DAY THREE – 17 September 2014
I woke up
a little early this morning, and used the time to take a short walk around the
area before getting breakfast. Once I was cleaned up and packed, we
checked out, put our bags into to car, and cruised back to Cerritos . While the presentation was
the same as it was yesterday, it was a different group it was given to.
Lunch was from the same place, too. Still very tasty. I was
interfacing with clients, so I didn’t have the chance to ask who the caterer
was. We’d put casual clothes in easy access, and quickly changed out of
our business attire. Our destination was Thousand Oaks , and that meant we’d run right
into rush hour traffic. The plan was to head to a place where we could
hang out and wait out the traffic before heading the rest of the way.
Taking
the 605 north from Cerritos , we picked up
Interstate 5, so we could bypass Compton , and
head directly towards downtown Los
Angeles . Yeah, we still ran into some traffic as
we got close to the recognizable skyline.
As we got
closer, I saw a real interesting building that I snapped some pictures
off. It reminded me of a person with a square head. I have no idea
what this was, but it was interesting. Perhaps one of my blog readers can
provide me an answer.
In the
distance I could see the classic “Hollywood ”
sign (which used to read “Hollywoodland” many years earlier) and Griffith
Observatory. Those were both places I’d like to come back to on future
trips.
Reaching Hollywood Blvd , we
passed streets I recall from hearing about from various sources (including a
W.C. Fields skit where Charlie McCarthy commented when Field stood on the
corner of Hollywood
and Vines, dozens of cars waited for his nose to change to green). We
parked at the Hollywood & Highland Center, which was a huge mall in the
area. After discussing what we wanted to do, half my group went over to Madame Tussauds
Wax Museum
Also, the
group I was with went over at Mann’s Chinese Theatre (now known as TCL Chinese
Theatre). I stopped and took a few pictures of some famous footprints of
people I liked, including Bogart, Chuck Heston, and the Star Wars characters.
I took a
shot of the Roy Rogers imprint and sent it to my parents, because I knew they’d
enjoy it.
As we
continued to walk down Hollywood
Blvd , I wasn’t there only person taking pictures
of stuff, so I didn’t feel like a “marked tourist.” There were even
people hanging about in Marvel costumes too. I took shots of other star
as I came across ones that interested me. We went a couple blocks,
crossed to the other side of the street, and went a few more blocks in the
opposite direction.
In the
end I took a couple dozen shots of various stars I liked. The trick was
to stop, focus, and then capture the image quick enough that I didn’t disrupt
the pedestrian traffic. Also, it allowed me to stay with my group, who
were pointing out things but now slowing down too much.
We went
into a couple stores which were selling pop-culture paraphernalia, like
statues, posters, shirts, and the like. We saw a bunch of Emmy statues
with a bunch of interesting “Best” phrases, like spouse, girlfriend, etc.
We wanted to find one which said “Best Agent,” so we could bring one back to
the team. Of course, when we found a couple of rather rude ones, we all
got a laugh about it.
There was
a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not theatre present here. While there wasn’t
time to poke around there, we did have some fun with the statue of Bumblebee
which was there.
Continuing
further down, we passed a location of the Church of Scientology
Anyway, I
took a picture of the front of this place, and sent it to Henry telling that
after I had my Thetans checked, I decided to join up. I know that was
enough to make him pause and/or have a nightmare.
Once we’d
circled back around and come back to the mall, we rejoined the rest of our
group. Venturing inside Highland
Center
Pretty
much I was told that any candy could be obtained here, no matter where in the
world it was made. I then began a mad hunt around the displays looking
for something in particular. My target item wasn’t over near the Doctor
Who-themed candy where I expected it could be, so I asked a person at the
counter. “Do you have any jelly babies?” He pointed they’re either
with the gummy candies over there, or in the loose candy bins on the other side
of the store. A quick scour of the gummy area showed they weren’t there,
so I bee-lined to the other locale…
…To find
they were gone. All gone. I saw the section where they were, but it
was completely empty. Bummer. I was hoping to get some. These
were the candies eaten by the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), and the only times
I’ve been able to have any were at two Who conventions I happened to go to in
the late 1980s.
I
mentioned to my co-workers that I wasn’t able to locate what I was looking for,
and happened to say what they were. The lady who was checking out in
front of us turned around and commented that’s because she bought them
all. Turns out there was going to be a Doctor Who Day at Disney, and
since her husband was going as the Fourth Doctor, she grabbed all the jelly
babies she could find. Ah, I was so close!
Now, she
did offer to give me one or two the nibble on. I politely declined that,
only because I wanted to be able to bring some back for some of the Who fans
back in the office. That was really nice of her. My co-workers
decided to make a funny story about it, saying that I met a woman who offered
to let me eat one of her babies. I’m sure that story was met with a
“well, I’m not surprised” response as it went around the work gossip
mill. Grin.
After
that, it was time to start making our way westward to our next hotel, and to
get dinner along the way. There was a specific location in mind which we
were heading for. Once again as a passenger, it gave me the opportunity
to look around the area as we went from Hollywood Blvd , over to Santa Monica Blvd ,
and through Beverly Hills .
This was certainly a nice place to look at, but I think the smallest garden
shack was still outside of my price range.
Crossing
the 405, we then passed through Pacific Palisades around dusk. Even
though we were then picking up PCH to continue north, I’d missed my opportunity
to see the sunset over the Pacific Ocean .
I got to see the afterglow. That would have to do on this trip.
Since I was able to dip my feet in the ocean yesterday, I hoped to see the
actual sunset here on a subsequent trip.
We soon
arrived at our dinner location, a well-known Malibu landmark restaurant called Duke’s.
If you want a bar dedicated to surfing, this is your place. Surfboards
and pictures of famous surfers decorated the area.
What I
thought was much more interesting was the design of the building. The
long shape and large windows meant just about every table had a view of the
waves crashing in from the ocean. Since it was after dark, only a section
out to a couple dozen feet or so were illuminated by lamps. When it’s
light out, patrons would have a clear view of the horizon. This would’ve
been an awesome place to watch the sunset.
Using my
own money (and not the work expense account), I joined my co-workers of getting
some drinks from the bar. While there was a rum punch available, I went
for a concoction called the Lava Flow. It was fabulous! The meal we
had there was awesome, and my co-workers and I enjoyed the hang-out time we
had. Well, when the boss makes a suggestion for a course of action,
including (but limited to) getting a drink from the bar, that’s a directive I
can follow.
From
Duke’s it was only a short distance over the Santa
Monica Mountains to
reach the 101 (also known as Ventura
Highway ), which would bring us to our hotel near Thousand Oaks . We
passed a field which had a large amount of American flags on poles
displayed. As it was after dark, it was hard to see what exactly was
going on there. The picture I took didn’t come out very well. I
chalked that up to a mystery item which I’d research later.
The hotel
was a welcome site, and that had nothing to do with the liquor and Irish pub
across the street. It was getting late, and many of us were still on
Central time. We still wanted to get some sleep before the next day’s
seminar.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Hollywoodland
Sign: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Sign
Madame
Tussauds: http://www.madametussauds.com/hollywood/
Mann’s
Chinese Theatre: http://www.tclchinesetheatres.com/
L. Ron
Hubbard: http://www.lronhubbard.org/#/timeline-home
Jedism: http://www.jedichurch.org/
Sweet’s
Candy Store: http://sweetlosangeles.com/
Jelly
Babies: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Jelly_baby
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