to Los Angeles, actually as part of a couple day business trip that I was on. We stayed in downtown LA on Wilshire Blvd. at the Wilshire Grand posh hotel. This place had 2 main entrances with doormen, 4 major restaurants, a spa, clothes shops, bars, pool, etc. Joan was shocked one morning after paying $24.00 for an omelette breakfast.
One night we were taken out to a downtown renovated men’s department store which is now a hot shot dining place. The Cicada features 30-foot ceilings, giant chandelier, a 2nd story loft plush custom-designed bar and lounge. The 1920s Art Deco styled place features sophisticated Northern Italian food. In the patio/garden area was a couple dining with 2 great Dane sized his / her dogs joining them… Very LA.
On our own we found Ciao Trattoria, award winning / Zagat Rated place where we sat at the bar and drank and ate and watched the World Series. The bartender ended up giving me a whole bottle of ‘Super Tuscan’ wine after my first glass, for it seems the previous night there was a big wine tasting event of the Super Tuscans, and she had several left over and she just kept helping me out. We watched the game with a fellow whose firm designed all the League teams’ retro uniforms during the season, and this man knows his baseball. He knew more about teams and players than ESPN.
One day, we took a $130 City Tour on a little shuttle bus. This turned out to be fantastic experience for us. On our bus we had a young couple from Russia, guy from New Zealand, couple from Split Croatia!!!, a few from USA and some Canadian. We also stopped by an airport hotel and picked up a gentleman wearing an all-white linen suit from Pakistan. What a crew. The Paki kept trying to have a conversation with anyone about playing Cricket!.
So the tour starts out showing us the Rodney King intersection; where the ‘Boyz in da Hood’ area is; then comes into La Playa Del Rey, an old unchanged surfer and hippie beach area; goes into Marina Del Rey with 6,000 small boats in the harbor; up to Venice Beach; Santa Monica; Old downtown LA/Mexico Olvera Street; saw the jail where Paris Hilton was in; then up to Hollywood Blvd.; onto Mulholland Drive; Beverly Hills; Bel Air; Rodeo Drive; and Sunset Strip/Sunset Plaza area; we also the saw the club where Paris Hilton was abused at a few years ago. We also saw the celeb restaurant without any sign or indication in a warehouse type setting, just lacey windows and a single plain door, no name, by reservation only and only referred to as “the door on Sunset”. We stopped about 5-6 times along the way which was nice to let us roam around / take photos, or have snacks.
Three different times we came across different movie filming locations with cameras and tents all around. The buffet lunch tent seemed to be the most interesting place. We saw so many celebrities and movie stars homes, and found 3 spots that were full of paparazzi waiting out front for a sighting. Our driver, who was a crazy South American from Peru, told us that when he stops the bus next to the paparazzi, that we all should start taking photos of them. We did and they yelled at us and gave us the finger several times, then we sped off laughing.
The Homes we saw; Jack Nicholson’s with a tennis court on stilts over the canyon, John Travolta’s with 7 stories down a cliff side, Britney Spears current and her new house being upgraded, Wilt Chamberlains (now Ron Howards), Jennifer Lopez, Meg Ryans – every room has a canyon balcony, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio – solar hallway, Sally Fields, Jermaine Jacksons, Lucille Balls, Oprahs, and even the restroom where George Michel had his incident…. We actually saw old Charlton Heston walking out his back door onto his patio wearing lounge clothes (pajamas)
Here is what we learned – the LA Times is really a good newspaper. |
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