Rendevouz At The Roosevelt or It's Too Late For Sharon Tate

May 19 2017

So as it turns out this week is 'screening season' in Los Angeles.  It's when the studios and networks screen all of their latest offerings to international buyers and acquisition types.

One of those types is old mate EG who I worked with for a few years at Fox Studios in Sydney and is now ponying up as an exec in Old Blighty.  (That's England in case you didn't know).  Well to be more specific in this case, London.

After a few days of back and forth we finally managed to meet up at the Roosevelt Hotel where she's staying.  What a great night.  First we started off at one of the many, many bars at the Roosevelt, a swanky hotel with a very rich Hollywood history.  It's also named after the guy they named the Teddy Bear after.  Doesn't get much cooler, really.

It was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in 1926, and was bankrolled by none other than a group helmed by Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Sid Grauman.  It's the longest running hotel in Los Angeles and its ballroom was also the site of the very first Academy Awards.   Here's a shot of Pickford, Fairbanks and Grauman across the road, getting cement under their fingernails at some famous theater LOL.  Look vaguely familiar?

EG and I were hardly wetting our hands in the cement, but what a great place to start our catch up, in what turned out to be a night studded with pop culture references and ye olde glamour.  We were in what I think was called the Library Bar.  Being a tee-totaller that would usually put me in the wrong place, at the right time, but our barkeep made a homemade Ginger Beer that was metaphorically to die for.

We snuck out to a local drugstore to get cigs and couldn't help but snap a nice little shot with the old fashioned neon liquor sign in the background.  And a few palm trees to boot.  Funny, surrounded by all that glamour and I manage to selfie next to blocks of cement and chicken wire.  Go figure....

It had been so long between 'drinks' and there was a lot of stuff to catch up on since we'd last seen each other.  I'll always make time for my Elvis-lovin' old bean!

After meeting with a few of her friends in the bar, they've gotta take off, so we're left to our own devices for dinner.

I've got the perfect spot.

El Coyote in Fairfax is a Mexican restaurant which has been running since 1931.  It always seems full, which is a good sign.  The kookiest part of this place is it's the last place that Sharon Tate ate a meal, before she met her gruesome end at the hands of the acid-riddled psycho-giggling murder gaggle otherwise known as The Manson Family.

"We HAVE to eat there" .. EG proclaims.

I've got no problem with that either ... WE'RE IN!!

After waiting for ages, then struggling to take a photo under the neon light (you know, that thing where the camera wants to focus on the light, and not on you?) we end up getting an outside table.

We were never going to get the Tate booth, they just don't take bookings for less than 6 people, as I found out earlier that night.  Bugger.

Still, the waiter was super attentive and helpful.  The food was brilliant and it was just a super fun night from start to end.

Before we get stuck into El Coyote's brilliant dishes I find out that EG's never had Poppers (deep fried crumbed jalapenos filled with cream cheese) before.  It might be too late for Sharon Tate, but not for us. (Couldn't resist, sorry).  Neither of us are chilli fans but there's no way we're leaving until she's tried one!   Soooo GOOOOODDD!!!!

I escort EG back to her hotel.  Before I let her split back into her room for another gruelling day of screenings we've just got to check out the pool bar.  It's apparently a 'happening thing'.  There's a David Hockney mural on the bottom of the pool floor but just couldn't get it without a selfie stick (and at this point I'm too cool to take that route).

One of the best nights I've had in ages, with a super awesome girl.  Now I'm hanging out until the next screening season! 

#california #losangeles #sabbatical #hotelroosevelt #sharontate #marypickford #douglasfairbanksjr #sydgrauman #graumanschinesetheatre #drugstore #gingerbeer #elcoyote #sharontate #themansonfamily #friendship

PUPUSAS!!

May 16 2017

PUPUSAS!!  If you have never heard of these, you're missing out!  They're a delicious doughy meal that originated in El Salvador.  It's like a meat and or cheese filled tortilla.  They're served with a bit of a watery chilli salad that perfectly complements the texture of this tasty treat.

My airbnb host recommended this excellent restaurant even though there were closer ones to the house.  I dragged old mate VR down there with me to check it out. 

He doesn't like plantains but I do.  So I ate the whole plate by myself.

I'll be back!

Standing outside the Faultline enjoying some Out-Standing food

May 15 2017

I've been in los angeles two months now and there's no sign of me getting sick of eating Mexican food.  I haven't even started.  The food trucks are everywhere, sometimes they're not even a truck.  They're just loaded up on the pavement with a generator (or an open coal fire) and they're just doing what they do best.

I'd been at the faultline for a few drinks .. non alcoholic of course!  I was ready to head  home then I saw these crunchy deep fried quesadillas and I couldn't help myself.

So I'm just parked up on the street eating one of the items on the far right of the above picture.  Then the owner of the stall kind of gets in front of me and starts spouting something in Spanish.  I can only pick up pieces of what he's saying but he seems kind of upset.  He's standing right in front of me and talking to the other people at the stall.  I guess he's complaining that I'm just sitting there eating the food and not making eye contact. Or something?  Go figure.  Just let me eat my goddamn quesadilla mister.  It's not like I didn't pay for it.

Anway I'm just looking at the ground trying to mind my own business and I'm totally consumed by how amazing this food is.

When I'm done I go to the lady that served me and gushed enthusiastically about how great the food was and what a great job they're doing.  That guy that was going a little crazy seemed very sheepish all of a sudden.  So I guess I'm doing better at translating Spanish than I'd previously guessed.  But boy, I've got a long way to go.

Now for a gratuitous condiment shot.

And just for the record, here's the grill these streetside stalls make their food on.  To die for.  Plus, couldn't resist getting that flattened out Coke box on the ground in the shot!

The Eagle's New Old Re-Design

May 14 2017

So my favourite watering hole in LA is Silver Lake's Eagle LA.  Great bar, but it's no secret why I picked this spot.  Yup, it has an outdoor smoking area.  And hardly a twink in sight.

Usually you have to enter through the carpark-y entrance to the side, but tonight the bar is actually accessible through the front door.  WT???  That door's never open!

So as it turns out there's some plumbing issues going on behind the circular bar and they're doing a no-design re-design.  That is, they're just replacing the plumbing then putting a new bar in which is identical to the old bar.  I guess the more things change the more they stay the same!

Here's me in the unused part of the bar with Charlie, one of the co-owners and general all round great guy:

So what's particularly cool about this bar while it's being remodelled is that the little bar to the side is still open, and I love that, all of a sudden it feels like one of those bars popularised in 'Cheers'.

What's even cooler is that the DJ is still spinning his tunes in the old bar, which seems so very surreal.  Seeing as there's nobody in the bar!  The DJs here are always great, sometimes playing some very obscure but cool tracks, so I thought I'd give props to the DJ playing in the 'other room'.  Good job, mister.

Yep, those are flames licking up at the DJ booth.

So in as much as the new design will completely replicate the old design, I'm happy with that.  Some would say that this was a great opportunity to add a new flavour to the bar, but if it aint broken, don't fix it!

#california #losangeles #eaglela #redesignolddesign #propstothedj

Secret Pop Up Coffee Experience

May 13 2017

My mate VR has some friends that are living in the LA Arts District, the new hip up and coming area within DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles).

His friends are actually furniture designers, but once a month they hold a pop up coffee shop in the front space of their factory loft for friends and clients.

It's a secret spot, unavailable to the public without invitation, so of course I jumped at the chance to visit somewhere nobody else is allowed to go.

The spread is pretty simple: a box of donuts and pressed coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The barista gives us a complete rundown of their coffee filtration style, origin of beans, etc. etc.

To be frank I'm a huge fan of coffee.  Drinking it, that is.  Where it comes from, where it was made, how much the growers got, it doesn't really float my bean.  It's now my drug of choice, so much so, that I could honestly drink an espresso at 1am and then hit the hay.  It seems now more than ever a lot of people have a "no coffee after 5pm" policy which I think is pretty wussy.  Each to their own, though, of course!

The coffee starts out hot but is put through a series of trendy glass beakers reminiscent of the high school science laboratory before serving.  If it were me, I probably would have heated those glass beakers with hot water first, as it seems the heat came straight out of the coffee and was lukewarm by the time it was served.

However it was free, so there's no way I'm complaining privately about the temperature of the coffee.  Only in public.

The coffee did taste pretty spectacular though, and after inspecting some of the designers' amazing furtniture out the back, and chatting with some of the other patrons, we headed out to meet up with old mate DA in Bunker Hill.

We had to walk past a million stands selling all kinds of Mexican streetfood.  Each bacon wrapped hot dog smelled better than the last, so it was an unusual, self-inflicted kind of torture.

Of course I now have bragging rights to a secret pop up coffee in experience in DTLA for which I will be forever grateful.

Rocking LA with the Brasileiro

May 8 2017

I'm staying in an airbnb and while most of the people that come along are pretty friendly, I clicked in particular with VR, a very cool guy from Brazil.

We'd been hanging out a bit, talking, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and listening to Tame Impala .. the usual stuff.  He hadn't really ventured into downtown LA by day (beyond our foreposted trip to the Japanese Village) so we thought we'd do the touristy thing and check out some of the stuff down there.

We're not technically on Route 66, but we're both rock'n'roll guys, so this seems the most likely place to get our kicks, photo-wise.

We head down to City Hall, to see whether or not it can be fought.  It can't.  But you can take a picture of yourself on the dais, so I figure I'll sum up the zeitgeist of our times: dictatorship (whether real, or imagined .. after all we live in an oligarchy, not a democracy) and strike my best pose.

The view from the top is pretty impressive.  I love that LA is all-sprawl.  There's something great about having a view of the sky from anywhere in the city.  I wonder how long it will last.  It's nice to have a city that doesn't cast shadows on every corner for miles and miles from the centre.

Next stop, the oldest street in Los Angeles: Calle Olvera ... or to the white folks, Olvera Street.  It was saved from demolition in the 1920s with the idea of turning the area into a traditional Mexican style market place.  It had been up to that time dominated by Mexican and Sicilian and Chinese populations.  The Chinese moved on to nearby present day Chinatown to make way for Union Station, our next stop.

There are some beautiful craft stalls, but I'm taken aback by the hand painted tiles.  It's a little obsession of mine.  Don't ask me why because I have no idea what that's about.

After tucking into some fish and chips in China Town, which were decidedly not very Chinese at all (I'm not so fond of Chinese food) we checked out Union Station.  I'm sure we took photos but I can't find them, so ... sorry.

On the way home though we past a beautiful old mid century building covered in the most impressive mosaics I had seen in some time ... again, the tile thing.

I think you'll understand why I loved these so much.  So much detail and colour.  What's not to love?  Still very much loving LA.

Japanese Village Take Two

May 5 2017

Frustrated with our earlier attempt to get some good Japanese food, I hike down to the Japanese Village again for sashimi, take two.  I ask DA if he wants to come and join my new roomie VR to give it another go.

On the way to the village we happen to walk past a K-Pop festival.  That's Korean POP for the uninitiated, and it's actually very cool.  A little too cool, it starts to rain.  I feel bad for the organisers, but, hey: that's life in the big city.  We had no idea it was on... the things you find when you crawl out of the cocoon, huh?  Yes, that's right!  Get off your computer.  Put down your phone.  GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!  NOW!  (after you read this, of course).

It's a little bit chilly out.  Then we turn a corner, and there's the Challenger Space Shuttle!  I'd actually seen it a few years back while in LA, being driven down the road on a very wide truck trailer.  I repeat, these are the things outside your house that you're missing because you live in a cocoon.

We found a great place to eat, the boys had Ramen and Bento, but I was hellbent on getting some raw tuna.  It went down a treat, was very reasonably priced, and we weren't ripped off like we had been the other night.  VR gives it the thumbs up!  Moving-fingers-Brazilian-style.

DA and I want to show VR the bacon donuts, but I dunno, like a lot of things, the first time is the best, and I'm just not in the mood anymore, they've lost their shine.  We do have a geezer around the village and there's some very cool things to see.

Like the reflection of this 1950s astronaut from a Japanese film in the window of a manga store:

 And some uber-cool Edo Period prints for sale in the local Japanese supermarket

Let your fish flag fly!  Then there's those frustrating vending machines where you can spend $100 buying some dumb cute plush toy that would only cost $5, except for the fact that this game is TOTALLY RIGGED!!! LOL  I mean are your kids going to be really thrilled that you bought them a plush loaf of bread?? (it's possible...)

It was a pretty fun night all in all, I got my raw fish, and I'm satisfied.