Click on photo to enlarge
This is another stretch that I don't have a lot to say about. Not
that it's not interesting to look at (which is why I'll ask Lee to
put in a larger number of pictures than she did in her previous
photo essays), but I there's nothing really spectacular. However,
don't despair! The next two or three walks should be amazing, as we
approach the Sunset Strip.
Three things:
I previously mentioned that the Presbyterian Church where Chris and
I ate a lot of free lunches was no longer there. Imagine my delight
to find out I was wrong! I was looking in the wrong place. And this
is why you should walk through your communities, boys
and girls. You will find a lot of little corners, things you will
never see even if you drive by them a hundred times. I guarantee it.
It's happened to us dozens of times already, and we're not even
halfway to the sea yet. The church is an uninteresting, unassuming
building, smaller than I remembered it, but aside from an iron fence
around the little courtyard (and every place has that
sort of thing now, unlike in the '60s, I'm sad to say), it is
unchanged. Even walking I might have missed it except for a colorful
folk-art banner pinned to the side. Then realization dawned, and I
was swept off down memory lane. What a joy! What a wonderful
congregation that was! I hope they still are.
Second: A most unusual
Cadillac dealership. This lot must have two
dozen or more caddies, and not a one of them newer than 1960. Some
are a lot older. Most are pretty much cherry, some need a little
work. Many are convertibles. There are a lot of Coupe
de Villes. Yes, a most unusual Cadillac dealership. Sigh. They don't
make cars like that anymore, and that's a good thing, but that
doesn't prevent me from coveting the ones that are still around. Not
the '50s tail-fin deals, but the ‘40s and '30s ... Sigh.
Lastly, the
Guitar Center. We'd driven by it a
hundred times. It looks like a giant barn, a Big Box retail store.
There are several of them in the area. But this time we were
walking, and what do you know! They have their own little Walk of
Fame there, for legendary musicians, most of them guitar pickers.
And it's handprints, no feet. And on the wall are 3-D brass images
of the superstars who have passed. Very
nice.
Inside, it's divided into a series of smaller rooms, with a million
guitars. Okay, not that many, but it seems like it. A friendly
salesman directed me to the "rare and collectible" room, where
hundreds of axes went for $5000 and up. Way up. One
instrument, a
Gibson, was in a glass case with a price of $28,000 on
it. It was a really happening place, with people picking and
strumming, trying them out. Visit it when in LA, if you love fine
instruments.
The rest of the street was chock-a-block with other guitar and music
stores, some trendy shops, all very colorful. I'll let Lee show it
to you.
NEXT: THE STRIP!!
May 5, 2006