Thirty Day LA

I'm giving you a choice here you can either read this post or click on these pictures from the night and move on:
Karaoke Photos

Tattle Tale
5401 Sepulveda Blvd (Cross Street: Sawtelle Boulevard)
Culver City, CA 90230-5511
Price: Nothing (since i bought nothing)

Just like everyone else I have my guilty pleasures that I keep to myself; the things that I am a big fan that I’m hesitant to admit to everyone else. To start off with I'm a big fan of the song "I wanna dance with somebody" by Whitney Houston. Alright I admitted it, so now let’s move on.

Another thing I need to admit is that Im not big on singing in public. First of all I have no voice and im extremely self-conscious about it. I think I may even be more self-conscious about singing in front of people I know and hurting their ears.

For the next part of 30dayla I wanted to put those fears aside and take some time to share my guilty pleasures with the world. I had to sing "I wanna dance with somebody" in a public karaoke dive bar in front of a crowd of strangers and friends. To make this happen I invited out Tiny and DreidelGirl to join me at Tattle Tale a dive bar in Culver City.

To let you know Tattle Tale is a very divy, with dartboards, men with cowboy hats, and your average out of place in LA white trash crowd. I was definitely out of my element. The crowd sang your typical Creed to Nickelback song varieties, but actually had decent voices (which made me all the more nervous). I buyed time by playing darts (very shittily at that) until I had to go up.

The guy at the Karaoke booth initially offered to change the key of the song, wondering why I was singing Whitney. I was nervous but decided to confess my love for the song to the crowd and begin to sing

I offended the crowd there pretty quickly from my cracking voice to the pseudo homosexuality of the lyrics I was singing. At one point some guy pretended to be raising a gun to shoot me then put tissues in his ears. I stopped caring as the crowd sang along for the chorus. It kind of made me feel like a rockstar (although a horribly singing one). All and all it was a liberating experience. I confronted my fears and lived to tell the tale, and at the end of it all people applauded. It was good to know that whether or not I had any talent I could easily just jump out there, sing like a girl and be proud of it. Now I think its time for some Bel Biv Devoe (with the accompanying dance routine of course).

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 6:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Scratch DJ Academy
Located at Rehab Records near Cotner and Pico
Price: Fucking Expensive

I have these turntables that have pretty much sat in my room for the past year. I can’t remember the last time I touched them. Learning how to DJ is something I have wanted to do for a while, but the turntables have still just sat there.

A couple of months ago I helped run a mentorship event in which we invited the DJs from the Scratch DJ academy to teach a rotation for the kids in our program. It was pretty amazing. For those who don't know the Scratch DJ Academy was founded in New York by Jam Master Jay of Run DMC and has made its way to LA in the past few years. They teach classes in DJing and Beatmaking to students who range from six-year olds to soccer moms.

This summer I had told myself that I wanted to get really good at DJing, but that didn’t happen. So with only a few days left in the summer I decided it was time to enroll in the DJ Academy and make something happen. On Day 6 I attended my first class of DJ 101 and it was amazing. The class itself not only teaches you how to scratch and blend but also musical theory. I have started to feel inspired to create mixes and want to delve further into DJing. I’m pretty sure I am going to take the next level class (or maybe even the beatmaking class). Hopefully the DJ academy will be my catalyst to pursue DJing even further after my 30days are over. I can't believe I waited this long to start. This class is highly recommended to anyone who has a desire to DJ regardless of your knowledge or skill level

Day 7

As I have repeated probably 30 times by now when I thought of what I wanted to do with 30dayla I set out to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I also hoped to immerse myself in different cultures. Now I'm not an actor, so I thought that a good thing to do would be to attend open auditions and jump in to the world of low-end struggling actors. I mean this is LA. One problem holding me back from going to legitimate auditions was a lack of headshots and a resume (which I am going to get made before the end of 30dayla). So I was pretty much limited to random casting calls. When I heard of a casting call for Rush Hour 3 I figured I might as well go for it. It would be my chance for me to be remembered forever as airport protestor #57 or foreign dignitary #25.

The crowd at the casting call was pretty much what I expected it to be; basically a number of actors who were deluding themselves. Many came with headshots hoping that somehow they would be noticed and have the possibility of being bumped up to an actual speaking role in the film. The people running the casting call threw pretty much all of those headshots in the trash. As I walked in I saw the casting director pull aside a couple of "attractive" Asian females saying that Brett Rattner was looking for super hot Asian women to audition for a couple of principle roles and was hoping he could book them for audition time. Someone indicated that this most likely means, "Brett is looking for someone to rub his penis against". Sounds like a career making opportunity.

I caught a "break" of my own when someone there told me they were looking for middle eastern looking people for another movie and told me I should give her a call. I let her know that I wasn’t Middle Eastern but she didn’t care, since I’m sure they were desperately looking for someone to fill the role of Terrorist #41. This role could be my chance to join the likes of Naveen Andrews (from Lost) to help confuse white people even more about the difference between what Middle Eastern and Indian people look like. I couldn't wait for al the misguided racial stereotypes. I decided to let the casting folks for Rush Hour 3 take my picture then leave, having made the decision that I have no desire to become another stereotype (an incorrect one at that).
I still hope to go to an actual audition once I get my pictures taken. An audition with actual lines is what I was looking for to push me out of my element and open to the harsh judgments of others.

Final Note: After the audition I went to this place for a friend's bday brunch
Geoffrey's
27400 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90265
Price: It's an Oceanside restaurant, what do you think

Here's my quick description. The food was good I really like their French toast. The restaurant overlooked the ocean so the view was pretty amazing. Downsides: Food is expensive. Also expect to see a lot of pretentious and rich white people or Asian women who are accompanied by older white men. I still think it’s a good place to go for special occasions.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 2:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jones
7205 Santa Monica Blvd (Cross Street: Formosa Avenue)
West Hollywood, CA 90046-6718
Price: Pretty Average / No Cover

The Room SM
1325 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Price: $5 dollar cover

For me 30dayla is about trying to transform into the person that I want to be. A person who lives his life passionately but still holds true to the values that make him who he is. At the beginning of day 5 I decided my first goal would be to turn LA into a living reminder of what I was trying to do by spraypainting my 30dayla symbol the "!" across town (click here to learn what the "!" means).

At 1 in the morning me an my friend ArtSchool decided to get things moving early by heading over to Jones in West Hollywood. On the way there we took some time to discuss a bigger street art project and a message that I was planning to deliver closer to the end of 30dayla. When we go to the bar itself I was impressed by the setup. I really liked the layout of this bar and the music that was playing (at one point I heard Fugazi on the speakers) but in all honesty I was not completely in the mood to chill at a bar. Although I planned on socializing with the locals I wasn't up to it all. I was more interested in what we had planned next.

Once 2AM came around ArtSchool and I were ready to move out. He had created stencils of the message that he wanted to write across LA and I had my "!". With those in hand we decided to spraypaint the town leaving the images across West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Melrose. I have to admit that stuff like getting caught by the cops was not a real worry for me. I was too interested in leaving my mark on LA and creating a reminder for myself of what I need to keep doing for the next 30days and beyond. The mission of the night was to bring the excitement and passion back into the way I lived my life. Hopefully it will stay.

I went to be feeling accomplished and ready for the big street art project that I was planning to take on later this month.

[PICTURES TO COME: BE PATIENT]

The Day Mission

When I originally made my plans for 30dayla day 5 was planned to be an extension of day 4 in which I took a walking tour of what I like to call white LA. Walking the 6 or 7 miles from Palms through Beverlywood, Fairfax, and the otherside of Beverly Hills taking pictures of the things I saw and exploring all the stores and things that interested me along the way. I was starting to feel that the best way to explore LA would be by foot and to let my impulses guide how and where I spent my day. However the day came around and I got off from work late. By the time I got home I had to get ready for a friends Birthday dinner. I was a bit dissapointed that the day did not work exactly how I planned but it wasn't too late to make something out of the night.

That night I made my way with a group of friends to The Room in Santa Monica (I'm sure most of the readers have been there so I'm not going to describe it). It was pretty dead to begin with. As time went on more people began to show up. Things didn't change much for me since I'm pretty lame at bars and clubs, I don’t dance and don't socialize with new people.

While we were at The Room I started having a conversation with a friend of mine there about how we have all these good ideas about how to approach people but rarely put them into action. For me that pretty much describes my life. All these ideas for how I want to change the world around me that never get acted upon. I may as well have never had these ideas to begin with.

In my life I’ve faced little rejection, since I hardly ever act (definately not because Im amazing at everything I do). This is especially true with women, I never take initiative and I never act, I just complain about how things don’t turn out the way I wanted them to. For me what 30dayla is about is moving from ideas to actions in my life as a whole, not just with women. So as we sat there we identified people who appeared to be alone. I found a girl who was sitting alone (I found out later she wasn't actually alone) and decided to move go with my impulses (albeit very slowly) and take a seat next to her and try to engage her in some way. I failed miserably; she seemed to be way more interested in her phone than me. I cant really say I was rejected because I’m not even sure if she even knew why I decided to sit there, more than anything else I was awkward and confusing. To use a basketball analogy, rather than having my shot blocked it was like I took a shoot and realized half way through that I wasn’t holding a ball to begin with. At the end of the day though I didn't really care. It was relieving to know that I could take action fail and it at the end of the day nothing really changes.

It really isn’t about women, for me it’s really time to start putting some bigger ideas into action. I need to make things happen since my life isn’t going to wait.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Note: If you want some background read The Adventure Part 1 if you dont want to read this long ass post and just look at all of the pictures I took go here:
Bus Photos

So you may ask yourself why the hell is this picture here. Well this person is a representation of my past experiences exploring LA. Basically this is me (in this case I am an Asian woman) fidgeting with my ipod and ignoring the people and places around me. Things have changed though. I now was looking to open myself up to exploring Los Angeles through its people. While LA may be a pretty segregated no one can deny how diverse it is. On Day 4 it was time for me to get to know the diverse people of LA firsthand. I had made the decision that I would take various bus routes to get my from my apt in Palms to work in Pasadena and back, making sure that these routes took me through news areas of LA that I had yet to explore.

Now I’m not going to start this off by spinning some bullshit about how I got on the bus last Thursday and realized that I am no different than the typical crowd of LA busriders; but simply had decided to isolate myself in the past because I had perceived myself as not fitting into the bus-riding community. No I got in on the bus dressed up in with my shirt and tie ready for work and realized that I was the only one on the bus with sleeves. The reality of the matter is that I am privileged child who drives a car usually driven by the patriarch of a upper-middle class family and decided to take the bus in an attempt to try something new and meet people, for me taking the bus was a journey not a necessity. Today I wasn’t going to let that fact be an issue.

My trip in the morning took me from visions of diversity to a sterile environment filled with the young commuters of LA.

However I didn’t fully take advantage of the opportunity to meet new people. I struggled for most of the bus ride before I could attempt initiating conversations with the people I was sitting near. Instead I awkwardly took pictures until I pushed myself to communicate with those around me. During the hour and thirty minutes it took me to get from west la to Pasadena I got the chance to very briefly speak to a math professor, a woman who didn’t speak English, and a lady whose job had forced her to come in early this morning. When I got the nerve to engage in a full conversation with someone, the lady quickly opened up. Telling me about how she has been desperately looking for new roommates, cause her current roommates who she found on Craiglist are nightmares, and she hasn’t fully gotten use to how cold people are in LA are compared to where she grew up in Oregon. She talked and talked until I realized, “wow this girl is pretty fucking annoying”. While I had succeeded in pushing myself to approach random strangers and try to meet the people of LA I was already beginning to regret it. When I got dropped off at work I just hoped that the ride home would prove to be much different.

For my ride home I choose a route that forced me to travel through Echo Park, Los Feliz, Hollywood, and the Melrose/Fairfax districts; the areas of town that I was most unfamiliar with. My ride home got off to a fun start when I managed to chase after the wrong bus and in the process of chasing after that bus I ended up missing the actual bus that I was supposed to get on.

After I slight delay things started to move forward. I knew I had to achieve what I set out to do that morning so I quickly tried to jump into conversation with those around me.

The first person I met was a designer from Eagle Rock, who had traveled all over the world growing up in a Military family (even Anartica for god knows why). This lady took the time to even point out various photo spots that I should visit across Los Angeles.

[No picture]. The next lady I came across took the time to talk to me about her children. She had a son who had been in the military, who she continually prayed would not have to be sent abroad. In more recent years her son had been studying education at UCLA. Her family didn’t have much money so even though they were proud of him she couldn’t wait for him to finally be done with school.

Going through Hollywood I had a chance to speak to your occasional person who had moved out here to pursue their dream of acting and of course found it to be much harder than the had anticipated.

Going in the same bus across the city gave me the chance to see diversity and change first hand as the same seat would see a diverse array of faces as we traveled through various parts of town.

[Special Note: It took me a long busride to Hollywood to realize that L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology have a pretty huge presence in the city / Also people don't always like it when you keep taking pictures of them right in front of their face without saying anything]

The most exciting part of my ride had to be when I got on the 305. When I got there the busline was completely empty. I had no choice but to pursue a conversation with the busdriver (Vince) for the majority of the trip. He quickly told me of the diversity you see on this busline. The line itself goes from Watts to Westwood, traveling through Beverly Hills along the way. From time to time he takes the younger kids of his family on a trip across the busline, he calls it a life tour. He told me on this busline you can see the “depths of shit and poverty” and the richest people in the city. The bus tour has over the years become his way of trying to convince kids to go to college and then pursue a graduate degree.

Vince had his own stories to tell. He worked the past few years as a busdriver but has continued to pursue his dream career of being a music producer on the side and plays with various groups hoping for his break. Over the years his career had taken him various places, working as an exterminator for the celebrities to trying to make it big as a member of the Paparazzi. I thought the most interesting part of his life was the time he spent working in the Forum during Kareem’s time. Back in those days he had the chance to work various shows including 8 nights in a row of watching Prince perform. One of the most interesting nights he had worked was when Tina Turner came to perform and he had been placed on the lookout for Ike to make sure he didn’t cause any trouble that night.

When I had finally got dropped off I knew I had reached my goal of getting to know people across LA. The people I met gave me a sense of what this city has to offer. For the next few weeks I am going try to tone down the cynicism for a big and just explore. One thing I realized though was when people of LA turned the conversation towards me I was thrown back and hardly knew what to say. I wasn’t really sure yet how I wanted to portray myself.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's me again, Captain Melo, and no, I'm not making a standard slut mating call. I'm here because The Plastic Highway has asked me to write a guest posting. So before he gets to his Adventure Part 2, I'm going to take this opportunity to pontificate on how the transition from 30 Day LA back to regular life has gone.

The last few weeks I’ve spent most of my energy getting back into the good parts of the routine that I had established before I started 30 Day LA in August. I’ve been cooking more, eating healthy, and trying to sleep more -- things that were pretty difficult to keep up with when I was on my adventure. I also revisited some of the places I went to last month. When I went to The Other Room with Lefty last week, he noted that I seem much more positive since I started the project. I do feel a greater sense of optimism in knowing that I can control my satisfaction with my life with this door to a world of new experiences now open to me. My approach to tackling challenges at work and play has been more aggressive and confident. However, I can’t say I’ve completely changed. One constant that I have steadily maintained, before, during, and after 30 Day LA, is my alcoholism.

This past weekend I organized a group Hollywood Bowl outing for the Fireworks Finale, which featured the LA Philharmonic playing Tchaikovsky and a performance by Kermit and Miss Piggy. The whole month of August I tried looking for concerts that I could go to at the Hollywood Bowl, but the good ones were sold out and I didn’t want to go by myself to a classical concert. So I was excited that I would get to make up for it in September and catch a fireworks show on top of it. We got there early on Saturday afternoon, and with our bags of food and alcohol in tow, raced up the steep path of the upper picnic area past some old people and snagged the last available table. Don't worry, those old people already had a table of their own. Over Lefty’s pasta salad, our old friend MissCount’s fried chicken, SatanNumberTwo’s array of home-made delicacies, ShopGirl’s watermelon, and 8 bottles of wine, the 9 of us spent the afternoon talking shit about life, people, and sex. We watched the sun set over the bowl and headed in to catch the performance.

I wish I could tell you how the performance was. Unfortunately, I missed the whole thing. I was only buzzed by the time we took our seats, but then Tiny and LawyerBoy pulled out their bottle of wine and passed it to me. I started swigging like it was beer. Big mistake. By the end of the concert I had managed to pick a fight with two gay guys who were telling me to shut up (I didn’t realize they were gay until later), spend a couple hours on the toilet barfing all over my shoes while hearing the fireworks and cheers exploding outside, then pass out on the curb as people were filing out of the Bowl. LawyerBoy found me on the ground and wondered aloud what kind of person gets trashed at an LA Philharmonic concert. I was acting like it was my birthday or something. So while Tiny and LawyerBoy were carrying my drunk ass back to the car and I pretended to fly through the air and do a Liu-Kang bicycle kick in front of the all the cars jam-packed on Highland, I realized that even 30 Day LA didn't change the fact that I’m a stupid drunken asshole.

Which makes me happy that one of the goals that The Plastic Highway has set for himself is not just to become a different person in these thirty days but more like the person he wants to be. It’s something I should have made a more conscious effort to do last month. But I do have one saving grace: I don’t need to be on a 30 day adventure to make changes for myself.

So instead of doing something new everyday, I’m going to make it every week. And instead of going to some place new, I’m going to set a goal for myself to work on. This week, it’s going to be: Stop Being a Stupid Drunken Asshole. I figure this way I won’t miss out on stuff like a Hollywood Bowl concert that I’ve been looking forward to for a month by spending the whole night barfing in the bathroom. It serves me right though, and at least the two gay guys got to enjoy the concert without me yelling in their ears the whole time. As far as how I’m going to implement this goal, I’ll look for an activity where I can meet people and appreciate being sober. The Abbot Kinney Festival this weekend looks like a good bet.

I already tried to address this issue last night, when I accompanied The Plastic Highway on his Hollywood Bar Trifecta. I’ll let him tell you about it, but it involved me not drinking and him addressing one of his biggest fears. Sounds like a terrible night, right? It turned out great for both of us.

So in the meantime, while The Plastic Highway is busy blasting through his activities, I hope some of you who read this website will try out a thirty day adventure for yourselves. If there was ever a time when you thought, "Damn, I need to stop doing that shit" or "I should try that out sometime," now is always a better time to do it than never. As fellow blogger DieselGirl says, “LA is a terrible thing to waste.” So is your city. And so is my liver.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day 4: The History (part 1 of 2)

Its the people who make a city what it is. At least thats what I believe. Living in LA for the past five years Ive met my sure of exciting new people. However pretty much all of them have been UCLA students or West LA residents. Today there is still a whole city out there that I continue to block myself off from.

About a year ago my car broke down (that's another story which involves diesel fuel in an unleaded tank). My only choice to get anywhere was taking the bus. I should let you know Im a pretty closed off person who is pretty quick to make negative and cynical judgements about pretty much everyone. Because of this my busrides had been pretty uneventful, I usually would just sit alone messing with my Ipod in a state of half-sleep, while trying to avoid others. One day though an elderly lady sat next to me and noticed me messing with my PDA and started asking me questions. The conversation would move quickly though from mundane questions about electronic devices to this woman's history. I learned about her life growing up in Haiti, her movement to New York to become a nurse, and her eventual move to LA so her husband could start his practice as a dentist. Her family had faced their share of hardships, including her children's health problems and her husband's failed dental practice. Despite whatever issues she may have had she seemed to be one of the most positive people I had ever met. From her I was also able to learn about the Haitian community that was huge in Palms, and I was completely unaware of. I also learned of her own generosity, as the eldest member of her family she was supporting most of her family on whatever income she had and was soon planning to move back to Haiti to support her mother in her last years of life. I may not be able to express or explain this in my writings but I still believe this was one of the most amazing ladies I have ever met.

I havent rode the bus since that day. Thinking back to that day in particular made me realize that there is an entire city of amazing people I have yet to meet, and worlds that I have not been exposed to. I decided that the best way to meet these people and to see these worlds, would be to take bus rides across the city of LA and try to meet as many people as possible from all different walks of life. On day 4 I wanted to force myself to open up and take in the entire city.

To View Picture from Day 4
My Photo Page

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Day 3

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
Check out the link
Location: Hollywood, Ca
Cost: 5$

As you all know by now I put off things for as long as possible. As a fan of the sketch show the Upright Citizens Brigade I have been wanting to visit the UCB theatre in LA for some time now. Sadly I have had little motivation to actually get off my ass. It took 30dayla to motivate me to look online, reserve tickets, and make the drive over to hollywood. In the end the show was only five bucks and hilarious.

I went to a improv show called Myspace staring an assorted group of people from VH1s Best Week Ever and every other commerical that is on TV these days. To create the skits they took 3 audience members with myspace accounts and created various scenes based on the information in their profiles. Rather than just talking shit about the people who came up, they actually managed to create elaborate skits based on single lines from a person's myspace account. Hilarious stuff and a pretty amazing concept I must say.

My favorite part of the show was when the third guy came up from the audience. From the way he walked I could already tell he was going to be a huge douchebag and his myspace profile only confirmed my initial perception. I believe his favorite quote exemplified douchebagery by saying, " I do what I want when I want, nothing can hold me back Bro Ham. blah blah random jock comment blah blah blah I'm a douche blah blah Im 30 years old and proud of the fact that I bake cookies for a living and still think im a frat boy at SDSU". It made me proud to see the actors completely mock him for the remainder of the show. Good times. Well worth much more than the 5 dollars I paid. Im definately going to look for more shows at the theatre. I bet there are great shows like this all over LA that I have yet to check out, so its time for me to get off my ass once again and explore.

Final Note: Eat at Bossa Nova my favorite restaurant in LA (good Brazilian food). I got dinner there on night 3 and it reminded me of how amazing that place is.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Im slow to post so Im gonna let you know quickly what I am planning to do in the upcoming weeks. Send me an email if you are interested in anything thats going on or you want to help out.

Also i need suggestion for this monday soon. I dont get off work till 930 that night and I still have nothing planned. This is one of those times were it would be good for one of you readers to drop a comment. Im open to anything

9/17 - Audition for Rush Hour 3 / Banksy Art Show
9/18 - shit i need to make plans soon
9/19 - The Poetry Lounge
9/20 - Improv Class at the Actors Improv
9/21 - My first attempt at being direct with women / Capoiera
9/22 - Walking tour of White LA / My attempt to be a street artist
9/23 - Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre / DJ Class at Scratch DJ Academy
9/24 - Nike 5 Mile Run / De La Soul Concert
9/27 - My performance at an open mic night (probably at The Comedy Store)
9/29 - Cirque De Soleil Delirium

Man this is going to be an expensive month

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goal of the Day: Stop playing it Safe

I worked at my job six weeks before I learned how to report my hours and get paid. It's not that I have no interest in money, its just that every week that passed I struggled more with the fact of how I could bring it up. My boss told me that she thinks money is probably the hardest thing for anyone to talk about at work, since people dont want to look like they are only concerned about money. Just to let you know, when it come to money I didnt really even have the courage to ask about how much I was going to make when I got the job in the first place. As much of a problem that was for me Its especially harder to talk about money when you are incompetent and have neglected to ask anyone how you are supposed to get paid. It took my six weeks before I realized that I was ready to deal with potential embarrasment and the thought of my boss believing I was incompetent.

Today I have the option of keeping my job when school starts again or just quiting. I have been inclined to quit because the job no longer challenges me and i have no desire to turn into a mindless worker drone. I decided if they need me to stay on to work they need to give me exactly what I want or am going to leave. To keep my my bosses would need to double my pay, agree to the terms of my employment, and allow me to do somethign that is somewhat intellectually stimulating or there would simply be no reason for me to stay [ Keep in mind I dont think I have ever demanded anything in my life before].

On the way to my bosses office I was ready to back out and ask for a much smaller and safer wage. I was going to abandon the terms of my employment completely. When the time came though I walked into my bosses office laid all my cards on the table. I told her what an asset I could be to the organization, how much they needed me to pay me, how much money I could be making somewhere else, and what exactly I needed to stay working there during the school year. Then surprisingly she told me that what i asked for sounded just fine. She agreed to the amount of hours I wanted to work, to give me a new computer, work some hours from home, pay me what I asked, and to even let me work on a project that I had been developing to challenge myself. It was the biggest WTF!?!? moment I have had in years. Things became stranger when she congratulated me because she thought I was able to approach the subject of money way better than most people. I left feeling that I should have asked for more.

While the raise and new job opportunity were amazing I think one of the best parts of my day was that it forced me to actively sit back and think what kind of contributions I make to the world around me in order to be able to sell myself. It helped me a lot to really sit there and think about what I had to offer. One of my goals for 30dayla has been to build a new sense of confidence self-worth, and im continually surprised by how much can be accomplished in an afternoon alone.

At the end of the day I was left ready to take more risks with my life, and to not be afraid to demand the things that I think I deserve (ironically though I have been typing this blog and chatting all day instead of actually doing work this week).

Day 3 Preview after the Jump

This week I am pushing myself to pursue interests I have been avoiding for years. So tommorow I am finally getting up off and my ass and going to watch an improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre called MySpace. Its a show where they take the myspace accounts of 3 audience members and make an entire show out of them. Promises to be a hilarious night. You guys may recognize the cast members from whatever crap is on vh1 these days.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sorry about the lagging on posting.

I figured I should let everyone know thats its only been fours days, but now I am already going to sleep looking forward to the excitement of the next day

Things I've accomplished so far
- Met and learned the life stories of random people throughout Los Angeles and the
valley
- Pursued interests I had been avoiding for years
- Doubled my Pay
- Declared my exclamation points across the city
- Gained a new sense of pride

Detailed posts to come

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAY 1: My Date with Me

Today's Fear: People's perception of who I am

For the past few years of my life I have been afraid to pursue my interests alone. Unless im moving with a group Im always overthinking the implications of what I am doing until I end up doing nothing at all. I hardly ever run with my impulses to pursue the things that I am interested in; without deliberating the implications of every action that I take. As sad I am to admit I often stop myself from taking action because of how I perceive people will judge the things that I do.

Three years ago I made plans, and was really excited, to visit every single restuarant on citysearch's best of LA list. A hard feet to accomplish and something I wasnt prepared to do alone. That week I visited two restaurants then decided to call it a day.
As we all know Los Angeles is full of amazing restaurants, and LA just like most cities is also full of things that are usually done in groups (or at least I perceive that they are). I had very little desire to become that old man you see sitting alone at Canter's every day from 12-2 or the creepy soup drinking man at Swingers. But really I wasnt going to get anywhere If I was concerned about that sort of stuff. In order to move forward I was ready to finally treat myself to a romantic night on the town by myself (I realize this sentence could easily be misinterpreted).

Monday night it was time for me to call up what citysearch listed as the best fine dining/romantic restaurant in town, get dressed to impress, and honestly stop caring about what people think and run with my impulses. I decided it was important to call up a restaurant (La Dolce Vita) that was supposedly only frequented by couples on dates and hope to ignore any feelings of akwardness.

When I left for la dolce vita I was already preparing a back story to tell the waiters about why I was eating alone. It seemed that I was already trying to make excuses for myself and worrying about the awkwardness, and defeating the whole purpose of the outing. When I got to the restaurant the only people there were couples (as expected). I was ready to take a seat surrounded by three couple when the manager told me that the kitchen was closed. I tried my best to win him over with stories of how I had been reading abouth his restaurant for years and just wanted something small to eat, but to no luck (I'm a bad liar). Apparently expensive/pretentious restaurants in Beverly Hills have the right to close whenever they want if they arent getting enough business. I was ready to give up and begin 30 dayla the next day, but the manager referred me to the restaurant next door so I decided tio give it a shot. Unfortunately the same thing happened there.

I tried one more restaurant called Da Vinci that I had never heard of and had little hope for. Surprisingly it had exactly what I was looking for (couples on dates and an overpriced menu). I was ready to get slapped in the face by akwardness. Once I started eating though I completely stopped caring. It didnt matter that the waiting staff checked on me three times to make sure I didnt get stood up and the that couple in the table next to me kept staring for most of the night. The food was amazing and that was all I was looking for.

Im usually pretty antisocial with new people but I decided to take advantage of my night alone by forcing myself to converse with the manager and my waitor. We had long conversations about our lives in New York (yes I did make up most of my backstory) and the current state of LA, going through all of the changes we would like to see. By the time I left I was the only one in the restaurant. At the end of the day I just felt like ridiculous for thinking the night would be awkward and uncomfortable. The combition of the food and the conversations made it one of the best meals of my life.

The first day of 30dayla showed that things can turn out way different than you had initally planned but still be amazing. Hopefully my years of waiting three years before I act on my desires are over.

Day 2 Preview after the jump

While day one did push me outside of my comfort zone, I hadnt really take a dramatic risk with my own life. But I knew tommorow would bring that. I went to bed that night making the decision that I was gonna tell me boss that I needed to be paid double what I was making now or I would be leaving my job.

Posted by The Plastic Highway at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Giovanni: "I still have a postcard you sent me from ’66
It said everything that exists is beautiful with three exclamation points
Do you Still Believe that?"
Niccolai: "I don't believe in exclamation points anymore"

I've been thinking back to this scene from The Best of Youth. Lately, in my life there have been no exclamation points. I am kind of just coasting by. No challenges, no obstacles, just repetition. I have a job which used to challenge me but now allows me to watch youtube videos for half of the day, sit on aim a third of the day, and still appear to be productive and impress my bosses. My afternoons are spent vegetating, watching whatever my tivo has decided to record. Although I have huge plans and ideas for my life, when I look back to my actions lately, they do not exactly resound with the word ambition.

So, I have spent the last few days reevaluating my life and where I think it should be going. It didn't take me long to realize that it's pretty much not really going anywhere because I never take any risks. I find myself constantly over-thinking situations to the point where I do nothing. I only act on sure things and let my fears prevent me from taking action in pursuit of my interests. Sadly, my life has been driven mostly be my biggest fears: of failure and the way other people perceive who I am. For the most part my fears and inability to take risks have driven the excitement out of my life.

The bottom line is: things need to change. I plan to push myself to spend the next 30 days taking risks, moving away from shyness and inaction, reinventing myself and confronting my fears. With this in mind, I want to make my project more about change and taking risk and less about exploring Los Angeles (although I plan to spend some days doing that). For the most part Los Angeles will be the setting, rather than a major player.

A big component of this project is going to be visual. I want to videotape and heavily photograph a lot of my days. I would also like to get people from people I do not know. I want this to feel as interactive as possible.

While there are certain things I need to do myself, I want to invite other people to get involved. Some of the projects I have planned simply can't happen unless I get others involved. At the same time though I don’t want to stay in my comfort zone and rely on the same 5 people for 30 days to get involved in all of these projects. So whether I have met you or not, I'm hoping there is some part of the next 30 days you want to be a part of. I will be posting in advance to give everyone a heads up on my plans.

Some of the ideas I have to bring a challenging aspect back into my life are:
- Taking a bus ride across Los Angeles while taking pictures and having
conversations with the random people I meet
- Demanding a Pay Raise
- Enroll in Scratch DJ Academy
- Organizing a street performance on Hollywood blvd (it has to be videotaped and put on youtube).
- Working for a political campaign
- Graffiti/Street Art Project
- Open Mic night at standup club
- learning to break/pop
- taking an improve class
- going to an open audition (I should clarify that I am not an actor)
- performing spoken word
- day trip to vegas where I eat 3 buffet meals (the city kind of defines
risk)
- living a day completely honest and unfiltered (meaning that I don’t overthink things and simply just say the first thing that pops in my head for a day)

On the website for this improv class I signed up for, it ends with the statement "You will GO BIG—not go home. Because you already know what’s at home, and it’s just not that interesting." Yeah the quote is pretty cheesy, but it’s how I hope to live these next 30 days. I hope by the end of this that my actions are as grand as my ambitions.

Note: I am currently on day 4 of 30 dayla I'm just slow to post, but I promise to fill everyone in asap, and it will be awesome.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While my original goal for Thirty Day LA was to try something new every day, what I really ended up doing was just going to a bunch of new places. While I had some fun experiences, I didn't get to utilize Thirty Day LA to its fullest potential. So even though the thirty days are up for me, the adventure isn't going to end here. Now it's time for Thirty Day LA, part 2.

Enter The Plastic Highway.

First, an introduction. The Plastic Highway is a typical mid-twenties kid you'd find in LA: indie music advocate, Apple fanatic, lazy man-child who's not ready to grow up. He doesn't take much risk and leads a quiet life. He's shy and self-conscious, driven more out of insecurity than ambition. This summer he has a health-care internship where he feels the full weight of working life stagnancy. He's already dreading the transition to post-collegiate life. But where others limp into the real world and lose their way for several years, The Plastic Highway is determined to get a head start. He's ready to shake things up not just for himself, but for the city as well.

The Plastic Highway is going to take Thirty Day LA to a new level. Instead of only going to new places, he has the goal of pushing aside his usual fears and insecurities to become a new person for thirty days. Last night he attempted to tackle his self-consciousness by dressing up and going to a fancy restaurant by himself. Today, he's going to ask his boss for a pay raise of 100%. He has some even bigger stunts planned, including several public outdoor performances. I'll let him tell you exactly what he's got in store, but his ideas are very ambitious and highly interactive. So be ready when he calls on you to take part in this new phase of Thirty Day LA.

I am actually more excited now listening to his enthusiasm as he tells me his big, ambitious plans than I was when I started my adventure. He's going to be a force, and I hope some of you get to catch him in action. In a few days, he'll be ready with his first post.

But before that all happens, I wanted to take the time right now to say Peace Out Thirty Day LA. I'm glad to see that the adventure will continue on. Ultimately, I'll carry my thirty days with me for the rest of my life knowing that someone else will be able to do the same.

Signing Off,
Captain Melo

Posted by CaptainMelo at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities. -- Aldous Huxley, Vendeta for the Western World, 1945

We live in difficult, cynical times. Flooded by images of war, firecrotches, wanton adultery, fake celebrity babies, and angry minorities, it’s very easy to get caught up in the unhappiness of it all. As bad as it is now, I wonder if for me, this is as good as it gets. I have a decent-paying job, good health, and plenty of free time. I could be off fighting in a war or be unemployed or in jail. Even worse, I could be married with three annoying kids, an unstimulated wife, and a 30-year mortgage. So while I didn’t make any progress over this past month towards the inevitable hell that awaits me, I did gain something far more valuable: a sense of optimism.

I’ve spent far too long cruising through my narrow lanes of unhappiness. It’s not because I’m depressed all the time or I like being unhappy, it’s because I’m idle. I haven’t made any decisions with my life. When people ask me what I want to do with myself, I can only give them a vague answer about wanting to do everything. But then I never take any risks and end up disappointed with the depth of my accomplishments.

Last night I went on another Griffith Park night hike where I had a great conversation with my new friend Frank. He told me the story of his life. After starting off as a candy-seller in Mexico, he’s now a business owner with a million-dollar house in the mountains and two grandchildren. When he looks back on his life, he gets scared to think that he might have not taken the risks that he did. He wants to go back and tell his younger self to not even think about letting those opportunities pass him by. So now, into his late 60's, the world is his, yet he is centered at home with family and friends. His story gave me hope. If I take risks and make decisions and enjoy the ride, I might be able to look back on my life one day and feel very fortunate as well.

As a typical post-grad dealing with quarter-life crisis, self-doubt creeps into all my thoughts. I constantly question if what I’m doing will help me reach that vague, indeterminate goal of happiness. But in the process of Thirty Day LA, I have established a new mindset from which to build upon. Happiness is not an end result, but merely a part of the journey. I just have to keep moving forward. So with this adventure I have found my home. I have achieved my goal of getting to know the city a little better. Now I’m ready to tackle everything that lies ahead.

When I started this blog, I hoped that the activities I did would not only produce happiness in my own life, but also inspire others as well. I am glad to hear that some of those who read this blog have started doing more things on their own, found new outings to try out, and have even been reminded of other writing that stuck with them over the years. But ultimately, I hoped that this blog wouldn't end with me and my thirty days. I hoped it would become another thirty day adventure, possibly in a different city, maybe still in LA, or even in another country.

So here's what next: I'm asking you, the random blog-loving internet reader, for your help. I’m asking for you to continue this Thirty Day blog as Thirty Day Chicago, or Thirty Day LA 2.0, or Thirty Day Random European City. If you have ever felt uninspired or that your life is stagnant, if you ever felt like going on a month-long vacation within your own city, or if you just want to spend a lot of money and have a lot of fun, please contact me. I’ll hand over the blog to you and it’ll be yours to do as you please. If you have any questions about how to get started or what insights I’ve gained from this experience, I’ll be happy to share. And whenever you feel ready, you can embark on a memorable thirty day journey to rediscover the city you live in. When you're done, the entire world will be yours to continue exploring for the rest of your life.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Now that Thirty Day LA is over, I still don’t know how I really feel about the whole thing. I thought I might feel anything from relief to sadness, but I guess I’m just too tired to fully process the experience. I have so many thoughts swirling around on not just what I did, but how I feel and what I’ve learned of the city itself. It was a long month that somehow seemed to fly by.

It was just a month ago that I was at the Getty Museum’s Off the 405 event. Sitting at the table next to the long rectangular fountain pool surrounded by music, art, and architecture, I felt my usual uptightness flow away with each swig of alcohol. The scene was lively: a crowd of people encircling the dancers in front of the DJ stage, families engaged in their own conversations over the music at the tables, exhibit-goers passing by in their Sunday best on a Friday night. Normally I’m rather laconic, but when I’ve had a couple drinks in me, I get an overwhelming urge to talk to people. While the rest of our group was off doing their own thing, my fellow alcoholic friend Lefty and I drank vodka tonics and discussed our disillusionment with the city. We both felt like LA had nothing left to offer for us. Lefty hoped to save enough to move out to New York by the end of the year, and if I didn’t get past the interview round this time for AFI Conservatory, I’d get out of LA as well.

Feeling lonely, unhappy, and uninspired, I took on Thirty Day LA in an attempt to shake up my dissatisfaction with my life in the city. I went to my first karaoke dive bar, then I went to my first jazz festival, then on a fishing boat for the first time. I blew half of my budget for the month in one night of partying in Hollywood. Nevertheless, I got excited. I had one too many drunken excursions, starting off well in my hipster tour of Silver Lake but ending badly in downing rum after drinking beer at Father’s Office. I made my first bike commute to work, which was the best combination of no-cost, outdoor-exercising, scenery-watching, planet-saving, fun-filled activity that I did the entire thirty days, and it was something so completely simple. My spirits were high as I went to a couple farmers markets and attended a free Shakespeare production. Then I attended a tofu festival and a hard-rock concert which weren’t as thrilling. I indulged my loneliness in three days of going out by myself: to a bar, to a restaurant, to an outdoor concert at the pier, which somehow made me feel slightly less lonely. I joined a massive midnight bicycle ride through the streets of Hollywood. By then, I was running on mostly fumes. On four hours of sleep a night, I went on a karaoke dive bar tour, a birthday rich bitch beach tour, then a jazz club, a Griffith Park night hike, a Santa Monica bike tour, and a Jurassic 5 beach concert. Short on cash and sleep, I was losing energy and motivation going into the last week. But I cured that by proceeding to drink two nights in a row: first at a bar where I saw Leanne Tweeden, then at another karaoke dive bar where I drove everyone out with my obscene rapping.

On the day before my last day of Thirty Day LA, I sat at Don Antonio’s over a plate of $1 tacos with WrathOfDrunkenness. We talked about plans for the evolution of this blog in the upcoming months, but my mind was more on my last day of Thirty Day LA. I had absolutely nothing planned for it. One thing I learned over my activities was that when I planned things out beforehand they worked out the best. Before my adventure started, I had grown too accustomed to doing things last minute and having them work out. I felt like I needed to start planning, which would help me move forward with my life as well. I was concerned that I was already reverting back to my old ways.

But like usual, things somehow worked out. I went on Ticketmaster Thursday morning and amazingly was able to purchase two tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at the Forum in Inglewood that very night. I emailed Lefty to go with me on my last Thirty Day LA outing since he was there at the first one. Despite being tired and withdrawn from work, he said he’d go.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of my favorite bands. I don’t know all that many bands, being so musically-uneducated and so completely far away from the indie music scene that dominates this city, but I don’t care, the Chili Peppers are awesome.

If you let go and let this music take you by the hand it will take you flying through skies of sound. It will zoom you up well above outer space and it will show you around planes of existence that do not share the laws and conditions of this reality. And when it brings you down to earth it will dig deep into that shit. It will also teach you to fall back without landing on your ass and to fall forward without falling on your face. Let go and you can be two places at once, you can be as big as the whole universe and as small as an atom simultaneously. You can unite with a star or a plant. You are everything you see around you and the ideas in this music may get you to start realizing what a great power that can be. – John Frusciante, March 2006

Before the concert, Lefty and I hung out in the parking lot next to my car drinking 32 ounce Miller High Lifes, the champagne of beers. They were disgusting but effective. The concert was supposed to start at 7:30PM, but it was already 8:30PM and people were still driving in. LA people are late to everything, including concerts. Even though my perspective had changed to a degree over the past thirty (or so) days, we once again talked about our disillusionment with LA. I am starting to understand that my disillusionment is something that will always be a part of me, regardless of whether I live in LA or not.

After we finished our beers, we tried to get inside to the concert. The Forum is old and poorly designed, so it took us almost an hour of walking around to pick up our tickets from will call and find our seats. We completely missed Mars Volta. After downing a couple shots and drinks, we were good and hyped. The lights went down, the crowd erupted, and the spotlight shone on Flea, shirtless as always, then Chad Smith, then John Frusciante, then Kiedis. Flea started it off with a bass funk riff and the show began.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers concert:

• I didn’t recognize half of the songs as they played a lot of stuff off their new Stadium Arcadium album
  
• All the songs I did know I had at one point known how to play on guitar
  
• For the encore, they played my favorite RHCP song Soul To Squeeze, which I once performed with GuitarHero when he was on the guitar and vocals and I was on bass. I called GuitarHero and left a message by holding up the phone, but all he ended up hearing was me singing the whole time
  
• The best part of the show was after Kiedis and the drummer Chad Smith ran off, when John Frusciante and Flea remained on stage and spent ten euphoric minutes jamming amazing riffs before they exited
  
• And as quickly as we got hyped when they came on stage, our high came down as the lights came up
  

It was a great way for me to end Thirty Day LA. If only everything in LA could feel like such pure, simple joy. As we idled in the parking lot of the Forum waiting for the line of cars to exit, I finally understood why I am so disillusioned with the city. It’s not because of the people or the fakeness or the lifestyle. It’s because the city is so huge and I want to take part in all of it, but I can’t. The mental blocks that limit me within the confines of my comfort zone are like the traffic jams that keep me on the Westside. I always wish I was doing something else in someplace cooler and more exciting. But this time, sitting in traffic with Lefty as things seemed to come full circle, I didn’t wish I was anywhere else. I wasn’t sad that the concert was over, nor did I dread having to work the next day. After a memorable thirty days I realized I still had a whole city left to explore, but I no longer needed to be in a rush to find my place. I would find it eventually. On my final day of Thirty Day LA, in a continually changing city with more to offer than I could ever hope to take advantage of, in a place where love and heartbreak seem just a moment away, in the capital of American culture that promises millions of dreams fulfilled, I realized that I had finally found my home, for better or worse. And it only took me seven years to figure it out.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

I hoped that by taking on Thirty Day LA, not only would I have some memorable experiences but I would also get some useful ideas for things to do that others might find useful. By request, here are my top ten free summertime activities in LA.

• Getty Museum Off the 405: free music, cash bar, great atmosphere. Get there early to pick out a table in front of the DJ stage
• Griffith Park Night hike: every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights starting at 7PM sharp in the upper merry-go-round parking lot. Bring water and hiking shoes.
• Outdoor activities: Shakespeare by the Sea performances, Burbank’s Dancing in the Streets on Thursday nights, Dance Downtown on Friday nights
• Bike to work: Map out your trail with Google Maps or Google Earth, get some buddies to bikepool, and check out the bike-commuting website Roll With It
• Midnight Ridazz: Every second Friday of the month a gang of bikers in the hundreds take over the streets in a safe but thrilling 15 mile ride
• Hammer Museum: Modern art exhibits and music performances in the courtyard at night, free during the summer only
• Nike training runs: starting at 6:30PM every night of the week in different locations throughout LA, these 3 and 5 mile group runs are great for staying in shape, meeting people, and exploring LA by foot
• Karaoke dive bars: if you BYOFlask, you can have fun belting out tunes in your best drunken voice for free all night in any of these places: Backstage, Tattle Tale Room, Gas Lite, Liquid Kitty (Mondays), The Hideout (Tuesdays)
• Music Festivals: Sunset Junction now charges $15 admission, but there are other free music festivals: performances at The Grove, Central Avenue Jazz Festival, Santa Monica Pier Twilight Dance series, Grand Performances, Henry Mancini Institute concerts, Culver City Summer Sunset Music Festival
• Go to the beach: bike to Malibu, surf at Zuma Beach, hike in Santa Monica, get burnt at Paradise Cove, play volleyball/Frisbee/football in Manhattan Beach, run in Hermosa, catch the sunset at El Matador, have a bonfire at Dockweiler, do a midnight swim at Playa Del Rey.

Yes, there is some overlap with my other list Top Ten Things to Do By Yourself in LA, but there they are. I know summer is almost officially over, but the great thing about LA is that it feels like it never ends.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One thing I should have done more of was set goals for myself on each of my Thirty Day LA outings. Since I didn’t have many more opportunities, when I went to do my new thing of the day on Tuesday night I thought about what goal I would try to pursue that night.

I went with GuitarHero and ObligatedGirl to karaoke Tuesdays at The Hideout in Santa Monica, which is about twenty yards from the beach. Yeah I do love me the karaoke, but I don't really like to sing. I’ve never sang in front of people completely sober, especially not in front of a crowd of white people who danced and sang country and honky-tonk like they were doing at the Hideout. Then I realized my opportunity. I did a trial run of just getting on stage first. ObligatedGirl and I pretended to do backup for GuitarHero on a Queen song but just stood there in the background. The KJ was really into GuitarHero’s singing, as was a loud drunk girl that we were talking to earlier. Four songs later and it was my turn. I conformed to the environment and chose No Rain by Blind Melon. I felt rather uncomfortable and stood there with one hand in my pocket while ObligatedGirl and GuitarHero made it a point to stand off the stage and behind me. When the song started and I sang the first word, the big group of people near the front of the stage me started screaming the song along with me. They did some crazy dancing/ hopping all over the place, closing their eyes with each pained yell of the song. I looked back at my friends and they were getting into it too. By the end, I seriously thought that I had become a rock star. The group cheered as I smiled sheepishly and shuffled my way back to the couch. I felt emboldened and knew that I had to sing one more song. I put it in the queue, which was actually a bunch of napkins, and waited my turn. Then the KJ announced that it was the last song of the night, and it was for me. Where before I was nervous, this time I was ready to go all out.

I got back on stage. The song title popped up on the screen - Nuthin’ But a G Thang by Snoop and Dre. I said into the mic that I was going to bring the streets to the Hideout and dedicated the song to all the people there who had some G in them too. The KJ cheered. The song started and the lyrics were from the radio-edited version, so I ignored them and rapped as many motherfuckers as I could. ObligatedGirl and GuitarHero would yell the last word of every phrase loudly and left me to fill in the rest. I tried to change lower my voice when Dre’s part came on and tried to sound sleazy and whiny when it was Snoop’s turn. When I finished, GuitarHero cheered into his mic, and I looked up and saw that there were only two people left in the whole place. It was great. I had not only accomplished my goal of becoming a rockstar, I had also helped the establishment get people out the door so all the workers could go home and sleep. I was feeling quite proud of myself. Unfortunately, the rich white beach-dwellers didn't seem ready to rock out to music from C-O-M-P-T-O-N and Long Beach yet. Maybe someday.

The Hideout
112 W. Channel Road
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Google Maps link
Karaoke starts at Tues 9PM, $2 off all drinks

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