Los Angeles, CA
(April 11-12, 2012)
We had one last full day in LA and decided to relax a bit. We had no real plans until that evening, other than brunch plans with our friend Kate, so we decided to make it an off-the-cuff kind of day.
Unexpected rain aided us in having a leisurely morning (I mean, who wants to rush anywhere when it’s a rainy day, right?) before we headed over to Sweet Butter for brunch in North Hollywood. Our friend Kate is another LA transplant from NYC. She made quite a name for herself in the cabaret/piano bar/musical theater scene (we met her years ago when she was host of a late-night, musical theater open-mic night at one of the West Village’s piano bars) and decided it was time to try her hand out in LA.
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| Miriam and Kate outside of Sweet Butter |
We had a great morning catching up and remarking how nice it was to see the rain (Kate said she misses the rain now that she rarely sees it out in desert country). After brunch, which was quite yummy, I might add, we made our way to Kate’s apartment, where Sal met up with us, and we hung out for a while in her fabulous apartment with her ultra-cute dog, Oscar. It was nice to take some time to just sit back and relax while on vacation. I rarely allow myself to do that—it’s always go-go-go with me so that I can see as much as possible.
After leaving Kate’s, we left our car parked by her apartment and let Sal chauffeur us around. Miriam mentioned she was interested in doing some shopping, specifically for some new shoes, since we had a ton of weddings to attend in the summer months, so Sal took us to Westfield Century City Mall. I remarked that they never had fun heels for feet as large as mine (think canoe paddles), which turned into a challenge for Sal and Miriam, who both started pulling huge, ridiculous, drag-queen-like shoes off the sales racks. I was refusing to try them on so Sal said I had to try them on if he did (turns out we wear the same size), and he proceeded to give us a fashion show in the heels, complete with rolled up pants—the better to see how fabulous his legs looked. A deal was a deal, so I did try them on, but Sal’s legs looked much better than mine…
After our unsuccessful—yet amusing—shopping excursion (we even saw Trouty Mouth, aka Chord Overstreet, from “Glee” doing a little shopping), Sal took us over to Silver Lake, a neighborhood with a hipster vibe that reminded us very much of NYC’s own Williamsburg. We stopped at a coffee shop for a little coffee and pastry and relaxed at one of their outdoor tables. We wandered around the neighborhood for a little bit, but the shops were a bit out of our price range so we hopped back in the car. We decided to stop at a really good hole-in-the-wall taco joint in North Hollywood called Henry’s Tacos for a quick bite. I was still kind of full from brunch and didn’t want to completely ruin my appetite for the dinner we were going to in a few hours, so I only had one little taco, but it was quite tasty. Sal had always wanted to try this place, and all three of us gave it two thumbs up.
Sal had to get ready for work, so we picked our car up at Kate’s and drove back to his apartment. After freshening up, we headed to Hamburger Mary’s in West Hollywood for their Wednesday night Drag Queen Bingo, the event I had been looking forward to for five days.
We got there early in order to get a seat, having not made a reservation ahead of time, and settled into a table in the back of the restaurant, waiting for our friend Marques to get there. That evening, bingo was a charity event for a local school, so the prizes were pretty tame, like gift certificates to restaurants and spas. Our friends have gone before and won lots of lewd and crude prizes (which are always humorous to win, even if they won’t be used). Miriam and I made our donation and got our bingo cards and bingo markers and waited for the show to begin. Marques showed up right as it was about to start, so we ordered our dinner and uncapped our markers.
I must say, there’s something about drag queens that livens up any event. They’re so full of spitfire and ready with snappy insults that it always makes for an amusing evening. And this evening proved to be no different. Our drag queen host had a male co-host, and they kept things quite entertaining with their witty banter.
Along with our bingo cards we were given an information sheet of the various bingo games we could play, most with obscene names like Pole Dance (fill the “N” column) or Rim Job (fill in all the spaces around the free space), and all the “call-backs” we had to be ready to yell (i.e. “Not after but...” B4 or “Not malignant but...” B9. Clever).
Every winner had to go up to the front and show the hosts their winning cards. They then had to take a victory lap around the restaurant so that those of us who didn’t win could crumple up our losing cards and throw them at them. There were also plenty of people not paying attention to the game we were supposed to be playing and would think they had bingo, would run up to the front, and would then get made fun of by the hosts. It was entertaining. And, lesson learned: when the drag queen is talking, shut up and listen. The three of us got so close to winning on numerous occasions, but, alas, it was not meant to be. Regardless, we had an incredibly fun evening.
We decided to skip the later session of bingo, said goodbye to Marques, and made our way over to The Abbey, a famous gay bar in West Hollywood, that on Wednesday nights turns into Girl Bar. Earlier in the day, our friend Kate mentioned she would be there that evening and told us we should join her. Parking was proving to be difficult, but we hadn’t heard from Kate confirming that she was actually there, so we refused to pay for valet parking. We drove around for a little while and eventually found a parking spot around the corner and down the block from The Abbey-- a parking spot most LA residents would probably refuse because of the “long” walk, but we’re New Yorkers-- all we ever do is walk!
It was still relatively early in the evening-- a little after 9pm-- so getting in was easy, and the place was far from crowded. It looked really cool inside, with big, working fireplaces blazing and an outside garden area. The music was a little loud, especially since no one was on the dance floor, but we found a seat and waited to hear from Kate. Not long after we got a text saying she wasn’t going to make it. Although the place looked cool, it wasn’t really our cup of tea if we weren’t going to have company, so we decided to call it a night and head back to North Hollywood.
The next morning it was time to start packing up. Our flight was leaving in the early afternoon, but before we headed to the airport we wanted to spend a little more quality time with our host-with-the-most, Sal. Brunch was a definite theme this vacation, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have one last brunch, this time at Bea Bea’s Cafe in Burbank. It was nothing to behold inside, but the food was delicious! Sal and I both got all things pumpkin-- pumpkin waffles and pumpkin pancakes with a pumpkin cream cheese marmalade. If something has pumpkin in it, I’m going to try it, so this was a lovely meal in my eyes.
After brunch we ran to a nearby grocery store so I could pick up a birthday card for my brother, and then we stopped by the post office so I could put my brother’s birthday gift (some fun finds from It’s a Wrap) in the mail. I can honestly say his was the only birthday present that arrived on time this year, all thanks to me being on vacation. Thanks, LA!
With nothing else to do and Sal having to go to work, we packed up the car, said goodbye to Sal, and made our way to LAX. We waved goodbye to our little rental car and checked in for our flight.
We were ready to eat by the time we got on our Virgin America flight, so we ordered food to eat almost right after take-off, using the handy-dandy order screen at our seats. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. After almost an hour we finally stopped a flight attendant and asked where our food was, and she explained it would be delivered after they served everyone beverages. I was already starting to gnaw on my knuckles from hunger... My question is, why offer something and say they’ll bring it right to you, if you then have to wait until they feel like bringing it? Ugh. Whatever. (Editor’s note: if you ever fly Virgin and want to order food or drink, do so after the beverage cart has gone by and it WILL come to you quickly. Miriam ordered a diet soda later in the flight and it was out in less than five minutes.)
The flight itself was uneventful, thankfully. We landed at Newark really late and then waited forever for the shuttle bus to take us back to the city. Why not a cab? Because it would cost us a ton of money to go from New Jersey to Brooklyn-- about the cost of a one-way flight, actually. So we waited. Finally our bus appeared. We then grabbed our train home, walked into the apartment, gave the kitties a welcome home squeeze and collapsed into bed.
All in all, it was an incredibly fruitful trip. Many thanks to all the wonderful friends we were able to see: Sal, Lori, Autumn, Rightor, Isabella, Ryan, James, Kate, and Marques. Y’all made it an extra special trip.
‘Til we meet again, LA. ‘Til we meet again.
