Blimey! It was 7am before I woke. The joy of one too many Double IPAs, methinks. Either that or it was the second-hand Ganga that Mrs downstairs was smoking, that I’d inhaled!
So I’ve no idea what sunrise was all about today, which makes a change, although I did stay up late to take some night photos, in my defence.
It was a lovely morning, though. Clear and warm. Temps are back up into the high 20s and mid 30s down here.
No breakfast included or on offer at the Ocean View Hotel, so once up, showered, dressed and Pokemonned (!), we went down to get the car.
I bloody knew it would be a ball-ache, getting the valet-parked car back. We’ll need to take the 15 minute wait into account tomorrow when we leave for the airport!
When we finally took delivery of the car, we’d decided that Griffith Observatory was our destination of choice today. Which is also a “kills two birds with one stone” jaunt, as you get a decent view of the Hollywood sign from there, without a two hour trail hike!
Its a Sat-Nav half hour drive, which translates as an hour of LA driving. The traffic is everything that everyone who’s been describes. Slow!
We drove up Western Canyon Road, realised parking was going to be a major issue, we’re ushered past the observatory, through a tunnel, and then down Eastern Canyon Road! To not far from the bottom before we found a space.
Thankfully there’s a 50c (fiddy-scent?) “Dash” bus that has a stop opposite the Greek Theatre so we took that up rather than hike.
Apparently we came here on honeymoon, but I have not one single recollection of that. Must have only had eyes for my beautiful new, poodle-permed wife.
Anyway, it’s an iconic landmark, just ask James Dean, who has a bust up here (done by the same bloke that did Fulham’s Michael Jackson, and THAT Cristiano Ronaldo one), after making the place famous in those scenes from “Rebel Without A Cause”.
There’s a funky “timepiece” in the Observatory. A big brass ball, hung on a steel wire, acting as a pendulum, with an electomagnetic ring up near the roof, that means it never stops. The ball appears to swing and ever so gradually move in a clockwise direction. The funky bit is that it doesn’t – it was one of the first experiments to demonstrate that the earth rotates. Simply put, the pendulum always swings in one direction. The Earths movement around its axis, shifts the points of reference. I like stuff like that!
There’s also a really nice tower/like sculpture of some of the most famous ancient astronomers. But more wonderful, were the hummingbirds that zapped around the flowers at its base. That’s another bit of natures biomechanics wonderment at work! (It’s a crap photo, but look for the slug-like dangle just off-centre, and imagine something beautiful).
The bus back down to the car, and a drive back through Hollywood, crossing Vine, past the (very long) Walk of Fame again. Only today it’s even better. Some renegade protest group have stuck a load of vinyl “Trump Stars” to the pavement, overnight, given that the original one keeps being vandalised.
Down Sunset Boulevard, past the art-deco Sunset Tower Hotel (where John Wayne once lived in a Penthouse with a cow, for fresh milk, obvs!), the Viper Room and the Whisky-A-Go-Go clubs, and on to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Bloody hell, there’s some dosh swilling around down there!
We then headed across to Venice, just a couple of miles south of our hotel, and managed to find a parking spot on a side road. Better than the $18+ parking charges, so long as the car is there and drivable when we get back! Oh, btw, there are canals…
A one block walk to Venice Beach, and we all got a surprise. Yes, there’s a pretty-much constant smell of marijuana (if you can’t tell, I’m a prude, and not a fan), and there are some pretty sketchy looking folk around, but we all really took to it.
Earlier in the day, I’d managed to suss out the elecy scooters, having registered with a competitor to “Lime”, called “Bird”, who accept UK driving licenses now, so as soon as we were on the boardwalk, we hunted one down using the app.
Three “broken” ones before finding one that worked, but after that, it was fab! I just wish we could have hired three, but despite an obvious lack of regard for the rules (Police turn a blind-eye), technically Charlie was too young. So we got one, and all shared it.
It was actually a highlight of LA/ Santa Monica. We loved the scooter experience, especially down Venice Beach.
I also loved (but would have loved even more if I could have joined in), the scratch basketball games going on, on the many courts. Proper “White Men Can’t Jump” moments!
So much so, I borrowed my scooter off Charlie, and whizzed the extra 2/3rds of a mile up the road, to where the court was, in one of the opening scenes of the film, even though it’s now only recognisable from the pink/turquoise hotel in the background.
We had a really good hour or so on the beachfront. Eventually turning back, with Jane Pokemoaning, me limping with my gammy Achilles, and Charlie in his element, electric scooter!
After passing “Muscle Beach” where the best thing I saw was an accolade to the original Hulk, we headed back to the hotel, carefully following the official “Tsunami Evacuation Route”.
Clear the car of all the accumulated “detritus”, ready to hand back tomorrow, carting most of the crap back to the room, and then out for tea.
A quick lap of our block made us realise we had previously headed out in the wrong way, anti-clockwise and you get to a point where you turn back and end up at Cheesecake Factory. Clockwise and there are loads of really nice looking bar/restaurants.
We ate at Plan Check Kitchen, just off Santa Monica Boulevard. (Go on…now say that again in the style of Sheryl Crow).
Burger for me, Squid for Charlie and Jane, and we’re done for the night. We had a bit of a blow out on our last night, although we may get even more value out of that, given that I ate lots of coleslaw, and had a pint of (deliberately) sour ale.
It may meant the California Clean Air act is broken overnight!
And on that note (a deep, low one), Night, night, all!
Really enjoyed reading your blog. Looks like you’ve had an amazing holiday. I recognised a few places from our honeymoon. Hope you have a safe journey home. Your little Toby will be delighted to see you 😎😎😎