Sunday, March 17th 2013
Van Nuys – Huntington Beach
Probably eight o'clock was the time
when we left the motel and were planning to visit Beverly Hills (not
Michigan, but the real deal). Instead of the highway, we were
crossing the hills. It was Sunday morning, the roads were pretty
empty and we were driving in kind of boring town, really nothing
special. It was somewhat interesting, we left the town, drove into
the hills, saw some nice streets and later some really nice streets.
The views we got were really goofy (lost in smog). That was a sad
part of our trip, so much smog and pollution. Very strange changes
between the city and those “countryside” areas. It is hard to
describe. After we passed the hills, we were driving along a narrow
road with normal houses, never you would say you were so close to
Beverly Hills. We made it, got lost and had to take a freeway for a
moment. We made it (again) and were on the way to Beverly Hills. It
was quiet and kind of normal. We tried to drive to Rodeo Drive, but
discovered there was Los Angeles Marathon and many streets were
closed. That was a serious buzz kill. After some map searching and
looking, we discovered that we were screwed for the moment. The
marathon was crossing the city (east to west) and cutting us off
Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We left, drove to the freeway and were
heading to downtown Los Angeles.
Driving to downtown. Even on Sunday,
the roadways were pretty full. We did not want to imagine how it
would look like on a workday. So far it was better than I thought
(driving in LA). We were kind of planning to drive around and
discover the city, so far the marathon derailed our plans. We got off
the freeway and were in the downtown area. It was strange. We ended
up in flower district (after we passed through the garment district).
It helped it was Sunday morning. We parked and walked a bit around.
There were plenty of open flower shops, but it looked like “the
real deal” was closed. It was still amazing how many flowers were
there. We heard mostly spanish. It was messy (a lot of garbage on the
streets). Food trucks (mostly with sausage). Hard to say. Some of the
stores had funeral arrangements that were amazing.
As we were pretty much in the downtown,
we just started to drive and see the streets. I believe we crossed
the area three or four times. There were some nice buildings, jewelry
district. Some parts had people there, shopping and eating the
breakfast. The traffic was fine. Again, it was fine but I guess we
would expect more from the big city. Kind of unimpressive. We saw
small farmer's market. Walt Disney Music Hall. We even found a
“ghetto”. Part with probably several hundred homeless people
hanging around. It was scary. It was as well probably first time that
we were happy to see a cop car on the street. It was less than two
blocks from the farmer's market, so we had no desire to park there.
Few more looks around, flowers and blooming trees (really nice).
Other than that … not much. We left the downtown Los Angeles.
So far pretty unimpressed, we continued
our journey. We got on the freeway for a second. We had to fight some
traffic as well. Again, many changes in the looks of the streets and
neighborhoods. If nothing else, it is pretty interesting how the city
is made and pieced together. We saw Hollywood sign and drove into
Griffith Park (without knowing about it much). There is observatory
on the top, but there were too many people and we did not find
parking. More of the Hollywood sign. And more people in the park
(apparently one of the biggest park in the US). It was pretty. People
climbing up the hill (serious walk). And nice neighborhoods around.
Pleasant surprise in the city.
More driving in the city. We were
driving towards the Hollywood, again. Very similar streets, some
interesting houses and blooming flowers. Unfortunately, we did not
pick the best weather. It was mostly cloudy, overcast and gray. Too
bad. There was still restricted parking, but the boulevard was open.
We drove along, saw the major attractions (from the car) and again
hit the marathon closure on the road. We drove back and parked a
block from the Hollywood farmer's market. Walk. It was a big farmer's
market and still going strong even it was almost one o'clock. We
walked through and enjoyed it (mostly). We got some grapefruit and
case of strawberries (good ones, already eaten, day later). There was
a guy playing (showing) with a live lobster. Many strange people.
Many food stands. Enjoyable experience.
As we were not having much luck with LA
exploration, we decided to go to visitor's center (in Hollywood).
Quick drive and parking in big shopping mall garage. It was strange.
It kind of looked like Las Vegas. Shopping mall. We found the
visitor's center stand. We as well walked down to the boulevard and
walked couple of blocks to the chinase theater. Still and again it
looked like strange Las Vegas. The figurines from the movies
(Spiderman, Snowhite). The guy with the snake. Truck load of people
in front of the Chinase theater. Stars on the sidewalk. Bunch of
homeless people. Strange combination. It was a picture we were glad
to see, but it was not enjoyable. It was too different for us, I
guess. It was hard (or even impossible) to see the “glamor” of
Hollywood. That might be the real life. After we took some leaflets
and got back to car, we drove to Beverly Hills as J. wanted to see
Rodeo drive. The same drive experience, slightly lost, Rodeo drive.
Again, it did not look like expected, the glamor was just not really
there. Plenty of expansive shops and cars around, but otherwise …
hard to say. I guess, we seen it.
We were getting tired of the city and
all the traffic. It was good to see, but LA was unimpressive. There
was supposed to be one czech restaurant in Torrance (one of the
cities surrounding LA). After I had czech meal in SF, I was kind of
craving another one. We took the freeway and were heading there (it
was more less on the way to our motel). Some really enjoyable LA
traffic, smog and almost invisible hills in the distance (smog and
fog). Torrance was just another boring suburban town and there was
nothing really interesting. We found the restaurant, it was within a
small shopping strip. It looked strange. I went inside, asked the
bartender and he told me who would make the meal (even they were
doing just st. patrick's day). We went in, it was just one guy, his
parents were czech, he was born here. His english was normal, his
czech was good (better than mine). Unfortunately they were making
changes on menu, so J. could not eat anything. I had a meal, it was
fine (not quite what it was supposed to be). Too bad. We left, got
gasoline and were heading south. Huntington Beach, we found motel and
checked in. Again, pretty nice place for our bargain price. Grocery
store, some food, dinner and end of the day.
