I Went Went, Back Back, to Cali Cali, pt. 3

So, yeah, while I was in LA it was real hot

Monday for lunch Greg and I went to pick up Grandma a burger, but on the way we had two other lunches in Alhambra.

Turning off Santa Anita onto Las Tunas I saw Los Tacos sitting like it always has and asked Greg if he'd ever been and he said no and, so, into the the parking lot we turned.

Since we weren't out to totally overdo it, we split a plate of 4 tacos. Under all the cilantro and onion you'll find a steak taco, a carnitas taco, a taco al pastor, and a chicken mole taco. All very nice.

Then, after Las Tunas had turned into Main, we drove by Dog Haus, which Greg had already told me was good, so into the parking lot we turned. We split one of their Thai currywursts.

In Alhambra there's this over the top Heavy Metal-themed burger place called Grill 'Em All. It's a little famous, but the menu is (at first glance) a little too over the top for me, but Grandma calls it "Grill 'Ems" and that was too cute for me to not want to go get her a burger.

I had the sausage-gravy doused, bacon-topped, maple-infused Molly Hatchet burger. Greg had the Samoa Joe with pineapple. We brought Grandma home the straight-forward, California style Winger (a.k.a. "the Stewart). From the bite I stole of that one I can definitely say it was the best one. Mine and Greg's were fine, but like I said, just kinda too over the top for my tastes.

Like the food, I'm half in, half out on the branding. 

Driving back to Grandma's you could really see this San Gabriel mountain fire happening big time. 

It was a very San Marino/Alhambra day that day. I took some end of day photos in the backyard at the end of the day.

After the day ended, I finished the day with a visit to Pepe's with Collin (fresh from his basketball game) and then a whole lot of Uncharted at Greg's house.

Now here's a surprise you might not have been expecting! Mom flew out on Tuesday to help take care of Grandma. And I say "help take care of Grandma" because I haven't yet mentioned that the day before I went to California, Grandma broke her shoulder. And while I was doing a pretty good job of bringing her burgers, we all know Mom would do a better job at some of the other aspects of taking care of Grandma. But before going to Grandma's we met Collin for lunch on the Disney lot.

That night Collin had tickets to the big Hollywood red carpet premiere of the BFG. I had never been to a big Hollywood premiere before. After checking in and picking up my pass I thought for sure I'd be filed off to some non-VIP line but, nope, I walked the red carpet, passing Steven Spielberg on the way. The red carpet, pre-party, and premiere were packed with kids and tweens that I assumed were the children of Hollywood people but later found out were all Disney Channel stars and Vine sensations or teens with 3 million Instagram followers. Oops! Who's the old guy? It's me!

I liked the movie and recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a CGI Grandpa Barnes. After it ended I told Jermaine Clement that it was a good movie and he told me "Aw, cheers mate."

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I Went Went, Back Back, to Cali Cali pt. 2

Slow Saturday day. I double-dip into LA burgers with a lunchtime trip to Tommy's and In n Out.

In n Out Secret Menu suggestion: "the Briggie"--Double Double, animal style, add pickles and raw onion, hold the lettuce and tomato. Finally, something good from In n Out

Somedays I'll take a Tommy's chiliburger over In n Out anyday

Saturday night I went down to Hollywood for a comedy show that turned out to be, err, pretty not funny BUT Milana Vayntrub (a.k.a. Lily from the AT&T ads) was one of the joke/story tellers so that was kinda cool.

Dipped into a show opening at a gallery before the jokes

The idea of the show was that it was comedians and their best friends telling stories, that's why there's always two people in these pictures. The secret idea of the show was that it was comedians and their friends telling stories without having planned at all what they would say.

Maybe I found a tattoo idea?

Finished off the night with too many tacos at Leo's and a run across the street to try the tacos at Super Gallito

See that guy on the right? Listening to him order tacos was like listening to a poem. I guess you have to take my word for it.

One of the best things about Leo's Tacos is how close it is to SK's Donuts. 

Sunday I drove down to Dana Point to hear Cher give a Father's Day talk at her church and then we ate salads on a lawn overlooking the ocean. That's how I like my beaches to be: lawns.

It was a little windy for an umbrella

Like I said, a little windy

Look at all those sandy suckers

Miscellaneous Orange county charm

Then we drove to San Juan Capistrano for a field trip to the Mission. It was old and rocky and had lots of bells. Also: Very bright and sunny and hot. I got a spectacular forearm sunburn.

Hot as heck but happy I called it an Orange County day and headed back up for San Marino. I was cruising along nicely, approaching Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stadium when Grandma's car stopped working...pressing the gas, there just wasn't any action. But I had the momentum to cruise to the side of the freeway and even down an off-ramp a bit. BUT thanks to the power of OnStar all I had to do was press a button and then wait FOUR HOURS for a tow truck. FOUR HOURS. I had a book, though. And my camera. And could even see the Disneyland fireworks around hour 3.5. So it could have been worse?

Tow truck trick of the trade: When making your customer wait 4 hours for your services, send the friendliest and most helpful guy you've got, so the customer has to stop being mad and starts being appreciative.

I Went Went, Back Back, to Cali Cali pt. 1

I've been between work assignments for a minute and was starting to get bored so I flew out to LA for a week to diversify my loafing.

Landing at LAX, American Airlines was having a throwback colorway moment

Becky picked me up and we decided to lunch at Locol, Roy Choi's new socially responsible fast food concept in Watts.

All ordering done on touch screen terminals, I've got a few notes I'd like to pass on about the UX, if they're taking them.

Clockwise, mas or menos: chicken nuggets, collard greens, a carnitas foldie, and cheeseburger (just look at the fat glisten atop that bun!)

lots of little characters all over the place

"Don't you get how good this nugget sauce is? But what flavor would you call it?" That's the mystery, what to call the nugget sauce flavor. Lemon/Lime?

Local characters on the bulletin board

All in all, pretty pleased with my meal at Locol. I wouldn't say it's destination-worthy, but if you can work it into a detour or ride home from the airport, then do it.

After meal, checking out Watts a little and those famous Watts towers. I'd never seen them before and thought they were a little short until I realized they were handmade by one crazy man over thirty years. Then they seemed to be just the right height.

Then it was home to Grandma's. Imagine photos of me being at Grandma's house for a few hours before this one was taken of Collin. Because Collin and Mallory came over and then Greg and Becky came over and then we went to dinner at Lucky Noodle King in San Gabriel.

Driving down to the restaurant, goofing off with my f1.1 lens

Driving past this place I thought "I wonder if that's where we went roller skating in 1st grade?" even though I can read and it is a bowling alley

No food pics from Lucky Noodle King but we ordered all the hits--twice cooked pork, chongqing chicken, smashed cucumber, wontons in chili oil, dumplings, maybe something else

Then it was time to return to the most important restaurant in my life, the place where I learned to order for myself and what I liked (fried shrimp sandwich Rest in Peace) and didn't like (all those peas that came as a side with the spaghetti), for a dessert of onion rings and bittersweet hot fudge sundaes

This is what you'll find as the central image of the Condie/Taylor/Barnes family crest

Then Becky and Greg had us over to their apartment for some games (video) and my first night in LA wrapped up at a reasonable hour.

Don't freak out! It's there to scare away ducks.