Ennis-Brown House

Frank Lloyd Wright's mammoth Ennis-Brown House, up in the hills above Los Feliz. It's a shame that the concrete is failing, but it's a really interesting house. Can't say I love it, but I do find it intriguing. More of a Mayan Temple than a home, really.

Ryan's BBQ

Katie's brother Ryan just got a new gig and had a backyard Jammy Jam Jam to celebrate, complete with DJ. These two had just swapped shades. (Please note the dope ass semi Knight Rider shades on the lady) and a little audio of the beats by DJ Pistol Pete.

As a cool little side note, if you keep the picture above, in the frame while playing the video, it almost looks like they're dancing.

How to calm down.

Ok, I'll admit it, sometimes I get overexcited about little things and blow them all out of proportion. One thing that drives me completely apeshit for instance, is when somebody tries to take me for a ride. The dormant New Yorker in me rears it's ugly head, and there's not a chance in hell I'm going to put up with some bullshit. So after the bbq, we met up with Trish at some Mexican joint in Silverlake for drinks. Sounds pretty easy, right? But no, these bastards are trying the old valet parking bullshit in their own parking lot. (For more info, see the April post- "Korean BBQ and Justin Milgrim about to kick some valet's ass" ) We park the car and get out, and the guy wants $3. The conversation went a little something like this:
"$3"
"For what?"
"Valet parking."
"You didn't park anything. I did."
"It's still three dollars."
"That's ridiculous, I'm going in to patronize the restaurant, I'm not paying to park in their lot."
"It's still three dollars."
"Good luck, I'm paying you zero dollars."
And we went inside where the guy continued to follow me.
"I'll tow your car."
"I dare you. In fact, here, you can use my phone to call them."
Anyway, it got to that point where everybody I was with, and went to meet, started to get that "crawl under the table look", the "I really wish you'd just pay the three bucks so this would all stop happening" grimace.
So, I went out to the lot and asked him if he had change for a $20. And then I let him know that I had nothing against him personally, but it was simply fucking theft.
Anyhow, we got these Mariachis to play, and I cooled out pretty quickly.

Kali Ma

Remember the scene in Temple of Doom when the evil priest removes the guy's heart from his chest? The evil priest is chanting, "Kali Ma, Kali Ma!" So perhaps there's some sort of correlation between staying in love and having your beating heart ripped out of your chest...

What would Warhol do?

See the later post, "Mr. Brainwash and his Lovely Spectacle"; the actual opening.

Dinner at the Hitching Post

It was really taking much longer than I'd expected to get down to LA and I was getting hungry. The Hitching Post (of Sideways fame) is one of those places you've gotta go at least once, and sit at the bar if you can. The Hostess was great, and really tried to help me out even though there were no seats at the bar. So I stood at the side part and ordered my food and wine figuring I'd get a seat sooner or later. That kind of attitude is a great way to eat your salad standing up. BUT, as soon as a few people got up, she moved some of her friends over and got me a seat next to them and we ended up having a grand old time.
My first glass was a Saint Rita's Pinot, but it was oxidized or old, or something, but definitely just plain off, the bartender poured me a new one which was better, but still, I wanted a better Pinot. So my second glass was the highliner which is a solid Pinot Noir with a much fuller mid palate and nice finish. Also went perfectly with the duck.

And oh by the way, if anybody wants any early Christmas gift ideas, check this out, a skeleton key for handcuffs. It fits right on your keychain!

Hearst Castle and Hooper's unbridled cheapness.

On down the coast I made a few more stops. A day use pass is good at all the State parks. Unfortunately, mine was from the 11th and not the 12th. But, with a few strokes of the pen, an 11 can become a 12. Then you roll it so they can't get such a good look at it as you're coming into the park, and you're gold! N.B. If you wanna be cheap, and plan ahead, bring a black grease pencil so it'll match perfectly.

Stopped at the Hearst castle, but to even get up to the castle, you have to buy a $25 tour, so I decided the hell with that. Plus it's at least an hour and a half if you time it perfectly, and I had to make tracks for LA. Over at the telescopes they have out back it's 50 cents to get them to work. What bullshit, huh? But there was a guy who'd drained a fountain they have and was cleaning out the coins, so I reached in and grabbed two quarters to stick in the telescope. Ha, take that, Hearst!
They claim you can hold your camera up to the lens to take a photo, but I think it worked better with my regular old telephoto anyway.

More outrageously gorgeous views.

It's almost like something out of a movie set, just perfect.

But the peak is a fake!

This place, Julia Pfeiffer State Park, not to be confused with Pfeiffer Big Sur park, is a great gem to know about. If you get stuck for a campsite, there are two of them back here with minimal comforts (Two outhouses) but amazing views and really a wonderful place to be. When climbing around to check out the campsites, I noticed that this peak is a fake. Look at the scoring and concrete walkway on the back side. I haven't looked it up yet, but the only thing that I can come up with is that the owner, Helen HOOPER Brown, (no relation) had it built. The land was where she and her husband had built their home before she gave away the land to the State in her will so that everyone could share it.

Beach Sculpture

Woke up at our campsite in Pfeiffer Big Sur Park bright and early, got showered up, some breakfast, and then off to a State Beach just up from the main park. Found a big piece of drift wood, and got inspired to add some rocks, and clear some out of the foreground to make a sculpture. Something about that place is so inspiring, no wonder so many artists love it out there.

Beautiful State Beach

Evening Events and a place to crash.

So Marie and Karyn had spent the previous night sleeping in their rented SUV they drove down from San Francisco, and none of us had figured out where we'd stay the next night. They had no tent, and mine only fits two people. We figured we'd probably split a campsite and save a few bucks. I suggested we go to the store, get some food and beers, set up camp, cook our dinner and maybe we'd find somebody with an extra tent.
Marie had struck up a conversation with a local Vietnamese guy (not pictured), who told her story after story, of the restaurants his family owned, the properties he was looking after, the fashion magazine he was putting out from his studio, and on and on and on. Personally, I had the guy nailed for a second class bullshit artist from the get-go, but he said there was a beach bbq to go to up by Carmel, and an extra place jutting up to a state park he had where we could all crash or camp, whichever we chose. Blah, blah, blah. I should've known better than to get involved, and just done my own thing back at the campsite, but I figured I'd go along for the ride, and besides, Marie and Karyn said they'd feel more comfortable if I was there, so I went. Big mistake, but a funny one.
The dude lied about absolutely everything except for the big house in Pebble Beach where his friend lived. His friend did in fact live with his parents in a big house in Pebble Beach, where we promptly picked him up and took off never to even set foot in the house...
We started off at his "friend's" bar in Carmel, where supposedly, we'd get hooked up, but the two shots of tequilla that the guy claimed were paid for ended up on the girls' bill! No beach bonfire, and the bbq he claimed to have all set up- he actually got off his phone and said he was having it fired up as we spoke- and that he could get the girls anything they wanted- lobsters, clams, steak..- was at a small messy ranch house nowhere near the beach, where these guys had started the fire by priming the coals with WD-40 (pictured). And the culinary delights that evening turned out to be two styrofoam packages of chicken. Amazingly enough, his friends were actually all pretty cool, and there were some other people from the gorge we'd met earlier, but when it came down to it, there was no way we were trusting this guy to go anyplace else, cut our losses and headed back to the campsite to crash (Which took forever, and was full, so we had to cross our fingers and grab a reserved site, figuring, if the people hadn't showed up by quarter to one in the morning, they probably weren't coming...

Swimming at the Gorge

So, wandering down to the gorge, we made some new friends and got some beers. We helped out with the transportation of said beer over many boulders and small climbs thereby earning ourselves some more when we got there...
Really great spot, hang a left when you get to the end of the trail, and wade, climb and stumble, your way up to the lagoon. There are tons of rocks to climb, jump off, and even swim under with the current.
Marie, (who is a really good rock climber) and I swam and climbed upstream to go exploring. We even climbed a forty foot dam/ Log Jam. Such a wonderful way to round out the afternoon, after a long hot hike. So glad I got balled out for not taking off my boots back at Tassajara!

Waterfalls...

Off into Pfeiffer Big Sur Park to wander and hike, I met Marie and Karyn from Montreal when they asked me for directions. We met up later at this waterfall which Marie was unimpressed with, I however, was pretty struck. We decided to hike another trail together, and then another, and then were going to wander down to the river to go for a swim outside the park, when I noticed some groups of young guys and girls with cases of beer and bathing suits. Knowing damn well this would be good, we asked one of them where they were going, got directions, went back to get our suits on, and joined the parade.

Beautiful Big Sur

I really believe this coast is unrivaled for its amazing beauty. Driving down the PCH, it's almost deadly to look out on this view. I wanted to stop at every vista point and just gawk.