After driving to Texas last January I came to the all-to-obvious conclusion that south for the winter is the way to go. Four years ago, I visited New York in February and, while still a good trip, the weather puts restrictions on what you can do.
My first two thoughts for this year were Miami or New Orleans, neither of which I’ve ever been to. A third option of Los Angeles ultimately won out, however, as it seemed a higher travel priority. I had been twice before, but, like D.C. last summer, not since I was in middle school. Once the decision was made, I spent a week or two planning and booking flight, lodging, and a rental car. Beyond that, I only had a rough itinerary and figured I could improvise once I got there.
There was some concern as time for the trip approached that the government shutdown could cause issues at airports. But not only did I have no line flying out of Wichita, even flying home from Los Angeles had no wait time.
The first thing I did when I arrived in LA was buy a pass for the Metro bus and rail system. This was on Tuesday and I had my rental car booked for Friday. I didn’t want to have to hassle to park everywhere in the thick of LA so this seemed like the right call and I still think it was. Though it’s not fun spending over an hour on buses and trains to move 10-15 miles with a heavy bag strapped on your back. Always trying to keep costs down, I only took about 4 Lyfts during the trip, but I would say the more you’re carrying, the more they make sense. It’s just a quality of life expense.
For my first stop, I ended up in downtown LA at the Grand Central Market, where I ate. I actually ordered from a Japanese counter, getting a simple pork and rice dish. In my mind, it was a little preview of the 2020 trip I hope to be able to take.
I should also say that it rained constantly the first three days I was in Los Angeles. I was never happier to have a new, functioning umbrella which I had fortunately brought with me. Everyone who learned I was from out of town commented on how unusual the weather was for LA.
I checked seamlessly into my airbnb and headed to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, a comedy venue just east of the Hollywood area. One of my favorite podcasts (Doug Loves Movies) was recording that night at what is essentially his home base. I’ve heard dozens of episodes recorded at that location. I hadn’t bought a ticket ahead of time just in case I wasn’t able to make it, but had no problem getting in and sat in the second row. It’s a small space with maybe a hundred seats max. The guests sat on a low stage just 15 feet from me. It made it the funniest and most enjoyable episode I’d heard–just being right there and seeing every expression. It was the third time I’d been to a recording of his podcast, but this was just by far a more intimate venue. Great first day in LA, rain or not.
Wednesday got off to a great start as well. Paramount Studios was just a half mile walk from my airbnb–a fact I hadn’t even realized until the day before I left. I had even rewatched Sunset Blvd. on New Year’s Eve not realizing I’d soon be walking through the iconic gate featured in the film. The tour lasted about two hours and was just two other guys and myself being escorted around the massive lot by a page on a golf cart. It was fine, but the props and Oscars they had set up in the lobby were better than most of the tour itself. We did visit the set of the Netflix show Grace and Frankie so I figure I ought to start watching it now that I’m home.
Right next door to Paramount Studios is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, so I took a brief walk through there before catching a bus up to Hollywood Blvd. This was probably the biggest eye-opener of the whole trip. It tends to be news when a celebrity gets their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but it’s a touristy and very dirty area. It also extends for miles, so there’s no shortage of stars. Many are still empty and there’s tons of space where more could be added. But many are cracked and in areas where the homeless congregate. The block with Grauman’s Chinese Theater is a little cleaner and has a large shopping area connected to it. This is the place where all the handprints and footprints are.
From there I went by UCLA’s campus before taking a Lyft to the Getty Museum. Again, most of the day was spent under an umbrella and my feet had been soaked for hours by the time I finally got back to my aribnb. While I did a good job bringing the umbrella, some boots or anything better than old running shoes would have been smart!
On Thursday, as it was still raining, I went back to the Chinese Theater to watch a movie. The main old theater just has one giant IMAX screen (there are more screens in the adjacent mall). It was showing the documentary Free Solo. The theater holds over 900, but there were probably barely 20 people at the screening. One of them, however, was Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt! I almost bumped into her in the lobby as she was showing a couple of friends around. They sat just a couple rows in front of me and a few seats to the left. I thought it was funny when a tour group came through before the movie started and had no idea she was there. The documentary was good. I think Helen would recommend it.
After the movie, I took the bus down to briefly visit the La Brea tar pits. There’s the large, iconic one with life-size models of ancient mammals on its banks, as well as several other smaller areas where oil bubbles not far below the surface. I walked from there to LA’s original Farmers’ Market for dinner.
Friday the sun finally came out! I was able to keep the umbrella stowed away and do some hiking in the Hollywood Hills area. Or, at least that was the plan. I checked out of my airbnb and dropped my luggage off at a laundromat that served as a bagbnb–for $6 they held on to my bag while I could move around unencumbered. I took a Lyft up to Lake Hollywood Park and finally got a glimpse of the Hollywood sign as the fog cleared. My plan was to hike from there to Griffith Observatory as Google Maps showed several routes available. It would take awhile, but I figured it’d be worthwhile.
It wasn’t. Google had no idea where the trails and roads actually led. It said it would take 90 minutes, but after two hours I was actually back down at the UCB Theater where I had seen Doug Loves Movies on Tuesday. I finally ended up getting a Lyft to the Observatory as I was running out of the time I had allotted. The Observatory really is in a great spot and was packed with tourists and school groups. It overlooks all of Los Angeles and had a great view of the Hollywood sign. If the weather had been better, it might be the best spot to start a tour of Los Angeles. Because of the crowds and time I didn’t bother trying to go inside. I did, however, find a great trail leading down from the Observatory back into town. If I had known, this would have been the route I should have taken up in the first place. It ends/starts near the AFI’s offices in case you’re interested.
I grabbed a hotdog from a street vendor back near the Chinese Theater/shopping mall area. By this time I had finally realized that this is the same block where they set up the Oscar red carpet. I had no idea! It’s such an unglamorous area. It never occurred to me that the Oscars are held at a shopping mall. Definitely kind of burst my bubble there.
Anyway, I was starting to run behind to get south to pick up my rental car by the airport. I started off on the subway/rail system, but this was ridiculously slow. After about 90 minutes of standing on crowded trains with my bag on my back, it was time to switch rail lines again. Everything was running slow and I was just getting tired and fed up. So I left the platform where I had been waiting for the next train and went around the corner and ordered a Lyft to take me the rest of the way.
I was about an hour late to the car rental agency (NU), but turns out that didn’t really matter because they didn’t have a car for me.. I was instantly reminded of the Seinfeld episode where he explains to them what making a reservation means. Luckily I wasn’t in a hurry at all. The first guy I talked to said that if an economy car didn’t get returned in the next 20 minutes, they could just give me a free upgrade to a nicer car. But, when I went back to the counter 20 minutes later, that guy was gone and the new guy (the manager) said they couldn’t do that. He said to check back in another 30 minutes. They put the blame on Hotwire who I secured the reservation through. I don’t know enough to know exactly… but I’m thinking the rental agency still had my name and money and a month to figure it out so…
Finally, the solution they came up with was to give me a car with expired tags. They just said if I got a ticket, they’d pay it. This didn’t feel very legal, but I figured it was on them, and they weren’t offering any other solutions, so that’s what happened. I hopped on the 405 south toward Carlsbad to experience some LA traffic–all part of the trip, right? Surprisingly, when you’re not in a hurry, it’s not that bad at all. I expected it to be extremely stressful. But everyone is in the same situation and, as packed as it is, there is no difficultly at all in changing lanes, etc. I’m not saying I’d want to have it be part of my daily routine, but I was expecting much worse and I have driven in much worse. Maybe because it’s so slow it feels safer than weaving in and out of packed, fast-moving traffic?
I got to Carlsbad around 8:00pm where I stayed with my college teammate, Matt, and his girlfriend, Amanda. So the weekend was a little more casually paced. Their place is right across from the ocean; just a nice place to hangout. Sunday morning the Carlsbad full and half marathons ran right outside their front door. It’s the same race I actually ran in three years ago to qualify for the Pikes Peak Ascent. Then in the afternoon we watched the NFL playoffs games and a couple of their friends brought over homemade authentic Mexican food!
I had forgotten to take into account that Monday was MLK Jr Day, so I moved somethings around based on them being closed and took a casual drive up the coast toward Santa Barbara. I avoided the freeway for the most part and stayed on Highway 1. It stays right by the ocean most of the way and goes through all the little towns. I stopped and had lunch at Venice Beach. I went and did a couple pull-ups afterward at the Muscle Beach area of Venice just because it seemed like the right thing to do.
I checked in at my airbnb in Thousand Oaks, but actually didn’t stay there that night. I realized after booking the whole trip that my mom’s first cousin Sarah (who’s much closer to my age) had just moved with her family out to the Santa Barbara area. So after stopping briefly at Ventura, I hung out with Sarah and her husband Doug and crashed at their place. They are both professors at UC Santa Barbara who I’d never really had the opportunity to spend time with before (I hadn’t met Doug at all), so that was nice.
Tuesday morning I briefly explored downtown Santa Barbara before heading back toward Los Angeles to visit the gravesites of my dad’s parents. They are both buried just off of the 405, but at cemeteries about 20 minutes apart. It’s interesting to have a connection to a woman I never met and I man I hardly remember, but without whom I wouldn’t be here.
My trip was winding down at this point. I killed some time by going back to UCLA’s campus now that the weather was nice, ate dinner, and headed back to the airbnb in Thousand Oaks. This was kinda backwards, but I had originally planned on going by the cemeteries on Monday before realizing one or both of them may be closed.
Traffic was a mess on Wednesday morning. I made the mistake of following Google Maps’ suggestion of leaving the interstate. That was way more stressful, winding for miles down just-as-crowded side roads. The interstate was slow, but simple and predictable. And Google was wrong on the time. The supposed gain quickly disappeared and probably ended up being slower. It all worked out in the end–dropped off the car, caught my flight, and was glad to get home.
Overall a great experience and hopefully I learned a lot which will help me on whatever future travels may bring.
Posted my best pics here.