2006 November Trip toSouthern California Day 2

November 5th

     My wife and I got up fairly early, ok not early by my wife standards since she usually has to be up by 5:30AM but for me since I work nights except on Saturdays when I work 5AM to 1PM. We were up by 6:00AM and prepared for our days. The Heavenly Shower was equal to the Heavenly Bath and enjoyable so we were ready for another day.

      I walked back to 7^th/Flower which was pretty quit considering it’s a Sunday morning. It seemed like a long wait for the subway train but it soon came and took me back to Union Station. I went downstairs, got the Torrent, paid my six bucks and headed back to the Hotel.

      When I got to the hotel my wife was outside waiting for me so we loaded up my camera equipment and were ready to leave. My wife does not like big city traffic but she decided since it was Sunday she would give it a try. I directed her down to Hill Street and over to Sunset Blvd where we saw a Burger King so we stopped for breakfast.

      After breakfast we started traveling west along Sunset Blvd. One of our goals on this trip was to travel old US Highway 66 from Santa Monica toBarstow including all the alternative routes that existed over the years. By taking the Pasadena Freeway yesterday we covered one of the three routes that existed fromPasadena to Los Angeles over the years.

      Another reason for traveling along Sunset and then Santa Monica Blvd was to get pictures of as many historical structures as we could although there is not many of them left in Southern California. I did see some interesting buildings near Sunset Blvd and EchoPark so we stopped and took a few pictures. This is a section of Los Angeles that you do not want to be around after dark as it has a large amount of gang activity.

      I actually missed the turn from Sunset Blvd onto Santa Monica Blvd but we went around the block and found our route again. We traveled along Santa Monica Blvd until we reached Vine Street and then we turned north to reach Hollywood. I had found directions to get the best look at the Hollywood sign so we drove up to the Hollywood Freeway (US Highway 101) to Barham and from there turn onto Lake Hollywood Drive. Here you encounter narrow twisty roads that the hill section of Los AngelesCounty is know for (in South Pasadena where I lived there was some of these roads just up the street from me). You have to pay attention to the road signs because at a couple of points LakeHollywood actually makes right turns.

      LakeHollywood will make another one of those right hand turns onto a different street but you continue traveling down the same road as it becomes Montlake. Montlake becomes Tahoe but then dead ends at Canyon Lake Drive. From here you turn left, head up the hill and it will finally dead end. Here we got out all the camera equipment and started heading out. We got a view of the sign so we stopped to take some pictures. While we took them a couple was coming down the hill and told us to walk about a quarter mile farther and we would get even better shots and they were right.

      After we took our pictures we walked back down to the car and put our equipment away. Los Angeles was having a record heat wave and even though it was still early in the day it was still getting really hot. Our Torrent was equipped with an outside temperature gauge and it was reading 91 degrees already.

      After loading our equipment back into the car my wife was ready for some rest so we drove around some more. Instead of going back the same way we came I decided to just drive down the roads and see were it took us. I had never been in this section of the Hollywood Hills in the years I lived here so it was nice to see what was in the area. We drove around some of the twisty roads and ended up on Beachwood Drive. I had driven this street a few times so I knew it would take us back into the heart of Hollywood.

      We then took Franklin to Highland and park in the parking lot of the Hollywood and Highland complex. After parking we went out to Hollywood Blvd and headed next door to the Chinese Theater. I had been here a couple of times in my life but never really took the time to play tourist and check all the imprints in the cement. My wife attempted to take a picture of the one with the Star Wars characters in it but someone always got in the way. There were several people there in famous costumes and the guy in the Superman outfit stopped everyone coming by for a moment so my wife could get her picture. How many can say that Superman came to their rescue?

      After I took many pictures of the imprint my wife and I headed across the street to take some pictures of the theater. I took one picture with my digital camera but wouldn’t you know it someone step right into the picture and it was the only good shot I was able to take!

      I took a few more pictures including the Highland/Hollywood building since that was the purpose of us coming up here in the first place. After taking the pictures on the south side of Hollywood Blvd we cross back over to the north side. From the north side I was able to get some pictures of Hollywood Blvd and the Egyptian Theater. Finally we headed back to the Highland/Hollywood Complex.

      My wife being the big kid loves Sesame Street and especially Elmo. Wouldn’t you know it there was some guy in an Elmo suit right in front of the complex. So we stopped so my wife could have a picture with Elmo. While we were taking the picture the guy in the Elmo suit was being really nice to my wife.

      A few years ago my wife and I took her sister to Star Trek the Experience. While we were there one of the people in a Klingon outfit kept hitting on my sister in law. We thought it was appropriate since apparently my sister in law threw knives at walls when she was little. He followed us around the whole place despite my sister in law having a big rock on her hand but the best part is that it makes her husband really jealous!!

      So now we joke that my sister in law gets hit on by Klingons and my wife gets hit on by Elmo. It just fits if you knew these two.

     After the pictures my wife wanted to go into the souvenir store and look for something for our niece so I went over and picked up some tourist brochures from the Hollywood Visitor’s Bureau that is in the Hollywood/Highland complex. After words my wife decided to go into the expensive jewelry shop and I thought I was in real trouble. She looked at a couple of things then she came out and we headed back to the Torrent.

      We drove Highland down to Santa Monica and started heading toward the ocean. I saw a few old buildings that I took pictures of but not a whole lot of interest. When we got to Beverly Hills I drove my wife around so she could see some of the homes in the area plus see the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel. After some shots of it we headed back to Santa Monica Blvd where I saw a park and decided to take some pictures. By this time the temperature gauge in the Torrent was reading 104 degrees which broke a record for Los Angeles on this day. My wife and heat do not get along so she stayed in the vehicle while I took the pictures.

       Next we continued down Santa Monica Blvd taking some picture here and there. Once we got to Sepulveda I turned north and headed toward Sunset Blvd. My wife had never been to Bel Air so I decided a trip for the area was in order. We drove through the main entrance and then headed down most of the major streets. I had travel in this area on several occasions so I was able to show my wife some of the best areas of Bel Air. We drove to the farthest point then headed back.

       Having been many years since I had traveled through the area I was surprised to see that there had not been that many new homes built in the area. When you think of the money it takes to live in the area you would thing that the people here would be tearing down the old home to build a new one that was more “them”. We saw a couple of homes being built one of them very industrial looking that just sat out like a sore thumb.

       After driving through the Bel Air area we were starting to get hungry so we decided to start looking for food. When looking for fast food we prefer the independent places since the quality of the food is so much better. However the only places we saw were near UCLA that had no parking and long lines.

        Then a thought hit me. Maybe we shouldn’t try to drive to Santa Monica since it was a Sunday and it was very hot. Everyone and their mother would be trying to get to the beach and traffic was already bad. Well we continued to look for a place to eat while I decided to take a few more pictures.

       We ended up driving down Olympic in attempt to find a place to eat after I took my pictures but did not have any luck. The only place we saw had a bunch of gang member looking characters outside so we passed on that one. We finally found a Jack in Box so we decided to go ahead and eat here and wouldn’t you know it we made it to Santa Monica anyway!!

       I had a chicken sandwich while Elsa had a burger or something like that. This Jack in the Box had very bad parking and was hard to get in and out of. In addition some of the clientele was questionable at best but then there was also some upper end customers so a very mixed bag.

      Once we finished eating we started heading down Santa Monica Blvd back to Westwood so we can say we did that entire section of Route 66. We then looked for the Hansen studios building since my wife is a big Muppets fan. After that we drove over to the La Brea tar pits and got there just about an hour before they closed. We went through the entire museum then started looking around the gift shop. While paying for a couple of items in the gift shop I was helped by the cutest little short brunette. I was stunned because she was actually flirting with me and I kept thinking if my wife here’s this and she is the jealous type she will kill both of us. Although I was thinking to myself that if I was single I would be asking this girl out as she was my type but oh well.

      We left just as the museum was closing, walked back to the Torrent and started heading down Wilshire Blvd. Once we got to downtown we tried to find Clifton’s Cafeteria which has been around for decades but we did not like the looks of the neighborhood during the dark. After driving around the area for a while we settled on a Chinese place in Chinatown called the Plum Tree.

       Considering that many of the places around Chinatown look run down, this place actually looked upscale and even had a valet service. The place was nicely appointed but the staff I would only rate as OK. There were a couple of large groups sitting near us who sounded like they were having a good time. Whenever I go into a Chinese restaurant for the first time I order either Kung Pau Chicken or my favorite Sweet N’ Sour Chicken to give me a good idea about the place. Elsa always gets Beef and Broccoli or something to that effect for her dinner.     

      The portions were good and the food tasted great. While the prices were slightly higher than I would have normally paid they were not outrageous. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I was feeling pretty lazy by this point so I decided to go ahead and just park the car in the valet parking and pay the $25.00 a night. So ended another day on our Los Angeles journey.