During lunch I ran back to the hotel to change rooms. This is my third room, and I’ve only been here six days. Hopefully it’s the last one, unless I check out and back in during the time Steve is visiting next week.
Right before leaving work, I noticed that dancing tonight started at 9:00PM, instead of 7:30, which is the time the lessons start during the week on Tuesday and Thursday. So, instead of heading straight out, I returned to the hotel room, and finally unpacked. Finally — a (real) non-smoking, non-handicap room. Yay.
I left for L.A./N. Hollywood at around 7:15. I arrived at Oil Can Harry’s just after 9:00. The traffic was great getting out of Irvine (much better than last Tuesday), but the jams up in L.A. were pretty bad. Robert called during the commute, so that made some of the time really nice. He was in good spirits (from a little spirits, and being out playing pool with his gang from work). I didn’t have directions or address of the bar with me, and I missed it on Ventura Blvd., going about a mile too far. I stopped by a phone both, looked up the address in the phone book, and turned around.
When I got in there, I was the only man in there other than the bartender, the DJ, and the doorman. There were about 10 lesbians in there, and I thought, “Oh my God, I’ve come all this way, and it’s Lesbian Night!” At about 10:00, folks starting coming in, and by 10:30, it was pretty crowded. COWBOYS! As it turns out, that was a surprise birthday party for a lesbian (who showed up later), and these were her friends getting it all set up. Whew!
I didn’t do any two-stepping tonight. I don’t dare ask anyone because 1) it’s awkward to me to ask someone to dance when you’re the follow, and 2) I’m not exactly sure how to start off the dance “west coast style.” They start on the “slow” here, instead of the “quick-quick,” and it looks to me like in order to do that you have to take an extra step. I spent a lot of time trying to watch people when they first got on the floor, to see how they started. I did many line dances, and that was great fun!
I left there right around midnight, and decided to explore the Hollywood area some since 1) I was in the area, and 2) there was no traffic (finally!) at that hour. I took the exit for Vine St. and followed it to the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. There on the corner, was a bar, or restaurant, called, you guessed it, “Hollywood & Vine.” I took Vine all the way down, almost to where it ended. I then took a left and came back up Vine on a parallel street.
When I got to Santa Monica Blvd., I turned right on it and rode it a while. Then I took another left and went up to the next major intersection, Sunset Blvd. I rode on that for a while, and then took another left, up to the next major intersection, Hollywood Blvd. I took a right on that and rode it for a long way. Eventually, it intersected with Sunset Blvd. again, and basically turned into Sunset Blvd. (i.e., Hollywood Blvd. ended, I guess). Riding Sunset for a while, I saw a 101 Freeway sign, and hopped back on it.
Overall, my impression with the whole area was this. A line from a movie — unfortunately I don’t know the exact line or the movie, but Robert told me it’s one of those (gay?) classics, maybe by someone like Joan Crawford, when she walks into a room or her house, throws her head back, and says, “What a dump!”
I’m sure there is more to Hollywood than what I saw, after all I didn’t even see the H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D letters on the hill. I’ll explore that more when Steve is here I’m sure. It was cool just riding on those streets, though.
The trip back was uneventful. The exit for 5 South wasn’t blocked, so no detour drama. I stopped by Ralph’s once back in Irvine and bought a package of English Muffins, some Granola & Raisin cereal, three bananas, and a half-gallon of skim milk.
Once home, I finished (my third meal) of my Thaifoon leftovers. Exhausted, I fell asleep instantly.