Ask the top scientist at NASA to land a lunar module 239,000 miles away, and the cat will come through with flying colors. Ask him to find a mechanic he trusts to fix a transmission, and he’ll be S.O.L.As an actor, half my struggle is to make ends meet, so when I felt my car’s transmission start to slip, my anxiety rose conversely with it.
Luckily, a friend referred me to a place called MonkeyWrench in Manhattan Beach. The shop is owned by Daniel, a very young German guy who’s so warm and friendly he could make my mother forget about the Holocaust.
Although he primarily focuses on Hondas and Acuras (neither of which I drive), Daniel can diagnose any vehicle and either fix it or refer it to another trustworthy mechanic. He kept repeating how much he wanted to get the car fixed as quickly and cheaply as possible, and even drove it home overnight so that he could see how it was acting up first thing in the morning. Then, after two days of exhausting all possibilities, he sent it to a friend’s place who fixed it for cheap.
Daniel refused to charge me anything, so I promised him I would send everyone I know his way. He mentioned he’d prefer that I refer a bunch of good-looking women, but I’m guessing he’ll accommodate ugly dudes as well.
