Back to L.A.

It was the morning at 29. August and Michaels Birthday. At the coffee and toast breakfast at Wendy’s I decided to go to Disneyland today. I took my map and
looked for the way I had to drive. I loved driving from Thousand Oaks to L.A..
It is a wonderful road and my favorite point up there are the “Lost Hills”. 2Bad that
I don’t shoot a photo of those Hills. The name “Lost Hills” is really right, because they look like someone had lost them there. The landscape around is very flat and in the middle are standing only those few Hills. I don’t know why, but I always had a feeling like coming home, if I saw those Lost Hills.

The ride took about 2 hours until I saw the sign “Disneyland, the happiest place an earth”. I bought me a ticket for one day and got a map who would guide me through. It was my first visit in Disneyland and it impressed me very much. I felt like a child again. With sparkling eyes I rode all the adventures they have there.

The most beautiful adventure was the 3D Motion Picture Space Adventure “Captain EO” with Michael Jackson.
I became 3D glasses and went in. It was the first time I experienced a 3D film and I felt like I was really into the movie. As Michael appeared on the bridge of the space- ship the visitors were applauding. I found this was a nice gesture to honor Michael. He was not there, only on the screen, but the people applauded. I love all those creatures of his crew and their voices in that movie. Angelica Houston did a very good job, playing the role of the Queen of this cold panet on which Michael had come to bring her the light. I don’t know how much times I saw the 3D special. As soon as it ended, I went in again.
I think I saw it maybe 6 or 7 times. :)
I really enjoyed the day in Disneyland and to meet all the characters I only knew from books or movies since I was a little child. I can remember, that at the age of 4 my father went with me to the cinema and we watched together a Disneyfilm with Mickey Mouse and Goofy and Donald Duck. My father read until today the Disney Comics and his favorite characters are Dagobert and

Donald Duck. My favorite movie from Walt Disney is Mary Poppins. As a child I saw it every time, when they showed it on the TV and even today. I can get lost in the world she creates. I also love Peter Pan, the Aristo Cats, Susi and Strolch and all the other movies but Mary Poppins is something special to me.

After the fireworks I left Disneyland and in the meantime it was dark. I went back to my car and got a shock. I saw, that the right window was open and I thought, they had robbed me out. I got into the car and looked if there is something missing but everything was on its place. I thought about it and noticed that I had not closed the window after getting my ticket for the parking place. I thought, good God, the whole day the window of the car was open and nothing happened. I was very relieved, because I always took my passport, my flight ticket and all the traveler checks with me. I promised myself, to better take care what I’m doing. I was so exited to visit Disneyland that I had forgotten to close the window. At this day, I had really luck!

As driving back to Thousands Oaks, I choose the way through Beverly Hills, to watch again the beautiful homes of the stars on Sunset Boulevard. They look very nice in the night, because the most trees has little lights on them, like we have it here on Christmas. I never imagined that they have it over the whole year but it looks very beautiful.

Back on my Motel 6 room I was laying on my bed and read the MJ book I bought in Salinas until I felt asleep.

The next morning after having breakfast I hit the road again to Beverly Hills.
On Sunset Boulevard I discovered a house with a big hatch. Before the gate I saw something that I couldn’t believe. There was a bench and a man with a paper over
his face was laying there. Everyone who ever drove through the streets in Beverly Hills knows, that nobody is walking there or hanging out in front of the homes. So that scene acted very strange to me. I parked my car beside in a street and I know that it’s forbidden, but I walked to that house, to discover if it was really true, what I had seen. As I was near enough, I saw that the hole thing, the bench and the man who was laying on it was made of stone. I was really impressed, I had never seen some- thing like this before. It looked very natural, you could only see that it was made of stone, if you was standing right before them and touched it. Unfortunately I never found out, to whom that house belongs to. If anyone knows, mail me!

Later that day I saw sculptures like that in front of the Fred Hayman shop on Rodeo Drive. I took a photo and the result you can see at the right side. For a while I strolled around at Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard
and watched at the expensive shops there. Big limousines and a lot of Lincoln Towncars with dark windows were driving by and I imagined what famous moviestars could sit in there. I dreamed of seeing one of them, maybe Elisabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson or Marlon Brando but I saw none of them.

It’s hard to tell if I had seen any moviestar, because everyone in the cars who were driving around Beverly Hills was looking so good. They all looked like they just came out of a movie. Really! You don’t see ugly people there. The most time I felt like Mia Farrow in one of my favorite movie “The purple rose of Chairo”. It seemed all so unreal to me.

In the late afternoon I decided to go to the Hardrock Café to have dinner there.
I asked someone on Wilshire Boulevard for the way and I found it very quickly.
I parked my car near the Cedars Sinai Hospital and went the rest by feet. I saw many people standing in a row in front of the Hardrock Café, but of the fact, that
I was alone and sat me down on the bar I was quickly let in. For me Hardrock Café
is really a great place. There is so much stuff in there, from so much different musicians that you can’t help looking at it. There is a Elvis corner, where is standing an old Harley Davidson from him. Tons of gold and platinum records are hanging on the walls, guitars and clothes. At some wall I discovered the cape, Prince wore in the movie “Purple Rain”. All those things, the musicians had spend for the Hardrock Café’s which are located around the world and have the largest collections of rockn’n roll memorabilia in the world. The first one was established 1971 in London.

I was going to the toilette and saw that the doorknobs were made like little guitars and in front of the mirror were standing a assortment of perfumes for free use. I tasted Obsession from Calvin Klein which I really liked.

As I came back I walked around in the Café and found in a corner the Michael Jackson “Artist of the Decade” Award which you can see on the right side.
I had to took away a lot of Heinz ketchup bottles to shoot this photo, but I think the work was worth it. :)

I was very exited about the Hardrock Café and since then I came back every evening after sightseeing to have dinner there. I had Burgers and Steak and every meal tasted very good. It was a lot of fun talking with other tourist from around the world to share the experiences we made on our travel. They played always excellent rock music and I never get bored. By the way, Hardrock Café is located in the Beverly Center on the corner Beverly Boulevard/La Cienega Boulevard.

Before driving back to Thousand Oaks this evening, I was driving on my favorite street, the Sunset Boulevard. I discovered Record Tower, parked and went in, to look at the things they sell there. It was 1:00 a.m. and it was a wonderful feeling going shopping in the middle of the night. As I came out I saw across the street a lot of flashlights and photographers who were taking pictures. I thought, what’s this? So I stood there for a while and watched the scene until I found out, that the restaurant was the famous “Spago”. It really don’t look spectacular, I always imagined, that the Spago would be an impressive building but it isn’t. After a while I got tired and I drove back to my Motel 6 room.

The next day I visited Venice Beach. A lot of freaky people are hanging out there.
The beach is full of Handreaders, Artists who paint pictures and lot of weird people.
I saw some guy with a T-Shirt on which stood “Fear God” and he was standing in a coffin and read from the bible, so loud, that you couldn’t overhear it. But for me Venice Beach was a really nice place and I enjoyed the whole day there, laying on the beach and watching all the stuff they sell there. A lot of tattoo studios are there and I thought over to get some little tattoo but in the end I had let it be.

As I mentioned, every evening I was hanging out on Hardrock Café and before
I was going back to Thousand Oaks I drove through Beverly Hills to watch those beautiful and impressive homes of the stars. I couldn’t get enough of looking at them.

So the time went by and the day came that I had to fly home. My flight went on 8:00 a.m. and in fear, to miss it, I had not taken a Motel room the night before. I was hanging out until midnight at Hardrock Café then I drove to the rental station to give the car back. An employer brought me to the airport and I stayed the whole night at the terminal of the Continental Airlines and read my MJ book. Nobody was there, at a time near morning a cleaning team came and cleaned the floor of the terminal. At 6:00 a.m. the ticket office reopened and I checked in. As I was in the airplane I took a last glimpse at L.A. and felt immediately asleep until the breakfast was served.

At New York I had to wait 4 hours to the flight to Frankfurt and I was hanging out in the restaurants there, watching James Brown on TV, giving interviews after coming out of the jail. After the sun was going down the airplane started and as we were flying over Groenland the pilot said, we should look out of our windows. The most people in the plane were sleeping, don’t knowing what they missed. I saw out there many northern lights in different colors. It was just like God would make a lightshow in the universe. It was a great experience and I couldn’t help looking out of the window until they disappeared. As the sun was rising I was the only person in the plane awake. I looked out of the window how she was coming up and thought about all my wonderful experiences I had in California and felt so thankful that tears began to ran down my cheek. A stuart came up to me and asked me if he could something do for me. I said to him if he could please bring me a glass of milk. Nothing more I needed. I was happy anyway.

At the end I had to say, that I really love California and the american people. Everyone I met was so nice to me and I felt so comfortable there. I really felt free and much more alive than on any other trip I had made. I promised myself, that some day I will come back to California to discover more of this beautiful land.

The End


	© Claudia Wildner