Live from Los Angeles

If I Were Gay, This Would Piss Me Off

Even in Los Angeles – where there are more restaurants and clubs than you could ever get to in a lifetime of going out once every couple of weeks when you can afford it – the gays are having more fun.

But it doesn’t take long for the straight crowd to take over.

We were out in West Hollywood over the weekend – first to The Abbey, a now sprawling bar and restaurant and lounge that was full of people eating and drinking strong cocktails (reason enough to go back). I counted three bars, and there were tables, couches and booths everywhere.

The bartenders were gay. The waiters were gay. The patrons were not so much.

I actually had heard of The Abbey, and not because I’m cool. It’s because I accidentally watched part of Keeping up with the Kardashians – the one where Bruce Jenner has a personal shopper (who happens to be gay) and after their successful day of buying V-neck sweaters and a trench coat, they celebrate with a drink at The Abbey.

Bruce is extremely uncomfortable until a waiter recognizes him from “Can’t Stop the Music,” Bruce’s 1980 fake biopic of The Village People. Bruce can’t help it. He is really tickled that his old friends remembered him.

I guess he forgot that he used to like gay people.

I was thinking, as Anthony was getting sized up by the single guys, that gay people really cannot catch a break. Even in Los Angeles. Not only can they now be officially married only on Facebook, they can’t get peace and quiet in their own bars.

They can't even take their ball and go home. We're in their home. Or, at least, we're hanging out in the yard like a bunch of bullies who refuse to leave until they pour us a drink... And then show us how to make our own bars fun again.

It’s not like there aren’t enough gay people in West Hollywood to sustain their own nightlife. They don’t need us, do they?

Not that I’m volunteering to leave. It really was a good martini.

IMAGE LINK: [YELP]

Technorati Tags: Gay West Hollywood,West Hollywood,Gay Bars,The Abbey,Keeping up with the Kardashians,Bruce Jenner,Los Angeles

I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas

After all this time, it’s raining. It’s really raining. Water is falling from the sky. It is falling onto Los Angeles.

To be honest, it rained about a month ago, and I didn’t write about it. But I was on my way out of town at the time, and it was just a sprinkle, so it didn’t count.

It’s also bitterly cold today. OK, not bitterly cold, but it’s about 45 degrees. Enough to make me bitter. It’s supposedly part of an uncharacteristically cold snap from an Alaskan storm.

We’re not close enough to see Alaska from here, but close enough to get its crappy weather.

If you don’t believe me, check this out:

[LA Times]

This is going on about 50 miles from here, about 2,300 feet higher up.

Standing on the street in LA, you can see the snow in the mountains that surround the valley. Totally strange.

But it’s actually the ideal way to enjoy snow, if you think about it. You can see it, but you don’t have to shovel it. Down here, it’s just rain.

Glorious, wet rain.

Technorati Tags: Southern California storm,snow,rain,Los Angeles weather

Hey, Santa, I Could Use a Bailout Too

I tagged along with the boys this weekend to the LA Auto Show – a great big-honkin’ deal of a car show, as it turns out.

LA really does love its cars.

I’d never been to an auto show before; LA’s is one of the biggest. Usually, about a million people traipse through the Convention Center downtown to ogle, fondle and test-sit inside these beautiful machines.

Some of them even come with girls, apparently.

It was pretty cool, I had to admit. Where else do you get to climb into new Land Rovers, just for fun?

And even an old-school girl like me can admire this:

You have to love the Mustang.

Especially since, you know, it might be the last one.

Of course, it was surreal walking among all that glittery car candy at the same time the guys making it are panhandling in Washington. A distinctly American charade.

I was still pondering that when we walked outside and saw this dude. A homeless Santa. Playing Christmas carols for change.

All on his own. Not one of the Big Three. And not expecting something for nothing.

See more of Anthony's car photos here.

Technorati Tags: 2008 LA Auto Show,Santa Claus,Homeless Santa,Christmas carols,Big Three,Bailout,Downtown Los Angeles