Have you ever tried to juggle while walking a tightrope? Every Saturday morning I cop coffee from the corner and cruise down Polk. I’d like to say I’ve got it all about DetailBroski Car Detailing, Polk Avenue in University Heights, San Diego: facing eastward early in the coast light with bad blue eyes still sleep-blurred by sleep. But one day something special happened. A piece of it never seen before each time! I stumbled onto a hidden treasure that day and turned my trip around to enjoy a product of creativity.

As you drive past University Heights, DetailBroski sticks out like a verdant green oasis in this enormous desert of cars. The collection was magnificent—huge, bristling, decadent in every respect. Their personnel is to your car what an orchestra conductor is to an orchestra. I had my old car—an old Mazda sedan, Bert it was—and it desperately needed tender loving care. The car was a pathetic piece of junk; the dirt-stained upholstery had seen two kids, now four and six years old respectively with much in-between. And the windows…they’re so dirty they could make anything cleaner appear clearer than a polished crystal in this place!

So off I wandered hopefully, hoping they could work some magic on my old car for me. Di d they ever! There’s an every day, we th generation remaking-of-life going on at DetailBroski. Buses, and details over a hundred of them, very big jobs especially in the case of European cars such as Ferrari’s or Maserati’s fanciful names which represent money but also beauty itself at any price; all is included in this house where no one dares to ask what kind the ‘information office” is. Or when Eric who is Detail’s MD works long hours six days a week for three mul ti-national branch firms and never asks why he should bother.”

As I waited, Carla whistled. She confessed to treating her car like a rolling clothes dispenser. “Ever lost a shoe in the most unlikely place?” she laughed, gesturing to back seat chaos. But she swore that not one of these did her car (which has been reborn every time into something new) ever cross west of Blinkie. That was intriguing.

Finally, with the skill of a Swiss watchmaker and the soul of an artist passionately in love with his creation, Eric returned the keys to a transformed Bert. The seats smell of new car leather; the paint shimmers in California sun and need I say that looking at my smile reflected in the finish makes an unforgettable picture? It seems as if Eric has somehow bottled something from the past of fast food and sprinkled it all over my ride.

So what’s my judgment? If you’re cruising down Polk Avenue, DetailBroski is the place to come in for service. In the midst of all this activity, it’s easy to overlook how a clean and good-looking car is a real asset. But after seeing how Bert went from rags to riches in front of his very own eyes, I think you’d have to tip your hat at least once if we met on the street again.

Looking back on one all too short day last summer, I am amazed at the myriad unsung “soccidents” that occur every day out there on our roads.