it was early october, but still surprisingly hot in LA.

as far as I was concerned the whole point of coming to the west coast was to start/finish an AFF course (AFF=Accelerated Free Fall - the quickest way to get qualified to skydive solo). however some people had other ideas so we (eva, gabriel and myself) spent the first few days exploring highways of Los Angeles.

stupid city, really. whether you are in one of the more expensive hotels in West Hollywood (which we were) or in the one of the least expensive hotels in Santa Monica (which we also were) you are equally likely to be next to a dodgy chinese dry cleaners as you are to a cinema or a multi storey car park. with no concept of community short of racial subdivision it's no wonder the city has major problems.

Anyhow - the above picture (which is not a link - lest you think your browser's gone berserk) shows the view from our balcony in santa monica. notice the 2 foot shorebreak which was rideable (but just barely) and the infamous sidewalk. we eventually did drag gabriel away from the screaming hordes of girls that always accompanied him to skate to venice and back.
fun. if a little cliche.

on that note, I suppose we have rodeo drive and the beverly hills hotel. the former we actually shopped on - and the latter was one of our many drive bys.
eva bought a star-map - ostensibly meant for Gabriel, which we used to drive around hollywood hills looking for expensive houses - mostly what we saw were rooftops and gates.
I had to drive everywhere - almost as much fun as freezing one's behind off in the 'guest list' queue at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
eventually - we made it to perris valley