I also ate inside at five other places including Eddie V's Prime Seafood and the Yard House during my six-day stay with the Family Emerzian whose patriarch, Mark, long has been one of my best friends and whose twin sons, Ethan and Jake, are among the best high school basketball players in Michigan.

What made the experience so unique for me was that I was actually able to eat inside a restaurant even though it was in a state that has a governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who has inspired just as much widespread hatred from her constituents for her lockdowns as her colleague in California, Mr. Gavin Newsom, has the past year.

But at least Ms. Whitmer has had the keen sense to allow the good burghers of her sovereign province to dine inside their eating emporiums, which, alas, we in Long Beach have been prevented from doing since, it seems, time immemorial.

Oh, of course, all one has to do is go to Orange County, where you can find hundreds of restaurants who have crossed the Rubicon and let their customers dine and drink indoors because their health departments and politicians and policing authorities have, to use a horrid cliche, turned a blind eye to Mr. Newsom's ghastly governmental machinations.

But not here in Long Beach.

You dare do what's been blithely transpiring in the Great OC, and, omigod, you face the vindictive wrath of Mayor Robert Garcia's dutiful agencies, as the brave owner of Restauration, Ms. Dana Tanner, recently found out for dare serving customers in her patio after Mr. Newsom's late November edict to again close down all restaurants in California.

They cut off her gas, and looming against her now are hefty fines, criminal charges, even a possible eviction for courageously defying Mr. Newsom's nonsensical decision. What a heathen! Wait till our beloved City Prosecutor, Doug Haubert, gets finished with her.

Is she destined for Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp for not backing down to Mr. Newsom, Mr. Garcia and the notorious Smith College/Duke educated czar of the Long Beach Health Department, Kelly Colopy?

Who knows?

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I still don't understand the reason for my not being able now to walk down 2nd Street in Long Beach without the opportunity to sit inside the premises of such places as Nico's, K.C. Branaghan's, Legend's, Panama Joe's, Domenico's, DogZ, Riley's, etc., etc., etc., and indulge in food and drink and conviviality.

I'm sure any moment now Gavin Newsom, quite mindful of the recall election he soon might endure, will open up matters again, but, still, he cost restaurateurs millions, if not billions of dollars shuttering their stores over the Holiday Season. And how much in wages did their employees lose during this time?

I called up the old Pine Avenue pioneer, John Morris, to find out why Mr. Newsom continue with his indoor shutdown tactics with the Great Pandemic on the descent.

"I don't have the answer to that," said the cock of the walk of the Boathouse who for the first time in the 35 years I've known him was unable to betray an answer to a question.

I also posed a similar question to another ancient pal of mine, Mr. Dickie (Too Fast, Too Furious) Babian, the legendary 87-year-old, 5-foot-3, 265-pound operator of Crow's, a once thriving bar in Naples that has been dark for the most part since last March.

"Please, don't even ask me that question!" he growled. "How in the hell do I know? They've now closed me down for a year. A (expletive) year! Is this America I'm in, or Red China? It's been an absolute nightmare. I don't have enough cuss words in my vocabulary to describe Gavin Newsom. I'll just say he's a heartless bastard that doesn't give a damn about restaurant and bar owners throughout California. How many has he caused to shut down permanently. I've probably lost around two millions during our closure."

"Are you shutting down permanently?" I wondered.

"No," he replied quickly. "But I'm done with it. I've signed everything over to my son Jimmy Babian, a long-time chef at the Four Seasons Resort in Hualalai at the Big Island in Hawaii. He owns two restaurants over there and is in town at the moment helping with renovation at Crow's. My grandson Jake is here helping him.

"But I have no idea when we will open. The governor talks about restaurants reopening, but never says anything about saloons like mine. Who knows? Maybe he's reinstating the Volstead Act (Prohibition) for my kind of place. Who know with this loon!"

Mr. Babian ranks among the most colorful bar owners in Long Beach history, if not the wackiest with his prodigious daily drinking output (Grey Goose and ice with a splash of water), his impromptu European jaunts with various gal pals, his wild gambling forays, and his expensive bar-hopping adventures---countless $100 tips for the bartenders and waitresses---in Long Beach, LA, Palm Springs, and many other venues.

Legendary owner of Crow’s Dickie (Too Fast, Too Furious) Babian surrounded by his usual gaggle of lovelies

Sadly, he recently gave into the years and has had to cut back on such hedonistic activities.

"I used to average 15 drinks a day and now I'm down to just two and get to bed at 5:30 in the afternoon and watch movies until I fall asleep,'' he says wistfully. ``Those days of me staying up all night drinking and partying are over. But I did do it for 86 years. But now, well, I've become an old man. I actually take early afternoon naps now. And I fall down a lot now, but, hey, I did party it up after the Super Bowl when my man Tom Brady won a lot of money for me. A whole lot of money."...

Despite reporting on several occasions that water leaks from an air condition unit causing a large, daily puddle in the alley behind the Naples Villa at 5520 2nd Street, Naples resident Roger Powell never has heard back from the Long Beach Code Enforcement Division.

Water wastage in alley behind Naples Villa at 5520 2nd St. in Naples

I guess Long Beach officials could care less about 100 gallons being wasted every week, since California has more than enough water to spare these days...