Dare I say - SoCal is a pretty dang cool place? Ok, so I'm highly biased from a visitor's perspective, but I sure had a helluva lot o' fun while I was there. Even though I did come down with a fever while I was there. Even though I did come down with a sore throat while I was there. My friend Scott was the ultimate tour guide - and I thank him for being the gracious host and showing me things that I feel honored & privileged to see. For a photolog of the trip, keep reading...
Day 1:
The Grove - a very nice, fancy shopping center where I'm told all the locals hang out to get away from the touristy crowd in Hollywood. Of course the only store that really called to me was the apple store, which was the first one I had seen and been. I took some delight in emailing my family & close friends from inside the "look-ma-everything-is-translucent" store. The Grove is also home to the original Farmer's Market.
La Brea Tarpits - I followed my stint of local-ogling with a jaunt through the La Brea Tarpits, both of which were only a ten minute walk from my friend's apartment. What's interesting with the tarpits is that new seeps keep occurring from time to time, and they either have to dump crap on it to soak it up, or they build these caged off areas which are big huge eyesores. In the second photo below, you can see a bubble of methane gas which has reached the surface.
USC campus & USC fencing club - I came, I gave a couple of fencing lessons, and I kicked some fencing butt. Glad to see that my kick-ass mad fencing skillz haven't atrophied too badly during my nearly ten year hiatus from fencing. Looking into picking the sport back up here in LR.
Day 2:
Museum of Radio & Television - a brief tour of where my friend works. Since it is located in Beverly Hills, that called for a walk down Rodeo Drive. Note the famous gift bag from Tiffany & Co. That was to score some major brownie points with Jen. ;)
Hollywood Bowl - since buying tickets on ticketmaster.com was going to cost us almost twice as much as the tickets themselves, we decided to pick up the tickets in person at the box office. On tap for that evening: Nickel Creek and the LA Philharmonic - what a treat!
In-and-Out Burger - What's a trip to LA without a visit to an In-and-Out Burger? I had to see what the rave was (esp. in the ArsTechnica community) with the Double Double Animal Style. All I can say is - YUM YUM.
Santa Monica Pier - To kill some time before our concert, we headed to the beach & the famous Santa Monica pier. After wasting some zombies in House of the Dead at the arcade, we did some beachwalking and some more local-ogling.
Mann's Chinese Theater & the Walk of Stars - my brief foray into TouristTrapLand landed me at Hollywood & Highland - for a few brief moments before heading off to the Hollywood Bowl for the concert. Plus it never hurts to boost the good 'ol self-esteem ogling the freakazoids dressed up with no place to go in front of the theater. Yep. I may be a computer geek and LoTR nerd, but at least I'm not *them*. Heh.
The concert totally rocked - with Nickel Creek playing the last few songs accompanied by the LA 'freaking' Philharmonic. Plus I think my friend enjoyed their music, having not heard them before. Always a plus.
Day 3: (not feeling well so we tried to see more "indoorsy" sites
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Public Library
The Bradbury Building - built at the turn of the 20th century on what they envisioned a building in the year 2000 would look like.
Day 4: (still sick - rested all morning but in the afternoon felt well enough to go see...)
Arclight Cinema Dome - saw Hero playing here which was just about the epitome of a movie-going experience. Amazing movie. Amazing theater.
Amoeba Music - since it was across the street from the Arclight, we just HAD to go there. Heh. Very very hip music store. Gotta be there to appreciate it.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis-Brown house - definitely the highlight of my trip. It was guys night out at the FLW house, or as they call it, "poker night." But they don't play poker. This night was dedicated to D&D & BBQ. Mmmm. A geek's dream paradise. Playing D&D & eating meat in a historical landmark. What could beat that? Lots of photos from this part of my trip. Plus the view was incredible.
Day 5:
Abalone Cove Shoreline Park - tide pool sightseeing
Wayfarers Chapel - designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Day 6:
One last hurrah in Beverly Hills & the Page Museum at the La Brea tarpits before I had to leave to go home the following day. All-in-all, a very fun, memory-filled trip - spent in the company of one of my bestest friends.
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