L.A. Day 2

11th November 2015.

The overgrown area I cycled past in Pacific Palisades on the way to Will Roger's State park, turned out to Larry David's old house.  I don't know why I noticed it, but when later searching for shooting locations for Curb your Enthusiasm, (this is out of interest in the architecture and infrastructure of the wealthy etc. in the USA), I came across articles about his house sale.  Messy looking overgrown undergrowth are a great way to maintain privacy.

I guessed this was a very wealthy area, from the private cop eyeing me up as I struggled up the hill. Although a public road, in a place like this, they watch for homeless, crook and paps I guess.  This turned out to be one of the areas which is home to the rich and famous.  All very interesting to have a nose through but the park was my destination.  There aren't so many cyclists in these parts, and a lot of the poor homeless types have bikes so I must have looked like a possible "person of interest".

There are a fair number of sport cyclists amongst the outdoor people of California.  You can see them zipping about here and there, but not so many people use bicycles to get from A to B.  I cycled 26 miles that day.  L.A. was bigger than I thought for sure, and this was only moving about a small section of it.

Will Rogers lesson about respecting the indigenous people are long forgotten and discarded but his ranch remains as the centre of a park and tourist attraction.  It's an appealing area, although the hills above his home are parched from four years of drought.  A drought that doesn't appear to have affected golf courses and the lawns in many areas.  Much of Southern California seems to be on the verge of returning to desert as the earth dries out and plants die out, but much of the area inland haas been desert for thousands of years already.  They rise and fall throughout history, perhaps this one is on the rise now.  The day after I left the rains came and filled the LA "rivers" - (the famous concrete drainage systems of Hollywood legend), but even that wasn't enough to much for the water supplies sadly.  Deserts have a certain beauty but you need to be strong and determined to live in one.  My later visit to Death Valley reminded me of that.

More to follow...