Los Angeles - Day 2 🌫️

This blog is brought to you by Ellie.

Thanks to a healthy dose of jet lag, we rose bright and early at 05:30 on the first day of this year’s big Barry and Ellie getaway. We started the day with a squidgy apple cinnamon roll and our favourite tea, purchased from Trader Joe’s yesterday. We packed a bag with sandwiches and snacks and headed out for our first full day.

The plan today is as follows:

1. Make Ellie hike to the Hollywood sign (an adventure I did not feel I was capable of when we were here in 2021).

2. Explore the Hollywood Bowl (a live music venue which was closed when we tried in 2021).

3. Explore the Griffith Observatory (also closed when we visited in 2021!).

Barry did an excellent job getting the car out of the very tight car park!

It was a misty morning on the streets of LA at 7am, busy with people driving to work and walking their dogs. We parked on a very empty Canyon Lake Drive, next to Lake Hollywood Park, did some very important stretches and were soon on our merry way down to the start of the trail. We were greeted by our first ever hummingbird sighting, which was very marvellous.

The first half of the hike is through residential streets lined with trees and pretty houses. I had a small panic looking at the first hill but Barry and the friendly face of an oncoming golden retriever told me I could do it, so I did it!

The first sign that we were on the right track, apart from Barry’s excellent directions, was Smokey the bear, telling us not to light any fires. Here is where we could tell the fog was getting thicker. Henning was a bit surprised. We told him it would soon clear and we would have great views of the city and the Hollywood sign.

As the late, great David Lynch used to say, “the fog will soon burn off and then we will have blue skies and golden sunshine, all along the way”.

We meandered through more residential streets, a few steep but mostly gentle, surrounded by beautiful trees, birds and homes - one of which spoke to us, saying “Hello! You are being recorded”. I didn’t expect my big break to come in this way, but here we are.

The mist grew thicker and wetter the further we climbed and we couldn’t see a single thing apart from the path in front of us. There were very few fellow hikers out at this time, too, so we felt as though we had the place to ourselves for the most part. A couple of LA police cars passed us, which we assumed were going to guard the sign, or the cordoned off buildings and electrical towers at the top. We were also passed by a power-walking elderly lady, which I was very impressed by, although it doesn’t take much to pass me on a hill, for hills are my enemy.

After about an hour of steady climbing, we finally reached the top of the trail, where the back of the Hollywood sign should come into view… but the mist was so thick we could see nothing. Nothing! We plonked ourselves on a solitary bench and rested for a while, dew settling in our hair, hoping to catch a glimpse of what we came here to see. More hikers steadily joined us, and we learned that the LAPD weren’t here to guard the sign, but to retrieve and arrest a man who had perched himself on top of the “D”! That’s not a euphemism, it’s literally where he was. The assumption was that he was protesting against Hollywood itself. As the mist continued to roll through, it occasionally cleared enough to give us a view of the sign, which was very thrilling and much larger than we had pictured, but also of the man on the “D”! The police were gathered below him as he shouted “HOLLYWOOD! CRYPTO!” every so often.

When we had finally had enough of squinting through the fog, it was time to make our way back down the trail. Downhill is good, downhill is friend. As we began our descent, we came across the man of the hour, Mr “D”, in the middle of being cuffed. Everyone was looking pretty jovial about it and as we walked past, Mr “D” told us to look up Hollywood Crypto, it’s the next big thing! We smiled and marched on. When I say “Hollywood”, you say “CRYPTO”! Perhaps this is more advertisement than he deserves?

The walk back was like walking a brand new trail, with valleys, houses and wildlife emerging further out of the mist with every step we took. We spotted a family of woodpeckers flitting around what was clearly their favourite tree, which fascinated me as I’ve never seen a woodpecker, though apparently Barry’s dad is forever chasing them out of his garden!

The Hollywood sign even deigned to show itself and we managed to get some amazing views and shots of it, albeit not from behind. We even found the famous viewpoint that I’d heard about but was completely hidden by fog on our way up, so we spent some time here getting pictures and listening to photographers telling their victims to do silly poses for them.

It was about a forty five minute hike back down to the park where we left our car. It was now packed with other cars, tourists and vendors selling fruit in cups. This is a great place to see the Hollywood sign if you don’t fancy the hike, in fact it’s what we did last time, but I don’t like hiking and I promise this isn’t too bad. Just look at these before and after shots, don’t I look happier after?

We rewarded ourselves with some snacks from the picnic Barry had packed this morning and went on our merry way to the next destination: Mulholland Drive, specifically the house from Lost Highway. This is a special one for Barry, as he is perhaps David Lynch’s biggest fan. My David Lynch education started shortly after we met, with Twin Peaks and then a few of his movies. I always enjoy the films but am always left absolutely baffled, and I think sometimes that’s the point. During the Covid lockdown, David took to YouTube with daily weather reports which gave Barry endless joy. The reports came to a stop when David’s health deteriorated and he was diagnosed with emphysema, due to a lifetime of smoking. The fires in LA last year took a further toll on his health and he passed away in January this year. Barry was extremely upset by this and we knew it was even more important to visit this next spot. We found the Lost Highway house, which is next door to David’s actual home. There were signs saying no stopping, so of course Barry stopped the car and hastily set about taking pictures of his beloved director’s haunts. I stayed in the car, in case we needed a quick getaway! When we drove away, Barry pointed out another property, used for post production of David’s movies. There was an estate agent showing some prospective buyers through the front door. The end of an era.

We intended to explore the Hollywood Bowl but when we drove in it was suspiciously busy and we were told it was closed to visitors today, which usually means they’re doing some secret filming. This is the third time we’ve tried to visit now! Maybe fourth time’s the charm, but we aren’t sure if we’ll get back there this time around.

The final destination on our schedule today is Griffith Observatory! We headed back up into the hills, hoping to get a parking spot fairly close by. Sadly we didn’t have much luck in that department, but it could have been worse. The cost of parking, however, made us both cringe! We parked just under half a mile away, down a hill (of course) and found a lovely little picnic area with a perfect view of the observatory to eat our lunch.

With full tummies and achy legs (on my part) we made our way gradually up yet another hill. I slowed us down but did pretty well considering!

Griffith observatory is a stunning building overlooking all of LA. It’s worth visiting even if it’s closed (Mondays), just for the views, but it was even better to get to walk through the front doors and see the giant pendulum swinging under the painted ceiling of the grand atrium. We spent a good while wandering inside and out, learning about space, time and telescopes. Being free admission, it’s absolutely worth a visit.

Another blessedly downhill wander brought us back to our boiling hot car. AC blasting, we drove back down through the forested hillside. We noticed a police helicopter circling overhead and, sure enough, more police cars were parked at the bottom of the road, another arrest being made. Our second arrest of the day!

On the drive back to the Airbnb, Barry spotted a famous building called Crossroads of the World. He told me there was a replica of this very building at Hollywood Studios in Florida. A quick google tells me that this was America’s first outdoor shopping centre!

Finally we made it back to base, where a well deserved cup of tea and foot rub were prescribed. We had a few hours of rest and showering and readied ourselves for our dinner outing to In-N-Out! This is a fast food restaurant you can only find on the west coast of the USA and is a must try. All it took was a walk along Sunset Boulevard, which felt slightly dodgy, including a man who, I believe, thought he was walking normally and who, in fact, was not. I can’t explain it.

After our delicious feast of cheeseburgers and fries (animal style = added sauce and grilled onion) we decided to forgo Sunset and walk down one block to Fountain Avenue, which felt much safer and we also found a supermarket to top up our water supply. It was a short walk (possibly felt longer for Barry as he was weighed down by much water) back to the apartment, where Barry insisted I watch Poltergeist in preparation for tomorrow’s antics. I wonder what they could be?

Total step count for today: 22,419!