I missed seeing the first reference to the Manhattan Beach Centennial medal but noticed last week's article about it. Manhattan Beach has a fond memory for me as my daughter was married on the beach (3rd Street and the sand) there in 1999 and Jesse Patrick of the Patrick Mint produced tokens to commemorate the event. Unfortunately only the names of the bride and groom and the date are mentioned on the token not the city. But I was there and can vouch for the time and place.

People who know me know I specialize in numismatics related to Jews and Jewish History and a few years later I was at a show (I think it was the New York International) and stopped by Ingrid O'Neil's table. Ingrid usually has a few items of interest and when I asked her if she had anything up my alley she said, "Oh I have this token, do you know who this is?" Of course it was my daughter's wedding token. Since I still have several hundred I decided to pass on it.

It also has a real numismatic connections. Large Cent dealer Doug Bird has a Manhattan Beach PO Box address and a number of years ago when I was in Southern California for a Long Beach show I was walking along one of running and walking paths and I met Bill Noyes, who was probably visiting Doug, jogging my way. Bill and I may have talked numismatics but more likely we traded baseball insults, he's a Red Sox fan and I'm a Yankee fan. Manhattan Beach is one of the ultimate beach towns in America and for those of us who live in land-locked and/or cold places in North America it's a great place to visit in the winter.