LA: Saturday morning

Continued from last post....

So we began walking north from Wilshire Blvd in the direction of Hollywood, with no specific plan or route in mind. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt whilst Daz brought along a jumper as well - I warned him that it was probably going to get pretty warm but he brought it anyway. One of the first things we noticed was the amount of people just hanging around on street corners - not necessarily in groups, and not at bus stops - just Hispanics on their own hanging round on corners with no apparent purpose. Weird, seeings as this was 6.15am on a Saturday. They'd just stare at you as you went by, not that intimidating, but definitely weird.

We crossed Beverley Blvd and the road started to go uphill. It would seem that this increase in gradient marked the end of the more run-down area and the beginning of the slightly wealthier bit. The houses were nicer and there were less people on corners. Eventually, after about 90 minutes of walking, we caught our first glimpse of the Hollywood sign and reached Sunset Blvd. We were slightly dismayed to find that the street was still... well, pretty grotty. We carried on north and reached Hollywood Blvd where we turned left, following our noses towards where we assumed the glitzy bit of town would be. We were getting increasingly annoyed because we were starving and couldn't find a single place to eat! We were in Hollwood for Christ's sake and couldn't find somewhere to grab breakfast. We crossed Highway 101 and things began to get a bit better. The stars on the floor symbolised the beginning of the Walk of Fame and we convinced ourselves that food was not far away. The Hollwood sign now seemed like it was a stones throw away on our right and we were in the heart of showbiz land. We passed the Kodak Theatre BUT STILL COULDN'T FIND A PLACE TO EAT other than Starbucks or McDonald's, no thanks.

Eventually we stopped at this little diner place a little further down the street and just ordered their breakfast. We were expecting the typical American deal of bottomless coffee and huge portions. Instead we got a polystyrene cup of shitty coffee, some awful hash browns and some hugely disappointing eggs and 'sausages', with plastic cutlery to top it off. As we were finishing up I noticed a sign on the wall saying that the place had featured in Million Dollar Baby - my God, the director must have been specifically looking for the lousiest restaurant in the world for that bit of the film, and boy did he get it.

We got out and carried on walking. By this time we'd also started to notice the abundance of tramps/hobos. There were loads of them! But not how they are in the UK. These guys walk around with trolleys full of their worldly possessions, speaking and ranting to themselves in an unintelligible dialect. They all seemed to be crazy. Daz and I wondered if they'd had too much time in the sun, and that the reason there were so many of them is because the weather was so nice. In the UK you'd freeze your bollocks off if you were a tramp for the winter, but here it was pleasant all year round.

We got to La Brea and hung a right towards the hills, our aim being to walk in the general direction of the Hollwood sign. We soon found ourselves climbing an impossible gradient with some spectacular houses all around us. With tall trees and bushes each side of the road though, we had to keep guessing which rough direction the sign was in. Now I was sweating badly, and Daz was moaning about what possible reason he thought he'd need a jumper for. All we were talking about was maybe buying some shorts in the garage sales we kept seeing advertised, along with a glass of home-made lemonade (we laughed at the stereotypical vision of America we had gained from TV).

Finally we reached the top and the road curved round to the left, where we thought we'd finally see the sign.... well we did see the sign but it was about half a mile further on, but the road was a bloody dead-end with no other alternative but to walk all the way back the way we'd come! AAAAAAARGGH!! So back down the hill we went, all the way back to Franklin at the bottom, and then back onto Hollywood. We did actually pass a garage sale and were seriously tempted to go buy some shorts, but bottled it at the last second.

So, we were back on the Walk of Fame and the time was about half ten. It seemed like it was mid-afternoon. Oh well. We bought a soda (use the lingo J) and sat on a kurb outside the 7/11 to drink it, hobo style. When in Rome and all that. Daz commented that he really fancied a beer, and I agreed. However there was still a fair bit of the morning to go, and we thought we should at least wait until afternoon to start drinking. So what did we do.... you guessed it, started walking again.

We went south on La Brea and turned left onto Sunset to explore the nicer end compared to the grotty bit we'd been on earlier. We immediately saw an International House of Pancakes and two Denny's diners. Why couldn't we have stumbled across these earlier??!!!! Never mind, we thought, we'll go there tomorrow.

We got back to 101 and sat down for a bit on a bench. Daz lay down on it which I thought was very hobo-like so I took a picture. Being unable to resist, I also had a go and Daz took a snap of me in my best hobo-pose. Good times.

Afternoon was now approaching so we decided to walk back in Hollywood (no short walk) for a beer. About half way, I realised I didn't have any ID on me - bad news. The Yanks ID absolutely everyone and I was under no illusions that I'd be an exception. Cue a foul-mouthed outburst all the way to the bar. Daz ordered a Bud that was poured into a frozen glass. God, I could have killed for one of those. If I'd had my ID we probably would have spent all afternoon in there, but as I didn't I kept pestering Daz to hurry up so we could get back to the hotel and I could get my driver's licence.

So Daz finished up and we began the walk - yes, the walk - all the way back to the hotel.

Thanks for reading, tune in next time for the story of Saturday afternoon.