The Driving Thread

Love these posts.

 

Ha. I was just listening to Carmelita and wondered if Pioneer Chicken was a real thing. Thanks for answering that.

 

It's OK to be happy on MLK Day. It's his birthday!

 

Gus's is (most) correct.

So is Roscoe's. Annie's. Dinah's. And most especially Golden Bird. (Be sure to get a slice of the sweet potato pie.)

 

I haven’t had Gus’s since the Before Times. They do indeed make a mighty tasty bird. To my mind, their recipe travels better across the land than Nashville hot chicken does outside the Six-One-Five.

 

Pioneer forced the Colonel to up its game. It was bigger, better and cheaper.
Pioneer used bigger chickens and the breasts were delicious (no smirking, plz.). KFC had center breasts and side breasts, so three per chicken. Pioneer had an ad campaign which pointed that out and asked, "What kind of chickens have three breasts?" KFC changed to two breasts. There aren't many Pioneers around anymore, certainly none near where I live or where I go.

 

Its fast food but out in West Coast, Popeyes Chicken is oooh soo tasty (and awful for your heart.)

 

After another hour of cardio today I thought I'd drive further east into the guts of Downtown L.A.



At one point I told the phone to direct me just to see which streets it would use based on traffic.

It led me to a stoplight at Figueroa. It told me to go up the hill to get to 4th Street.

I didn't want to drive up that hill.

The light wouldn't turn green.

Should I go up the hill?

Why is this light so fucking long?

I don't want to drive up that hill.

The light turned green.

I turned left.



And found myself at a light at an entrance to the 110, which is properly called the Harbor Freeway. Which is funny because this morning by chance I watched a video about why L.A. freeways have "The" in front of names or numbers and the Harbor Freeway was mentioned a few times. I've always called it the 110. Of all the freeways in SoCal, the 110 is the one driven the least, probably less than 10 times. I'm a 405 guy.



The phone told me to make a right and drive thru this tunnel.



Moments later I was on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. It was old and tired, dusty and bumpy, and dirty.

But it always provides photo-ops.



I wanted to park and find somewhere to eat but that wasn't happening.

Lo and behold I hit Venice Boulevard, which is where I started this drive at San Vicente Boulevard about 45 minutes earlier.



I was hungry and wanted to eat.

God, if there is such a thing, diverted my eyes toward a bright sign. Or maybe the sign caught my attention because of the brash claim.



Best, huh? Best Mexican in the entire town, huh? Really?

Lo and fucking behold, there was parking spot. A few actually.

I parked and looked up and realized that I was at Staples Center. Well Crypto.Com Arena.

Either way, Lakers suck this season. Not sure what the Kings are up to.



I've never been to Staples Crypto.com Arena.

I didn't wake up today planning to park and eat lunch in the shadow of the arena.

I didn't even know where it was until now. But I had bigger fish to fry right now.

El Patroncito. Best Mexican Food in Town. Big claim.



To see what I ate and drank click: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4VpskfwFXUZxVZYr8

The food was made to order and delicious, and I loved the horchata once the waitress explained what it is and gave me a sample.

I eagerly ordered a tall one. It's like cinnamon milk. I could drink a few of those every day.

My favorite thing about this experience was the message on the bill about immigrants making America -- and the food I just ate -- great.

I tipped Laura 5 bucks on the card then realized she deserved more and left 5 more in cash with the receipt.




Glad I didn't drive up that hill at Figueroa.

 

The ramp in the second picture appears in hundreds of car commercials and movies; I used to live in an apartment right near there and one night watched the filming of a movie where I think it was Bruce Willis who crashed a helicopter right on it.

 

Make a blog of this. Please.

Stop pissing it away on a message board.