A guidebook left behind at our Airbnb included Beverly Hills' Greystone Mansion as one of the top 10 things to do in LA. I'd never heard of it, but Thom loves house tours.
That's an alley of Italian cypress trees above Thom. But it seems the gorgeous property, owned by the Doheny family, one of LA's richest, was cursed. Ned Doheny, who built the mansion for his wife and five children in 1928, was killed by his once boyhood friend from and now personal aide in a murder-suicide just four months after they took occupancy. Some say Doheny was about to implicated in a financial scandal; others say they were lovers. None other than Raymond Chandler fictionalized the scandal in his novel The High Window.
You can rent both the house and the grounds for special events but the public is only allowed to visit the mansion's interior on the first weekend of the month. Still, the grounds are totally worth touring.
When Ned's father purchased the land with the money he made from his discovery of oil in the area, Sunset Boulevard was a bridal path.
Next, Thom announced he wanted to check out "the Bird streets," which he knew about from Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing." Apparently, it's an exclusive West Hollywood neighborhood with old homes, great views and rare vacancies. Google got us there easily enough but the narrow streets--with names like Bluebird, Skylark and Thrush--were so steep, narrow and twisty that I couldn't wait to ditch the uninsured rental car. We found free, two-hour parking just off Rodeo Drive.
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| Loro Piana |
The "Walk of Style" commemorates fashion industry legends, including Edith Head, the Versace siblings (dead and alive) and Herb Ritts, with bronze plaques that lack the historic glamor and sheer number of stars on Hollywood Boulevard.
The torso on top of the "Walk of Style" plaque represents the silver statue on the right of this photo, a connection that would be almost impossible to make without the internet.
Speaking of torsos, the buff black guy on the right turned his back when I tried to photograph his. Really, what did he expect, jumping rope shirtless on a busy corner in one of the world's most exclusive shopping areas? A screen test?
You've heard of Cocaine Bear? Here's Molly Llama (thank you Sam Sanders and Jon Lovett).
Statues of a photographer and a peace sign--maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.
Los Angeles County--with a population larger than that of 40 individual states--comprises 88 different incorporated cities. I'll bet few have seats of government as grand as this one.
But I liked the swoopy 76 gas station even better. Has a fossil ever looked so modern?
There's even something called the Mr. Brainwash Art Museum. I wish we'd gone inside.
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