Considering that we won’t have another opportunity to do this til December at the earliest, we decided yesterday to take yet another urban exploration trek in this town of ours. Our target yesterday was to complete all of Hollywood Boulevard, from its east end in Silverlake to its western terminus near WeHo and the Sunset Strip. It’s a much shorter walk than our marathon-training crawl along Santa Monica Boulevard, but about comparable to our stroll down Melrose Avenue.

We set off once again on the 4 (a handy bus line!), this time debarking at the intersection of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights; this is a T-intersection, and the small triangular patch of green in the center is officially called the Matthew Shepard Memorial Triangle. We walked north on Crescent Heights, turned right on Sunset (a future walk!), and a few blocks down to the Griddle Cafe, a favorite breakfast spot of ours. It’s right next to the Director’s Guild building, so sometimes enterprising (or desperate) screenwriters and other industry hopefuls will hang out and have coffee, breakfast, or the like in hopes of ensuring their future by meeting some established soul from the DGA offices.

After ensuring our carb intake for the day, we boarded the #2, heading down Sunset towards downtown. We got off near the Sunset/Hollywood split, and walked back to the intersection.

Hollywood Boulevard splinters off of Sunset in Silverlake, and right across the street at this particular junction is the Vista Theatre, on Sunset. It’s a cool-looking theatre, dating from the early years of Hollywood’s glory, and the Golden Age of movie palaces. It’s either been nicely kept up or splendiferously restored (click on that link back there to see what it looks like!); either way, it still shows first-run movies. Too bad there aren’t more neighborhood joints like this still operating. I suspect it’s part of why Hollywood profits are down.

Silverlake is one of those neighborhoods that is spread out, and thus contains everything from the run-down to the trendy to the funky. We crossed Sunset, went up to the next part of the intersection, and turned left onto Hollywood Boulevard. From here, the famed Hollywood sign is visible. But just down the street is the Cheetah strip joint– a reminder of the area’s (ahem) diversity.

Just a block or so past that, we made a lengthy detour at the Soap Plant, one of our favorite places to window-shop. This is really three businesses in one: Wacko, Soap Plant, and La Luz de Jesus art gallery. It’s a kitschy, off-beat store that offers just about anything you can think of. Some of its merchandise includes retro-style lunchboxes, kitschy dishes, funky cookie jars, candle holders, bamboo curtains (Frida Kahlo, anyone?), cups (Betty Boop, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, an eyeball, aliens), and an assortment of oddball items such as voodoo kits (I should buy a couple– one for Smirk, one for Scowl, one for Rove, etc.).

A children’s book section has some offerings that will keep your kids occupied for a short time while you peruse the (*ahem*) more adult sections. There’s a wide variety of other books as well, ranging from anatmoy, American Western culture, cigarette matchbook art, fashion, tiki culture, nostalgia, collectibles of all kinds, tattoo art, film, television, sex/erotica, counterculture writers (Burroughs, Kerouac, Hunter Thompson, Bukowski, etc.), true crime, death (poetically on the very next shelf to sex/erotica– no need for goths to stray very far in the book section!), some manga, graphic novels, astrology, religion, and new age. Their art section is rather extensive: art in general, mexican art, books on Dia de Los Muertos, voodoo art, movie poster art, surrealism, religious art, architecture, and design. Other books cover topics such as music, travel, automobiles, magic and deviancy in general.

Beyond the books are candles, religious art, picture frames, shot glasses, tiki mugs, bobblehead dolls (a lot of pop culture childhood memories here! This section includes Quick Draw McGraw, H.R. Pufnstuf, Mr. Peabody, and the animated Funny Face drink characters, to name a few, with more current ones including Arnie’s “Terminator,” Andre the Giant, and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” characters), pirate action figures (think Blackbeard and Jean LaFitte), and 8 balls of all kinds.

Wait! There’s more! card decks, lotions and creams, light sets (from the ubiquituous chili peppers to the Pillsbury Doughboy, hula girls, cows, and even “pecker party lights” (guaranteed to “light up” your sex life *grin)), stickers, postcards. At this point you reach the rear, with the La Luz de Jesus gallery, a revolving display of art by unknowns and possible future household names. Beyond that is a third section, with Simpsons tchotkes, ouija boards, model cars, paper lanterns, lamp/shades, and Chinese Cultural Revolution memorabilia (Mao’s Little Red Book, guaranteed to be a hit at parties everywhere). There’s racks of “action figures” (the masculine name for dolls for boys): Hellraiser, Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama, Ren & Stimpy, Munsters, Quisp (bonus points if you even know what Quisp is; even more bonus points if you’ve partaken of Quisp!), Sandman (if you’re a fan, stand up proudly; Neil Gaiman is our latter-day mythologist!), Astro Boy, and historical action figures (think Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Freud, Shakespeare, Bach, and Pope Innocent III; in grad school, someone made a parody (thank you Photoshop!) of Foucault). Among the more, shall we say, unusual offerings in this section are something called “Homies”– little plastic figures of barrio characters with names like “Masta Blasta”; the new set of “Homies” is called “Mijos”, which seem to be Homies-in-training. There’s also a number of, um, “adult action figures,” featuring the likes of Jenna Jameson. Something to send to that obscene phone caller next time he dials you up, I guess…

*whew* That’s practically an advertisement in itself. One thing I like about this place is that while they have an eclectic selection (not to mention a diverse staff!), they are insistent on certain graces: a sign by the cash register says, “We will help you when you get off your cell phone.” Amen.

After we finally dragged ourselves away from all of this stuff and out the door, we made another unscheduled stop a few doors down, at American Apparel. My wife had heard of this place before, but I hadn’t. This is a clothing shop where everything on sale is made right here in the ol’ U.S. of A. It’s has some pretty good shirts and pants, actually, and I’ll come back eventually when I’m ready to get some new clothes. There’s apparently a store in Westwood and another in Beverly Hills, so not too far from us…

At this point, we realized we were doing less walking and too much “shopping,” so we resolved to move a little quicker down the street. We walked through present-day east Hollywood (decades ago, the Los Feliz neighborhood was sometimes referred to as “East Hollywood”), into “Little Armenia.” It wasn’t the spiffiest part of town, but definitely culturally interesting. After passing several shops and groceries with signs in Cyrillic, we’d pass a store with all its signage in Spanish. This ethnic mixture continued a few blocks down, as we entered “Thai Town,” with a large number of Thai restaurants and some groceries. But still the storefronts continued to be punctuated with business names and ads in Cyrillic or Spanish. We passed by one of our favorite Thai restaurants so far: Sanamluang Cafe. It’s a hole-in-the-wall in a strip mall with terrible parking, but the food is outstanding (not to mention fairly cheap!). It’s also open til the wee hours, although we haven’t availed ourselves of a 2 a.m. feeding yet.

Just down the street is Thailand Plaza; the top part has a spacious restaurant; we’ve eaten there before. The food is good, and the waitresses/hostesses are dressed in traditional Thai costumes, and there’s Thai music, but if you want the best, go to Sanamluang. It was still a nice evening out for us. On the ground floor, though, is Silom supermarket. I always enjoy exploring ethnic markets, so we decided to go in for a few minutes. If you’re Thai or love Thai food and want to make it at home, this is the store for you. Inside was all sorts of Thai culinary items: coconut, taro, frog’s legs, squid, thai cakes and pastries, grass jelly juice, mango juice, more tea than you’ve ever seen in your life, and all kinds of fresh produce. They even had whole, uncut durian, which delighted my spouse. I promised we’d buy some eventually. Inside was one aisle devoted to “American” foods, which I found amusing. Outside Silom is a Thai spirit house on the sidewalk. Definitely a good place to visit if you want to get a sense of Thailand here in the States.

Despite the presence of Little Armenia, Thai Town, and the promise of Hollywood proper ahead, the area is still sketchy enough that the old Harvard House motel, despite its neon and old-time feel, offers waterbed and adult movies. There’s also signs of cultural adaptation and mixing as well; on the corner at one intersection was a Thai fast-food joint in an old hot-dog stand, with a huge hot dog still perched on the roof. This business is right next door to an adult bookstore.

A few blocks away from the heart of Thai Town is the Hollywood Freeway. This is an often-congested spur through the Cahuenga Pass to downtown, and even on Saturday, was no exception; while the northbound traffic was smooth, the lanes leading towards downtown were approaching bumper-to-bumper status.

We continued our march down Hollywood Boulevard, past Tommy’s (a local hamburger joint that has a reputation; apparently aficionados like the original site, at Beverly and Rampart) and the Los Angeles Free Clinic-Hollywood branch. We also passed a number of car lots.

But before long, we arrived at the corner of Hollywood and Gower. This is the start of the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame, with all of its stars. Our mission from this point on would be to see all of the “stars”. We definitely assumed our tourist persona at this point, alternately walking ahead and looking down at the names of stars past and present, known and half-forgotten. There are over 2,000 names, so that’s quite a bit of reading!

Just before the fabled intersection of Hollywood & Vine is the Pantages Theater. Once a glamourous movie palace that hosted the Oscar ceremonies during the 1950s, it has since been spruced up back to its old glory and now offers first-run plays. A recent offering was “Wicked”, based on the book of the same name (and I predict will eventually be filmed and playing at a multiplex near you). I have yet to see a play inside, but judging from the elaborateness of the exterior and the ticket booth area, it’s definitely a top-notch place to enjoy a few hours of entertainment.

Right after you pass the Pantages, there’s a narrow alley between the theatre and the next building, and straight ahead you can see the Capitol Records building. It’s actually located just up the block on Vine, but can be seen at a distance from some locations, including the Hollywood Freeway. It’s in the shape of a stack of 45s on a turntable (for those of you who are saying, “what’s a stack of 45s?? A turntable?”, here’s a link for you. Now, go away. You’re making me feel old). For my hearing readers, the building probably needs no introduction; Capitol Records was the first West coast label, and recorded or produced for such notables as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, the Kingston Trio, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Linda Ronstadt, Blondie, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many, many more. The “needle” on the top of the building spells out “Hollywood” in Morse code (not that I would have recognized that).

At Hollywood & Vine today, there’s not a whole lot to see, although there are quite a few old buildings here and along this section of Hollywood (but not a lot of stars or talent agents hanging around either, contrary to myth). We walked up Vine, since the Hollywood Walk of Fame is also on Vine, between Sunset and Yucca. The stars are on both sides of the street on both Hollywood and Vine, so we walked up to Capitol Records (where, appropriately enough, John Lennon’s star is on the sidewalk just outside), then across the street and back to Hollywood Boulevard.

A lot of the buildings we saw were a mix of old and new, with some buildings hosting their original businesses or being used for the original purpose, while others have been converted to other uses, or replaced entirely by something much more modern (and not always as attractive!). Among the buildings we saw were old hotels and apartment houses, such as the Knickerbocker, and departed businesses, such as the Broadway (once a department store). At the corner of Hollywood and Ivar is the Guaranty Building, which once housed offices for luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper hung her shingle here for years. Now the building houses the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition Museum– no Tom Cruise around, and needless to say, we passed on the opportunity to learn more than we ever needed to know about Hubbard.

Just up the block on Ivar is the Knickerbocker; it is still a very attractive building, and has a rather interesting history. Seminal film director D.W. Griffith died there in 1948, and Harry Houdini’s widow, Bess, held yearly seances there, hoping to make contact with the Great Beyond and reunite with her husband.

As we continued down Hollywood Boulevard’s north side, we saw little evidence of its heyday and a lot of its present-day life as a living neighborhood– albeit one that was a bit sketchy at times. We passed a lot of little shops, tobacco stores, tons of gift/souvenir shops, but nothing particularly trendy. The stars on the sidewalk continued to draw our attention.

One particularly glitzy-looking shopping development, though, was centered around Hollywood Boulevard’s last remaining Victorian, the Janes House. Once a private home, then a school, and finally the Hollywood Visitor’s Center, it now houses offices, as I understand it. It’s a nice Queen Anne-style home, the kind of house I wouldn’t mind living in (although at a different location, thank you).

We made another quick stop, this time at a used bookstore, Book City, which is now a departed business. After we had scanned the shelves for possible new reads, we left and continued on our journey. Before long, we arrived at the busiest part of the avenue: the Hollywood and Highland area. We sauntered past Musso & Frank Grill, a longtime fixture where stars used to come in for meals. We passed it up this time, but we’ll probably come back sometime for a bite, if just to soak up the atmosphere. Just down the street is the Erotic Museum, a newcomer to Hollywood. No time for that this trip, either. It was already well into the day, and since we endeavored to see the entire Hollywood Walk of Fame, we needed to keep moving.

The next couple of blocks has a plethora of sights, including the Hollywood Wax Museum, the Guiness World Records Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium, the Hollywood & Highland shopping complex, and a pair of well-known theaters. We decided to really be tourists in our adopted hometown, and paid for entrance to the Hollywood Wax Museum. It was passable; a lot of the wax dummies weren’t as lifelike as they could be, although the “Chamber of Horrors” was kind of cool. I prefer Madame Tussaud’s, though.

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland is one of the busiest in Los Angeles; it’s not for the faint of heart. Not only is there an abundance of vehicular traffic, but the mass of humanity swarming around is at its zenith at this point on Hollywood Boulevard. We crossed the street and wormed our way through the crowds. The Hollywood & Highland Center is an oversize shopping mall full of stores that you can find in dozens of malls elsewhere. Gap, Banana Republic, and Brookstone are examples of stores that aren’t any more special just because of the location. The developers took what could have been a fantastic opportunity given the site and instead turned out yet. another. mall. The redeeming feature is the outdoor courtyard; here, the exterior is designed to look like the set from the D.W. Griffith film “Intolerance”, complete with Babylonian-style carved elephants and the like. It’s worth a quick look-see, then you can dash right back out. If you enjoy wandering through 75 stores, be my guest.

The only other unique thing is the building attached to the shops: the Kodak Theatre. This is the current site of the Academy Awards, so if you’re an Oscarphile, you’ll want to take a gander. Otherwise, the real attraction is right outside on the sidewalk and down the block.

That’s because a variety of street performers, from old-fashioned mimes to spray-painted “statues” that walk to costumed characters ready to have their picture taken with Junior for a “donation,” hang out daily on this block. Due to the “entertainment” there’s always a throng, so clearly seeing the stars in this stretch can be difficult. Yesterday we passed Superman, Batman, “Johnny Depp” from “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Johnny Depp” as Willy Wonka, Spider-Man, Spongebob Squarepants, Zorro, Marilyn Monroe, Darth Vader, and a host of other pop culture icons. These photogenic entrepeneurs especially like to cluster in front of the building next to the Kodak Theatre: Mann’s Chinese Theatre.

The historical name is Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and the exterior is always worth gazing at. It’s also fun to wander among the hand and footprints and signatures of stars of yesteryear and today, and compare shoe sizes. We had already paid homage to the forecourt on previous visits, and this is one of the most-requested stops our guests want to make, so we merely glanced at the theatre and skedaddled.

Another sightseeing opportunity for another time is the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, which was near closing time when we passed by. A block or two more, and we reached the end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, right by where it officially starts. We crossed Hollywood at La Brea and paused to view the Silver Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo, a quartet of statues of four women who influenced film: Anna May Wong, Dolores del Rio, Mae West, and Dorothy Dandridge. I don’t know much about the history of this set of statues, or why Mae West might have been chosen, but it really is a wonderful way to recognize the contributions these particular women, and all women by extension, have made to Hollywood and the industry.

We doubled back on Hollywood, this time on the south side, continuing to follow the starry road to its conclusion. Within a couple of blocks, we were outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which unlike other hostels in Hollywood has remained a hotel. Johnny Grant, the “Mayor” of Hollywood, lives in the building’s penthouse, and the poolside area is now a VERY trendy hotspot for hipsters, stars, and the club crowd to hang out. This is yet another site where Oscars used to be handed out, and has hosted many notables over the decades. It also reputedly is haunted by Marilyn Monroe’s ghost; she spent quite a bit of time here, whether getting a bite to eat, staying in one of its 300+ rooms, or posing for publicity shots (she did her very first ad here). On the way, we passed by Hooters, Baja Fresh, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and a number of other chains. No matter where we go, corporate America is never very far…

The very next block is opposite Grauman’s, the Kodak Theatre, and Shopping Mall Extravaganza. Here we encountered the El Capitan Theatre, which is now owned by Disney and is where its movies premiere these days. I’ve been inside the restored theatre, and it really is worth a trip there (I went to see “Sleeping Beauty,” which is one of my all-time favorite Disney flicks). Next door to the movie house is a Disney gift shop (surprise, surprise); what was nice though is that Disney recognized an opportunity and converted part of the rows and rows of Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear dolls into a soda fountain. After indulging in a snack, we ventured back outside and on our merry way.

Just south on Highland from Hollywood Boulevard is the former Max Factor Studio, where the makeup mogul used to turn Hollywood’s stars into beauties and studs. Today the art deco building now houses the Hollywood History Museum– another stop we decided to take a rain-check on (those admission fees do add up… we’re not at the Smithsonian, you know…).

Back around the corner were Ripley’s and Guinness. Since we’d already done Ripley’s, we took a pass, but our pricey tickets for the wax museum across the street entitled us admission to Guinness, so we went in. it was definitely a fascinating set of displays, and a lot larger than I’d imagined. It’s housed in the former Hollywood Theatre, one of the avenue’s first movie palaces.

In the next block is yet another old-time movie house, the Egyptian, which today has been restored and shows movies, thanks to American Cinematheque, which often offers revivals, retrospectives, and the like. I attended the Egyptian years ago, when I first saw “Star Wars” there in 1977. It really is a neat building to look at, and has a long forecourt done up as an entrance to an Egyptian tomb. Ushers of yesteryear actually dressed the part; today, I doubt the ushers are garbed in loincloth. The Pig & Whistle, another in the list of old-time Hollywood eateries, is right next door to the Egyptian.

From here, we returned from the shadows of Hollywood glamour of yesteryear to the Hollywood of today, passing by an army surplus store called Supply Sergeant (with a large neon sign of a sergeant), and numerous tattoo parlors. Before Victoria’s Secret, there was Frederick’s. Our next stop was Frederick’s of Hollywood, housed in the former Kress Department store. Unfortunately, Frederick’s is leaving its longtime Hollywood Boulevard home, and its Lingerie Museum was temporarily closed, pending the move. We entered anyway, mulled purchasing a marked-down piece of boudoir ware, decided not to, and exited– probably just as well for me, as I was nearly the only man in sight.

Next door was another equally interesting business: Hollywood Toys & Costume, which is definitely the place to go at Halloween time, or if you’re a big costume freak. Tons of costumes, wigs, masks, make-up kits, Halloween decorations, and the like. It was a fun place to just wander around and admire the various costumes.

By now we’d spent most of the day, mixing a workout with exploration and sightseeing, so we decided to wrap up and finish the Walk of Fame. We marched down the street to Vine, went down the southern portion to Sunset Boulevard, crossed the street and walked back up to Hollywood Boulevard. We finally arrived again at Gower, and concluded our vista of stars.

Once we’d satisfied this objective, we headed west again, this time moving much more quickly, since we’d already played tourist, and now we were once again urban hikers. Once safely past La Brea, Hollywood Boulevard becomes solely residential, mostly comprised of apartments and condos on the south side, with nicer homes on the north side (which makes sense; Nichols Canyon and Laurel Canyon’s southern reaches were within walking distance). A dozen or so blocks further, and we reached a T-intersection: Hollywood Boulevard at Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

We walked down Laurel Canyon to Sunset, at which point the street becomes Crescent Heights. We crossed over, continued down the hill, and back to Santa Monica, where we boarded the trusty #4 and tiredly made our way home.

Hopefully this winter, or maybe in the spring, I’ll be able to bring you yet another Sandbox Urban Explorationâ„¢ account.

UPDATE [2007]: I notice quite a few of my hits are people seeking the Erotic Museum in Hollywood. I hate to disappoint you curious folks, but it’s closed– permanently. Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this post, though!

On the heels of our successful walk down Santa Monica Boulevard from start to end, we decided to reprise our trek, but on a different street: Melrose Avenue. While we didn’t see Jake, Jo, Michael, Jane, Billy, Alison, Matt, or even Amanda on our journey (and no, I wasn’t crazy about that show!), we certainly saw quite a bit. Melrose isn’t as long as or as much of an artery as Santa Monica Boulevard (it’s only about six or so miles), but it still wends through some interesting neighborhoods.

Again, we took the 304 down Santa Monica, as if to re-enact our original walk, but this time we merely headed a few blocks south on Hoover to the very beginning of Melrose, just east of Hoover. The area around the eastern terminus of Melrose isn’t as gritty as the first couple of dozen of blocks of Santa Monica, but it’s still a rather mixed area. The first interesting sight we saw was a Russian Orthodox Church, complete with its unique dome. It was kind of a nice-looking church. Soon after, we spotted a panaderia, and decided to break for a quick mid-morning snack. The pan dulce here was delicious, not to mention cheap. I also bought some agua fresa, and my walking partner got some coffee. She was hoping for champurrado, but they were out of it that morning.

After sating our appetite, we continued our walk, soon entering the southern portion of Thai Town, not all that far from the church we encountered at the beginning. This is one thing I like about large cities like Los Angeles and New York: within just a handful of blocks, you see the ethnic, architectural, and cultural aspects of a neighborhood change. From storefronts to building styles to street signs, there is enough diversity to make it an enjoyable optical experience. No cookie-cutter surburbs, thank you!

Our next stop was an entertaining diversion: Chic-A-Boom (6817 Melrose, for you locals), a vintage toy store full of old magazines, collectibles, pin buttons with political and social messages (as well as tons of old campaign buttons!), elvis memorabilia, old school lunchboxes, vintage and campy movie posters (think 1950s “B” movies), and all sorts of esoterica. I looked around for a while, and then engaged the store owner. She was a friendly, rather good-looking middle-aged woman. I discovered that she originally had two stores: the one we were standing in now, and one devoted solely to rock-and-roll materials, among other forms of music. She closed that store, but still retained an entire warehouse full of goodies from the previous store as well as tons of other materials. I asked whether I could bring a few things in for trade or sale, and was told “no”– too much stuff as it was! She’d been in business for 27 years and seemed to be doing pretty well.

Some stores I just go in, glance around, politely acknowledge the salesperson or counter help, and leave once my curiosity is sated. But in other places such as this, it really is interesting to talk with people and learn a bit more about the place, where we were, etc. Fortunately for me, the owner was fairly easy to lipread. There’s a few things I might be interested in adding to the clutter around here, so at some point I plan to return.

Before long, we were in the thick of Hollywood, and we passed the main gates for Paramount Studios, the last major studio still in Hollywood (just about everything else is now in the Valley, clustered around Studio City and Burbank, or off closer to the beach). It’s a well-kept piece of property, and screams “studio!” in the way a studio should. It’s currently under a new CEO, Brad Grey, who is going to try to take the studio out of its doldrums and into the post-Sherry Lansing era. I wish him luck…

On the other side of Paramount, flush against its back boundaries, is Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which I detailed in the entry on Santa Monica Boulevard. Right across from Paramount, on the corner of Melrose and Gower, is another Astro Burger. This one apparently attracts a healthy amount of lunchtime business from the studio, but in my opinion the Astro Burger on Santa Monica has better food (both are Astro Burgers, yes, but they’re under different ownership/management). What this particular branch has is Greek dishes alongside the burgers and sandwiches. I tried a spanakopita here once, and it was quite good, considering it was primarily a burger place.

We continued down the street, on the northern edges of Hancock Park, which is and always has been, a rather tony area. It was developed in the 1920s by the Hancock family, of La Brea Tar Pits fame. It’s not a westside community, but its wealth makes it feel like it is. A lot of studio folks used to live in the area, and even today it attracts those with rather stratospheric incomes.

Because of Hancock Park, the area was generally middle-class, and not as sketchy as earlier in our journey. Before long, we got to the corner of Melrose and La Brea, and looking up the street, realized we were right by Pink’s. We decided to break for lunch, as it’s a rather cheap place to grab a meal. For the uninitiated, Pink’s has been around since 1939, and is one of *the* places to grab a hot dog. They have several versions, all centered around an all-beef Hoffy wiener in a bun, with a variety of toppings depending on what you’re ordering. They have quite a few chili dog versions, as well as more classic dogs, such as Chicago-style (which happens to be one of my favorites!). The queue at the counter can take a while, but once you order, they prepare your food VERY quickly. I’ve never been impressed by their fries, but they have decent onion rings. Oh, and did I mention the hot dogs? It’s a rather tiny stand, with miserable parking, but it *always* has a line, no matter the time of day. It’s also open fairly late at night, so it attracts a rather diverse crowd.

After ensuring we didn’t need to stop for a bite again (we’d already enjoyed the panaderia and now Pink’s), we continued our sojourn. After passing La Brea, we soon encountered the trendy section of Melrose, the part that most people think of when you mention Melrose. It seems like it’s part of West Hollywood (although, to be fair, it’s directly south of the eastern part of WeHo) or an area farther to the west, but it’s really in Los Angeles.. In the past, there’s been a good mix of restaurants, speciality shops, and clothing boutiques, but right now it seems every third store is all about clothes and shoes. There’s quite a few vintage clothing stores, mixed in with more upscale offerings. Nevertheless, it’s where many beautiful people and wannabes come to stock up, and it’s definitely tres chic in the evenings, especially on the weekends.

One store we decided to check out is Necromance, which is definitely Goth heaven. It’s full of things like badger claws, shark teeth, mink penis bones, coyote skulls, victorian mourning jewelry, lotus shoes, macabre postcards and pictures, black tees, medical tools, glass eyes, and the like. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly worth taking a look at, if only once. One thing I did salivate at was a sign from Disneyland for the Haunted Mansion that was an oval “stone” piece that said “Haunted Mansion” on it; it was up for grabs at $300. Unfortunately, before I could decide what to sacrifice at home for the opportunity to own this, it got snatched up while we were there.

There were quite a few boutiques and the like that we passed fairly quickly, including one with the amusing moniker of Blue Balls (go ahead and give the obligatory titter; we did!). Near the end of this section of Melrose, we came upon a kind of cool shop: The World of Vintage T-Shirts (7701 Melrose). It’s a second-hand shop with all kinds of t-shirts, mostly of 1980s and 1990s vintage, although there were some earlier examples (Black Oak Arkansas, anyone?). Most were the kind that were rather personal or weren’t the kind you’d neccessarily want (Johnson County Country Fair, 1983), but there were a few cool ones. One essentially 80’s piece of clothing was a black tuxedo t-shirt (anyone remember those?? *Definitely* so 80’s!). I didn’t see anything that jumped out at me or that I *had* to have, but it was kind of a fun place. On the south wall were scribbled autographs of famous people and wannabes and has-beens who had come in and perused the merchandise, from Tom Hanks to members of rock bands. We didn’t see anyone remotely recognizable, but then it’s been my curse to just be surrounded by the ordinary.

Just a couple doors down, is Golden Apple Comics. While (IMHO!) I prefer Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica, it definitely is a Holy Grail of sorts for the comics collector, and we went in to see what the latest was in graphic novels and the like. There’s everything from posters to sculptures and busts of superheroes and comic characters, to paper- and hardback anthologies and graphic novels, to the latest issues of comics. There’s also a section with back-issue bins and the requisite glass counters with valuable copies encased in mylar and supported by cardboard backs. There’s an alternative comics section, including adult comix. It’s definitely a large store compared with the average strip-mall comics store, which today seems to offer copies of the latest books, some back issues, and a healthy side business in gaming cards and equipment, which is pretty much how comic book store owners survive nowadays.

As we reached Melrose and Fairfax, we exited trendy Melrose and entered the West Hollywood portion of the street, which is the final stretch. Here, most of the businesses were furniture stores, upscale art galleries (read: *not* avant garde material, but more of the pretentious stuff), and the sort of chi-chi businesses you expect to be near such pricey places. A scattering of restaurants here and there, but nothing that we would have come back to later. There was one furniture store I liked quite a bit though; it had Art Deco or Art Deco-themed furniture. I’m rather old-fashioned when it comes to furniture, architecture, etc.; I personally think the world went to hell after 1945, with some exceptions. Obviously right now I can’t pick up anything to cart home, but it’s definitely a store I wouldn’t mind shopping at eventually.

At this point, it was late afternoon, and we were in an area full of nicely-kept warehouses, storefronts, and the like that were still full of furniture, art, and the lot. The biggest “attraction” near the west end of Melrose is the Pacific Design Center, where professionals get a chance to show off and sell furniture, fabrics, and other interior design goodies. It’s a huge blue building, with rather nice landscaping outside, and is hard to miss. Finally, we passed the Napster offices and just a block away, Melrose ended, at the intersection of Melrose, Santa Monica, and Doheny, right where Santa Monica passes from the Boystown called West Hollywood into the snooty environs called Beverly Hills.

We decided to walk a bit farther, as we were in the mood for gelato, and wanted to see if our favorite gelateria was open. So we walked down Little Santa Monica, only to find out that the store only takes cash, which was something I’d ran out of at Pink’s. At this point, we were a bit beat, so we went up to Santa Monica Boulevard proper and took the bus home.

All in all, it was an enjoyable walk, though not as long or as diverse as Santa Monica Boulevard. But it definitely got us out of the house, gave us a chance to exercise, and the opportunity to explore more of the town we call home. I’d say that’s pretty good for one day, don’t you?

We’ve been talking alot about how we’re going to spend our summer, and one of the things my wife has wanted to do is to take long walks all over town. Since the weather has gone from mid-summer heat back to May Grey (soon to be followed by June Gloom), we decided today would be a good day to start.

After throwing on our best walking shoes, comfortable clothes, sunscreen, and the like, we hitched a ride on the 304 all the way down to where Sunset meets Santa Monica Boulevard. Once we debarked, oriented ourselves, and set our watches, we set off. Our goal: to walk all fourteen miles of Santa Monica Boulevard, from Silver Lake to the Pacific Ocean.

The intersection of Sunset and Santa Monica wasn’t particularly interesting; Silver Lake is an old suburb of Los Angeles, and has weathered many ups and downs over the years. Right now it’s one of those funky, trendy, slowly gentrifying neighborhoods, and where we were was no exception. We trooped off down the sidewalk, but before long, things got interesting. To our right, we could see off in the hills the famed “Hollywood” sign– a clear view. If it wasn’t so smoggy all the time, the sign would be visible from a lot of places. But we weren’t all that far off from the Hollywood Hills, so it was pretty clear for us.

The rain we had over the winter has paid off– we passed a couple of hillsides covered with flowers, and it made for a very cheery start to our trek. Yet we were still in kind of a sketchy area. There were a lot of warehouses, corner stores, panhandlers, billboards in Spanish, lots of Mexicans and other Latinos walking around, and generally a very economically mixed population. This wasn’t South Central (oops, I mean just plain South!) L.A., so we didn’t feel threatened at all, but it wasn’t the most chic part of town. We passed by the subway stop at Vermont and Santa Monica, just up the street from L.A. City College, so there was a lot of traffic there- families, students, working folks, etc.

Our main goal was to go from one end to the other, but it was understood that either of us could stop anytime we wanted. One of the first things we slowed down to look at was the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting. It’s an ugly government building (whaddya expect??), but the huge yard was filled with street lights of all different designs. Some were the usual granite types you see everywhere, but some were rather beautifully designed and obviously meant for the more historic districts of town or areas the city intends to beautify. Here’s some examples of streetlights.

The next major sight we stopped for was the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Once known as Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, it was rundown until recently. It was bought a few years ago by a guy who really went in, cleaned it up, and turned it into a profitable enterprise and a rather unusual cemetery (they show movies on Halloween night in the cemetery!). Some of the people buried here include Douglas Fairbanks (and Douglas Fairbanks, jr.), Cecil B. DeMille, Mel Blanc, and Johnny Ramone, just to name a few. We walked along the perimeter of the park, only to realize there were tons of Armenian gravesites. This was really fascinating, because almost every Armenian headstone had an engraved or actual picture of the deceased’s face, while some of the more elaborate memorials had a bust or carved sculpture of the departed. Some of the inscriptions were in English, while others were in Armenian. Many of the graves had little gardens planted on them, with different flowers and shrubs.

Even though we didn’t have a guidebook or map, pretty soon we found both Fairbanks men, Hattie McDaniel’s centaph, Cecil B. DeMille’s last resting place, and the lifesized statue that graces Johnny Ramone’s grave. Old Los Angeles was present too: we passed by the monument and graves of Harrison Gray Otis and the Chandlers; longtime owners and publishers of the L.A. Times. There was plenty of shade, thanks to trees all over, and the cemetery even had little paths running through the center. It almost seemed more like a park than a graveyard.

After passing Mel Blanc’s grave on the way out, we exited the cemetery and continued our walk. The area we were passing through had a lot of warehouses: some were regular commercial properties, some were for the studios or for the industry in general. At one particular building, we observed a bunch of men standing around. All of a sudden, one started backing away, down the sidewalk, then off onto the street, as another man began advancing towards him menacingly. A fist fight was about to break out, as I saw the aggressor start to remove his t-shirt, all the while surrounded by the crowd, advancing towards the luckless target. Needless to say, we didn’t hang around too long.

There’s Hollywood, and then there’s Hollywood. For most people, Hollywood is the big sign, movie stars, glitzy places, swank bars and eateries, the stars on the sidewalk, Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the Oscars… but the real Hollywood is decidedly middle- to lower-middle class, grungy in parts, seedy in others. If you want the “Hollywood” experience, head to the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. That’s a walk we might do eventually.

We continued walking, and eventually got to the outer edges of WeHo (West Hollywood), where we decided to break for lunch at Astro Burger. This is a great burger joint, that serves not just great burgers but also grill items, some Mexican, veggie stuff (fried zucchini, gardenburgers, etc.). Has a very retro look, and Hilary Swank actually stopped there for a gardenburger and diet Coke after she won the Oscar this past February. I’ve been getting different things each time we go in, so this time I had a pastrami and swiss sandwich- delish! Onion rings and a pop. My companion ordered an avocado burger, diet Coke, and shared my onion rings (it’s a rather large serving!).

After sating our hunger and relieving our urgent needs in the little boy’s/girl’s room, we continued onward, approaching the main drag of Santa Monica in WeHo. This part of town is definitely Boy’s Town– WeHo is to L.A. as the Castro is to S.F. and Christopher Street is to NYC and Dupont Circle is to D.C. There are rainbow flags everywhere, gay couples and singles everywhere, and some very *interesting* stores everywhere. Some storefronts were typical for any trendy area, but one or two had, um, rather suggestive clothing in the window. One place modeled some very sexy undewear/lingerie for the gentleman wanting to show off his package, and another had t-shirts with screens of half-naked model types. One store had quite a few interesting books and items in the display case. So it was that kind of atmosphere. But there were plenty of clothes stores, restaurants, and more bars than you can count, including the famous Barney’s Beanery. The place has an interesting history, by virtue of being along Route 66.

Yep, we’d been walking on old Route 66 all this time. The Mother Road, as some call it, has its terminus in Santa Monica. The original road ended in downtown L.A. (Broadway and Seventh), and then later changed to end on what is now Lincoln at Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica; but by the end of the road’s days, it concluded at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier, at Ocean and Colorado. Route 66 wends through Southern California and through the L.A. metro area, down the old Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway), up Sunset, through Silver Lake, and onto Santa Monica Boulevard all the way out to Santa Monica itself. Some of the buildings and sites we’d passed thus far were places travelers would have seen on their journey on 66.

Barney’s has been around since 1920 (and at its current location since 1927), so it definitely qualifies. I haven’t yet been in the place, but I should stop in sometime. There was a store that seemed to specialize in Goth clothing and materials (lots of skull items– perfect for Kappa Gamma!), but it was closed, I think because of Memorial Day weekend and all that, but I could be wrong.

We passed by a pet store as we got closer to the western border of WeHo, and there were three parrots outside. By this time it was rather warm, and the owner or employee was standing outside, spraying water on the brightly plumed birds, cooling them down. It was kind of neat to see these large, beautiful birds up close, so we stopped and watched for a few minutes, before continuing down the street.

Just at the intersection of Santa Monica and Doheny, we passed the Troubadour, an old club that’s been there for ages. Every time I drive down Santa Monica at night, there’s always either a line of people trying to get in, or people hanging about outside, taking a cigarette break or just chatting.

Doheny is more or less the eastern border of Beverly Hills, and at this point we crossed into a new part of the whole L.A. metro area. Beverly Hills is different now than it used to be; while stars still live there, most of the big A-list names no longer live there– they’re spread out, up in the hills and canyons, on Mulholland Drive, in Encino, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and tons of other places. Still, Beverly Hills is a fabulously wealthy community, and it shows. There’s a park (Beverly Gardens Park) that runs along the northern side of Santa Monica Boulevard, and we’ve both walked/jogged through many, many times, so this wasn’t a new part of the street for us. But it’s shaded, with lots of grass, and has plots of flowers here and there. We pasesd by some very lovely roses at one point. So it’s a pleasant walk. As we got closer to the Civic Center, we were both a little parched and in need of a pit stop, so we decided to stop at the Beverly Hills Library. I needed to check something in Consumer Reports anyway, so this made sense. Although we live in L.A., we have reciprocal privileges at the Beverly Hills Library, and until recently, it was the closest library to us, so we use it often. It’s right across from City Hall, which is one of the more beautiful public buildings I’ve seen in the United States. The library is a very nice one, with a healthy collection of books, so we lingered for a little while, using the facilities, getting a drink of water, and checking the new books for a few minutes. Once we were refreshed, we went out and up to Santa Monica Boulevard again.

We continued through the park to its central area, where there’s a statue of a hunter and hounds (called, appropriately, Hunter and Hounds)– it seems out of place. It’s something you might see back East, or in front of one of those stuffy Tudor-style mansions or something, but not in the middle of Beverly Hills. A few blocks down is a whole block’s length cactus garden, with tons of different cactus. Usually it’s neat, but when we walked today, some of the cacti were in bloom, so we got to see cactus flowers, which I enjoyed.

At the end of the park is the Electric Fountain, which is a pretty, circular fountain which has water jets and at night has different colored lights playing over the water. It’s always nice to see that. Across the street is the Beverly Hilton, until recently owned by Merv Griffin and it’s the annual site of the Golden Globe Awards. Within that complex is Trader Vic’s, where the Mai Tai was reportedly invented. It’s a rather pricey place for people in our economic bracket, but one of these days I’d like to go over and have a Mai Tai there. *grin*

We were now at the other end of Beverly Hills, and back in L.A., at least officially. Unofficially, we were in Century City, which is mostly a collection of expensive high-rise apartments, office buildings, the Century City Mall, and at its southern end bordering Pico Boulevard, the 20th Century Fox studio. This is also where the nightmare that is the re-construction of Santa Monica Boulevard is taking place. It started not long after we moved to L.A., and was supposed to be finished this fall. However, the rains this past winter undoubtedly delayed work, and since then, I haven’t seen much work done– maybe six people total in the two or three mile construction zone. The L.A. Times ran an article that featured complaints by businesspeople whose business has dropped as much as 60% since. I’m now starting to see signs of activity, but the latest on the grapevine says it’ll be completed sometime next year. In the meantime, we all suffer through clogged, re-routed, dusty roads and closed-off corridors. I’ll be curious to see if the inconvenience is worth the effort in the end… We passed the southern edge of the Los Angeles Country Club, a rather swanky place that had its moment back in 1947 when Howard Hughes crashed a plane on the grounds and nearly got killed. This incident was featured in the recent flick, “The Aviator.”

At the edge of Century City, we decided to take a break and head to our place, which is just off of Santa Monica (ah, how convienent, you say!). We trooped in, used the bathroom yet again, grabbed glasses of cold lemonade (ahh… now I need to get a glass now myself– all this typing’s got my throat dry! *wink*), and checked the mailbox. Once we did that, we decided to continue onward. We’d finished roughly nine miles at this point, and the rest would be fairly easy, we thought.

Five blocks into our resumed walk, we passed by the Mormon Temple. The Los Angeles Temple is on a slope, and has a nice grassy lawn in front. During Christmastime, there are lights all over the grounds, including up the trunks of palm trees and winding through the palm leaves. The construction and ensuing mess continues at this point, up to the intersection at Westwood, and beyond. This is the southern edge of Westwood, the upscale neighborhood south of Westwood Village and UCLA. At the intersection of Santa Monica and Sepulveda (the longest street in Los Angeles County– 26 miles. If you’re planning to run a marathon, good street to practice on!), the overhaul of Santa Monica Boulevard finally ended, and we crossed under the 405 (aka San Diego Freeway) underpass. Now we were in West L.A. and Sawtelle. There’s lots of different shops, stores, and businesses along this stretch, including the Nuart Theater, which shows “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight every Saturday. Now that I think about it, we should take advantage of it and go to a showing. My wife has never seen RHPS in its glory, with audience participation.

Down the boulevard a bit we passed Benito’s, which is one of our favorite taco joints in this town. It really is worth it– cheap and filling. Great fish tacos, so the wife swears. Great tacos, period, so I swear. Decent taquitos too… I always get jamaica when we’re there, and my better half gets horchata.

Soon we entered the final municipality on our journey: Santa Monica. By now the miles were starting to take their toll, and our poor feet were beginning to whine. Unfortunately it didn’t help that this stretch is mostly auto dealer’s heaven, with car dealer and auto shop after car dealer and auto shop… we did spot a couple of new restaurants to try in a small strip mall– a Greek restaurant and an Oaxacan joint. A future dinner outing is in our future… Yet that was just a moment of respite in what was becoming a boring trip– at least I know where to go next time I’m in the market for a car!

Eventually the streets become numbered streets, starting with 26th Street, and counting down, so it was nice to know we were nearing the end. As we approached downtown, we could start to smell the ocean, in addition to feeling it. By about 7th Street things got interesting again as we entered downtown and passed by one of my favorite stores, Hi De Ho Comics. It’s not the largest comics shop I’ve been in, but they have a very good selection of reprinted material, a wide breath of overall comics selections, and a varied set of categories, from comic strip anthologies and compilations, to graphic novels, to manga and anime, to books on pop culture, to books on how to draw and cartoon, all in addition to the Usual Gang of Idiots (MAD, Marvel, DC, etc.).

We soon reached the Third Street Promenade and the trendy parts of downtown, and just a couple blocks past that, Ocean Boulevard. We doggedly crossed the street just as the sun was setting, and ended our day on a park bench in Palisades Park (a park that stretches along the bluffs, or palisades, overlooking Santa Monica Beach and the Pier; lots of gravel paths, joggers, benches, flowers, and homeless folks), watching the tides come cresting in, the golden globe of life sinking below the horizon, and the bluffs and mountains of the Santa Monica range and the beaches of Malibu off in the distance.

After catching our trillionth wind of the day, we stumbled back into the city, and caught a bus home. It’s been a long, long day, but it was really worth it. We’re already talking about where to forge our next path in this city of ours.