Los Angeles according to …

One day while I was in LA, I had a few hours in the afternoon to wander around in Koreatown. And I came across this graffiti-mural of Los Angeles. The five pictures here were taken in sequence from left to right.

The artist was looking north presumably from Koreatown, so Santa Monica is on the left. Oops, I think there is a little gap here. Tiny gap only (as you will see below). The bottom half of the mural is filled with wildstyle, cubist vegetation, and tags.

I don’t know the landmarks and geography of LA well enough to identify the freeways and buildings. Somebody please help me out (put them in Comments). The mural is panning from west to east.

And the mural ends at Dodger stadium with a blimp. Don’t know why the sky is yellow – perhaps it is meant to depict the scorching sun or smog.

The mural is located on Western Ave between Beverly and W1st. Well, I just found it on Google map.  With Google map, there is no need to travel physically anymore – see my earlier post relating to this point.

A couple of blocks south on Western Avenue is a US Post Office named after Nat King Cole!  There is really much to be discovered on foot in LA.

If you want to see how New York looks according to …, check out my earlier post on a fantastic mural at East Houston Street, downtown, NYC.

Calico Tanks, Red Rock Canyon

At the visitor center, the ranger looked at us and recommended the Calico Tanks trail. The trailhead is about 3-4 miles from the visitor center located near a sandstone quarry.

As you can see, the sky was grey. We had blue cloudless sky every day except the day we chose to visit the canyon.  So all the photos look a bit dull. The upside was that we were not sun burnt. Apparently, temperatures in the area exceed 105 °F (41 °C)  routinely in the summer. Nevertheless, we were urged by the ranger to bring water. So we bought ice cold bottled water from a vending machine in the desert.

The rocks are layered and very weathered.

After we passed the sandstone quarry and the washbed which is filled with gravels, we started climbing. Looking back towards the washbed.

It is fascinating to see how abruptly the rock color changes from red to yellow and vice versa.

We remarked that since we left LA, the palette of everything along the way is overwhelmingly yellowish brown – the desert and even the homes in the area, they are all in shades of yellow, brown, and reddish brown.

There must have been water in the geologic past.

This is the first time I have seen a group of cactus in nature. Usually I see them planted individually in a small red plastic pot in a supermarket.

The trail is rated medium, as you have to scramble, and hop from rock to rock.

On the smooth surface of the flat rock, there was a fine layer of sand making it slippery – and to prove it, I slipped and fell.

Look! Water in the desert. These seasonal pools are called Tinaja or Tanks – we were told these are the places to watch animals (bighorn sheep, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, rabbit) as they come for a drink. Not this one though, since it is frequented by humans.

Sue climbed into one of the larger dried-up tanks. To her left is the bottom where you can see a brown layer of vegetation.

At the end of the trail, we were rewarded by a view of Las Vegas. There are some homes just below the canyon – Calico Springs. What a place to live!

In the picture below, our hotel – Red Rock Station is standing prominently in the foreground (left, just above the rock). In a distance, the Stratosphere (white tower) and the Wynn towers (two bronze colored buildings on the right) are clearly visible. This second picture was taken with zoom from the same spot – I just want to point out that the strip and even our hotel is not as close as it looks.

The view of Vegas from here at dusk must be phenomenal and a vantage points (4930 ft) for taking night pictures of the city for the tourist brochures.

The whole walk took 2-3 hours round trip (2.5 miles) and gained 450 ft (140 m) – not strenuous, a must-see for any hikers visiting Vegas. At the end, we each drank a liter of water.

Red Rock Canyon, 13-mile scenic drive

One reason we did not stay at the strip in Las Vegas is because we want to be closer to nature. Our hotel Red Rock Station (earlier post) takes it name from the Red Rock Canyon national conservation area, which is a small corner of the Mojave Desert. There is a very modern visitor center at 3720 ft (1127m).

The conservation area has one highway (Nevada state 159) and only one other paved road, and it is aptly named, the Scenic Drive – a one-way loop of 13-mile at a max speed of 35 mph.

You can drive right up to the red rocks and see the banding. The red coloration is oxidized iron minerals in a layer of rock- rust essentially.

It is a very popular place for rock climbing. Can you see the curve in the road in the photo below ?

The sky was grey. I thought it was going to rain (in the desert !) – but it did not happen.

Tortoise is a native here in the desert – it is somehow hard to imagine. We did not see any as it was winter and they were hibernating.

The openness of the space was breathtaking, especially for us city-dwellers.

I wonder how old is this tree. Apparently, due to the dryness, plants grow very slowly in the desert.

Here is a video I borrowed from the official Red Rock Canyon web site. Doesn’t the music reminds you of U2 from their Joshua Tree album ?

We stopped at one of several parking areas and went for a hike to Calico Tanks – see next post.

Las Vegas celebrates the year of the Dragon

We arrived in Vegas a week after the Lunar New Year, so the crowds had died down a bit but the decorations were still up.

As many Asians enjoy gambling and even more indulge in shopping, Las Vegas has been rolling out the red carpet for them. Chinese new year was lavishly celebrated in a number of Vegas casino hotels. The hall decorated with red lanterns and twin smoke-breathing dragons (in a distance) was Bellagio’s attempt to create a celebratory atmosphere. Bellagio had a few dragons snaking along on the ground too. Of course, there were throngs of people standing in front of it taking pictures.

The Wynn had their dragons too.

We sometimes wonder what made our culture worship extinct giant lizards.

In addition to Asian Americans arriving from LA, more are flying in directly from Asia. To make the non-English speakers feel more welcomed, Chinese language signs were prominently displayed.

Curiously, they were both written with traditional characters (used in Hong Kong and Taiwan) but not the simplified characters used in mainland China.

Caesar’s palace has a skinny, legless (but flying) dragon inside.

Fake ionic columns and red lanterns – 21st century commercial interior design.

In 2011, the majority of growth of the gambling industry happened offshore in Macau. We visited Macau at the same period last year and created a few posts about how Chinese new year was celebrated over there: MGM Grand, Mermaid vs Jellyfish and Grand Lisboa vs Wynn.

Red Rock Station, Las Vegas

I have been to Vegas a number of times and stayed at the strip every time.  In search of something different, we decided to find a hotel that is off the strip and has the feel of a resort. We found Red Rock Station. The above photo is not mine but borrowed from the hotel’s web site.

It is miles from the strip and located at the very edge of the city.  All the rooms on one side of the building command a direct view of the Red Rock Canyon. Our room window frames a perfect view of the canyon. Rooms on the other side of the hotel have a view of the city.

The pools were lit at night but the water was too cold to swim in (even during the day). But I can imagine the scene here in the summer.

How often does one watch TV in the bathtub ? The decor is modern.

But the minibar is too modern – we were warned by the little card –

“Items that are removed for longer than 45 seconds will be charged directly to your guest account.

Placing other items in the mini-bar may also incur other charges to your account”.

 The items are either tagged electronically (RFID?) or there is a weighing platform underneath. What if I don’t read English ? 45 seconds !

The deco of the steak house is overdone in my view –  the yellow stripy floor-to-ceiling backdrop looks rather alien.

The main entrance is rather dramatic due to the red glass doors.

Of course, the hotel has a big casino, albeit a lot quieter than those on the strip. The last time I was in Vegas, there were hardly any penny machines. Now they all are, with the difference being that one can now bet on up 15 to 20 lines per play using 1 to 10 or more credits (pennies).  In other words, you can bet as little as one penny and up to several bucks per play, it is very flexible but even more confusing (how does it matter anyway?).

Palm trees are a must in these parts of the world.

We had a nice stay – spa treatment was quite expensive. Overall, Red Rock Station is recommendable.

From LA to Sin City

While we were in LA, we took a  road trip to Las Vegas – a four hour drive on Interstate 15 North.  Vegas baby !

On the way, we saw signs to Route 66.  It would have been an interesting detour but would take at least half a day to explore – so we skipped it but promised to return.  And this is my favorite cover version of the song – (Get your kicks on) Route 66 by Depeche mode.

” You’ll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico;

Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona;

 Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino“

Out of the urban sprawl and onto the Mojave Desert. We climbed and gained some altitude, at some point, we passed 4000 feet (photo below). There were lanes for slow moving vehicles going uphill (trailers and trucks), and lanes for runaway trucks on the downhill sections.

We stopped by Barstow for lunch and took at a look at their only other commercial activity, beside gas and fast food, i.e, the Tangier outlet mall. It was being invaded by several busloads of Chinese tourists, busy shopping, keeping the stores in the desert open.

Exit 23 to Zzyzx! What ? And Exit 191 to Ghost Town ? Area 51 is somewhere nearby.

The Mojave desert is not quite the kind of desert I had in mind – endless yellow sand dunes. Instead, it is rather rocky and covered by patches of weeds.

The longest train I have ever seen, crawling slowly under the sun. I only caught maybe one third of it in this picture.

In late afternoon, the sun seemed to set quickly. The trucks looked like wagons for a second.

As we got closer to Vegas,  small clusters of casino/hotel/amusement park/service stations started to pop up in the middle of nowhere by the roadside, like Vegas I imagine many years ago.

Sue volunteered to drive, so I had the chance to snap these pictures at 1/1600th second with my new little camera.

You know Vegas cannot be far when one of the roadside hotels looks like it is made of gold.

South Point. This is where the lights of Vegas (on Interstate 15 North) start. It was dusk when we reach the outskirts of the city. We avoided the strip and got on the ring road to our hotel on the eastern edge of the city – Red Rock Station (next post).

Suburban mall hopping, part 2

Paris Baguette, Los Cerritos mall

You can tell by the name, Paris Baguette, that this cafe is not run by a French company. It is a franchise run by a rather successful Korean chaebol (SPC group) that has landed in the US a few years ago. There was one in Fort Lee, NJ near us (before we moved). The deco is certainly way cooler than Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. Although the wooden chairs did not look too comfortable, the sofa we were sitting on was nice and cushy. Their bread and pastries were very good indeed, and the selection included Asian flavors, e.g. red bean-stuffed bakery products, etc.

Well, it was February – a week from Valentine’s day. Starbucks livened up what thousands if not millions of people hold in their hands. Evidently, Sue ordered the drink. We did not try the Cup Magic mobile app as suggested on the cup.

Hairbucks? No chance that the goods or services offered here will be confused with the Seattle company’s offerings. But does the similarity of the mark do anything for this business ?

Fancy buying a car in the shopping mall ? One can do just that in this mall which is not far from Cerritos Auto Square (well known as one of the largest and allegedly best places to buy a car). The Fiat 500 (“cinquecento”), so small and cutely colorful, can fit the description of a mall merchandise. A colleague of mine, a Dutch man bought a pink special edition for his wife.

The beverage retail concept below does not make sense. Holland is not well known for either of the ingredients: chocolate or red wine. I guess they are being honest about the source of “ChocoVine Original”. The label shows only tulips, not a grape or cocoa is in sight. Even if it is made with Swiss chocolate and French fine red wine, I really am not sure if the combination works. Just look at the color. And it is four times more expensive than the Merlot next to it !

The “office” attire of certain professionals in Las Vegas, on display at Agent Provacateur.

We were in the west, enough said.

One of the more architecturally interesting mall – namely the Fashion Show Mall in Vegas. Is it meant to be a UFO or a surfboard ?

In the end, we did end up doing a lot of shopping during this trip, mostly electronics goods – in some of the malls where the above photos were taken, although not the items shown in the photos.  To pack the stuff home, we bought a suitcase from a luggage store in the Fashion Show Mall – and minutes later just round the corner, we came across the brand’s own store in a Vegas hotel.

Suburban mall hopping, part 1

Last month, we visited Los Angeles and spent a long weekend in Las Vegas meeting friends who came down from the Bay area.  Rather than sightseeing  (most sights in LA had been seen already), we were just chilling in the suburb.  Unlike NYC, LA is not known to be welcoming for pedestrians.  So, it was a matter of driving from one mall to another, big and small.  Below are snapshots of things we saw on some of the store shelves.

Don’t know if you can see it, the sign says “Spices A-Z” – at Penzeys, a specialty spices supplier who has one of its stores in Torrance. You are looking at the C section. I first encountered them in NYC’s Grand Central market where they have a stand. Everything you need and many you have not heard of can be found here. I bought mostly their specialty mixes which you cannot get anywhere else. They also pack the spices in ziplock bags so they travel lightly and flatly.

We went to a bunch of Asian supermarkets. I have seen plenty of Japanese meals presented as realistic plastic models in restaurant windows, but not plastic kimichi until now.

Oodles of Vietnamese rice noodles.

We were at Mitsuwa‘s Torrance branch – pictured below are their European-style cakes. We used to live within minutes from the east coast store – really missing it now. Watch my video taken at Mitsuwa Edgewater where we bought freshly-carved bluefin tuna.

Speaking of plastic food, this is a model of my favorite ramen combo at Santouka 山頭火 in Mitsuwa’s food court. I crave the ikura don. This is a rather old review of the Santouka chain by rameniac.

Assault rifles on sale, prices range from $299 to $549 and shotguns from $199 $299 at Big Five. We bought our New Balance trainers there, no weapon or ammo.

This section in Barnes and Noble caught my eye when I walked by because most of the books on the top shelf have a reddish book jacket – the section took on a pinkish hue against the green/brown color scheme of the store – not sure this photo really shows it.  There is a little irony here – putting “Love & Sex” right next to “Addiction/Recovery” – I think they used to name this section “Self-Help”.   I guess the concept of self-help is a bit jarring when it comes to the topic of “Sex” and “Addiction”.

The book titles are sensational to say the least – if you want to browse the shelves, click on the photo for a bigger version. Go for it, it’s worth zooming in – at a minimum, your curiosity will be satisfied without the self-consciousness associated with actually standing in front of this bookshelf in Barnes and Noble. Prominently displayed under Addiction/Recovery is a book titled “Oral sex he’ll never forget”. I presume this book gives advices on how to feed an addiction and not about recovering from an addiction.

With weapons galore and such self-help manuals, the suburb is not sleepy.

We continue our trip through the malls in part 2.

Geneva’s 80th International Motor Show

This post is about something we did two years ago.  So before all the new cars on show become old news …

We went to see the annual 80th International Motor Show (80e Salon International de l’Auto) at Geneva’s Palexpo on the second but last day in March 2010.  We were stuck in traffic outside Geneva for almost an hour – all because of the show.  We detoured into town, parked at the rail station, and took the train to Palexpo.  I was given two tickets (courtesy of a Porsche dealership) so entrance was free.

Interesting door ?

It was crowded – in fact,  I have never seen so many people in one place in Switzerland.  It feels bigger than the New York Motor Show, and velvet ropes were everywhere.  VIPs get to sit inside and pose with the cars.

The show involved every thing that had to do with cars but it was also catered to the auto industry and not just to the fan boys. There were lots of mechanical, paint, garage, and accessories exhibitors, including custom car makers. Shiny fancy concept model cars and more.  It must be heaven for a car enthusiasist.

Lambo

Lotus

Bentley

Masaereti – we see this model somewhat frequently on the street.

We went to the show before we bought our car. The show actually inspired us to buy our current car.  It is however not any one of the above (I wish). Nor the one below.

More pictures of cars including this year’s (82e) are at the official web site. The place where we bought our car (unfortunately not a Porsche dealership) sent us two tickets – our car is almost two years old – they figure we might be in the market for a new car ? We have not decided whether to go or not. The show starts on March 8.