Learn to swim…
…see you down in Arizona bay.
Took a trip to Los Angeles Sunday. A whirlwind short tour. A happy, warm, breathless tour. Whisked to a trendy, we-have-attitude sort of organic cafe. Spent $11 just on a fancy grilled cheese sandwich.
Drove down Sunset, enjoying the breeze in the warm afternoon. Went to Santa Monica to watch the sunset over the ocean.
Friends and former coworkers Kyle and Mel work about an hour away from LA, and were gracious enough to take us on a tour.
Kyle got up long enough for us to crash after our insane middle-of-the-night drive.
Awoke to see the view of the foothills in Riverside out the balcony window. Another window has a view of snowcapped mountains.
We didn’t believe Kyle when he said it was 85 degrees. Until we were there. It was beautiful and warm, and not a cloud in sight.
Kyle and Mel took us to the Kodak Theater and took lots of pictures. Then we walked down to the Chinese Theater of the handprint and footprint fame. Saw William Shatner’s star, and then the imprints of all the original Star Trek crew. Leonard Nimoy’s handprint was in the famous Vulcan salute.
After doing the tourist thing (including getting a picture of the Hollywood sign far in the background, and a picture where Kyle tried to get Heather and me in the same frame as an imperial storm trooper without paying any money), we headed down to Santa Monica.
Though LA was sunny and warm, by the time we got to the Santa Monica pier, it was getting cool and dark, and the shore was blanketed in fog. We didn’t get a glorious first view of the ocean.
A brisk walk in the sand brought us to a bubble guy. A little grizzly, and probably makes his living out of providing joy to others. He had a bubble machine which showered the area in cascades of the shining spheres. Kyle caught some great photos of the bubbles in the waning light.
We also walked into the carnival atmosphere of the pier, with vendors selling name paintings or tourist trinkets to shooting games of chance. Pay $5 to perhaps win a toy!
Mel and I went on the rollercoaster in the dark, while Heather and Kyle stayed behind. We could’ve saved the $4.50, I suppose, but it’d been a long time since either of us had been on a coaster, and it was a lot of fun. It felt like late summer, and like we didn’t have any cares. No job. No worries. Kyle and Mel say it kind of feels like they’re on vacation every day.
Then when Heather and I drove back the next day, it was still warm, until we hit a curtain of clouds just near Bakersfield, presumably where the Valley begins trapping all the fog and clouds during the winter. And it was cold!
But before that, we stopped at a place called Vista del Lago, I think, near Pyramid Lake and marveled at the mountains framing the lake.
But by the time we got home, we had to put our jackets back on and resign ourselves to the chill and clouds. Don’t you feel sorry for us.
Of course, yesterday was also marvelous. Very sunny and warm. Today it chilled back down and rained a bit.
Here are some of the pictures taken by the talented photographer and designer Kyle.
Mel takes a picture of Mel B., Heather and Kyle. You can see the Hollywood sign in the background if you look very very closely.
Heather does Hollywood with attitude.
Acting like a fool, trying to catch bubbles.
Mel B. and Mel enjoying the bubbles some more.
I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves… and nice pix!! hahaha!
It will be warm in Fresno soon. don’t worry!
You are such a TREKKIE. I’m surprised that you didn’t get a picture taken posed near Nimoy’s Vulcan salute.
Seriously, Shatner really isn’t a great star. What other stars did you see, or did you spend all your time salivating over Nimory and Shat-ner?
I was all pictured out. That’s why. Shatner is not my idol (and Nimoy I like a lot more) but I do have a fondness for Shatner’s new album, Has Been. I’ll have to write about it soon. It made me change my outlook on him entirely. It was lovely, and eclectic, funny and often emotional. So don’t knock the Shatner.
There were just a lot of different stars there on the walk. Many of which I didn’t recognize. Heather, for instance, had her picture taken with Wayne Newton’s star as an injoke with her mother.
There were a lot more interesting things to look at when we looked at all the imprints in the cement. Interesting to see the marks of people long gone, and often forgotten by everyone, except for a few diehards and the cement.
So even a star can fade over time? That’s interesting in light of how most of us think of stars–you probably are forced to recognize this fact even as you gaze at Shatner and Nimoy’s stars. Complicates things.
You should talk to Matt a bit about Shatner’s cd. He’s a fan. I just don’t have much of sense of humor for such thing I must admit. I, too, prefer Nimoy
Todd, such a smartass… But the whole fading over time thing–literally and figuratively, was interesting, esp. next to the incessant worshipping of fame. For instance, all along the pavement in the Kodak theater were these squares in the pavement, drawn out like a path or a long piece of film or something, who knows, and inscribed in some of them were vignettes of how people made it big. Typical: “I was washing dishes, and this director noticed me. Things got better after that. Famous star.” I don’t know if there was some sort of key that showed who all of these quotes were from, but I found it interesting that a) we were expected to care of such things and b) that this was presented as something everybody wants, the happy end to a hard story, this fame business. Esp. after seeing the hand- and footprints in front of the chinese theater, and many, for me anyway, and esp. those dating back to the 20s, were indeed people long forgotten.
I agree with Heather. Not everyone wants to be a star. But many of us connect on some level with our stars. We idolize them. We look at their extravagant lifestyles. It gives us all something to look up to, if not look forward to. It keeps the masses happy.
Why do you think there’s such a booming trade in entertainment tabloids and TV? It gives the masses something to think about, to forget about their own dull lives.
The actors on Star Trek took us on science fiction fantasy with every episode, every movie, dealing with ethical situations in an attempt to make a point. But at the same time, while absorbing these lessons, we also escape. By watching TV or movies, we leave our reality for a time.
That’s why there’s such a booming tourist trade down in LA. Because there’s the chance that perhaps you will bump into your favorite star down the street, in a cafe or in a club.
That’s why the names in the stars can be so alluring. Why people want to have their pictures taken with Shatner’s star as a cheese tribute to a cheesy actor. (Again, saying I respect him more these days)
Why people are fascinated by imprints of actors that may be past their prime, even dead. Why people like to read about actors down on their luck. Look, they’re just normal people.
One of Shatner’s songs is about how the person he played on Star Trek, presumably, just isn’t him. That he’s flattered sometimes by the attention, but that there’s a part of him in the characters he plays, but it’s not him.
Actors eat, sleep, breathe, shit just like everyone else. But by being absorbed by the magic of stardom, we can forget that, and dream of a better world for ourselves.
And again, as Heather said, many of those people are long forgotten. I find it more interesting to see all the people I’d never heard of, and think, how sad. But they still live on, and the physical impression of people long gone still remains.
There’s no fading in cement.