The California Smokers Witch Hunt

Most people will probably know California isn't the most smoker-friendly place in the US. Apart from smoking being banned in all public places including bars and restaurants, smoking is also officially prohibited within a 20-feet radius of any openable door or window.

The practical enforcement of the 20-feet law is a completely different story (20 feet usually turns out to be somewhere in the middle of a traffic lane) but the intentions are clear.

But who said "Volksgericht" is old-fashioned? During my stay in Santa Monica, I was getting a coffee at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on OPB and settled in at the outdoor seating area. Facing me was a blind wall (meaning I was compliant with the 20-feet rule) so I lit up.

I had barely taken a hit or a very Californian-looking guy came up to me from across the seating area, and busted out "you're not supposed to smoke here". No excuse me or any form of fake sugar-coated politeness that usually accompanies the general way in this place this time.

He was looking as if I was an old nazi found after 45 years in Argentina, or a tramp sitting on someone's front porch. He looked really nasty.

"You mean it's not allowed here, or I'm not supposed to?" I replied trying to look equally nasty. "You shouldn't smoke here" was his only reply. I felt like givinig this guy a smack. I most definately felt like making a point out of it.


But then I remembered the first rule of travelling: stay out of trouble in foreign places. I consider the US a "contingency 3 country"(the higher the number on a scale 1-6 the more you wanna stay out of trouble) so my ratio disciplined my anger and I put the thing out. Back in Holland I would've probably told the dude to go screw himself and then ignore him while finishing my smoke. Not here.

When leaving I gave him a dirty look. He grinned. Bastard.

This sign indicates the presence of a designated smoking area at Sea World (San Diego). I was very happy when I saw this sign, as it rendered my plans, of taking a strategic place behind a wall, or at the top of the seats surrounding the seals & sea otters show in order to have a smoke, obsolete. The arrow points to the top right. When I checked out the other side of the sign, the arrow pointed to the bottom left. Right. I figured this *was* the designated smoking area so I lit up. Undisturbed :-)


The irony is of course that so much time, effort and nastyness is put into fighting one of the great dangers of our time: smokers. They smell. They're nasty. They're evil. If you stand on Lincoln & Pico between 5 and 5:10 I guess you inhale as much shit as you'd get from an entire pack of cigarettes. And the fact that smokers die younger after paying a lifetime of extra taxes on tabacco is good news for healthcare - it allows them to focus on less nastier people (see picture).