LA, City of Angels

Los Angeles Skyline 1
see all photos »

In our first proper day in LA managed to rise after a lie in.  I went and got the free breakfast which consisted of chocolate doughnuts and tea or coffee.  You can have as much as you like but after a couple of sickly doughnuts you cant eat any more and you dont want a cup of american tea that comes with powdered cream - yum.  Jill managed to find a 24/7 free adult channel going full pelt at 9.30 in the morning.  Not really a hotel for the family.  We got a day ticket for the underground and headed to downtown LA where the city was first founded.  After seeing Union station, which is really one of a kind we headed to Olvera Street (LA's oldest street) to see LA's oldest house, which dates back to where it was owned by Mexico.  It was recently made official that over 50% of people speak Spanish, English speaking people in LA are now in the minority, so some might say its slowly going back to Mexico.  After this we walked into Chinatown and back then down to Little Tokyo.  We then walked back to the center to see city hall, which is easily LA's best looking building.  We then LAPD headquaters, which is actually dissapointing, its City hall that most of the films use as LAPD HQ.  The financial district is very niceand full of tall buildings, but nothing compared to New York, which is America's financial center.  Walking around the city center we then saw the amazing walt disney concert hall (wavey silver building).  We made our way up and down some steep streets to grand central market where we got some authentic mexican food.  I had a massive pulled pork (really juciy, the best pork iv tried) burrito for 4 dollars which i just couldn't finish.  We then continued on a Lonely Planet walk around downtown and then after the Libary and civic center got the subway back to Hollywood.  Saw the remainder of Hollywood, walked to both ends of the walk of fame which included the capitol records building.  On the evening went to a place called Johnny Rockets which is set up like an old 60's diner, burgers wernt bad and the shakes were almost as good as the one in New York!

Los Angeles Skyline 2
see all photos »

Next day we were up early to get two buses to Santa Monica so i could meet my friend from Uni, Joel.  The buses were both really empty and took about an hour.  Finally met the big man on the corner of Arizona & 3rd.  Nice shopping area round there but absolutley loads of bums, i mean tramps everywhere asking for money.  We walked down to the end of Santa Monica pier and caught up on the good old uni days.  After the pier we walked through Santa Monica and saw Joels bachelor pad, extreamly clean which he blames on his mother.  We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen which was good then Joel had some jobs to do and we went and sunbathed on the beach for the afternoon.  The beaches here are amazing and with the Pacific breeze it doesnt feel that hot, but in reality it was about 32 degrees.  Got the bus back to hollywood around 5ish which meant we caught rush hour a bit.  We got back and watched some street performers, there were some awesome break dancers, but i forgot to get a video of them.  Had dinner at an American diner place, but it was pretty rubbish.  Got back early and watched this new show called Justice about a top drawer law firm and how they go about winning cases.  Im sure it will be in England soon and Kowalsky you'll love it!

see all photos »

On our last day in the city we got the bus to La Brae tar pits.  Once you get there its just a big pool of tar, with some excavation sites and a museam full of skeletons.  Its still good to think though that all these creatures died here and its now in the middle of LA.  The tar still bubbles and the smell is aweful, like the smell when workers re-surface roads, but all around you.  We then got on the bus to Venice Beach (where baywatch is filmed).  It was clear there hadnt been a bus for ages so when it came it was packed.  We picked this one guy up who was black, somalian looking with a prayer cap and a backpack on.  At first he was really polite to everyone then all of a sudden he just snapped and started shouting at people.  He told this little mexican girl (about 5) that he was going to rip her to shreds.  Her family soon got off, so he started calling this other women a bitch and that he was going to kill her.  The bus driver then said that he couldnt talk to people this way, and he would have to stay quite before she drove the bus.  He then started screaming that he was just preaching to god.  At this point i thought that was it and his backpack was going to blow us all up.  He eventually got of the bus and i think every passenger breathed out at the same time then.  Anyway we eventually made it to Venice beach and had a look around.  The weather was pretty crap, but we knew it would turn sunny around midday as it always does.  Venice has a more bohemian feel than Santa Monic, theres loads of street artists and performers here.  I got a chili cheese dog for lunch which nearly made my heart stop, then saw one guy pump some iron at Muscle Beach.  All of a sudden the clouds and mist parted and we had sunshine again.  We grabbed a few hours sunbathing before walking up to Santa Monica to meet Joel again.

see all photos »

Joel had agreed to drive us around for the afternoon in his convertible.  Not bad.  First we went up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), which guess what is a highway that goes along the pacific coast.  This really is an amazing drive and was worth the traffic.  We went up to malibu, saw the area and all the amazing houses on the hills, even saw where the celebs private beaches start.  Next we grabbed a subway (in america they're worth the money) and drove past UCLA, Bel Air (didnt see the fresh prince though) where there were loads of Limos going in and out of the main gate.  We also saw Pacific Palisades which is a really nice suburban neighbourhood, and every house is unique (and worth about 2 million dollars).  Next was the famous Bevely Hills, and it certainly lives up to its name.  Everything is squeaky clean and ridiculously posh.  One street even had its own security guard, keeping tourists away.  As the night drove on so did we to an area called Fairfax (i think) where joel took us to the famous Canters Deli where we got some cheesecake, not bad indeed.  By this time we were shattered and Joel was meeting his mates for a night on the tiles, so we went home there.

see all photos »

On our last day we checked out, saw Universal Studios Hollywood (which included the set from Desperate Housewives), saw some classic LA freeway, had dinner at In And Out Burger, which is the best take-away burger iv ever had and finally ended up at LAX for our 11pm 12 hour flight to Auckland.  Bye Bye America!