February 26, 2020 - Griffth Park - Hollywood

I woke up in Glendora and decided to jump back on Route 66 and redrive my steps from November.  I was on a time crunch the first time around seeing it a little slower might be good.  I also had a lot of issues in the Los Angeles with staying on the route.  I thought this time maybe I'd have better luck.  Nope, not so.  I was still always in the wrong lane and traffic was horrible and it wasn't any easier this time around.  Eventually missed a turn and ended up back at Griffith Park.  Had no idea I'd been so close, but it was still early and I thought I'd check out more of the park that I missed the day before.  Specifically, travel town.  They have trains and I like trains.  The entrance that I tripped over this time was different than the one I took to the Observatory.  The drive was lovely and I got to see a lot more of the park: merry-go-round, equestrian center, golf course etc.  Finally ended up at Travel Town.  I was disappointed to see that it was closed.  Gate shut and locked.  Perhaps, like the shuttle, it was weekends only?  Perhaps its only open during the summer?  No, silly me!  Its still really early and it doesn't open until 10am!  So, I hung out in my car, watched more Criminal Minds and waited for them to open.

Travel Town used to be a little museum focused on travel.  It still is, but it leans heavily on train travel.  There are a number of different engines and cars.  Lots of history.  Some you can climb and take a closer look at, others you just view from the ground.  Each train has its history displayed.  There was a Fred Harvey Museum and although I'd seen a lot of Fred Harvey exhibits at museums all along Route 66, I really liked this one, it was designed well.  There was an Exhibit Hall that contained some old cars, and other train cars - including a train care designed to contain animals for the circus, that originally travelled exclusively along train lines.  It was a good couple of hours.  The highlight I got here, was a map of Griffith Park.  I'd still not seen a good map at this point and outside of the simplified map from at the bus stop, I still wasn't sure what it all contained.  Now I had a good paper map I could take with me.  I reviewed the map and decided to check out one more part of Griffith Park.  It was way on the other side and I'd have to exit the park, drive through horrible traffic and enter at the other side.  But I like caves, and there are caves in Griffith Park: Bronson Caves.  I programed the GPS and off I went.  I found a small parking lot close to the caves and followed the area for a small hike up a hill.  Found a hummingbird on a power line.  That made me ridiculously happy.

When I got to the caves, they were a little disappointing.  Apparently, these are not natural caves, they are manmade.  Left over from when this area was owed by a quarry company that quarried the area for rocks for nearby roads.  The quarry company left in the 1920s but manmade caves or tunnels were left behind.  The canyon and the caves have been a popular place for filming in the last 100 years.  As a matter of fact, some musician was filming a music video there while I was there.  Because it is a public park, they can't prevent the public from coming onto the property, but I took a few pictures and moved on to other things.  After I looked up all the things that were filmed there and I wished I'd taken more time.

***Useless trivia - Bronson Caves & Bronson Canyon are named for a nearby street, Bronson Avenue.  Bronson Gates of Hollywood are also named for the street.  When actor Charles Buchinsky was looking for a state name, he chose Bronson from the Bronson Gates of Hollywood.  Charles Bronson.

I needed to pick up Gina in Ontario later in the evening and it was still early.  I wanted to head out early to beat traffic, but I still had time.  Time to check into Hard Rock Café, which I had seen was close to the park.  The Hard Rock is directly on Hollywood Blvd and the last time I was in Hollywood, it wasn't there.  It was half a block down from Mann's Chinese Theater and I'm sure I would have noticed it.  I ordered some beverages and some lunch and I enjoyed a couple of hours.  After talking to the bartender, I discovered the Hard Rock used to be at another location and it moved there about 10 years ago.  Which explains why I'd never seen it before.

I left Hollywood around 2pm, giving me plenty of time to get to Ontario within hitting rush hour traffic.  The Los Angeles area has some incredible things.  Museums, parks, restaurants, beach, theme parks etc.  But I would never live there.  The traffic is horrible.  Absolutely horrible.

Got to Ontario at a decent hour, restructured my car so she'd have somewhere to sit and hung out with more Criminal Minds until her flight came in.  The plan had been to drive as far as possible up north so we'd be as close to our destination in the morning.  But when I picked up Gina, she was sick.  Stress and tension had caused her to have some issues and she spent the hour I was driving vomiting into zip lock bags in the passenger side of the car.  It took over an hour to get, not very far....because this is Los Angeles.  I pulled over and got a motel room outside of Six Flags.  It was a quality place.