Halloween

Wed 31 October 2018

We didn’t really have much planned for today other than heading down to the beach so we thought we would do that first up.  Well that was pretty much the day done as we decided to put a day pass worth of money onto the metro cards we got yesterday to go to Universal and to go on the train.  Well we certainly learned our lesson – don’t use public transport in LA.  It exists but it is not great.  We unfortunately JUST missed the first train then had a 20 minute wait for the next one.  Then we had to take two different lines to get us to Santa Monica which took us on a giant loop around the city rather than just going west.  And the train stops for traffic lights!!  We eventually got to Santa Monica and walked down and onto the pier and took photos of the ‘end of Route 66’ sign and looked at the wide expanse of flat beaches and the hazy horizon.  Well it was okay but I guess we are spoilt by our much nicer beaches although I must admit that they keep the beaches in good nick – they are nicely raked, there are toilet blocks every 200m or so and rubbish bins aplenty.

We thought we would walk down to Venice Beach and that was a pleasant enough walk.  There are separate bike and pedestrian paths and MOST people keep to the right one but there was always a slight fear of someone whooshing past and grabbing a bag from us if we let our guard down so we made sure we kept a tight grip on our stuff!  We stopped around the Ocean Park area for lunch at a seaside cafe with chairs and umbrellas (LA is unseasonably warm and dry – about 30 degree maximums).  We shared a fish and chips and commented (quietly to each other) that for once the portion looked a bit small by American standards but would certainly do us for lunch, only for the lady to come out 5 minutes later with more fish saying “Sorry, I thought the fish portion was a bit small so I’ve done you another serve”.  So we had an American size lunch after all!

Walked on past many palm trees and a variety of architectural styles of condominiums and then hit Venice Beach.  Well I think it was a combination of the seedy tat shops selling t shirts, shells and hand painted ‘peace’ signs reminiscent of Bali, the lines of tent people selling even crap

pier stuff on the edge of the road, the genuine weirdos wandering around,  the people who were obviously either pickpockets or drug dealers and then all the normal people dressed abnormally for Halloween but the place had a distinctly sinister air and was seedy as f**k and, after a quick look at Muscle Beach (disappointing, nobody there) we found the safest road we could to take us back to the road and then just missed the bus to take us back to the station.

Larry unsuccessfully tried to find an Uber but another bus came along surprisingly quickly (I think because it was a Big Blue Bus which is a different company than the Metro buses – we found that out when the bus wouldn’t accept our card but the nice bus driver took pity on us and let us ride for free and pointed out where to get off – big shout out to Big Blue Buses of LA!)  We hopped on the next train out of there although I must say the area the bus drive along between Ocean Beach and Santa Monica looked quite nice and upmarket) and eventually got back to Hollywood/Highland station about 3.30pm.  So that was most of the day wasted unfortunately.

We consoled ourselves with shakes and sundaes at the Ghiardelli chocolate shop and soda fountain and then thought we should go and see a movie seeing as we are in the movie making capital of the world.  The TCL theatres were advertising ‘First Man’ in 4D which sounded exciting (the seats move, you get covered in moon dust, that sort of thing) but then the guy at the counter said it was a typo and just a regular screening that evening.  They were, however, also advertising a preview screening of Bohemian Rhapsody in the Imax theatre which is located in the original Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (the one behind the Hollywood hand and footprints) and as we both love Queen we got tickets to that instead.

Headed back to the room for a freshen up and then went to the screening.  Well what a fabulous time.  Not only the stunning and historic surroundings but a happy and engaged audience.  It was Halloween night and everyone was in a festive mood.  We had a lovely chat to the American guy sitting next to us who was also a Queen fan before the movie and then as it started everyone whooped and clapped and then proceeded to sing along and stomp and clap to all the songs.  It’s a great movie and the sound system was brilliant and they play a lot of the songs right through instead of just portions of it and the movie is funny and sad and just brilliant.  Go see it!!

We came out onto Hollywood Boulevard to a carnival scene – everyone dressed in Halloween costumes, kids with their trick or treat bags and all sorts of wild and wacky things happening.  The place was heaving but it was a happy atmosphere and there was a heavy police and security presence so that it all felt reasonably safe.  We jostled our way back up the street and back to our room and then took quite a while to wind down after such an exciting evening.