23 Jul 2007
Alas - I found myself in the city by the bay and back in the 1st world - San Francisco - late at night but I was ready to take in it's glory. Scott Mckenzie once said in his song San Francisco "Be sure to wear flowers in your hair" - well I wasn't going to wear flowers in my hair - but he was right - I would meet some gentle people. As you take in the endless hills of the Golden City you can see "Starship" were right when they wrote their Classic 1985 song "We Built this City! (on Rock & Roll)" - well maybe not entirely - but if you aren't too careful you will find yourself rolling up and down the hills with the sheer exhaustion of the whole experience.There's a lot to take in while your in San Francisco - The Hills of course, Mrs Doubtfire house, The Laundrette from 40 Days & 40 Nights, The Trams, China Town, The Streets that Steve McQueen Drove so eloquently, The buildings from Vertigo, The Dirty Harry Wannabe Cops, The Golden Gate Bridge driven frantically over the wrong way by Dustin Hoffman as The Graduate and of course The Rock aka Alcatraz home of Al Capone and of course more recently Sean Connery & Nicolas Cage!
Walking around San Francisco taking it all in - I found myself in a daze - maybe it's the venues i was hanging out in - but it's certainly fun city - there could be more bars - but I've always believed this where ever I've been. I was fortunate upon arriving back in the USA to find some like minded characters. The first who I would later travel down the coast with went by the name of Warren from Johannesburg - a laid back individual who had been traveling around Europe before finding himself in San Francisco. I also found company in a chilled out Scandinavian called Sven - however he would remain in San Francisco before heading to South America.
Just like London & New York - San Francisco has it's own Hoxton & Meat packing district, however here it is known as the Mission. The Mission as you would expect - is in the ghetto part of town - where there is ghetto there will be artists, and where there are artists you will find interesting nightlife. And I'm not kidding when I say interesting. Now many of us would of been to London's Soho so would of had come across the rainbow experience many many times - well this doesn't compare - there was a bar Warren and I walked into the day before the Gay Parade I might add - that was just full of hard core lesbians - not the experience you go out looking for - but interesting nonetheless! However, a good selection of bars can be found in this part of town should you find yourself in San Francisco - my personal favourite the ever reliable chain bar "The Beauty Bar" - they had a "Smiths" night on when I was there - who would of thought you could dance to non stop back to back Smiths for 4 hours solid.
One thing that I noticed from walking miles and miles each day up and down each and every hill in San Francisco is a car would come in very handy - especially if you want to do the bendy road in style however, the reality is San Francisco is one of those few cities in America where you really don't need a car. However, as Warren and I had decided to venture down the Californian coast we would eventually rent a car and do as the americans do - and get ourselves a Chevy! We got a good deal on price and also discovered we were the first to drive the car as it only had 5miles on the clock - so it was all fresh and newly scented. Chevy's - hmm - never been a favourite of Clarkson's - but I had never driven one before so I would give this one a chance. Yes it was an Automatic with cruise control and all the cup holders you could need if you figured you needed to go to that needed drive-thru and get yourself a gallon of Diet Coke. So right away I felt part of the American dream as I shifted it into drive and suddenly found myself on the other side of the road in a car that is a lot Longer than anything I have ever driven. They Call the boot a Trunk over here in the New World - You can see why - the Trunk was the size of Mahogany Tree Trunk that had been in the wild for the last 300 years. However, this so called economical car was what was to get us from A to B - so Warren and I were happy with our Silver Chevy!
Leaving San Francisco behind on of all days a Saturday - we decided to head South down the coast along route 101. Heading towards Santa Cruz - safe in the knowledge that The Thrills had spent some time here - we made it our mission to check it out. Unfortunately because it was a Saturday every man and his dog was checking out Santa Cruz and her touristy coast line. Motels - No Vacancy, Hotels - Booked, Hostels - What are they? So unfortunately - we came we saw and we left Santa Cruz having really seen not too much except a lot of large folks queuing up for Hot Dogs and Ferris Wheels.
On a Recommendation from Laura we headed further down the coast to check out the artistic and very flash coastal town of Carmel - a beautiful Californian retreat with its white sandy beaches and quaint little shops. However - it was way out of the budget to even think about staying here - so we simply admired the beach took in a few of the sights - and then after a quick thirst quencher we made our way back on to the road.
Cruising down Route 101 along the Californian coast is a little like driving through the Lake District, the French Riveria and the Norfolk Coast all at once - some really diverse scenery - especially when you come off the coast for a little and check out the Red Wood Forests around the Big Sur (another place The Thrills apparently liked to hang out - woo! Got to love that semi-average band!). Now when you go on a road trip through the States hindsight has taught me it would be a good idea to have a reservation somewhere - unfortunately this is me - and I don't make reservations very often. So we drove and drove through some amazing picture postcard scenes - we kept stopping to check it all out - then the realisation came that we weren't going to find anywhere to stay - Motel after Motel had No Vacancies - I couldn't believe how busy this area was. Very few people were on the roads - yet everyone seemed to have some place to stay - at this stage the tents we could of bought earlier started to look more and more appealing. Alas - for we had no tents - so after stopping a very drab American Bar/Restaurant for dinner in a town I couldn't tell you the name of - we decided for it was too late (midnight by this stage) - we needed to pull over and sleep. I wasn't keen on sleeping in the car where people might see us - so I found a Motel where the car park was nice and hidden. Upon parking up I discovered how useful it is to have a brand new clean car with a huge "Trunk". I successfully ended up sleeping in the back of the car with my head in the trunk while Warren slept the other way, I care less about claustrophobia. Money saved that night - so a result!
The next day as you would expect - having "larged" it big time on a Saturday night in a car we were up early - so we headed for a classic American Diner which we found meters away from where we had parked. We ate and freshened up in the Restrooms like true homeless people. After our Tea & Coffee we were ready for the day we set off in search of some place more interesting that a Motel car park - we wouldn't be disappointed - only another 30mins down the road we came upon Pismo Beach. This beach attracts a lot of surfers and a party crowd (oh how we would of liked to of known about this place the night before - forward planning - something I'm taking on board). Having arrived early we secured ourselves a nice spot on the beach where we were able to appreciate the breaks from a distance - as we hadn't packed our boards for this trip - we figured after a morning on the beach we would do something a little more civilised than surfing. Having been inspired by the Movie Sideways we went to check out a multiple array of Vineyards that were scattered around the area. As we sipped on the various Californian wines this was a chance for the South African and the Englishman (that would be I) to reflect on our journey so far - both of us realised we had been very fortunate to of seen what we have seen over the last so many months - and it was great to know that more adventures were on the way. Having stocked up on a multiple array of wines for our consumption later in the trip we set off sometime in the afternoon to arrive at our next destination - Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara is a classy place - the best way to describe it is to think of Cannes & Falmouth and then put the classic grid line American city together and you have Santa Barbara. It's obviously a place lined with palm trees but it also has the shops that you might find in Beverly Hills as well - however, this would be a perfect place to settle for a few days while we relaxed and checked out the vibe. One of the things I will walk away from my time in Santa Barbara will be the nice reminder that compared to many other US cities - Santa Barbara is very localised - and you can to the amazement of myself walk around and get from A to B! Of course while in this West coast city - many bars were explored - Karaoke was sung (alas very badly) and beaches were hung out on. It's a hard life right now.
Fortunately while Warren and I were in Santa Barbara we met a Brit who was more than up for joining us for the ride down to LA - he was a Brit from Birmingham who went by the name of Mark. It was nice to be driving a 5 seater car and to have someone else in it that would be happy to contribute to petrol and car rent - so leaving a very pleasant city behind us we headed for the giant metropolis urban sprawl that is Los Angeles.
As we headed down the coast we made a few relaxing stops - mainly at the many beaches that litter the Californian coast line - Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice - all these beaches on the doorstep to every LA citizen - makes you wonder why they are always complaining. All year round this place is sunny - it's rare for LA to have an overcast day - something which is quite the norm when in sunny England. After leaving the beaches behind us we cruised up the Sunset Strip in our American automobile - taking in the scenery in the form of Bel Air, Beverly Hills & West Hollywood before making our final destination in Hollywood. Fortunately without reservation we managed to find ourselves checked into a cheap place right behind the Chinese Mann Theater, moments away from Jeremy's, Scott's and I's favorite place to stay last time the "Hollywood Roosevelt". A place that would be frequented on many a sunny day by poolside.
Hollywood - as our group of three - we stuck around the area for a few days - but unfortunately Northerner's tend to be tight with there money so after a few nights out - Mark went his separate way to progress towards Fiji. A route that I will later take. For it did not matter - Warren and I would venture south towards Melrose - to discover a cheap place where Heather Locklear might not be staying. Melrose for those those that know it is a funky part of town - especially for shopping and people watching - not that I was in the business to be shopping with only a limited amount of space in my bag - but granted I was tempted. I stumbled upon a place on Melrose that reminded me of Amsterdam (no it didn't have a red light bulb in the window) this place sold Marijuana to the general public - all kinds! I'm not kidding you - this was the USA I was in - and there's a place in Melrose that sells all kind of Johnny C weed - strange but true. How can a licensed premises in the USA sell weed? Well sensibly the state of California has gone down the route of allowing it's citizens to get medical cards that allow them to use Marijuana should there Doctor say it could help. For a society that I saw as repressed in many aspects (drinking age being at 21) - this is a great step for any society - a step I would favour should I ever get any political clout in the UK.
I took the step to use LA as my base - as it's such a big city so using Melrose as my base for a couple of days I went in search of an apartment I might be able to sublet. Now, having lived in London for all of my working life - the prices of apartments in LA - pale in comparison - which is a good thing - however, finding a place that's suitable for the short term is more a problem than finding a place for a longer period. Everywhere I looked; places where available for 12months or 6months sometimes - but 1 month or less this was going to pose a problem. However, after a fair amount of searching I managed to find myself a place right off Hollywood Boulevard, minutes walk from all things Hollywood. Now if your impression of Hollywood is Pretty Woman and the Hugh Grant escapades - a lot has changed in that time - it seems like the Governator has cleaned up this part of town. Yes, you still see the odd homeless person, but you don't see the pimps with their products like you would of seen should you have ventured down the Boulevard back in the 80's and early 90's.
However, this being the USA - the homeless and undesirables haven't simply been taken off the street they've been moved on elsewhere (The Governator hasn't Terminated them - he has simply moved them on). The famous LAPD have systematically picked the dregs of society off the streets by arresting them for petite crimes such as J-Walking and then taken them to Downtown LA. In the Downtown LA they are processed in the system and then once they've served there jail time - they are spat out on Skid Row - normally with little or no means to get anywhere else in LA. I swear to you Skid Row is another world - I've been to third world countries that look after their homeless better than they do in LA - the best way to describe this place is to remember the last Zombie movie you saw - multiply the scene where you suddenly see all the infected numbly roaming the streets - and then your half way there to imagining Skid Row. It's a real sorry state of affairs because if you're homeless in LA the most profitable place to beg would probably be Beverly Hills or West Hollywood - but alas - if you are seen to be out of place in this part of town - you will be quickly removed from the street - arrested - then processed and put back on skid row - where it is my belief the system hopes you will promptly die.
We all know the quote: "a nation is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens". Credited to the American Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. The longer version of the quote goes: "The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." to me at least, Humphrey was asking back then: what opportunities are we providing? What protections are we giving? Do all people have equal access to the most basic needs for survival? Money is not always the answer - however if you don't have it in this town or this country you are royally screwed. The chances of getting sick on skid row double for every day you spend there, and that's before you factor in the chances of being raped, abused, mugged, shot or simply infected by some kind of messed up needle. The citizens of LA don't care much for what happens to those less fortunate than they are - this can be exhibited by what happens to you when you get sick - if you're poor and you have no health insurance - you better hope you simply don't get sick, the hospitals won't help you, the rich doctors living in Bel Air won't help you, maybe you're be lucky and be picked up by some charitable organisation (but the reality is the aren't many of those) - so effectively if you get sick as soon as the hospital realises you can't pay the inflated medical bills you're going to get dumped in Skid Row in a Taxi paid for by the Hospital. All this comes with the realisation that the NHS seems to translate into a strong backbone for society - an investment that should never end - I just wish the American public would kick up enough of a stir to demand their own NHS - this may indicate that they really do care.
OK - enough with the political rant - back to far more interesting things - namely Theme Parks! California just like Florida has a never ending supply of high quality theme parks, this place is a mecca for thrills entertainment - my favourite so far has to be "6 Flags - Magic Mountain" - a place under the power of the Warner Bros' Studio's hence a lot of references to their most successful characters and films. This place has some of the best roller coasters I've ever had the pleasure to have been on - I'm not even exaggerating here - these rides are extreme - they had this one ride called Tatsu; that claims to be the tallest roller coaster in the world - it's insane! The ride lasts an astonishing 2minutes - which isn't bad for a roller coaster, goes up to 62mph, has some 263feet of plunges, I believe this is how Superman would feel should he be real when in flight - yes its of the scale in terms of terror - but bloody good fun. I will be putting up some pics of myself on this ride at some point on my facebook photos - but honestly it looks like I'm going to die of fear - but the reality was I was having a lot of fun! Honest!
One thing you notice being a Brit in LA or America for that matter - Everyone Love's the English or as they say "The Brit's". Anyone that's been to the USA will be able to vouch for this - but it does make for a good night out. First of all if your new to London - walk into a bar - you're going to need to put in the work to get to know anyone - without coming across as some sort of loner weirdo - but in LA (or the USA) - simply by getting someone to notice you're English is enough to start a conversation going. The American Guys want to buy you drinks, the American women want to buy you drinks, of course with this comes the downside - they all want to do their English accent. I'm not kidding - everyone thinks they can do an English accent - it's a lot of fun to listen to all their attempts but my word - it's painful! But, alas once the English impression has been done the next thing on every one's mind will be to talk about English Music - this part I love - everyone in LA (especially LA) is a big fan of English music - be it the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or now (all decades basically from 60's onwards). The rant and the bonding will begin on how so and so from this place in England defined this musical genre and this guy from that English town defined another genre - it always makes me proud to be British with our strong musical heritage - even when I'm talking about Culture Club. However, I can actually see why the British actors have been doing so well in Hollywood in recent years - ignoring the fact that the majority are very good actors - it could have something to do with the fact that everyone loves a Limey these days. I'm not sure if this love has increased in recent years or it's always been this way - but it does make for a very pleasant and sociable stay in the good USA amongst the rebellious old colony.
I was expecting a backlash several weeks ago on the 4th of July - but the reality was - the Yanks I met were happy to have Brit's amongst them. My wish for these warm Brit loving Americans is the desire that they could only be as loving to all the other nations from all over the world - maybe it will never happen (it's certainly not that way in the UK yet). But - just maybe - the Yanks will see all nations as lovable as their old Mother England (now relegated to Lap Dog Great Britain thanks to Tony) in future years.
I've missed out so much and neglected to tell most of the stories - but If I went on you would probably have an aneurysm with all this waffle - so I shall stop here.
Once again - many thanks for all your e-mails - my next stop is Fiji. I have uploaded some more photo's of the trip so far - mainly - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize & Guatemala (see below)
Alexander
You Tube Video Clips: http://www.youtube.com/VANTERHE
Guatemala Album: http://www.facebook.com/album
Belize Album: http://www.facebook.com/album
Nicaragua Album: http://www.facebook.com/album
Costa Rica Album: http://www.facebook.com/album
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