From Pepperdine students to motorcycle clubs, the historic PCH eatery, Neptune’s Net, draws a diverse crowd.
By Katie Clary
Staff Writer
The sea-witch Ursula missed her calling.
Sixteen miles up Pacific Coast Highway, Pepperdine students discover Neptune’s Net, a beachside restaurant that boasts enough seafood and black leather to put Disney’s favorite underwater villain to shame.
“Try the shrimp and don’t mind the Harley guys,” said junior Kelia Tardiff, nodding toward the 35 Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked in front.
Neptune’s Net, a glorified seafood shack and hamburger joint with nearly 50 years of history, keeps reeling in the catch. Black leathered bikers often pack the picnic-bench patio seating alongside surfers, beach-combers and wide-eyed tourists.
“If you like people-watching, this is the place to do it,” said Lorie Bollinger, a biker from Agoura Hills. “It’s the most eclectic crowd I’ve seen in my life.”
Originally a local hangout for surfers at County Line, Net has become a motorcycle and tourist destination as well, according to restaurant owner Michelle Lee.
Appearing in such movies as “The Fast and the Furious” and “Point Break,” Hollywood, too, has taken notice.
Yet despite winning the City-search “2001 Editorial Winner: Best Cheap Eats” in Los Angeles, Neptune’s Net continues unnoticed by many eligibly cheap students.
“I’ve never eaten there,” said junior Drew Hoff.
Formerly called Jake’s Diner for the owner Jacob Eastman, the restaurant opened in the early 1950s. Since then the seafood diner has changed hands twice and names once.
Despite changes, tradition runs deep at Neptune’s Net. Longtime customers return like migrating whales off the coast.
Malibu local Laura Toston has eaten at Neptune’s Net since she was five. “I keep coming back. I can drink beer and there’s cute surfers,” she said, smiling at her boyfriend Eric Zentner.
Toston remembers afternoons spent eating clam chowder with friends. “All the really good surfers at my school — I’m talking middle school here — [surfed County Line]. We would come to watch our surfer boyfriends,” she said.
Unlike longtime customer Taylor, Toston detects more changes in the home-away-from-home of her teenage years. “When I come here now I can definitely spot who the locals are,” she said.
Zentner nodded and said, “They have a laid-back attitude without pretending to have a laid-back attitude.”
Toston leaned against the wooden Neptune’s Net sign and listened to motorcycles revving. “Things change,” she said. “I’m accepting that.”
Apparently bikers get caught in the Net, too. David Geis said he remembers the diner from when he started riding at age 18. Now he is 38 years old.
“Every time I come here it’s about the same,” he said.
The motorcycle scene started strong 20 years ago, according to Lee, who bought the restaurant with her husband Chong Lee in 1991. “We’re one of the most important stops in California,” she said.
Harley-Davidsons and Honda racing bikes are an unmistakable part of Neptune’s Net’s weekend atmosphere now. Every Sunday, dozens of roaring “hogs” pull up curbside.
“We always include Neptune’s Net and the Rock Store in our rides,” said Stefani Deal, a biker from Agoura Hills.
Most bikers follow the winding canyon roads that connect Mulholland Drive and Pacific Coast Highway, said Deal. The pilgrimage between Net and the Rock Store, a volcanic-rock country store that many consider the California Mecca for motorcyclists, even attracts celebrities such as Jay Leno.
Tom Hensley and Geis, both dressed in zip-up racing suits, both from Camarillo, visit Neptune’s Net as many as three times per weekend. The seafood restaurant is a pit-stop on their five to six hour, 150-mile circuit.
Despite the tough reputation of gruff, goateed motorcycle clubs, the Neptune’s Net crew appears friendly. Manager Arleen Solis said she hasn’t seen any problems among the bikers in her 16 years at Neptune’s Net.
“Harley people are the sweetest people,” she said from behind the register. “It’s more the locals that are the crazy ones.”
Lee hires security guards from May to September, but primarily to keep bikes parked off PCH, and customers with alcoholic beverages on the patio.
During its busiest summer Sundays, Neptune’s Net can push through 2,000 customers and $15,000 to $20,000 in sales.
“Sometimes we get phone calls from Italy and France,” Solis said of the curious tourists not just from Orange County, but from all over Europe.
Lee described a common misunderstanding among European tourists. “They think steak fries are actually steaks,” she said.
“They paid $2.39. Europeans make a big scene about it. They want their steak.”
On dealing with the craziness, Solis said, winking, “As long as the people are nice, we are nice.”
Amanda Martin, a biker from Redondo Beach, is already convinced of the crowd’s camaraderie. In a parking lot mishap, her boyfriend’s Harley lurched forward unexpectedly, knocked over three other motorcycles and broke its gear shifter. Everyone stayed calm.
“Everybody was really understanding, giving their condolences,” she said while seated on the maimed motorcycle in black leather pants.
Despite the accident, Martin described the open road with an enthusiasm that would make Jack Kerouac happy.
“[Motorcycles give an] incredible sensation of freedom,” she said. “Knowing that you’re not wearing a seat belt, not in a box. You can reach out and touch nothing but air.”
And, as the note from management near the cashier glibly stated, “If you are grouchy, irritable, or just plain mean, there will be a $10 surcharge for putting up with you.” Solis rings up people at the register with an amicable sense of humor.
So, Pepperdine students who hesitate at the rumbling grumble of motorcycle mayhem, Neptune’s Net is much more angelic than Hell’s Angels. The Harley Davidson bikers really don’t resemble Vin Diesel or Patrick Swayze — or an animated evil octopus-woman, for that matter.
Solis advises customers just to buy a drink and “watch the ocean. It’s just real casual.”
September 11, 2003
