I'm finally finally getting back to writing here, to finishing off the adventure stories, and I open up my draft for Los Angeles, second largest population in the United States, the city of angels, and all it says is "Rocky Horror Picture Show." OOPS. So this post will be entirely from memory. (Trumpet sounds??)
I stayed with Ellen and Rob, family of a friend, who were incredibly welcoming and so kind to Bixby and who promptly got me hooked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appropriate as I would be staying there through Halloween. I've never been one for scary stuff - Twilight was about as far as I delved into the supernatural community - but good GRACIOUS Buffy spoke to me on another level. The teenage angst coupled with ridiculous monsters set so definitively in the 90s - yes, yes, and yes.
When I wasn't inside watching Buffy, I was mostly outside soaking up the gorgeous southern California weather. It was like going back to summer after being in chilly Idaho and Seattle and even Santa Cruz's nighttime temperature drops. It was warm and beautiful and lovely. Once though, I was standing on the beach and fog rolled through like I've never seen it before - one minute it was clear and sunny and then I was wrapped up in thick white and couldn't see as far as the street or the ocean anymore. And then it went away. Spoopy...
Speaking of spoopy, Halloween in LA was fantastic. It's to be expected I guess, everyone has boxes of costumes stashed in their little apartments. Early in the afternoon I put on the Alice in Wonderland getup I'd gathered along my travels. Dress and headband from Tacoma, boots from eastern Washington, apron and tights from Portland, and a little sign reading "Drink Me" that I made in Ellen and Rob's LA kitchen. I ubered out to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and watched Rocky Horror Picture Show in a graveyard (HEY CALLIE!). It was entirely sacrilegious and entirely phenomenal. There was a contortionist and a photobooth and a smoking section by some of the graves and we had a picnic spread out with sushi and wine. The movie was great, complete with actors and dancers, and we threw rice and toilet paper with the best of them.
We visited the Hollywood sign, of course. At first we went to the official spot with the overlook but it was so far away Bix and I drove through the windy neighborhoods until we found a closer view. We went shopping in Hollywood too, and along the Promenade and in Venice and Santa Monica. Bix got so fed up with going into shops and looking around at stuff and hanging out in dressing rooms, except when we visited the pet store. Ellen had a performance with her a cappella group, and I went to that, and then we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant where they'd seen Gwyneth Paltrow once. (Aren't I doing a good job of remembering things?)
One of my favorite things was that the Santa Anas had blown through right before I got there, which was exciting as a longtime fan of The Holiday. Jack Black anyone? "The wind... it's what makes it so warm this time of year. Legend has it, when the Santa Anas blow, anything can happen." I didn't fall in love or help an old man regain his pride or anything remarkable, but I did discover Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and that's something for sure.
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