Weird LA (Febuary 19, 2007)

It's been awhile since I have taken my family on any adventures, so on Thursday I packed them in the truck and off we went for a small day trip. So the first place we went to was Randy's Doughnuts in Inglewood. This place is a California Icon, it's been featured in Earth Girls are Easy, Mars Attacks, Golden Child, and Coming to America. It's also been featured on Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Eye on LA and a host of other shows and movies. So, what better place to take my daughter for her first doughnut than a place with historic and entertainment value than this Kitschy doughnut shop in Inglewood.

Faith's First Doughnut...Pink of course!

A Papa sized Doughnut!

We all Love Randy.

Now that's a big doughnut hole.

We then headed to Watts to check out the ever-famous Watts Towers. However, unbeknownst to me the place was gated and locked. You can only walk through Fridays through Sundays. We got the general idea of the place though; you could still look at the looming towers and see all that went into the artist décor.

This was the first time I have ever ventured into Watts, and for the most part it was everything I imagined the place to be: Run down houses with bars on the windows and doors, 10 black guys in front of the auto mechanic store playing Dominoes on a small card table, another group of guys hanging out in front of the local barber shop, an apartment complex that was gated and stated "Keep Out!" as if anyone one would really want to risk their life and venture in, and Bums sleeping under freeway off ramps all added to the stereotypical way I have always imagined Watts. This wasn't a bad thing though, in fact it was sort of beautiful in a strange sort of way. Now granted I went in the early afternoon hours and not at night, but it was still a fascinating place; I probably would have drove around longer if I didn't have my family in the truck.

An American View

Anyhow, we then went to the Hollyhock House in Hollywood. This was a place that Kellee has wanted to see for a long time. It was a house that Frank Lloyd Wright built for the daughter of one of Americas first oil Tycoons. Sort of Ugly from the outside, and it didn't help that they have yet to restore the grounds, but the inside was interesting and amazing, Interestingly enough, the lady hated the place. She only lived there for three years saying that it was the coldest, dampest houses she has ever lived. So she gave the place to the city of Los Angeles.
The Doorway: Wright hated just walking right to the front door. He thought it was vulgar (so i'm told).

Not so great outside


You can see the Observatory and the Hollywood sign from Hollyhock House.

Lastly, we went and ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood. This was the original that now has five around the LA area. Great food, the waffles were excellent. They have their own batter thus giving them a distinct flavor. The chicken was, well chicken. Kellee loved the chicken, but it was just fried chicken to me. For some of you, this is probably a strange combination, but it flows really well together. Once you get past that you are eating chicken along with waffles, you'll be delighted with the mixture. Let me warn you about the sweetened Ice-T though*It's thick and sugary like you're drinking syrup. Handle at your own risk.

Tasty!


Can you believe that the ONION has their own rack, in front of Roscoe's. Awesome!

So that was our trip. Thanks for taking the tour with me.