Myra & L.A. Live



I went to the University of Southern California from 1979-1982. Freshman year I lived in a dorm called Marks Tower. It was a fun year, and I keep in touch with some of my fellow dormies, including Myra, above. Myra was a brainiac, who majored in chemistry. She went onto earn her masters degree and many post graduate hours in chemistry at UCLA. We have forgiven her. 


Myra suggested that we meet at L.A. Live, which I had never heard of. It's an entertainment complex downtown that seems like Los Angeles's version of Times Square combined with Rockefeller Plaza.


Complete with a Christmas tree and skating rink!


As a side note on the traffic: it took me over a half an hour to drive 7 miles on the freeway from my hotel to L.A. Live. Once I got downtown, I wasn't really sure where I was going and Googlemaps didn't help that much. It was only by the grace of God that I found a parking spot and then the right place to meet Myra.


We had a good meal at the Yard House and then walked around, soaking up the atmosphere.


Even though they have all the holiday decorations up, it never feels like Christmas to me in the warm weather.


I saw this on the way out: the Original Pantry, which has never closed since its opening in 1924. We went to this LA landmark a few times in college for a late night breakfast.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hidden Sidewalks: Walk # 37, Hollywood Bowl & Hightower Loop

Image
The second of Charles Fleming's Secret Stairs walks that I took led me through "the back side of the Hollywood Bowl, into one of the city's few walk-street communities, with no access to cars." The contextual information I share below comes from his book. Above is High Tower, which contains an elevator. Look familiar? More on this below. First I passed by Highland Towers where William Faulkner lived and possibly wrote the screenplay adaptations for "To Have and Have Not," and "The Big Sleep." Heading up into the hills. The first 103 steps. An accidental action photo. It really does seem sometimes like you are walking through people's property. I saw very few folks, whether residents or fellow tourists, on my walks. Above and below is the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Samuel Freeman House , constructed in 1924. I actually did get a little bit lost here beca
Read more

Greatest Photo Hits

Image
In December 2017, I took a two-week trip to California. I started up north at the redwoods, and traveled down to San Francisco, onto Big Sur, and ended up in Los Angeles, where I went to college in the early 80's. You can read all about it in this blog. But if you'd like a fly by, here are some photos that summarize the trip.  In Tiburon after riding a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge. The mighty redwoods. The other San Francisco bridge. Along Highway 1 California, not Ireland. More redwoods. WPA mural inside Coit Tower. View from Coit Tower. Coit Tower Getting ready to ride over the Golden Gate.  San Francisco skyline at night. Coit Tower on the left and below. Santa Con in San Francisco! Kirby Cove . Thanks to Duncan Smith and friends. Big Sur Was fortunate to go on a silent retreat at New Camaldoli Hermitage. The Star in the Family, Uncle Wrigh
Read more

College Friends

Image
In 1979, I left Peoria for college. Because of all kinds of fortunate circumstances, I was able to attend the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where I met these three great folks above: Miles, Myra, and Duncan.  I spent three years as a Trojan, and while I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, I've always considered USC my alma mater too. Freshman year, I lived in Marks Tower. Here it is below. I lived on the fifth floor of Marks Tower with my roommate Cecelia, who was the valedictorian of her class of 600 at Mater Dei in Santa Ana. Lots of memories from this dorm: gazing at the flame burning at the Coliseum for our hostages in Iran; vacating the dorm in the middle of the night because of a bomb threat (related to the Iranian hostage crisis; USC had 600 Persians --ie Iranians--attending the school and the politics were complicated); when we had a little bit of a water backup on our floor (see below). There's Myra, stranded nea
Read more