Hollywood Swingin'

Los Angeles is synonymous with Hollywood; Hollywood is synonymous with the promise of a golden career as a movie star. If you're both talented and very lucky, you might make the big time.



If you're talented, lucky and manage to stick around for a few years, you might even get a star on the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard, like everybody's favorite octogenarian, Betty White.

...or maybe even get your handprints in the cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Wait, is that Debbie Reynolds?



Of course, for every Betty White, there are thousands of folks who come out West and never hit the big time. Hey, at least this guy's working!

The Boro's 2011 Criterium

Walterboro hosted its annual downtown bicycle race last night (a/k/a Criterium). It was a blast. I posted it last year. If you want to take a look, click HERE. I left out the obvious Queen song last year. No such reservations this year.

You Say Po-Tay-To, I Say Po-Tah-To.

Beverly Hills sports one of the premier shopping districts anywhere: Rodeo (pronounced Ro-Day-O) Drive. We have a Rodeo Drive in Colleton County, South Carolina, too; however, we pronounce it in the more pedestrian manner "Ro-Dee-O". See if you can distinguish between California's Rodeo Drive from the Boro's:







Julia woulda known the difference.

What am I, like, Twelve?

Up on Griffith Observatory, high above L.A., there are some interesting views. You can see the sprawl that is the greater Los Angeles area; you can see the Hollywood sign; you can see interesting local flora. If you think like a twelve year old, and you're paying attention, you can also see some pretty funny stuff. Take a look at the picture at left. Lady Di is to the upper right, looking at me disapprovingly. Why? Well, she knows me, you see. Look at the foreground at the bottom of the picture. There's a plaque. I'll give you a better picture of the plaque in a minute. Now look behind Lady Di, to her left, more or less in a line from the plaque. See that couple there?




That's them, up close. I saw the girl and the plaque at nearly the same time. So, what does the plaque say?









Now, just think how funny that'd be if you were a twelve-year old boy. Welcome to my world.

I Love L.A.

Los Angeles has a bunch of people. The 3.8 million folks in L.A.'s 500 square miles is nearly as many as the 4.6 million that South Carolina spreads over more than 32,000 square miles. Add in the metropolitan area including Riverside, Long Beach, where Lady Di's sister Andrea lives, and a few other cities, and you're talking nearly 18 million people. Many, many of those people drive cars, and all those cars spew pollutants, which is maybe why this pic I took from Griffith Observatory is so vague. Or maybe it's haze. Or maybe I've got to get a better camera. Anyway, L.A. has a lot of people.

A Moveable Feast.

Okay, I'm not Hemmingway, and maybe Southern California is not Paris; still, Cali was still a moveable feast in my book. Lady Di was unable to finish this Lamb-Burger with cream cheese which she acquired at an outdoor bistro near Beverly Hills. Like Southern California generally, it was more than a reasonable person could handle in one sitting.

California Dreamin'

I've been hanging out in the Golden State for the last few days, with little access to the digital world. I'll post something or another about it in a few days, I suppose.