June 10, 2021
After spending the last five months hiding out from the world and its problems down in New Zealand, we have finally returned to Washington DC. On the way, we visited our sons, Jake and Ben, who live in LA. Flying in, it was easy to see why LA is so well known for its freeways. Driving around the city, they are almost impossible to avoid. In most highway systems that we have come across, entrances and exits are a distance apart and well marked. But in LA, there are numerous small entrances and exits that often on small reside streets and hardly noticeable. Residents of the city had a welcome respite from the endless traffic jams during the Covid crisis, but with life getting back to normal the heavy traffic has returned.
We rented a house in the Los Feliz hills, not far from Sunset Boulevard and the hipster haven of Silver Lake. As befitting its name, most of the houses in the neighborhood are distinctly Spanish. Here are a few.
There were some houses in other styles, including this majestic deco house.
It wouldn’t be a Los Angeles neighborhood without a resident film or television studio. For many years, The Prospect Studios was the headquarters of one of America’s major television networks, ABC, and many well know shows were filmed there, including American Bandstand. ABC is now owned by the Walt Disney Company and ABC’s main headquarters are now at the Walt Disney Studios. However, the studios are still busy. Among the shows currently being shot there are the medical dramas General Hospital and Grey’s Anatomy.
We walked along iconic Sunset Boulevard. Stretching all the way from the coast to downtown, a distance of about twenty two miles (35 kms), it is lined with numerous landmarks. Here it bisects Silver Lake and is lined with trendy cafes, restaurants, bars and shops.
Cannabis is legal in California and it’s not uncommon to pass stores selling a wide variety of cannabis products. This store was prominently advertising our sons’ company, dompen, and its collaboration with homeless artists.
Mal and Lauren 