About As L.A. As It Gets

Oooo, how L.A.
180mm, f5, 1/30 

After spending the first six weeks of winter freezing our asses off in Nashville we woke to sun, 60-degree temps and a naked woman swimming in the hotel pool 25 floors below. I'm embarassed to say, the yokel in me was somewhat mesmerized (J would argue it was the perv in me). Either way, all I could think was "yep, we're in L.A. alright."

We'd planned to hit Griffith Observatory and hike the Hollywood Hills but J was in serious need of sunshine and beach. To be honest so was I. We headed to Santa Monica instead.

(More Photos after the break)

Santa Monica Beach
20mm, f7, 1/1250

Candle on a string over the water
22mm, f3.5, 1/20

The water was too cold to swim (of course, it is the Pacific after all; those California surfers wear wetsuits for a reason) but feeling the sand between my toes and the sun on my head helped dust off at least a little of the winter. The beach and the view of the mountains in the distance were beautiful.

We had a light lunch of margaritas and ceviche at Mariasol Cocina Mexicana restaurant at the end of the pier (santamonicapier.org). The food was surprisingly good and the drinks surprisingly strong for a tourist spot (how touristy??? well, there's a Bubba Gump Shrimp restuarant on the pier, too). We sat on the deck to enjoy the air, which meant listening to a pier busker sing Michael Bolton covers. Thank goodness for those surprisingly strong margaritas.

We headed down the beach to Venice to take in a freakshow or two.

Some things I really enjoyed about Venice Beach: Watching the guys work out on Muscle Beach Venice; watching the skaters at one hell of an outdoor skatepark; eating my first-ever navajo corncakes at Figtree's Café & Grill; browsing the graphic novel section of independent bookseller Small World Books.

Muscle Beach Venice 55mm, f25, 1/40, 200 ISO

The rocks on Venice Beach 18mm, f10, 1/400, 200 ISO

Not certain why the crab was so freaked out 26mm, f22, 1/125, 200 ISO

Venice Beach sunset 26mm, f14, 1/800, 200 ISO

Venice really is its own place, difficult to explain without sounding either like a freak yourself or a prude. Which route do I go in my description?

Pot...being from a state where the idea of medical marijuana will never fly, it was eye opening to see so many "clinics." I don't smoke but I also don't give a damn if others do. From Tennessee the pro-med-pot arguments sound compassionate but strolling down the Venice boardwalk it's clear to me the majority of medical marijuana is not really for "medical" purposes. There were so many shops with signs outside sporting bikini-clad women or giant pot leaves that read "new patients only $40." You can get a "prescription" whether or not you need it. What a total sham. By all means, legalize pot, but at least be honest about your intentions. It's like  pastors seeking money for the poor but buying a mansion instead.

Hell, I got more honesty from one of the unlicensed doctors working the boardwalk who called me a "fucking cracker" because I wasn't interested in buying. All in good nature, of course. He laughed his ass off when we strolled by a second time. "Still no pot," he asked. "No," I said. "I'm still a fucking cracker."

I don't want to paint Venice as a bad place. It's not.  I enjoyed the walk and the sights. But the Venice boardwalk is not as gritty and authentic as they'd like people to think. It's like a Disney-fied fun-for-the-whole-family heroin den with plastic pretend needles for the kids and entertainment for the adults.

There are some artists with stalls along the boardwalk that warrant a look--I mean genuine artists who produce good art and actually live in the area--but they're far outnumbered by stalls full of Chinese crap sold by folks who pretend they're local. Let's not forget the kids who sell pocket lint for a buck so they can buy their next bag of weed.

Oh, and the beach smells like shit. No, really, it smells like sewage.

Damn, guess I went the prude route.

Morning light polka dots on the Los Angeles Central Library
20mm, f5.6, 1/125, 400 ISO