Activity Summary
Friday 24th March - Day 204
Drive to LA
Santa Monica explore
Santa Monica pier to Venice beach
Saturday 25th March - Day 205
Hollywood Boulevard
Griffith Park & Observatory
Planetarium show
Sunday 26th march - Day 206
Drive to San Diego
Summary
Los Angeles
We really did not like the city. While Santa Monica was alright and we really enjoyed Griffith Park, the rest of Central LA is full of weird people, is dirty and is a product of ‘the city of failed dreams’. We didn’t feel safe here and were pretty much stressed most of the time.
The place is absolutely massive, only really putting this into perspective when trying to drive through and out of the city.
Accommodation
Los Angeles - Banana Bungalow Hollywood
Number of nights - 2
Price per night per person - £32
This was not a nice hostel. Our room was interesting in that it had a kitchen next to our bunks but as with all hostels, they’re kind of a product of who we shared with. The bathroom was hideous and in not draining neither of us used it for 2 days, despite telling management who did F all.
The closed gate was a pretty big red flag for the area but kind of made us feel more secure from the outside LA world, and mainly that the car would be fine.
Diary
We checked out in the morning and started our drive to Los Angeles first stopping off at a supermarket to get some food, of note being a customary whole cooked chicken.
We wanted to stop off at Point Dume, in the well known area of Malibu, to have a short walk along the coast and blufftop viewpoint but there was a queue of cars waiting to get into the area and people waiting on the sides of the road for those cars to also move. Citing that this carnage was not worth it, we continued driving down Route 1.
This was when the driving started to get more challenging. We had been driving for a little while and were getting hungry so were looking for a place to pull over in the supposedly scenic Malibu area, but the Route 1 highway was busy and to get off the road and to somewhere scenic a pull in to the hard shoulder was essentially required. Luke was not happy about this and the sides of the main road were littered with parked cars so the whole experience stressed him out.
Eventually we found what seemed like a sensible lay-by with space and room to manoeuvre, only to find a homeless guy approaching all the cars that came by and what looked like a clapped out old caravan that was selling fruit. Not a wholesome vibe so we didn’t want to sit outside and eat so Luke prepared our chicken sandwiches by carving in his footwell. Not a classy moment, but we did give the homeless guy (who was searching through bins) a significant chicken sandwich to eat. Interestingly he looked so disappointed with it.
Now fueled to continue tackling the rather manic Route 1, we drove the relatively short distance into the LA city borders (which is a huge place) and parked up in a car park in Santa Monica. We didn’t fancy leaving the car out on the curb and it was pretty cheap being out in the suburbs of the main city.
From there we walked through the Santa Monica shopping district and over to the coast where we had a proper introduction to some very laid back ground squirrels confirming we had been seeing these guys running around on our trip so far rather than Alvin and his pals.
Eventually we reached the Santa Monica pier which seems to be the shiny Charizard of piers along the coast. It was very large with tons of people, stands and a fairground. All in all, it's tacky and not overly entertaining (for us anyway) but we can appreciate it’s a bit of a beast. We had a wonder down to the end and around before continuing our walk along the Santa Monica beach.
The Santa Monica beach stretches for absolutely ages. The sheer size of the beach along the coast is impressive with decent walking and cycling routes where there was a whole array of transportation methods in action not limited to walkers, bikers of many kinds, skateboarders and rollerbladers. It seemed that the LA way was to try and be as fit as possible so people could be as half naked as possible, especially the men. The amount of shirtless dudes walking and exercising was kind of hilarious. The outdoor gym / playground was pretty cool however.
It was nice to get out for a long time walking along the coast which eventually merged into Venice beach. The vibe completely changed.
Venice beach is like being in Shagaluf in Majorca mainly from the pure smut on sale along the promenade that objectifies and degrades women. It was a lot more crowded with a decent dancing street act performing and a very lively basketball game playing on one of the courts that had drawn a bit of a crowd. We sat and watched for a bit but they seemed to be arguing more than playing so we moved on.
After taking in all that Venice beach had to offer we walked back to the car via Santa Monica. All in all it was probably a 10km walk that was more interesting for the people rather than any great view, just a beach that stretches on for what looks like an eternity.
Our hostel was located in the Hollywood district and at around 4pm from Santa Monica, although the distance was not a great one, it would take us an hour and half to get there. So we got the taste of the legendary LA traffic, crawling from block to block as we both sat and cursed the ridiculous road driving set up - our main issue being the danger to pedestrians who could get hit from all angles whenever crossing the road on the ‘green’ man. The system is not built for walkers.
The one benefit from the painful crawl through LA was we got to drive the back route through Beverly Hills. This was a very nice place; quiet palm tree lined roads leading to gated houses and communities that felt safe and secure. A complete contrast from what was to follow as we continued driving. At one point a crazy guy stepped out on the road in front of the car ahead of us and started mouthing off which kicked us right back to ‘he could have a gun’. Not chilled anymore.
We arrived at the hostel and pulled into the car park which had an electronic gate to stop randos getting in. Massive red flag and the homeless settlement 50m down the road added fuel to the fire. Safe to say we weren’t impressed.
We checked in with the reception guy who seemed either an absolute stoner or a half whack job. He was completely away with the fairies and could not hold a train of thought for long so we just ended up waiting for long periods of time and following him around until we finally had our keys and sheets.
We also had a bit of faff parking up as there were only so many spaces and we ended up having to block someone in. Therefore we had to leave the car keys with reception who would then move our rental car in an incredibly tight car park to let this person out should they want to. Luke did not like this at all so asked the reception guy to come get him if this was required as we had zero plans of leaving the hostel. Fortunately he did come knocking and Luke managed to move the car under the building and therefore could leave it there for the 2 days without stressing.
We were pretty shattered so did very little in the hostel room but cooked and watched a movie. We didn’t make much of an effort with anyone in the room as we were pretty bummed out from just how shit LA looked and felt.
Lo and behold, it wasn’t a pleasant night's sleep. It seems that a lot of people travelling in hostels love the ganja and the Italian guy next to our bunk seemed to be high the whole time. The smell of weed wasn’t all that bad to be honest, it was mainly the smoke that Nicola really doesn’t like.
Ganja guy full on passed out at about 11pm, fully clothed and face down on his bed on the opposite side of his pillow. This was all pretty hilarious until he started snoring and didn’t stop most of the night.
The room was pretty loud with people coming and going until what felt like 2am. There was a much older lady who seemed to be staying long term at the hostel and working in LA who arrived pretty late. Despite appearing to be a ‘lifer’ she had jack all hostel etiquette and started full on chatting on the phone to someone at 7am in a tone that can only be described as ‘American Style’, aka everyone can hear the conversation word for word for a fucking mile.
So we had little choice but to get up at this point and start our day. We decided that as the car was in a nice safe location under the building arches we would leave it there and walk / uber around to give Luke a much needed break from stress driving and then struggling to relax and enjoy the day - LA seemed like a sensible place for this.
Our hostel was right next to Hollywood boulevard so we left the prison confinement of the hostel and out into the big bad world of LA. We walked the first part as quickly as we could past the 10 strong street tent encampment where we were greeted by a homeless guy with his dick out just casually chatting to his mates. What a welcome.
It wasn’t long at all before we got onto the star studded Hollywood boulevard strip. It was unbelievably shit. The stars themselves looked tacky and the street left a lot to be desired. As we walked we just felt uncomfortable and bored so we ducked into a gift shop to call an uber to Griffith Park & observatory.
Turns out getting an uber to Griffith was absolutely the best thing to do. It was fairly cheap, about $14, and it circumnavigated the chaos that had built from people driving up the hill and into the park. The queues for parking were nuts and it was $10 an hour for the privilege. Accidental win for sure.
Once at the observatory it was almost like a calm came over us. We were high above LA in large green open spaces with great views and just a wholesome crowd of people and families. This was in complete stark contrast to being ‘in’ LA and we loved it.
The observatory had a couple of shows going on during the day so for $10 each we thought why not see one. We had a mooch around the observatory for a little while before heading into the show. We did get talking to an English LA older gentleman who couldn’t understand why we hated LA. He loved the place but his wife was the ex Vice CEO of CBS so was obvo a multi-millionaire and their lifestyle was wholly unachievable for the 99% - we like to think the penny dropped for him eventually.
The show was titled ‘signs of life’ and gave a very simple but enjoyable presentation about what could be out there in the galaxy and where. The full recliner seats with views of the high def ceiling screen was great. The only negative were the little shits sitting behind us that would not shut the fuck up throughout the whole presentation and the parents attempts to keep them quiet was unbelievably pathetic / non-existent. Luke was not happy at all while Nicola was less fussed about interruptions, just happy with the experience.
Once out of the show we sat and had some lunch in the sunshine, had a quick look around the observatory museum but it was packed and therefore we decided to go for a walk around the park.
There are tons of interconnecting tracks throughout the park but we decided to go up to the observatory peak via a closer look at the Hollywood sign. The ground was very slippery from the dust and we weren’t wearing overly appropriate shoes so it was slow and steady for Nicola. Parts were less relaxing as we felt part of numerous loud American conversations, the weirdest being a guy shouting how he liked to be sexually dominated with no care in the world.
We had nice views of the Hollywood sign and 360 views of LA. Downtown LA was pretty cool and had some serious snow capped mountains in the backdrop. The grid system could be seen plain as day from above.
The worst view was the absolutely horrific LA river that looked completely devoid of flow, life and function as the main 10+ strong lane highway ran right next to it. Luke asked Nicola what could be done if she could do anything, another fun game, and the solution is level LA around the river. That river is fudged.
We walked down and had a little break in the trees before the observatory which again had nice views over the city and was nice and chill. So chill what seemed like a new couple were full on macking out behind us. Cute.
Deciding we should probably get on with our day and try and see some of the rest of LA we hiked down from the observatory to Fern Dell which continued to be very slippery and not overly enjoyable. From there we looked at an Uber to Downtown LA but it would have cost $40 and when trying the metro we got fed up with having to buy transport cards. It was getting late, we were fed up and we actually didn’t really want to go into town merely feeling we had to. So we were both happy to sack it off and go back to the hostel.
At the hostel we chilled in the outside seating area (wasn’t half bad) where Luke spent the time doing some much needed Central America research while Nicola had a nice little rest.
We actually had a hob in the room so were able to make pasta without the awkwardness of a microwave which was refreshing, although we didn’t push the boat out on anything exciting. We had a new German roomie join the bunk next to us who was very nice so we just chatted with her and also Ganja boy when he rocked up a bit later.
The Hostel was really dire. We decided to completely avoid the shower as it was blocked with god knows what of guests past, was filthy and despite telling reception they did absolutely fuck all about it. The toilet roll ran out so we ended up using the special Nair stash we were lovingly provided, and of course there was no soap so we washed our hands using washing up liquid in the kitchen. Nicola saw some cockroaches, there was no pillow for Nicola, the fridge was dirty and there were only 2 lockers between 5.
With all this in mind, and not liking LA, we were so happy to leave as early as possible. There was a bit of jenga to get the car out but it wasn’t too dramatic.
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