Harvelle’s and the Blues
On Wednesday, I went with GuitarHero to Harvelle’s in Santa Monica. The place was extremely loud and extremely dark. The band playing was Ass-Pocket-Of-Whiskey. GuitarHero spotted the influences of the two lead guitarists/singers: the white guy was the controlled smoothness of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the black guy was funky wildness of Jimi Hendrix. Their soloing was quite impressive and varied. They made it look so easy, but I knew if I went home and tried it, my solos would sound like a squealing monkey. While watching a bunch of tiny white girls dance with their boyfriends in the front, I noticed the cute waitress and how she had the speed-walking thing down, handling the entire room with ease. We didn’t even ask for it, but she gave us each a plate of sausage and waffles. Apparently the food comes with the $6 cover, but it was cool nonetheless. We also ordered the $5 swamp juice: pineapple, cranberry, blue cacao, and Parrot Bay. Very sweet but pretty strong as well. I got slightly buzzed on swamp juice and talked to the waitress, who said that the best night to go there is Sunday. She only works on Wednesdays and Saturdays though. Guess one of these days I’ll have to spend an entire weekend at Harvelle’s.
Griffith Park Night Hike
On Thursday, I drove an hour and a half through LA traffic for the Griffith park night hike. It’s a free hike sponsored by the Sierra Club held every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7PM sharp. I got there late and missed the announcement that if you are a first-timer at the Griffith Park night hikes to go on nothing higher than a level 3 hike. There was a big group of about 200 people who broke off into smaller groups for their respective hikes. I followed a group of people and asked a guy what level hike they were on, and he wasn’t sure. Then he said found out it was level 4 and he didn’t want to go with them because they stopped too much. So he started running uphill, and I thought, all right, might as well run too. We barged up the trail past all the level 4 hikers, a couple of whom yelled at us to stop running. Undeterred, we ran past the group and just ahead of them was the level 4-plus group of about 15 people. The guy stopped running and joined up with his friend. He introduced himself as Gabriel, and his friend's name was Frank. Frank had introduced Gabriel to the Griffith Park night hikes. Gabriel had just been going for a couple months, while Frank had been going on the hikes every week for five years. Gabriel looked no older than 30 while Frank looked like he was around 50. I figured Frank must be in awesome shape if he went hiking every week. I was right, as Gabriel and Frank were the fastest hikers in our group.
At first I thought the hike was kind of weak, but the view of the sparkling city lights of Glendale and downtown LA was worth it. The red smog layer sat on top of a clean blue layer of sky as the sun was getting ready to set. Then we hit a steep hill and by the time I reached the top, I was breathing hard and covered in sweat. Our hike leader was a stocky guy named Andy with dyed red hair and booty shorts. We hiked up a little higher until we hit the bigger paved road, then went into a small trail that I wouldn’t have been able to see even if it was daytime. The sun had just set, and Andy told us that we were about to start our climb. Here I really struggled, since I was the only one without hiking boots. Everytime I slipped I had to put my hand down, and I would get stabbed by these tiny spiky needle things that I couldn’t even see. We climbed to a radio tower and stopped briefly to rest. Everyone was in good spirits, joking and laughing about possible death and needing a helicopter to rescue us. A few of the dudes climbed the rock instead of using a big pipe as a handhold. I tried climbing the rock but got stung by the damn needles again. By the time we hit the top, it was completely dark. As we hiked back down, I talked to Susie, who had also been going on the hikes for a couple months with her sister, who had problems with her night vision because of Lasik surgery. We found about the hike from the same source: Los Angeles Magazine. I don’t really like the lack of depth in the articles of that magazine but it does uncover a few gems once in a while. At the end of the hike, I talked to Frank and Gabriel again. Frank said he was glad I enjoyed the hike and he’d look for me next time.
While LA is extremely diverse, it's also very segregated between the Westsiders, the Eastsiders, the hipsters, the Chicanos, the Asians, the rich white people, the ghetto black people, the lifers, and the recently adopted. But at the night hikes at Griffith park, the walls come down. People come from all different backgrounds and neighborhoods to form their own kind of community. You hike in darkness with reckless abandon, knowing that if you slip and fall, you'll be helped back up because you're with friends. I'm definitely going back.
Late Night Driving Tour of Torrance
My high school friend PimpFace just recently bought a townhouse in Torrance. He’s the first of my friends to buy a house, so I thought I’d visit him and give him a housewarming present. His townhouse is very new and on a quiet street. He gave me a tour of the place and I was impressed. Big kitchen with granite countertops, built-in surround sound system, a huge balcony, hardwood floors, and decent sized rooms. The kid is younger than me, and I wonder how many decades down the road it will be until I can afford a place like the one he just bought.
After hanging out and watching TV, we decided we needed some late night grub. Knowing that Torrance is full of Asian people, he wanted to find an Asian restaurant that was open. We drove around for almost an hour and saw that Torrance has every American restaurant you could ever want. But we still couldn’t find an Asian place that was still open at 12:30AM. The Korean BBQ places were even closed. I was on a mission to find someplace still open other than In-N-Out, even though we were no longer hungry and ready to go to sleep. Finally at 1AM, after combing the streets of Sepulveda, Hawthorne, Crenshaw, and Western, we gave our search. I dropped PimpFace back off at his deluxe townhouse and headed home. As I made a turn back onto Hawthorne, I looked to my left and saw a small Japanese restaurant still open with a few customers inside. What a fucker. So if you’re ever in Torrance with a late-night Asian food craving on a slow Friday night, go to Yamabuki Restaurant & Bar two blocks north of Hawthorne and PCH.
Harvelle’s
1432 4th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Google Maps link
Cost: $6 cover, $3 shots, $5 swamp juice, $6 drinks
Griffith park night hike
Meet at Upper Merry-go-round parking lot #2
Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday starting at 7PM sharp
Cost: Free
Yamabuki Restaurant & Bar
23863 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA
(310) 791-0388
Open until at least 1AM