Hollywood Vacation

Eric near a Venice Beach emporium -- Picture by blogSpotter

by blogSpotter
I’m at the Knox Street Starbucks as I write this, sitting on the outside patio. We’re having a beautiful late Indian summer day -- 80 degrees outside. Have been feeding the sparrows; they appear to like peanut butter cookies. They almost seem more like pets than wild birds -- very cute.

I’m WAY overdue for my LA trip report. My brother Bryan, friend Eric and I went to Los Angeles and Palm Springs two weeks ago. While there, I had the “bizarre allergy attack from Hell” where my nose ran like a faucet and my eyes stung as if someone had thrown acid in them. Everyone speculates that it was the pollution. Mercifully that attack (and ensuing head cold) didn’t come ‘til about halfway into the trip. In spite of all that, I had a very good time -- especially in LA.

NOBODY SLEEPS IN LA
We actually landed in Laguna Beach, a luxury enclave where $5 million haciendas occupy green hills, overlooking a teal blue Pacific Ocean. I have total envy of these people, and had a really good peanut butter milk shake at the Orange Grill on their main drag.

In LA, we stayed at the West Hollywood Ramada on Santa Monica, perfectly situated near the most popular bars, cafes and gyms. The Santa Monica Starbucks has 10 people in line all day long. The unemployed actors need their $4 lattes. The cafes start to get crowded at 3PM and stay crowded ’til 3AM. This is a town I could love. The people are superficially beautiful which is absolutely terrible except to look at. Popular shirt: athletic fit tee shirt with plunging Vee neckline (for men). Popular car: 2010 convertible Mustang in red or silver. We dined at various places -- the Tango Grill, Bossa Nova and Skewers were all great.

THE ABBEY
This is THE most popular bar in West Hollywood. It’s a former restaurant, bakery and bar in a large court yard enclosure. There are different rooms with generous fireplaces and couches -- it looks like somebody’s sprawling Spanish Villa where you’ve been invited for the weekend. To keep with the religious theme (it is called The Abbey after all), there are some iconic statues of the Virgin Mary. The crowd is an amazing hodgepodge of West Hollywood habitués, groups of young ladies, and middle aged couples (maybe film producers and their wives?). Everyone is festive and I likened it to a crazy prom night where you’re not sure who will walk through the door next or what they might do. I could probably just live at this place, it was that fun. Maybe I’ve been in Dallas too long.

We did many of the touristy things (Farmers Market, Getty Museum, La Brea Tar Pit). We didn’t do Universal Studios because it was expensive to buy the tickets and an all-day commitment. We enjoyed window-shopping on Rodeo Drive also, but the standout for me was Venice Beach. This lengthy stretch of boardwalk has every imaginable thing you might see on a garish carnival midway. There were jugglers, musicians, magicians, weight trainers, skate boarders, contortionists and vendors galore. The LA weather was gorgeous, balmy high 70’s, so this was a perfect afternoon.

Alas the LA leg of the trip came to an end and we went to Palm Springs for the last 3 days. At this point I was battling a cold, so in fairness to Palm Springs I wasn’t feeling well.

PALM SPRINGS
Palm Springs is a sleepy retirement community of 42,000 people, one hour east of LA. In its “hey day” it was a second home for movie stars. Nowadays it’s known for golf and occasional white parties offered up by the resident gay community. It reminded me of a military base with it’s grid-like streets, and sterile look-alike Spanish-contemporary buildings. Our guest house (La Dolce Vita) was nearly a ghost house with few other visitors -- understandable since we were there in an off season.

We did a few touristy things (mountain aero tram, Palm Canyon tour) but mostly just flaked out while we were there. I was battling my new cold, and the desert air was all I really wanted for my convalescing efforts.

CONCLUSION
My cold and allergy problems impacted some of this trip, but the LA portion made a big impact. I’m currently shopping for some vee neck shirts and looking at Mustangs. I wonder if any bars around here have that Spanish Villa ambience? In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the Knox Street crowd here in Dallas and think about what to do on my next trip to LA.

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