Places Seen, Things To Do For You

As promised, my Bama Bandwagoners, I've got info galore on your trip to sunny Cal-lee-forn-yuh, as the state's governor calls it.

First, let's hook you up with some pertinent info about Alabama-related gatherings and parties in the L.A. area. I'd like to thank our man Chris Dobbs for putting these together and passing them along. (While I have checked through a couple of different sources to make sure these are legit gatherings, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of all the info. So, before heading out blindly, make a call or two.)


Gathering One:
Location: SOUTH (3001 WILSHIRE BLVD SANTA MONICA 90403)
When: Wednesday, January 6 starting at 3:00PM
Please join us at South on Wednesday night
Alumni from Alabama to California will be attending!
I've been told it will start around 3pm till the bar closes at 2am, so come whenever you can!

Gathering Two:
Where: Village Idiot in West Hollywood (7383 Melrose Ave.)
When: Tuesday at 7 or 8-ish p.m.
More info: www.villageidiotla.com


Gathering Three:
Where: South in Santa Monica
When: Wednesday at 7 or 8-ish p.m.
More info: www.southsantamonica.com


In addition, there are several things going on around the stadium on Thursday. The official Alabama alumni gathering has been sold out for weeks, but tickets to the ESPN party are still available in certain spots and different groups are meeting up in parking sections H and K prior to the game.

One other big one:
Where: Universal Studios
When: Wednesday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. for all rides, 4-8 for private party
Features: The Million Dollar Band performing and an appearance by comedian John Lovitz
Tickets: $69; can be purchased at www.universalstudioshollywood.com/ua

Now, for a little more goodness ...

Things To Do

Myself and Mrs. Kimberly rolled up through L.A., Hollywood and Beverly Hills this afternoon. We had to cram quite a bit into a small window, but we're planning on rolling back for another round tomorrow.

Let's break this up into two categories: Eats and Sights. (Pretty self explanatory, I'd say.)

Eats
Couple of different spots -- Il Pastaio (an over-priced, not-so-great Italian cafe a block away from Rodeo Drive) and The Ivy (an over-priced, trendy cafe with better food and a decent celeb hotspot on Robertson Blvd.). Also, there's a Crumbs Bakery just off Rodeo that you will likely be unable to leave.

Sights
We started with a drive through downtown just to get a few quick pics of the usual stuff and then took a drive down Sunset to go through Beverly Hills. We're not big into stalking people, so we didn't bother with the star maps or any of that -- just admired the very nice, very well-kept homes.

We then moved on to Rodeo Drive. There's a parking lot off Sunset and Rodeo that runs like a buck an hour, so no big deal. (Enjoyed that immensely, actually. Cheapest parking of the week so far. I started to sleep there.) We took a stroll down the most expensive lane in the land, checked out a few very over priced products and gawked at all the luxurious people, cars and buildings. Yes, you could cut the pretentiousness with a knife, but it is a pretty place.


From the Rodeo experience, we ventured to the craziest spot on Earth -- downtown Hollywood. We parked on Hollywood Blvd just a couple of blocks down from Grauman's Chinese Theatre (pic above) and strolled down the Walk of Fame (photographic evidence to the left -- we selected our stars based on merit and the opposite of merit). The scene around Grauman's and the Kodak Theater is nuts. There was a guy dressed like Chucky, the killer doll from the movies, another dude in an Incredibles getup, a couple of girls dressed in tight cop outfits and some other guy in an Obie Wan outfit with a Yoda head -- all to make a buck or two taking photos with folks.


Things I noticed: Folks from other countries love them some Michael Jackson. There was a waiting line if you wanted your picture taken while crouching over his star on the Walk of Fame. ... It wouldn't kill the elected officials of L.A. to clean up around the Freeways. I'm no beautification award winner or anything, but some of those exits appear to be just minutes post-atomic bomb. ... The housing prices in the upscale neighborhoods in Beverly Hills are weird. I have an iPhone application that allows me to track real estate prices for the homes in my area, so as we were creeping through the Hills, I checked out what was for sale. On one street, there was a four bedroom home for a little more than $5 million. Just around the corner was another four bedroom for a little less than $2m. There was a single home lot for only $129k. And there was one home for just $567k. All of it out was out of my price range -- except for the empty lot. Me and Kim are contemplating buying it and moving a trailer in.


Tomorrow: If time allows, we're planning on making it to the Universal Studios tour and to the Mission Inn in Riverside.