Tag Archives: hollywood

just a post, pictures

Night Out with Nicki, Carey, and Paras

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While Larry was still recuperating from his hepatic pump surgery back in Ft Lee, I had come back home.  During that time (Larry didn’t return to Los Angeles until Oct 19, which was very stressful for him and upon arrival he cried, understandably as we didn’t know if what he went through was going to have been worth it – it turns out, no it wasn’t, writing from March 2020), I had some time to spend with friends, and on that Saturday night, I reached out fairly last-minute to Paras and Carey and ended up inviting myself along to a restaurant they were going to that night called L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele.   Nicki came too and oh man, what a night.   First, the restaurant was spectacular Italian food and wine.   The ambience of this place was so bougie, but so good.  The waiters were all hot.   The vibe was completely awesomeness.  I was texting Larry about all that and couldn’t wait for us to go there when he got back.  We didn’t end up making it there which sucks, but just not in the cards at that point when he got back.

At the restaurant, we managed to put away like 3 or 4 bottles of montepulciano, so the night started off swell!   We didn’t end the night after dinner, and took an Uber to a bar called the Electric Owl further west on Sunset.   It was a very chill bar, where we got to pet some really big dogs and also get helped by some attractive and fun waiters there too.   We were all drunk, or at least seriously buzzed, and it was great.  I probably should have left at that point, because the hangover the next day was gonna suck regardless, but we continued and went to a place called The Den on Sunset.   That was just an entire scene and oof, I was done.   I ended up spending the night on Nicki’s couch as I didn’t want to go all the way home.   That was a rough Sunday.

Inside L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele – this is the waiting area
At our fabulous table
Paras & Carey
Great food and wine
and hot waiters
Attractive diners too
The restaurant’s unassuming exterior
Waiting for an Uber
Drinking even more at the Electric Owl
Ended up at The Den on Sunset
pictures, pop culture

Fran & Joel Back Out + Other Stuff

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I’m just wanting to get a post out with some assorted pictures and neat stuff I’d noticed before the weekend begins in earnest, as I’m sure it’ll be fun to recount the stuff from Fran & Joel’s visit out.  But first, we had dinner with them last night:

They flew in from Phoenix yesterday after attending the same conference they went to last year, which was when we met up with them in Vegas.  It was nice to take them to one of the many neat restaurants here in Glendale, this time Bacari.

On Monday, Larry & I went out on a school night to see a show at the Largo – this was where we had previously seen “How Did This Get Made?” last year; this time the show was “Hanging with Paul Scheer” and it was hilarious and the guests were Nicole Byer – who is hilarious and who I first fell in love with from her appearance on “Gay of Thrones” below:

Bye, Bitch!!!!   ALSO, Maria Bamford and Fred Armisen were guests, so yeah, it was hilarious.  I ended up taking the bus from DTLA as I was downtown that day, and while waiting, I took some downtown pics:

The previous weekend, we finally got to hang with Rekha and belatedly celebrate birthday fun with her.  Nicki chose a cool place, Cafe Stella, down in Silver Lake on the Sunset section.  Very trendy bar and restaurant with many attractive people everywhere.  Ah, hip Los Angeles.  Larry & I bailed after the restaurant but we heard the fun certainly continued through the rest of the day/night!

Outside Cafe Stella
The secret door of Cafe Stella
Rekha
Nicki & Rekha
Us
The group

And then the weekend before that, I dragged Larry to go out and see The Last Jedi ONE MORE TIME.  It was my fourth time, his third.   We went to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and while it was an experience, the presentation of the movie at Universal was way better.  But there was a fun organist playing tunes before the show and a cheesy laser show too!  And a cool costume display from the movie that we visited.  Anyway, the movie still rocks and I can’t wait to see it again…on Blu Ray.

One last time
The outdoor lobby area of the El Capitan
With Stormtroopers
BB-8!
A live organist playing classic film favorites
Praetorian Guards observe the proceedings
Enjoying ourselves
Costumes from the movie
Rey!
Kylo
Leia…
Looking across Hollywood Blvd at Hollywood & Highland
The Dolby Theater
Looking towards the Chinese

We also did go and see Phantom Thread this past weekend…I’ll give the movie that it was beautiful and well-directed, but this was a movie that I was okay with until the last 10 minutes, and then I was done with it.  What a waste of time.  I hope it loses in every Oscar category it was nominated in.

In totally unrelated stuff, Rebels Season 4 comes back soon, and if you love Star Wars, this animated series is a must watch.  The final half of the last season is airing and by the looks of this preview, a whole lot of stuff is gonna happen – and the Emperor makes an appearance!!!!:

I also saw this in one of my favorite sites – These timelapses of Seattle are pretty mesmerizing especially to see how quickly the city is building up:

 

And that leaves us to where we are now.  I’ve failed on my Amazing Race updates, but I’m still watching as it’s amazing.  And the cast of Celebrity Big Brother was announced…and it’s gonna be hard for me to choose to watch with Omarosa on it.  Seriously, wtf.

pictures

Running a 10k Along Hollywood Blvd

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Today we got up before the crack of dawn in order to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood as we had signed up for a 10k race.  It was kind of brutal to get up that early knowing it was to go running, but we were both troopers, getting up fairly easily, then off to the Universal City Metro station to take the Red Line one stop south.

It was honestly not a bad run in the slightest.  6.4 miles or so isn’t a light run, but the inclines were modest and it’s a very straight out-and-back course.   Larry & I even managed to see each other while he was heading back in and I was still running out.  The cool part of the run is that it is Hollywood Boulevard and you’re running past a whole lot of cool shit.  The 10k also goes really far out, so we were in Los Feliz before turning around.  Almost felt like we could have just ran home to our old Silver Lake place at that point!

hardrockrun_fitbitstatsAnd here are the results for both Larry and me:

hardrockrun_hobieresults hardrockrun_larryresultsI kind of ended up right in the middle of the overall 10k pack, while certainly at the back half of the men who ran the 10k.  Still pretty damn happy with how I felt while running it.  Anyway, pictures below are from when we arrived and before the race.  I wasn’t feeling like taking any pictures during the run, that’s for sure.  🙂

Nov 5, 2016 – Hard Rock Cafe 10k in Hollywood

Larry early Saturday morning on Hollywood Blvd
A few minutes before we began
Looking towards the race start and the emerging sunrise
Us in front of the Hard Rock Cafe
Back at the Chinese
The Dolby Theater
El Capitan goodness
A cute pup having some fun
The host for this morning’s 10k
Super bright marquee
A strangely empty Chinese Theater
Ready
Me too
pictures

Jon & Alyssa’s LA Debut

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Larry’s sister Alyssa and her husband Jon came out and visited us for a long weekend – it was a blast!  They hadn’t been out here since their respective Teen Tours (an explanation on that in another post, I suppose) so it was going to be fun to show them LA from a native’s perspective.  Also, we now have a very centrally located place and a very comfortable guest room – so let the fun begin!

We started on Thursday night after they flew in – Larry picked them up at LAX and spent the day with them in Santa Monica and Venice while I was at work.  I imagine it was nice to revisit the old stomping grounds – I was just there today for a doctor’s appt and had small twangs of “awww…this is where I used to live” but honestly, yay new place!  After fighting ridiculous traffic to get back home along THE 10 and THE 110 and THE 101 (thanks, Dodgers Game!), they got back where I was waiting for them.  We grabbed a nice dinner at the Lago Italian pizzeria just up the street (yay walking distance) and kept them up just long enough to combat their jet lag.

Jon & Alyssa at Barbarella/Lago
Jon & Alyssa at Barbarella/Lago25-Jul-2013 19:18, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 400
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On Friday, I worked a half day in the morning and then joined up with Larry, Alyssa and Jon at Universal Studios.  I missed the Studio Tour and The Simpsons Ride, but I joined up with them right afterwards.  Oh the humanity – it was effing PACKED at the park.  It was Friday and it was summer – but geez.  There were lines for everything.  I took those blessedly short lines for granted when we went earlier this year I guess.  Jurassic Park Cafe?  Line.  Transformers the Ride?  2.5 hour line – NO JOKE.  It’s an amazing ride, but damn.  After that, the lines were nothing, relatively.  The Mummy’s Revenge?  45 minute line.  Jurassic Park the Ride?  40 minute line.   It was all a lot of fun though, despite it all.  The weather was pretty nice and not blazing sunshine down upon us.  After the park, it was time for eats, and the recommendation was for Sugarfish in Studio City – best rec ever.  Sugarfish is a fantastic sushi restaurant – small, and you may have to wait (we did, but again, who cares about 30 minutes when you’ve waited 2.5 hours for a damn ride), but the food was spectacular.  Go with the “Trust Me” menu – you won’t regret it.  Did I say the food was fantastic????

Jon, Bart, Larry & Alyssa at Universal
Jon, Bart, Larry & Alyssa at Universal26-Jul-2013 12:47, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 160
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At Sugarfish
At Sugarfish26-Jul-2013 19:25, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200
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26-Jul-2013 19:25, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 200
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26-Jul-2013 19:29, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 160
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26-Jul-2013 19:29, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 400
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26-Jul-2013 19:31, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 4.0, 5.626mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 200
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26-Jul-2013 19:31, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 4.5, 8.486mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 200
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26-Jul-2013 19:32, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.5, 4.904mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 250
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26-Jul-2013 19:33, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 4.0, 5.26mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 320
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26-Jul-2013 19:56, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
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26-Jul-2013 19:57, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.5, 4.788mm, 0.2 sec, ISO 1600
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26-Jul-2013 20:11, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 1600
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26-Jul-2013 20:38, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.2 sec, ISO 1600
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26-Jul-2013 20:38, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.5 sec, ISO 1600
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For Saturday, it was time to be ambitious!  Alyssa wanted to see Rodeo Drive, so damn it, we were going to see Rodeo Drive.  The traffic wasn’t so bad getting there as I had dreaded, and the weather was perfect.  We first walked to the south end of Rodeo Drive which just also happens to lead to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the setting and inspiration for the movie “Pretty Woman.”  Alyssa had to go in so we did do that – and then we decided to grab a drink in the bar, The Blvd.  As we were walking in, Larry happened to notice that who else but Christopher Plummer (Capt von Trapp!!!!) was seated at a table inside.  Alyssa had wanted to see celebrities – who knew we were going to actually make that happen?  The Beverly Wilshire is a Four Seasons hotel and the bar definitely does them proud.  The bartenders were fantastic and above all, very nice.  I ended up ordering what the bartender told me was the original Pretty Woman cocktail, a cranberry spin on a mimosa.  It was delicious.  Jon got a flight of premium Rieslings while Larry expanded his knowledge of Old Fashioneds.   After a nice stay at the bar and finishing our drinks, we explored Rodeo.  It’s so decadent there.  We didn’t buy anything but before leaving, we grabbed lunch at the restaurant called The Farm just a block away from Rodeo Drive.  Very good and they had a brownie to die for.  YUM.

Our next destination was the Getty Museum, which really has one of the best views of Los Angeles around.  It was a gorgeous day for it and of course that meant it was packed.  Regardless, it was worth the wait.  We perused a few of the exhibits but most of our time was spent looking around outside, as the Getty’s grounds are simply begging for you to explore.   We didn’t stay through till the evening – apparently the hottest underground band, The Geographer, was playing that night.  As we were leaving the parking lot, there was a mass of people still trying to come in.  Maybe for the band, but likely just to be there for the sunset, which I’ve heard is a fantastic thing to do.  We’ll have to go back.

We headed home finally via Sunset Blvd’s twisty path.  It was originally planned to cook dinner but by the time we got back, everyone wanted food NOW.  Including me.  So we shelved the cooking option and instead walked to Hyperion Public, our trusty neighborhood pub.  Well, on a Saturday night, Hyperion Public gets packed.  We kind of lucked into a table and took a reserved one by accident…the waitress came over and said it was fine, but we had to be done by 9pm.   That was okay as it was only like 7:15.  So we had a nice filling dinner and some great Alagash White beer….and then noticed that the other tables that had been reserved were filling up.  Uh oh – maybe 9pm wasn’t the deadline after all.  As more people show up, we realize that one of them is famous!  It was Jeremy Sisto, Elton from Clueless!  So Alyssa got TWO celebrities for the day.  It was awesome.  When we got home, we had to watch Clueless to finish out the night.

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Alyssa & Larry at Rodeo Drive
Alyssa & Larry at Rodeo Drive27-Jul-2013 12:27, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 125
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Jon & Alyssa at Rodeo
Jon & Alyssa at Rodeo27-Jul-2013 12:28, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 4.5, 7.815mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100
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Jon & Alyssa at Beverly Wilshire
Jon & Alyssa at Beverly Wilshire27-Jul-2013 12:37, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 400
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Great group shot at Bev Wilshire
Great group shot at Bev Wilshire27-Jul-2013 12:41, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 800
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27-Jul-2013 12:43, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 320
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My "Pretty Woman" martini
My "Pretty Woman" martini27-Jul-2013 12:43, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 100
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Jon & Alyssa at The Farm
Jon & Alyssa at The Farm27-Jul-2013 14:44, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
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27-Jul-2013 14:44, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
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The remnants of the brownie
The remnants of the brownie27-Jul-2013 14:44, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
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27-Jul-2013 14:44, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1000
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27-Jul-2013 14:44, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 320
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27-Jul-2013 16:10, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100
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Getty time
Getty time27-Jul-2013 16:10, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100
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27-Jul-2013 16:10, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100
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27-Jul-2013 16:10, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100
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On Jon & Alyssa’s last day with us, Alyssa & Larry started out Sunday with a run around Silver Lake.  Jon & I drank coffee.  When everyone was back and cleaned up, we headed to Barbrix to finally partake in their brunch, which quite a few people have raved about, especially since they have $5 bottomless mimosas.  Well, the raves were well-earned.  The mimosas are five bucks and the food was delicious.  Also, our waiter was ridiculously hot.  Ah, LA waiters.  After that, we walked down to the Sunset Junction area where there are some cute shops.  Alyssa loved it.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon!  We then finally got to do some cooking while also watching American Ninja Warrior – that show is freakin’ awesome.  They had a red-eye flight that night so we drove them to LAX to conclude what ended up being a really great weekend.  I’m sure they enjoyed it but I also know they couldn’t wait to see their daughter again.  They know they always are welcome to come back though!

Jon & Alyssa on the deck
Jon & Alyssa on the deck28-Jul-2013 10:33, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 100
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28-Jul-2013 11:25, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1000
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Enjoying brunch at Barbrix
Enjoying brunch at Barbrix28-Jul-2013 11:25, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1000
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28-Jul-2013 11:26, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1600
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28-Jul-2013 11:26, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 800
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28-Jul-2013 11:26, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.5, 5.021mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 1600
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28-Jul-2013 12:31, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 800
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Walking to Sunset Junction
Walking to Sunset Junction28-Jul-2013 13:01, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 3.4, 4.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 100
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View of the Hollywood Hills from our hood
View of the Hollywood Hills from our hood28-Jul-2013 13:15, Canon Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS, 5.0, 28.475mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 100
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For Jon & Alyssa’s education, here’s a map of where we ended up during the trip – both were completely oblivious to where they were most of the time and even when I would say where we were, it really didn’t matter.  But maps are cool, so here you go!

LA Map - Alyssa Jon trip v2 notated