Been There, Haven't Done That

My brother was in town today, and since he's been here before, I wanted to think of something to do that was specific to LA, but not the Walk of Fame, the Getty, or the beach. He already appreciates LA: as a helicopter pilot, he takes a certain professional delight/amusement in this city's obsession with that mode of transportation, and having spent time in Naples, also enjoys LA's quasi-Mediterranean landscape. He'd already gone with his buddies from his current work visit to San Diego on a wine tour in Temecula. Complicating the situation, I've been going back and forth getting X-rays of my teeth and CT scans of my sinuses, trying to identify the exact nature of the infection that's been making me ill for weeks, and haven't been up for much exertion.

I settled on a fairly standard East-of-La Brea Sunday afternoon: lunch at Zankou Chicken (the chicken was good, but the neon-pink turnips disappointingly soggy) and a screening of the marvelous Thank you for Smoking at the lovely old Egyptian-themed Vista. The crowd at the Vista loved the scenes with Rob Lowe and Adam Brody in the Hollywood agency. The food at Zankou Chicken sparked a conversation about immigration patterns, and the Vista's location at the site of DW Griffith's original Intolerance set provoked a discussion of the design of Hollywood & Highland -- so my brother did get to know a bit more about the city through a local's ordinary Sunday. It was a quiet Sunday, without enough awards shows or crime to generate a lot of helicopter traffic, but he did get to enjoy the landscape while driving up on Highway 5.

Where do you take guests when they aren't from Southern California but have already seen the major tourist attractions?

Photo by Erin74 on virtualtourist.