The Driving Thread

Burger places like that are something I miss here in Florida. If you like chain burgers, you're fine. If you want a char-broiled burger with gooey cheese on a giant bun, you're mostly out of luck. We do have some Habit restaurants, which are good, but they're few and far between.
It was nice when I was up in Orlando last week being able to go to a Del Taco though. Taco Bell is not even close. And yeah, local taquerias are better.

 

So why not make a career of a thing for which you already have a passion and aptitude?

Substack, Medium, Eater, LA Weekly, blog.

You could be the poet of Skid Row, or the next Jonathan Gold.

Just a thought.

 

This

 

Thinking of staying here one night to listen to AM radio.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ErCDqkjbhmYpL2fbA

 

Tocino.

My experience with the 405 was hit or miss. Mostly it was positive, except for that one time I had to lock up my rental car to avoid a rear-end collision driving back to LAX.

 

Do you have to be an alum?

 

Yes, and legacies get early check-in.

 

Lots of quarters for the vibrating bed.

US 287 between Fort Collins and Laramie is a beautiful drive. High plains, Snowies in the distance, sometimes some elk on the side of the road, and an orgy of fireworks stands at the state line.

 

Just down the street, you get (1) massage (happy ending no?); (2) haircut; then (3) noodles (Vietnamese? perfect) or sushi. No need for a car; great weekend getaway!

 

This could go on the RIP Meatloaf thread too.

The drive began after an hour of cardio. I love driving San Vicente Boulevard and wanted to see where it took me or if it ends. It does end after a climb into residential hills overlooking L.A. Took a bunch of photos showing the haze and muck that hang over the city.

Came back down and turned left on Sunset.

Asked my phone for directions to the Hollywood sign. Never been there.

Headed in that direction but waffled as to whether I really wanted to drive to the sign.

Before long I was at Griffith Park, which leads up to the Hollywood sign, and the Observatory.

For all the mountain driving I did in Vermont, I was kind of scared driving up and making hairpin turns. It's a different kind of mountain driving, I guess.

Got to the Griffith Observatory and it was an absolute madhouse. Several firetrucks blocked off the Observatory so I kept going thru the tunnel en route to the Hollywood sign. Then I changed my mind and made a U and drove back thru the tunnel and pulled off at one of the roads that leads up to the sign. The road was blocked off by a police car.

I put my car in park and got out. It was so loud as 2 choppers circled around. Lots of people pointing their phones to the sky to take photos and videos. I was one of them.

This morning the news said Kamala Harris is in L.A. this weekend so maybe it was her.

After several minutes I had enough of the noise and headed back down.

I stopped to take a photo of a woman walking her dogs on the side.

Put the camera down and 5 seconds later a moment in time presented itself.

But I missed it because I couldn't get the camera activated in time.

Really bummed me out. I still can't stop thinking about it. In Brazil, they still talk about a loss by the soccer team in the '50s or '60s. Even though they're the most celebrated soccer program in the history of the sport, with several World Cup titles, not to mention Pelé, the country still mourns this particular loss from like 70 years ago. That loss, they say, still hurts Brazilians more than any of the greatest achievements in the history of Brazilian soccer. Or so they say.

I hated on myself hard on the rest of the curling drive down the mountain.

Got over it though and drove thru Hollywood looking for a place to eat that wasn't like Gus's Fried Chicken or Erick Burgers or El Patroncito near Crypto.com or yesterday's Thai food, which was pretty good. I was hoping to find a retro diner today.

Found myself driving further and further westerly on Sunset into Silver Lake. Growing up here, the news stations always mentioned Silver Lake this, Silver Lake that, usually on the weather report. Even the other day I heard them mention Silver Lake.

"Silver Lake" is pretty and poetic like Saxton's River in Vermont.

I've always wanted to see Silver Lake and, well, here I was in Silver Lake.

Then I saw a green sign on the left and red block letters:



... and knew this was where I'd eat lunch.

Parked and ran across the street a second and a half before 2 cars hit me. Bad timing.

Saw people eating at a table on the sidewalk so I went inside to the counter. Told the chick behind the counter it was my first time here and asked what's good. She pointed to the menu and opened by saying "everything is vegan" and I quietly sighed. Nothing against vegan food. I've eaten it many times. But I wasn't really in that kind of mood right now. I thought about leaving but that would have been dumb or rude or both.

I looked at the menu again and saw something called Comfort Food, which had mashed potatoes, which is all I needed to see. I like mushrooms and corn and onions and zucchini too. So really, how bad could this dish be?

It also included quinoa meatloaf. I must have read too fast or simply ignored it. But hours later I found it funny to have eaten vegan meatloaf on the day human Meatloaf died. I didn't plan that. What are the odds? What a coincidence.

Also ordered tortilla soup and a chocolate milkshake.

The "milkshake" came first. This wasn't the kind of milkshake I was expecting, you know, a milk and ice cream milkshake. It was more like chocolate tea i.e. wet and icy. I was not amused. As I drank it I thought back to the '80s when our parents tried pushing carob on us.

The quinoa meatloaf -- plopped atop the mashed potatoes -- was flavorful and worked well with the shrooms, zukes, corn, and onions. It was a fantastic dish, superb. It was my favorite lunch this week. I'm glad the chick behind the counter suggested it although the reality is she had me at big scoop of mashed potatoes.

I may be a meat eater but can also see myself eating more vegan meals.

For a few minutes I'd forgotten all about missing that photo-op.

I was enjoying this vegan lunch, at a super hip joint, on Sunset Boulevard, in Silver Lake.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rEZvyxVvMtSaT5X2A

But the reality is it's 6 hours later and I missed that photo, a moment of moments.

At least I snagged a photo of the Hollywood sign.