L.A - Getting on Johnny's Bus

Touring the landmarks of LA/Hollywood involved hopping on Johnny's bus.

Johnny, a New Yorker living in L.A gave us the run-down on the places people want to see from what they've seen on TV.
It takes about 40 minutes from Anaheim to get to Hollywood on a Sunday, the i5 was behaving. Touring during the week would be nightmarish. We started off the tour by driving past the Chateau Marmont (John Belushi's last few hours alive), then the Viper Room (River Phoenix o'd there). But here we were driving past these places and Johnny was upset about their deaths whilst making a buck off it. Johnny was quick to point out 'there are no second chances in the States' as we passed by the bail bonds shop on the way to Rodeo Drive. He went on to talk about the disadvantaged kids he worked with and told us all not to do drugs.

Rodeo was clean and the shops were cool, I almost left our camera in the shop but a shop assistant came after me. I felt guilty because he was so nice about it but I hadn't bought anything. The Zegna scarf would have been a snip at $600.00.
If you're one of the people who get's it right and doesn't need non-existent second chances then Rodeo is where you shop.
On our tour bus we had a couple from Papakura, some aussies and a family of Scotsmen who'd moved to Vancouver and were holidaying in L.A. They thought our beaches must be nicer than L.A's; Yes and no we said but we'll come back to that later.
By all accounts Vancouver is very nice if you don't mind lots of rain and a couple of blocks of drug addicts downtown.

California has passed a law banning trucks over 3 tons from residential roads, so unfortunately we couldn't check out Brad and Angelina's house. We did get a not so close view of Johnny Depp's house and an office block Arnold (The Governator, used to be Terminator) Schwartznegger used to own. Some of the buildings around Hollywood and Beverly Hills are excellent pieces of Art Deco architecture, the Police station is a fine example.

Bus tours are a good and a bad thing, you get to put your feet up in airconditioned comfort but when you do get off you are glued to your watch. Missing the bus in L.A is like being between islands on a concrete sea. When you get off the bus at Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars in the sidewalk you also get to see the really struggling actors who act by playing actors. Imagine a couple of seasons of NZ Stars in their Eyes contestants crowding a block. We saw Gene Simmons texting and having a cigarette. In the distance we could see the Hollywood sign. It reminded me of Mosgiel. Johnny wasn't lying about being from New York, at every givern opportunity he'd be on the mike commenting on how bad everybody else who was on the road was driving. He had a favourite rival tour operator from Turkey who got special attention as we tailed each other around the sites.

We stopped for lunch at Farmers Market. The food was great and felt authentic. Michelle had sushi, I had pizza.
It was nice, it's open-air but well covered and was a genuine relief from the tweeness of Disneyland.

Venice Beach is a long and wide strip of sand with it's own freeway down the middle for bikers & rollerbladers. L.A's beaches have nothing on an NZ West Coast beach but what is impressive is the way the Los Angeleno's use them.
They have basketball, handball, Volleyball, Mini-Tennis and Weight Areas (Muscle Beach). Also on the beach it's crowded but clean because they have trash cans every few meters. It's an aquarium-like attraction as there are different species of people from Rollerblade girls, aging body-builders, surf bums and basketball hustlers who call Venice Beach home. They make great photos.

Our last stop was Marina Del Rey, the largest Marina in the world. Think of Gulf Harbour and quintiple it.
Johnny must have had something going with the icecream shop as we were heartily encouraged to eat icecream.
It was good, we listened to the local Cubans bash out Salsa as an enthusiastic old man danced on.
Then it was back on the bus, over the freeway to Anaheim to wait for our airport connection. The biggest attraction in L.A is the freeway, it's compulsory to get anywhere and we had one more 45 minute voyage to get to LAX and on to San Francisco.

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