Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
My all-time favorite 2009 WBC photo.
I love it. My favorite snapshot of the extended weekend in L.A. to catch some thrilling international baseball. Fantastic.
Monday, WBC Game 3 Final - Korea vs. Japan
It's Monday, the championship game of this 16-team, 2+ week tournament. The game's a smidge later tonight, 6:30pm. So, this morning, after a minimal continental breakfast at the hotel, it was a cab into Culver City for a 2-hour Sony Pictures Studios tour. Pretty exciting if you ask me. And a heck of a lot of fun.Another cab to Culver City. Had a 10:30am tour, but got there around 9:45. Had breakfast at Sony's little employee coffee bar. Enjoyed a Wolfgang Puck creation of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Gobs and gobs of bacon. Delicious.
The tour starts with a 30-minute historical film of Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and the history of the old MGM lot upon which it sits. Fascinating.
We make our way to the studio lot, but sadly photos were forbidden once we past "Main Street" on the property. So no photos of Seth Rogen's name signed in on the Columbia Pictures check-in desk MINUTES before we arrived. No photos of the 12 Academy Awards statues that Columbia Pictures won for Best Picture. No photos of the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune sets. No photos of the soundstage where the tornado scene of The Wizard of Oz occurred. No photos of Adam Sandler's Cadillac Escalade golf cart. No photos of actor James Cromwell passing our group. No photos of basically large empty warehouses where some sort of famous film was made. Still, was an incredibly jaw-dropping experience to be RIGHT THERE and see the complex.
Really cool. And you may know I'm a sucker for the Oscars. Well now after being in L.A. and Hollywood, I am even MORE determined to absorb any and all nominated films to get under my belt and become even that much more knowledgeable concerning the craft of film. I feel like a groupie. I feel like Chili Palmer in the film Get Shorty: "I love L.A., I love it out here. I want to make movies."
So the tour is over, and it's time to make my way back to the ol' Super 8 one last time. Grab my ticket, and make my final walk uphill to Dodger Stadium. It is bittersweet. It's the excitement of the championship game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and it's also disheartening to know that my trip is coming to a close soon.
Plenty of pomp and circumstance involved for the final. Huge flags of all 16 countries fill the outfield. A symphony orchestra plays on the infield. Japanese and Korean native drum and dance troupes perform on the baselines. The teams enter the field in a parade-like atmosphere. The crowd goes bonkers from an hour before the game and does not let up one bit all throughout. Remember when I said Game 1 of Korea vs. Venezuela was the most intriguing and awe-inspiring baseball game I have EVER been to? Tonight's game BLOWS THAT AWAY BY MILES. Absolutely mesmerizing and hypnotizing. Again, my lowly skill of conveying my thoughts upon the interwebs can in no way fully describe the experience I had during these games. In-fucking-credible.
The thrilling boxscore link is here. Japan takes the lead 1-0 in the 3rd. Korea ties it in the 5th with another (Cleveland Indian) Shin-Soo Choo homerun. Japan retakes the lead 2-1 in the 7th and 3-1 in the 8th. Korea responds with a 3-2 score in the bottom of the 8th, then finally ties in the bottom of the 9th 3-3. Outstanding! Seriously, edge of your seat drama! Japan finally scores 2 in the top of the 10th and then finishes the deal for a 5-3 victory. Japan repeats as World Baseball Classic champions, 2006 and 2009.
Looks like the next set of WBC games will occur in 2013. You can bet your sweet ass that I will make it to as many games as I can, not just the semi-finals and final. THIS was an awesome trip, and just the panacea I needed to help me make it through some otherwise mind-boggling personal relationship issues. Congratulations, Japan. Good show.
Enjoy the dance at the end of this particular video. Heavens knows I couldn't stop staring at it all game long...
Sunday, WBC Game 2 - United States vs. Japan
Sunday began so damn cold and rainy. Where's this mythical sunny and warm southern California??? I had scheduled a few tours this morning in Hollywood, and was wondering if the rain would just ruin everything. Luckily the order I booked them worked out well: one inside a mini-bus, the 2nd on top of an open double decker. Nice.
The cab dropped me off in Hollywood in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This was the pickup point for Starline Tours and my first, albeit cheesy, Hollywood tour: the Movie Star Homes tour. I made sure to get into Hollywood in plenty of time to tool around and see what I may see. The rain made Hollywood Blvd. awfully slick. The stars on the Walk of Fame are embedded into a marble-ish type material that becomes pretty slippery when wet. So before my tour began, I snapped some photos of stars close to the theatre that are near and dear to my heart.
It's 9:45am, time to load up tourists into a mini-bus/large-van to ride up into the residential streets and take a Star Homes tour. The ultimate in cheese, but you're in Hollywood...how can you NOT take a tour to see the homes? The homes portion was rather anti-climactic when all was said and done. Hey look, there's the front gate of Madonna's home surrounded by enormous hedges! Ooooh, look here, Neil Diamond's front gate surrounded by similar enormous privacy hedges! And over here, if you look up, you can see the tops of the chimneys of the Playboy Mansion! Oh well. Couldn't really see crap, but it was still fun to be driven around through the neighborhoods.
So we drove up into the Hollywood Hills, the Holmby Hills, and through Beverly Hills. The spots away from the winding residential roads afforded some photo opportunities that the star homes didn't. In the back of mind I knew it, but I guess I never really thought how close L.A. was to mountainous terrain. And luckily, the weather began to break and actual sunshine was fighting to appear!
When we made it to Beverly Hills and down Rodeo Drive, the sun fully peeked out from behind the clouds and tried to warm us up. It was working, but it never got to be that "warm" in the grand scheme of things.
Back to Grauman's Theatre, and there was some time before my next tour: a 1:30pm open-top double decker Hollywood tour. And with the sun fighting the dark clouds, it would turn out to be a winning order to do things. But first, sliders and a malt at Mel's Drive-In for a Hollywood lunch. Yummy!
The double decker bus tour was a whirlwind throughout Hollywood. We drove by Paramount Pictures, down Melrose Avenue, Hollywood Blvd., all over the place! From the top of the bus, I was able to snap some decent photos, although some are crooked or askew as I tried to frame up the subject matter as we were driving by. An hour that took us around to see what there was to see in the area. Pretty cool. If I had a car, it would be cool to revisit what the tour bus touched on. Like the famous stand, Pink's Hot Dogs:
If I had a car, and didn't have to get back for a baseball game, I would TOTALLY go back and wait in that long ass line for a world-famous hot dog.
In any event, I was able to nab some good pictures from the bus (detailed descriptions of stuff can be found with each photo on the Flickr website):
So I called for a cab, and said I'd meet him at Hollywood and Vine. I had always pictured "Hollywood and Vine" as some elaborate intersection with startling visual detail. Not so. It looks like just another intersection. Underwhelming. The nifty thing is that there is the same Hollywood star (and a larger one to boot) on all four street corners at Hollywood and Vine, which made for a neato trivia tidbit:
Back to the hotel to nab the next baseball ticket, and then walk up that damn hill to get to Dodger Stadium. At least this time I knew how long it would take, and realized exactly when the light at the end of the tunnel would occur, so it wasn't nearly as bad as Saturday. Since it was Sunday night game, it began earlier: this time at 5:30pm. With that insufferable L.A. traffic, the cab got me to my hotel right at 5:00pm, so after the walk and getting to my seat (which of course was on the opposite side of the stadium from where my walk takes me), I missed the national anthems but indeed made it in time for first pitch.
The U.S. pitched like crap (par for the course throughout this tournament) and ended up losing to Japan 9-4. The Americans tried to make a game of it in the later innings, but Japan flicked us away like a lint ball off your shoulder. The U.S. looked awful. Here's the boxscore link.
So it would be a Korea vs. Japan final tomorrow night. With the way these two teams played their most recent games, it stands to be a doozy.
The cab dropped me off in Hollywood in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. This was the pickup point for Starline Tours and my first, albeit cheesy, Hollywood tour: the Movie Star Homes tour. I made sure to get into Hollywood in plenty of time to tool around and see what I may see. The rain made Hollywood Blvd. awfully slick. The stars on the Walk of Fame are embedded into a marble-ish type material that becomes pretty slippery when wet. So before my tour began, I snapped some photos of stars close to the theatre that are near and dear to my heart.
It's 9:45am, time to load up tourists into a mini-bus/large-van to ride up into the residential streets and take a Star Homes tour. The ultimate in cheese, but you're in Hollywood...how can you NOT take a tour to see the homes? The homes portion was rather anti-climactic when all was said and done. Hey look, there's the front gate of Madonna's home surrounded by enormous hedges! Ooooh, look here, Neil Diamond's front gate surrounded by similar enormous privacy hedges! And over here, if you look up, you can see the tops of the chimneys of the Playboy Mansion! Oh well. Couldn't really see crap, but it was still fun to be driven around through the neighborhoods.
So we drove up into the Hollywood Hills, the Holmby Hills, and through Beverly Hills. The spots away from the winding residential roads afforded some photo opportunities that the star homes didn't. In the back of mind I knew it, but I guess I never really thought how close L.A. was to mountainous terrain. And luckily, the weather began to break and actual sunshine was fighting to appear!
When we made it to Beverly Hills and down Rodeo Drive, the sun fully peeked out from behind the clouds and tried to warm us up. It was working, but it never got to be that "warm" in the grand scheme of things.
Back to Grauman's Theatre, and there was some time before my next tour: a 1:30pm open-top double decker Hollywood tour. And with the sun fighting the dark clouds, it would turn out to be a winning order to do things. But first, sliders and a malt at Mel's Drive-In for a Hollywood lunch. Yummy!
The double decker bus tour was a whirlwind throughout Hollywood. We drove by Paramount Pictures, down Melrose Avenue, Hollywood Blvd., all over the place! From the top of the bus, I was able to snap some decent photos, although some are crooked or askew as I tried to frame up the subject matter as we were driving by. An hour that took us around to see what there was to see in the area. Pretty cool. If I had a car, it would be cool to revisit what the tour bus touched on. Like the famous stand, Pink's Hot Dogs:
If I had a car, and didn't have to get back for a baseball game, I would TOTALLY go back and wait in that long ass line for a world-famous hot dog.
In any event, I was able to nab some good pictures from the bus (detailed descriptions of stuff can be found with each photo on the Flickr website):
So I called for a cab, and said I'd meet him at Hollywood and Vine. I had always pictured "Hollywood and Vine" as some elaborate intersection with startling visual detail. Not so. It looks like just another intersection. Underwhelming. The nifty thing is that there is the same Hollywood star (and a larger one to boot) on all four street corners at Hollywood and Vine, which made for a neato trivia tidbit:
Back to the hotel to nab the next baseball ticket, and then walk up that damn hill to get to Dodger Stadium. At least this time I knew how long it would take, and realized exactly when the light at the end of the tunnel would occur, so it wasn't nearly as bad as Saturday. Since it was Sunday night game, it began earlier: this time at 5:30pm. With that insufferable L.A. traffic, the cab got me to my hotel right at 5:00pm, so after the walk and getting to my seat (which of course was on the opposite side of the stadium from where my walk takes me), I missed the national anthems but indeed made it in time for first pitch.
The U.S. pitched like crap (par for the course throughout this tournament) and ended up losing to Japan 9-4. The Americans tried to make a game of it in the later innings, but Japan flicked us away like a lint ball off your shoulder. The U.S. looked awful. Here's the boxscore link.
So it would be a Korea vs. Japan final tomorrow night. With the way these two teams played their most recent games, it stands to be a doozy.
Saturday, WBC Game 1 - Korea vs. Venezuela
Woke up early Saturday and planned my upcoming days. Made some calls for tours and generally planned my upcoming pre-game activities. I usually do this WAY ahead of time before flying out anywhere, but I wanted to see exactly where I was and what was available only once I got out there. Wingin' it. Out of my relative comfort zone that way. It felt refreshingly good.
After breakfast and some more reading in the lobby (these Hard Case Crime novels are addicting...like candy), it was another cab to the lunch destination today: Gordon Biersch Brewery & Restaurant in Burbank. Basically the same beers and same menu as the one I frequent in Washington, DC, but I find it difficult to find a brewpub that brews a clean German lager. So Gordon Biersch it was.
The game tonight was at 6:00pm, and I wanted to get to Dodger Stadium WAY ahead of time to tool around and explore, so basically right after lunch it was the cab back to L.A., grab the ticket from the room, and walk that walk straight uphill seemingly into the sky to the stadium. It was obviously my first stab at the walk, so I had really no idea how long it would take, nor just when it would ever end. Felt as if I trudged upwards for quite a long time. Finally, the stadium is in sight. Giddy!
Dinner tonight and for the next 2 nights would in fact be identical. Gastronomical fare that would rival the treats of the finest fine dining establishments. A meal worthy of photographical evidence of its consumption.
The venerable Dodger Dog.
Sadly, the exquisite delight that is Cleveland Stadium brown mustard is nowhere to be found here. Bland and boring YELLOW mustard is forced upon me. Sigh. I muddled through somehow...
My seats for the three contests were along the 1st base line a section down from the foul pole. Every night I got to my seat super-early, about 2 hours before first pitch, to absorb the ballpark atmosphere. Got to walk around, see batting practice, meet all sorts of baseball fans from around the globe, and generally have myself a grand old time enjoying something that always brings a smile to my face: a ballgame at a ballpark.
Korea walloped Venezuela tonight. 10-2. Check out the box score in this link. Venezuela forces FIVE errors in a sloppy performance. Cleveland Indian Shin-Soo Choo hits a first inning home run for Korea and they never look back. A 60-degree gametime temperature fell dramatically into the 40s as the evening wore on. I thought I came to sunny California for warmth! It was actually borderline "uncomfortably chilly" tonight. But regardless of the weather, the atmosphere of the game was unlike anything I have ever witnessed in a baseball game. Every pitch it seemed was the final one for the World Series. The excitement was palpable. I couldn't help but just look around and smile and be in awe of the tireless fans who chanted, clapped, danced, and cheered nonstop for 9 innings. I am SO glad I flew out for this. Incredible.
And this final picture makes sense once you play the video I uploaded to YouTube. Crazy. Such a fun experience my lowly words here just don't do it justice and relate what a good time this was.
After breakfast and some more reading in the lobby (these Hard Case Crime novels are addicting...like candy), it was another cab to the lunch destination today: Gordon Biersch Brewery & Restaurant in Burbank. Basically the same beers and same menu as the one I frequent in Washington, DC, but I find it difficult to find a brewpub that brews a clean German lager. So Gordon Biersch it was.The game tonight was at 6:00pm, and I wanted to get to Dodger Stadium WAY ahead of time to tool around and explore, so basically right after lunch it was the cab back to L.A., grab the ticket from the room, and walk that walk straight uphill seemingly into the sky to the stadium. It was obviously my first stab at the walk, so I had really no idea how long it would take, nor just when it would ever end. Felt as if I trudged upwards for quite a long time. Finally, the stadium is in sight. Giddy!
Dinner tonight and for the next 2 nights would in fact be identical. Gastronomical fare that would rival the treats of the finest fine dining establishments. A meal worthy of photographical evidence of its consumption.
The venerable Dodger Dog.
Sadly, the exquisite delight that is Cleveland Stadium brown mustard is nowhere to be found here. Bland and boring YELLOW mustard is forced upon me. Sigh. I muddled through somehow...
My seats for the three contests were along the 1st base line a section down from the foul pole. Every night I got to my seat super-early, about 2 hours before first pitch, to absorb the ballpark atmosphere. Got to walk around, see batting practice, meet all sorts of baseball fans from around the globe, and generally have myself a grand old time enjoying something that always brings a smile to my face: a ballgame at a ballpark.Korea walloped Venezuela tonight. 10-2. Check out the box score in this link. Venezuela forces FIVE errors in a sloppy performance. Cleveland Indian Shin-Soo Choo hits a first inning home run for Korea and they never look back. A 60-degree gametime temperature fell dramatically into the 40s as the evening wore on. I thought I came to sunny California for warmth! It was actually borderline "uncomfortably chilly" tonight. But regardless of the weather, the atmosphere of the game was unlike anything I have ever witnessed in a baseball game. Every pitch it seemed was the final one for the World Series. The excitement was palpable. I couldn't help but just look around and smile and be in awe of the tireless fans who chanted, clapped, danced, and cheered nonstop for 9 innings. I am SO glad I flew out for this. Incredible.
And this final picture makes sense once you play the video I uploaded to YouTube. Crazy. Such a fun experience my lowly words here just don't do it justice and relate what a good time this was.
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