One might think that it’s just a short ride from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Well, that’s true in American terms but it’s still about a hundred miles to the northwestern corner of the L.A. metro area (and a hell of a lot more to the other side). That’s probably the main reason I haven’t been there so far. Sunday was the day to close another gap in my personal experience geography knowledge and eventually visit the city of angels.
LB and me were on a mission about which I shall tell you in the next post. We spent about half a day in L.A., which is of course not even close to enough for a serious visit. In fact, we stayed in the aforementioned northwestern corner without even seeing every spot we had planned for. A very nice corner, I feel compelled to add.
Our first stop was Santa Monica beach. I felt a bit like Fry in the second episode of Futurama when I saw this amusement park that was erected on a pier. The pier was populated by tourists and local artists trying to sell crap to them. Cheezy paintings, meaningless portraits, holographic photographs and the like. I was just waiting to come across the inevitable refrigerator magnet. However, it was much better on the very tip of the pier, and the view towards Venice beach was quite nice. Do I need to mention that there was a big police SUV parked on the pier? What’s the use of having a pier if you can’t drive on it?!
Right next to the pier was a monument that the people who set it up refered to as Arlington West. The name is derived from Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Guess why. Each cross means one dead US soldier in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. On Sunday the death toll was just above 4000. There was also a sign saying that if they had put up a cross for every dead Iraqi, they would fill the entire beach. No exact number was given but since it raises faster than the US death toll it’s kind of hard to keep track of it, i guess.
Not far from Santa Monica is Venice. This part of Los Angeles is an example of what I think happens when rich people are given enough space to realize their weird dreams. The guy who founded it actually tried to recreate the original Italian city of Venice, complete with channels and gondolieri. Of course it’s about as authentic as Disneyland but many Americans must love to live there, otherwise the prices for real estate would be lower. We came across a house that was for sale and took a look inside. Newly built, spacious, close but not too close to the beach. Not bad at all, and a total steal at just under 1.9 million dollars. Not to mention the monthly utility bill in a house where even the microwave loader is powered.
We had lunch on the Ocean Front Walkway and since we both felt pretty hungry we went for the biggest hamburger on the menu. Bad idea. That thing was massive. It was quite good for a burger and the fries were delicious (as far as this term can apply to fast food), but it was just too much.
It was also on Venice beach that we realized that we wouldn’t make it to all the other places. We decided to skip the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and visit only the Museum of Jurassic Technology instead. This wonderful “museum” is easy to overlook just driving by but turns out to be much larger inside. Unfortunately, they closed at 6 PM and we had only half an hour left to rush through it. I haven’t quite figured out if the exhibits are real, forged or mixed, but they certainly are all extremly bizarre. Hopefully I get the time to visit it again. Should this be the case, be sure to read the respective blog entry.
The last stop before the original mission were the LaBrea Tar Pits. If this image doesn’t remind you of a particular movie (or comic book for the very literate) you have probably been living under a rock for the last couple of years. I was quite surprised that this place existed – and that it looked almost exactly like Frank Miller’s drawings (the latter being slightly dramatized for effect).
