Page 4 of 5
Hollywood, California
Out on the road today I saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac
If you've patiently suffered through yet another page of esoteric architecture crap that you really could care less about, then you will be happy to see a bit of a break, at least for a little while...
While it may be true that you can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard, sadly there is no fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes. Of all the times I have been to Los Angeles this is the first time that I've (really) been there and possibly the last. The boulevard is (really) that bad- a creepy, symbiotic vibe of depressing locals and depressing tourists all trying to figure out why they're still there. If you remember West 42nd Street between Seven and Eighth Avenue in New York as that sad, sticky place it once was then you will find things eerily familiar.
This is the world famous Chinese Theatre where I saw a man dressed up as Jim Carrey in "The Mask" complete a drug transaction before posing for pictures for money with a very blonde family with a somewhat heavy midwestern accent. Out front they have footprints in concrete or something.
Under the red hot moon, across from the El Capitan, on top of a subway station and attached to the Chinese and Kodak Theatres is Hollywood and Highland, a generic shopping mall with big elephants on pedestals.
More of an icon than a building, the Capitol Records Building is closer to Hollywood and Vine, on the end of Hollywood Boulevard that makes the area by the Chinese Theatre look like the Champs Elysée.
Farther east and away from all of that is the Barnsdall Art Park, home to the (closed) Hollyhock House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built with RM Schindler as the construction manager. If you were really looking forward to one more non-architecture related image, then concentrate on the distant, out of focus Hollywood sign and try really hard to ignore that decorated planter out front.
Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was good planning or maybe it was just another predictable alignment of all my various obsessions that brought me to see two hockey games on two consecutive nights in the Southland. One was in downtown Los Angeles at the Staples Center, as nice an arena to see hockey in as one can ever hope for south of Canada.
At the other end of the spectrum and in the center of hell (or "Orange County" as it is often referred to by locals) is the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, a surprisingly unpleasant building considering its lack of age.
At both games I saw the traveling Calgary Flames, a function of the schedule and not any personal allegiances. In Los Angeles the home team won in an entertaining game, while in Anaheim the home team didn't even come close. At the Pond I saw super goalie Jean Sebastian (J.S.) Giguere let in five goals while incurring penalties, breaking a stick in anger and pretending to be dead until a match penalty was called on former Devils goon Krzysztof Oliwa. A good time was had by all, with the possible exception of the home fans present.
Out front there is a statue of a duck goaltender playing without a helmet, perched high on a pedestal to emphasize his mightiness.
I found myself in Orange County with a few hours to kill and nothing to do, so I ended up killing time at Downtown Disney, an entertainment/shopping experience sandwiched between two amusement parks. I thought about going in to an actual park, but every single ride I could think of was listed as closed for maintenance, making me think this was just not the time.
While on the Disney property I couldn't help noticing a suspicious forest outcropping right by the parking shuttle drop off. It's almost like the forest somehow grew perfectly flat and was then folded at a crisp 90 degree angle. It's amazing what those Disney people can do.
