August 2nd. Redondo Beach to Burbank.

We finally made contact with our friends in Burbank, so off we set. I also heard from Scott, who lived in Madrid a few years ago and is passing through L.A. today. So now we are near Sunset Boulevard and within striking distance of the Hollywood sign. We met Huy who has kindly consented to allow us destroy his bathroom for the next three days, Patrick having gone to Spain – you can run but you can’t hide, Patrick. Scott finally turned up after driving around for two hours, he didn’t have Betty. We sat down and chugged beers and caught up on old times and our common acquaintances. Time for a stroll around and the first stop was a recommended bar called ‘Ye Rustic Inn’. Only after a few minutes can you actually see anything inside it’s so dark but no problem there. The chicken wings were superb and Willy had the second best martini ever, the first being in Del Diego in Madrid. There were quite a few people falling over and dropping things but I think it had more to do with the poor lighting. We continued on our stroll and ended up in a place called ‘Get Lucky’, an interesting place, decorated a-la-Chinois, again, very dark and with Chinese motifs decorating the bar. Joy Division were playing as we walked in and Willy had another outstanding martini. We said our goodbyes to Scott and I stayed up talking to Huy about the bar trade and restaurants and stuff. It’s interesting how similar experiences repeat themselves around the world.