Part 2: Los Angeles

i flew back to a mild and sunny london yesterday afternoon and its back to work today on earlies, after 10 days in LA, San Diego and San Francisco, which were wonderful.

Lots of people i know, don't like LA but i think its quite good there. on my first day there after flying in from 3 days in New York, i picked up a car from the airport and drove to my hotel in Hollywood. it was late so i didn't bother going out, but the next day i headed down to melrose for some lunch and then walked around hollywood in the afternoon.

it was steaming hot that day as it would be everyday i was in southern california, and late afternoon i headed back to my hotel and got showered and changed before walking to the Music Box at the Fonda theatre on Hollywood Blvd, to see Frank Turner, the loved ones, murder by death and the gaslight anthem. it was an awesome night out and in hindsight it was the best night of the whole trip. had never heard anything by the loved ones but for me they turned out to be the best band of the night, though everyone playing that night was giving it their all.

it all finished up just around midnight and i strolled back the 20 mins or so to my hotel, past the people queueing up outside clubs and all the weirdo's you tend to get late at night in hollywood.

one thing i did notice in LA at the concert was the number of people with tattoos. everyone had them and i reckon i was one of the very few people without any ink, and i am not talking just a single tattoo here and there. there were loads of people with full sleeves done and big back pieces and not just some girl with a butterfly on the shoulder or foot.

actually speaking of tats, last year i was in LA for a couple of days and i walked past a guy on melrose who had loads of tattooes and a few distinctive ones on the side of his face. he looked a bit freaky which is why i remembered him, and you have to go quite far to look freaky in LA. on my first day when i was walking along melrose who did i walk past but the same guy again. how weird is that. even weirder was that he saw me and said hello.

that day i had mostly been listening to the loved ones - 100k, which was their opening song.

on my second day in LA, i decided to drive to santa monica as i heard its quite nice, and it was. huge white sandy beaches and a pier and some nice restaurants. it was hot and sunny most of the day but early in the evening a mist came in from the ocean and so i decided to head back to the city, which strangely enough was completely clear and bright.

on my last day in LA i had lunch on melrose and did a bit of shopping and then later in the afternoon i drove to the home depot centre in carson city to watch the LA Galaxy game. david beckham scored one and set up the second goal in a 2-0 win. i drove back through the late night LA traffic and packed because it was san diego next morning.