Where do I start?
First day in Los Angeles and I got to experience the whole spectrum of what makes LA, LA.
If you ever go into a coffee shops and the you order two “Warhols” or a “Defund the Military” you know you’ve arrived in Los Angeles. Coffee with a hipster twist!
Our agenda today started in Beverly Hills. Of course it did.
As one does, we spent the morning brunching like the basic bitches we are and ended up going for a digestive stroll through Rodeo Drive, cameras in hand.
Rodeo Drive looked exactly how I remember it playing through the level in Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland at the age of 11...just more HD. The tree stood exactly on the spot where I used to Natas Spin on the bollards in the game. Video game arts meets reality 2.0.
The crowds were manageable as well - we were still at the tail end of the Thanksgiving weekend, which meant that most people were out of town.
After we decided we were done walking through a glamourized on-street high-end shopping district we decided to head to the next touristy area:
Venice Beach -
Infamous for it’s long straights, panhandlers and rollerbladers.
It took us some time to head there from Beverly Hills, another ode to how massive Los Angeles and in extension, California is. Oh how wonderful size is to a Hong Kong city boy.
Once we arrived, it felt nostalgic?
Walking down the main street, I could not shake the strange familiarity. Years of media, internet exposure and television have created this false memory that this place wasn’t in fact new to me, but rather a place I’ve been before.
It’s a strange feeling a sense of familiarity walking through a place that you’ve only known through media online. It’s strange that you don’t remember, but just know where things are.
Walking further down, we hit an area full of skateboarders. Oh wait, that’s where the infamous bowl is. Knew it!
These guys definitely know how to shred the bowls. Wish I gave it more practice in my teens - they definitely looked that they were enjoying themselves.
In the evening we had made plans to visit an Escape Room with a group of friends old and new. A mini reunion was in store, so why not celebrate this by going to an Escape Room. Easy, I thought, it can’t be that difficult. I’ve just binged through all 4 seasons of Sherlock in the past week. I should be able to notice anything amiss.
Eh… Hindsight is 20/20
We didn’t do well. Oh… we sucked. We managed about 60% of the room in our allocated time frame. We were outsmarted big time. Dejected, we left after 75 minutes, not knowing what exactly went wrong.
To recover from our loss, we enjoyed a nice dinner in a rather interesting named restaurant: Mother Tongue. Food was fantastic, the cocktails superb (sorry everyone who attended with their own cars, you missed out! I drank for all y’all!)
To cap off the night, we ended up on Hollywood Boulevard in a Star-Wars themed bar which replicated the Cantina Bar in Mos Eisley from Episode IV. Perfect way to end the night.
PS: Shoutout to the Man that gave voice to the most famous rabbit in television!