Hangin’ in Hollywood and Santa Monica Beach August, 2005

Friends:

I flew into LAX yesterday and after getting my rental car, headed to my friend Michael McCarty’s house. He and his wife, Valerie, live in Inglewood. They have a gorgeous townhouse and made me feel so at home.

Today was a free day so I went exploring. After a delicious lunch of blue corn tacos made by Michael, I headed for Hollywood. I drove down LaBrea (the simplest way for me to get to Hollywood) and parked right behind Hollywood High School. Although I lived in California as a teen and my dad’s family is from California, I never had the opportunity to visit Hollywood. I walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visited Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the wax museum, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. At Ripley’s, I met two young ladies who were having fun posing as the largest man in the world.

After Hollywood, I drove to Santa Monica for a seaside visit. I love the beach. It’s my favorite place in the whole world. I parked right off Santa Monica Boulevard and walked to the bluffs, the cliffs that overlook the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) and the Santa Monica Beach and Pier. In a small park, I met a woman from Greece who spoke virtually no English. She was sitting in the crook of a twisted tree, knitting. Even though we did not speak the same language, we seemed to understand each other perfectly. We showed each other pictures of our family. She shared her plums with me and I took her picture with my digital camera. Her name was Eleni.

Afterwards, I met a family from France and offered to take their family’s picture with their digital camera. They were happy to have picture of all four of them together. They returned the favor by taking my picture as well.

I walked down the bluffs and crossed over the highway on a foot bridge. The journey to the water was quite a long trek through the sand. By this time, it was early evening and the weather was cool. The sand felt so good between my toes. When I reached the water, I wanted to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean and when I did, I was shocked by how cold the water was. I decided to admire the Santa Monica Pier from afar and opted instead to eat at a small Thai restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard called Thai Dishes. The pad thai was delicious.

Tomorrow, I will be in Century City attending the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s Conference. I am excited – I can’t wait!

Until next time…

Warmly,
Dianne de Las Casas