This past week, Q-line asked: “What outdoor activities, sports or other, will you be partaking in this summer? Where is the best place in the city to play?” Here are your responses: ✆ “The recreation I would take part in this summer is people-watching. There are some gorgeous looking specimens all over the place. Get on your jogging shorts, get on your walking britches like I do and just walk, just run. Mesa Drive is a gorgeous tree-shaded walk for serenity. The beach and the bike path are fantastic for people watching and to be kept alert and on your toes — if you don’t get killed by our speeding bicyclists. The sand in your toes and on your body is an unexplainable experience at the beach. And just laying in your bed and enjoying the breezes is not recreation but it sure is fun. Just chill out, we have the best city for that.” ✆ “As usual, I will be riding my bicycle along the Santa Monica bike path weaving between pedestrians, skateboarders and rollerbladers. My favorite route is between the Marina del Rey boat harbor inlet to the south and near Sunset Boulevard to the north. An added advantage to this beach-front bike riding activity is the fresh ocean breeze that flows on to the shore from the west to the east. I find this fresh air chock full of oxygen very invigorating. Bicycling is a great way to combine exercise with fun.” ✆ “I’ll be sitting on the Santa Monica Promenade with my buddy bird watching. We’ll be looking for the rare Spandex cameltoe.” ✆ “The outdoor activity is called bum bingo. It works just like regular bingo in that several people get together in a group and go throughout Santa Monica. Instead of numbers, each card is different and it has things like raving lunatics, stoned, smelly, number of shopping carts, things like that. Whoever sees something that matches something on their card, they mark it off and the first one to get line item up, down or diagonal says ‘bum bingo, I win.’ Then we start over again. Being Santa Monica, there’ll probably be a lot of winners.” ✆ “Well, I’m heading to Virginia Park this summer. The rate of the gunshot wounds is certainly the best there. And we have the police and park staff hanging around to watch the festivities as well.” ✆ “In regards to the question, probably the beach is the best place in Santa Monica, where everyone goes. Kids making sand castles, playing in the sand where they can fall and not get hurt. It’s probably the funnest place to be, play football, whatever. “ ✆ “I enjoy going to have good, clean fun and good exercise with family and making friends at the beach, playing volleyball for fun, for all ages. And this is a plus, after 6 p.m., parking is free, yes free, for us to enjoy. We are blessed for our city of Santa Monica.” ✆ “As far as spectator sports go, my interest ended with the winning of the Stanley Cup.So I’m in hiatus until the fall. The only summer sports I enjoy are swimming, walking and hiking. And I wouldn’t do any of these in Santa Monica. Too dirty, crowded, noisy, trafficky.” ✆ “I like to play volleyball down at the beach but the noise from the constant over-flight of helicopters is so bad now that you can’t even hear the person next to you talking. I know how the people who near live the airport feel. It’s the same at the beach and the police helicopter is the worst with its low-flying and siren going off every time they see some girl in a bikini. Other than that, I would probably go swimming.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 15, 2006. Read the original PDF.