Wednesday, October 2, 2013

California: First Impressions by a Jeg Lagged Upstate Girl

My journey from upstate NY to LA started very, very early on Saturday morning (I'm talking 3 AM early) as I journeyed to the ROC airport, and 3 flights later I was in sunny Los Angeles. Having traveled for approximately 9 hours on only 2 hours of sleep from the night before, and throw in the time difference I was tired. I made it to my friend's house in one piece (and with  my luggage hurray!) and took an hour nap.
The sunrise as seen from my first flight of the day.

Once I pulled my jet lagged self together we headed to Griffith Park to get some views of LA, but alas there was an event going on at the Greek Theater and the park was packed. Griffith Park will have to wait for another day.

We then headed over to Hollywood Boulevard. For this east coast girl, the cartoony touristy trap that this famous strip embodies, reminded me a lot of Times Square in NYC but with a more tinsel town flair. It was packed with tourists, hustlers and hawkers from all walks of life.
The famous Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
From first impressions, LA embodies the word "Ambition." Everyone is out to make something of themselves and that takes hustling. A word of advice for those not use to this sort of atmosphere, put your sunglasses on and do not engage. Give a "No Thanks" and keep walking. In my opinion it isn't rude to ignore the shouts from people on the street when you have no genuine interest in what they're trying to sell you. In fact, it can save you a lot of time and grief. However, Hollywood Blvd, especially by the Chinese Theater, is full of characters. Literally. I saw a very canny look-alike of Tom Cruise and a rather creepy vacant-eyed Michael Jackson. And most are willing to pose with you for pictures, of course it's always polite to give them a little tip for all of their hard work.
The famous Chinese Theater were you can pose with a variety of people dressed up as different characters.
The Dolby Theater where the Oscars are annually held.

After experiencing all of that craziness, we headed through the Dolby Theater (where the Oscars are annually held) to the Hollywood & Highland Center for my first glimpse of the Hollywood sign (since Griffith Park turned out to be a bit of a fail that night). While there we heard the unmistakable high-pitched screams of overly excited tween girls. My first thoughts we're "Ohhh, there must be someone famous here! I get to see a celebrity on my first night in LA!" Drawn to the growing crowd of screaming girls, we see some very well groomed teenage boys swarmed by the mob begging for pictures and autographs. For the life of us, we could not figure out who the hell these boys were. The best educated guess we could come up with is that they were members of a boy-band. I feel the significance of this sighting was lost on us.
My first glimpse of the Hollywood sign!
After the excitement of seeing celebrities a minimum of 10 years our junior, we were starving. We decided on Thai food and headed to Crispy Pork Gang, which according to Yelp was the top choice for Thai food in LA. We ordered the coconut shrimp, pad thai (tofu for my friend and shrimp for me) and thai ice teas. It was sooooo yummy, and rather inexpensive. The bill for the entire meal was just under $30 for the two of us. There's a big "but" in here though, we both got stomach aches afterwards and it took forever and 2 requests from the waitress for our bill. It felt a tad like being in restaurant purgatory. So I have mixed feelings about this restaurant.

After dinner we went back to my friend's house and I passed out for almost 12 hours. Stay tuned for day 2...

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