49. 48 More Hours in Los Angeles - Long Beach, inside Griffith Observatory and Daytime Santa Monica

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.919
I'm Johnny Mack and travel is back
this week, back to Los Angeles.

2
00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.759
I had to go back out there
to pick up my daughter, so I

3
00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.880
had my wife with me, and
she wanted to see the Griffith Observatory,

4
00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.880
so we went back there. This
time I got inside. So this is

5
00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.640
not just a redow of episode forty
four. If you'd like to hear the

6
00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.199
other Los Angeles episodes, those are
episodes forty four and forty five. The

7
00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:25.960
wife and I also visited Long Beach
and stayed at a hotel that might have

8
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000
some ghosts. And I went to
Santa Monica, and this time the recorder

9
00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:33.000
worked unlike last time. So that's
what this week is. And then next

10
00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:36.679
week, separate from that, we
went to Catalina Island off the coast of

11
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.920
LA. Oh my goodness, I'd
loved it so much. You'll hear that

12
00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:43.799
next week. All right, let's
jump in the rental car. Travel is

13
00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:50.439
back and we're back in LA for
forty eight hours. Here inside the Griffith

14
00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:56.079
Observatory. Bring your VACKS card.
Who knew all good cool exhibits? Here

15
00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:02.200
the Roman Citizen time keeping Sundial Griffith
observa story Sun dial works as the ancient

16
00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:03.680
instruments did in the morning when the
sun's in the east. You can see

17
00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:08.319
the raw shadow on the dial's west
side at noon shadows line north south.

18
00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:15.799
Pretty cool exhibit on telescopes. European
navigator's latitude determination. They used to Polaris,

19
00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.239
the north star to learn their latitude
and measured its angular elevation with a

20
00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:21.879
cross staff. It's pretty cool.
They change your heigh to Polaris. It's

21
00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:26.159
signaled their progress in north or south. That's smart. Explorer one. Its

22
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.280
Floorer one launching Cape Canaveral, Florida, January thirty one, nineteen fifty eight.

23
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.120
Let's just look at the camera obscurira. I'm not sure what I saw.

24
00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:38.400
Let's see the camera obscura. They
see like it depends on magic projects

25
00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:42.040
an image of the outside world into
a dark room through a pinhole. Now

26
00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:45.560
I get it. So we're looking
up at the top and didn't know we

27
00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:49.040
were seeing. Anybody could go to
the camera obscura. Yeah. The pendulum

28
00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.719
very cool. The pendulum at noon. Oh yeah, because it's one.

29
00:01:53.840 --> 00:02:00.920
Because it's one, it's one daylight
time. So the pengel I'm swinging straight

30
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:05.840
across the line. That's really cool. So we got lucky. We walked

31
00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:08.960
up to the pendulum right at one
o'clock daylight time, and it's swinging right

32
00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:13.080
across the line. But it's got
I don't know if I've got a trema.

33
00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.199
Call them dominoes. It knocks one
down every hour, so we got

34
00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:20.199
to see it knocked down the one
o'clock. It's left noon regular time.

35
00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:23.800
Domino Pretty cool. All right,
now I'm making my way to the Aminson

36
00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:28.240
Hall of the Sky. See if
it's on moon phases, day and night,

37
00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.520
sun and stars, pats hides,
check outs hides. That's cool.

38
00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:40.879
How the moon pulls on it like
this video top of the boat. Big

39
00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:46.199
difference. It's pretty cool. It's
pretty basic science. Yeah that's good.

40
00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:52.879
Yeah, it's neat. A live
image of the sun. Image does not

41
00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:54.879
show the sun if it's cloudy or
if the sun is set. That's pretty

42
00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:01.719
cool. The sun spots. This
is it's a different side from the wall.

43
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:07.520
Take a look heading to the West
Terrace, different view of the Hollywood

44
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:08.199
sign. Yeah, that's good for
a pick, right, you know,

45
00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:12.199
a million people behind you. I
don't even know if you're the Hollywood signs

46
00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:14.439
in the photo. I just took
a photo of you. So that's the

47
00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.199
inside of the observatory. It's fun. The science is pretty basic. Saw

48
00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:21.120
a sign and said, like,
our son is a star. I want

49
00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.319
to be like mister of science or
anything. But like, yeah, we

50
00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:29.479
know, and back outside into the
actual So I'm like, we've made our

51
00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:35.000
way to the Griffith Park Birds Sanctuary. How many birds? So a lizard.

52
00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:43.919
I almost stepped on the lizard.
I did not birds kindly, I

53
00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:51.680
know that's a la see any birds? No should I No? It is

54
00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:58.520
pretty, although it does also look
like the set of mash Yeah, it's

55
00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:03.120
very driver, very abandoned. No
water, and I'm hot like this view.

56
00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:05.560
Maybe the birds are smart and don't
come out in the middle of the

57
00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:10.280
day. It looks ninety degrees.
So we left Griffin Observatory, took the

58
00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:14.479
one on the north and then tip
the eggs Malibu Canady Road right and left.

59
00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:18.680
That wouldn't be really pretty. That
took us to the Pacific Coast Highway

60
00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:26.759
and left and started heading south.
I saw the CBS. It's like a

61
00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:31.360
pretty ritty looking strip mall. And
we found Malibu Yogurt. What do you

62
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:38.199
cookie batter? She cooky batter?
My head took back Santa Monica Beach.

63
00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.720
Hello pigeon, Hope, I'm not
bothering the pigeon. I'm on the Santa

64
00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.759
Monica here. I love North.
A lot more people on the north side

65
00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:51.120
of Beer than the south side.
So he's parasailing. Beautiful afternoon. It's

66
00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.959
people in the water. It's a
lot quieter than it was on the Sunday

67
00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.720
night last time we were here.
I'm gonna walk out to the end.

68
00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.519
Harry Krishna. Guys again, I've
got a great Harry Krishna story, but

69
00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:11.160
I'll save it for the Australia episode
because that happened in Sydney. I've been

70
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:14.519
coming up in a few weeks.
I'm gonna start an Australian art. Here's

71
00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:16.560
the coffee being. I didn't notice
that last time. Your name on a

72
00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:20.040
grain of rice. Good use of
your money. I'm telling you into it

73
00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.439
anyway. Made it. See end
of the pier. There's live music.

74
00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:29.360
It's one dude. He's got a
pretty good setup. It's not bad.

75
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.120
This is so much confer than the
Sunday night visit was Friday and four.

76
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:43.959
It seems to me it's time to
come. Who do I've been telling you

77
00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.600
about circa c r c A.
That's a new podcast app that just launched

78
00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:50.000
with podcast guys the places all around
the world London, Barcelona, La,

79
00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:55.319
Iceland, a Rome and Moore.
I was checking out the Barcelona one reminded

80
00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.680
me of my trip there. Those
guys do a great job. Circa comes

81
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.040
from the same people who created Pa
Sport, which is another excellent travel podcast

82
00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:04.399
you should check out. Inside Circa, there are stories about food, fashion,

83
00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:08.439
culture, history, art, sports, everything you want to know,

84
00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:11.560
whether you're trying to plan a perfect
trip or just want to learn about somewhere

85
00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:14.639
new. Circa is written and hosted
by locals. These are people who really

86
00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:18.040
know the place. So when Andreas
in Barcelona tells you about the bar where

87
00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.040
you should watch the FC barsa game
with the best fans in the city,

88
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.040
you know that's an experience you need
to have. Amen, So take a

89
00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:29.360
spin through Circa and hear about the
best meals in Barcelona, what it was

90
00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:30.920
like to live through the blitz in
London, what to do with your kids

91
00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.439
in la and how to dress to
fit in when in Paris. You can

92
00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:40.839
subscribe to Circa Podcasts Cerca wherever you
get your podcasts, or download the Circu

93
00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:46.639
app from the app Store for a
limited time. It's all free. I

94
00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:50.759
stayed at the Millennium Builtmore Hotel.
Now why did I pick that? Because

95
00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:55.480
it was a good deal on my
travel booking website. And then when I

96
00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.639
got there, I was like,
oh wait, I've stayed here before.

97
00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.279
This is the hotel with the ghosts. I've got a pretty good story that

98
00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:05.839
involves alcohol and a woman from Australia. But I can't tell that story.

99
00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:11.879
I'll get in some trouble. So
the wife and I stayed over at the

100
00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:17.240
Millennium Builtmore Hotel and it's got a
reputation for ghosts. That's right now.

101
00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:21.759
This place is historic. It looks
like an old time hotel where if you

102
00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:25.879
were going to film your film noir
movie, you would film it at the

103
00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.720
Millennium built Moore. I mean just
classic and old time bar. Look up

104
00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.920
the pictures. From nineteen thirty one
to nineteen forty two, it hosted the

105
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.360
Oscars. Okay, the Oscars were
at the Millennium Built More. But it's

106
00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.600
also the place where Elizabeth Short,
also known as the Black Dahlia, was

107
00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:46.040
last seen before her widely publicized mutilated
corpse was found in January of forty seven

108
00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:51.079
stories persist of strange happenings inside the
builtmore and it's long, lowlit hallways with

109
00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:56.560
distant mirrors. The ceilings feel low, and a spiral set of staircases seem

110
00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:00.759
endless. The hotel is a lush
mix of elegance and attos. Now are

111
00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:03.839
there ghosts? Alicia as a housekeeper
of the hotel, and she said,

112
00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.959
people say a lot of things.
I've seen anything, but go workers tell

113
00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:11.560
me a lot. They say a
fiance died here and her ghost appears in

114
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.079
the hallways. I found out about
the ghost from the Australian woman at whose

115
00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:16.560
story I'm not going to tell,
but it involved a hotel, bar,

116
00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:20.120
ghosts and an Australian woman. It's
a fun night. Leave it that the

117
00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:24.959
woman this is the ghost, not
the Australian woman. The ghost apparent lovers

118
00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.319
sets up thrown her down the long
flight of stairs. Years ago, some

119
00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.320
guests claimed to hear knocks at the
door. Then there's a different story,

120
00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:33.919
a story about a guy who came
to fix the air conditioners. He had

121
00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:37.559
to go to the roof. He
ends up going and sees a boy with

122
00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.799
no face. He left the building
screaming. They had to find another maintenance

123
00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:45.039
company because the first company was like, we're not fixing your air conditioner.

124
00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:50.360
Man. Some employees here laughing inside
the crystal ballroom when they're alone cleaning and

125
00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:54.200
down in accounting, they say they
see a lady like shape walk by.

126
00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:56.879
So I've stayed there twice now.
I have not encountered any ghosts. I

127
00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:01.360
did encounter a fun Australian lady at
the bar. Some alcohol is involved,

128
00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.039
but it's a story for another time. That's not what this podcast is.

129
00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:07.720
One time a woman checked out because
she said things were moving in her room

130
00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:11.360
on their own. This is so
much fun. Anyway, the place is

131
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:15.360
beautiful. Again. If you were
going to film a film noar movie and

132
00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.480
you needed to look like I don't
know, nineteen thirty eight, go there.

133
00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.879
And I'm not saying the hotel is
old. It's old in the good

134
00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.960
way. I love staying there.
And then I told my wife about the

135
00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.240
ghosts, and she was like,
why did you tell me that? And

136
00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:31.120
I don't really know why I told
her that. All right, let's check

137
00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:35.519
out of the built more and make
our way down the Long Beach. Another

138
00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:39.639
unplanned stop, and made my way
to Long Beach, which is a long

139
00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:43.559
beach. I got street parkings.
I am the king of Valley street parking.

140
00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.639
If I weren't looking out at the
port where they do to the cargo

141
00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:52.720
ships, this would be reminiscent of
a southern New Jersey beach. It's big,

142
00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:56.759
wide sand, nice walking path and
the excenta the bike path from Santa

143
00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:01.399
Monicata came all this way. A
gentle waves. She feels kind of warm.

144
00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:05.200
I am not going to go swimming
because I have a flight a few

145
00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.879
hours up to my right. In
the distance, I hear some loud music

146
00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:11.919
and off to my right where the
cargo ships are straight ahead some kind of

147
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:20.000
research on and left the Long Beach. Here's five o'clock and that's Betty people

148
00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:26.000
here. It's a nice, very
wide beach that reminds me of a lot

149
00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:28.360
of the beaches on the South Store
of Long Island in terms of with this

150
00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:31.919
is nice again with a bike promenade
they're running promenade. Boy, if I

151
00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:35.600
lived here, I on this path
every single day. You kidding me?

152
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.000
Flatter than Flatten along the ocean?
Count me in very nice, So recommend

153
00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.000
you check it out. That was
curious about those islands. I was staring

154
00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:46.480
at while I sat on the sand
on Long Beach and I looked it up.

155
00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:50.000
Apparently, well, let me tell
you. Back in nineteen sixty two,

156
00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:56.000
Long Beach voters approved controlled exploration and
exploitation of the oil and gas reserves,

157
00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.519
but with a caveat if you guys
want to drill for oil out there.

158
00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:03.159
It looked like an oil rig,
so they put in a beautification clause

159
00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:07.000
to make it look cool. They
did a good job. The four islands

160
00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:11.600
were crafted from six hundred and forty
thousand tons of boulders mined from Catalina Island.

161
00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:15.759
They were then lined strategically along the
floor of the harbor to create the

162
00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.120
walls of the islands. On top
of that, they dredged a three point

163
00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.840
two million cubic yards of sand,
and suddenly they've got some islands. The

164
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.879
four islands include over one thousand active
wells that produced some forty six thousand barrels

165
00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:30.399
of oil. I had no idea. I'm just like, hey, those

166
00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:33.960
islands look cool. Good job,
fake island builders. The islands are named

167
00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:39.200
Grisom, White, Chaffee, and
Freeman. The first three Grisom, Chaffee,

168
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.159
and ed White are named after the
astronauts that died in the Apollo one

169
00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:46.480
fire of nineteen sixty seven. Freeman
Island is named after Ted Freeman, the

170
00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:50.000
first astronauts who parish while on active
duty piloting a T thirty eight Talon jet

171
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.519
trainer. He passed away in nineteen
sixty four. Next week we'll head off

172
00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:58.919
to Catalina Island. Oh my goodness, it was so amazing. I can't

173
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.200
wait. Feed here that episode.
You follow the show for free on Apple

174
00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.159
Podcasts or Spotify. We'll see you
next week from Catalina. The last few

175
00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.960
episodes have been all beach. Themes
have been a long Beach Island, New

176
00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:13.840
Jersey, some beaches in New York
City, Long Island, New Jersey,

177
00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.279
Connecticut, Massachusetts. To go back
in the feed if you're in beach mode,

178
00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.639
or go back to the top and
check out Chicago and Nashville and Vancouver

179
00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.799
and Seattle and Iceland in plenty of
places, But next week is Catalina.

180
00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:28.360
Looking forward to sharing that with you. Travel is back