Finding our way to the beach to getting lost in the Hollywood sign, a lot of walking was involved. Whether it was scattered planning or too much excitement from vacation, we were still up for today’s adventure. Not even the cold wind or the scorching sun could stop us from our brilliant day.
Where everyone wants to be… at least for an hour
14, March 2019
Taken that we have seen most of Santa Monica, we decided it was time to venture out of the city and explore the rest of Los Angeles. With the only day having a car, we decided to upgrade from a standard vehicle to a convertible; if you know me, my dream car is owning a yellow convertible. While the car that we got was white, we were still excited to drive along the California coastline, ready to feel the wind in our hair. A pretty straightforward drive, it’s incredible to see the traffic heading out of Malibu to the city – for us, we managed to get into Malibu no longer than half an hour. I must say, driving along the coastline had to be one of the highlights of this vacation, blasting the music and having no care in the world, it’s utter bliss.
With breakfast in mind, Melvyn recommended that we head out to the pier and head out to Malibu Farm Pier Cafe. Being the only pier we saw in Malibu, it was fascinating to see this mile-long pier, with two restaurants both at the beginning and end of the pier. Before heading out to breakfast, I managed to lose the car key while collecting my items from the trunk of the car. Melvyn helped me, and somehow found the keys in his backpack – at least we had the keys back in hand. One thing that caught my attention were the amount of butterflies in the area, as I didn’t know that butterflies were attracted to the ocean much as we were! I didn’t get close attention, but they all looked like monarch butterflies, fluttering above the restaurant, as well as everywhere else. The cafe is small with limited seating, but has a comforting charm that looks like it came out of a beach house furniture catalogue.
We ordered a lot for breakfast, considering we didn’t eat much breakfast for the first two days on vacation. Melvyn got himself scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, while I got myself a fried egg called surfers rancheros. We then decided that we would share the Swedish mini pancakes, and I must say, those were some sweet pancakes that I’ve tasted. Not aware of the outside dock, we then headed out to the rooftop and sat in the cold but beautiful day. There was a board that said to write your number before being seated, but it turned out there was no one at the top – probably because the winds were powerful. Having our own private dining area, it wasn’t hard to see why no one was sitting outside, especially when the menu in hand got blown away and got sent straight into the ocean… But overall, I enjoyed breakfast, the views were spectacular, and the gift shop beside the cafe was adorable. Knick knacks and whatnot, everything seemed so fitting to be sold in the gift shop.
Looking at the agenda, there was one more location that Melvyn wanted to check out: one a view point, and the other the beach. Putting the viewpoint into maps, we ended up at an intersection between a main road and a neighbourhood. Not really knowing what we wanted to see, Melvyn said it would be best to head straight to El Matador beach. While I am not the biggest fan of beaches, I must say that this beach was beautiful. At first, I thought there was free parking at the beach… oh how foolish I was. Not that parking fees were expensive, but I do wish there was free parking, somewhere…
We were fortunate to have a couple of people at the beach, with our attention directly on the photoshoot for this model that neither of us knew. The crew was speaking in Japanese, and there were endless counts of the model taking his shirt off again and again (maybe those photos will appear somewhere next month). On another end of the beach, there was film rolling, as the crew said that we were in the way of the shot – I mean, the beach is ideal for photographs and film, I did say that it was one beautiful beach. Other than a few boyfriends being told by their girlfriends to take their photo and a bunch of families, Melvyn and I laid on the beach, appreciating the waves, the rocks, as well as the gusts of wind that would blow our towels away. Jamming to Ariana Grande and appreciating the view, there was one point where I needed to go to the washroom. Being the lazy one to climb the stairs, I decided to go into the ocean – too much information to share? For what it’s worth, I had to go into the ocean twice because the water was freezing. Surprisingly, we didn’t take too many photos at El Matador beach, which is a shame, because I would definitely come back to the beach – that is, when it’s less windy.
Since the day was still early, we decided to make a detour into the valley and check out what the quieter areas of Los Angeles had to offer. By the time we reached the neighbourhood, Melvyn changed his mind and said that we should head out to Los Angeles… Not that I didn’t mind driving, but Melvyn just needed to make a decision where we were going. With an hour away to Los Angeles, we were heading next to the Hollywood sign. Along the way, we stopped by this house which I believe looks like the one from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (please tell me if I’m right or wrong).
Other stops we made were the CVS, which turned out to be a shopping district. I lost my hair tie while having the convertible top down, and needed one desperately. Within the hour, Melvyn and I managed to get ourselves some new shoes – I haven’t worn mine just yet, but Melvyn already has during our vacation. I managed to get myself some hair ties, which turned out to be pricer at CVS compared to Nordstrom Rack (when does that ever happen?), and we headed off next to the ice cream shop called MILK. Not knowing what to expect, I was overstimulated by the cakes and cookies and endless amounts of combination possibilities. While I had no idea what to get, Melvyn was already making his own ice cream sandwich. In the end, I went with the macaron ice cream sandwich in the flavour of Froot Loops – that did not disappoint one bit. Delicious and creamy, I was glad that my food looked and tasted great. Melvyn almost wouldn’t let me eat my sandwich, as he was concerned about getting to the Hollywood sign quickly as possible. The only time we had free parking was at MILK, and I needed much the break.
Another half an hour passes by, driving through windy roads and making multiple turns into neighbourhoods. The video that we watched to get to the Hollywood sign told us to park the vehicle at Hollywood Park. At this point, you get a pretty good view of the sign – but we were determined to get to the top of Hollywood. Let me tell you, finding the entry to the trail is one difficult journey. What seemed straightforward made the both of us very confused. In the video, the directions said to go down on one of the roads, which didn’t make much sense as it was going away from the sign. Melvyn talked some sense into me and said that we had to go in the opposite direction, which I’m glad we did. Eventually, the video started to make some sense, which led us to the door of the park trail to the Hollywood sign!
The view from this other park was closer, but we could have gotten a better sight of the sign. Following the people in front of the trail, we kept walking and walking until we reached the top. With my spirits high and Melvyn’s low, we were going to make it whether we liked it or not (this was something the both of us wanted to do). Tired and hungry, we finally made it to the top of the Hollywood sign – and let me tell you, there is no view quite like this one, seeing the back of Hollywood and gazing through the cityscape of Los Angeles. Although tired, we had to take as many photos before heading down back to the car. Once we got back down, we had to take our last photos of Hollywood – Melvyn kept commenting how the ‘D’ in “Hollywood” was far apart from the other letters; it’s all about where you stand. I think the hardest part of this trail had to be the walk back to Hollywood Park, because it was unnecessary to leave the car there when you could have parked close to the entrance of the other park. But oh well, we had to drive through the maze of a road to our next destination.
Getting all of the main attractions done today, we wanted to check out Griffith Observatory for the Los Angeles sunset (once again). If you are a big fan of “La La Land” such as myself, you know this is a critical scene where Mia and Sebastian begin to fall for each other. While the Observatory attracted a lot of tourists that day, there was something magical about this planetarium. The closest parking we could reach was three miles (five kilometres) away from the observatory; mixing two hungry boys who are tired and must walk to the observatory was not a good combination. Regardless, we sucked it up and headed towards the Griffith, which provided some spectacular displays of the Los Angeles city skyline. You think I would be tired of sunsets, but when it comes to Los Angeles, you don’t feel bored viewing the same sun, as it looked different amongst other cities. Seeing the lights turn on as the sun went down, you don’t realize how many people are in this city until you stop and take a look at them.
Getting late, we had to head back to the car, but not until we saw the inside of the Griffith Observatory. Not everything in the exhibit is free, such as the planetarium where you can view the stars, but a few interesting points such as the dial that moves in the same direction – it’s the floor that actually moves (who would’ve known). My favourite part of the observatory had to the the periodic table of elements, displaying which elements are in the human body, as well as providing real life examples of the elements. By the time we reached the car (which involved us getting lost), it was roughly about 8PM, and we were starving. We ended up getting Korean food at BCD Tofu house, and they provided a meal like no other. Needless to say, we were both missing rice, and we got our filling for the night.
Pendulum keeps going on and on
One of the things Melvyn wanted to do was meet new people while we were on vacation. For the evening, we met a boy named Ray who wanted to go for karaoke that night. Ray’s friends are not much into singing, which means we were the perfect fit for the evening. When I suggested to sing for two hours, both of them looked at me like I was crazy – seems like neither of them have truly gone for karaoke. Not familiar with Korean karaoke bars, I was amazed at the remote: it’s the size of a tablet! But I did enjoy how the control had a keyboard and a number pad, with an English guide to provide easy access to your songs. For the hour and a half extravaganza, we sang KPop, Ariana Grande, Madonna, and a bunch of Disney tunes. What seemed awkward at first turned out to be a lot of fun that went by too fast. By the end of the night, we made a new friend, and even brought him home with the top down.
While that may have been the night for Ray, Melvyn and I wanted to check out one more place: Hamburger Mary’s. Not familiar with this joint, it’s a popular place in West Hollywood for the drag queens to hang out. We went inside and saw what was happening – it was karaoke night! But all of the songs have been chosen, and there were not a lot of people when we were there. Not that we were expecting anything, but it seemed like after the karaoke session was done, they were going to close down for the night. Not exactly what we imagined, but I really could have used a milkshake – but not even a server came by to say ‘hi.’ Sigh, perhaps we needed to come another time. We got back to the hotel a little bit past midnight, and got ready for bed. From all of the walking and explorations, I could say we had quite the day! Looking forward what Los Angeles has to offer next!
Pit stop left to be desired
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