LA, night 2.

Picture 202
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

So, class is good. We went over the schedule and the instructor asked if it sounded good for everyone. He was wondering if we were all in the right class. I was ready to answer - what if we're not? Some of us traveled a fair bit, so we'll deal. Needless to say, the morning was review and the afternoon was pretty intensive. I am going to fill in the blanks here and that should help me in my job hopefully.
During the day though, I was bad. I kept logging on to gmail to check if I had received any email from my LA blogger friends. Indeed I had and we setup a meet at Barney's Beanery on Sunset in Hollywood. I understand Jim Morrison hung out there. Well, I google mapped the place and it stated a 20 minute drive. The locals said it would be 1hr. We were meeting around 7:30, so I took off from El Segundo @ 6:15 to make sure I had enough time. Wow, LA is huge. I did some freeway, but the directions I had put me on surface streets, specifically La Cieniga. Nice drive with little or no heavy traffic. What was weird though was cruising along though dense neighborhoods and then hitting a working oil field. I asked later and they stated that it is the last remaining working oil field in greater LA. Parts of Swordfish the movie were filmed there with Hugh Jackman golfing. I guess oil is more valuable than real estate still. huh.
I got to Hollywood early and drove around a bit. While finding a parking spot, I endure the craziness of LA parking signage. I finally found a spot and headed in. After a couple of brews, my friends showed up and we had a great talk. Dave and Mack are both bloggers for blogging.LA and had some amazing stories. They also had some great advice and guidance for my own blogging. Thanks guys. After some beers and a great Kobe beef burger, Mack led me to Amoeba records. WOW. This is probably the largest record store I have been to and I have been to some of the Virgin stores and the Amoeba in SFO. It was around 10:30, so by the time I found the vinyl and picked out a couple of records for A, it was time to close. I think I actually saw a celebrity there, but couldn't put a name to the face.
The drive home was surreal. I was directed to head down LaBrea all the way to Slauson and almost back to El Segundo. I kept driving and driving, wondering if I had missed the street when suddenly, I came upon it. I ended up back at my corporate hotel around midnight. Monday down, 4 days left of the great LA adventure.


Amoeba


Amoeba


so close to Crenshaw - remember Boyz' n' the hood?