Woke up early and tired after a night in the Westwood Inn, Pasadena.
This place was a fairly downbeat motel run by Taiwanese who spoke only a little English, but at 10.30 at night, I didn't have much choice . . .
I packed my bags quickly and jumped into the car - no coffee - and set off on the final run of Route 66 through to Santa Monica Pier - and then hopefully off to Malibu to visit the magical Shangri-La studios . . .
Traffic in LA is bad and it took me more than an hour and a quarter to get to Hollywood and then on to Sunset Boulevard, before peeling off on to Santa Monica Boulevard and the home stretch of Route 66. Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" played on the iPod as I cruised down Santa Monica Bl . . .
"....When the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard . . . " as the song goes. . .
I called my connection just after 10am as specified. Not good news.
The owner of the studio - Beej Chaney, formerly of the band The Suburbs - was not keen on opening up for me to visit and the manager himself had a busy day etc etc etc. In short - I wasn't going to Shangri-La. Probably for the best as the legend says that if you go to Shangri La then you never leave.
Disappointed? Yes, I was. But not for long. As I arrived in Santa Monica the sun was coming up and my weariness after the last week and a half in the car hit. The sight of the hotel - a fairly upscale one - was cheering.
After last night's high of enthusiasm, it is now back down to earth and the Shangri La studios can remian a dream not yet lived.
Anyway - that's what California is all about. Dreams.
1 comment:
Inspiring and genuine. Dreams not yet lived are the best ones- but you know that!
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