Last night was the Rose Bowl media party which was held at the Lucky Strikes bowling alley in Hollywood, CA.  It’s a blend of a bowling alley and then has a full bar and mountains of great food.  Either way, they had a part of the alley curtained off for us along with a private bar and a great buffet of food.  We had the place to ourselves till 8, from there we wandered around Hollywood for a while.  After strolling we made our way to a famous 24 hour bakery and deli called Canters in Fairfax.  It had great food and the best part was a free plate of pickles for the table.  I have never had such spicy pickles, so good.

Here are just a few pics from the night, nothing much but enjoy.

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The best bowling alley I have ever been to.

The back of Canters had this great mural stretching across the whole wall. This is just a very small section of that mural.

Making our way around Hollywood blvd.

So it’s been a while since I have made my way out to the west coast. And till now I haven’t been south of San Francisco. I’ve been in the LA area for a little over a day , mostly running to media events and trying to scrub off the smell of the 54 hour affair with the grey dog. I find LA is a place with definitely a lot of visual opportunities. I am really looking forward to some possible down time to explore and capture this very unique and diverse area.

Like I said the past day and a half has been spent running from event to event. Here are a few of my favorite shots from this brief 24 hour stint so far.

After theLawry’s Beef Bowl, ABC allowed Alex and Mike to doa live newscast from outside the restaurant. Not really, but it was a pretty nice set up.

cruisin through beverly hills on friday night in a huge white van that most moms would tell their children steer clear of.

Shot out the front of a car on the way to USC’s practice. Gotta rock the carpool lane.

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Upon seeing the US border patrol Mike Theodore, left, was relatively calm. Alex Symonds however was not worried about showing ID, but the multiple warrants for arrest from multiple states had him holed up in the bathroom. At least he remembered to lift the seat as requested. Both got by the Indio check and were jubilated. Symonds vowed to stop committing crimes.

This is after the border patrol yanked this guy off the bus in Indio, CA. I felt bad for him, he seemed like a real nice guy just trying to get by. Either way, the white people were not allowed to leave the bus, as yelled from the back.

—-So, California at last. I think for people to truly grasp and respect how far public transport has come since the horse and buggy to the modern jumbo jet you only need to go as far as taking today’s covered wagon west, a Greyhound bus.

Receive the opportunity to meet interesting people, risk your life (apparently from some of the bus drivers stories) and really grasp how large this country is. Get this all while traveling at 65 miles an hour with a 4 year old child playing hopscotch on the back of your seat 14 hours out of the day while taking only ‘20 minute’ layovers in some very unique cities this country has to offer.

I knew we were in for a special surprise when it took us 11 hours to get from downtown Chicago to a re-boarding bus in St Louis, a mere 225 or so miles away . My hopes were raised though when i got some insider information from a convict, ‘don’t worry, once we’re past Armarillo (texas) we will be home free,’ said the man who came to be known as ‘camo guy.’ My first thought was, why is this guy talking about armadillos with me, must be the Busch tall boy.

In the end, I wouldn’t trade the trip for anything. It turned out to be an amazing experience which I will always laugh about and recall with friends. With that said however, I am dreading the 49 hour return roll from Los Angeles to Chicago. So if there are any well endowed alums out there, I’m staying in Redondo Beach, I am betting they have a Western Union around here somewhere.

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