My Day Off

Admittedly, that sounds like one of those books you read to first graders at storytime. Janie Gets a Puppy. Mommy Has the Sniffles. My Day Off. Having not really taken time off this summer for a variety of reasons, Thursday just seemed to be a good day to goof off. Spontaneously. I had to go into work for a little bit today---the Friday prior to Labor Day. So, I wanted to do something fun to kick off the weekend of...even more fun. With my fellow goof-off for the day, the erstwhile Anonymous blogger from the Barbara Judith Deluxe Furnished Apartments on Hollywood Boulevard, we decided to go where neither of us had gone before. And, in a way, it was sort of like an episode of Star Trek. The wonderfully renovated and restored Griffith Observatory high atop Los Angeles. If you wonder why I have been in LA for over 11 years and still not see this landmark, don't bother. For about half of that time, the place was closed to the public as they built an entire downstairs wing. The main guts of the building, including that huge telescope that attracts would-be astronomers from around the world, was literally picked up by hydraulics so a lower level could be placed inside. You may recall that the Griffith Observatory was featured prominently in the James Dean movie "Rebel Without a Cause." They've even mounted a memorial to the guy there. The only thing missing is a bronzed bumper from the car he crashed himself to death in. Meanwhile, the grounds are eerily the same as they were in that movie and you can almost see Sal Mineo's character getting shot on the steps all over again. Of course, I've also, in the past, seen the alleyway where Sal actually got murdered, so I'm really two-for-two in Mineo Murder locations. Inside, there are numerous space and science equipments. Moon rocks. Fragments of meteorites. Scales which allow you to find out your weight on other planets of the solar system. Note to all: my weight is just over 100 pounds on Mercury, so that could be a potential place to move. There was even a lifesize statue of Albert Einstein. Or perhaps it was just some old guy who used a little too much of that L'Oreal Self Bronzer.

We watched a short documentary on the history of the observatory in the Leonard Nimoy Theater and it was aptly narrated by Leonard Nimoy himself. I was convinced that I was going to see him folding souvenir T-shirts in the gift shop. And the ceiling show in the planetarium itself is an eye-opener. Although given you view it in almost horizontal position, it could also be a potential eye-closer. I learned more about stars and planets and astrology than I ever knew before and I realized that I must have slept through high school science as well. By the way, the cafeteria downstairs did sell Milky Ways and I was angry that nobody else around me got that joke. The fun, however, did not stop with the conclusion of my inter-galactic adventure. I realized that we were very close to the address where Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy filmed their Oscar-winning short "The Music Box." You might remember it. Stan and Ollie carrying a huge player piano up several flights of stairs to a house high atop a hill. One of my all-time favorite screen moments. And I have long known that the actual location was still very much intact in some rundown neighborhood off Sunset Boulevard. We were only five minutes away. More spontaneity. It was really a short drive through the bowels of Silver Lake. And the steps at the right were amazingly easy to find. The house on the right is still there in very much the same state. There is now a building on the left which looked like a vacant lot in the film. There's a plaque on the bottom steps commemorating the brilliant short.

And a street sign that serves as a double reminder.

And me on the first landing. Being incredibly...spontaneous.

This can only happen in Hollywood. And only on a day off.

Dinner last night: Hawaiian Burger at Islands.