We have visited several times so I didn’t take many photos whilst in LA…..but here’s a few for you. Danny’s dog Roscoe above does his impersonation of a Edward Hopper painting! Dave hangs out below in Danny’s lounge.
Our room when staying at Danny’s presided over by the King himself.
Our old friends Richard and Barbara have bought a bakery since we were last in LA back in January. Villa Rosa turns out some tasty treats.
Richard shows Dave around his new business.
A bit blurry – but this is Barbara in the kitchen helping the staff with the Italian wedding cookies. Thanks again Barbara for the coconut cup cakes, a very yummy early birthday treat for me!
Our friend Paul from London was in LA whilst we were there….over for his job working on the new Batman game due out next year. It was great to hook up with him and go out for drinks in Santa Monica on Third Promenade at the Broadway Deli. There is a Batman theme going on every time I visit Los Angeles. The first time I visited coincided with the release of a new Batman movie and the batmobile was parked outside Mann’s Theatre, the second time was in January this year and we sat eating lunch in the Broadway Deli watching the news break about Heath Ledger’s death just before the new Batman movie came out with him in it as The Joker…..and here we were again hanging with Paul who was working on the new Batman game. Next time I visit I expect nothing less than a midnight meet with the caped crusader himself.
We went to a memorial service with Danny for a guy called called Jay who ran a restaurant called Che Jay and was very well known in Santa Monica. It was quite a hilarious couple of hours. The bald actor who plays the agent Charlie Runkle in Californication and Charlotte’s husband in Sex and the City was there…….. as well as Nancy Sinatra (way too much plastic surgery and a midget) and lots of other actors more famous in the US than the UK (Danny recognised a few child actors now in their 60’s and 70s) and people you recognise but can’t figure out who they are (so not that famous really), a few orange people who had gone over the top on the perma-tan, tons of plastic surgery and toupees, a couple of quite frankly freakishly scary old women who looked like they may have been in ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ – they really were that scary…tons of surgery, wigs, 10 inches of make up, shuffling around in high heels 3 sizes too big for them……we mingled in a kind of empty car park area cordoned off with velvet ropes eating free food and having free wine, a great LA experience. Danny knew a writer guy there – and no kidding this bloke (no names mentioned – but you know who you are!) actually had a 5 minute conversation with Dave and me telling us how famous he was – “I have written 3 books – I am more famous than my brother in law – I am a famous author”. Seriously – that was pretty much the entire conversation – I was really trying hard to keep a straight face. It’s not surprising that so many have such good fun at the expense of this city…it’s definitely a one off!
We went to a memorial service with Danny for a guy called called Jay who ran a restaurant called Che Jay and was very well known in Santa Monica. It was quite a hilarious couple of hours. The bald actor who plays the agent Charlie Runkle in Californication and Charlotte’s husband in Sex and the City was there…….. as well as Nancy Sinatra (way too much plastic surgery and a midget) and lots of other actors more famous in the US than the UK (Danny recognised a few child actors now in their 60’s and 70s) and people you recognise but can’t figure out who they are (so not that famous really), a few orange people who had gone over the top on the perma-tan, tons of plastic surgery and toupees, a couple of quite frankly freakishly scary old women who looked like they may have been in ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ – they really were that scary…tons of surgery, wigs, 10 inches of make up, shuffling around in high heels 3 sizes too big for them……we mingled in a kind of empty car park area cordoned off with velvet ropes eating free food and having free wine, a great LA experience. Danny knew a writer guy there – and no kidding this bloke (no names mentioned – but you know who you are!) actually had a 5 minute conversation with Dave and me telling us how famous he was – “I have written 3 books – I am more famous than my brother in law – I am a famous author”. Seriously – that was pretty much the entire conversation – I was really trying hard to keep a straight face. It’s not surprising that so many have such good fun at the expense of this city…it’s definitely a one off!
The Travel Diarist 