Day 6: Merchants of Venice

Allain promised Justin, V and I that Venice Beach would be quite a unique experience, and he was certainly right. That photo to the right was taken just as the sun was setting from that very beach, which is quite beautiful and, like most Pacific beaches, completely shits on New England beaches. The water was very warm, the waves were consistently powerful, and the boardwalk is by far the biggest and best I've ever seen. After watching the "Night of the Living Homeless" episode of South Park, I was expecting the area to be littered with bums. It really wasn't at all; perhaps I just caught it on a bad day for them. But I did experience probably the most unique collection of characters, artists and gimmicks I've ever encountered.

It started when I was stopped on the sidewalk by an independent hip-hop artist who calls himself "Ankore" (pronounced like encore) to listen to his CD. I was skeptical about something like this, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it wasn't a cheaply-made record. It sounded very professional, and he was a legit person and not a crackhead or anything like that, so I decided to support him and buy his CD for $5. The album is very solid; I really wouldn't be surprised if he hit it big one day. I hope he does so I can sell his autographed demo for a lot more than $5!

I had to snap a photo of this Indian guy playing electric guitar while wearing roller skates because, well, I can't make stuff like this up. He's only one of the many gimmick-oriented performers on the miles-long boardwalk.

I can't really make up this guy on the right, either. If you're too lazy to click on the picture and enlarge it, his gimmick is to make up random reasons for why he needs money. This sign he has reads "Sith killed my family. Need Jedi Lessons for Revenge!" I actually felt kind of bad for this guy, which I usually never do for homeless people, but he is clearly more creative than your average bum who just creeps up to you and says "Spare some change, sir?"


This guy I DEFINITELY could never make up. We were walking down the strip when he walked out from in between two buildings, apparently casually strolling in for "another day at the office." I'm disappointed that I only got a back shot of him, because his entire face was painted silver in addition to the threads. I'm also disappointed that I didn't get to see what his talent was, either, because the silver thing is almost certainly just an added gimmick.


Fun fact about the Venice Beach boardwalk: every other store is a smoke shop. We did some heavy browsing in some of these places, interested in how different the pieces and prices of them were from the East Coast. Overall, the California shops seemed cheaper and some were definitely more cool-looking. I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this 6-foot bong with the fish on it. This thumbnail doesn't do it justice, you need to enlarge it to really see it. There were some even bigger ones in this store, but I'm not sure if they allowed us to take pictures like this. I was halfway out the door when I took this one.


After hitting up the Sidewalk Cafe for dinner (best fajitas I've ever had, by the way), we walked back as the sun was setting. I was able to get some nice-looking photos during this time period; it's well-known that this and just before sunrise are the best time to take pictures of the sky, landscapes etc. so I was happy to be able to get these photos.




I also snapped at the opportunity to get the sunset over the water. I tried my best to make this as visually-pleasing as possible, but I guess mother nature did that for me!



The night concluded with a very fun concert in Hollywood, right on Sunset Blvd. Steel Panther, formerly Metal Scool, is a hair metal tribute band that is pretty much the spitting image of Motley Crue. While these guys are clearly stuck in 1985, they put on a great show and they're actually known out here as one of the more successful tribute bands around. The only songs I remembered them playing are "Livin' on a Prayer", "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi, "Hot for Teacher" and "Jump" by Van Halen, and several Motley Crue tunes, although they played a lot more. Staying in line with the '80s hair metal lifestyle, they were completely blatant about exploiting the aesthetics of attractive young ladies. Warning, if you're a woman and easily offended by the treatment of them as objects, don't watch this video! I'm not a misogynist or anything, I just thought it was pretty funny.

That was the end of the night for us after it was over. To unwind and relax after such an energetic show, Allain cruised a little around the Hollywood hills, where he told us the cheapest houses there are $2 million...Outrageous. We got some nice New York-style pizza then went home. Today has been a relaxing day so far, but I'll get into whatever details I have for you tomorrow. Until next time!