We Oregonians enjoy putting down southern California: so crowded, the freeways!, smog, too many people. Etc, etc.
But whenever my wife and I visit my daughter and her family, who live at the bottom of the Hollywood Hills, I realize how much there is to like about this area. I wouldn't want to live there permanently, but for a weekend... delightful.
This time we were fortunate to be able to stay nearby in a cute, quirky, "bungalow" owned by friends of my daughter. They gave us a discount on the usual rental price, which was much appreciated.
So for a few days we got to experience what's it like to live on top of the Hollywood Hills.
The view is pretty spectacular, to put it mildly. I think that's downtown Los Angeles in the distance but wouldn't swear to it. The lower elevation Hollywood Dells, where my daughter lives, is in the near foreground.
Here's the view from the living room. At night the lights were mesmerizing.
We liked the eclectic creative interior design. It's an old concrete block house with a lot of character.
Laurel enjoyed browsing through the artsy coffee table books. One, "Alison Parker Confidential," had her believing that the photos of celebrities and other famous people in compromising positions were real. Eventually she read the intro, where Parker says that body doubles were used. Amazingly realistic.
Monkey and a martini. That's my idea of fine art.
Out of the back bedroom window we could see the (partially obscured) Hollywood sign.
This is another view of the living room. Comfortable and artsy.
I resonated with some refrigerator door inspiration.
Walking down the hill to my daughter's house we passed some classic Hollywood architecture.
This house had an amazing cactus garden. The "tree" on the left actually is a very large cactus.
This house had an yacht vibe to it.
Whenever we eat in the Hollywood area, I'm reminded of how crappy the vegetarian dining options are in Salem, Oregon (where we live) compared to the much more health conscious southern California restaurant scene. Here's the hummus plate with a tasty variety of bread that we got at Le Pain Quotidien. Loved it!
On our last night the setting sun cast a golden glow on a distant building. It was an L.A. moment. Flashy, large-scale, captivating.
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