Thursday, July 12, 2007

Hollywood and beyond

There are shitloads of Thai restaurants in Hollywood and they all smell so good. (You may remember, I ate Thai food for the first time when I was out here last December.) But oh my god, the little Asian-owned, no-name donut shops totally freakin' rule. They make beautiful and delicious donuts. (One of the donut shops I visited actually delivers.) I'm starting to think Asians really know what's up with food. I bought four cans of Chef Boyardee and four packs of Ramen noodles at Ralph's for $4.52 last night. The question is: Will I be able to find the right tools and utensils to prepare and eat the noodles? (At 13 cents a pack, who cares!) After watching some of the Espy attendees leave in their limos, I took the subway to Vermont & Santa Monica Blvd, where I got onto a bus bound for Santa Monica. I got off the bus near Ocean Ave, then took a pedestrian bridge over the Pacific Coast
Highway to the beach. Slept on the beach until about 6:00 AM. It has been very cold each night.

Getting around

When I returned to the train station after they filmed me boarding the train, they did another take of me boarding, except that time I got right back off the train and talked for a few more minutes. Later, on the Green Line, a woman boarded the train at LAX. Near Redondo Beach she asked me if I knew how to get to Venice Beach from there. I didn't know, and she realized she didn't have enough time to try, so we talked as we headed downtown together. Her name is Belinda Babbage and she was on her way to Fallbrook from Vancouver for yoga training. She's a sweetheart. I accompanied her to Union Station and we continued to talk until a few minutes before her train left. Then I went back to Hollywood. Just before I arrived at Hollywood & Highland, ESPN taped the Espy Awards at the Kodak Theater near Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. As I walked up, the "stars" were leaving the show
Just after my arrival, Troy Smith got in a limo and left. Appropriately I was wearing an OSU shirt.