Jesse Rivest's Blog
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
L.A. is the city of bling
On October 5 I spent the day in L.A. with my friend Chris. Chris saved me from a lengthy layover at LAX (airport) and gave me a grand tour of LA! I have a few pics here that sort of fit my story.
Mid-morning, Chris picked me up at LAX and took me to nearby Santa Monica Boulevard, where we had lunch and then hit the pier and the sand. Not very many were people at the beach in October, I guess the water is pretty cool and the air was likely only 20°C in the sun.
We drove from Santa Monica, through Beverly Hills and down Sunset Boulevard into Hollywood. Palm trees everywhere, especially in Beverly Hills - I was impressed with the plant and tree planning in that area. However, I saw a lot of green everywhere I went.
I think the hill is called Mount Olympus, I can't remember. But as you can see we got pretty close to the Hollywood sign, and I struck a pose.
It was fun driving up to, and down from, the sign - the streets are very narrow, steep and windy. The residences in this area (and Beverly Hills) eminated wealth. On the way back down, Chris and I stopped in Hollywood for a game of bowling (ha) and a walk on Hollywood Boulevard (the one where the stars are). There was a huge line-up for a filming of a Jimmy Kimmel Live episode.
Also on the way back down to Hollywood, we passed this cafe/diner - it's the one that was in the final scene of Swingers. Sorry, my car-drive-by photo technique needs work.
On our way out of Hollywood I managed to snap a drive-by pic of the famous Whiskey-a-Go-Go, too!
While cruising through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, we listened to a CD from Lemon Jelly - I think it was Lost Horizons. Really cool tunes! Check it out, it's fun stuff.
We drove up to Greystone Castle and I wondered how many people lived in it when it was still a residence. I'm guessing 30. Very cool view of the LA sprawl from Greystone! From Greystone we cruised through luxurious internal streets of Beverly Hills and took an after-work drive down Rodeo Drive. This is where the bling is. It was bling overload for me, but I was totally enjoying the tour!
We went back to Santa Monica Boulevard for sunset because Sheryl Crow had mentioned it in a song somewhere...
Chris had enchiladas (I think) and I had tamales at a mexican restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, pretty tasty! Our server was all smiles, too, very cool. Dos Equis por favor!! Back in the car, we cruised the night-time streets listening to old blue-eyes Frank Sinatra. It was classy.
As we drove the freeway to the airport, I could see a line of airplanes coming in to land. In the black night sky they appeared to form a new, bright constellation that was slowly shifting shape. But in terms of time and the universe, this shape shifting was relatively very fast - it was as though I was witnessing the DVD of The Universe Expanding, at 8-billion X advance speed. Don't go trying to find this DVD, I don't think it's released yet due to filming not-even-in-progress. Or is it in progress? None of us shall know.
I am so very grateful to my friend Chris for taking a day off and showing me his grand city! I look forward to returning the favor one day... that's if I ever stay in a place long enough to show it.
-- Back to http://www.jesserivest.com/
Mid-morning, Chris picked me up at LAX and took me to nearby Santa Monica Boulevard, where we had lunch and then hit the pier and the sand. Not very many were people at the beach in October, I guess the water is pretty cool and the air was likely only 20°C in the sun.
We drove from Santa Monica, through Beverly Hills and down Sunset Boulevard into Hollywood. Palm trees everywhere, especially in Beverly Hills - I was impressed with the plant and tree planning in that area. However, I saw a lot of green everywhere I went.
I think the hill is called Mount Olympus, I can't remember. But as you can see we got pretty close to the Hollywood sign, and I struck a pose.
It was fun driving up to, and down from, the sign - the streets are very narrow, steep and windy. The residences in this area (and Beverly Hills) eminated wealth. On the way back down, Chris and I stopped in Hollywood for a game of bowling (ha) and a walk on Hollywood Boulevard (the one where the stars are). There was a huge line-up for a filming of a Jimmy Kimmel Live episode.
Also on the way back down to Hollywood, we passed this cafe/diner - it's the one that was in the final scene of Swingers. Sorry, my car-drive-by photo technique needs work.
On our way out of Hollywood I managed to snap a drive-by pic of the famous Whiskey-a-Go-Go, too!
While cruising through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, we listened to a CD from Lemon Jelly - I think it was Lost Horizons. Really cool tunes! Check it out, it's fun stuff.
We drove up to Greystone Castle and I wondered how many people lived in it when it was still a residence. I'm guessing 30. Very cool view of the LA sprawl from Greystone! From Greystone we cruised through luxurious internal streets of Beverly Hills and took an after-work drive down Rodeo Drive. This is where the bling is. It was bling overload for me, but I was totally enjoying the tour!
We went back to Santa Monica Boulevard for sunset because Sheryl Crow had mentioned it in a song somewhere...
Chris had enchiladas (I think) and I had tamales at a mexican restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, pretty tasty! Our server was all smiles, too, very cool. Dos Equis por favor!! Back in the car, we cruised the night-time streets listening to old blue-eyes Frank Sinatra. It was classy.
As we drove the freeway to the airport, I could see a line of airplanes coming in to land. In the black night sky they appeared to form a new, bright constellation that was slowly shifting shape. But in terms of time and the universe, this shape shifting was relatively very fast - it was as though I was witnessing the DVD of The Universe Expanding, at 8-billion X advance speed. Don't go trying to find this DVD, I don't think it's released yet due to filming not-even-in-progress. Or is it in progress? None of us shall know.
I am so very grateful to my friend Chris for taking a day off and showing me his grand city! I look forward to returning the favor one day... that's if I ever stay in a place long enough to show it.
-- Back to http://www.jesserivest.com/
