There and Therer - Tuesday 5/5/2009

Aah, too bad I don't have time to have breakfast on Braveheart's patio. It's a beautiful morning.


The view from her front porch...it's even more lovely in the evening. Her house is on the market. Sigh. Anyone want to buy a nice house in L.A.?


One of my other favorite buildings in L.A. This is on the corner of Hollywood and Highland, and you've seen it from other angles, if you've read this blog very long.


Hmm. So it used to be a bank building. Now there are vacant store front spaces available for rent.

Across Town - Monday 2/23/3009

The other building at the corner of Hollywood & Highland. It has gargoyles.

I have to make a special trip to get good shots of those. Maybe with the right lens, from the balcony of the shopping mall across the street. These photos were all taken with my Samsung cell phone camera.

The Academy Awards show was done about a half a block from here last night.


Barrels of olives at Monsieur Marcel, Farmer's Market at 3rd & Fairfax.


Samples of the teas I bought at the tea shop in the Farmer's Market, on Braveheart's windowsill. I'm leaving them for The Doc to try. A Keemun, a Yunnan and a Lapsong Suchong.


Hanging out in the kitchen while Braveheart takes The Doc to the airport under sad circumstances. After years of staying here after our bi-weekly writer's group meetings, I am very comfortable.

As you can see.

Friday in L.A. - Friday 7/25/2008

I looove the Internet. I do, I do!

Needed to meet Braveheart in Hollywood. I got off work at 3:30 and didn't need to meet her till 7-ish. So I Googled the area where she was doing some counseling (she's going to be an amazing therapist, without a doubt) and searched for coffee in the area, and found Caffe, etc.

Quiet and unassuming coffee house with a big rack of magazines and newspapers to peruse. I read from Details and Esquire, a couple of mags I don't usually spend time with. Wrote about all the people I saw heading home or meeting people after work. Sipped an iced coffee. Aaah.


I parked my car a few blocks away and left it there when Braveheart picked me up and whisked me off to...


...the Hollywood Bowl!

You have to relax at The Bowl. People meet to picnic ahead of time at the tables or, like us, bring sandwiches and wine to their seats. You get to sit and watch the sun go down and feel the air cool, and check out people scaling the concrete steps.



And then, if you're lucky, you get to see Diana Ross! Great concert, really. She had us all singing along (as if you could have stopped some of us) and at a couple of points, she shielded her eyes and said, "I can't see you!"

So they upped the house lights and we all waved, and stood, and swayed. She did lots of Supremes hits, and a little something from Majogany and from The Wiz and from Lady Sings the Blues.

Fun night.

Made Me Look - Monday 7/21/2007

Okay, they got me.

I snapped this while waiting in traffic on southbound Highland in Hollywood. It seems just tasteless enough to be real.

In fact, it's a viral marketing campaign for a new HBO vampire-centric television series called TruBlood. It's not quite as good as the amazing video that every one was forwarding when Dexter was gearing up, but it's pretty good.

Viral marketing? The goal is to create something so interesting that we will do the ad company's evil bidding and spread the word for them.

Yes, that makes me a dupe.

If you're curious, click here to see for yourself.

Monday, Monday - 5/20/2008

On my way to the gym before going to Braveheart's for our writing group meeting. I just liked the look of this construction in Hollywood.

This is heading south on Vine.



Who knew it would be so easy to find?

Especially in Hollywood.


After going to the gym, I wandered around a little. You can't really see it, but there is water falling like rain from the facade to the right.

It smells very fresh and clean.



One of the really lovely aspects of our writing group meetings is that we have dinner together. For birthdays, we often order in Thai or Indian food. But usually it's made up of food we all contribute.

I haven't been contributing much for the past couple of weeks. Tonight we had macaroni & cheese made by Braveheart, salad brought by Tomasina and my lowfat ground turkey & vegetable soup and fresh cherries.

We had a great meeting. Anyway, it helped me a lot. I mean a lot. We talked, they read, they gave me good advice.

Wow. Lucky, lucky me.

Going Hollywood - Wednesday 4/23/2008

On my way over to Braveheart's for a rescheduled writing group meeting I stopped off at the Hollywood branch of 24-Hour Fitness. I'm really impressed with the friendliness of the staff at all three of the branches I've visited.

If you look really closely, you can see the Hollywood sign above the upper window divider. This was my view from my spot in the row of elliptical machines.



That dome lurking outside the windows is the once mighty Cinerama Dome.

I went with a friend to see the very first matinee showing of Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home. We sat on the sidewalk for about an hour and a half playing eucre with a couple of former mid-westerners who were in line ahead of us. It was a good day.


According to Wikipedia, "In 2002 after a two-year closure, the Cinerama Dome was reopened as a part of a 14-screen complex called ArcLight Cinemas, a division of Pacific Theatres. The dome remains essentially unchanged though there have been improvements, notably in the acoustics. But for the first time ever, the Cinerama Dome began showing movies in the three-projector format. It is one of only three such theaters in the world today."


Being a newbie to these rooms full of running, pedaling, panting humans, I still get this sense of being in a scene from Brave New World or something. Wouldn't my turn-of-the 19th Century great grandparents have found the idea of a bunch of people using machines to work their bodies science fiction-esque?



Another view of the Cinerama Dome from the parking lot.

Now, this is my kind of development. Take what was once a big empty parking lot and build into an already-bustling part of the world not only more parking, but more space for businesses. Good thinking!