I lived in Los Angeles for a little over four months when I was working for the Coen brothers on The Big Lebowski. An old college pal was good enough to let me crash on his couch in Santa Monica. We spent many weekends down at another college friend’s crib in Venice, hanging out on the balcony, checking out the scene on the boardwalk by the beach.

A record by a group named Sublime was on heavy-rotation at the time. It wasn’t the kind of record I usually go for, or even have the opportunity to hear for that matter, but there was something catchy about their pop, surfer sound, and it seemed entirely fitting to that time and place. So the record is forever linked to my memories of L.A. and the beach. I never did buy it–though later found out that my wife (who has some of the most finicky musical tastes of anyone I’ve ever met) loves it.

Here’s one of the tunes that brings me back to the beach with a smile: