A Quick Day In LA Before Leaving US - Venice Beach & Santa Monica Pier / Stopping By Morrison Hotel
Day In LA
Transcript
0:03
Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here as a
0:03
recording of this is Monday, April 7th,
0:06
2025. A little bit later this afternoon,
0:09
early evening, I'm going to be departing
0:12
the US of A and heading to an
0:14
international destination. But
0:16
today, figured I would walk around. I
0:19
got stretch the legs before
0:21
heading to
0:23
LAX, do Venice, Santa Monica, and just
0:27
see see what I can see. There's the pier
0:30
back there from Falling Down. Robert
0:32
Duval, Michael Douglas Classic. The I'm
0:35
the bad guy scene took place right over
0:36
there. Just going to stroll along, have
0:39
a day, stretch the legs, get good amount
0:42
of walking exercise in because I'm going
0:43
to be sitting for a long time tonight.
0:46
So, I'm inviting you to join me. My last
0:49
day in the US of A for a couple
0:54
weeks. Let's make the best of it. I'm
0:56
inviting you to join me. Good to have
0:58
you here.
0:59
shall you? This area I'm starting off at
1:02
is a residential quiet zone. Pedestrians
1:05
only, no amplified music, no vending,
1:07
and no camping here at 23rd A. But it's
1:10
going to start getting a
1:12
little more noisy and hectic the farther
1:15
I go down.
1:21
I think I actually just think that was
1:21
the end of the residential zone. Yeah,
1:23
one of the main reasons I chose popping
1:25
over to Venice and Santa Monica is it's
1:27
not far from the hotel I was staying at
1:29
near LAX. Thought about maybe going to
1:31
the boulevard, popping over there, but
1:33
that was like a
1:34
4550minute ride and just getting over
1:37
there and back would have been a little
1:38
bit of a time crunch. This is pretty
1:40
wild. So, you got the father of
1:42
bodybuilding, Joe Weider, right here,
1:43
built the stadium seating, but I guess
1:45
they don't allow smoking in Venice
1:47
anymore. They have they started to build
1:49
a smoking
1:51
room. That's weird. Does he got it? Does
1:54
he got it? Does he? Nope. That's a It's
1:56
a miss. Looks like the GIV sign has been
1:59
taken down next to the Venice Massage.
2:01
It used to be right there. This guy's
2:04
been out here forever. I always see this
2:06
guy. He always rides around on his like
2:07
he was rollerblades and he's playing
2:09
plays guitar over there. There's a
2:11
sign right there stretching across the
2:14
top of the of Pacific A and Windward A.
2:27
The Big V as the Recreation Parks
2:27
Department drives in front of it. Big V
2:29
made out of metal there reaching towards
2:30
the sky. A landmark here right along the
2:34
water side. Making my way over to the
2:35
skate park real quick. Waiting for a
2:37
friend to show up.
2:44
Take a look at this. It's like a little
2:44
fortune teller for a
2:46
quarter. You got a quarter? You got a
2:48
quarter on you? No. Skint rats. You
2:51
never know who you're going to find in
2:52
the the back alleys of Venice. I'm never
2:54
going to know my fortune. Now, I like
2:57
that you're you're a a hot coffee
2:59
drinker. Yes. You got to have a piping
3:01
hot caffeinated beverage. I don't do the
3:04
whole Chris Provos thing. Chris is cold
3:07
coffee guy. Cold coffee. And that's
3:08
fine. That's fine. I guess he's drinking
3:10
coffee. That's true. He didn't for a
3:12
long time. No, me neither. And now you
3:13
got me on the sauce. I'm converting.
3:20
You haven't been to Venice in like 20
3:20
years? No, I have not walked around on
3:22
the beach for like 20 years. I've come
3:23
down. I've like driven down. I parked,
3:25
talked to a friend or something. I have
3:26
not gone down on that strip for 20 years
3:29
that I can remember. Although both of us
3:31
are like, "Did we We've been to Santa
3:32
Monica a million times." Yeah, but not
3:34
here. We should go to Santa Monica where
3:36
you're more comfortable. Let's go there.
3:38
This is pretty dang cool. I forgot this
3:40
house existed. You have greetings from
3:43
Venice Beach right there. But take a
3:45
look up top here. You got some uh Merr
3:48
folk up top. You got a dragon right
3:50
here. This is like the dragon house if
3:52
you want to. What' that do?
3:55
The do what? He mangled the dolphin.
4:01
Oh, this may be a little hotel of some
4:01
sort.
4:03
I don't know what this is. An Airbnb
4:05
right here.
4:08
Private residence. A private lives
4:11
here. That's kind of neat to have that,
4:14
too. Oh, look at that. Someone going to
4:16
like leap out at us.
4:22
This is also the backside of the hotel
4:22
where Stallone stayed in in the Canon
4:24
Films classic Cobra. He threw a guy
4:27
right off that roof. Right down past the
4:29
fire escape there. Just launched him off
4:31
the top of the roof. You don't mess with
4:34
Sly. What's this guy doing? He's riding
4:36
a skateboard. He's got a
4:38
knife. And this is You all
4:41
right? What happened? I don't know why
4:43
that made me laugh. You're riding a
4:44
skateboard. Got a knife. Hey man, we're
4:47
in
4:49
Venice. Check out the Oh, look at this.
4:51
Here's Bambi here in the Venice woods. A
4:55
what? Look at that. Oh. Oh, Bambi. Oh,
4:58
no. Bambi's been hit. We made it over to
5:01
Santa Monica. Make sure we look both
5:02
ways before we cross. Third Street
5:04
Prominade. Third Street Prominade alley
5:07
behind it.
5:16
Thank you.
5:16
This is a This is a place you and I have
5:18
been hundred times and so many years ago
5:22
when we first came here together.
5:23
Peewee's Big Adventure. Big Adventure.
5:26
Let's see. The two most famous things
5:28
down here that I know of would have been
5:29
tracks. Yep. The record shop from Pretty
5:32
and Pink and Peew's Big Adventure, Chuck
5:34
Borama. There's tons of other stuff, but
5:35
I don't care about it as much. We are
5:37
approaching the
5:39
spitting. Is this a dinosaur? It's a
5:42
dinosaur. It's a topiary. Oh, look. It's
5:45
a Google store now where tracks used to
5:47
be. That's it. I don't even know what
5:49
they sell in there. I thought Google was
5:50
free. Ducky doing his little dance.
5:55
Is it open? Oh, look it. It is open.
5:58
Last time I was here, I think it was
5:59
like a Was it a bar? Yeah, it was like a
6:02
bar and grill. So, this was the record
6:04
store
6:06
from Pretty and Pink where Ducky does
6:08
his famous dance. Oh, hey, they're open.
6:12
How many people a day? film in that
6:13
building. How many people a day you
6:15
think walk in there and uh What if you
6:17
walked in there dancing? That'd be kind
6:18
of They got rid of the uh they got rid
6:20
of the No more newspaper the newspaper
6:22
racks he was sitting on. There was a uh
6:24
like a patio out here forever like on
6:26
the sidewalk. You couldn't even get in
6:28
the spot right there. Then the crane
6:30
shot and Ducky's for Yeah. So sick.
6:35
Little fun fact, the kid that she shoots
6:38
with the staple. Yeah. It's the lead
6:39
singer of the Aquabats. It's Christian
6:41
Jacobs as a kid. the lead singer, the
6:43
Aquabash. I never knew that. Christian
6:44
Jacobs, his brother Parker's a friend of
6:47
mine. So, it's Christian Jacobs that
6:48
gets shot only an inch away from his
6:50
eye. Half an inch.
6:53
I I just learned something new. Yeah.
6:55
But did you also know, Justin, that
6:57
right over here was the very first scene
7:00
from Baston High? I didn't know that.
7:02
Yeah. Who? Demone walks in the go- go
7:07
song starts to play. It was there. It
7:09
was right here. I uh now I probably
7:11
shouldn't have said that because I think
7:13
that was correct, but I'm just going to
7:14
leave this in anyway, but I think that
7:16
was where the opening scene is. No way.
7:19
Right there. Because this used to be
7:20
glass, a glass front of a mall. Yeah,
7:22
right there. So, you just have to kind
7:24
of go back to the 80s and just picture
7:26
right inside what is now the Google
7:27
store.
7:29
I kind of like it better how it is how
7:30
it is now. It's a lot more open and you
7:32
can picture Ducky kind of dancing around
7:34
in there with Molly Ringwall watching,
7:36
Annie Pototts. Is that the only three
7:37
people in the scene? were just just
7:39
those in the dancing scene. Yeah. And
7:41
then most of it was like looking out the
7:42
front door in the front window. But
7:43
Andrew McCarthy comes in there and
7:45
that's when they have their first little
7:46
meet cute.
7:51
What is he trying to buy? He's trying to
7:51
buy some record.
7:53
I also wonder if it was originally a
7:54
record store and they or they just sent
7:56
dress it or if they just used a real
7:58
record store. Should go to an Aquabat
8:00
show, find out, and ask the MC Bat
8:02
Commander
8:07
down this alley. Look at that old
8:07
building over there. Kind of reminds me
8:08
of like an old crest
8:10
building. Maybe not a crest building,
8:12
but I like the look of that skyscraper.
8:14
It looks like
8:15
a looks like a bait machine, right? Or
8:18
bait. Look at this. A random land
8:20
baseball car. You're not playing
8:21
baseball, though. You're just holding a
8:23
camera. Do you like baseball? I do like
8:25
baseball. I always liked baseball. I
8:27
take you to a baseball though. I'm gonna
8:29
take you to a game one day. The sun is
8:31
definitely
8:32
permeating. So occasionally you can park
8:35
on the pier, but evidently it's a busy
8:38
day, so you can't park on the pier.
8:40
They're already all filled up.
8:43
Forest Gump ran underneath this thing. I
8:46
just forget about the Forest Gump.
8:47
Forest Gump. Yeah. Evidently, Tom Hanks
8:50
didn't do the running scene, most of the
8:51
running scenes from a distance. I think
8:53
it was his brother, Jim. They did the
8:55
They did the running scenes.
8:57
Jimmy Hanks, the old running dog. Is his
9:00
name Jim? Yeah. He's the one that does
9:01
uh Woody's voice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
9:04
The parks and stuff. Old Jimmy. Old
9:06
Jimmy Hanks. Old Jimmy H. They should
9:08
get Chad Hanks to take over later. Yeah.
9:11
No one ever talks about chat. No vending
9:13
zone, no alcohol, no
9:16
smoking, you know. They're building a a
9:18
smoking room over where we just were
9:22
over in Venice Beach. They're building a
9:23
smoking room next to Gold Gem. It's a
9:25
room, an enclosed room that they're
9:27
building for smoking. I wish you could
9:30
have I should have showed it to you. For
9:31
what reason? To smoke in just to tell
9:33
people not to smoke outside. Yes. I
9:36
don't I know you're tempted.
9:40
You can do what? Only down there. You
9:42
can smoke here. Oh, Adam, let's smoke
9:45
up. So, we can smoke underneath the sign
9:47
that says no smoking. There it is. Santa
9:50
Monica, the end of the trail. So Justin,
9:53
I've only done Route 66 in its entirety,
9:55
hitting every spot, but I started here
9:59
and went to Chicago. Chicago, but I know
10:03
the purists say that that is not the
10:04
correct way to do it. Would you consider
10:06
that I've done Route 66 if I've gone to
10:08
every Okay, cuz some would say, what do
10:11
you have to start in Chicago? Yeah, cuz
10:14
this is the end of the trail. It's the
10:16
end of the trail. But what if you had
10:17
lived in California when Route 66 opened
10:19
up? You'd be going both ways. Okay. I
10:21
like to swing both ways when it comes to
10:23
Route 66. All right. I swing hard and I
10:26
swing for the fences.
10:28
But a purist would say that you have to
10:30
start in Chicago. Have you ever just
10:32
tour just tour companies that sell you
10:33
rental cars in Chicago? Have you done it
10:35
both ways? Yeah, I've done it both ways.
10:37
Here he is. The lane master. I've heard
10:39
rumors. I've heard that he exists. But
10:42
there is the lane master. It's pretty
10:44
cool. It's a prehistoric clock called
10:46
Raptor's Revenge right here. Look at
10:48
this guy. Salty. This is like uh
10:50
bringing me back to my fisherman in the
10:51
fridge days. Little throwback right
10:54
there. There it is. The Pacific Park
10:57
Ferris wheel.
10:59
You're scared of it. I don't even like
11:01
looking at it. We don't have to do it.
11:03
It's not good. Justin, no. That is a P.
11:06
That is a beehive. Those are bees.
11:09
That's a swarm. Look at the size of that
11:11
swarm. I can't. You know, I got to get a
11:12
little closer. There was a guy standing
11:14
so close. Look at this. Can I even see
11:16
him on camera there?
11:18
Well, noise if it doesn't show up, but
11:20
it sounds like this.
11:25
I don't even want any closer than this.
11:25
There's That's a whole bee's nest.
11:29
I'm having a My girl moment. Well, now
11:32
I'm scared, dude. I honestly haven't
11:33
seen this many bees up close. It's a
11:35
swarm. The queen's down there somewhere.
11:37
They're swarming from one hive to
11:38
another, starting a new hive. All right,
11:40
see you later, Santa Monica Pier. Let's
11:43
get in here. Goodbye to the bees. It's
11:45
literally bees all together, aren't you?
11:47
No, I hope not. I'm smuggling bees. I'm
11:50
a bee smuggler. Someone just I get bit
11:53
by a bee. Look at this.
11:56
R2-D2. Is this where we're getting our
11:58
lunch? No. No. Just down the street a
12:00
little bit. Look at that.
12:03
Seeing those guys cruise around and then
12:05
those Whimo cars, driverless cars and
12:07
robots. Like, dude, we don't have these
12:08
in Florida. Bippy bop. BBop. BB bop.
12:12
Asian grill. Okay. This is a 100%
12:14
gluten-free restaurant. They got these
12:16
in Indiana. They got them in West
12:18
Virginia. They've got them in Maryland.
12:20
Owned by the same people that own
12:22
Chipotle. Really? Yeah. Are they as
12:25
stingy with their their porching sizes?
12:27
Oh, no. They I don't go to Chipotle
12:29
anymore because I'll ask for like the
12:32
the fajita veggie thing and they they
12:34
take like a little tweezers and they
12:37
will fill you up. Going with the little
12:39
spicy action here. And with some corn,
12:41
avocado, little cheese, some noodles,
12:44
some potato base, and uh some sort of
12:47
spicy chicken we got on there. Yeah. And
12:50
this goju Chang sauce. Some pigeons over
12:53
here. Are these get pigeons eating
12:54
cookies? Those pigeons are eating cook.
12:56
I thought they were like peanuts, but
12:57
they're actually chocolate chip
13:00
cookies. We're over in Beverly Hills
13:02
now. Just kind of cruising around the
13:05
witch house.
13:07
Which house is it? The witch house.
13:10
Which house am I looking for? Decorates
13:12
it. Puts all the crows outside. Got the
13:15
witch hanging from the tree over there.
13:17
And then at night, it's all spooky, all
13:18
lit up. I've never seen it at night. Oh,
13:20
he puts like colored lights out here,
13:22
which is kind of obscured by the trees.
13:24
Look at this. These like thorns right
13:27
here. There's the witch right there
13:29
dangling in the
13:35
trees. She's
13:35
swinging. Hey, she got the ruby slippers
13:38
back.
13:39
Oh no. What happened to Dorothy? This is
13:42
pretty awesome. The Tale of the Pup. I
13:45
guess this is the original Tale of the
13:46
Pup hot dog. Last I saw this was
13:49
probably 2017 when I lived here. Jordan
13:53
the Lion, who was my roommate. Not my
13:55
roommate, my neighbor. He wasn't He was
13:57
almost like my roommate cuz he lived
13:58
like next to me in Hollywood. I don't
14:01
think Jordan was ever my roommate. I got
14:03
overly excited now looking at this hot
14:04
dog. But him and I walked or not walked,
14:09
we drove over to the Valley Relics
14:12
Museum where they had this. And that was
14:15
like 2017,
14:17
2018. And evidently the Valley Relics
14:20
Museum has brought it back here or given
14:23
it to this place. And now the Tale of
14:26
the Pup is
14:27
back. It's not open right now. Bobby
14:30
Green had a lot to do with this. Guy
14:31
that owns the Highland Bowl. He owns a
14:33
lot of old buildings. Idol Hour. He does
14:35
a lot ofations. Okay. I know he had a
14:37
big part of it. So, you know more about
14:39
it than I do cuz I remember they got a
14:41
tiki bar here. A hidden tiki bar
14:43
upstairs.
14:45
Okay. So, you're familiar with this
14:47
place. Yeah. I still haven't been to
14:48
this location though. It's the first
14:50
time I'm seeing it
14:51
here.
14:53
Adam, look at the size of that wiener.
14:56
History here. The Doors workshop. Look
15:00
at this.
15:03
It served as an office and rehearsal
15:05
studio for the doors. The band used the
15:07
space to record the sixth and final
15:09
studio album, LA Woman. What? I did not
15:12
know that Hollywood.
15:19
Tail of the pup. Which is the head and
15:19
which is the tail?
15:29
question. Was this the one that Tony
15:29
Danza was eating out of in that
15:31
interview? Remember there's like a clip
15:32
of Tony young Tony Danza eating. No, I
15:35
don't remember. It might have been over
15:37
at Pinks there. Here's a interesting
15:39
thing. This building right here was
15:41
recreated at Hollywood Studios. That
15:43
same building. It's empty right here,
15:45
though. But that building is Oh,
15:47
someone's yelling. All right. We were
15:48
passing by Hollywood
15:55
Forever. You know, Justin and I have an
15:55
interesting story. Back in 2000, was it
15:57
2015?
15:59
No, even early 2013, I think. 2013 14.
16:03
So, a lot of people come here and they
16:05
film and they take pictures, but back in
16:07
2013, you weren't allowed to film on
16:09
this property. And we got yelled at. We
16:10
got kicked off the property. Yeah. And
16:12
they said, "You need to delete the
16:14
footage for doing nothing more than
16:16
we're doing now." So, I think they're a
16:18
little more lenient than they were back
16:20
then.
16:23
What were we trying to film? I think we
16:25
were filming this. I think we were
16:26
filming Johnny's headstone here.
16:29
We were bringing people from out of
16:30
state. We were taking a couple of photos
16:32
and from nowhere, here comes security.
16:35
Times are a little different now. They
16:36
said because we wouldn't delete the
16:38
footage, they were going to call the
16:38
cops and we just left. The reason we
16:40
stopped by is Justin hasn't been here
16:43
since Paul Rubin's
16:45
passed. Justin and I both many, many
16:47
years ago. Part of our friendship is
16:50
because of Back to the Future and Peewee
16:52
Herman. I think that was an intrical
16:54
part of us becoming friends. One of the
16:56
first videos we ever did together was
16:58
the Back to Future locations and
16:59
Peewee's Big Adventure. Was that
17:01
2013ish?
17:03
Yeah, maybe 2012, actually. It was a
17:07
while ago.
17:09
Yeah, 2012. Oh my
17:12
gosh. And when Paul passed, I happened
17:15
to be in California. So the next day, we
17:19
went I think we went to Cabazone. Yeah,
17:21
we went to to the Pee-Wee House in South
17:24
Pasadena in Oxley,
17:31
but you haven't been over here yet. No,
17:32
we're going to pay our pay our respects
17:33
to Paul over
17:48
here. Wow, that was almost two years
17:48
ago, man.
17:50
July of 23. He was the
17:53
best. He was a B. Dude, Peewee's
17:55
Playhouse probably influenced me more
17:57
than anything else.
18:01
Like tiki stuff, mid-century modern
18:03
stuff, the sense of humor. He was just
18:05
the best. Word on the street was when
18:07
this Arby's closed that they were going
18:09
to take down the
18:11
classic Arby's roast beef
18:15
sign near the corner of Bronson and
18:18
Sunset. But evidently, even though they
18:20
have redone, got rid of the Arby's, the
18:23
giant cowboy hat still exists next to
18:26
this drive-thru place now. Prince Street
18:29
Pizza. All right, we're popping over to
18:31
Omeieba Music, Omoeba
18:37
Records. Of course, I remember when it
18:37
was over on Sunset, but now it's on
18:40
Hollywood
18:41
Boulevard. We're going to walk over
18:43
here. They moved it a few years ago and
18:45
this might be the first time going in
18:47
Amoeba Records even though it is a new
18:49
location.
18:55
Someone just going by with some sort of
18:58
incense. I think enjoy it. Well, that
19:00
really adds an odor to it.
19:03
This is the first time going in Amoeba
19:04
Records looking through the vinyl since
19:06
I bought a record bought a record player
19:08
about a few weeks ago. So, I've been
19:09
collecting a little records now. I am
19:11
obviously going international for a
19:13
couple weeks. So, if I do buy a record,
19:14
I'm going to be carrying it with me. So,
19:15
I don't know if I'm going to buy
19:16
anything in here, but I'll hold it for
19:18
you.
19:20
That's true. You could hold it for me. I
19:22
could will and shall, shall I? So, then
19:24
next time I see you, you can just give
19:26
it back to me. Yeah, we'll keep it off
19:28
the record.
19:34
That is not a real motorcycle. What is
19:34
that? It's like a little
19:39
It's like
19:41
a like a little mop head type thing.
19:44
Yeah,
20:05
There's no way that's street legal. The
20:05
way I've always heard the story is that
20:06
the band wanted to get a photo here in
20:09
this particular window, says Morrison
20:10
Hotel, just because of lead singer Jim
20:13
Morrison. They thought it'd be pretty
20:14
clever to get a photo in that window.
20:17
And as the story goes, they walked in
20:18
this door, asked permission, and were
20:20
told no. And then they just did it
20:23
anywhere. And they had the foot the
20:24
photographer was standing about where I
20:26
was take a
20:29
picture. There's the front entrance to
20:32
the Morrison
20:33
Hotel. Take the picture right there. The
20:36
band was standing right here. The front
20:38
entrance. You would have walked in right
20:39
here to the to the hotel again. They
20:42
were taking the picture right
20:49
here. There's the album cover. Rooms are
20:50
only 250 then.
20:54
passenger loading area. That sign, the
20:57
passenger loading would have been right
20:59
about here. Now, there's a parking
21:06
meter. This is the photo right here of
21:06
the doors
21:08
standing well sitting on like a couch.
21:11
There's like a couch back there. They
21:13
were sitting on looking out the window.
21:15
And then there's the there's the spot in
21:17
that exact spot right there.
21:24
That's fun. Saw this album. I thought,
21:24
you know, I think I'd probably just go
21:25
by there and match that
21:27
up. That's
21:34
cool. The Morrison Hotel for the doors.
21:34
All right, that's going to do it for
21:36
today. There's a kind of a mish mash of
21:39
everything. I'll see you in the next
21:41
video. The vlog is over.