MISS LA
Purchased during the pandemic & restored, now for sale
I am sorry to report that MISS LA (a double or more entendre) is now up for sale. Here is the link if you (or a car buff) are considering owning a grand touring car from the 1990s. Please forward the link to anyone who might be interested. Only the rare individual seeking this particular make and year would likely be an interested buyer, so the more advertising, the better.
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Cabriolet
The picture was taken earlier this spring at the Falmouth Town Dock, looking north towards Casco Bay.
This fine vehicle, the engine, was the workhouse of Mercedes-Benz in the 1990s—used in every Mercedes taxi in Europe, and is waiting with its engine purring to take you on a grand touring adventure with the top down and the wind blowing through your hair (even if it just for a short jaunt around town).
Oh, or La (see below), what a glorious time the 1990s were for us—we started the decade by moving to California and Topanga Canyon. Canyon life in LA is chronicled in the 1967 song from the Mamas and the Pappas, Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon). While the song actually refers to Laurel Canyon and brings back the amazing years of music creativity of the late '60s, we ended up in Topanga, a bit farther down PCH as opposed to being above Hollywood and close to the music scene. It was much less congested than Laurel, with a much better location that had astounding views of mountains, the ocean, and the beach. This was where Neil Young, Brian Wilson, and others hung out, recorded music, and lived,
This was where we started a new life, commuting daily down the canyon to work in Santa Monica, and met our good friends John and Mary. Sue worked for Value Health Sciences, and I worked at the Rand Corporation. We happily enjoyed what California had to offer regarding new life, weather, and careers.
But back to MISS LA and the double or more entendres. First, the idea for the name came from another good friend, Cheryl, who lives in Boston and who, BTW, happily made the trip every year to LA for a reunion of the MENOP women (5 wonderful women) who were Sue’s friends from a large health care and aging project research project on the menopause that was based in Cambridge, near Harvard Square. for almost 20 years these women came to our house in California lifestyle with endless conversation, sunning themselves by the pool and hot tub, eating fresh food prepared by specialty chefs, and taking spa treatments, day trips, and laughing quite a lot. These women were the best of the best, and our Last Supper in LA was a wonderful time that capped these California visits together.
We immediately think LA stands for Los Angeles, the abbreviation for a place, and this is in part true, as the car came from LA (The Beverly Hills Car Club), and Joel misses being in LA, so there are two entendres. But it has another meaning from Middle English, where it was (and sometimes still is used) as an interjection, meaning surprise or exclamation - as in1811, Jane Austen wrote in Sense and Sensibility, “Oh, la! Here come the Richardsons.” And possibly even one more - in Chinese slang, it is used to say that something is hot and spicy, and while MISS LA is a bit more staid and grand, as it is Mercedes, after all, it was the spice of life for us as we toured Maine during the pandemic.
But what of MISS LA in Maine? And the perfect summer?
Our favorite drive was a loop that took about an hour and a half, depending on variations. First, we went to Gray, Maine —‘the heart of it all’ was its tagline. Then, we went to New Gloucestershire, where we marveled at the view across the Intervale Preserve from New Gloucestershire Hill Road. Then we coasted down to the hill to just past the cemetery, where we reached what is called the Upper Village.
From there, we would then take a right down the steep descent on Intervale Road and through “the 328-acre Intervale Preserve “ formed by multiple parcels of land in the historic Lower Village and along the Royal River and its marshes. The Intervale (the river valley between hills) provides some of the Royal River watershed‘s most valuable habitat for migratory birds, waterfowl, and game birds (wild turkey is among them). The preserve is part of the Intervale‘s larger floodplain wetlands and marshes covering 1,215 acres, surrounded by scenic conserved farms and working forests”. - Royal River Conservation Trust - https://rrct.org/preserves-trails/intervale-preserve/ During this time of the pandemic there were many signs along the way reading “Save the Intervale.”
From this breathtaking ride in the hills of Maine, we would wend our way back home to our Dingy Dell in Falmouth, enjoying the fresh air, the fields, the woods, and the farms. We might stop at a roadside farm stand to purchase fresh local produce from the source. Spending a summer in Maine (or if you grew up in the Midwest, ‘the North Woods’) are days filled with bright sunshine from 4 AM to 8 PM, cool crisp mornings full of promise for the day, and nights with star-studded skies away from the hustle and bustle of urban existence.
So, this chapter is about over, and MISS LA is now up for sale. Until somebody buys, we will continue to drive to the heart of it all and return via the back roads to home. We will miss her, but we have a limited amount of time. While riding around with the top down is fun, and we certainly all need more fun these days, we are moving on.
We hope you are all well and not thinking much about politics or the future as much as you are able.