Los Angeles...the city that never stops making us smile

Our flight over to Los Angeles was a happy affair.  First up, we were coming back to a city we love and second, it was nice to be moving to a continent that spoke English as a first language!  Don’t get me wrong, speaking foreign languages and moving about the world is all well and good, but there comes a point when you’re in a restaurant and you’d just rather not have to decipher what the chef means in Spanish/Vietnamese/Cambodian or Thai.

Smile!  You're in a wheelchair

By now we knew there was no messing with Julia’s foot condition.  Either she rested and it recovered as well as it could now or it would degenerate fairly fast.  So once again, she hopped into a wheelchair and we made our way through the airport…….in record time.  I think it was about 30 minutes from door of plane to the shuttle for the car hire office!  Something to be said for wheelchairs after all.

LA here we come :)

The guy behind the counter at the hire car office was, in comparison to the employees of Hertz Cancun, an angel.  We negotiated a half price upgrade to the next size of SUV and he comes back with William Robert III aka Billy Bob Junior.  Billy Bob Junior, our brand, spanking new carriage is by European standards, immense.  With a ramp into the rear door, I could drive up and park my Audi from back home in it.  Still, we’ve got around 3500 miles to travel on this leg of the North American road-trip so comfort is key.        

I just love a food truck

We arrived at our flat at 11.30pm and Jeremiah, our host, was there waiting for us with a smile on his face.  Julia has booked pretty much most of our trip through the USA with AirBnB and so we were a little apprehensive how it all would turn out.  In actual fact, it was amazing.  We had a wonderfully cool little pad on Sunset Boulevard, decorated as only a video editor/DJ could pull off.  Really enjoyable.  Having a washer room in the building was also great – we took a LOT of pleasure in cleaning ALL our clothes over the next few days J

Sunset on Sunset

As I mentioned, LA has been a happy place for us and we were looking forward to revisiting some of the places we liked (restaurants and Mulholland Drive) and also to seeing some new places like the Getty Museum.  Our first morning though, we took nice and easy.  Julia clearly couldn’t’ walk far (which is perfectly fine in LA!) and so we drove up to a cute little place for breakfast that Jeremiah had recommended.  “Home” is in Los Feliz and apparently is the place for those in the movie industry to come to; I say this on good authority as the two chaps on the table next to us spent the whole meal blowing smoke up each other’s backsides about how great they both were, who they all knew, how much they made etc.  Oh …..and I nearly forgot, we also saw Kristin Stewart. 

Mulholland Drive.....a beautiful drive

Julia had a “moment” as the object of her lady-crush walked in and took a table in a little nook halfway up the stairs.  Then as we left she was there, sat in her car smoking a cigarette and giving Julia a smile, not 5 feet away from us.

Happy and full, off we went off to the supermarket to stock up on washing powders etc.  By the time we made it home, Julia was tuckered out, but this was no time to rest.  Oh no.  With only a couple of days in the city, we had a lot to do!

How many different lines can you squeeze into one atrium?

Is it me or did she just fart?

The Getty Museum was calling us and we both really wanted to get out there.  So off we went and precisely the same thing happened that happened the last time we tried to get there.  The SatNav took us to the rear entrance….grrrrr.  So we wasted 45 minutes of our potential time there and arrived quite late.  Still, somehow we didn’t get stressed about it (other than having to sit in traffic), because I think we both know we’ll be back in LA before long.

As we pulled up to the car park there was no real indication of what was to come.  We took the mono-rail up to the museum and then were stunned by what lay before us.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  I believe they have spent in excess of $1 billion on the architecture and apparently they keep on working on it pretty much all the time.  It certainly shows as well.

Imagine the feeling of cool, crisp and starched white hotel bedsheets; imagine the feeling of slipping into them and enjoying that first moment, where everything is right in the world.  That was kind of what it felt like to be at the Getty Museum.  Every single cubic metre of space has been used in a way that ‘gives’ something to the senses.  Whether it is the use of lines in their architecture that leads the eyes along certain views, or how they have positioned openings and fountains to create cooler areas and air currents or how the gardens smelled wonderful above the LA city smog……it really was astounding and we hadn’t even entered it yet!

Amazing views from the Getty Museum

Me and Vinnie's Irises

We didn’t have much time, so we decided to head straight for the impressionist paintings and then to the photography exhibition.  My favourite painting, the Irises, had pride of place on one wall and as soon as I realized this on the tour pamphlet we were given, we were clearly going straight there; and there I stayed for a good 15 minutes just staring at the use of paint, different application techniques and even how Vinnie had managed to not paint tiny patches and use the colour of the underlying canvas to good effect.  

Les Irises de Venice, Alex Saroian, 

Julia was itchy to get going to the gardens and the photography exhibit so off we went.  Not before we had purchased a bunch of postcards of course.

Life imitating art or vice versa?

Lovely sculpture from the man that gave us "Ceci n'est pas une pipe"
(that's Magritte to you heathens!)

The sculptures in the gardens were beautifully set in their space and the views over LA were exceptional.  In fact, we enjoyed it here so much we didn’t have time to see the photography exhibition.  What is it that people say?  Always leave something to come back to!  So off we trotted, back to the car and a drive into town…..via Mulholland Drive, Julia’s favourite road in the city.

Happy to be leaving?  Not a chance

No blog about LA would be complete without a photo of the traffic

Lillian, Omar, Julia and I

That night we were due to meet my cousin Lillian and her husband Omar.  We had a table booked at a restaurant that had served us wonderfully well last time we were in LA and so we extended the reservation and met up with them.  It had been 19 years since I saw her last and somehow nothing had changed.  Though the restaurant was ridiculously noisy and some of the portions were ……unfeasibly small (I know I know, this is the USA right?), we had a great laugh and left ….lubricated.  Then it was off to Sunset and a bar that they both knew where we finished off the night in style.

Yes baby, buffalo wing breakfast...bring it

Next morning set pretty much the gold standard for breakfasts.  Buffalo wings to start, then a burger……does it get any better?  Then it was off shopping.  This time though, a completely different kind.  We spent a bit of time walking up and down Melrose where Julia indulged in some “wardrobe refresh”.  Nothing too extravagant, but after 5 months on the road, our choices were becoming a little stale.

Just loved the juxtaposition of the Young Israel Centre with this poster

Matty makes me look like a dwarf!

Tar pits at LACMA

A close friend from school’s younger brother lives out in LA now and that evening we met up with Matty and headed to the LACMA for a cocktail sundowner or two.  There was a jazz concert on the go and the place was heaving with people enjoying the great weather and music.  Somehow this seemed to sum up LA.  It was great to see Matt and maybe we’ll hook up with him and his girlfriend in Vegas.

These guys looked professional.....would love to know what they play

Service was so slow that we only had the one cocktail before it was back in the car and off through traffic to Glendale, home of the Armenians outside of Armenia.  Seriously, if you’re thinking that a bunch of Armenians live here and that’s it….think again.  The shop signs are in Armenian (different alphabet), the conversations you hear are Armenian and everywhere you look you see Armenians going about their business in LA.  Kind of surreal.

Mel, Narbeh, Hooshik, Scarlet, Julia and I

Our plan for the night was to eat kebab at an Armenian institution, Raffi’s.  We were meeting Scarlet, Mel, Hooshik and Narbeh for a meal and as we walked into the restaurant a lot of memories came flooding back.  Fair play to Julia, she was taking all this ‘family time’ well in her stride and her indulgence was rewarded as we were served up some of the best kofte that she had had yet.  The company was also very good and it was wonderful to be able to introduce her to the family.

Scarlet and Mel had our pass to the National Parks, so it was back to their place for a digestif and a chat in their garden, before we were off (at just gone 11pm) to meet with another family friend, Dvin.  Barney’s Beanery is perhaps not the most high-class joint in town, but it did introduce Julia to just how….cliched Americans can be.  As Dvin and I chatted whilst she went for a smoke, the boys around her came out with such gems as:

“Oh my God, oh my God I can’t believe I am talking to a German.”

Or the ladies in the loo:

“I don’t know what he’s on about ….I CAN say the alphabet!”

Yes indeed, we were with the intelligentsia here!  Either way, it was great to see Dvin and perhaps he also will make it to Vegas.  Perhaps.

Trailer Trash?  Not I sir.

"Cleatus!  Get back here this instant....ye hear?

By the time we got home it was late and we were both knackered.  Luckily all we had to do on Saturday was head over to Venice to our next home from home.  This time, Julia had chosen for us to stay a night in a 60s Airstream Trailer that was parked in the front garden of a very eclectic home in Venice.  It was amazing fun.  We had an outside bathroom (open roofed) and the trailer itself was tiny but cozy.  To be fair, we were straight out to lunch and then sunglasses shopping so size didn’t matter. 

 

Gjelina’s on Abbot Kinney was just how we remembered it.  Some would say it has become a little jaded over time, but to us it was wonderful.  At first it seemed we would be disappointed – it was pizza for lunch and Julia shouldn’t eat gluten.  But they had enough choice on the menu and then the coup de grace…..we asked for the wine list and found they have our favourite white wine.  A very peculiar and quite rare wine from Friuli (near Trieste on the Slovenian border) called Vidovska by Zidarich.  Somehow that closed the circle on what had been an amazing day of nostalgia.  It was great as in a way this was our first chance of celebrating our engagement anniversary and having some time together and also a way of re-living our Californian honeymoon from last year.

Lovet his picture for all sorts of reasons

We enjoyed lunch immensely and then headed off to buy some sunglasses ….before we headed back into town to go visit Bar Marmont.

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Chateau Marmont is almost like the sum of all American kitsch clichés.  It is basically a faux chateau that has been built and designed as a hotel on Sunset Boulevard.  Home to the stars and rich there is a small bar next door which is something to visit when you come out.  Last time I was out on my own, Dvin, Matt, Jeff and I had had a blast in here and Julia really wanted to see it.  Whilst we were sat there another family friend texted to say she was off to eat sushi at Izakaya with her brother.  Aside from Julia having said she really fancied sushi that evening and the fact that Izakaya is a great place to eat sushi, once again we managed to meet up with some of the old world from my father’s time.

Les Saroians aux Marmont

Alex, Julia, Talene and Artin

I hadn’t seen Talene in 10 years and her brother Artin since he was about 3, 23 years earlier!  Within minutes we were having a great laugh and the whole meal was so much fun that ….yes….we hope they both join us in Vegas.

The next day was a ridiculously early start.  Father’s Day in the USA is a day of traffic and….traffic, so we needed to be up and out of the trailer early so we could hit Sequoia National Park and then make our way to our next stop in Groveland.  We were due to raft one of, if not the most technical and exciting commercially rafted rivers in the world….Cherry Creek.

Anyone that knows me knows how much I loved this sign :)