Angels of the City

Well, good evening, gentle readers. I am back safe and sound from my little L.A. sojourn, and while it's nice to be home, I always find it hard to leave Southern California. My trip was a bit on the mellow side this time around. I stayed with my sister Patti in Los Feliz, as always, but I hung out in that part of town the entire time, which is unusual. No jaunts to the West Side, no journeys to Disneyland, no day trips to my hometown of Pasadena. I kept this visit basically confined to Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Hollywood.

With one exception, that is.

On Tuesday night Patti and I did venture into Burbank to sing songs at place called Dimples. Dimples has to be seen to be believed. It's basically a karaoke dive bar filled with cheap, worn Hollywood memorabilia. Tuesday was "Men's Night," and as a consequence, the joint was practically empty, but I didn't mind. I sang four songs in just over an hour then bid Dimples goodbye and moved on to the next adventure.

As I mentioned in my last post, I continued practicing my photography skills by snapping a bunch of pictures during my mini-vacation. Have a look.

Pink sky and palm trees over Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake.

Malo Cantina, just before the frenzy of delicious tacos began.

The heart of Hollywood.

Capitol Records.

The famed Pantages Theatre. The Academy Awards ceremony used to be held there back in the 1950's. This week, Avenue Q is playing.

This is my favorite building in Los Feliz: The Los Feliz Manor. It's a fantastic art deco apartment building on Los Feliz Boulevard.

Even though I've never set foot inside, I fantasize about living in the Los Feliz Manor, should I ever move to L.A. Of course, if someone wanted to buy me one of the multi-million dollar homes just a block or two away from the Los Feliz Manor to live in, I wouldn't argue.

The Griffith Observatory and the hills below.

Rodney Drive.

And finally, sunset above the clouds as seen from my flight back to the Bay.