall and had short curly hair with a lot of hair jell in it, and was wearing the standard uniform for everyone working here, which was a white button up shirt with yellow and blue stripes on the sleeves and khaki pants, after not managing to land a single hit, we make our way towards to line for the Sea monster ride where Marry and Camila are waiting for us with the tickets, I offer to pay for mine but Camila smiles and insists that it is not a problem, and we wait in line.
In line, there is a smiling person in front of us holding a baby. This person had short brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin, and was wearing a white shirt with light blue jeans and brown dress shoes, the baby had black hair and blue eyes, was wearing a yellow duck onesie, and was blowing bubbles at us from on top of the adult’s shoulders with a purple bubble gun.
When they reach the front of the line, the baby is handed to an old person with long white hair and wrinkles, that was waiting at the side of the ride, after the entry pictures were taken, and the person holding the baby gets on the ride at the same time as us. I am very scared at this point, and the ride operator tells me I have to put my bag and notebook aside, I ask the elderly person who was now holding the baby if they would be willing to watch my things while I get on the ride, this person smiles and agrees, and I shake the baby’s hand as I get on the ride.
During the ride I am terrified, but my new friends only laugh and raise their arms high as| scream my lungs out at the technician to let me off, after the ride is over, my throat hurts and I am shaking, but my friends only laugh at me and offer to buy me some cotton candy, I refuse, and tell them that I should go to the end of the pier and continue my project, we say goodbye and Camila hands me a surfboard postcard that said Los Angeles on it as a souvenir.
After that I continue my way towards the dock, where many people seem to be watching the sea, there was a person there that really caught my attention, because they had a Dalmatian dog in a wheelchair with them, this person was surrounded by many people who wanted to pet the dog, so I couldn’t get close enough to talk to them; the dog suddenly stood up and I noticed that its front paws were bent in an odd angle inward. I heard omeone who was closer to the dog ask its owner what was wrong with it, the person asking the question had blue and white short hair and was wearing a green mesh shirt with black suspenders and chains on top, they also had black pants and was carrying a large silver holographic panda shaped backpack, the shoes they were wearing were large yellow combat boots that had pink and green heels, this person and white skin and black eyes and wore blue and white glittery makeup.
The dog owner, who was wearing a khaki coat and pants with lots of pockets, and had black hair and eyes, said that the reason for the dog’s deformity was because of bad breading, and then quickly put the dog back on the wheelchair and left. The person who had asked the question returned to watching the sea and sighed.
At this point it was 3 pm, which was the time I had said I would be done by, so I make my way towards my car, on my way I see a person setting up for a magic show, and can’t help but watch some of the show, a small crowd has already gathered around the table as the magician explained the act, the magician was wearing a mustard mid-sleeve shirt and dark blue jeans, the act was said to consist of two parts, “something awesome” and “something really awesome”, for the first part, the magician swallowed a large long balloon, and claimed that it would come back tomorrow, then the magician asked the audience for a 20 dollar bill and tore it into 4 pieces and then set it on fire, after asking the person that had given it to check their pockets, we realized that the 20 was missing, and the magician joked that the participant would get his 10 back at the end of the show, and then continued to some very simple tricks by replacing little red balls with lemons, after he claimed that the audience was getting bored he moved on the “something really awesome” and proceeded to pull the 20 out of a lemon, people clapped and gave tips, and I continued on my way towards my car. By the time I reached my car it was already 3:43, and I drove home.