Appetite for Destruction and Lies are the first 2 cassettes I ever bought. John and I have had a minor obsession with 1980’s LA rock culture for at least a generation. This weekend, we finally made a pilgrimage to the hallowed land — the Sunset strip in West Hollywood. A few highlights:
- An obligatory tourist move: hiking behind the Hollywood sign. Google maps will mislead you since you technically have to trespass to do it. Here’s the tutorial video.
- Friday night we hit Night+Market. Thanks Jason for the repping my new top Thai spot. The sangria and chicken sando are musts.
- We followed Thai food with Dresden the vintage bar now immortalized in Swingers. Effectively buzzed it seemed like the perfect time to lose my scooter virginity. This guy got me to the Greek. For nearly 2 miles we just zoomed past thousands of concert-goers trudging up the hill to see Jack White’s Raconteurs who would have blown the roof off the place if it wasn’t already an open-air amphitheater. After the blazing encore, we found our scooters exactly where we ditched them and rode the brakes the whole way back down the hill. Then realized we didn’t need to pay to activate the motors. Downhill, duh. $3 down the drain.
- Saturday was a touring day. We used Getaround to rent a Maserati for $100 for the day. The car felt both gauche and low quality. A killer combo, perfect for interpreting the hair metal era. Getaround was simple. Use the app to reserve a vehicle in a radius, unlock the car from your phone, and return it back to the owner’s preferred radius.
- We had lunch at Duke’s in Malibu (thanks Ted for the overwhelming hospitality) followed by a drink at Nobu. It was Monaco wealth colliding with a movie star gene pool. It gives you what you want and the beauty of the restaurant and location befits the crowd. We did not fit in. John reminded me that we still have a full set of ribs.
- Saturday nite we wrapped by going to see a lineup of rock bands at the famous Whiskey A Go-Go. The crowd unsurprisingly skewed older, was decked out in 80s fashion, and was super-friendly. The venue is amazing. You are close to the stage, the music is loud, the bands are full of energy and just hanging out with the intimate audience after their sets. 4 hours blew by for me. John closed the place and might be a co-owner now. We hung out a bit with my favorite act of the evening, Niterain, who were on the last few hours of a 14-day visa. They needed to get on a plane to Norway stat.