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Okay, here it is! We are now on current time! Which means my
dad has ended his six week vacation to LA a few weeks ago. It was unfortunate
he went home because it was really nice having the big man around the corner
(He rented a house down the street so we wouldn't drive each other crazy).
We had a great time together, dined every day and night, and even managed
a couple side trips to Hawaii and San Diego. This week's newsletter
I will close out my Dad's trip, show you around the controversial LA Cathedral
and tell you about the crazy Hollywood party I went to on Sunday. Then
we will play a little guessing game.
First of all how lucky is my dad? He picked the best six weeks to leave
Connecticut to come visit me in California. He was here the entire
month of January which now holds the record for Los Angeles as the warmest
and driest month since the city began keeping stats. Not only that,
I believe it was a record cold month for January in Connecticut. I
experienced it for a few days myself and I have to tell you, it was down
right freezing, brrr brrr. Of course, he had perfect timing, because
the day after he left LA, the temperatures dropped and the much needed rain
started to fall.
As many of you know one of my dad's (and mine) favorite pastimes is dining
out! I tried to take him out to dinner in all the different sections
of LA, which is pretty much impossible to do even with six weeks time, because
there is so much to do, see, and eat here. LA is similar to New York
when it comes to food, because it's hard to find a bad place to eat, even
at the beach. But of course I am partial to the LA food which is deeelicious,
and since we are Italian we love our food. Not to mention food loves
us. One of the last dinners we had here was with my good buddy Kevin
and his wife. Kevin was kind enough to pick my dad, and his companion
Nancy, up at LAX when they arrived (I was in NYC). To thank him, my
dad said he would take Kevin and his wife out to dinner anywhere they wanted
to go. Well, I told Kevin to pick something in Pasadena because we
hadn't made it over there yet. Kevin said, "No problem", and that they
really liked to eat at Twin Palms restaurant. My Dad went to his favorite
food cheat sheet (the one and only Zagat Guide) and wasn't too keen on going
after reading the low rating (Food: 16, Decor: 20, Service: 17 Cost: $32).
But it was Kevin's choice and Zagat did give the atmosphere a good grade:
"A great patio with twin palms" and "it's the atmosphere that really makes
this place." Well, they were right about the atmosphere and wrong about
the food. It was actually pretty good. We really had a
nice time
.
Twin Palms
; 101 West Green Street; Pasadena, CA tel. 626.577.2567
The next night we went to another area that we hadn't yet explored, Beverly
Hills. My Dad and I tried to keep Amber Airplane and Nancy away from
there as long as possible, but it was the ladies night to pick and we couldn't
do anything about it. So, naturally when we asked, "Where do you want
to go?" They answered "Anywhere in Beverly Hills," then they high fived
each other. They were surprised when we told them it was an excellent
choice, of course they didn't realize the shops close early on Rodeo drive.
Ha Ha Ha! They didn't think it was very funny. That night we
dined at
Trader Vic's
because one my friends had recommended it. Before we left my Dad
checked out his Zagat guide (F: 18, D: 22. S: 19, $43), approved the plan,
and we were off. This place had two themes going on that I could see.
The main room was a tropical Tahitian theme, but the room where we dined
had more of an old English sail boat feeling. The waiters were professional,
and dressed only too well. They definitely were not starving actors
moonlighting and if they were, they should win an Oscar for best performance.
Not only was the service excellent, but so was the food. Except this
is not the place to go if you are a hungry Italian man, because the portions
were a bit small, and the prices were a bit steep. This is more the
place to go to get some
cool tropical drinks
and some poo-poo platters.
Trader Vics
is located in The Beverly Hilton hotel at 9876 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills,
CA tel. 310.276.6345
Before my Dad left, he made all the rounds to say good bye to some of our
relatives, we have so many here, that it would've taken a week to see them
all. The highlight was when our
cousin Anna
took us to see my Dad's
aunt Katherine
. She is so cute and sharp as a tack. It's always nice to
visit relatives. Well, my dad is now freezing his tail off back East
and wishing he was back in Southern California, and to tell you the truth,
I wish he was here too.
Wooo hooo everyone, we are now current! This past Friday I went to
downtown LA
to have lunch with my colleague Jane Engle from the LA Times.
I don't get downtown too often, except for sporting events or meetings, so
it actually was a treat to see Jane for lunch. She was my
tour guide
and took me a few blocks from her office to the brand new
Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels. We ate outside with many other visitors
and locals who were there. We decided to eat at the inexpensive
cafe
and tour the amazing new structure. The Cathedral has caused quite
a stir. Especially because the amount of money the city spent.
The story begins back in 1996 when the city condemned the old St. Vibiana's
Cathedral because of damages sustained due to the Northridge earthquake.
Since the Archdiocese of LA was left without a Cathedral Church, it was time
to build a new one. LA has approximately four million Catholics, and
when you have that many Catholics in one city it's a good idea to have a
Cathedral, don't you think? Of course you do. They realized they
couldn't rebuild St. Vibiana's or tear it down and so they preserved it.
Then the city bought a 5.6 acre piece of property that was mostly a parking
lot in the heart of downtown, next to the Hollywood Freeway. The new
58,000 square foot Cathedral cost a whopping $195 million (that's what was
controversial) and was opened on September 2, 2002. It can accommodate
close to 3,000 worshipers and supposedly the structure will be able to last
for about five centuries. They also named the new Cathedral in St.
Vibiana's honor and transferred her remains (yes her remains) that were gifted
to the city of LA Diocese in 1854 by Pope Pius IX. She is now resting
in the Crypt mausoleum, which contains 6000 crypts and niches for burials.
I took a
tour down
there and the place is kind of erie. Squeaky clean but erie.
There aren't many bodies down there yet, but I hear people are dying to get
in there. I know it's not funny. For your information the
Cathedral
was designed by Spanish architect José Rafael Moneo, who did
not use any stained glass except for the some of the windows in the crypt.
Go check out the Cathedral for yourself. Right now they have the Basilica
in
Baltimore Exhibit
on view at the Cathedral's Art Chapel through September 2003. The
big draw for this exhibit is there's a Solid Gold Cane that weighs 90 pounds
and is worth more than one million dollars. No wonder they have a
guard watching it
. Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels
is located at 555 W Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA.
Mass schedule
.
What a day and night I had on Sunday. A friend of mine had asked me
if I wanted to help him out and work the First Annual TV Land Awards show.
TV Land is the TV cable channel that airs all the classic TV shows.
That meant almost every single TV star that I grew up with would be in attendance.
From the Brady Bunch to the Mary Tyler Moore Show. If I couldn't get
an invite, the least I could do was work it. Work it boy, work it!
And that's just what I did! I arrived to the world famous Palladium
in Hollywood at 7:45am, and didn't leave until after midnight. You
wouldn't believe how much work goes into an award show. It's mind boggling.
It was the first time I was ever on the "other side" of an event like this
and I'm glad because it was a great experience and an eye opener. I
had no idea of how much money and time is spent to put one of these on.
They had an army of guys at the Palladium for a solid week before setting
up. From the event planners, to set designers, carpenters, models,
dancers, camera crew, lighting, caterers. You name it, they were there.
I was a PA (Production Assistant). Which should be renamed: gofer boy.
I did everything, from helping set up tables, to going to the Home Depot
for errands. At one point, I was even mopping the floor.
What's great about working in the entertainment business is they take care
of you. Well, at least for this show they did. Everyone was paid
well and ate really well. They had awesome food available all day long,
and on show day, we of course had what the stars ate. From Tri-tip,
served with creamy mashed potatoes, with a dark onion gravy, to all kinds
of vegetables, ravioli, and of course the highlight for me was... dessert.
They had this chocolate chip bread pudding dish which was out of this world.
It is now in my top10 desserts of all-time. It was incredible. Soft,
mushy rich brownies served with cooked bananas and a scoop vanilla ice cream.
I need that recipe, ah, on the other hand, no I don't.
I was one of the few who was given a two hour break during the post party
(which was the dinner party). So guess what? I ate with the celebs.
The best part: I was dressed in my tux so everyone thought I was a guest.
The worst part, I wasn't allowed to bring my camera, and I was dying!
I could've gotten pictures with everyone. The list is too long to list
but the Fonz was there, David Cassidy and Shirley Jones from the Partridge
Family, Laverne and Shirley, the Captain and Doc from the Love Boat, Lee
Majors from The Six Million Dollar Man, and my favorite genie, from I Dream
of Jeannie... get the picture? Well I didn't! But I was not going let
not having my camera get in my way. So I did something I have never
done before. I asked the person in front of me (on two different occasions)
if they wouldn't mind doing me a HUGE favor. I said "Is there anyway
you could take my picture with your digital camera and email me it to me?"
They just looked at me like, "Huh"? Then they each kindly agreed.
You should've seen the first lady's expression when I asked her if she also
had a pen so I could write down my email. After that I ran and got
my business cards. The picture she took was with Dick Van Dyke, a nice
guy, but the lady still hasn't sent it. It may be gone forever.
I didn't care as much about that picture as I do the next one. My goal
was to get a picture with the girls I grew up staring at, and when I saw
my chance: I went for it.
Ladies and gentlemen here is Johnny Jet with
Cindy and Marsha, Marsha, Marsha
. Now, how cool is that? I was on cloud nine, and still am.
In fact, the rest of the night I didn't even bother taking anymore pictures,
I was content with that one. For the rest of the party, I just hung
out with all the nice people. By the way: all the of the Brady kids
were there except for Jan. I had already met Greg (Barry Williams)
before so I didn't need to talk to him this night. The funniest story
of the night involves Chris Knight (Peter Brady). Get this: It turns
out I had met Chris a few times many years ago, because he was one of my
old neighbors friend's best friend (that's Hollywood talk) and the three
of us used to go out and about every so often. I used to tell him,
"Man, I swear I know you. Are you sure you didn't grow up in Connecticut?
How about maybe we sat next to each other on a long flight?" He used
to just shake his head and say "nope." Then last night when I recognized
him and realized who he was I went up to him and said Chris "You were Peter
Brady? He just smiled and said what are you doing here Johnny Jet?"
I said "I was a child star too!" He said "No way, who?" I said
"I was Eddie Munster," then we both laughed. How funny is that? Peter
Brady duped me.
Don't miss the First Annual
TV Land Awards
which airs on March 12 on Nickelodeon. The show
is hosted by John Ritter and is very entertaining.
Travel Trivia! Guess where Johnny Jet just landed? Here's a hint
or two: it was
a long flight
from LA, it's warm because it's Summertime, and they drive on the left
side of the road. Any guesses? Tune in next week to find out!
Also, Johnny Jet's Travel News and Tips will most likely be delayed by a
few days next week, so expect it next Saturday or Sunday.
Cheers Mate!
Johnny Jet
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