Having arranged to meet LA Historian Domenic Priore at Sunset Plaza, on Sunset Strip and also wanting to have a few beers and go to Whisky A Go Go later on that evening for their Jam night, we decided to use public transport.
We got our first "tap" cards, which work just like an Oyster card, only it is a lot cheaper!. Minty's design was a snowman on the beach, and The Beeb was pleased with a rainbow design and "Ride With Pride".
The nearest we could get by Metro to the top end of Sunset Strip was Hollywood and Vine. No problem we thought... we can grab a taxi outside the station and cover the remaining 3 miles......
Easier said than done. Not a taxi was in sight.
Minty approached two L.A. uniformed cops standing by the station entrance and asked where we could go to call a taxi.
They both scratched their heads and recommended Uber. Then a light bulb appeared over one of their heads and he suggested we walk around the corner to a hotel and ask the Concierge, so that is what we did.
Within 10 minutes we were in a cab and on our way along the Strip.
We had a delicious mid afternoon lunch in Le Petit Four with Domenic. Our table was outside, right on the strip where we could see all the lovely L.A. darlings walking by. We were still there after sunset, with Domenic sharing with us a lot of photos from his Sunset Strip project, telling us the history of the area, and how the landscape looked in the 60s, with many of the old iconic buildings now long gone. Check out his "Riot on Sunset Strip" book - it has recently been re-published in a smaller size, with new photos etc added.
After the bill was paid, we wandered as far along the strip as we could without Domenic contravening the free parking" conditions of Sunset Plaza where the history lesson of the strip continued. Domenic is a walking encyclopedia and can rattle off places, names and dates without any effort at all.
Domenic is a baseball fan and even plays. The Beeb thought he would give it a go in the car park behind the Plaza!
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| Domenic has a pretty cool bumper sticker |
Book Soup is on the Strip and Domenic went off to see if they had any stock of his Riot on Sunset Strip book.
They did, and they brought them out and placed them in a central display and Domenic signed them.
Bookstores are a place Minty can get lost in.
The next bookstore Domenic took us too, is just behind Book Soup, hidden away and it was a bit special. You can read about that in the next post.
Next stop was a little further along the strip, past Sunset & Vine - The Palladium.
Opposite The Palladium are some billboards that were created especially for the latest Tarantino film, "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood", set with the Manson murders central to the theme. Apparently, the billboards are staying up for a year.
By this time the jet lag was catching up with Minty and plans to go to Whisky A Go Go were shelved. Domenic dropped us off at the junction with Vine Street so we could walk up to Hollywood Boulevard and get the metro back to Downtown.
The Christmas CDs spanned racks and racks and we found a copy of Ringo Starr's Christmas album which spookily enough, we had heard being played in the Beatles Shop in Liverpool just days before we left for L.A. and thought it was hard to find.
Perusing the sale racks we found a very inexpensive boxed set of the Atlantic records story which was also added to our purchases.
With a nice black Amoeba Tote bag, we left with our booty and headed to the Metro.
The top of the iconic Capitol Records Tower at Hollywood & Vine was all lit up.
Minty saw the Hollywood star of NCIS maestro Mark Harmon and finding a second wind which fought off a bit of the tiredness, we went into a bar called 33 Taps on the corner of Hollywood & Vine and had a couple of beers.
In 33 Taps:
Around midnight, we caught the metro home. Hollywood & Vine station has a film theme
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