Road Trip Day 21 - Wednesday,15th May, 2019

Headed out of Pasadena the next day after a brief tour around the various routes that 66 followed during its heyday. It is a prosperous city, made famous in the UK recently as the location for the Big Bang Theory. As a fan of the series, I spent a futile half-hour trying to find the apartment building as listed on fansites. However, I did spot these!

Sign to CalTech, the university where
 Sheldon, Leonard,Howard, and Raj
work.

The Cheesecake Factory where Penny worked

There are many Route 66 sites in Pasadena, but they are spread out across the number of different routes that the road took through the city at different times, and the traffic was heavy, so I must admit to giving them a miss. I was also planning on getting to Santa Monica to take a look around that day, before I flew out. 

Driving through the environs of Los Angeles on Santa Monica Boulevard was slow and tiring. Sunset Boulevard, at this end, was dilapidated and a far remove from the glamour the name conjures. Palm trees vie with looping telephone wires and power lines along its length. It seems extraordinary that America has failed to bury all this cabling. But this is a paradox that seems to persist. In the midst of all the beauty this country has to offer, there is an ugliness born of - indifference? lack of will? lack of a cohesive political strategy? It extends to the attitude to recycling and managing waste; to the abandonment of the unwanted and unused rather than cleaning up; to the continuing despoilment of the land in search of resources. 

 The contrast when you move into West Hollywood, which is the next neighbourhood, is stark. Suddenly, it all changes. This 1920s/30s building was undergoing renovation. 

And part of that transformation is having Pride. Specifically -

There is a neighbourhood in St Louis called The Grove. Until relatively recently, it was just another deprived, run-down area of a city which had seen better days. Until the LGBTQ+ community moved in, bought up the lovely little brick houses and the rows of shops, renovated them and created a lively, thriving community. It looks like West Hollywood has been similarly transformed.

There is a memorial garden dedicated to Matthew Shepard, the young boy killed in a homophobic attack in Wyoming in 1998. His murder led to the introduction of a hate crimes bill, signed into law by Obama in 2009. Within it a a number of commemorative plaques charting progress on equal rights.

The wide streets leading off Santa Monica Boulevard are lined with purple Jacaranda trees.

This bathing belle and mobile art decorates the median in West Hollywood. 

West Hollywood merges into Beverly Hills -  opulent, flashy - and then into Santa Monica, with its spindly palms.

Route 66 officially ends at the junction of Lincoln and Olympic, which is a road junction and little else. 

 A more picturesque "ending" has been created at Santa Monica pier by Road enthusiasts, which means you get to see the Pacific.

Santa Monica Pier is a bustling, touristy, gimmicky place. Think English seaside town with better weather and more overseas tourists. But it has the same slightly desperate, faded charm.

 Meet Esmerelda's brother, Zoltar, although this is a recent copy.

This small chain of fairly recent pop-up stands originated in Canada. It serves Japanese style hotdogs - the usual sausage loaded with Japanese toppings and flavourings, such as Terimayo, with teryaki sauce, mayo and seaweed. There were queues. I think I've seen it all now.

Los Angeles International Airport is surprisingly close to Santa Monica, so I headed straight there. On the way, I passed through Venice Beach, location of Baz Luhrmann's film of  "Romeo and Juliet". It was impossible to drive near it, but a back street revealed this oddity - a mermaid house. It seemed a fitting end to a trip full of curiosities and testaments to people's fertile imagination and boundless creativity.

Sadly, I said goodbye to Ruby at the Thrifty car return. She had carried me for 3,400 miles.

I had just missed the 4.55pm to London, owing to the distance to the Rental Car Return from the airport entrance and the time it took for the bus to get through the traffic, so I bought a standby ticket for the 21.35. Treated myself to Premium Standby, which I thought would upgrade me to World Traveller Plus, but in fact upgraded me to Business. A pleasant surprise at the end of a long journey.