Venice, Beverly Hills, Koreatown, CA 17 Feb 2014

 Monday morning, Ted wanted to take Penny to some of the places he frequented.  Unfortunately, The Oarhouse, one of Ted's favorite watering holes was permanently closed.  Here, he often ran into cast members from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.  The most frequent denizens were Judy Carne and Henry Gibson.  It was a really fun place.

 Next, we went to Venice. A place where Ted had whiled away many hours during his misspent youth.  He would have been easy to spot, he would have had the shortest hair around (he was in the Army at the time),

 You don't have to get very far into Venice to realize what kind of place it is.

The caption in the upper center of this mural states that "History is Myth".  One might also add "the future hasn't happened yet".  What matters to most of the people who gather here is what is going on right now.

 We were fortunate enough to get a parking spot near the entry to the beach, particularly busy on this President's day.

 This cart, in front of our parking place gives more testament to the kinds of activity that are common here.

 Near the entry to the beach, a group of break dancers performed for bystanders.

 Just across from the break dancers are a couple of structures on which graffiti artists are encouraged to ply their art.  As you can see, some are pretty good, others, less so.

Also nearby is a skating structure.  Much like the graffiti cone, some of the participants were quite accomplished, others, not so much.  The courtesy and respect that they showed to each other warmed the heart of the former principal.

 This grassy mall runs all of the way to Santa Monica.  In the distance it was possible to barely make out the Santa Monica Pier.

 Here is a closer look.

  We decided to take surface streets back to the hotel.  Of course, we had to take a cruise down Rodeo Drive. 

Where Rodeo Drive feeds into Wilshire is the famous Wilshire Beverly Hotel.  In case you think you've seen it before, you probably have.  Pretty Woman was filmed here in 1990.  Guests have ranged from The Dalia Lama to Farrah Fawcett.

 As we drove on to the hotel, we went through Koreatown.  This signage is outside a medical clinic.  Most of signs have large Korean script and smaller English lettering.  A few don't bother with English.  Despite the name, Hispanic residents outnumber the Asian population.  The Ambassador Hotel, where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, was in Koreatown.  It is now the site of a school bearing his name.

Next, the Getty Museum.

LA, Our Hotel 16 Feb 2014

 Our Valentine gift to each other was a trip to LA.  Perhaps that is a form of mental illness.  We forgot that it was President's Day weekend, too.  Ted had lived in LA many years earlier and he was quickly reminded why he was so happy to leave the traffic, which is, of course, much worse. This was a Sunday night!

 We stayed in the J.W. Marriott in the LA Live area.  This was the view out our window of our 17th floor room.  Thank you, Erin.

 Here was the view at night.

 The hotel was right around the corner from the Staples Center.

Of course, The Grammy Awards were held there only a few weeks earlier.  Walking down the Grammy walk-of-fame was a real trip back through the years for us.  This plaque was somewhat poignant considering Toni Tennille and Daryl Dragon's recent divorce.

Ted loves the Blues, so he had to have a photo of this plaque.

Of course, this is LA, so there is advertising everywhere, day

and night.

These lights are a part of a sign on the side of our Marriott.  At this moment, sign was advertising Coca-Cola with the lettering alternating between English and Japanese.

This Coke sign was on our side of the hotel.  Our room was in the area of the lettering, but we could not see any indication of the sign from inside.  Neat technology.

Next, off to experience a few of the local sights and sounds.

Entertainment in the desert, February, 2014

One thing we've always enjoyed about Palm Desert, is that there is always something fun going on nearby.

 In addition to the McCallum Theatre which always attracts interesting entertainment, there are a number of casinos that also attract big name acts.  We both love Chicago's music. Their show was fun.

 Want to go shopping?  There's always the street fair that appears on weekends in the College of the Desert parking lot.  Where else could you buy a marshmallow shooter or--

A Bentley or

Bronze sculptures, all within a few yards of each other?

Missing your favorite sports team?  A nearby sports bar will put one of their many TVs on the channel that's playing their game.  Unfortunately, the Portland Trailblazers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a thriller on this visit.  I know some of my family wouldn't view this as unfortunate.

There are two pools, exercise room, tennis courts, putting green, two golf holes, a couple of ponds, daily opportunities for "snoop" bike rides.  These rides are good exercise, but also let us see who is new in the park and what they are driving.

 

There are also a lot of interesting natural areas, such as a genuine oasis nearby, but we've blogged about it before. 

 

Come visit us.  We would love to show you around.

Emerald Desert RV Resort, Palm Desert, CA 15 Jan 2014

 This is a scale used to weigh RVs.  The guy brings it to the RV site and weighs each wheel.

 Our neighbors had this done.  The guy then makes suggestions about redistributing stowed articles. 

 We found this cool hummingbird feeder hanger that suctions to the windshield at Walmart yesterday.  

 Within a few minutes, we had business.  Ted has counted three different hummingbirds.  Penny made the black bags that cover our rearview mirrors. 

Ted bought the song bird feeder and suet feeder today.  We can see them our the driver's side windows.  A finch found it right away.