Los Angeles Adventure's (Cont): First Time in Hollywood

Standing in a trench coat a tall man with a beard was shaking a jar of change panhandling as I walked out of the coffee shop, I busted a left into the Promenade and decided to check out the local surroundings before I went up to Hollywood. When I turned the corner I noticed that there was a street show going on, a young boy of roughly 8 years old was showing of his strength and acrobatic skills by lifting his father all over his head.  The crowd erupted with oohs and ah's as the young boy said “Thank You” in a Slavic accent, bowed, then passed around a tip jar.  I took a stroll up the courtyard which spans about 4 blocks checking out the sights and the street shows before heading back up to the Boulevard in search of a bus stop, the bus drops off at on the Boulevard but does not pick up and head back towards downtown for several blocks east of the beach. I found a stop and in 15 minutes I was boarding a bus towards Hollywood.

My research had shown me that there were two “24 Hour” gyms in Hollywood so my logic told me that I should go to the one closest which was in West Hollywood.   I got off the bus at the nearest stop and found it quite easily.  When I walked into the gym it looked very nice, much nicer than the 24 Hour Fitness in Santa Cruz.  I approached the desk and the gentleman very cordially invited me and offered me a tour around the facility.   “What a great facility” I thought, as we walked throughout I soon realized that everyone was being extremely friendly as I passed, smiling and winking and such. It wasn’t long until I also realized that all of the patrons of this Gym were men and I put 2 and 2 together and realized that this was WEST HOLLYWOOD and I had selected the “GAY” 24 Hour Fitness.  I finished the tour and sat down at the desk with the gentleman and signed my contract knowing that I could use ANY “24 Hour Fitness” and I probably wouldn’t return to this one.  I think Gay people are great and I have lived in some predominately Homosexual neighborhoods in some cities, but this particular one is not where I would feel most comfortable taking my showers. This was my first experience in West Hollywood, life is funny.

When I left the gym as if on cue, my telephone rang it was a woman from “Standing Room Only”, she asked me if I was available to attend a taping of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” and I quickly obliged.  She told me I needed to be at the studio at 2pm and it was around 11:30 and to come wearing solid colors, no black and no white, I was wearing some cut off “Dickie's” and a white T-Shirt so I figured I better find some clothes, I had to think of a plan and FAST!.  Quickly I boarded the express big red express bus to Hollywood and I hopped out at the big “Target” store, I had a little time so I knew that worst case scenario I could find something to wear there, money was tight and I had to explore my options.

I walked towards the address of the studio with the clock ticking away when on my left I noticed a thrift store called “Out of the Closet”, when I walked in the door I quickly noticed that it was full of flashy designer clothing and  found a rack that was a clearance rack.  Amazingly, I was able to find a pair of designer jeans and a stylish shirt for a total of $12.  I went to the counter and paid and I learned that this was a chain of thrift stores which all of the proceeds went to fund AIDS research. I had what I needed and I also had done a good deed, now I needed to get changed, lose my backpack and get to the television studio.  I had no plan, I was flying by the seat of my pants and things were working out in fine fashion, right across the street was the 24 Hour Fitness of Hollywood, perfect timing.

It’s funny how life has a way of giving you everything you need. If you just go with the flow of life and don’t worry, things always seem to work out.  I was learning that you can do what you want and have fun and things will unfold and they were unfolding in perfect order.    As I showered and shaved and I pondered what was next, the excitement was  fueling my positive energy and I was beginning the ride of my life, in just an hour I would be walking into the famous Paramount Studios to be on the set of a TV show staring  Wayne Brady and I was getting paid for it!!!  Last night I was sleeping on the beach.

Thanks again for reading the continuation of adventures in L.A. Please follow on and share with friends.  Hopefully you enjoy these snippets of my life, I know I did.

~tilly

Please LIKE me on facebook Tilly's

Los Angeles Adventures (Continued) Apache

The evening came and went as quickly as a dream.  When I woke up in the morning there were people sleeping all over the beach, it was quite amusing.  I looked down the coast and chuckled as I saw 3 queen sized mattresses in a row with pairs of lovers in them inches away from the foamy waters of the Pacific Ocean.  “What a strange trip, I thought” and I was anxious for the day ahead.  I made my way towards the pier as I had done the days prior and I could see that just as I had assumed, the beach was riddled with lost items that people who were over intoxicated had lost in the dark.  There were shoes and bottles and on my walk I found a few items for the keeping, a five dollar bill, a rolled joint and a pill bottle with 3 Percocet in it.  What a crazy place!

When I arrived at the shower room there was quite a line today, I decided I didn’t like this place too much but while I waited a younger guy of Native American decent wearing headphones rolled up to the line that I was waiting in on a BMX bike and introduced himself as “Apache”.  Apparently Apache knew of all of the spots and all the people in the area, he had been here for a while, he was from Albuquerque, New Mexico and claimed to be on some sort of “walk alone” in the world that Native Americans do, I liked him right away. Rather than wait in line with all of these smelly people I decided to break bread with this guy and share my beach treasures and I am glad that I did.  Apache became one of my best allies on the streets of L.A.

We walked back up to the Palisades and he took me to his camp in the bluffs where he had carefully camouflaged and entire site steps away from the beach.  Apache told me all of the ins-and outs of the area and that’s when I learned about “The Canyon” between Malibu and the Hollywood Hills.  “It’s a protected area” he told me, “It’s an hour hike every day, but it’s a piece of nature smack dab in the middle of this populated metropolis”. “If you ever need any weed” he said “I buy a little every week and peddle it around to the street people that is how I keep from eating at the charities.”  After our little talk, we walked back past the little neighborhood on the beach and he told me he had to go and rode off, I would later find that he did that thing often, vanished in a moment.  I headed to my “office” on Santa Monica Boulevard.

There were two tables sitting outside at this Internet Café so I sat there and smoked and researched on the internet quite a bit that day, occasionally chatting with the locals about the area.  I saw that a company called “Standing Room Only” was looking for people to be paid audience members on the TV show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” so I send them my picture and contact information.   I also decided that I didn’t like showering at the Pier, it was a Godsend that first day, but the people there were strange and it wasn’t very clean, plus there was a line.  I remembered seeing a 24 hour fitness in Hollywood. Hollywood is about 30 minutes away by bus and I thought it would be a great idea to get a membership there and I would have a clean place to relax, shower and have another locker on the other side of town.  Next mission; HOLLYWOOD BABY!

Many thanks for reading my blog and finding interest in my life.  It’s my goal to continue the stories of my life in detail for one year and hopefully I have something to offer that might be a bright spot in your daily routine. Please share this blog if you wish and like me on Facebook Tilly's

~Tilly

Los Angeles Adventures: INDEPENDENCE DAY

Rose Street intersects with the Boardwalk in Venice at the very beginning on the Santa Monica side.  I was intrigued by the new friends with whom I had made, they were street people and I was not, so I found them very interesting.  The culture on the west coast is very different from what I am used to on the East Coast, it is far less aggressive and very live and let live.  While walking I thought about the differences between Northern California and Southern California as well, while I prefer the laid back less pretentious side of the North I seem to have found a little bohemian nook in Venice Beach.

A few blocks up was the Self Storage place, it was just before noon time and they were beginning to shut down.  I addressed the gentleman at the counter and alerted him that I had only a few things, I could tell he was used to people like me strolling in and very quickly signed me up, collected my dollar for my first month and an additional five for the key deposit and pointed to an elevator.  He told me of a rule which I must abide by, the building locks at 7 pm and does not reopen until 7 am, they have this rule to prevent people from living in the units, Los Angeles is an expensive place.

I rode the elevator up to the 3^rd floor and walked down the hall and found my unit.  The building was nothing more than a giant warehouse with closet doors every 3 feet. I found my unit and opened the door.  My locker was roughly 6 x 6 enough for a table, some chairs. I dropped my belongings and unpacked my clothing and hung it up as it was my closet at home, I also set out my books.   I was only in my little closet for a few minutes, but all the while I could hear someone, somewhere in the building shouting out creepy things. “God Hates You” I heard.  “ I know you are listening to me and you are going to die!” shouted the voice.  Over and over this demon shouted insults at me, or it seemed like they were at me and I hurriedly left.

Quickly I hurried down Rose Street, back to the Boardwalk and towards Santa Monica.  While Venice was intriguing to me, it had a grimy element that I was not ready to investigate right now and I was feeling the vibe in Santa Monica, after all this is where I laid my head last night so this was home right now.  

The evening was quickly approaching and families and couples were riding towards the Santa Monica Pier on their beach cruisers and skateboarding to enjoy the holiday festivities.  When I approached the Pier, I could hear music playing and people had congregated on the sand all around the Pier.  There must have been thousands of people setting their little camps with paper bags with candles in them, smoking and drinking and enjoying each other’s company, it was pretty cool.  I laid out my blanket onto the beach, I didn’t purposely buy this blanket for any reason other than comfort, but as I lay there I realized the blanket was the American Flag, more irony I thought, this adventure was full of irony and the action was yet to come.

Looking up at the fireworks and listening to the laughter and cheers of the crowds on the beach  I reflected on my life, I had been through so much, some my fault and some others, but here I was NOW and I decided I was going to embrace it and live like there was no tomorrow.  As the crowds began to pack up and the night grew darker I knew I would have to get some rest, tomorrow would be a new day and the I wanted to get up before the beach comber and see what kind of goodies people left on the beach.  Once again, I gathered my pack and strolled down to the life guard stand in front of the two towers, put on some music and went to sleep.  Day 3 in Los Angeles had come to a close.

My deepest gratitude goes out to all who stick by me and are continuing to follow my L.A. saga, I promise there is a lot more excitement and some very interesting characters to come.  Please share this blog if you like it, it is time to tell my stories to the world and this one is the one that I have chosen first.  Come back every day and I promise to inspire.  Live in the moment no matter the circumstance.

please "LIKE" me on Facebook  Tilly's

~tilly

Los Angeles Adventures : Meeting VENICE

Independence Day was looming  in the air the day and the irony of it was fresh.  It was still morning as I began my voyage past the crowds on Santa Monica beach.  The wind blew lightly at my back as I was mesmerized by the clash of Upper Class folks and Drifters mingling in the same area, but not the same groups.  Bikes blew by me at a rapid pace, a man on roller skates with a guitar who resembled Jimmy Hendricks was playing music.  Free I was in the land of the rich and famous.

The moment that I reached Venice, I knew I had arrived.  It was like an imaginary line was drawn separating the borders of the two towns.  Very quickly the scene changed from posh to punk, people were tattooed and walking bulldogs.   There was a girl to my right selling her art, this was the beginning of the Venice strip where you see a little of everything and there were vendors as far as I could see.   On the left in Venice Beach there are your shops, you have T-shirt shops and pizza places, tattoo shops and rock and roll stores.  I looked over to the right and saw street vendors selling their wares. 

  On he first part of the boardwalk it is not your traditional merchants selling t-shirts and hats, in the beginning of the strip it is the “free” zone where on a first come first serve basis anyone can set up a spot and sell things.  This would later become my favorite area to hang out and experience the madness of Venice.  This is also where I met Alexis and my first crew of street kids.

I was walking along soaking in all that was Venice when I looked over and saw this little red headed guy holding a sign which said “Need money for weed”.  I looked down in front of him and he had an entire hat full of cash.  I looked at him and laughed and gave him a buck. “You gotta burn with me when I get back though” I demanded.  “Let me introduce me to my friends” the dude said and we walked a few feet and sitting on the ground on a blanket surrounded by mystical books and religious artifacts where was a girl and a boy.  The girl was reading the boys palm as we approached. They invited me to sit down and the redhead reached into his pocket and pulled out a pipe. Apparently he already had some weed.  I introduced myself and we smoked a little.  They were a little rough around the edges, but these were the first friends that I made in L.A. 

After a bit of talking and some laughing, I told my new friends that I had to go, I only had until noon time before the storage company closed, after all it was the Fourth of July.  As I got up to leave Alexis looked up at me, her face dirty from sleeping in the beach sand and told me to come back. She said she liked my energy and she handed me a book entitled “Be Here NOW” by Ram Dass.  I thanked them and told them that I would be back and then I headed up ROSE Street towards the storage unit.  Here I was and the time was NOW.

Follow me daily as I continue the story of my Los Angeles adventures…I hope my life, can help you live yours.

~tilly

Los Angeles Adventures: Santa Monica (continued)

I sat in the internet café bright and early beginning to plot what my plan was for my stay here in Los Angeles.  I had very little money and I thought for quite a while about some of my favorite people throughout history.   I have always liked the “Beat Generation” and certain celebrities who had come to Los Angeles with little or nothing and were discovered from the streets of L.A.  I have always admired Jim Morrison and his travels and I entertained the idea of retracing some of his steps as well. 

  As I sat in the coffee shop I began to search the internet for various auditions and casting agencies throughout L.A. I had some head shots from some time that I had spent in New York City and I also had an agency that I did some extra work with back East called “Actors Reps”  I noticed that they had an office here in Los Angeles.  I spent some time jotting down various game plans and then I set off towards Venice Beach for the first time to find my storage unit.

Never in my life had I been to Venice and I had not a clue what to expect.  I began the mile or two walk down the bike path towards Venice.   The walk down the path was a little tiring, I had many things to carry, but I enjoyed people watching and walking by famous spots such as the “Original” Muscle Beach.  On the way down the beach, I came upon a set of cement stairs about 10 steps high which overlooked an area with various poles and ropes where people were practicing various gymnastics and others were observing.  I sat down for a while to observe, some of the people looked like they may actually be Olympic gymnasts and others were practicing acrobatics in teams and could easily have been part of some sort of stunt show. 

To the right of this spot on the boardwalk, was a little park, inside this park were carious stone tables with chess boards on them and locals playing chess and checkers.  I remembered seeing all of this in the movies and on TV and I felt as if I was in some magical land, some movie of my own.  

Right as I began to get up from my perch on the steps, an older black man walked over to me from the chess area.  He was dressed in nice attire, Gator Shoes, a hat with a feather.  He asked me what my name was and I told him “Tilly”.  “I lived right out there on that beach” he said out of nowhere. “Literally, for two months.” He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye.  “You’re staying out on that beach, aren’t you?”  “Not really, I just got here last night.” I told him.  “But, who knows, I may be.”  The man looked at me and smiled, “Do you know where I live now?” he asked.  Without allowing me to answer, he turned around and pointed to the top floor of the giant high rise condominium behind us, “That’s where I live now, right here on the beach that I slept on” he grinned at me and pulled the feather out of his hat and handed it to me.  “Keep doing what you are doing kid, you are on the right path, its synchronicity.” And then he turned and walked away.  I stuffed the feather in my pack and proceeded onward towards Venice beach.

I still have that feather the man gave me that day.

This is the continuation of the story of my Los Angeles adventures.  If you have just started reading here, scroll back and start from the beginning.  You can even search through my archives to visit some of my thoughts which I wrote when I was actually on this journey.   Follow me through the next few weeks as I post daily and live a little of my Los Angeles Adventures with me.

~ 1 love

Tilly

LOS ANGELES ADVENTURES: Santa Monica cont.

I woke up the morning of July 4, a bit disoriented and shaken up by the sounds of loud motors, a bright light and then trembling of the ground beneath me.   While I had yet to experience my first earthquake, this was not one.  The sun had not yet graced the blue ocean with its glimmer and I quickly hopped to my feet gripping my belongings, which I had strapped to my body in my slumber.  As I looked towards the light I recognized that it was a large machine dragging a rake to comb the beach of debris before the people flooded the sands for the Independence Day festivities.  I gathered my things and headed towards the pier, hoping to find a water fountain to brush my teeth.  On my trek towards the pier as the sun began to rise, I began to notice others waking as well, some homeless and some lovers who had spent the night under the moonlight together.

Along with the variety of odd characters that I noticed waking up with the Santa Monica beach, I also notice that there were quite a few things cluttering the sand, a random pair of shoes, an umbrella, a full bottle of wine.  I decided to pick up the fully corked bottle of wine and the beach umbrella and add it to my collection after all, today I was getting a storage locker.  I walked under the pier and took a right and noticed a VW bus, you know the kind that hippies used to follow the Grateful Dead and such, there was a guy strumming a banjo and a couple of others waiting in line.  My curiosity could not keep me from wandering towards them and finding out what it is they were waiting for at 6 am next to the pier.

“Hello, I said” to a bearded gentleman of about 60, “How are you this morning?”  “Fine and dandy” he stated and he reached over and handed me a joint.  We sat there for a minute as he picked his instrument before I noticed a gentleman walk out a door.   “What’s in that door, I asked”, “Bathhouse” he said, “Get yer ass in there and git cleaned up” and that’s the last thing that he said. 

I went through the door and inside were a few sinks, a few showers with curtains.  There was an older black man at one of the sinks dressed in a nice suit and shaving.  I thought to myself  “what is this doing here in the side of the pier?”, but I was grateful and I quickly showered, shaved and then made my way to the little coffee shop on the corner of 4^th and Santa Monica, my office.  “God works in funny ways” I thought.  I had exactly what I needed, right when I needed it.

Please follow me for the next few weeks as I daily continue the story of my Los Angeles adventures.  Magical things happened throughout this adventure.  Some entries may be brief and some, more extensive, but I will continue to tell my story on a regular basis, if you continue to loyal read…and even if you don’t.

1 love

`tilly

Los Angeles Adventures: Hello Santa Monica

July 2^nd was coming to a close I paid my cab fair and settled into my Downtown hotel room. My long day of reflecting on who I was and my shortcomings had was coming to a close, I pulled a "Tilly” again, no one really knew where I was and neither did I.  I went right to sleep.

The morning came faster than I think it ever had, I have had many sleepless nights in my life but the previous night was not one of them.  It was 11 am and I had to be out of my room now.  I counted the dwindling cash supply I had, took a shower and hit the streets, I had never been to L.A. and had not a clue what the first thing to do would be.  Today was a new day, the beginning of a new stage in my life and I decided to just ride the wave and approach it with optimism, an orange bus stopped in front of me and I saw that it was headed to Santa Monica, so I hopped in.  “I would go to the beach” I thought to myself.  Things always happen at the beach.

I did not know when I caught the bus this sunny California day that the Santa Monica bus gave quite the tour of Los Angeles.  This bus runs from downtown, over to Hollywood where it starts down Santa Monica Blvd and finally ends up at Santa Monica Pier.  All in all this ride is around a 2 hour drive which takes you through some slummy parts of Hollywood and then into West Hollywood down through the beginning of Beverly Hills before heading into Santa Monica.  The sights are amazing and very diverse, one minute you are driving through a congested area with transvestite prostitutes on every corner and then next you are in a posh neighborhood full of boutiques and shops.  It was a great way for me to kind of gather my bearings and later on, Santa Monica Blvd. would be the artery that took me almost everywhere that I would go.  I made the right choice.

Approaching the City of Santa Monica, I knew inside my soul that this is where I was going to get started. The bus slowed into through the downtown area of little shops and condominiums and passed the famous Promenade, before the road ended right at a landmark which I had seen so many times in movies and on TV, Palisades Park and the Santa Monica Pier.  I rang the bell on the bus and with my laptop, a back pack and a suitcase on wheel’s, I began an adventure that would show me magic, and loss, Satan and God.

The streets were bustling with tourists, workers and vagrants.  I knew from my research that Famous Venice Beach was to the south and Malibu to the north.  A sense of contentment came over me, I knew inside my soul that I had reached my destination.  It was strange and a bit eerie the calm that came over me.  I thought back at how many people throughout history did the same thing that I was doing and ended up becoming stars and while the idea of me being in this place with a little bit of cash and no plan was a bit scary, it was exciting.  I sat on a bench for a while and then strolled into the park where there were people laying on blankets and selling trinkets, and old man with a bright fluffy beard was sitting in a tie dye shirt selling paintings, I approached him and asked him how the weather has been, he told me it had been warm and sunny and would be that way for the rest of the summer.  I replied with “Good, I intend on sleeping right out there on the beach for a while” and I began plotting my plan.

There was little time left of the day so I gathered my belongings and headed a couple of blocks up Santa Monica to “The Prominade Café” a little internet café that is right at the corner of Santa Monica and 4^th st.  This little café would later become what I would refer to as my “office” I would spend hours in there with my laptop and a coffee searching for small jobs and places to stay…I loved that place.  So I popped open the old DELL and began to brainstorm.  “I have a way too much stuff to carry around if I am just going crash on the Beach” and I didn’t want to spend all of the $200 or so I had left in my pocket, so crashing on the beach was the most logical option for me.  I quickly Googled all of the storage units in the area and found one a few blocks up from Venice beach, lucky for me the first month was only $1.  I quickly decided that that was what I would do, first thing in the morning I would walk the beach down to Venice and secure my belongings in a storage locker.

With my decision made dusk was coming very quickly and I had to start to think about sleeping arrangements.  I had no sleeping bag or blankets and while you can camp out on the beach in Northern California rather freely, this is Los Angeles, people do it every day, but it is illegal and discretion is necessary.  I wandered up the boulevard into a Goodwill store and purchased a sheet and a beach towel and a book called Sidhartha.  This would be the first day in Santa Monica, as night approached I wandered down to the beach, still carrying all of my things.  I met a few local kids and found out about Summer Music on The Pier which is a Los Angeles tradition and of course tomorrow was Independence Day.  They told me that this is the most exciting time of the year on the beach and that if I was crashing on the beach, I wouldn’t get much sleep.  That evening I walked quietly in my solitude towards Venice and somewhere around the halfway point, I found picked out a lifeguard stand which would be my room for the night.  As the waves crashed against the shore, I looked up towards the Pier, the Red, White, and Blue lights spiraling in and out of the Ferris Wheel, whatever the hell I was doing, it was exciting and I was all-in.

This is a continuation of my Los Angeles experiences which I blogged about as they were happening earlier in this blog.  It is my intention to deliver this story and many others in more detail on a regular basis with a hope that my experiences might inspire others to life free of worry and never be afraid to take a chance.

I hope you enjoy reading

`tilly