i could bring my little ghetto-blaster

Los Angeles, CA - A warm and clearing morning, time to go see the Bjork

This morning I'm getting my stuff ready for the road again. Charging batteries and washing clothes. My three days in LA have been wonderful, the weather has been hot and sunny, and I've had a chance to see a good little chunk of the area. I've got the hang of Marisa's neighborhood at least, the Los Feliz section. In LA I've seen two movies and one baseball game. The first movie, Grindhouse I spoke about in the last post.

On Tuesday (4/24/07) I hung out at Marisa's in the morning and then drove over to Griffith Park to dry out my tent. It was still dripping wet from Sequioa NP. It took about 30 minutes for everything to dry out in the hot sun. Then I went for a run up the hill to Griffith Observatory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Observatory) and then across some trails to get a close-up look at the Hollywood sign. Looking at it from up close and to the side, you can see that the first "o" is in front of all the other letters, as they're propped up on a curving hillside.

Later I took a drive down the 5 a few exits to Dodger Stadium, where LA was facing the Giants. It was fun to watch the other side of the LA-SF rivalry. For the most part the LA fans are pretty relaxed, there were no screaming matches or fights that I could see. Although everything changes when Barry Bonds comes to the plate. Its then that these calm folk turn ravenous. At each plate appearance the crowd makes a noise something like when Damon first went to bat at Fenway as a Yankee.

Dodger Stadium is diamond shaped, 330' to each foul pole, 395' to straitaway center. The bullpens are situated behind the fole pouls. The view outside the park features palm trees and smog. The game was fun for me since Derek Lowe was pitching. He did his familiar regiment of sliders and fastballs to induce the groundball. Other past Red Sox there was Nomar Garciaparra (playing first base), Grady Little (managing LA), and Dave Roberts (now an outfielder for SF). I gave Dave Roberts a big cheer, remembering his big steal in game four of the 2004 ALCS. I yelled out "NOMAAAAAAH!" when the first baseman when to bat. Nomar still has an annoying habit of swinging at the very first pitch he sees, but he's doing pretty well with LA so far, so no one's complaining.

The Giants won the game 5-3. Lowe took the L. With 4 K's in he game, Derek Lowe only needs two more strikeouts to hit the 1000 K mark.

I had one celebrity sighting, Paris Hilton was spotted down in the luxury seats below me. I tried to get pictures, but she was a little too far away. Can you see her here posing with a young Dodger fan?

Yesterday (4/25/07) I went to the Los Feliz 3 Theater on Vermont St. to see Hot Fuzz. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/) The movie was hilarious. Good script, funny acting, and very sharp editing (B+). Afterwards was a thank-you dinner at Marisa's and see-you-laters. Marisa was just awesome, staying at her place totally made my experience in LA fun. I can't wait to see her again when she's up in the Bay Area. Okie-dokie, I gotta pull it together now and head for Coachella. I imagine the next post should come next Mon or Tues, from Tucson, AZ.

More soon.

Andy