Long Beach and Hollywood

The final stop in my world trip. I think I only stopped here cuz the travel agent suggestively manipulated me into it "If you're stopping by New York, you will have to go to L.A." At the time I was like "Sure, why not? I have a cousin I could stay with while I'm there." I realise now that it wasnt a mandatory stop over, but it was nice nonetheless. Their outlets are nice, El Polo Loco mixtures of sauces are impossible for me to get get right, and Sam's Club is only a shadow to CostCo and Walmart, but boy how I wish Sydney was that cheap.

HIGHLIGHTS: Seeing my uncle, my cousin and her family and eating a jawbreaker.

I haven't seen my uncle since he stayed with us, in Sydney, since mid 2004 (I think), and the last time my cousin saw my was back in the Philippines, circa early 1990's. Hanging out with them reminded me of how far, geographically, we were situated from each other and how similar we all are. She took me to a Citadel outlet, and I noticed the seemingly endless freeways we had to use to get there. It was a day before "carmageddon", luckily lots of people watched the news and stayed at home. So we got there and I was constantly reminded of how expensive Sydney is.
By the end of the shopping my cousin and her kids had Starbucks while I started on my jawbreaker. It was medium sized and it took over 20 minutes to wear it down. Rule number one when eating a jawbreaker: never bite it unless it's down to the size of a marble. The picture below reminded meof the train that runs through Darling Harbour, so I guess that's why I took a picture of it.

Now why wasn't visiting Hollywood a highlight? Because outside of the perimeter of the Walk of Stars and the Kodak Theatre, it's a hole; cracked pavements are a commonality, broken buildings have shoddy fencing surrounding them, bums roam the streets and there wasn't much else interesting around. Think of cities as nodes, the bigger the node the bigger the city. Hollywood would be a 1 inch node whereas Long Beach would be a 0.5 inch node, in between there's little to do. In New York, however, there was always something to do in between the nodes. From Chinatown to Harlem there would be a lot going on, and I was never bored. But travelling by car from one area to another in L.A. made me sleepy and it wasn't jetlagged; I had no jetlag!


More pictures to come.

New York

Whoa! New York! My desire to go there was further pushed while I was reading the Dark Tower, by Stephen King. I had no idea how the grid system of streets worked but there was this one line that went something like this: Roland had a feeling any other city in the world would be a step down from New York.
So, why New York? Why the hell not?! The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Ramones, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys...

HIGHLIGHTS: Shopping in downtown Broadway, going to the Bronx and cheap drinks.


I became a total hypocrite because I was still listening to Refused AFTER my shopping spree. How much of a capitalist pig am I? Well, if I had spent the same amount of money in Sydney, it wouldn't have gotten me as far. Also, the lift to go up to The Impossible Project Space is THE slowest I've ever been on. Gatorade on a hot day at $1.50 USD is awesome...just saying.


The Bronx...wasn't as ghetto as I had pictured it. It reminded me of home and my original ambition to make it big in New York. If I was to live anywhere in New York, it would be in the Bronx. Brooklyn can have all its fancy factory art exhibitions, I'll take the Bronx any day, Harlem on Sunday mornings and maybe the Theatre District for some cheap shows. Not that I went to any performances, but I felt like this is New York. Something larger than you is always being performed and exhibited for the very first time in this theatre or that small museum.


$10 for five shots of ANYTHING. Bam. As a late night Sydney tradition, well at least with some of my mates, you go to McDonalds after you get trashed in a club. The other yuppie tourists who sat on either side of me didn't "get it", but I didn't expect them to and I didn't care, because when apple pies are 55 cents each you can't help but be happy.