Letters: A lot more than Lucy to love

A nice little piece on the Lucille Ball museum [“A World of Funny” by Jay Jones, July 10] but Jones might also have noted that in and about the area is the resort town of Bemus Point on Lake Chautauqua, the Chautauqua Institution itself, across the lake, and the home and museum of Roger Tory Peterson, whose “Birds of North America” is the standard reference book on the subject. I’m not from the area but passed through there a number of years ago and … discovered that there were a number of interesting things besides the Lucy museum, which, by the way, is terrific.

Steve Kindel

Bethlehem, Pa.

Other Long Beach-area attractions

Christopher Reynolds left out two items that are in the Long Beach area [“Way Smooth,” July 3]. The first is called the Banning mansion. It was built in 1864 and once was a home for the founder of Wilmington, Phineas T. Banning. It is now a museum and historical place of interest. It is set in a park with a rose garden, a 100-plus-year-old wisteria vine in the garden and an old barn that now has restored coaches in it.

The other place is the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, one of the few Civil War museums west of the Mississippi River. It is named after Richard C. Drum, who once was stationed there. It is also where the Camel Corps came from.

Loraine Roberts

Wilmington

I was surprised and dismayed that Reynolds left out one of Long Beach’s most interesting restaurants. La Palapa has delicious Latin American food, great live entertainment and is a stone’s throw from the Belmont Pier. He must not have talked to any locals.

Rita Melnyk

Murrieta

Nice article by Reynolds. With our kids, and now grandkids, we are avid proponents of the “low-money fun” excursions. Permit me to add a few items:

San Pedro Fish Market, Nagoya Way, Ports O’Call Village: great for informal seafood, prices are reasonable, view from the cafe is first-class; never had bad or indifferent food.

S.S. Lane Victory (https://www.lanevictory.org): well worth touring when it’s tied up, and its Catalina cruises are sublime.

Red Car trolley: runs weekends between 6th and 22nd streets. A dollar a day for adults, kids under 6 free and they get to toot the whistle. The water show is worth seeing. The Maritime Museum is also worth seeing.

Ft. MacArthur Museum: Double-check for hours. Fascinating looks at local history.

More details on https://www.sanpedro.com, but you knew that already.

John MacMurray

La Habra

Highway 99, revisited

We were thrilled to read “99 Places to See” by Laura Randall [June 26] on sights along California 99. We have recently returned from a San Francisco trip. On our way up we took the 99 route to Sacramento and stopped at Bravo Farms for the cheese.

Lo and behold, there was a picture with the story, and the memory it evoked was priceless.

Bill and Sylvia Blush

Downey