“La La
Land: The Experience”
1/1/17, “City of
Stars”
Beverly
Hills, California
This
establishing shot might seem pretty unassuming, but it is nothing of the
sort. The iconic palm trees of Beverly
Hills in the background, visible in the hauntingly beautiful twilight that the
light pollution and smog eternally provides in La La Land, makes for a
remarkable vista. As I now smoke my 2013
Christmas Pipe, it is a vista that can compete with Kas (Turkey), the Drake Passage,
and Seoul, the other places where I smoked this pipe during my previous
Christmas trips. It can even compete
with the vistas I found in Machu Picchu and Lumbini.
The City of Stars, which this city will now
forever be called if that song wins the Oscar as is projected, will join London
and Quebec as the only cities outside of the Eastern seaboard that I have
visited four or more times. Quebec takes
top honors at five overnight visits, but La La Land is now tied with London for
four. Each time I have visited here has
been with a different purpose in mind, and the City of Stars shines just for me
however I want to experience it each time.
My father always says that the mark of a good musical is if you walk out
of the theatre singing the songs from the show.
It took a week or so for me to memorize all the words to “City of
Stars”, but I think “La La Land” passes that test with flying colors. In fact, my entire night was designed around
visiting locations from the movie and singing along with the songs. It’s amazing how a great movie can do that
for you.
I actually make a point to
visit the setting of each year’s Best Picture winner. After “Argo” won in 2012, I went to
Iran. “12 Years a Slave”,
Louisiana. “Birdman”, well, I live in
New York and go to Broadway all the time.
“Spotlight”, I will be visiting Boston in a few months and stop at the
Globe’s headquarters. “La La Land” is
heavily favored to win this year, so today will have served that end, but I
have gotten ahead of myself.
After I
closed at SYD, I went through border control and security with no hassle and
then went to duty-free, getting a bottle of rum for myself and some bottles of
wines as gifts. I then got a flat white
and some macadamia nut brittle and headed to the gate. The delays continued. In the end, the delays were over two hours,
due to a late inbound aircraft from DXB.
I counted us lucky to be out of there with only a two-hour delay, since
I had been reading how flights from DXB-SYD were getting delayed by over twenty
hours this week. As long as I got to LAX
this morning, there would be no problem.
The day was lightly planned, and I hadn’t even given consideration to
dinner plans yet at that point. For my
in-flight movie I chose “Light Between Oceans”, which I figured was appropriate
for leaving Australia, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the negative
reviews.
I opted for the mushroom
tortellini for dinner, which I thought a much better choice than the chicken
dish. It was delicious. I soon fell asleep, waking up shortly before
we crossed the International Date Line and went back in time to 2016. I suppose I did stay up for another New Year’s,
but no one was celebrating on the plane.
They had snacks, including cheese and crackers, banana bread, and a beef
and spinach flatbread. I ate it all
before going back to sleep, waking up for breakfast.
I was kind of full at this point, them having
served a little too much food for a 12-hour flight. I ate the sausage and potatoes and half of
the frittata, saving the yogurt for later, only to be reminded that we could
not bring dairy products back into the States.
Well, I wound up eating it as I waited what seemed an eternity for my
checked bag. Once I went to get the rental
car bus, and I was hit by something I did not expect to feel in La La Land,
even in winter: cold air.
It was 43
degrees outside. I had no cold-weather
attire packed. I had also rented a
convertible, and I was not going to let a little chill stop me from using
it. On the bus to the rental car center,
I looked up “La La Land” filming locations and decided I would go to the
restaurant where Sebastian first plays “City of Stars” and, literally, bumps
into Mia as my dinner spot, then go to Griffith Observatory, where they have their
first date.
By the time I got my car, it
was close to 10 AM. My flight was
originally scheduled to land at 6:15 AM, and I had planned to be on the road by
7 AM. That necessitated a slight
reordering of events. I was due to have
brunch with my father’s friend (my friend, as well, and I think I have seen him
more times in the past five years than my father has) Gene, and the original
plan had been to go to Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, getting there
when they opened at 9 AM or so, then meet Gene for brunch in Del Mar on my way
back to La La Land. Due to the delays, I
swapped the schedule and would instead go to Cabrillo afterwards and get to the
hotel a little later. I didn’t mind
getting to the hotel later, as long as the other activities fit their way in
the schedule. I called Gene and told him
I’d be meeting him around 11:30 AM for brunch.
The timing would be perfect.
On
the plane, I thought to myself with some amusement that, in the past two
months, I had driven on the left for close to 3000 miles in three countries
since the last time I drove on the right, and I wondered if I had forgotten how
to drive on the right. It was not
funny. I had actually forgotten how to
drive on the right. As soon as I got out
of the parking lot at Hertz, I misjudged the positioning of the car and
collided hard the right front tire and the curb, breaking off a piece of the rubber
and scratching the hub cap. It was the
exact same mistake (on the opposite side) I had made in London. As I drove, more than once, I found myself
turning into the left side of the road and having to readjust myself. It took me almost two hours to get the hang
of driving on the right again, and I’m still not fully there yet. I lit up an LFD for the drive, played the
soundtrack to “La La Land”, and blasted the heat to accommodate for the cold
air coming in through the open top.
Not
long after I finished the LFD, I was at Gene’s place in Del Mar. He introduced me to his housemates, and we
then went out for brunch, him giving me the history lessons of this historic
community along the way. We went to what
is now “L’Auberge” and was built on the site of the old Hotel Del Mar, a former
haunt of movie stars. It was a high-end
resort, and the menu looked most interesting.
I kept it simple though and ordered tacos and hash browns, along with
coffee. We talked about a wide range of
topics, including the writing business, politics, and philosophy. While we aligned politically at the macro
level, we found plenty of nuances where we disagreed, which led to a fruitful
discussion. After my main course, I got
a brownie dessert, which was divine.
We
then went back to his place so that he could show me his abode, along with a
seriously impressive book collection, including two full shelves of poetry. It was then time to say our goodbyes, and I did
so very much hoping to see him again during a future trip to SoCal, whenever
that may be. I suppose it will probably
be the next time I decide to go to Comic Con. I then made my way to Cabrillo National Monument, which should have been
a very short drive, and I lit up Graycliff for the way.
It took me about half an hour to the entrance
to the area, about a mile from the VC, and my GPS said it would take ten
minutes to get the rest of the way. That
couldn’t be right. Well, there was
bumper-to-bumper traffic, almost all foreign tourists, and it took twenty
miutes to go that last mile. I suppose
they all wanted to be there for sunset, but I had not expected any kind of
crowd at all. It was where Jose
Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to land in California in
1542. There was a statue of him
overlooking the bay. I did my business
at the VC, lit up a Camacho, and went to take my ceremonial pictures at the
statue. I also went to the lighthouse to
take a picture with the replica of the lighthouse I had gotten at the VC. From there, it was straight back to my hotel,
finishing the cigar on the way.
As I
approached the hotel, I passed and drove on the streets with iconic names, such
as Sunset Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, well known all over the world. I settled into the room and went straight to
the restaurant, called the Smoke House, which was used as the filming location
of the bar where Sebastian got fired for playing “City of Stars”.
There was no piano there, but the interior
was unmistakable. I hadn’t even looked
at the menu previously, so I had no idea what to expect. It was like an old-timey Italian steakhouse,
the kind of place with big portions and waiters with bigger personalities. I got the garlic bread for appetizer and the
prime rib with fries and mushrooms for main course, along with a Manhattan to
drink.
I knew that I would have trouble
finishing the food, and worried that the one drink was so big that it would
impair my driving ability. I was wrong
on both accounts, but only barely. I
finished the meal, but it was not easy, and it was some of the best steak I’ve
ever had outside of New York. The drink
left me basically the least sober it could have and still have made comfortable
driving. From there, it was a short
drive to Griffith Observatory, and I lit up a Nub as soon as I walked out of
the restaurant.
When I got to Griffith
Park, the main entrance was closed, and I had to circle around to the other
entrance, again, shocked at how big of a crowd it drew and, again, almost all
Asian tourists. Where I parked was where
Mia and Sebastian lost their cars, sang “A Lovely Night”, and had their iconic
first dance, the one shown on the movie posters. I left my cigar by the car, since smoking
wasn’t allowed in the park, and joked that I hoped I didn’t lose my car like
Mia and Sebastian did.
It was quite a
walk to the Observatory, and the planetarium was closed, along with the gift
shops. That was a major disappointment,
but I found another spot that I recognized from their first date. After that, I headed back towards my car,
but, somehow, the walk seemed much longer, and I worried if I had made the same
mistake that Mia and Sebastian did.
Eventually, I found my car (and cigar) and relit the cigar before
driving back to the hotel. Once I got
back to the hotel, I went out to the balcony, where I will definitely be
sleeping outside, lit my 2013 Christmas Pipe, and proceeded to write this
entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and get some sleep.
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