San Francisco and LA

I ended the week in the city by the bay having gotten up at 4 am to catch a 7 am 45 minute flight from LA. I've been to San Francisco before and was able to see a bit of the city. There are more pictures and narrative under the San Francisco label. This trip was all of 24 hours and took in Oakland and Berkley. I didn't get much time to take pictures but my colleague did take me to a great vantage point from which I was able to get a cool perspective of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The weather was cold- ish and windy.

Almost "Irish" in temperament.

San Fran is a world away from LA.

Though like all of California, the car is king, there's a downtown focus and jumping in a cab isn't a 40 minute/$70 ordeal.

You can walk places.

I guess the city is famous for being the Gay capital of the world though I didn't notice it as being particularly pink.

I have no gay-dar anyway so maybe that aspect was just lost on me.

I was in LA for the first part of the week.

Arriving on Sunday, I hooked up with my friend Manya and we went to Venice Beach.

Venice fancies itself as a sort of center of counter culture in LA.

There's a lot going on.

When I was there a basketball tournament complete with thumping DJ and microphone bearing rollerskating commentators was in full swing.

California has allowed the sale of "medical" marijuana.

What that means is if a doctor decides smoking pot is medically "beneficial" he will write you a prescription and sell you a dime bag.

In Venice beach this means there are guy's touting for " consultations"

I love the white jacket.

Nice "medical" touch.

I think this dude has been taking his medicine.

Only in LA.
There are many celebrities roaming the boardwalk.

The cliche in LA is that you never know who you'll see. Encounters with celebrities are common and going out for dinner can be very Hollywood.

If that's your thing then its something you will obviously relish.

I always thought this was a nonsense "tourist as sucker" line peddled by the same guys selling "maps to the star's homes".

Well, at dinner last Tuesday I ate my sculpture food 20 feet away from Sookie and Vampire Bill.

No?

Think True Blood.

Oooooow how exciting.

My life is now complete

He's short and has a big head.

I finished up Sunday driving to Malibu.

Before I go I'll give you a few observations about LA:

• Los Angels is a sprawling collection of 23 towns joined together by rivers of concrete motorways.
• Yes the traffic really is insane.
• The car is king. No car = no hope of doing anything
• Valet parking isn't a convenience , its required. I find it a tad irritating to have to tip a guy $5 to move my car 10 ft from the lot in front of the hotel .
• In restaurants or bars , EVERYONE is checking EVERYONE out.
• It's odd........ If you're wearing a jacket its assumed you're some sort of movie producer guy. The look of disappointment on faces when you reveal the truth is almost comical.
• Even though everyone drives everywhere, there's no reluctance to drink. I'm told people in LA have a higher "tolerance" to booze. Ya....right.
• Smoking is considered on par with heroin addiction....unless of course its pot you're inhaling. That's sometimes medically necessary.

That's it for today.

Love to all

T

Murals in the Mission district

There are a couple of long posts which I've finally gotten around to putting up. Scroll through and drop me a comment if you like em.
I spent of couple of hours in the Mission District as a result of reading a small article in the local newspaper. The story was about a community group trying to restore and protect murals in the area.
The Mission (or at least the part I visited) is Hispanic and the themes expressed reflect that.
The Murals are everywhere, but I've concentrated on the ones in "Balmy Alley" which is a little lane between 24th and 25th (Harisson and Treat cross streets) as this was the focus of the article.
Mission is an area with a concentration of trippy dive bars and uber cool places of the moment. Guide books caution not to stray from the lights and crowds at night as the area, though being gentrified still has its dangerous elements. I never made it at night so can't report one way or the other.

various

I've ticked most of the boxes on this trip and the weather has been both cooperative and abysmal.

Public transport in SF is the usual subway and bus combo, but there's also the famous cable car (fun but SLOW) and a variety of vintage street cars (1940s+) from all over the world. They're not just for tourists but are integrated into the public transit system , albeit on the popular visitor routes.
Its hard to get away from the homeless in SF. The city seems to be a magnet for beggars and vagrants many of whom, sadly are clearly mentally ill. They belong in hospitals not the streets.

The begging feels relentless and can be aggressive or halfhearted but is ever present.

The panhandling is concentrated in the tourist areas and reaches a crescendo in the downtown core.

During my three days here I also took a walk through the Tenderloin district The area got its name because a 100 years ago the cops who patrolled there were paid extra and could therefore afford more expensive cuts of meat.

From what I saw it's still a combat zone.

Hookers, drug attics, drug dealers and violent, lost souls.

Though I'm not a timid fellowl, I thought it prudent to leave the 2 grands worth of camera equipment in its bag so none of the pictures below are from there.

I've travelled to some pretty scary places over the past few years and can say the district's vibe could be as threatening as anywhere I've ever been.

I was sitting having a coffee at 4 pm and through the window I saw 4 guys pull up across the street and beat a drug dealer senseless with baseball bats.

I've not seen that before.

Ok enough of that.
The street below is "Lombard Street" which the story goes, is the most windy, crooked street in SF.

SF is a city of steep hills and taxi rides can be interesting as a result. The inclines are steep and on more than one occasion I wondered whether we'd stop in time.
The sign below is replicated everywhere.

I'm unsure what it means.Hippy central.
Is it me or is that sentiment bit odd?To my eyes at least the area looks a bit gentrified. There's even a GAP!
636 Cole Street.

It had a infamous former resident.

Charles Manson did his recruitment from here.

According to Frommers, Castro and 18th Street is the "gayest intersection on earth"

Hmmmm.

Is it?

I'm no expert, but I'd say it was pretty gay.
Back to foggy day 1.
I went down to Fisherman's Wharf to catch the boat to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Its as you'd expect, touristy and tackyI included the picture above as my friend Gareth has a WWII submarine fetish.
I didn't visit Alcatraz but from all accounts its a tour worth doing.

On Fisherman's Wharf there's a strange fellow who hides behind a hand held bush.

He waits patiently for the unwary to pass.
When they pass he growls and sticks his head out of the bushes. Sometimes the passer by jumps out of their skin. A little crowd of people stand on the other side of the street and howl with laughter every time he scares someone. Very strange.

That's it for SF other than the Mural post above.

Next stop LA

Love

T