Gettin' My Kicks

Early in the morning, I decided to pay my respects to Robin Williams' Hollywood star.  I quickly found some public parking a block away. $25.00! Yikes!  Even worse, was when I discovered I could have parked in the street for $2.00!  Oh well.

Television cameras and tourists at the scene.

Robin Williams' Star was just a few feet from Grauman's famous Chinese Theater,

 Some of my favorite Hollywood prints!  Charlton Heston, Joan Crawford, Tom Hanks & George Clooney.

Here are just a few stars I passed on the way back to my car: Jack Nicholson, Godzilla, Kermit the Frog and the late, great Gilda Radner.

I wonder whose stars these will be?

I finally hit the road. Destination: Las Vegas via Route 66.

Bottle trees on Rte. 66

By bye Las Vegas!

Zoom in on this picture.  In the top right is a small bright spot.  I believe it is the Ivanpah Solar Energy Project.  Click here to read about what it is and how it is inadvertently having some negative effects on the environment.

I guess we flew over the Grand Canyon too.

Beaches and Groundlings

Another beautiful day, so I decided to take a ride out to Manhattan Beach.  Manhattan Beach is where beach volleyball began.   It's nickname is "Pearl of the South Bay" and much of its sand was purchased and shipped across the Pacific to Waikiki Beach in Oahu.

Manhattan Beach Pier

Interesting architecture: old meets new.

Really bad selfie.

That night, my friend Marc, got tickets for the improv comedy show,  The Groundlings, featuring Melissa McCarthy and Michael McDonald from Mad TV.  The show sold out that night and actually crashed their system which oversold 200 tickets.  The theater probably holds only 75 people or so.
We had to opportunity to chat with Melissa a bit since Marc has known her for about 8 years.  Cool!

Lots of famous people are alumni of the show according to their website:  The Groundlings is an improvisation and sketch comedy theatre that has been entertaining LA audiences for over 36 years.  We’re a non-profit organization founded by Gary Austin in 1974.  A “Groundling” is one of the 30 company members who write and perform in the theatre’s shows and teach classes at the Groundling’s School. Our school has been the foremost comedy training ground in Hollywood and the springboard for countless careers.  

Well, we hate to name drop, but since you asked...   Our alumni include Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Paul Reubens, Cheryl Hines, Jon Lovitz, Larraine Newman, Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Michael McDonald, Kathy Griffin, Phil LaMarr, Cheri Oteri, Chris Kattan, Julia Sweeney, Chris Parnell, Ana Gasteyer and Rachael Harris… just to name nineteen.

That was one of the funniest 2 hours of my life!

Hooray for Hollywood

I was so happy to make it out to see my friend from high school, Marc Andreyko.  It was a beautiful day, and so we decided to take a ride to Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  You cab click here for their interactive map!
According to their website: 

Hollywood Forever is a cemetery unlike any other in the world. One of the world’s most fascinating landmarks, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the final resting place to more of Hollywood’s founders and stars than anywhere else on earth. Founded in 1899, the cemetery was an integral part of the growth of early Hollywood. Paramount Studios was built on the back half of the original Hollywood Cemetery, where the studio is still in operation today. The cemetery of choice for most of the founders of Hollywood’s great studios, as well as writers, directors, and, performers, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is now listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. Visitors come from all over the world to pay respects to Johnny Ramone, Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and hundreds more of Hollywood’s greatest stars.

Yes, there are free-roaming peacocks at the cemetery.

Find the kitty.

"Alfalfa" from the "Our Gang" series.  He was stabbed to death in a fight.

Johnny Ramone

Hattie McDaniel

Mickey Rooney

Cecil B. DeMille

Later that afternoon, Marc and I were about to walk into a novelty shop, he checked his phone and said, "Robin Williams died."

"Nu uh." I said not believing it at all.

"Yep. He killed himself."

"NU UH!"  I was utterly shocked; stunned. I couldn't believe it.  The rest of the evening was spent mostly watching the unbelievable updates on Robin Williams.  What a tragedy.

Motorin' Through the Mojave

I decided to take my usual road trip to Los Angeles.  Instead of taking the boring I-15 route.  This time, I decided to take a detour through the Mojave Desert National Preserve.

According to their official website:

The Mojave Desert has a vibrant history. Before contact with the Europeans changed their world, the Chemehuevi lived on prickly pear, mesquite and roasted agave blooms and hunted deer and bighorn sheep. 

When explorer Father Francis Garces traveled across the Mojave Desert, in 1776, he was met by members of the Mojave Tribe. Other intrepid explorers would follow Garces, including Jedediah Smith in 1826 and John Fremont in 1844. Concern abounded about tribal attacks on the mail carriers who traveled the Mojave Road. During the 1860s government outposts were established providing protection for the mail wagons.

During this same era, gold fever struck California. The General Mining Law of 1872 permitted individuals to stake a claim on an area of land where a mineral deposit was discovered. Copper, iron, gold and silver mines rapidly became established in the Mojave. In 1883, on the eastern side of the Providence Mountains, silver was discovered in the Bonanza King Mine. In the 1940s the Kaiser Steel Company extracted more than two million tons of iron ore from the Vulcan Mine which was used in the construction of the Liberty ships during World War II.

Post office in Kelso

Kelso Depot, which once provided food, recreation, and accommodation for Union Pacific Railroad employees is now the principal visitor center for Mojave National Preserve.   Although the last passenger train crossed the tracks in 1997, freight is still transported and reminds visitors of days past.

Desert tortoises, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, bobcats, roadrunners, golden eagles, gila monsters, and jack rabbits are just a few of the animals that live  in the Mojave Desert.  Most of the animals are nocturnal, so all I actually saw was a roadrunner run out in front of me.

Rain storm in the Mojave.  There is a real danger of roads flooding.  I'm glad I made it out!

I made one last stop in Barstow before bee-lining it the rest of the way to Los Angeles.  Mc Donald's in train cars.