I’m going to write about my journey from leaving San Francisco to the drive along California’s west coast to Long Beach to my unfortunate stay in LA, oh boy.
Instead of driving down the I-5 into LA, I decided to drive the coast on US-1 and US-101. It was a relatively uneventful, but very beautiful drive down. It reminded me much of the drive along France’s southern coast, but with less rock and mountain and more trees/greenery, and high altitude. I think the highest point I went was over 1380 feet. I stopped by along the highway and took lots of pictures with BB and cam, however since I had no signal, I couldn’t upload the phone pics until later.
I imagined the coast to be flat, sea level, and sand the only thing between me and the Pacific Ocean. It was anything but. Hills, valleys, open ranges, drove through a forrest (conservation area).
I knew I should have topped up on fuel before I left San Francisco, but I though half a tank would last me to LA. Thankfully I found an over priced gas station towards the end of the conservation area. My tank had already hit the red line, if memory serves I had about 28KM worth of fuel.
Taking it easy for the morning took its toll on me at night. I was too tired to go grab a hotel, and would just be a waste of money because all I needed was a place to crash. My dad suggested I hit up a Walmart Superstore parking lot because they’re open 24hrs and generally a safe place to crash. I found a Superstore in Torrance, not far from my desired destination of Long Beach.
I didn’t get the best sleep of my life as I was woken up at 3am, 4, 5..you get the idea. It wasn’t the cleanest of places and looking back, probably not the best of neighbourhoods, but there were over 50 cars in the lot, fully lit, security cameras and security on the premises. That’s ok.
After waking, I flipped open the coupon book I picked up at the rest area when entering California and found a hotel fairly close to the beach. I mean close. For $70 taxes in, and just. 2 min walk, or one block from the sand. The hotel was called Roadway Inn, located on 50 Atlantic Ave (I’ll write a full review at all the places I stayed, including the ones I was turned away from when I finish my trip). The receptionist was very friendly and personable. The room tidy, and no odor, fairly spacious as well.
I’m getting ahead of myself. I wasn’t allowed to enter just yet. I had arrived before check in time and no rooms had been made just yet.
I took a stroll around the area, familiarized myself with my surroundings and looking for a laundromat.
I checked out the beach too. It was pretty sad. Not many people, sand was dirty (I’d expect it with loads of tourists to be messy, but it was deserted). Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the water was very cold, and even at noon, the fog or smog, had shut the sun out.
After I got my room, I saddled up and gathered my clothes for the laundromat. Why am I blogging about doing laundry you may be asking me, or yourselves? Because I had a moment of clarity all while doing it. It was almost zen-like. It’s as if all my cares and worries had been put on pause. I analyzed my life at home, and of the (few) times I did laundry at home, what I was doing when that was going on. My life seemed so busy, but scraping away what I thought I needed to do, there’s a lot more time to do other stuff – like this trip for one. 🙂
I really forgot where I was going with that. I was in line for a Universal Studios Hollywood behind the scenes tram tour when I started writing this blog and now its nearly 7 hours later. I’m in line to check in to my hotel room in Las Vegas. Shall I be blogging about my stay here? Isn’t there a rule about stuff staying secret? Bah! No secrets. My whole way of seeing things what I thought were so, have been ripped away, from visiting and staying in California.
Back to what I was doing two days ago…zen laundromat. After all that walking, I returned to my room, unloaded my stuff and went for food. Church’s chicken was highly recommended to me so I went and ordered what I thought I was supposed to order. What I got was soggy fried chicken a top average fries. Not very filling I went back to the menu not expecting much – but what I got was a heck of a lot better. I ordered legs and thighs, a 10 piece combo of dark meat. THAT was good. I was very pleased. I still have some in my cooler – even cold its great.
I went on a boat tour later in the day. It was nice, even though it was short. When I looked out from the beach I saw islands. I thought they were mini resorts made out on the water. The tour guide explained that they were actually oil rigs beautified and disguised to look like islands not to ruin the appeal of the beaches. It worked. Had me fooled.
That was pretty much it for Long Beach. I took some pics, it was too cold for sunning or swimming.
Next day I headed to Hollywood. I got a hotel in Sherman Oaks, just north of Hollywood. It was a Best Western, and attached to it was a Denny’s. It was the most I’ve paid for a hotel room this trip ($89.99).
It was another day I dicked away and headed to Hollywood Blvd at night. I parked somewhere around the block from Hollywood and dropped a pin on my map to find the car again. It was gift shop filled with cheesy (made in China) souvenirs after shop. Some tattoo, pawn, electronic and food stores too. The expensive outlets were closed by the time I got there. I decided to go see a movie at the famous Chinese theatre on Hollywood Blvd. The movie I went to see was McGruber. Nobody in Ottawa wanted to see it when it came out so I figured I’d check it myself. It wasn’t too bad.
I thought I’d try and put a bit more effort into exploring Hollywood so I thought I’d give Sunset Blvd. a shot too.
I got about halfway through the block when this spanish looking guy runs up along side me out of nowhere. He asked me which way Sunset Blvd was. ‘Pretty harmless question’ I thought. I pointed the direction we were walking and told him its just up ahead. He continued to walk along side me at the same pace I was going, and asked another question “are you alone”? At this point alarm bells start ringing and quickly but casually reply with “no, I’m meeting some friends just up the block. “Oh”, he nods his head, “are you from out of town”? Again, casually, remembering the last place I read looking at a map “Van Nuys, you”? *Mumble mumble with a thick spanish accent*. “Where?”, I asked again. *thick spanish accented mumble again, which sounded like ‘Flash Town’. “So, joo bus here”? I continued to get a nervous gut feeling that if I didn’t watch my surroundings more carefully this could turn ugly, for me. “Drove”, I replied, and with that I slowed my pace down considerably – going from speed walking to casual stroll pace. He, coincidentally just happened to slow his pace down too. Here he was a mere 5 feet in front and I just stopped. I had noticed a British couple just a few more feet ahead of Sketchy Spanish Guy. ‘Was he gonna start something with an audience’, I thought. He stopped, because he saw I did, and I just said “What” in a stern tone, and he started walking again until he got to the end of the block. I was going to cross, but waited until he did. Meanwhile the British couple caught up to the corner and asked what that was all about. They were concerned why we had stopped behind them so abruptly, and explained how I was thankful I wasn’t the only one walking these streets tonight. The Sketchy Spanish guy whipped out his cell phone as he walked across the street again, every once in a while looking back at me. I crossed the street and speed walked my a** out of there, holding my knife open in my pocket all the way to my car.
And that was my experience with sensational Hollywood.
I was ready to throw in the towel on LA, the next morning. I didn’t even want to make my own breakfast these couple of days brought me so down. I headed to Denny’s for some all you can eat pancakes! Mmm, just what I needed, some sugar to bring my energy levels back up.
I was greeted at the door by a finely dressed greeter (?), maybe manager on duty, I didn’t get his name. He was very chipure, and up beat. He reminded me of my boss, Jamie. Totally opposite of what I was feeling at that very moment. He complimented me on my very awesome blue and white shades. Yes they are awesome. I haven’t gotten an “those are ugly, wow!” Comments yet, just praise. Praise the 80s, for concocting such style. He instantly put a smile on my face. My day was already getting better. Then came my waiter, Manuel. He also was up beat, he didn’t see me with my shades on (I took both my had and shades off for etiquette and politeness), otherwise I’m sure he would have told me how awesome they were too. I could tell Manuel liked what he was doing. I see a lot of the time in retail and in the food industry the employees dragging their feet, and in between customers frowning, and then only smiling when confronted with a customer. No, this was not Manuel, he was that – opposite. He smiled throughout, had a certain swagger about him that said “hello! I’m here to be your waiter, ill get your order and be back lickedy split, and serve it with a smile. And if you need me, just holler”. Yes, that’s what his swagger told me. That place was busy, I saw him and others z-pping around tables and accommodating everyone – even the grumpy old guy with the laptop at the next booth ahead of me. “Can I get you anything to drink”, the waitress asked politely, to which the guy angrily replied “no I’m waiting for a friend”. The waitress and I exchanged “wtf, chill” looks. Heheh
Anyways – phew I can’t believe I wrote this much about my Denny’s experience. It was that good. Manuel kept bringing on the pancakes. Although I only managed to pack away 5. That would be my only meal of the day until 11pm, in Las Vegas, later that night – they were that filling.
I hope you’re reading this Manuel – feel free to comment on my version of events. Keep up the excellent work. You both definitely brought a lot of sunshine to my day.
With that go get ’em attitude engraved in me, I decided after checkout to check out Universal Studios Hollywood.
Can’t say I was overly impressed with that either. The tour bus of the studio lot was lacking. The guide was a tool, with *terrible* jokes and comments. I guess you have to dip in the crappy bag of jokes when you’ve said so many. The best rides were the Jurassic Park one, and the Mummy one. The Horror one didn’t phase me, even when stuff jumped out of you. Maybe I was just so tense with disappointment. There was so much food there. Junk food and sweet food.
Both the Mummy and Jurassic Park rides were in the lower lot. There were two ways to get up and down: escalator and stairs. It didn’t seem so far when running down, it it sure added up. I figured I could run up them too. I thought ‘If I can run up the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France – then I can do this too”. However, I stopped on flight short of the top. I could feel breakfast making its way up my throat again. All that food smell of grease and sweets didn’t help at all. This place’s magic has been zapped out by my cynical look on things around me. This place was such a cash grab.
I called that excursion a day and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada. Beautiful sights along the way. Just amazing.
Yay, finally this blog posting is over! It only took me a week to do it! -jk