"Cause there's no other place I'd rather be than Los Angeles" -Hollywood Undead
I have been meaning to write an entry about my summer in Los Angeles, but I have been procrastinating because there is so much to write about. So, I'm not writing a detailed entry and I won't mention everything about my summer there, because if I plan on doing that, it will take me forever to get around to typing it. So here is the shortER and lazy entry about my summer there:
I believe I left June 14th. My friend John(who was also going to LA), had already been there over a week. We were both suppose to drive there in his car, but when he called me and wanted to leave, I was in Panama. I spent a good bit of money in Panama, so when I came home I went offshore to get some money before I left. John drove there, and a flew. I have flown in a helicopter a lot, but never a plane, I enjoyed it.
The first few days I hung around by myself mostly, because John and Oswald(the guy we were staying with) were working on some NBC show all day. I went walk around the area, took a bus, walked around some more. We waited until they were done working to go check things out around the city.
We went to Venice Beach, the Boardwalk, and the Santa Monica Pier, which is one of the most popular beaches. I'm sure everyone has seen all of them in movies before. Venice Beach is nice and there is always something going on. People everywhere, people skating and riding bikes, running, exercising and working out on the beach, people with pets, people swimming and surfing. John and I went there a lot throughout the summer. We surfed our last full day there.
We went to a skate park and rollerbladed and skateboarded. I had a picture of me in the air jumping this ramp, but it got deleted. Oswald is pretty good at rollerblading, he used to always do it when he was younger. LA is full of people skating. Everywhere you go, you will see someone skating. In bars, a lot of the tv's play extreme sports on them.
There is this place in the mountains called "Monkey Canyon". If you are visiting Los Angeles and don't really know anyone, you won't find this place. It is a place known by "Locals". Oswald has lived in LA his whole life, so he took us hiking there. It was a really fun hike. Once the trail ended, we had to walk in the creek a good bit of the way. When you get to "Monkey Canyon", there is this little area of deep water. Above it is a cliff where the mountain goes up. It's a 40 to 50 foot drop to the water. It's high, and with rocks surrounding you it makes it that much more scary. Yes, we jumped off of it. Scary, but fun. There is also this rock slide that throws you in the water at the end, that was fun too.
Another hike we did was to the Hollywood Sign. That was pretty exciting. I was able to complete two of my life's goals this summer: Surf, and touch the Hollywood Sign. We weren't by the Sign long when some censors started going off, so we ran.
Around the same area of the Hollywood Sign, but it was a different day, we went check out the Griffith Observatory. We were going to watch one of the shows there, but we were late.
When we are bored in Eunice, we go to places like Wal-mart and McDonalds. Well I went to the oldest running McDonalds in the world. It's a big stand, you can't even go inside. There is this little McDonalds Museum next to it, also. There isn't many Wal-marts in LA, because there are so many independent businesses, that Wal-marts would put them out of business. I did go to a 3 story Wal-mart, though.
We went to Downtown LA a couple of times, passed by it a whole bunch. I took a Subway train for the first time there.
I worked on a "Ross: Dress For Less" Commercial while I was there, and helped another company move some equipment. The day before I was leaving I got a call to work on an MTV Promo, couldn't do it cause I was leaving. I almost worked on a Porn set, but my call was too late and they found someone else. Yeah, Porn seems like this big thing. Here, people make jokes about it and stuff, but in LA and for people who work in the film industry, it's not as big a deal. It's just another job to them.
We went to Universal Studios Theme Park, which was really fun. There were a lot of cool shows there. We took the tour and went on the lot of Universal Studios, which was awesome and really exciting. We got to see a lot of sets from a lot of movies and where they filmed a bunch of things. We seen a bunch of props and cars and stuff from a lot of big movies. Outside the Park is the Universal City Walk, which was nice. There were a lot different shops and stuff all around. We went to Six Flags, which was cool because I haven't been to a Six Flags in years.
We went to Hollywood a couple of times, looked at a lot of the Walk of Fame and the Celebrity Hand prints. We went to a few Museums there and saw some cool stuff.
We lived in South Los Angeles at first, then moved to Compton. I'm sure most of you have heard of Compton, lol. It's a well known Ghetto place. It doesn't really look ghetto, because it wasn't trashy around and our house was nice. It's just the stuff that goes on. Just about every week we heard gun shots right outside our house. A cop questioned us one time cause someone got shot. Our neighbor pulled a gun on Oswald cause he thought he was trying to break in his own house. We saw a fight across the street and the guy said he was going get his gun. Living there was interesting to say the least. We had a house warming party when we first moved to Compton, we played really fun and aggressive games of beer pong that made us sore and bruised the next day, heh, and John and I made Gumbo. No one there has ever tried Gumbo before, they all liked it.
I couldn't count the amount of times a homeless person has asked me for money this summer. I even had a homeless guy chase me down cause I took a picture of him sleeping lol. I find the majority of people in LA to be nice though. Before I went there, people kept telling me not to walk the streets and stuff. I have walked the streets a bunch, with people and by myself, not once did anyone mess with me. The drivers there are more generous also I found.
One weekend we went to San Diego. It was my first time playing Blackjack in a casino. John lost all the money he brought, Oswald lost a couple hundred, and I came out ahead over 400 dollars! yeah, beginners luck, ha. We went to this cool outdoor mall there, walked around, then went to this neat bar. At the bar we rode this mechanical bull, played in a beer pong tournament and lost, got really drunk, and this older lady grabbed me and kissed me, heh.
We went see a few movies in LA, which cost about 12 to 15 dollars for a movie ticket. One movie theater even had this really nice bar in it, and escalators. We went see the new Harry Potter movie opening night, and there were people dressed up for it. Stupid nerds made me jealous, I'm definitely getting me a Harry Potter costume for the next movie, lol.
This is getting long. To cut it short, we checked out a lot of the city day by day. We saw a good bit of the Nightlife and went out a lot. I could make an entry on the Nightlife alone lol.
On the way home, John and I stopped stopped in Las Vegas. We didn't leave until about 9 or 10 the next morning. Vegas was awesome. We went to just go and have a lil relaxing time and check it out...that didn't happen. I think it's impossible to go to Vegas and NOT have a crazy and exciting time, ha. Got drunk, Gambled and lost, acted the ass, left with a random chick in a badass limo to a strip club, thought they were gonna rob me but my drunk side said to go away, 5 dollars short to get in the club, walked to find John who was in Ceasers Palace and got lost on the way. That night wore us out and made the rest of the drive exhausting. The next day we stopped by the Grand Canyon for a lil while. It was nice there, and we noticed some people from Vegas, ha.
I have noticed that Los Angeles isn't all about "this city with tall buildings", because when you first get there, LA isn't what you would expect it to be. There really isn't that many places with tall buildings, mainly just Downtown and a few other places. You have to get out and do things. LA is more about what's in front of you and around you, and what's going on. It's then that you see how cool the city is.
My first 800 pictures from LA got deleted, but I still took a good bit. I have over 300 of them on my myspace if anyone wants to see.
www.myspace.com/bigsexystu2002
I believe I left June 14th. My friend John(who was also going to LA), had already been there over a week. We were both suppose to drive there in his car, but when he called me and wanted to leave, I was in Panama. I spent a good bit of money in Panama, so when I came home I went offshore to get some money before I left. John drove there, and a flew. I have flown in a helicopter a lot, but never a plane, I enjoyed it.
The first few days I hung around by myself mostly, because John and Oswald(the guy we were staying with) were working on some NBC show all day. I went walk around the area, took a bus, walked around some more. We waited until they were done working to go check things out around the city.
We went to Venice Beach, the Boardwalk, and the Santa Monica Pier, which is one of the most popular beaches. I'm sure everyone has seen all of them in movies before. Venice Beach is nice and there is always something going on. People everywhere, people skating and riding bikes, running, exercising and working out on the beach, people with pets, people swimming and surfing. John and I went there a lot throughout the summer. We surfed our last full day there.
We went to a skate park and rollerbladed and skateboarded. I had a picture of me in the air jumping this ramp, but it got deleted. Oswald is pretty good at rollerblading, he used to always do it when he was younger. LA is full of people skating. Everywhere you go, you will see someone skating. In bars, a lot of the tv's play extreme sports on them.
There is this place in the mountains called "Monkey Canyon". If you are visiting Los Angeles and don't really know anyone, you won't find this place. It is a place known by "Locals". Oswald has lived in LA his whole life, so he took us hiking there. It was a really fun hike. Once the trail ended, we had to walk in the creek a good bit of the way. When you get to "Monkey Canyon", there is this little area of deep water. Above it is a cliff where the mountain goes up. It's a 40 to 50 foot drop to the water. It's high, and with rocks surrounding you it makes it that much more scary. Yes, we jumped off of it. Scary, but fun. There is also this rock slide that throws you in the water at the end, that was fun too.
Another hike we did was to the Hollywood Sign. That was pretty exciting. I was able to complete two of my life's goals this summer: Surf, and touch the Hollywood Sign. We weren't by the Sign long when some censors started going off, so we ran.
Around the same area of the Hollywood Sign, but it was a different day, we went check out the Griffith Observatory. We were going to watch one of the shows there, but we were late.
When we are bored in Eunice, we go to places like Wal-mart and McDonalds. Well I went to the oldest running McDonalds in the world. It's a big stand, you can't even go inside. There is this little McDonalds Museum next to it, also. There isn't many Wal-marts in LA, because there are so many independent businesses, that Wal-marts would put them out of business. I did go to a 3 story Wal-mart, though.
We went to Downtown LA a couple of times, passed by it a whole bunch. I took a Subway train for the first time there.
I worked on a "Ross: Dress For Less" Commercial while I was there, and helped another company move some equipment. The day before I was leaving I got a call to work on an MTV Promo, couldn't do it cause I was leaving. I almost worked on a Porn set, but my call was too late and they found someone else. Yeah, Porn seems like this big thing. Here, people make jokes about it and stuff, but in LA and for people who work in the film industry, it's not as big a deal. It's just another job to them.
We went to Universal Studios Theme Park, which was really fun. There were a lot of cool shows there. We took the tour and went on the lot of Universal Studios, which was awesome and really exciting. We got to see a lot of sets from a lot of movies and where they filmed a bunch of things. We seen a bunch of props and cars and stuff from a lot of big movies. Outside the Park is the Universal City Walk, which was nice. There were a lot different shops and stuff all around. We went to Six Flags, which was cool because I haven't been to a Six Flags in years.
We went to Hollywood a couple of times, looked at a lot of the Walk of Fame and the Celebrity Hand prints. We went to a few Museums there and saw some cool stuff.
We lived in South Los Angeles at first, then moved to Compton. I'm sure most of you have heard of Compton, lol. It's a well known Ghetto place. It doesn't really look ghetto, because it wasn't trashy around and our house was nice. It's just the stuff that goes on. Just about every week we heard gun shots right outside our house. A cop questioned us one time cause someone got shot. Our neighbor pulled a gun on Oswald cause he thought he was trying to break in his own house. We saw a fight across the street and the guy said he was going get his gun. Living there was interesting to say the least. We had a house warming party when we first moved to Compton, we played really fun and aggressive games of beer pong that made us sore and bruised the next day, heh, and John and I made Gumbo. No one there has ever tried Gumbo before, they all liked it.
I couldn't count the amount of times a homeless person has asked me for money this summer. I even had a homeless guy chase me down cause I took a picture of him sleeping lol. I find the majority of people in LA to be nice though. Before I went there, people kept telling me not to walk the streets and stuff. I have walked the streets a bunch, with people and by myself, not once did anyone mess with me. The drivers there are more generous also I found.
One weekend we went to San Diego. It was my first time playing Blackjack in a casino. John lost all the money he brought, Oswald lost a couple hundred, and I came out ahead over 400 dollars! yeah, beginners luck, ha. We went to this cool outdoor mall there, walked around, then went to this neat bar. At the bar we rode this mechanical bull, played in a beer pong tournament and lost, got really drunk, and this older lady grabbed me and kissed me, heh.
We went see a few movies in LA, which cost about 12 to 15 dollars for a movie ticket. One movie theater even had this really nice bar in it, and escalators. We went see the new Harry Potter movie opening night, and there were people dressed up for it. Stupid nerds made me jealous, I'm definitely getting me a Harry Potter costume for the next movie, lol.
This is getting long. To cut it short, we checked out a lot of the city day by day. We saw a good bit of the Nightlife and went out a lot. I could make an entry on the Nightlife alone lol.
On the way home, John and I stopped stopped in Las Vegas. We didn't leave until about 9 or 10 the next morning. Vegas was awesome. We went to just go and have a lil relaxing time and check it out...that didn't happen. I think it's impossible to go to Vegas and NOT have a crazy and exciting time, ha. Got drunk, Gambled and lost, acted the ass, left with a random chick in a badass limo to a strip club, thought they were gonna rob me but my drunk side said to go away, 5 dollars short to get in the club, walked to find John who was in Ceasers Palace and got lost on the way. That night wore us out and made the rest of the drive exhausting. The next day we stopped by the Grand Canyon for a lil while. It was nice there, and we noticed some people from Vegas, ha.
I have noticed that Los Angeles isn't all about "this city with tall buildings", because when you first get there, LA isn't what you would expect it to be. There really isn't that many places with tall buildings, mainly just Downtown and a few other places. You have to get out and do things. LA is more about what's in front of you and around you, and what's going on. It's then that you see how cool the city is.
My first 800 pictures from LA got deleted, but I still took a good bit. I have over 300 of them on my myspace if anyone wants to see.
www.myspace.com/bigsexystu2002