Pardon the delayed update.

Thursday brought a change of venue as my great and wonderful hotel was booked for the weekend, forcing me to move to a lesser hostelry closer to Hollywood, but also very close to the Metro. The place wasn’t as nice, but I coped.

More of Thursday:

• Drove around the south side of town, along parts of Figueroa, Slauson, and Crenshaw among others.
• I don’t remember lunch, which probably means I just opted for quickie fast food.
• In the evening, I did a pretty hefty hike up Hollywood Boulevard, had dinner at an Indian place somewhere along the way, and shot lots of neon.

Friday:

• Fourth of July holiday (observed) so it was a good, traffic-free day to drive so I headed for San Pedro and Long Beach before coming back north, stopping at the former Johnie’s Broiler in Downey, and ventured north to the Valley, where I had pie at Du-Par’s and pretended I was in Valley Girl.
• I also hit the Wilshire corridor and visited the neglected carcass of the Brown Derby.
• I hit a record store on Venice Boulevard for a late-afternoon show by the Insect Surfers, but the place had a weird vibe and was hot, and claustrophobic so I didn’t stay long.
• Went for another walk in the neighborhood in the early evening and ended up eating at Zankou Chicken again.

Saturday:

• Fourth of July holiday (actual) so it was another good day for driving.
• Shot photos at the abandoned Valley Plaza and other Valley locations and then made my pilgrimage to Fry’s.
• Lunch at what seemed like a middle eastern place I stumbled across near Glendale.
• Made it to the 5:00 showing of “The Third Man” at the NuArt.
• Dinner at the Farmer’s Market and more twilight neon photography.
• Final day in LA.

I spent way too much of Tuesday in the car, first following the old route of US 101 (Whittier and Harbor Boulevards) and then circling over to Long Beach. After a very long day of driving, I walked up to Echo Park for dinner. This morning I sent off on foot to Echo Park again for a nice Mexican breakfast and stroll around the lake before driving around a bit more in order to spend more time on foot along Fairfax near Beverly and Wilshire near Fairfax. For dinner I want to down to Silver Lake.

And then, this happened. I was walking down the section of sunsets that’s cut through a hill, so there are no houses or businesses, and I couldn’t figure out why the street lights weren’t working. It was a little creepy. Then I got back in a populated block, and I realized nothing was working.

Assorted observations:

• Why is it that Los Angeles seems more like “home” to me than San Francisco does, even though I never lived here? Toronto is like that too. I think it’s a “fantasy vs. reality” thing
• The idea that “nobody walks in LA” is preposterous and just plain wrong. LA has some incredibly pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, all of which in fact contain many pedestrians.
• LA is in fact a very densely populated city. And it’s getting much denser.
• How did I never before know just how much I love Long Beach, particularly the downtown area?
• it’s actually going to be cheaper for me to check a second bag them to ship back some of the things I’ve obtained here (the stuff from Safeway HQ in particular).
• in a world with the wonder that is Fatburger, why would anyone ever eat that lackluster and overrated stuff from In-N-Out…with or without Bible verses?

Rethinking the Mazda. I actually really like is for city driving. It was just kind of suck on long road trips. Since I take a lot of long road trips (and don’t live in much of a city) it probably wouldn’t be a really good idea. On an unrelated note, I’ve also decided I want to move into this hotel room.

I think I may have written about this before at some point but until three years ago, I’d never really spent any time in LA by myself. I’d always visit with other people and it had always frustrated me. Apparently my instincts were correct; I really have a great time while I’m here on my own. I love this city. Okay, I love a lot of cities, but LA excites me more than most of them.

I spent Sunday doing lots of drives that would be hard to do on a weekday. I covered a lot of territory:

• Took some pictures at the scenic overlook on Mulholland.
• Drove west on Santa Monica Blvd. as far as the edge of Santa Monica, and came back in on Pico. Pico Boulevard is one of my favorite drives; you get a real cross-section of LA over its course.
• Lunch at the Apple Pan.
• Walked around downtown for a bit.
• Drove out to Pasadena on the 110 and came back and via Highland Park, where I walked around for a little while, inhaling the mildly unpleasant odor of early-stage gentrification.
• Dinner at Del taco nearby hotel, just because I could.
• Went on a long, agendaless evening drive, which landed me in Downey for some reason.

Monday highlights:

• Ventured southward on I-5, and returned on Whittier Boulevard. But that was a pretty entertaining Drive, particularly the part through East LA. I’d never been there before.
• Lunch at Jack’s Whittier Restaurant, which was a Googie wet dream.
• I rode out rush-hour by doing the laundry. Fortunately, there’s a laundromat next to my hotel, so I was able to go back to my room while things washed and dried.
• Dinner at Miceli’s in Universal City. This was an incredible 65-year-old Italian restaurant, with a jazz combo and bitchin’ lasagna.
• After dinner, I want book browsing at the Iliad Bookshop in Burbank. I happened by this place in 2012 and it’s now on my regular rotation. I’m not allowed to buy any more books this trip.
• As always, I took the long way home.

So I have ventured into the Bay Area for the first time in nearly five years.

Quick assessment:

• Yeah, in some ways it does feel like a visit home. In other ways, not so much.
• San Francisco has not become quite the completely foreign environment I expected from things I’ve been reading lately, at least not its physical form. But it’s on the way.
• The pizza at Gaspare’s is still a wonderful thing.
• I have absolutely no desire to live there again. Were it not for a few remaining friends whole live there (if only part time), I wouldn’t even see visiting again as a huge priority.

So, about Days One and Two of David’s California Adventure 2015? Let’s go with another pair of bullet lists, starting with Monday:

• Uneventful and (dare I say it?) almost pleasant cross-country flight once I resigned myself to a $75 upgrade.
• BART from SFO is nice. It was in place before I left the Bay Area but I’d never used it before.
• I like my “much cheaper than the convention center and right across the street” hotel.

Tuesday:

• Watching Mornings on 2 was strangely comforting.
• Damn. The humidity is intense. I went for a long walk this morning and was soaking when I got back, even though it was only in the low 60s out. I don’t remember things being like this when I lived here. Maybe the drought is only an issue because all the moisture is in the air.
• There’s lots of construction in Downtown Oakland but precious little visible evidence of large scale gentrification. And my newsstand is still open.
• Lunch with my friend and ex-roomie in Berkeley. Good food and I only had to ridicule one patron with a topknot.
• Rode back into SF with Dan across the new Bay Bridge. Saw his renovated flat, and walked around in the neighborhood a bit.
• Dinner with Dan and Jamie at Gaspare’s, with a stop by Green Apple Books.

Today I will actually be paying attention to the conference I’m here for. My presentation is this afternoon at 4:30.

Now that my first tenure portfolio draft is mostly behind me, I’m letting myself get excited about my trip west. I’ve pretty much officially decided not to go northwest toward Seattle and Portland after the conference. It’s just more driving than I want to do; I’ll probably do them on a later trip, maybe next year and maybe involving a side journey to Alaska. Yes, that’s a pretty big maybe.

I’m really looking forward to some significant time in Los Angeles, which is someplace I never seem to get enough of. Also on the agenda is some road-tripping around the other parts of California that I actually miss and haven’t had a chance to see since I moved.

I probably won’t be spending any real time in San Francisco or the Bay Area except for the few days I’m in Oakland for the conference. I may do a little exploring in the East Bay, but that’s about it. I may spend a day or two in Sacramento as well, and I may actually venture southward on the 99.

I should probably book a flight this weekend. Should be a fun trip.