Ridiculous, unbelievable traffic.
Tourists.
Smog.
Fires, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Lack of parking.
Mountain Lions and
Strange people everywhere you look.

WHY on earth would anyone want to live somewhere like this; the second largest city in the U.S.?
Why would they want the the Pacific Ocean, the Majestic Mountains or the Picturesque Deserts practically in their backyards?
Who’d enjoy the laid-back lifestyles of attitude and dress?
And the people; an amazing blend of cultural and ethnic diversity, who wants that?
Then there’s the beyond amazing amount of restaurants; you name it, it’s there plus hundreds of others, who can deal with that?
Let’s not forget those healthily-inclined who are everywhere; walkers, joggers, runners, skaters, sidewalk surfers, bikers. ugh what an annoyance that could be.
And the attitude of the filthy rich, heard it’s terrible, who wants to deal with that nonsense?
Plus barefoot people of every age with surfboards tucked under their arms, zipping across the middle of streets and headed for the waves…..what a nuisance.
And lastly, the weather.
I mean, wouldn’t perfect Mediterranean weather all year round get on your nerves?

So why does anyone live there?
I don’t get it……………………………

We spent the Fourth-of-July in Los Angeles and while I don’t THINK I’d ever want to live there…..think!
Well…..maybe I would!

Fourth-of-July is a good memory from my childhood; my favorite cousin Ginger and I sat on blankets in Bishop Park.
We oohd and ahhhd at the fireworks and had so much fun making designs in the air with our sparklers.
Those were perfect nights and I still smile when I think of them.

And though I’ll never forget those great evenings, this year’s Fourth-of-July is up there on the top.
We did what we’d been told is the quintessential way to spend the Fourth in L.A.
We brought food from a local Jewish Deli and sat amongst thousands of happy people at the Hollywood Bowl, all there together to celebrate.
And guess what?
They were allowed to bring in their own alcohol!
Spending an evening with thousands of laid back people drinking alcohol and seeing not one disturbance was pretty amazing.
The acoustics were the best and the sound of the L.A. orchestra along with the Air Force Band playing patriotic songs just made you want to stand up and cheer…..and we did!

And then out came Pentatonix.
I’d only heard of them because my grandson, Bobby said he liked them.
I don’t care for a cappella.
I don’t care for people who sing Elvis songs and I really don’t care for people who sing Elvis songs a cappella.
I’m kinda lost for words to say how wrong I was.
They were amazing,
If ever you get a chance to see them, me who doesn’t care for a cappella would tell you to go.

And then, of course fireworks that coordinated with the Air Force band…..beyond beautiful.

It was a perfect evening, everyone was courteous and happy and no one was in a hurry.

………………………………………………………

This was a little L.A. trip we’d planned a few months ago with friends who grew up in L.A.

Anyone can be a tourist and enjoy the iconic sights of L.A.
I wanted to see those places from the eyes of a local but, I also wanted something a little bit different.
I love all the tourist things but this time I also wanted to see the innards; the stuff only locals know about.
Where’d they grow up?
Where were the houses and schools?
What were the neighborhoods like?
What did they do, where’d they hang out?

When I was a teenager, I wanted to live in L.A. oh SO bad.
So I asked our friends for a tour to give my teenaged heart a visual and a feel for what it would have been like to grow up in L.A.
They agreed to my strange request and accepted the challenge of taking us way back.
They had a couple months to put it all together………………………………

We hooked-up on a Monday afternoon at our hotel, quickly checked-in and took our luggage to our rooms.

Shortly after we arrived we were in the tour car, (tips accepted) and our tour guides…..Ron at the Wheel and Jane with her Finger On the Pulse (of her iPhone), were showin’ us their L.A.

It was late afternoon but they’d planned a kind of quick zip around to give us just a taste of what we’d be doing, some of it touristy, some of it local.

We were too late to tour The Gamble House but we walked the huge wrap around porch which was wrapped around a mammoth house and window peeked a bit.
This was the Gamble of Proctor and Gamble.
You should see what us buying their soaps and products bought them!

We also took a ride around PART of Griffith Park, one of the largest parks in the U.S..
I guess kinda like Central Park has in New York.
It was beautiful with a zoo, pony rides, merry-go-round and much more, plus the famous Griffith Observatory.

Then it was time to eat.
We went to their old neighborhood Mexican Restaurant that’s been in the same spot for over 50 years and the food was fantastic and apparently lots of people know about this place, it was loaded.

Our tour guides took us for a ride down Hollywood Boulevard where so much reminded us of the movie industry and film heritage.

Next a few short Canyon drives.
We were told they were just teasers for the next day.

Back to our rooms for a great night of sleep on amazingly comfortable hotel beds.

Next morning it was Bagels and Coffee and on our way for a day of sight seeing.

We saw the houses, schools and neighborhoods of the kids of L.A.

We drove through Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Brentwood and had Fish & Chips in Santa Monica, best we ever had!

Stopped at their romantic go-to where we bought the best Onion Rings on the earth, and took them to Griffith Park to eat.
And, they WERE the best on the earth!

We saw Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Disney, ABC, CBS and The Burbank Studio where Johnny Carson did his nightly Tonight Shows.

We drove by McArthur’s Park, the real one where lots of movies have been and are still being made.

We admired some Frank Lloyd Wright homes but, the homes that drove me nuts were the ones in the different Canyons.
The streets were so narrow, I wondered about the fire trucks and the houses…..hundreds and hundreds of houses, each one more beautiful than the last all built on the side of the Canyons and no two alike.
We marveled at them and wondered how the heck they got built there?

Prince had a home straight up at the end of the street where my girlfriend lived.
Paul Newman was around the corner.
She said a package was delivered to them by mistake one day meant for the Newman household.
My girlfriend walked it over determined to see him and hand him the package herself, but disappointed when it was only one of the people that worked in the house that took it from her.

Paul McCartney still owns a house around the corner and across the street and behind a beautiful iron gate where the path is covered with amazing trees and beautiful flowers and growth. I could just imagine the house.

A few other close-by homes owned by entertainers were James Darren, Lucille Ball, Debbie Reynolds and her daughter Carrie Fisher.
I recently watched a film about Debbie & Carrie and it was just so weird to see the house, just like in the film.
We also saw WHERE Harry Houdini’s house was but couldn’t see the house.
His thing was escaping and disappearing…..guess he took his house with him!

Down a real tight path and into the trees (and SO romantic looking) we saw where Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne lived and Frank Zappa too and probably where so much music was created.

And the house right on the street where The Ventures practiced.
Maybe the narrow, winding mountain roads is where “Walk Don’t Run” came from?

We drove past Nat King Cole’s home and the home of Xavier Cougart & his wife “Coochie, Coochie”, what’s-her-name……Charo.

Lon Chaney’s house was built into the hill but right out on the street and HUGE.

We also saw the house Michael Jackson was in when he died and the hotel where it ended for John Belushi.

We drove “Dead Man’s Curve,” the one Jan and Dean sang about.

We drove through Inglewood, I wanted to FEEL “The Beach Boys.”
Yep, I could hear them singing!
Oh and we saw Al Jardeen’s home.

We saw the famous Beverly Hills Hotel, the one we’ve seen in so many movies.

We drove through China Town, another site for movies.

We walked around in Union Station, L.A.’s railroad terminal and again a place where many, many movies are shot.

And in Griffith Park, way up at the top of the hill, parts of “Rebel Without A Cause” a famous James Dean movie and scenes from “La La Land” were filmed.

We drove past that little open tram that took the stars from “La La Land” up the hill almost as high as the stars in the sky.

We also stopped in and walked around inside “Philippe’s, The Original French Dip Sandwich,” place just to experience it.
Sawdust floor, people lined up forever and oh the food that I could see.

But, we weren’t hungry as we’d had lunch at another old, forever established Jewish Deli and oh the Pastrami on Rye!!!!!

The San Gabriel Mountains are beautiful beyond what I can tell you.

And shopping?
Well Beverly Hills blew my mind (what little I have left!).
We walked two outside Malls that were combinations of shops, restaurants, parks and just places to walk, and amazingly beautiful.

“The Americana At Brand” in Glendale had a huge chandelier hanging across the middle of the street at the entrance and the rest of it was just as grand.

My favorite was The Grove, an outside mall where Mario Lopez used to do his nightly TV show, “EXTRA.”
It’s frustrating to paint the picture, but I’ll try…..
Perfectly manicured green grassy park areas, beautiful, unique trees with their leaves making a ceiling of shade and breath-taking flowers of every color everywhere.
Alcoves loaded with shops where just what they had in the windows on display made me drool, a full sized train slowly riding people around where they could hop on and off at will, great smells of food coming from everywhere, and happy people all around….now times that by hundreds and that was The Grove.

BUT, it got even more amazing as we kinda just walked across a small pathway which was connected to The Grove and we were then in L.A.’s original Farmer’s Market.
Now I’m really lost for words.
I’m sitting here shruggin’ my shoulders….how do I tell you about this place?
It was an outside market with a roof but no walls.
And it was old, very, very old which gave it an amazing feel, like you just stepped back into a time gone by.
Again, another place where many movies have been shot.
EVERY imaginable kind of food in the WORLD was there, waiting for you to buy and eat there or take home.
It was rows and rows of food that made you want to just stop right there and never leave, eat til you exploded!
Lobo remarked that if we lived near there…..we’d NEVER, EVER cook again.
It was HUGE and if you couldn’t find it in there…..it didn’t exist…..I mean HUGE!
I think I could spend a week in there and still not see it all.

Onward.

We stopped at Leo Carrillo State Beach (“Pancho” from “The Cisco Kid”) just to look at the water and the beautiful waves that were slapping up against the rocks and the shore.

On to The Getty Villa where we spent time and were fascinated at the displays and again, it would take a week to see it all.

Next, The Getty Museum where we chose to just walk around outside and be blown away by the gardens and the views.

The buildings are all stark white and high up on a hill overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean.
A tram rode us slowly up the hill where everything we saw was beyond anything I can describe.
Start with beautiful and huge and let your imagination take it from there.
Another place that would take a week to tour and feel like you saw SOME of it.

At this point, I need to stop and honor Mr Getty.
He was once the richest man in the WORLD.
He didn’t have to share but he did and his treasures are on display for all of us to enjoy and appreciate.
Those buildings, what they hold inside and the beauty that surrounds them all were put there for US to enjoy.
Thank you, Mr Getty.

We watched the sun dip into the Pacific, had an ice cream cone from Bengees in Pasadena and our whirlwind Fourth-of-July in L.A. came to an end.

What we found on this amazing adventure was yep, all that negative stuff is true about L.A. and probably way more than I even mentioned but…..
there’s an L.A. that can blow-your-mind, that’s exactly what I was looking for and that’s exactly what we saw.