LA #3...and scene.

Sooo nothing makes you forget a great getaway like this giant sheet of grey we've got covering us and smothering us right here in good ol' VAN. LA now seems like a distant dream...and yet I feel obliged to finish off my travelogue..so let me use bullet points:

• Sunday was hard...A hangover and the start of my transformation into Will Smith from Hitch - but we made it to the Alley -teeming with populace and kinda scary if you're not used to crowds...I was not going away empty handed and 2 pairs of Dior knock-offs made it into my possession for $10!
  
  
• A cruise in our ride for the weekend (our Chevy Malibu in grandfather tan...provided by I's sister as a birthday gift to I-- and me here thinking I could do LA without a car...well, I could have but it would have been a very different trip where no heels would have been permitted and I never travel without heels) through the Hollywood hills, along Mulholland Drive and out past the Beverly Hills Hotel and then over to Whole Foods to stock up on our Oscar meal and snacks...do not get the crab dip there!
  
  
• Watched the pre-show and show at home...and frankly not only do I blame my cold and the unwashed masses of the Alley for my eye infection but the longest Oscar telecast in the history of my watching the Oscars...no wonder puss started ooozzzing out of my eye!
  
  
• Nothing could stop me from trying to spy the stars though so we zipped up and headed to the Vanity Fair party with cameras in hand - at the right is my best handywork although my friend did get a great one of Penelope Cruz and her cleavage! SEND ME THE PIC!!!! Others who came over to sign and shake hands were random B-C list film and TV stars and- JLo and Marc - I guess the latino contingent wants to keep it real, heh? or at least act like they are...and I know, I know, Penelope is not latino, or from Mexico for that matter...neither am I...but it helps to racial profile sometimes;-)
  
  
• Monday was LA highway day - avoiding a five-car pile-up in the merging lane thanx to I having 'both hands on the wheel' ...we arrived at the Getty to find it closed!!!!! Yes, closed. Ok, it does say that they are closed on Mondays on their website, but it is not by any means obvious! so.....they have the Getty Villa in Malibu for the losers like us who do not pay attention to the fine print - which is like a roman villa with outdoor greek and roman sculpture and some travelling exhibits. OK, my museum fix was somewhat satisfied...and they had an exhibit on Tunisian Mosaics. I happen to like the medium given my people also make a mean mosaic.



• Santa Monica for window shopping, lunch, Fred Segals, and a walk along the beachfront including Venice Beach where I managed to get a last minute pair of white pumps the likes of which I have been looking for and coveting for a while now...with the peekaboo crochet on the side....will obviously have to wait a while before I trott them out in Vancouver.



• Anyhow....we returned the Malibu and gas ended up being $8 US each WTF??? Crazy, I know, I swear if it wasn't for the plane ticket this trip was almost free!



• Thanx to my friends for hosting, I for the itinerary and Holloywood for being so Hoff!!! ooooo - I took a picture on top of David HasselHoff...in a drunken orgasmic daze...lying down on Hollywood Boulevard....I know, kinda gross...not gonna post it, wouldn't be prudent...Johnny Depp was close by though for good measure.



• AND SCENE.

LA -part deux...and there's still more!?!

Soooo Koi was foodie heaven!!! deep fried soft-shell crab, tuna sashimi to die for, sauteed eggplant extraordinaire!! It was all good and so was my wine - no idea what kind..(we all took turns buying rounds) but let me tell you it was waaaayyy over the usual piddly 6-8oz pour you get here. My friends martini was overflowing, but that's OK, 'cause at Koi an unobtrusive staff member wisks in and wipes up the mess at your feet and you don't even notice - like a stagehand changing a set (both dressed in barely visible all-black uniform). Great food, great conversation and some of my favourite people in the world to share it with - definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Off to the Marmont, where due to I cancelling our reso and the fact that they were still seating dinner at 12:30am - we were denied!! Fine, was not to be....next time maybe...we also had invites to a birthday gathering that provided the desert for the evening - these cupcakes were so good G had to take the address label off the cupcake box for future reference...large ceilings - looked like a brewery - dark leather...packed...my memories are getting fuzzy at this stage but I do know we did not stay long...and off to our random club it was...hopped in another taxi and we thought he was taking us for a ride but it was probably that the streets were all closed around the Kodak...upon arrival, we were greeted as the 'Canadians', got VIP wristbands slapped on us and were shuttled up some stairs inside - here's the DL on the club:

Montmartre Lounge/Day After

Since opening in November 2004 with a secret show by The Killers, this sleek, modern boite has become a playground for young Hollywood pros and the celebrities they worship.Established in 1922, Montmartre Café is supposedly where the term "see and be seen" was coined. That motto still holds true for today's Montmartre Lounge, home to Leonardo DiCaprio's Aviator premiere party, Alicia Keys' Grammy after-party and more. Though the multi-roomed playpen is located on the opposite corner of the Hollywood & Highland complex, the Montmartre Lounge is hard to find: The front entrance is completely blacked out and the sign is an "ML" painted on the small, white awning. (Enter around the corner on Highland Avenue and climb the spectacular staircase to get inside.) Even on the colorful, candlelit balcony, which serves as an outdoor lounge and the path inside, the hustle and bustle of Hollywood Boulevard already feels miles away. Two lounges are decorated with brown velour couches, a VIP section is outfitted with white vinyl seats. On the large dance floor we once spied Efren Ramirez, who played Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite, showing off his theatrical dance moves to 50 Cent. —Alexandra Le Tellier

SO, basically we killed it!!! Again, planning in advance pays...a little e-mail to the promoters list to say we were down for the Oscars, and voila! No stars to spy...and the crowd was quite young but the music was A-list and we shook until the lights came up! ....and then...more food of course - to soak up the alcohol at the jewish deli - Canter's on Fairfax around the corner from our friends place in west Hollywood where I gave a resounding performance of a dolphin or was it a seal on crack...caught for posterity on I's video feature on the digital camera...it cracks me up every time I see it - you had to be there, I guess.

It's a Wrap!!

I and I slaughtered LA!!! Our itinerary was jamm-packed and damned if we didn't do almost all of it - and me with a puss-filled eye (Yes, by Sunday my cold had mutated into my eye with an infection - that or I caught some bacteria amongst all the humanity shopping at the Alley - more on that later)...still recovering from the cold but boy was Saturday night worth the Sunday hang-over.

I arrived in LA with a bang-literally! We got rear-ended on the highway on the way back to my friends place - small tap, all things considered but I was not thrilled as I was squished into the back seat - HELLO! and welcome to LA. The Standard Hotel in Hollywood, after some introductory champagne to calm the gitters (this was to become a theme) and a quick change was our one-stop for Friday night at midnight...shared their world-famous burger and a bottle of Veuve - way cheaper in LA and boy do American's do a stiff pour - as we would find out the next night. The waiter was super-cute and super vacant just as I imagined LA would be ;-)

Saturday morning started with my stocking up on my Victoria Secret lipglosses and a stroll around the Grove Mall with a Starbucks...gotta say disappointed in Anthropologie - the only other store there I wanted to check out -- guess it's been copied and done to death. Back to home base and I arrived --- out for the Oscar red carpet walk-about...many pictures were taken...and I spotted Lainey and the CTV crew on a break!!! My friends said we had to say hi - Hello, it being my idea to stalk her at the Roosevelt Hotel (we left our cards and a copy of our itinerary with all my notes on the outfits I planned to wear) where she and the rest of the crew were staying -and all of a sudden I get all nervous - like what a silly idea actually saying hello and thank you for saving me from hours of drudgery and toil with my daily gossip fix pick-me-up...WTF??? Me, nervous?? But I decided - we did have to say hello and we doubled back for some pics, intros to the crew and Tanya Kim...and a bit of gossip - of course I did most of the talking...as only she can, managing to get in that she just flew in from set on Friday - killing it! and Lainey promised to give us a call after she was wrapped.

Fully satisfied I had accomplished my only stalking goal -- (see my last post, below) we wandered over to Rodeo Drive and marvelled at all the money and cheese on display - Gucci, Prada, and Coach to name a few stores we visited and drooled over. I was confused as to why a potato-sack-like dress one could get at Old Navy was over $1900.00 - I explained "It's Prada" with the appropriate disdain one has for the fashion-ignorant suffusing my tone. Our friend was running low on blood-sugar even after our A-list lattes from Urth Cafe...good thing we had a 5pm reso at the Peninsula Hotel for high tea. Not that we saw any stars...although I kept insisting that some loser with bad hair and his collar up was Patrick Dempsey. I am sure he wished he was due to the amount of times he passed back and forth between the bathrooms and the bar. Gotta say pretty sweet deal for the high tea experience - $24 gets you all the finger sandwiches and pastries you would ever want along with fantastically aromatic tea (see pic above) I got the Russian Caravan although the majority of our party opted for the Belvedere house blend.

Off for a rest and shower and pre-drinks before deciding to forego the reso at Chateau Marmont for the reso at Koi, seeing as In Style Magazine said it was the place to go pre-Oscar-Saturday...and I had some random vip-list after party lined up that I thought was at the Marmont but ended up being the Monte Martre (heehee)....Boy was Koi the right decision as there is nothing like by-passing a huge and envious line-up and sidling your way past the huge and menacing bouncer at the door to make your way into gastronomic heaven!!! There is something to be said for making reservations a month in advance.

-more post-LA tomorrow.

LA Itinerary:

Highlights will include: Burgers at the Standard on the Strip upon arrival; High-tea at the Peninsula Hotel; praying on the red carpet the day before and stalking Lainey at the Roosevelt Hotel across the street to see if we can get our photos onto her site; Chateau Marmont on the Saturday and invited to a birthday party; cruising Rodeo, the Grove, Santa Monica and Gallery Row; a hop to the Getty for my art fix and lunch at their resto and of course lunch at the Ivy - which will be a ghost town on the Monday when we plan to go as all the A-listers will have an Oscar hangover so chances are we will be the only A-list ladies there! ;-)

The moment we've all been waiting for...the Oscar goes to....and the actual Oscars pausing only during commercials for discussion of dresses and bad speeches...and stalking the Vanity Fair party apres.

Generally being fabulous and feisty!!! 29.5 hours to go!!!!

NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO

I just received some news that alters some plans, no big deal really, but it instantly changed my OK mood today into one of sullen darkness. When I have an idea in my mind of how things are going to go – they should go that way! I hate alterations in plans – especially when the other person was the one who insisted on painstakingly planning every moment of our trip. Now I am arriving alone – again no big deal. I have taken a ferry from Africa to Europe alone; slept in Italian overnight trains alone; strolled the streets of Paris alone and yet I was not supposed to arrive in LA alone! AAhhhrrggghhhh!

That is okay, said person may still make it and will meet me there. I will kill it with my friends with whom we are staying and have a fabulous time. But probably end up paying an arm and a leg for a taxi – alone. Petty thoughts really…in the grand scheme of things I am still going on a mini-break as Bridget would say…and that is all good.

It is time to go home and practice my chanting – NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO. Yes, the Buddhist phrase that is the answer to all things. Better get back to reading about Nichiren Daishonin and his practice. That will calm my irrational thoughts…yes, I am a sometimes practicing Buddhist – and lately I have gone back to chanting. Chanting is good. Must chant now…

Hurray for Hollywood!

20 days to the Oscars and I am going to be there!!!!!







Well in LA anyway...I will be star stalking at the Ivy, eating at the Standard, trolling West Hollywood with my latte in my lulu's...and throwing back martinits at the Chateau Marmont.
CAN NOT WAIT!!

Although I am told the place is a ghost town on that day cause everyone is busy primping and getting sewn into their dresses for the main event...that's ok, will go down to the red carpet the day before. My itineray will be announced soon...can't wait to go to the Getty...Melrose, Beverly Hills, and troll all the A-list vintage stores...suggestions are most welcome.