Girlfriend_Today

Los Angeles Landmark: Disney Hall

The Frank Gehry designed Disney Hall opened in 2003.

It became the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center downtown.

Disney Hall serves as the home for the Philharmonic and Master Corale.

Los Angeles Landmark: Capitol Records

The iconic Capitol Records Building lies in the heart of Hollywood.

Just north of the famous intersection at Hollywood and Vine.

Built in 1956 it was designed to look like a stack of records on a turntable.

There is a blinking light at the top of the needle...

It spells out 'Hollywood' in Morse Code and has done so since its unveiling.

It is also known as 'The House the Nat Built' owing to Nat "King" Cole.

As his sales of records and merchandise in the 50's & 60's was considerable.

The 1st album recorded here: Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color.

The Capitol Records Building has also been featured in tons of movies.

Including fun disaster films such as Earthquake & The Day After Tomorrow.

Los Angeles Landmark: Hollywood Forever

Hollywood Forever Cemetary is the final resting for many movie stars.

Including: Don Knotts, Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc, Cecile B. DeMille,

Douglas Fairbanks & Jr., Estelle Getty, George Harrison, Tyrone Power,

Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone (above), Fay Wray & Vampira.

The circular marker off to the right is for Hattie MacDaniel...

It is an 'empty tomb' dedicated many years after her death in 1952.

African-Amercans were not permitted burial at the time of her passing.

Toto from The Wizard of Oz also has an 'empty tomb' at Hollywood Forever.

Bugs Bunny voicer Mel Blanc's tombstone aptly says: That's All Folks.

Los Angeles Landmark: The Coliseum

Built for the 1932 Summer Olympic Games.

It is the only stadium to ever be used for a 2nd Olympics - in 1984.

The Coliseum has also been (or is) home to several team franchises:

USC Trojans, Rams, Dodgers, 22 Pro Bowls and the Raiders.

It also serves as a major concert venue.

Pop has seen U2, Rolling Stones, Who and Guns N Roses there.

Gf at House of Blues

We walked passed the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip the other day.

I insisted on stopping for a touristy photo op.

***

Learn something: There are 12 other House of Blues locations across the US.

HoB has been a popular fixture on the Sunset Strip since the mid-90's.

Not just a concert hall the HoB also hosts a restaurant of some distinction.

One of their main attractions is the weekly Gospel Sunday Brunch.

The original HoB was opened in Cambridge, Mass - it has since closed.

Investors included Dan Aykroyd, Aerosmith, Paul Shaffer and James Belushi.

The House of Blues is considered a major venue for touring bands.

Now ya know.

At the Comedy Store

Wanna be my 'plus one'?

***

The Comedy Store opened it's doors in April 1972.

It is an iconic landmark along the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

It has played host to all the great comics in the last 40 years.

Roseanne, Johnny Carson, Andy Kaufman, Richard Pryor - to name a few.

Myself? I'd love to have seen Gallagher and his Sledge-O-Matic routine.

Maybe Pop can recreate that for me at home sometime.

We'll need a watermelon...

Harvey Milk

Trailbrazer. You can read about the Mayor of Castro Street: HERE.

Learn Something: The Ides of March

Et tu, Tuesday?

***

The Ides of March (or 15th) in Roman times was dedicated to the god Mars.

It was a day of celebration marked by military parades.

***

Today is also the 2055th anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Maybe he shouldn't have visited the Senate that fateful day in 44 BC.

In Shakespeare's play Caesar is warned by a seer: Beware the Ides of March.

On the day Caesar says to the seer: Well, the Ides of March have come...

Implying that the seer was wrong in his ominous prediction.

To which the seer responds: Aye, but they are not yet gone.

Later in the day Julius was stabbed 23 times by Brutus and his conspirators.