To Live & Lie (in bed) in LA
Party & sleep like a rock-star on the sunset strip
I’ve been lucky enough to spend a fair bit of time in LA over the years, with plenty of close family situated from the San Fernando Valley to Palmdale in the high deserts of Southern California. It feels a bit like a home from home in many ways. Most of my time in LA has been spent with family, with the occasional trips to Vegas and Santa Monica. I never felt I’d really sampled the Hollywood nightlife in the shameful unabashed way I go about letting my hair down elsewhere. With this in mind my partner and I set about booking several nights worth of hotels and gigs on the Sunset Strip and Santa Monica.
As a classic rock fan I’ve always been fascinated with the Sunset Strip and the tales of rock n roll debauchery from artists such as Led Zeppelin, The Doors & The Who in famous venues like The Viper Room, Whisky a Go Go & The House of Blues, to name but a few. Many of the hotels in the surrounding area are also interwoven into these tales just as much as the venues and bars. One such hotel is the Andaz — originally known as the ‘Riot Hyatt’ Hotel, now rebranded as a luxury boutique hotel and pretty far removed from it’s wild, rock n roll past. This was to be our first hotel of three in the course of the week.
First up before checking into the Andaz was a quick detour to the infamous Hollywood museum of Death. If you haven’t heard of the Museum, it’s probably because it isn’t well known outside of LA. I’d heard about it through a fellow Twitter follower, and in case you wondered, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Exhibits range from Manson murder memorabilia to Heavens Gate initiation videos. I found it thoroughly interesting but noted girlfriend looked decidedly unimpressed with the wall dedicated to graphic photographs of car crash victims and though it best we go for an early check-in at the Andaz. Still, it’s worth a quick visit if you’ve time to kill (apologies).
Check in at The Andaz was a pleasure, the lobby consisting of nothing more than a comfortable seating area, and several receptionists standing about with iPad’s checking guests in. Very minimalist, but unpretentious, friendly and infinitely cool. Our room was very spacious, with a very large, amazingly comfortable, king size bed. We didn’t spend too much more time in the room and decided to have our first alcoholic beverage of the day in the hotel bar. After a few beers we decided to take in a few more bars on the Sunset Strip before heading to our first gig of the week.
The first band we checked out were Australian electro-pop outfit Cut Copy at the Hollywood Palladium. Have to confess I’m not a huge fan — they didn’t really fit into my rock n roll holiday criteria, so was hoping the copious amounts of Vodka n Red Bull would help pass the time merrily and stave of my impending tiredness. How wrong I was. That’s the thing about Vodka n Red Bull, it keeps you stimulated for an hour or two, but if you flat out need to go to bed, there’s nothing (aside from illegal substances) that will keep you awake. The aforementioned bed, at this point was beginning to consume my dwindling consciousness. Thankfully the band didn’t play too long and we were but a quick taxi journey back to the hotel, where I crashed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The following morning we both agreed to nurture ourselves back to something resembling normality, with a long lie in bed, followed by a hearty breakfast, and a few hours lounging around on the Andaz rooftop pool area — famously featured in one of my favorite movies ‘This is Spinal Tap’. To say this was about as cool & relaxing a time as it’s possible to get, comes mighty close to describing my state of mind at that moment — lying back, shades on, smoothie in hand, listening to the laid back lounge beats playing over the rooftop sound system. This experience pretty much sold me on a repeat visit next year — It’s hard not too feel like a rock star in such opulent surroundings.
Next up, gig-wise was Petty Fest 2014 at the El Rey Theater, which to cut a long story short (if you aren’t familiar with the concept) consists of celebrities (most, I hadn’t heard of) singing cover versions, by LA rock legend Tom Petty, with proceeds donated to charity. Petty Fest was sponsored by Irish whisky ‘Jamison’ which, even mixed with coke, still manages to leave a nasty after-taste in the mouth — give me some sour mash any day of the week. This unfortunately meant I had to stick to beer for the night as they weren’t allowed to stock any other spirits aside from Vodka, which I’d had my fair share of the previous night. Thankfully the gig itself was more than entertaining, thanks in part, to some of the artists themselves, but also to a few members of the crowd who had enjoyed a few too many Jamison’s and produced the kind of dancing only drunk middle aged white guys are capable off. The highlight of the night was undoubtedly Natural Born Killers actress, Juliet Lewis rendition of ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’. To say Juliet doesn’t give a damn is somewhat of an understatement, what she lacked in musical ability, she more than made-up-for in sheer enthusiasm and facial contortions. We never quite made it to the end of the concert; again, the combination of the previous nights partying and too much alcohol had me pining for my comfy new rectangular shaped friend awaiting our arrival back at the hotel.
It’s amazing how much it’s possible to squeeze in, in such a short timeframe — I’ve not even touched upon our bar-stop-tour of Venice Beach and our conversations with Venice beach regular/local celeb Harry Perry or our few days touring wineries around Solvang — I’ll save those for another time.
Very few cities have captured my imagination like LA has. With its heady blend of modern pop culture, iconic locations and sheer size, there’s something magical about the vibe in Los Angeles. If you haven’t sampled the nightlife of Santa Monica and Hollywood you’re missing out on a great experience unlike any other.
