In and around LA to Long Beach
I stayed in LA not far from Venice Beach for 1 night then got a Warmshowers host in the suburb of Van Nuys. My first day and night was hanging around Venice and soaking up the atmosphere. I did have a host for the night but he had to cancel which was unfortunate as I was at his front door when he told me. He did however let me leave my bicycle in his hallway which meant I didn't have to leave it in the street. I booked into a hostel a short walk away a chilled in a bar for the evening listening to a local band. It all turned out ok and the next morning I collected my bicycle and cycled through downtown LA towards Van Nuys. I made a bit of a school boy error by ending up on the main road between the city and the Hollywood hills section. Riding the 101 north from dowtown is a bad idea at anytime but doing it during rush hour in 100 degree heat is shocking. I survived though, just about.
I arrived at my hosts house in Van Nuys and was let in by the house keeper who showed me where I was sleeping and said I was welcome to use the pool to cool off. Never one to miss a chance to swim I dived in and chilled for an hour be fore my host Christophe turned up with his two sons. Christophe is a French artist who works at Dreamwork's as a project team manager. We had an awesome night chatting about travelling and a great dinner. The next day I went movie location hunting and got my photo outside Marty McFly's house out of Back to the Future. Major childhood goal completed. The next day I followed Christophe to work and got the grand tour of the Dreamwork's studio. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take my camera inside as it's to risky for them what with Disney being across the road. It was an awesome morning though seeing all the amazing artwork and getting to see how an animated film is made. I left Christophe and cycled towards Long Beach to my next host who was one of the head people at Warmshowers and someone I had been really keen on staying with as he always let his guests get a photograph woth the classic Pacific Coast Highway sign that he has.
