DISCLAIMER I am well aware that I need an editor but I am hungover, any grammatical mistakes are just part of the deal - read at your own peril.
I stumbled off my train yesterday at approx 1:35 pm. Pacific. Standard. TIME.
Allegedly the weather was not so promising early in the morning, so says my serbian friend Milos, but when I stepped out of union station all I could see were blue skies and palm trees.
Hello, Los Angeles.
Our ride, a four door honda accent, to which Milos said “women love guys with an accent”.
I’m going to let that joke drop.
First, Lunch.
Based on a suggestion from the lovely Julie Van, we went to Orochon Ramen - and holy god in heaven we were not expecting flavor of this magnitude. It was hot, it was savory, it was HUGE and it was perfect to reenergize two weary travelers.
Delicious!
Here is what I’ve learned about parking and driving in LA:
Street parking is a hassle, no doubt, but it’s a hassle everywhere. But you can PAY to park in lots. I know! Brilliant concept. 8 DOLLARS TO PARK ALL NIGHT at HOLLYWOOD AND VINE. Most bars have Valet too! THIS IS NOT VERY EXPENSIVE. One time in chicago I payed 20 dollars to park at the sears tower for 40 minutes.
AND ANOTHA THING! Traffic. Everyone bitches about traffic. “Oh you’re going to hate LA, oh the traffic sucks, oh everything is too far away” In our experience, driving in rush hour across town *From East LA to Culver City, it was smooth and what traffic we ran into cleared out in a reasonable fashion. I have had so many days where I wanted to blow my brains out on 290 heading into the city - if this is what normal LA traffic is like — bring it.
Okay now, onto the nighttime adventures.
We decided to go drinking on hollywood blvd last night, just to check it out. We started at a bar called Power House. Allegedly this is where all of the celebrity impersonators go to drink. Well, it was tuesday night and it was dead. However, they poured us monstrously huge shots and served PBR all the way to the top.
Eager for adventure, we went to a bar called Burgundy Room, the original Beauty Bar and got “New York” style pizza.
AND THEN OUR NIGHT GOT AWESOME.
I told Milos that we needed to go to silverlake, so we did. We ended up at a place I have heard nothing but rave reviews about. That place - RED. LION. TAVERN.
We could hear the good times awaiting us while we were getting our ids checked, and the sound of a german man singing. We walked in and it was
The best way I can describe it is the stage presence of Hedwig, but not a transgender, german accent singing covers of songs and trashing everyone in the audience.
It was hilarious just to watch.
And the beers were great.
Until he kicked it up a notch and decided to pay tribute to Ronnie James Dio and sing Holy Diver.
A song that I loved in my youth.
A song that I know by heart.
He gave me the microphone and I sang in front of THE ENTIRE BAR and got HUGE applause.
It wasn’t just an awesome time, it was legitimately one of the best times I’ve had out drinking. And this is just the first night.
Los Angeles, I’m yours.
