Tue 22 Jan 2008
Day 134
Los Angeles
Bonnie went to work but had supplied me with a key to the fire escape so at least I could come and go as I pleased. The weather was kind of cold and overcast but I set off to the beach regardless. I had lived in LA in 1994 for a couple of weeks at a hostel down in Venice and wanted to go back and see if it had changed much. I plugged the address into the GPS, or at least as close as I remembered and hoping my memory would guide me to the place I set off on the LA freeways. Thankfully the traffic was not gridlocked like my trip into city and I was soon passing by vaguely familiar streets and bars. The hostel was located on a open square near muscle beach and was easy enough to find. It still looked the same, shops and bars had changed and moved but the Subway where my friend Sally ate her daily sandwich and the hostel were still there. Some things never change I guess.
Kitchen
Living Room + shocked guest
The view to Sally’s Subway
I had a walk down the beach and the place was still a hang out for hippies and pan handlers. In spite of my better judgement I stopped for some food at a small cafe by the walkway and got a terrible falafel and coffee for $14. I sat reading and trying not to listen to the crazies waffle on about Vietnam and drugs. It was overcast and I was cold, I didn’t linger. I went up to Santa Monica for a wander around and for the second time that day had someone comment about my sideburns. Maybe I wasn’t being fashionable with them :p I picked up some free movie passes for the following Friday, unsure if I would get to use them, but they were free. A couple of places give away tickets for screenings in return for your feedback at the end of the movie. No cost, no con, you just have to turn up early to get a seat.
Back at Bonnie’s we sat chatting occasionally but mostly giving our full attention to the Internet before us, who knows when my next connection would be. Eventually we cracked and had to go and see something. I was leaving the next day and this was my last chance. The streets were pretty empty as we wandered around downtown once more. She showed me some hip bars, pubs, cafe’s and roof top clubs on the top of a hotel, but we weren’t drinking, just exploring, not at $10 a drink. I would have jumped in the warm pool if it wasn’t so damn cold and the place was covered with a sheen of recent rain. Down in the hotel toilets I found some interesting signs over the urinals…
The hotel toilets had adverts for escorts on the left and comics for kids on the right!
