Brace yourself…it poured in Southern California over the weekend.
It appears that the inhabitants of LaLaLand have never seen the rain.
They take shelter and their driving, no matter the age, turns to shit.
Thankfully, the streets of L.A. were mostly deserted.
Saturday morning, my daughter and I went to Groundwork for coffee on trendy Montana Avenue.
There were a few Range Rovers crawling down the road, but nothing too offensive to insight road rage.
We passed the overly cautious vehicles and found a parking spot in front of the restaurant.
$5 for a cappuccino. Who wouldn’t venture out in the rain for that.
We then headed to the 10:30am showing of, Miles Ahead, at the attractive new ArcLight Cinemas at the Santa Monica Promenade.
Don Cheadle’s performance as lengardary trumpeter and bandleader, Miles Davis, is stellar, but he took on too much as co-writer, director and star.
The movie is mostly set during two days in 1979. Davis’ drug-addled life sends the viewer on a wild and rocky journey.
Cheadle’s free-form approach sacrifices context and clarity with awkward shifts in time and choppy, chaotic moments in his marriage to his first wife, Francis.
The grand total of movie viewers in the theatre…5. No talking, chomping on popcorn or slurping.
We then hit the Promenade and the stores were empty due to inclement weather although I did see someone I can’t stomach in JCrew.
She was crying because her Goyard bag was wet…boo hoo.
The few folks we saw had on down jackets (it was 65 degrees) and Hunter tall rain boots in ridiculously bright colors.
Hunger hit. Feeling very Californian we took Wilshire to Bundy, left on Santa Monica Boulevard to Barrington then left on Mississippi and right on Sawtelle, arriving at our 35 year-old favorite sushi bar, Hide.
At 2pm there was an hour wait so the fearless sushi mavens who truly don’t melt in the rain, fought the faux flooding and splashed through the residual from the city’s limited drainage system and indulged in the best sushi in Los Angeles.
Satiated, we headed home, joyfully confronted by empty streets.
We spent the next 3 hours binge watching Catastrophe, the highly entertaining Amazon series.
The British sitcom debuted last year. It stars the show’s actual writers, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney.
The TV couple get together after Sharon becomes pregnant following a brief affair while Rob was in the UK on business.
Catastrophe is a realistic romantic comedy, featuring clever, relatable writing and major co-star chemistry.
There is a lot of sex, but it’s marriage sex so who knows if the couple are enjoying themselves. It is more of an obligation like taking out the garbage because it needs to be done.
The series is hilarious. It’s Must See TV.
Six new episodes just debuted Friday on Amazon.
Saturday is date night mandated by our pre-nup so we quickly dressed down for the restaurant located in Westwood which is an unlikely neighborhood for dining unless you attend UCLA and desire pizza, Shawarma or Chick-fil-A.
Rain is a pleasant anomaly in Los Angeles…and it is guilt free break from outdoor hiking.
And, most importantly, it helps the drought that ails southern California.
Too bad you can’t invigorate the never ending stretches of manicured lawns with green smoothies or champers.
There would be no watering restrictions.
For your listening pleasure, presenting John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival singing, Have You Ever Seen The Rain?…
