It's true.
Boyan, My Dad, Diane and I drove from West Covina to downtown L.A. to take in the sites and grab some nummy beef dip sandwiches.
We went to Phillipes the self proclaimed creators of the french dip sandwich to get, what else but french dips! I had a beef dip with bleu cheese, cole slaw, macaroni salad and pumpkin pie. Besides being extremely tasty it was also extremely cheap! It almost made waiting in line for 45 minutes worth it all.
After we gobbled up our sandwiches we headed down the way to Olivera Street. It was my first time there and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The historical architecture was weighed down by the fact that the shops in the old houses sold cheap Mexican wears. Culture for sale and not an authentic thing in site. We finally found ourselves standing in front of California's oldest house.
It was built in 1818 by some guy named Avila (it was called Avila Adobe). So we rushed in to see the free exhibit. The house itself was very nice. Large patios, large courtyard in the middle. As we toured the house we questioned the women who worked there about the furniture and flooring. Turns out, the house that stands today has been restored. The flooring, walls, furniture, rugs everything was new. Nothing was original. The house doesn't even stand in it's original spot...
It was so L.A.
Anyways we got out of there, hopped in the car and headed for the Griffith Observatory.
It was the second weekend it had been opened since the renovations and the fire, so I was really excited to be amongst the first groups who got to see the new observatory. They spent 93 million dollars to upgrade the place, I couldn't wait to see exactly how they spent their money.
Well, apparently they spent it on really elementary displays so people with half a brain could learn about the changing seasons, or what an eclipse looks like.
Ok, I'll stop. I will say I was pretty disappointed in what they actually had inside the observatory. I'm also bummed that I didn't get to see the show in the Planet Erium.
Some kid pulled the fire alarm and the entire observatory had to be evacuated. We waited 45 minutes outside before we could get back into the observatory, and 45 more minutes to get a refund for our Planet Erium tickets, because the guys working the computer couldn't figure out how to do it.
I will say that the trip was worth all the waiting just for the view. I don't think I've ever seen a more magnificent skyline. On the way back we drove through Silverlake, which was awesome because I'd never seen the neighborhood. All in all, I think I saw more of Los Angeles on Saturday than I had in 5 years of living there.
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