Can the Trip to France for a Change of L’Attitude

A jaunt to the south of France a tad too dear after tax time? Consider cruising the antique shops and ateliers of Cannery Village in Newport Beach. But first get anchored at the Cannery itself.

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.: The fish cannery on the site where the Cannery restaurant now stands was once the largest employer in Newport Beach.

“When there was a mackerel run, they’d blow the steam whistle, and probably 100 people came to work and worked till all the mackerel was canned,” said restaurant owner Bill Hamilton. “Back in the ‘30s, that was a big operation.”

The cannery went up in 1921; there’s a photo of the original building near the women’s room. (Just follow the sign that says, “To the cans.”) The cannery survived the Depression and a world war, but local industrialization and pollution drove the mackerel away from the harbor and farther out to sea, and the business closed in 1966.

The Cannery was rebuilt and opened as a restaurant in 1973. Cleverly integrated into the interior are original canning machines, can washers, can conveyors, autoclaves for cooking raw fish inside the can, and the face of the boiler room used for sterilization.

The lunch menu is straightforward. Sandwiches, such as a BLT and avocado with fries and soup or salad, are around $7. Salads, including Cobb and shrimp Louis, run from $6 to $9; fresh fish of the day ranges from $11 to $14.

2:30 to 3: Just inside the door at La Vie en Rose is a rabbit playing a cello, a glazed terra-cotta reproduction of a French antique ($325). But the store isn’t exclusively French. Nearby is a reproduction of an 11th-Century Viking helmet with a real horsetail crest ($275) and a colorful, albeit timeworn, six-foot boat ($575) that looks like a leftover from a carnival ride.

“It’d make a great planter,” noted Kathy Cobrin, who was helping out at the gallery.

In a rear room, artist Sally Coffee was busy painting portraits of women and whippets on an Oriental carpet (all for sale, of course). Another room is full of vintage books.

Across the hall, another bunny is stuffed and pinned beneath the talons of a predatory bird, also stuffed, in a glass case ($450). “I prefer them live,” Cobrin said.

3 to 3:20: If you liked that cello-yielding lapin, a companion bunny playing a yellow clarinet is only $65 more down the street at Le Canard (“the duck”).

The bookcases are from the city of Versailles, but look closely at the beautiful old books on the shelves: They’re actually CD holders! Only the leather binders remain ($42). I would have bought the six-volume “Les Americaines” series for my own CDs, but those turned out to really be books. In French, no less.

There were also wonderful objets from across the Channel and beyond: I liked the English print “The Old Dalmatian” ($400). And anyone with a bent for Midwest legal antiques will surely enjoy volumes of Michigan Reports, dating as far back as 1879 (Volume 42) and outlining cases decided in that state’s Supreme Court.

3:20 to 3:40: The first impression at Ma Belle Provence is that of a symphony of vibrant colors, and I said so.

“Symphony of colors? You are using my own words,” said owner Michel-Olivier Menard. “That’s what I like to put on my ads.”

Hanging on the walls are at least 40 different country French fabrics imported from “the heart of Provence.” Warm yellows and blues figure prominently. Menard manufactures pillows, bags and tablecloths, even baseball caps, using the Provencal fabrics.

“We’re doing a killing with those hats! $19,” said Menard, who also teaches French at local community colleges. He decided to open the store last year, after his female French students kept asking him to bring back tablecloths from his trips abroad.

3:40 to 4: The shop called the South of France offers antiques and accessories, but it’s also owner Wendy Johnson’s atelier. There’s a 16th-Century chair for $680, and Johnson has ingeniously mounted a Provencal fish platter on legs ($900) and calls it country French. The easel is set up nearby, and you’ll probably find her painting away in--what else?--Impressionist style.

Depending on the size of the canvas, Johnson’s paintings range from $175 to $2,000.

Several are offered for sale at La Vie en Rose, and more hang on the walls at nearby Aubergine restaurant.

4 to 4:30: Thirsty? Ease back into Newport reality with some microbrew madness at D.P.’s Pub & Grill.

On the walls are vintage sports celebrity advertisements--”When he wears ‘em, Shoeless Joe Jackson wears Selz Shoes. Make your feet glad!”

At the bar are 80 microbrews. Bottled beers range from $3.25 for 12 ounces, including Warthog Ale, to 50-ounce Nevada City Gold Big Birtha for $16. Draft beers are $1 per taste, $3.75 per pint, $13.50 per pitcher.

I lined up $7 worth of what proved to be generous tastes: Saxer Lemon Lager; Bay Hawk Orange Ale (from Irvine!); Nor’Wester Raspberry Weizen; Buzzard Breath Ale; Ballard Bitters; Grant’s Scottish Ale, and Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale.

Grant’s was a winner, but leash that Dog!

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3-HOUR TOUR

1. The Cannery

3010 Lafayette Ave.

(714) 675-5777

Open Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.

2. La Vie en Rose

503 31st St.

(714) 675-3089

Open daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

3. Le Canard

421B 31st St.

(714) 673-1418

Open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

4. Ma Belle Provence

420 31st St.

(714) 673-0542

Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

5. The South of France

416 31st St.

(714) 675-1673

Open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

6. D.P.’s Pub & Grill

3110 Newport Blvd.

(714) 723-0293

Open daily, 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.

PARKING / BUSES

Parking: There is metered street parking at all locations, valet parking in a lot at the Cannery and free parking in a lot at D.P.’s.

Buses: OCTA Bus 53 runs north and south on Newport Boulevard with stops southbound at 31st Street and northbound at Finley Avenue.