I picked up the car on Friday morning. I ended up with a Mazda 3, which I don’t love but I am coping with. Despite all the excitement about the Supreme Court decision on Friday, I was really glad to get out of the Bay Area before Pride weekend. So I left my fellow sodomites and my fellow librarians behind, and for the interior and the Southland.
Friday highlights:
- Lunch at the Hayward Ranch, because a good burger in a dining room that hasn’t seen the sun since about 1966 is always a good thing.
- Spent the late afternoon at Safeway’s Nothern California Division HQ coming up with some amazing material for Groceteria and discussing some options for them to archive their stuff.
- Headed south on Highway 99 after a crummy fast food dinner in Livermore. For the first time in a good thirteen or so years, this route actually excited me again. Did lost of photos in Merced. Look for those later.
- Landed in Fresno about 10:30 at the sketchiest Red Roof Inn ever. This place just sucked. It was a converted hotel from the 1960s that wasn’t converted very well. I went for a late night drive, taking pictures and hoping the room would cool down some. Great pictures, no cooling. Alas…
Saturday highlights:
- Breakfast at the Chicken Pie Shop, which pretty much eliminated the foul mood the motel had created. Then I did a downtown drive-through and walked around the Fulton Mall for a few minutes before leaving town.
- I stopped in Bakersfield as well and decided I was allowed to dawdle a bit. Found some great 1960s Canadian road maps in an antique store that used to be a Woolworth’s.
- Lunch at Wienerschnitzel, just because I could.
- I finally arrived in LA about 4:30 and checked into my quite wonderful hotel situated between Silver Lake and Echo Park I’ve always wanted to stay in this area and now I’m pretty much walking distance to both. I did good..
- Went for a twilight drive around Hollywoood, Los Feliz, and into the Hollywood Hills, with a stop by Amoeba Records and shawarma at Zankou Chicken.
- Currently pondering bed or another quick drive.