Simple life in the O.C. with family

Though Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff spends most of his time leading the nomadic life of a musician, his home life isn’t the typical rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. From the petting zoo to a kid-friendly sushi restaurant, Popoff’s favorite tour stops in Orange County are made with his young son. His band’s latest CD, “Lit,” was released this week, and they will be performing at the Pacific Amphitheatre with Hoobastank on July 13.

Lounge lizard

When I’m home I try and hang out with friends and family. Usually Friday night we’d start off doing a little dinner somewhere. A lot of us go to Heroes in downtown Fullerton. It’s kind of a hometown watering hole that’s always a good place to have some food, have a few drinks, watch the game, whatever. Plus I’ll always run into at least about a half dozen people that I know. It’s kind of like “Cheers.”

After that we usually walk next door and hang out at the Continental Room. The place is a sort of a throwback to the ‘60s. It has red booths, it’s really dimly lit, and they have a stage in the back with different, loungy kinds of entertainment. When you walk in you totally feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

Trains and bonding

I have a 2 1/2-year-old son, so the next day I’ll usually venture off with him for some quality father-son bonding.

He really loves the train, and there’s this really cool station in downtown Fullerton. They have a little cafe where you can get some snacks, hop on board and just go south. We usually head down to San Juan Capistrano and cruise around, do the petting zoo or maybe get some ice cream. I’ve only taken a couple trains in my whole life, but it’s a trip to take one through Orange County.

When we get back, right there by the train station is this ‘80s arcade called the Reagan Years. We’ll go in there and just run amok in that place, playing video games. They have all the classics, so I always get really into playing Tron or Asteroids.

Son of sushi

Saturday night I tend to take it easy and hang out with the kid. We’ll go to dinner somewhere pretty kid-friendly. He’s pretty off the hook, so it can’t be a place where someone’s going to get offended by a little maniac running around.

I’ll take him down to Chomp on Commonwealth, which is sort of a Japanese teppan restaurant with sushi and stuff. He likes that place, and it’s pretty loud and crazy so he doesn’t offend anybody. I’ve been taking him there since he was born, so for him sushi is as normal as chicken nuggets.

Late breakfast

There’s a couple of cool places for breakfast in Fullerton, especially on a Sunday. Heroes also has a Sunday brunch, plus they serve it until 2 or 3. There’s nothing worse than trying to find breakfast at like noon and you can’t find a place still serving it.

There’s also this cool little place called Kimmi’s Coffee Cup, which is this tiny old-school diner. I think all they serve is breakfast. They close at about 3 o’clock every day.

Then after that we’ll venture off and find some more trouble to get into.

-- Chris Barton