Jump to content

My experience in LA/Hollywood.


Buck531

Recommended Posts

Just wanted to post my tip to LA/Hollywood this past weekend.

 

We got at the airport at 12:30ish. Plane leaves at 2. We find a seat. My wife has never been on a plane and I haven't been on one since 8th grade. The flight kinda freaked my wife out but she was ok (she wanted a window seat too). I'm a big guy so the room wasn't the greatest but I dealt with it. To ease the discomfort I had 2 Rum and cokes.

 

Plane lands in Phoenix and we stay on for the hour trip to LA. We arrive there at LAX at 5:00 (their time) and Ryan (guy who I'm buying the car from) meets us out front 10 minutes later.

 

Traffic in LA is fucking horrible. It makes be think twice about the traffic here in Ohio. He's 10 miles from his place and it took us a good 40 minutes to get from the airport to home.

 

The drivers out there are fucking insane. Cutting you off left and right and are just downright crazy.

 

We arrive at the mansion. He's renting a room 3 miles from the beach for $700 a month from this lady and the house is 6000 sq feet. The house is worth a cool 4 million. The kitchen alone is probably half our upper portion of the house. We stayed in the "library" as they called it.

 

Saturday we were trying to figure out what to do. Lori wanted to see the Hollywood sigh and the walk of fame and such. So we headed up there. An hour later (yeah the traffic and drive sucks out there) we arrive there, park in the garage and go walking around. Tourists up the ass everywhere. I'm taking pictures of as many signs and names I could see. One thing is funny though. The black folks were hovered around the Michael Jackson star and taking pictures and the Chinese were all around Bruce Lee's star. We were there maybe an hour if that and then left for the Hollywood sign.

 

Drive another 1/2 hour to get to the sign. He takes us up to the observatory there where we can't find a spot to park. It's packed. Lori and I jump out real quick and grab a few shots while Ryan is in the car waiting. Get back in and then we leave to go to the Tar Pits.

 

Won't talk much about this but it was pretty neat. Old Sabertooth tigers and Mammoths along with Sloths (if you've seen Ice Age it's pretty neat).

 

Left there, went down Rodeo drive, blah blah and then left Hollywood.

 

We were extremely tired so we went to bed at 9 pm and got up at 6 to be on the road at 7. Ryan signed the title over to me and we were on our way.

 

The drive through LA wasn't too bad for a Sunday morning. Then Arizona was cool because it was 75 mph and you could go 85 easy. It just sucked on gas mileage because of all the hills. We get to New Mexico right around 7 pm and hit up some Applebees around the corner for some beer and food. I couldn't sleep that night so I couldn't go to bed until midnight and I had a wake up call at 6 am.

 

Monday was the worse day of driving because I was so tired. I had Lori drive for about 5 hours and on the next fillup I took back over. NM was also 75 mph which helped. The sunrise coming up over the mountains was very cool.

 

We arrive in Joplin Missouri around 7 pm as well and grab something to eat and hit the sack early. Get up again at 6 am leaving at 7 and we're home by Tuesday 7 pm almost on the nose.

 

The car did great. I averaged 24-25 mpg from LA to NM and once we got out of the hills it went up to 28.

 

The other thing I noticed out there. I'd say 9 out of 10 (in hollywood) owned a Benz or a BMW. There were a few times where we went miles without even seeing a Domestic car. Then go go 1 mile outside of LA and it was gang land (not kidding either). One block it was the mexians, then the next block was the Chinese, then the next block was something else.

 

I also worse my Ohio State shirts out there on Saturday and thought I was going to get shot walking around there (we passed the USC stadium on the way home).

 

Anyways.. there's my story. The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I love driving so I kinda liked it. If I had the chance to do it again for this kind of deal I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

I totaled up the receipts from gas and such. I paid $240 for gas (Ryan filled the tank up before we left LA). Food was somewhere around $200 and Souvenirs were about $30 (yep I'm a cheap ass) and the hotels were paid for already and so was the plane tickets.

 

Here are some pics. I'll post a few random ones but if you want you can see the 108 photos on the account.

 

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/buck531/Drive%20from%20LA%20to%20Ohio/100_1124.jpg

 

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/buck531/Drive%20from%20LA%20to%20Ohio/100_1072.jpg

 

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/buck531/Drive%20from%20LA%20to%20Ohio/100_1076.jpg

 

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/buck531/Drive%20from%20LA%20to%20Ohio/100_1158.jpg

 

Rest of the pictures.

 

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/buck531/Drive%20from%20LA%20to%20Ohio/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad u took my advice and checked out the tar pits. Kinda cheezy but its something different and easy.

 

Did u try any food? In an out burger? REAL mexican food (carne asada mmm)

 

And yea 8 of 10 cars is a benze or bmw its nuts.

 

Every in and out burger we went by had a line out the door and the drive through was out to the street. Fuck that.

 

First night we hit up a burger place called the Counter. Nice $13 burger there. Next morning we hit up a Greekish place that had a $10 "hobo" omlet which had ham, sausage, peppers, onions and like 3 other things with it and it was 3 eggs. That night we hit up some Mexican resturant called La Capilla where it fucking jacked me up an hour later. I think I just ate too much. The burrito was huge. Then it was fast food and whatever on the way home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would of been worth the wait for in n out. Trust me...!

 

:

 

^^^So True^^^

 

How about the signs on the side of the road that said no fuel stops for 150 miles. And all the wind mills. those are cool to see too.

 

I was stationed in southern California for 3 years so I made the drive a bout 6 times back to ohio. my best time was 30hrs straight, split the driving with my brother-in-law.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tell you what, you know California's got it going on with the weather and scenery, but I wouldn't trade Ohio for it. I lived out there in the 90's, never again. I can actually afford a real house with some land, not to mention retire when I want, here in Ohio. Not to mention traffic, taxes, and stupid laws. :nod:

 

Nazifornia: Great place to visit, wouldn't want to live there... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been out to California for training and stuff and while the weather was nice, I just could not live there. It is crowded, expensive, people are rude, traffic is insane at all times of the day, and walk down Venice beach once and you will instantly feel better about yourself. I also tried In and Out burger a few times and while it was a really good burger, I think the fries were really the high point. IMHO Jack in the Box had better food.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah there's no way in hell I would want to live out there. Prices are just crazy stupid high and the people are definatley rude.

 

I was outside a few buildings smoking and I got some REALLY strange looks. I guess Ryan said smoking is really frowned upon over there and it the "yuppie" thing to do. Fuck 'em.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fun trip for sure. i'd love to do something like this. in n out is a good burger. i like swenson's better (up in canton/akron ohio). 5 guys is right behind in and out burgers.

 

nazifornia is a great place to visit---horrible place to live. my cousin lives there--they just break even when you take into account the crazy prices of real estate, and everything else there--sucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Traffic takes some getting used to. Of course, it helps I was born in LA and have lived out there a couple times, since. I was actually quite suprised how well I did in it when I was out their last year. I guess I pretty much knew what to expect and accepted it. Whenever I'm here and I find myself gettting angry with traffic, I remind myself what it's like to live in LA or Houston and I get over it. lol

 

I will say, there is a neverending string of things to do out there. THere really is something for everyone. Even in such a high population place, I had many places to go that were beautifula and fun to me and you would hardly find a soul. Of course, these aren't places a tourist would normally stumble across. And like any other place, its got a one hell of a mix of people, some good, some bad. All the city life you can handle and some of the most beautiful sites in the world.

I'm also not allowed to carry a weapon of any kind while in the state or else. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you didn't get you some In-and-Out Burger, then it was a wasted trip. Sorry.

 

I respectfully disagree on that, I guess it's worth trying once but.. Maybe it's changed since you'd been here, the 2 years I've lived here I haven't been a fan, the first few times I went I thought it was cool, then I realized I didn't really enjoy it.. For fast food burgers I hit up the habit.. ( http://www.habitburger.com/ ) the burgers taste about the same, but the fries actually taste good, and the shakes are much better..

 

Shawn, best of luck with the car and it was fun having you out here, if only for a day.. And you made me do the touristy Hollywood run, but I'll forgive you this time! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Ryan.. Who the fuck let you in here anyways?

 

I did get you really fucked up on Friday but too bad the bottle was gone by 1 am :(. I had so much more left in me :).

 

Dude, I wasn't feeling my best on Saturday, that's for sure :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been out there a few times. I never thought the traffic was that bad. Nothing atypical of a major city IMHO, typical GTFO of my way wanna be nascar drivers sipping as if the roads were lane free.

 

I took my wife once, we did the Rodeo/Hollywood Sign/Etc as well, We had a great time. We walked by LA Ink and etc as well, just snapping pics everywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...