+ Temescal Canyon Loop

I realised I never got around to posting pictures from my very first hike in LA. Whoops. We're lucky to live so close to many hikes within the Santa Monica Mountains, a range which encompasses various state parks and reaches from the Hollywood Hills to Point Mugu (pronounced 'magoo' not 'moogoo' like I have a tendency to do).



Our trusty guide is an easy to navigate book I picked up at REI - Day Hikes Around Los Angeles by Robert Stone.



Our first adventure was to a popular trail in Topanga State Park, no more than 15 minutes drive north. Just off the PCH in Pacific Palisades, the trail is actually two - the Temescal Ridge Trail and the Canyon Trail - and is a great showcase for SoCal hiking with its ocean and city views.



At 4.2 miles with a 1,000 feet elevation (about 300 metres), it's a pretty good workout for a couple hours, especially if you go up the steeper ridge trail first as the book suggests, before returning through the shadier canyon floor.


(looking back on the ridge)

Whilst steep, there are a few points of rest for lovely views of both downtown and the Santa Monica bay, as well as into neighbouring houses (oh to have one those mansions!)





We also brought along a fellow Sydmeysider with us. My friend Maha's boyfriend was in town and was totally keen for the walk. The fact that he was here for a Brazilian jujitsu competition is a good indication of his fitness level relative to ours... it goes without saying he led the way most of the time.





The densely wooded canyon is supposed to run alongside the Temescal Creek, but even calling it a creek is a stretch... a trickle at best! The grotto of rocks at the junction between the trails finds the creek at its most bountiful, though commonsense would advise against drinking anything from the waterfall (unlike the lady we spied trying to fill up her water bottle).



The fragrant groves of sycamore, coastal oak and gum trees (a little bit of home!) make for a relaxing return, and a change from the desert scrubs of the ridgetop.



Just before finishing in the carpark, there is a little picnic area where we saw people setting up for a wedding ceremony, and a seemingly abandoned old hut (a nice little fixer upper?)





We also stopped in at the rather sad visitors centre which was lacking electricity from a recent fire, and offered not much more than a few ancient maps and drinks in a non-working fridge. It was a wonderfully kitsch at least.





Temescal Canyon Loop hike
Hike LA guide
Local Hikes guide
Temescal Gateway Park page

+ the city of lost angles

I had an internship interview on Friday downtown and being a little nervous about getting down there by bus, I took a reconnaissance trip the day before to familiarise myself with the layout. I'm really glad I did - it was a good opportunity to get a feel for the area, and to earmark places to return to the next day.



Downtown LA does not enjoy a particularly good reputation as being a must-visit area, but many of the older buildings were surprisingly lovely (set between smells of hobo urine...) The building where I interviewed was itself an old bank converted into office studios upstairs and a swanky bar downstairs in the former vaults.

Th block before on Spring St featured this street art.


Walking up on 5th St towards Bunker Hill.


The next day, after the interview, I walked back up towards the Hill, to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). I was stymied by said Hill, until I noticed a little trolley gently gliding up and down. Score!

For just 25 cents, it takes you up gracefully without need for exertion or sweat.




On my way to MOCA, I was blinded by the silver brilliance of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Its steely layers beckoned.


At the Museum, I found this James Rosenquist piece highly alluring. I think it's called Waves.


As was this neon configuration, by I forget whom.


DTLA - it's what you make of it.


More photos in this flickr set.

+ Getty Center in the winter

We spent the good part of the last day of 2009 at the Getty Center, high up in the hills of Los Angeles, and probably only saw a fraction of the collections stored there. It was a battle just deciding whether to see stuff or just enjoy the lovely gardens and the spectacular views of the city. Even in winter, the sky was blue, the rays of sunshine warm and the green lawns super inviting.


As a thousand flickr photos could testify, the Getty Center is an immensely photogenic set of buildings. All those sexy lady humps and whatnot.


Benj took a good deal more photos than me, and much better looking ones for that matter. He did well to capture the many textures in the gardens.






Soundtrack: Tristeza "Castellon"

+ Malibu

According to the roadsign, on the PCH somewhere near the northern end of Santa Monica, Malibu is only a 6 mile drive away.



It felt a little further than that (though what I would know? I have no point of reference for a drive by any kind of miles) but it was still a whole lot closer than the hour long drives it takes to get from my mum and dad's to Gordon's Bay. It's close enough, is all I'm saying.



Which is a good thing, because I want to try and eat at as many different 'bu establishments along Highway 1 as I can. Places like the iconic Geoffrey's, the Malibu Beach Inn (first spied in the final episode of Entourage season 6!) and Moonshadows Blue Lounge, which first came to my attention by way of Benj.



On this day though we chose the pier as our setting.


It was quite perfect really, a super starving belly met with an almost empty restaurant (though the service was still pretty terribad) and a slowly fading sun closing in on the horizon-ocean backdrop.


Our meal was supplemented by a glamour photo shoot on the beach right below us. It took a while to discern that the possible husband-and-wife couple featured a heavily pregnant lady, dressed in various suggestive outfits, who may or may not have been in the performing arts, being directed by the photographer lady into all manner of seductive poses. It was very LA.


A solid meal later, we drove home with a spectacular orange sky following us all the way down.


Soundtrack: Real Estate "Atlantic City" (wrong coast, I know!)

+ not long to go now

In 5 weeks, my relocation to Santa Monica will actually happen. In the meantime, Benj and I have had a couple of trips together, including a christmas/birthday/new year's treat for me which ended up as a sort of pre-move scouting expedition.

Many experiences were had, food eaten, shows attended, museums visited, family members reunited - most of which was well so documented, I don't really know where to begin for this blog. Until then, enjoy a pretty scene of the neighbourhood which I'll soon be in!! It was taken at Christmas after a walk on the beach.

Also, a new addition: an accompanying song! Which you can stream whilst reading! Today's soundtrack is Early Day Miners "So Slowly".

+ Santa Monica

Ever since he got his fancy camera, I've been on Benj's back to take a sunset photo for me so I can relive it in all its amber glory. Finally... the first of many (I hope). This was taken near the Pier.


The sunsets in Santa Monica are kinda spectacular. Especially when you're at a meeting in a hotel suite during AFM and all you can think of is the incredible orange sky in front of you. Distracting!


This is me last year "working" on the pool deck of Loews Hotel right after the last AFM meeting of the day. Why can't all my work be like this?

+ welcome Benj

This picture comes from Benj (with a little "collaborative tweaking" from me), who will be my guest contributor and co-conspirator. Also, it is he who came up with this blog's neat little name and is also at present, the only one that actually lives 12 blocks from the beach.

The summer warmth has just about gone from the Southern Californian spread... I mean it's even rained in the last week! But the sun did smile for some Albuquerquean visitors of Benj's who were treated to a visit to Huntington Beach.

Do you like how warm and inviting my fauxlaroid looks? Not to take anything away from Benj's lovely original shot but I did that just to drive the point home, because aside from when I visited Santa Monica for the first time aged 9, and rather gingerly dipped my toes in, I have never swum in the North American Pacific Ocean because it is seems so freaking COLD. Always blowy, glassy-looking and not at all inviting, it'll be a long time yet before I get to have a true summer swim in SoCal. In the meantime, enjoy this scene of young Cole braving the icy waters.

+ go Angels!

In honour of the LA Angels making the final round of the ALCS playoffs and starting their best-of-7 with the Yankees this Friday for a spot in the World Series, let us all celebrate victoriously for the mighty reds.

You better believe in the power of the rally monkey!