Friday the 20th saw a flight from Greensboro to Memphis to LAX. The time change threw me a little bit in that it seemed I was traveling for eons yet only about 4 hours had passed. I hopped into a cab (my modus operandi for getting about) and arrived at the hotel: the Super 8 Downtown L.A.
Not so much "downtown" per se, but that's what they called it online. The main reason for this location choice was its proximity to Dodger Stadium. The claim was "200 yards away from Dodger Stadium". Heck yeah! Walking distance! Corner of Sunset Blvd. and Elysian Park. With three games in three nights, the trips back and forth to the stadium had to be economical, and a 200-yard walk certainly fits that bill! However, I did not pursue research on a topographical map as the 200-yard walk to the stadium was basically straight uphill. Good thing it was cool, if it were summer I'd be a sweaty mess by the time I got to the gate.So after checking in Friday, I walked about a mile away from the hotel to a Save-a-Lot grocery store for snacks for the fridge. The closest one to me. Going up aisle after aisle with my cheese, crackers, and breakfast snacks I kept searching and searching for the beer. California has some killer microbreweries and I wanted to sample some fresh ones from the source. Nothing. What the hell??? Turns out the brews are found in beverage stores or liquor stores only. Seriously? Luckily there was a rather scary-looking beverage store directly across the street from the grocery so I manned up and braved the entrance.
Nirvana.
Stone Brewing, Bear Republic, Alaskan Brewing, all manner of good California microbrew to be had. I nabbed a sixer of Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Bear Republic Racer-5 IPA. So, I trudged the mile or so back to the Super 8 with beer and groceries in hand...and was only asked for money twice and cursed at in a foreign tongue by a man pushing garbage in a shopping cart. I believe he spoke "Crazy".
Settled the grub into the fridge, relaxed and read a bit in the lobby, then hailed a cab to make it over to Pasadena for dinner. The destination? Lucky Baldwin's British Pub and Cafe. A British pub with a fantastic selection of Belgian beer. Go figure.Walked around for a bit to see the streets around the pub: plenty of restaurants and shops and generally beautiful people. Then the hunger pangs hit hard so I moseyed in and found a spot near a TV to watch some NCAA tournament games. I planned on spending quite a bit of time here, basically the entire evening, so I grazed all night. New England Clam Chowder, then later the fish and chips, then later apple pie. All the while augmented and accompanied with some fine Belgian beers. It was a really good evening. I had stumbled upon some Korean baseball fans at the bar, and our shared love of baseball brought us together, but in the end the utter lack of understanding between us left me to watch Ohio State lose to Siena with a bunch of pretty Pasadenians and our goblets of Belgians. The main treat for me? The for-a-long-time-not-available-in-the-U.S. Geuze Mariage Parfait by Brouwerij Boon pictured below. Yum! A late cab back to L.A. and a crash on the Super 8 bed. A long travel day ends.
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