Way Out West: the LA bit (Part 1) ( 2 )
( 3 )
When: June 2003
Where: Los Angeles (obviously)In June
2003 I took a vacation that went like this:
- 10 days in Las Vegas
- 10 days in Pasadena / Los Angeles
- 10 days in San Francisco
This part of my website covers the Pasadena / Los Angeles leg of the trip.
Coming up... a matter of some sadness / things I will do anything
for / what you can't find in Pasadena / an unusual painting style / an incredible 90
seconds / a grand old lady / food, painting and belly dancing / a hotel with just one
problem / an evening at the Castle / an unmissable blond wig / dining with talented people
/ the movie magicians / eating in paradise / where to go for rice pudding in LA / the man
who made Spider-Man move
June 20 - 22. Pasadena, Koo Koo Roo And Caltech Too.
Having spent ten enjoyably tiring days in Las Vegas, it was time to fly Jet Blue up to
Los Angeles, or, more specifically, Pasadena. At LAX I was met by my friend Glenn,
a professional screenwriter and also one very funny guy. Glenn said he'd hold up
a sign for me, and he did:
The sign (which I still have) measures roughly 32 inches wide by 10 inches high, and
was Glenn's salute to my limitless admiration for The Most Beautiful Woman Who Ever Lived.
This ceaseless and constant devotion is well-known to my friends. It is a matter of
some sadness that the perfect Ms Bisset was not, as it happens, travelling with me on this
occasion. However, one must bear one's cross with fortitude, and never lose hope.
After I had dumped my case in the Pasadena Hilton, it was time for food. Glenn further
confirmed his deep understanding of my character by taking me to the nearest Koo Koo Roo.
For poor souls who may not know, Koo Koo Roo is the greatest 'fast food' chain in the
world. In fact, it's the only one I will even step foot in. I have already
established in these pages that I will do anything for:
- really good fajitas and ice cold beer (preferably Miller draught)
- a steak and Zinfandel
To this we can add a meal at Koo Koo Roo. I am very saddened that there aren't that
many Koo Koo Roo outlets, and in any case they are all confined to the Los Angeles area. I
hope they'll consider opening a branch in London, where I live. They only need to open
one. Preferably right outside my house. Or, better still, I'll just leave my house and
live inside Koo Koo Roo. Until this happens, Glenn has actually offered to send me Koo Koo
Roo menus through the mail. Now that's what I call a friend.
My hotel had an internet 'bureau' for guests. What's more, each time you went to use
it, Julia Roberts turned up in person to switch the computer on for you. At least that's
what I concluded, based on the stipulated scale of charges. I went wandering around the
streets in search of a cheaper alternative. These days, they say, you can find an internet
cafe just about anywhere in the world. My experience suggests this is true. Almost. You
can find an internet cafe anywhere except Pasadena. My search seemed to last for
hours, all to no avail. I did ask a few of the locals, but I didn't get very far. It was
like asking Shakespeare for a camcorder battery. (Fact check: according to
cybercafes.com, there are 3 such places in Pasadena, but let's just say I couldn't find
them, and none of the locals knew about them either.)
The rest of my day was taken up revising the script for my show. I already had lots of
standard repertoire that I could recite in my sleep, but for this occasion I had tried to
devise a new lecture show, and I wanted to prepare for it with extra thoroughness. I
didn't have my trusty PC with me, so this process of writing and revision was done with
pen and paper. It felt incredibly old-fashioned.
While thus spending many hours in my Pasadena Hilton suite, I noticed that my magician
friend Bob Kohler (first mentioned back on this page) was deeply
honoured by the hotel in a very
special way.
Sunday dawned: the day of my talk at the California Insitute of Technology, organised
by Michael Shermer and the Skeptics Society.
Michael (above right) is a good friend and also one of the people I most admire and
respect in this world. His list of achievements is dizzyingly impressive, and he seems
able to turn his hand to anything and make a big success of it. Rather sickeningly, he is
also very modest about all he's achieved.
The lecture show seemed to go well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The audience were
great, and all the Skeptics Society people were endlessly helpful as usual. (Commercial
break: you can buy a video of this show - see the Items To Buy page on this
site.)
 
After the show I enjoyed meeting many of those in the audience, chatting and signing a
few books and so forth. To my delight and amazement, Jim Steinmeyer was
there. Jim enjoys a sky-high reputation in the magic community, being one of the foremost
creators of magical effects and illusions. He's also a personal hero of mine, so I was
obviously rather pleased that he'd turned up to see my show (below left, with Jim's wife
Frankie Glass). I also had the chance to learn some inner secrets of magic from my friend
and Master Magician, Jacob, aged 10 (below right).
 
Michael Shermer had booked a few tables at a nearby Greek restaurant so that a sizeable
clump of Skeptics Society members and friends could grab a bite to eat and sip a beer or
two. This was a welcome opportunity for me to meet more new faces and chat the afternoon
away.
Once this had run its course, I went with my friends Glenn and Renata to a nearby bar
for some further refreshment and what I remember as being a very amusing conversational
ramble.
I have already mentioned that Glenn is a screenwriter with a sharp eye for
observational detail and a smart sense of fun. Renata is a favourite
email correspondent of mine and keen skeptic, with an IQ somewhere off the top end of the
scale and a laugh that could melt permafrost.
> > > Continued in Part 2
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