Los Angeles Pictures Here

Los Angeles:
The Hollywood Celebrity Hotel was great to look at with it’s art deco themes and was central to West Hollywood (right behind Grauman’s Chinese Theatre) but a bit noisy (the first night we didn’t know our damned window was open beside a patio that was being used at 3am), but it was the largest room we had on the trip. I think it was converted from studio apartments because of the grand walk-in closet to the bathroom and utterly useless “kitchenette” with no room to swing a cat. Still, a great place.

While in LA we walked everywhere. I know that song mentioned by Evil Panda a few posts back – it played like an endless loop in my head while we hiked everywhere (8 days later and the blood blisters are now clearing, thanks). We walked from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to the Eagle at night, which, at the time, freaked me out a bit. Okay a lot. On our way the neighbourhood went from trendy pocket theatre district to dirty automotive warehouses within a block. Our trek has us pass all manner of dazed humans (mostly dazed to see two white guys walking at night). I began to wonder what the hell we were thinking and started to assess people (read: freak out a bit as a white guy) as we got closer to them. All the while looking for taxis we might unsuccessfully flag down. It took us about an hour to get to the bar and my dogs were barkin’. The next night we did the sensible thing and drove. But we did manage to meet our first Celebrity – “The Prince” (“Of Bel Air?” I wanted to ask). A natural male model and celebrity, with some blue blood in him, cousin to Tom Cruise, who doesn’t answer to any voices in his head or the Media, greeted us while we drank at the Eagle. My trip was complete!

Universal Studios was a bit of a disappointment. I’ve commented before that the “mood” at the Universal Studios in Florida was “bitter” and I’ve decided that the California version is “outright mean”. The studio tour was shorter than usual – no Wisteria Lane, some attractions hopelessly outdated (The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift? Who saw that movie?) and sadly they’re not repairing any damage to weather worn sets (which actually looks good on the Psycho house…) I did get to see some Star Trek Original Series sets which made me happy. About the park itself, I estimate there was a 1 ride for every 10 gift shops yet there were two major rides out of commission which made the place feel like a mall instead of an amusement park. The Spongebob Character actually said “Yeah ok!” to his minder, in stark contrast to the Goofy incident (mentioned prior). The staff made surly comments about their riders and looked tired and bored. Don’t get me started on the Mummy Ride. It reminded me of my loss of virginity: dark, disappointingly sick-making and over in seconds. Unless they get a Shindler’s List ride I doubt that I’ll go back to any Universal park.

The next day, after nearly winning tickets to Wicked (the Pantages theatre holds a draw two hours before the show for the front row at $25/seat – we both won but it was a single seat only), being morbid chaps, we tried to book the Dearly Departed Tour (see where River Phoenix gave his last gasp!) but could not get in touch with the tour guide and wound up on a regular “Tour of the Star’s Homes” with an ex-actor (in LA? Impossible!) who had us laughing the entire time. His ability to drive and throw in off-the-cuff comments about people we passed was sublime. We didn’t get his name unfortunately. SharkBoy managed to pee in the same hotel that was used in Pretty Woman before nearly getting ejected by hotel security. We slummed Rodeo Drive. We saw where Brad Pitt worked in a chicken costume long before he was an actor with a 6 pack. We didn’t see any stars but we did get pelted with hail half way through the tour. Worth it!

Would I go back to Vegas? Not alone, not more than 48 hours. Palm Springs? To relax and rehab and use as a base to drive around in the desert, indefatigably YES. Los Angeles? Without a car? No. With a car? Sure! I loved the energy even though it was laid out like a crappy suburb from Anytown, Ontario.

Did I have fun? Absolutely!

Disney Pics here.

Anaheim/Disney:
The drive into the valley was barely without incident (I got us lost on one turn – No Amazing Race for me!) and we were at the hotel, unpacked and scooted over to Disney before it opened!

We entered the gate and damned if we didn’t get in exactly when a train pulled into the station, just like my first time in Florida. But stepping onto main street, I was surprised at the smaller size compared to DisneyWorld. Our first ride was The Enchanted Tiki Room (I now love all things Tiki and totem) and the rest of the day went fast. We thought we’d be forever waiting in lines due to Spring Break but we did the park within 13 hours with an average wait for rides around 10-15 minutes. I think we did 99% of all the rides at least once. We even got SharkBoy into an animation class! His Pooh looked a bit squished but very good first try!

We decided to call it a day after the fireworks. The California Tinkerbell-on-a-wire was much more active and animated than Florida’s (she flew around behind the castle) but her harness and wire apparatus was more visible. Back to the hotel and out like a light.

The next day our first ride at California Adventures was the Monsters Inc ride with a personal message at the end of the ride: The whiskey and cigarette voiced dispatch character, Roz, singled us out by yelling “Hey, you two, third row in the back… Are you guys twins?” It made my day. Then I cold-cocked Goofy right in the mouth. Actually in my excitement I rammed my head into his plastic mouth by accident and instantly he went into a whole “ow!” pantomime. The Character Host was instantly beside Goofy, whisper something into his mouth. Goofy responded silently by a small thumbs up. Professional!

We did all the rides (except the spin-on-swings rides in the fairground) and wandered forever through the park. I got a bit barfy after the Mali-Boomer, the one that shoots you straight up and down a couple times. A few moments sitting in A Bugs Life and I was right as rain. Back to the hotel for a sweater and we came back for the Electrical Parade.

I was a bit disappointed with Disneyland only because after experiencing the size and expanse of Disneyworld, it was hard to feel the same grandeur. Also some of the rides at The Land looked like they needed a bit of a brush and polish (see gopher animatronic). But, I never stare a gift Disney in the mouth. I did have fun! Especially when you get behind three Japanese Harajuku girls who love screaming on the log ride.

Our weather threatened to give out as we scanned the news for our arrival into our last destination, West Hollywood…

Palm Springs pics here.

Palm Springs:
I found PS to be very… old, despite knowing that many gay pornos have been filmed there. At least I’ve heard that many have been filmed there… Actually that’s probably why they’re filmed there – lots of venture capital.

Palm Springs use to be the star’s decompression chamber from L.A. Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Sinatra had houses there, raising the property values greatly and creating some of the best 50’s desert modern architecture (even the slummy part of town was clean). But the average age seemed to be well over 55. The bars weren’t filled with the “best” looking specimens, but to be fair, we were there Monday/Tuesday – slow days. The city seem to close up after 6pm, except for the $25/entree restaurants. I could see how our friend, the Mailman, who has the hots for older bear daddies, was in heaven when ever he visited. Our last night there we met a great couple in the hot tub at our resort and chatted for a couple hours.

We did very little in PS. Sort of like we were decompressing from Vegas. And getting ready for the worrisome drive into Anaheim. I’ve heard stories of gun battles on the freeways of L.A.