If you can recall the post for San Francisco you’ll remember that getting down to LA from Monterey was a pretty stressful experience involving a mixture of mini buses, coaches and a train. We arrived at Union Station and it’s beautiful central lobby around 9:45pm. I didn’t take any pictures due to fatigue and a desire to get a taxi as quick as possible so we could settle down at the hotel.
We were tired and hungry and needed some food so we tentatively headed out onto the crazy streets of Hollywood. We made our way through the mix of fellow tourists, street performers, bums, degenerates and muggers to the McDonald's over the road. Not a choice we would usually settle on but we were tired and not in an adventurous mood. The characters inside were just as, if not more crazy and unsavoury as those on the streets with the odd family and tourists thrown in. A Big Mac and some Chicken Selects was followed by a brisk walk back to the hotel to witness a couple of arrests of the perviously mentioned muggers. Lovely place this Hollywood.
We only had one full day in Hollywood and didn’t have much planned. Look at the stars on the sidewalk, the hands and footprints. The Chinese Theatre, Sunset Strip and the shops on Melrose, maybe a hot dog at Pinks. Through the day LA turned out to be quite a pleasant place, I’ve always wanted to see The Chinese Theatre since Star Wars had it’s premier there in 1977. Melrose featured some superb paintings on the side of stores and shops, Pinks was sadly too busy but we found a nice little New York Pizzeria full of Godfather and Sopranos posters and pictures of famous customers from Ray Liotta to Jennifer Love Hewitt.
In the evening we took in the atmosphere of Hollywood Boulevard from a safe distance, looking down from the balcony of the Highland shopping Mall as a street performer entertained the passing crowds below. I wish we could have stayed longer, travelled round and experienced more but we had to move on the following day. The Greyhound bus to Palm Springs was next.
Cheers.
I'm sure we will never visit the Greyhound station in downtown L.A. again in our lives. The guide book didn't lie when it said the area was a little seedy. The journey to Palm Springs was eventful, two major looking crashes on the outskirts of Los Angeles followed by the baggage doors of the bus opening thirteen miles from our destination. Thankfully no bags were left scattered over the highway and after some makeshift repairs the bus dropped us off in the searing heat of the desert. Unknown to us, the Greyhound station in Palm Springs closed the week before. The new drop off point was in a small car park next to a row of small stores miles from anywhere. Well that's how it felt and looked. Luckily the payphone had a yellow pages enabling us to call a cab. The heat was like nothing we had ever experienced, the closest thing I can think of is when you open the oven door and get that blast of heat. Only here it was constant, we were in the oven.
Relieved to be at our hotel we just relaxed, waited for the sun to go down a little before venturing out. It was Thursday and the main street closed and became a market full of fresh fruit and vegetables, art & crafts and the odd eccentric musician performing on his electric double bass. A fan blowing his receding blond hair from his shinny tanned face. We didn't get up to much in Palm Springs, abandoning our plans to the Joshua Tree National Park due to the heat. We'll try that again one winter time in the future, for now though we just relaxed recharged our batteries and swam in the pool. A nice change after the hectic times in the cities and in preparation for Las Vegas.
Cheers.
