Miracles Café, Longboard Grotto and Sunshine Gardens Nursery are long gone, nearly forgotten dreams. Now, so is Captain Keno’s. On the endangered list in our town are vacant lots larger than a Forever postage stamp.
Where do the children play when they are left with nothing but safe parks and electronic padded cells, inward realities that stunt spiritual growth. Ironically, much of the world we all love has been plowed under in the name of low-cost housing.
That sounds so humane, doesn’t it? If it is, why have the trailer parks been removed that once offered those of us in the five-figure bracket shelter on beaches from Seaside Reef to Ponto?
As we cater exclusively to the wants of tourists, the needs of we the people, a loosely banded tribe of freedom fighters who once roamed the coast without a second thought to traffic or parking spaces, being crammed into increasingly smaller corners while our landmarks are being replaced by five-buck corporate coffee shops and $20 burger joints. If I stepped on anyone’s toes in saying this, no need to pardon me. It was intentional.
One of the last places in Leucadia that still looks like Leucadia is Bamboo 2 U & Beach House Too. You know that wooden structure with those big tikis out front, right? If you haven’t been inside, I suggest dropping in. It’s worth the trip just to meet the proprietor, Judy Swain. Judy’s a fun person with a point of view on life, liberty and the pursuit of all things worth having. Once inside you will find hidden treasures not seen anywhere this side of a Moroccan street bazaar:
Hand-carved Hawaiian/Balinese furniture, one-of-a-kind keychains, lifeguard chairs, rugs, aloha print floor mats and pillow cases, model sailboats, shells necklaces, paintings, earrings, night lights (I just bought one made from an abalone shell for a mere $15), signs for all occasions, surf and art books, kitschy can openers, brass sea creatures, hand-carved dolphins, pelicans, turtles, whales, and sharks — a million useless and wonderful items that help turn your house into a home, joys forever that remind us that life is more than war and cookie-cutter “low-cost” housing.
A stroll inside is like visiting Gilligan’s Island. Of course, you can breeze in and out, but as Gilligan might say, plan on at least “A three-hour tour.”
And even after you’ve seen the place, there’s more here than meets the eye. Vibes you won’t get from Target, and stories the Walmart greeter has no time for. In this rapid fire world of AI, let us not quickly abandon the human touch.
We can get the surf report and find out who’s playing the Belly Up with the push of a button, but we’ll never know where to go for the afterglow without someone in know telling us so.
I only bring this up because Bamboo 2 U and Beach House Too is a threatened species that may soon go the way of Keno’s. If that happens, none of the newcomers to town will know that a little shop of aloha where dreams could be purchased for the price of a double scoop of diabetes was bulldozed without a fight.
I suggest you stop by, pick up a $15 nightlight, and support the most enjoyable cause going.
