Los Angeles - The Ugly

The infamous Skid Row, also known as Central City East or Hope Central, is a very sad place in Downtown Los Angeles. According to Wikipedia, this area contains one of the largest stable populations of homeless persons in the United States, around 7,000 to 8,000.

I read about this place from the Los Angeles Times but seeing it for real was a shock. Maybe because I never expected a first world country like the US to have this kind of poverty.

Maybe because a lot of the people looked healthy, normal and able to work but was unfortunately derailed by drugs, alcohol or just plain bad luck.

Maybe because, the US, a country that labeled itself as 'the land of opportunity', promoting the 'American dream', has almost given up on these people.

Maybe because this place is hidden amidst the trendy condominiums, skyscrapers and consumerism of downtown, as if it's a secret that should never be revealed.

I took only a few pictures, all of them inside the car and during the day, because I was scared of going out and getting shouted at. I have been to a lot of places, most of them developing and third world countries, that has a lot of poor people. But I've never seen poverty quite as dismal as this.

This is the Los Angeles Mission, one of the numerous mission houses that pepper the district to help those who live on the streets of Skid Row. These missions serve food (sometimes the only meal for the day for the homeless), have proper toilets and baths and warm beds.

Around mid-afternoon, long lines surround the missions as the homeless hope for a bed for the night. Not everyone gets a bed though, and most end up sleeping on the streets, in the cold, with just a tent or a cardboard box over their heads.

Here are some people trying to set up for the night. A lot of them are drug addicts that have nowhere to go and since drugs are very accessible at Skid Row during the night, they'd rather stay here and do nothing but shoot up.

Check out the muscular, bald guy. I hope he's not homeless and have a job because he seems like he can work.

I know that poverty is rampant all over the world. There's a baby with AIDS in Africa that needs our help, a family in South East Asia that needs our donations, or a kid in South America who is too poor to go to school. But people in Skid Row need our help, too. If you can't volunteer to cook food or serve in the missions, why not donate for a good cause. The missions need your help to bring hope to people who has given up on it.

Los Angeles - The Bad

Venice Beach is one of the weirdest places in Los Angeles. I felt like I was in another planet. Ocean Front Walk is full of weird, strange and totally unique people who are begging for tourists' (and probably a showbiz producer's) attention, each one wanting to be a star. It's nice to see during the day, but at night, it's another story as the beach becomes a hangout for addicts, dealers and troublemakers.

Here's the beginning of Ocean Front Walk.

This is where the TV show 'Baywatch' was shot. And where Pamela Anderson's double-D (or is it E or F now) floaters started their career.

The walk is so crowded during the weekends.

And the performances are on.

First act is Mr. DJ. He played some techno-house thing and he's selling a CD!

Then there are the punk rockers who are just hanging around trying to look fierce. Trying.

Presenting hula hoopy couple who are doing an I-don't-know-what. Beside them is homeless guy, looking like he really lives in the suburbs, who's begging for money to buy beer.

Here's a black vs white basketball game, where players act like they are about to start a fight but never do.

And let's not forget the meat viewing at muscle beach where guys and umm...guys display their wares for everyone to see.

The stuff for sale are crazy. They were selling medical marijuana in a clinic but I wasn't able to take a pic. But check out the glasses for sale.

Stun guns anyone? It's 100% legal!

I should have gotten myself a stun gun.

Los Angeles - The Good

Finally set foot on the land of the stars and stripes. Husband and I visited the west coast of the USA where sun, sea and sand meet, forming an interesting array of colors and scenery. But not all the sceneries are lovely, though. Take the case of Los Angeles. People think LA and imagine pretty people, pretty beaches and pretty enormous houses. Yes, the town has all those but it has a lot more to show that's quite unexpected.

Visiting LA is good if you have a relative or friend who lives there and is willing to take you around (in our case, my Dad and stepmom). Otherwise, you may have to rent a car as the public transportation system sucks and the major sightseeing areas are miles (or freeways) away from each other. Car rentals can go as low as $270 dollars for a week's rent. Tour buses and limousine tours are also great options but they can only take you to tourist spots and not in places that are off the beaten track.

I won't be recommending any hotels for LA because we stayed with my parents in their nice cozy cove in Eagle Rock.

So here are some of the Good things that I liked in Los Angeles. As for the Bad and the Ugly, they'll come in another entry.

Hollywood is surreal. My picture may be a bit blurry (it's was a smoggy day!) but seeing the Hollywood sign brought chills to my spine. Even though I never wanted to be a star, I still felt the excitement of showbiz that constantly electrifies this town. Just imagine how aspiring actors and actresses felt upon seeing this sign.

Hollywood Boulevard is one of the most entertaining streets I've ever been on.

I saw the Grauman's Chinese Theatre where a lot of movie premieres are held,

and swooned at a cement slab containing Hugh Jackman's hand and footprints, one of the many located in front of the theatre.

The Kodak Theatre, home of the Oscars, offers tours which costs around $15. Imagine, with only $15, you can sit where George Clooney sat when he won an Oscar! Exciting if that's your thing. Maybe George left some precious white hair on the seat.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a crazy place full of showbiz characters, from Darth Vader and Freddy Krueger to Hello Kitty and Sponge Bob. Just be careful because some of them can get a bit aggressive. Like Spiderman.

And, of course, I had to take a picture of a star.

You can go around the major tourist spots in a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus if you don't have a car.

And what's with all the limousines?

Los Angeles has a lot of very very rich people. A lot. Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Brentwood, Hancock Park and Holmby Hills are neighborhoods containing huge houses and enormous estates that blew me away. They all have multiple rooms, pools, tennis courts and big driveways tucked into acres of land.

Here's a house in Bel Air.

Here's the entrance of Bel Air from sunset.

The Bel-Air sign

The famous Beverly Hills sign

Some houses in Beverly Hills.

A status symbol of the LA rich is to have as much space as possible between you and your neighbors. So most of the houses are set far apart from the road and have meters and meters of gardens.

Take this one really big house on top of the hill, in the middle of nowhere on Mulholland Drive. It doesn't seem to have any neighbors at all and has a fantastic view of the Hollywood sign and the rest of LA. Its vantage point is even higher than the tourist lookout. Now that's saying you've got a lot of money.

Beverly Hills is like a fantasyland full of beautiful shops, people who look like stars (or had surgeries to look like stars) and art-deco buildings. Just walking down Rodeo Drive made ME feel like a star.

Here's The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where "Pretty Woman" Julia Roberts fell in love with her prince charming.

The Via Rodeo promenade is so quaint and filled with top designer shops.

Another landmark is the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel, or 'The Pink Palace', as referred to by the locals. It's one of the most luxurious hotels in California and boasts of movie stars as guests. Which brings me to the question, 'Why pink?' I honestly thought the color made the place look cheap. Oh well.

Movie and TV shoots are seen in and around the city. I saw 3 shoots in one week in LA. Here's one in downtown where the scene has fake snow. I think they're trying to make downtown LA look like New York.

Downtown Los Angeles has very nice buildings but its skyline pales in comparison to other cities.

This is their tallest building, the 73-story U.S. Bank tower.

Here's the silver-ey and shin-ey Walt Disney Concert Hall where the LA Philharmonic plays.

Another landmark hotel is the Westin Bonaventure, which I think looked a bit 80's and outdated.

One building that I liked is the old LA Post Office Annex.

And my favorite part of the downtown LA is...Chinatown, the place for really yummy, really cheap food. Although, locals say that the Vietnamese has taken over LA's Chinatown, the place still carries a lot of Chinese culture.

Just look at the train station and some structures.

There are still more to see in Tinseltown. So much that one entry is not enough. More coming soon.