A Guide to the Best of Southern California : FOOD : Earthly Delights

A clubhouse conjures up feelings of closeness, good faith and trust. That’s what Rosemary Clooney had in mind when she helped create a foundation and center in Long Beach for people with severe head injuries. The Betty Clooney Center, named after the singer’s sister, who died of a brain aneurysm in 1976, operates as a “clubhouse,” in which “members” run the place as part of their rehabilitation.

Besides answering phones, typing and filing, the members work outdoors in the center’s vegetable and herb gardens. Luckily for non-members, their fresh, pesticide-free produce is sold at the on-site Country Store, which also stocks homemade jams, syrups, pastas, herbal vinegars and elaborate gift baskets, and at the nearby roadside stand called Clooney Corners.

If you stop by soon, you’ll find sweet white corn, tomatoes, savoy cabbage, yellow beets and six varieties of lettuce. And $1 will buy a bunch of just-picked herbs--pineapple sage, lemon thyme, marjoram, rosemary, cilantro, to name a few.

The Betty Clooney Center, 2951 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach; (213) 426-8963.