Matt Molnar
2007-11-02, 02:00 AM
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2025/1821447241_8691bb6881_o.jpg
Shot from our hotel room. The sign is nearly 7 miles away as the crow flies.
I appreciated the fake boobs and short skirts everywhere, but downtown was deserted and disgusting despite being surrounded by large corporate skyscrapers, mostly banks. I guess people just drive to their underground parking garages, go straight up to their offices, and don't leave. God forbid anyone should walk anywhere. The subway system is beautifully decorated and spotlessly clean, probably because no one uses it. Outside of a few square blocks downtown almost every street is like driving through Corona or the Bronx...all the signs are in Spanish or the neighborhood is just grimy or both. Bums and piss smell everywhere. The only nice areas outside downtown were the places with boutiques and **** that I'd never buy. One store was filled with clothes that looked exactly like H&M, except the cheapest shirt was $102, and $5 Old Navy-style boxers were $36.
You can see everything in the city in under a day because there is nothing to see. The Hollywood sign is their Statue of Liberty, the Chinese Theater and Kodak Center are their Times Square, and they don't have an Empire State Building. We had a clear view of the sign from our room (above) so that took care of that.
We only had fun after leaving the city, we rented a car and went to Universal Studios yesterday morning which was pretty cool (especially since Lia got some free tix from a friend) and we hung out on Santa Monica Beach for an hour or two.
Then we headed to In-N-Out, where I got a double double animal style which was pretty amazing. And of course shot some planes. First one to buzz me was Shamu! I got a bit bored with the underbelly shots and wanted to get some side shots, so I crossed Sepulveda and started shooting from next to the LAX sign. I got some good stuff from there, but then an LAPD cruiser pulled up and told me about "federal regulations" and "national security" prohibiting that sort of thing. I told him I wasn't aware of any such regulations, but he said I was on airport property and it was a no go. I wasn't sure if I actually was on airport property, and I'm not sure if the airport has rules prohibiting that, so I didn't feel I was in much of a position to argue and risk a Rodney King beatdown. He was pretty nice about it, and gave me an alternate location where he said shooting was fine (which turned out to be Imperial Hill, which I was going to hit next anyway). He checked my ID and he told me how he's visiting NYC for the first time next week, asked me what he should see and stuff. I told him this was my first time in LA, etc, etc.
I actually liked Imperial Hill better anyway, and with the sun low in the sky there was really nice light for about an hour before it got too low for shooting. I'll start working on the pics tonight hopefully.
Also, I think Virgin is my new favorite airline. Can't wait 'til they add some routes that I actually want to use.
I will post my airliner shots this weekend.
Shot from our hotel room. The sign is nearly 7 miles away as the crow flies.
I appreciated the fake boobs and short skirts everywhere, but downtown was deserted and disgusting despite being surrounded by large corporate skyscrapers, mostly banks. I guess people just drive to their underground parking garages, go straight up to their offices, and don't leave. God forbid anyone should walk anywhere. The subway system is beautifully decorated and spotlessly clean, probably because no one uses it. Outside of a few square blocks downtown almost every street is like driving through Corona or the Bronx...all the signs are in Spanish or the neighborhood is just grimy or both. Bums and piss smell everywhere. The only nice areas outside downtown were the places with boutiques and **** that I'd never buy. One store was filled with clothes that looked exactly like H&M, except the cheapest shirt was $102, and $5 Old Navy-style boxers were $36.
You can see everything in the city in under a day because there is nothing to see. The Hollywood sign is their Statue of Liberty, the Chinese Theater and Kodak Center are their Times Square, and they don't have an Empire State Building. We had a clear view of the sign from our room (above) so that took care of that.
We only had fun after leaving the city, we rented a car and went to Universal Studios yesterday morning which was pretty cool (especially since Lia got some free tix from a friend) and we hung out on Santa Monica Beach for an hour or two.
Then we headed to In-N-Out, where I got a double double animal style which was pretty amazing. And of course shot some planes. First one to buzz me was Shamu! I got a bit bored with the underbelly shots and wanted to get some side shots, so I crossed Sepulveda and started shooting from next to the LAX sign. I got some good stuff from there, but then an LAPD cruiser pulled up and told me about "federal regulations" and "national security" prohibiting that sort of thing. I told him I wasn't aware of any such regulations, but he said I was on airport property and it was a no go. I wasn't sure if I actually was on airport property, and I'm not sure if the airport has rules prohibiting that, so I didn't feel I was in much of a position to argue and risk a Rodney King beatdown. He was pretty nice about it, and gave me an alternate location where he said shooting was fine (which turned out to be Imperial Hill, which I was going to hit next anyway). He checked my ID and he told me how he's visiting NYC for the first time next week, asked me what he should see and stuff. I told him this was my first time in LA, etc, etc.
I actually liked Imperial Hill better anyway, and with the sun low in the sky there was really nice light for about an hour before it got too low for shooting. I'll start working on the pics tonight hopefully.
Also, I think Virgin is my new favorite airline. Can't wait 'til they add some routes that I actually want to use.
I will post my airliner shots this weekend.