Thirty Day LA

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

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

This past weekend, I didn’t have any exciting events planned for myself. I’ve been drinking too much and spending too much money, so I thought I’d get back to the basics: get some sun, exercise, and relax.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

I took a bike tour of Santa Monica with StimpPimp. We met up at the cusp of Brentwood, at Federal and Wilshire, and rode four miles on San Vicente to The Steps on Channel Road in Santa Monica. The Steps are two sets of stairs, one wooden and one concrete, that connect the lower part of Channel Road to the higher part of Adelaide Drive in an expensive neighborhood of Santa Monica. Usually the Steps are packed with middle-aged people getting into shape and young people in phenomenal shape. I went once at 6:30AM on a weekday and it wasn’t as crowded as it usually was on the weekends. We ran up the wooden ones and walked down the concrete ones. StimpPimp counted 84 steps on the top half of the wooden steps. The hardest part was to keep running while trying to pass the walkers. The Steps are very narrow and sometimes there’s a bottleneck of people who are trying to pass the walkers either on the way up or the way down. We endured four rounds before we succumbed to the desire to rest our burning legs and lungs. Later we grabbed lunch at Panera Bread. We both got the Frontega Chicken Panini which was kind of greasy and unhealthy considering we had just worked out, but it was irresistibly delicious. Then we went our separate ways to our respective apartments.

Later that night I drove around looking for a late night spot to chill at, found nothing, and ended up going to the donut store across the street from my apartment and hung out there with my laptop until 3:30AM. Another place that I’ve driven by countless times but had never gone in before. I hope to exhaust every donut shop, coffee shop, sandwich shop, bakery, bar, and restaurant in my neighborhood of West LA by the time I’m eighty.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

GuitarHero, StimpPimp and I went to the Rock the Beach event in Venice Beach. We didn’t pick up trash like those treehugging volunteers did, we were just there for the music. First up was Johnny Lang, a blues rocker who looks surprisingly young and made ugly John Mayer faces the whole time. StimpPimp enjoyed the Lang but GuitarHero thought his stuff was too simple and repetitive. I had no opinion because I am musically uneducated. Next up was the real reason why we were there, Jurassic 5. Once they hit the stage, the crowd suddenly became twice as packed. They played a bunch of their old school songs and were awesome like usual. Akil said Motherfuck George Bush to a chorus of cheers while a little ten year old boy was dancing his ass off on stage. Chali 2na is a hugely charismatic stage performer. I guess it helps that he’s like 6 foot 5. After the show we went boogie boarding. I tried to body surf for a while too but didn’t fare that well. When walking to the car through the shop areas and the small Venice streets, I had my shirt off, which is something I never do. I have a very pronounced farmer's tan, making me ridiculously sexy when my nipples are exposed, and thus I am not a big fan of self-nudity. But no one cared, except for the dog that tried to bite my feet thinking that I had socks on.

At night, when I realized the weekend was over already, I was disappointed. I said “Motherfucker!” and went to bed, thinking about the upcoming completion of Thirty Day LA.

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On my twenty-fourth birthday, I got carded when I was buying alcohol at the store, and the cashier guy was surprised that I was 24. When I asked him how old he originally though I was, he said 18. So not only did the guy remind me that I look like a little boy, but also that I was already 24, which made me feel old. On my birthday this year I was glad that I wasn’t reminded of how young I look, how old I actually am, and that I didn’t have to buy my own alcohol.

I haven’t been planning my activities lately, resorting to doing everything last-minute. It was 10AM on a Tuesday morning. I had the day off, which meant a day of opportunity ahead of me. I knew I wanted to drive somewhere away from the city, preferably by the beach. Then LazyBoy told me that the guys were planning to take me out to dinner. I told them I didn’t know if I would be around, but I’d call them later. I busted out the door with full intention of taking a day trip to Santa Barbara. I never made it that far.

UPDATED: Pictures from the Beach Tour, after the jump.

Continue reading "Birthday Beach Bash" »

Posted by CaptainMelo at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are some great benefits to working close to the ocean. For example, one can go to the beach during lunch and get a tan, if one were so inclined. Or one could go running or biking by the beach after work. Even better, one could go to the beach before work and go surf, go to work, return to the beach during lunch and take a quick and refreshing swim, go back to work, and then after work go to a bar on the pier and have a beer while watching the sunset. This person would count his life quite blessed and not resent the monotony of work. Unfortunately, I am not this person. I work by the beach, yet I have never done any of those things. That’s going to change this month.

One ocean-related thing I did do was go on a group fishing expedition last night on a boat called the New Del Mar, which took us from the Marina Del Rey docks to about 3 miles out of Santa Monica in the Pacific Ocean. I went with my coworker/manager Satan, who generously explained the intricacies and etiquette of ocean fishing to me the whole trip, and another old coworker, PoomPoom. I was glad to be part of their favorite pastime, and they seemed to enjoy my company as well. I’ve never been on a fishing boat before, and I’ve only gone fishing a handful of times with my dad and never caught anything. This time, I was a winner. I caught three sand bass, hooked a giant barracuda that snapped my line, got seasick, barfed, took a nap on the upper deck, and went home happy and ready to do it again.

After six days of trying something new every day, I realized I should take more advantage of all the resources available to me. Later tonight, I’m going to go running along the beach. Next week, I’m going to bike in to work. The 12-mile route includes a 5-mile stretch along the ocean. Next Friday I’m going to wake up early and go boogie boarding (cuz I haven’t learned to surf, yet), swim in the ocean for lunch, and go to Hennessey’s in Hermosa Beach (yes I love Citysearch) for happy hour and catch the sunset.

Today, I decided to stay near the ocean again. I’m sitting at the Welcome Café in Redondo Beach. I’m at the outdoor tables with a cup of Heavenly Hazelnut, which is quite good. I’m not a big coffee drinker so I can’t really tell what’s good coffee, but it tastes great to me. Welcome Café has open mic nights on Wednesdays and Acoustic nights on Saturday. After this month, I’m definitely going to come back and check those out. It’s nice sitting outside as the sun sets only a half mile away from the beach. I’m here with ShopGirl, who’s wearing a fashionable hat and a cool green shirt, typing away on her Powerbook. Families are walking by with a carefree look that seems to be more prevalent on the faces of people who hang out in close proximity to the beach.

I still have some work left to do on my laptop but my battery is dying. I've been really tired this whole week and I can barely function at work. I’m also running into a shortage on cash already due to some poor planning on my part. I’m going to need to go super cheap on the activities for the rest of the month.

Since I’m trying to partake in the ways of a beach bum, I’ll try not to worry too much. Soon it’s going to be my favorite time of day, magic hour, where the sun turns everything a golden hue and the cooling wind starts to give me goosebumps. Right now, I’m just going to enjoy the end of another idyllic summer day.

Posted by CaptainMelo at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)