Los Angeles
It’s been a while since I’ve written. Just didn’t seem like daily blogging was the recipe for my summer. But I did want to post a little recap of my Los Angeles vacation. I wrote this on the train home. Perhaps I’ll do another post of pictures from the road trip portion – I foolishly took none in LA except at the wedding!
Amtrak. Friday. 8:00 pm. Somewhere between Salinas and San Jose. Shaky writing, but done with a distinct feeling of relaxed self-satisfaction.
We should be in Davis in 4 hours or so, wrapping up our ludicrously successful vacation. I can’t believe how much we’ve done. Mom and Dad met us Davis last Saturday, and we drove to Tahoe to see Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and the Wiyos play. It was a neat show – good to see Bob, and an excellent introduction to Willie. mom was very pleased to be doing this for our anniversary / Lewis’ birthday.
Drove to Bishop the next day, and saw much beautiful scenery en route. Bishop was extremely cute – a tiny town all alone in the high desert. Next day we drove to San Diego via Mt. Whitney, which was quite a sight to see. I was very impressed with the entire range there – starkly beautiful granite faces rising abruptly from the floor of the arid Owen’s Valley. Also saw Mono Lake – beautiful but surprisingly alkaline, thus pungent and seemingly less-than-salubrious. A lake best enjoyed photographically.
San Diego was nice per usual – saw grandparents & cousins, and had an above-average visit with Mom & Dad. It’s good to have time to warm up to Mom; our visits lately have always been too short for me to overcome my testiness at being mothered. This trip was just right. Stayed something like three days and then caught the train up Friday to LA, where Lewis met me (he had gone up a day earlier for bachelor party fun).
First few days in LA were occupied primarily with wedding stuff. Friday was the rehearsal and dinner. It was a bit chaotic, as the pageantry of a conservative Jewish wedding is somewhat complicated. Lewis and a bridesmaid, Meredith, were assigned the small balcony to decorate, which was serving as the retreat space required for the couple to have some minutes of quiet time between the ceremony and reception. We spent the greater part of Saturday searching out materials (plates, food, a book of poetry) for their comfort.
That evening we had tickets to see Harvey Danger play at the Largo on their farewell tour. The Largo seats only a few hundred people, but it’s a theater, so the set up was both intimate and somewhat awkward. They have “a strict no talking policy”, and the whole timbre of the show was a little like the band playing a show in their own fantasy, and the audience looking in from outside. They did not disappoint, however, and I spent a good portion of the show chuckling at Sean Nelson who was doing his best to be both amusing and acerbic. The best part of the show was certainly the second half, in which they took requests only if properly prefaced by an “interesting question”. The band’s working definition of “interesting” was quite strict, thus there was more mocking the audience than playing requests, and those questions which were answered rarely were done so with focus on veracity. What made the night truly unforgettable was the after-show, in an as yet smaller theater. We had great seats here, and the show took the form of a jam between friends – Sean did several songs accompanying himself on piano, and Shana Levy (ex Rilo Kiley) played. The best sets were with Jon Bryon and an excellent pianist backing Sean, doing audience requests of classic rock songs – I remember “Maybe I’m Amazed” and the Monkee’s “Porpoise Song” specifically. It was really wonderful, and left me feeling both touched and lucky. Harvey Danger will be truly missed, but I can console myself with the knowledge that what I always loved most about Harvey was Sean, and I have no doubt he will remain in the public eye in some capacity. (I also forgot to mention the hilarious introduction John Hodgman recorded for the band – a word-for-word copy of the introduction Bob Dylan is using on his tour!)
The following afternoon, we saw Gabe and Melanie get married. The ceremony was beautiful, the weather fine, and the company superb. All Lewis’ old roommates were present, and even happily attached to lovely girlfriends. There was much bonding and dancing – we danced the horah for at least half an hour! This big group closed the night out – dancing till midnight and finally leaving out of pity for the exhausted bride and groom, and our own sore selves. Both this night and the previous filled me with blissful, life-affirming thoughts and I felt more connected with life and love and the universe than I have in some time.
The remainder of our trip was occupied with seeing friends. We met our old lab manager, Laura, on Melrose and shopped. We moved in with Sepideh and Cyrus for a few nights, and spent very much quality time together. Getting to know Sepi better first-hand was certainly one of the highlights of the trip. She’s a truly kind and interesting person, and a very good friend to have. We also managed a trip to Zankou Chicken + Amoeba to stock up on records. Nearly the whole group of boys from the wedding was there, and it was really amusing to watch a group of music school kids all shopping together in the jazz section. We had dinner with Sepi on Sawtell (tiny Japanese restaurant strip in West LA) and met Nick & Suzanne at Beard Papa to catch up. Beard Papa has some seriously delicious cream puffs, and Nick Martin is one of the best conversationalists I’ve ever met. We also managed to see Chris and Ashley for dinner. He cooked us exciting Mexican fare – shrimp and cactus!
Finally, we finished up our week with Devin. We went out to dim sum (in my old neighborhood!) at the Empress, and got coffee downtown. Greg joined us for dinner at Father’s Office, which was delicious but somewhat snooty. Greg & Dev were as always hilarious and I laughed a good deal all day. Got to hear lots about Devin’s escapades as a somewhat newly outed gay man in West Hollywood, and Greg amused us with jokes on the same topic. It’s lovely to have college friends still living in LA to remember good times with.
Life in LA was wonderful. We saw campus – including the new cinema building, and even visited with our old advisor, Joyce! Campus made me proud to be an alum, as did seeing all the neat things our fellow alumni are up to. LA itself has changed remarkably little since we left. We saw most all of our old haunts, and even ate at the Brite Spot twice! I had to force myself not to pontificate on the wonders of LA and how much I love it’s streets, people, drivers, and scenery. I saw with ease how we could come back some day for another extended portion of our lives – if we could ever get employment in the area. LA is full of love and life in a way I never found in the Bay Area. I am looking forward to coming home to Davis, but I do so knowing I left a piece of my heart in the streets of LA, and the smallest corner in Sean Nelson’s foppish breast pocket.