LA, town of movies and bears
Wed 11 Mar 2009
Lobbing into LA after the chills of the Northern winter experienced in various countries since departing Phuket 12 Jan was a welcome relief. Curb side it is warm enough for t-shirts and an equally warm reception from Chris Dwan, looooong ago travelling companion from NZ 2006.
We immediately mounted his trusty pick-up truck (perhaps I could have left this detail as everyone on LA has one) and was soon rolling on a classic American highways to his parents’ place near Hollywood.
There were road signs for all your movie favourites, Pasadena, Beverley Hills, Malibu, and many more. It seems that every notable US suburb that we have ever heard of is located in LA… and no wonder. I have never grasped just how important movie making is to the LA economy, but the recession had struck here to and taken its toll on the movie production industry and all the supplying industries. This meant even the notable actors were now working at Burger King.
Once home we headed to the local bar, which was less than 100m away and were soon joined by Chris’s adorable girlfriend Kara. A full 1.5 metres shorter than Chris, they are hard to frame in a photo unless both are seated with Kara on a couple of telephone books.
Never mind that, they make a lovely smiling couple.
For adventure, Chris has things pre-rigged and within 24 hours we are on the way to the family’s cabin nestled in a little creek valley on Bauldy Mountain just 1 hour away. Its amazing to drive through the city and burbs to instantly be up a mountain valley. The scenery majestic and the air much cleaner. Along the way, we drove through a new estate of million dollar homes - not quite the “sub-prime” belt, but close. A lot of these massive homes on small lots are still empty months after completion. Apparently they arrived to the market too late to be sold then abandoned – they are simply unloved from the start.
On the flip side, the cabin is not mansion, its much better than that. Its simple, made of logs, quite dark and musty. Before long there is a fire and a little tidy. Then a couple of beers. Magic. The place has its modern side too. DSL internet and wifi coverage. Just about the perfect scenario for every afternoon of my life.
We broke away from the freak-book, emails and the spot of work activity to get out the nasty chainsaw. Despite its knocked about look and feel, I was guessing it to be less than 3 months old, cause IT STILL WORKS. We drag it up the hill past some interesting pebble sized droppings and fur remnants. Bears apparently. Nothing to be worried about, JUST a large land based predator, like we DON’T have in Australia. I hoped the chainsaw had not edged over the 3 month age bracket in the last 10 minutes, so I could go down fighting when the bear returned.
Luckily nothing turned up, so we set about chopping through logs. Its a protected forest, but as leaseholders “if its fallen its ours” is the policy. Chopping, splitting and splitting some more, we ended with enough wood for a winter, a nuclear one.
Chris and I were in full swing catch up on NZ and time since in something that must have become boring for her. She fell asleep, with her head coming to rest on the butt end of a large bit of tree sticking out of the roaring fire. On joking, the fire was not quite roaring.
The next day we went for a hike and ended up nowhere.... I suggest always to hike so to arrive somewhere.... perhaps its a cultural thing, as there were heaps of people out hiking to nowhere this day!
Back at the parents, we took off the next day to see Hollywood, there was some essential gift shopping to do. I am now the proud owner of a movie “clapper board” and mum is now an oscar winner in the category of “best mum”.
Poop’d we headed home with groceries just in time to throw a barbie for family and friends. Evenings are a little cool at this time of year, so we ate in doors. This is a break in Aussie etiquette as a BBQ must be cooked and consumed outdoors always.
The following day, we snuck up some reso streets and met top 50 best job girl Adeline. She was a friendly lass and quite keen on the job. She was also happy to have a bit of fun with the video interview and took up the challenge to take the microphone from me during the spot in front of the Hollywood sign.
Was there time for much more? No, not really. It was off to meet one more LA’ite, Ksenia at the Venice Beach pier and watch the sun set before jetting back to Sydney. Lucky for me, I had once again scored 4 seats in the middle of the plane to sleep all the way home. Landing at Mascot was entertained by the customs beagle sniffing out chicken rolls snaff’d from the plane’s left overs, the lack lustre thieves receiving an extra stamp on their entry card. I did not get a good look at the stamp but it seemed to read “This entitles the holder to one full body cavity search”. I know people that would have done it on purpose.
I was home.
