KKBattousai, let me know if American God’s is any good. Its still in hardcover, right?
B. Pig and Lulu’s are cafes, but both of them serve food. Well, desserts, anyway. Lulu’s used to be a big AA hang out, so there were a fairly dependable group of 20 or so people downing coffee, chain smoking, and, err, not drinking. They also seemed to know of the cool places to go, but that was during my non-vechicle days, so I didn’t usually go with them. B. Pig in hollywood is more interesting, I think. The Thai Iced Tea is worth killing for.
Pinks closes depressingly early. I usually go there after clubbing, and get there around 2:30 on weekend nights, and it is closing down (but the in-line conversations are pretty fun).
Oh, that reminds me. Toward the tail end of the week (say after wednesday) you can cruise Santa Monica blvd from about robertson to about la brea. I think Rage closes at dawn. I’m not sure when the Abbey closes (corner of Robertson and Santa monica, but on robertson); The Abbey is a bar, but might keep selling coffee after last call. It is a cool place, the people are nice, but I should mention that about 80% of the cliental is gay. Luckily, they’re pretty tolerant :).
If you’re feeling brave, the Mayan and the clubs around it used to have afterhours clubs til 4 on weekdays, and until 10am on weekends. I don’t know if they still do.
Sorry about all the dated information. These days, if I’m seeing the wrong side of dawn, I’m usually at work.
My friends and I used to wander Hollywood and Sunset Blvds aimlessly. We occasionally ended up with cheap clothes from Aardvarks, tattoos, or random things purchased to terrify our housemates from the sex shops, but we always stopped at Pinks (LaBrea/Melrose) for a bacon burrito dog before heading in at 3 or 4 in the morning.
Heh. How could I and everyone else have forgotten to mention Tommy’s? The 24-hour stand at the corner of Rampart and Beverly. Best chiliburgers in the world. Best chili cheese fries in the world. Hang out in the parking lot and talk to your friends while chowing down on said best chiliburgers in the world. Make fun of the rich yuppies who pull up in their Benzes for a midnight Tommy’s run. Buy drugs a block away, get a nice case of the munchies, and relieve said munchies by chowing down on aforementioned best chiliburgers in the world. The scandal-ridden Rampart LAPD substation is also near there – bribe a Rampart cop with one of said best chiliburgers in the world.
Strip clubs. You’re a Valley boy? That’s easy. The Venus Faire peep show on Lankershim is open 24 hours. I think Odyssey Video too. Bob’s Classy Lady is open till at least 3:30 on Sunday morning. Go ask for the sisters, Dominique and Seneca – they’ll treat you nice if you give them a backrub. Don’t know about the Blue Zebra or Deja Vu or the Frisky Kitty, but they’re probably open after hours at least on weekends.
Tommy’s? Blecchh. If you want a REAL cool all-nite food place, try El Torito in the Pico-Rivera area. The restaurant closes a 9 and moves all the food prep out to roach coaches in the parking lot. I don’t know why they do this but the after-hours parking lot scene is much more active than the daytime restaurant.
Man, I coulda used this thread back in December! My partner and I flew out to LA to catch Tina Turner’s farewell concert at the Pond in Anaheim. When the concert was over, we raced to LAX so that he could catch a red-eye flight back to Pittsburgh (he had to work the next day). I couldn’t get a flight out until the next morning, so I ended up spending the entire night driving around in a rental car.
It wasn’t so bad the first couple of hours, but around 2:00 a.m. the city became downright deserted. I ended up eating at a Denny’s on Sunset around 3:00, then finally gave up hope of finding anything after that. I ended up turning the rental car in around 4:30 and just sat in the airport terminal for the next couple of hours until my flight.
They remodeled into what looks more like a (OMG!) Family Restaurant. Now they’re called "Lulu’s Blue Plate: Home of the Square Meal. According to my stepdaughter it’s really not for just going and hanging out over coffee anymore. I suppose you could try it, but they’d probably keep hounding you to order a meal.
All of which just goes to show the sad state of the local coffee house scene compared with 10 years ago, when there were about five in the neighborhood. Now there’s just one, Cacao, on Santa Monica just west of Federal. Of course there’s Starbucks. I know a lot of people slam them for being a chain and basically producing Xerox copies of themselves on every corner. But hey, they do a pretty good job of it. The coffee’s good, and I for one like the vibe. But they do close early.
Ooh, so much food. Guess I should sign up for 24 hr fitness too, huh?
[sub]Hm, come to think of it, might be some cute girls there…[/sub]
Bashere, as for American Gods, I haven’t gotten as far into it as I would have liked, but 4 chapters into it, it’s shaping up to be a damn good book. So far I still prefer Neverwhere, but AG is still excellent, especially if you like Gaiman’s prose style. As for hardcover, yep, especially since it first came out. If you hurry, you can still find first editions in book stores and, of course, on eBay.
Oh God, say it ain’t so. Someone say the Viper Room, please, say the Viper Room. Say Dennis Hopper. Say anything. Wasn’t ditching the Kyoto Treaty enough? Why are you scaring foreign people like this? Marilyn Manson doesn’t knit - I know that. He doesn’t. He wouldn’t.
