College Country Is a Study in Caffeine, Sophomoric Pursuits

You’re a student at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, you just had that big test, and there’s no way you’re going to crack another book. What are you going to do? Head across the street to College Country Center.

2 to 2:45: Give yourself a whack upside the head and get mindless at Tecmo Gameland.

Invest your quarters and any extra testosterone in such games as Strato Fighter, Thunder Blaster and Over Drive, or the more cryptic Neo-Geo and R-Type Leo. Gals Panic proved an odd mix of spiders and cupids. Using boxing gloves attached to Sonic Blast Man, my jabs at a giant crab earned this message: “You blew it--a cruise ship has fallen victim to the monster.”

For the fuddy-duddies among us, Gameland also offers more recognizable pinball adventures such as “Indiana Jones,” “Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends” and “Jurassic Park.” I played “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Captain Jean-Luc Picard seemed to be trying to tell me something important, but I couldn’t hear a thing over the din. Beats me if I won or lost.

I popped for four final quarters and consoled myself with a large Slush Puppy.

2:45 to 3:30: Fill your now-emptied brain cavity with something that could keep your attention for a lifetime instead of 60 seconds. According to owner Vincent Morgan, Morgan’s Big Trains Emporium carries trains “for every age on the block. There’s nothing magical about a number. Some children at 3 can run an electric train. Some adults shouldn’t be allowed near them.” An innocent question about scale elicited a detailed explanation of gauges from Morgan, summarized thusly: “There are a zillion different sizes out there. Gauge is the distance between rails. Gauge 2 narrow track got nicknamed G-gauge. Everything you see in here runs on G gauge. By a certain amount of fudging, trains of different scale can fit that gauge.”

Brio is a wooden train system “powered by imagination.” Circus trains come complete with lions and tigers and bears--oh, my! Take a few moments to admire the LGB locomotives (up to $900) in a glass case. Morgan’s favorite? “Anything this company makes,” he said. “My preference might be Rocky Mountain style, but I love to watch the Swiss engines run.”

Books include “Rails Through the Orange Groves, a Centennial Look at the Railroads of Orange County, California,” Volumes I and II. Videos range from “Great Trains of the West” to any number from the “Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends” series, such as “James Goes Buzz Buzz.”

3:30 to 4: College students need a well-rounded education, and an adult shop called Paradise, for which you must be 18 years or older to enter, is guaranteed to broaden one’s horizons. But having already earned my degrees, I was content to merely break out in a sweat as I passed, and explored instead the shop next door, which in any case presented a more realistic view of post-grad life: Little Ones’ Reruns.

The store specializes in used children’s clothes, toys and maternity wear. There is also a rack of new clothes, occasionally new furniture such as a crib, stuffed animals and blankies, ski boots and cowboy boots. I picked up a copy of Dr. Seuss’ “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish” in perfect condition for $2.25. Who brings the stuff in? “People like you,” said proprietor Birgitta Elward. “And it’s often the same people buying and selling.”

4 to 5: Strange Brew Espresso Bar, which offers gourmet coffees and accessories, is actually two rooms in one: Strange on one side, Brew on the other. “This room is ‘Strange,’ ” explained counterman Max Petitt. “Where are you? You’re in the ‘60s.” Indeed, the room where comedy, live music and poetry readings take place at night is psychedelic. “ ‘Brew’ looks like a bar you might see in Chicago or New York.”

An on-the-go-kind-of-breakfast menu includes waffles and bagels. Lunch is limited to soup in a sourdough-bread bowl. At night, Petitt said, “the entertainment is our menu.” Pshaw. Check out locally made Brothers Ice Cream Truffles; flavors include Czechoslovakian chocolate.

At the rear is a small honor library and reading room, and an exhibition of jewelry and other items made from hemp fibers. “Not marijuana, hemp, “ he said. “There’s a big difference. This shirt is made from hemp. Hemp can be used to make paper with a shelf life of 1,500 years as opposed to 80 years, that can be recycled at least 10 times instead of two or three.” On one wall, printed on hemp paper, hung the Declaration of Independence.

Golden West College in Huntington Beach

1. Gameland

7310 Center Ave.

(714) 895-3483

Open Sunday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-midnight; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-1 a.m.

2. Morgan’s Big Trains Emporium

7390 Center Ave.

(714) 892-3688

Open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

3. Little Ones’ Reruns

7332 Center Ave.

(714) 895-1508

Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

4. Strange Brew

7368 Center Ave.

(714) 897-8836

Open Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. till “at least midnight”; Sunday, 5 p.m.-midnight.

Parking: There is ample free parking at College Country Center.

Buses: OCTA buses 25, 29, 66, 70 and 78 all stop at Gothard and Center avenues.