Californian Dreaming

Our return to Los Angeles signaled the end of or time with the Beige Bullet, with whom we had covered over 2,000 miles of touring in California, Nevada and Arizona with out too much trouble from the weather or Indians (classic line from a Western movie once watched). The faithful stead treated us well, though it was fair to say that we were looking forward to retiring her to greener pastures in Los Angeles, and travelling without the hassle of navigating 6 lane highways.

Back in Los Angeles, our first major outing was a visit to the Staples Centre to take in an NBA (basketball) game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trailblazers. Tickets to the game came with t-shirts signaling our support for the Clippers and our citizenship of Clipper Nation.

The game itself was great despite the Trailblazers lack of competitiveness (Clippers won by 20 points), with Sam Cassell (those who collected basketball cards in the early 90’s (Mozza & John) will remember that name) ejected from the game in the final quarter for arguing with the ref. It was here that we got our second confirmed celebrity sighting, Billy Crystal.

While we celebrated the retirement of the Beige Bullet, we also lamented her absence when we had a mozza of a day getting to the Getty Art Museum. Our short journey from Hollywood turned into a three hour mission as we exited a bus early, misinterpreted it’s route and walked 5 miles down a major arterial route (taking in the State War Memorial) before reconnecting with the absent bus. The museum surroundings and view were pretty spectacular and inside featured Illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance paintings, classic Impressionist examples from Monet, Manet and Van Gogh (haystacks, irises…it was all there), as well as some memorable examples of Richter and Giocametti among others.

We also busted it out to Venice Beach for an afternoon of people watching. Venice Beach is a beautiful white sand beach with promenade for roller skating and cycling. It is also home to a thriving community of artists (using the term loosely in many circumstances), tattooists, street performers and some public sporting infrastructure, including the infamous outdoor gym where you can usually find solidly built units eating creotene and throwing some tin round in the sun.

Some classic units met during the course of our visit, including ‘Harry Karey’, a guy recognizable from a number of movies that use Venice Beach as a location, who rollerblades the beach in a turban playing an electric guitar. We also took in some great break-dancing entertainment from 5 young lads from the mean streets of Chicago.

We grabbed a day at Universal Studios, which all in all would have to rank as a bit disappointing due to the lack of celebrity sightings, annoying kids and the generally over-hyped nature of the place. We took in all of the rides and the studio tour which included sets from ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘War of the Worlds’.


During our time in Los Angeles we stayed in Hollywood, a couple hundred metres from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (Oscars) and the walk of fame. The location was fantastic for us, though it would be fair to say that Los Angeles itself hasn’t captured our excitement as much as San Francisco or Las Vegas. We did manage to head out for a nice meal before leaving, at a Japanese Shabu Shabu restaurant (cook your food yourself) on Hollywood and Highland, and also got a glimpse of the famed ‘Whiskey A Go Go’ and the ‘Viper Room’, the later the infamous bar owned by Johnny Depp where River Phoenix lost his life to a drug overdose.

From here it is on to Miami for a few days, before onwards to Jamaica for the World Cup Cricket. The cricket is the primary driver for the extended nature of our travels, taking the opportunity while in the region to take in a World Cup semi-final in the Caribbean. We’ve been watching the results closely, and with it 90% certain we’ll be seeing the Blackcaps (barring a massive victory over Australia in the last game), the excitement bubbled over for Mat in our room in Hollywood…