4 days in a movie

Finally, after two years of living in San Francisco, I made it to Los Angeles for the first time.

The reasons were to see my two good friends from home Tommy and Ale, and to attend the Hard Fest. Landed on Friday morning, we had lunch in Venice Beach, and walked among musicians, street teams, entertainers, skaters, surfers, body builders, dogs, art, culture, and california.

Walking on the streets where American History x was shot felt good and I couldn't expect a better start. After a short walk we drove to Royal T a gallery/cafe/restaurant hosting different sponsors and guests every 3 weeks. There, while Tommy and Ale were working as waiters, I "enjoyed" Hello Kitty in all its forms, from necklaces to telephones, from bags to skirts, from accessories to food. After a coffee I left the two working and took the car to visit my former roommate Casey. It was great hanging out at his place for a couples of hours and getting updated on his life and feeling like we were still living together.

At night, after the club we ended up on the Hollywood hills at some friends' place for a relaxing swim enjoying drinks and lights of the city down under. The following days were spent driving around, seeing the different areas, trying restaurants, lounges, and stores. For the whole time I could not believe I was driving around LA with two friends I've been knowing and living in Switzerland for 10 years. It felt good and most of all it felt like a movie. On Sunday when both of them were working during the day I decided to go for a ride on the bus, as I usually like to do every time I'm alone in a new city. Leaving from Marina del Rey, the ride showed me Crenshaw, Mid-City, Fairfax, stopping on Hollywood Blvd. Following the famous Walk of Fame I entered in the super luxurious restaurant designed by Philippe Starck for a quick look, and ended up on Sunset Blvd and after quite a walk I took the bus and went back at Royal T.

About the Hard Fest:

Crookers were undoubtedly the best performance of the night! Followed by Steve Aoki and his Warp, the french duo Justice from whom I was expecting much more, and same for Deadmau5. The biggest disappointment, though, were Basement Jaxx whose dj set was too hardcore when the crowd was just warming up.

At 4 we were desperately looking for a McDonald open but we eventually opted for a foot long Subway. Good choice that was!

On the flight back, before I fell asleep I found this cool video.