All I want to do is take pictures: City of Angels, City of Sand

Inglewood, California lies just southwest of downtown Los Angeles and is actually home to LAX: one of the most important airports in the United States. Southern California to me meant beaches so when I arrived in the area at the end of November, I settled into what turned out to be a huge hotel room, and consulted Google Maps to plan my adventures.

My first full day was spent in Manhattan Beach.

Underneath the pier...

...this interesting visitor.

And when I complimented him on how convincing he was? He laughed. "Ho ho ho!"

Super cool surfers:

And this guy, living the dream.

Footprints.

Mine. Not mine.

...and sandpipers, which I developed a bit of an obsession with capturing because those little guys are speedy and it made for a challenge!

Beachfront.

Amazing.

Then finally, at the end of the day, back to where I started.

On the way back to my hotel, I stopped to capture these beauties.

I love hibiscus so much!

I loved that these were in full bloom too. End of November? Pshaw.

My second full day found me on a tour bus: downtown L.A., the very freeway where a certain white bronco led police on a chase just over 20 years ago...

and Hollywood!

On the sidewalk...

...carved into the sidewalk...

and a bit of shopping, if you were so inclined.

Afterward, we took a lunch break at a farmer's market.

If you could call it that.

Waffle cone shot glasses.

Seems legit.

This guy was pretty amazing.

The Travel Angel greeted you just inside the entrance to the 'food' area of the market. Created as part of the "Community of Angels" project in 1991, he stands life-sized, dressed in a touristy getup traditional to the area.

The part that really caught my attention though, was the detail.
Glace Bay, Nova Scotia!
Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland!

Tiny towns in the tiniest ends of the earth; they were all there!

I was fascinated.

The last leg of our tour took us on a jaunt down a little street called Rodeo Drive, and all the way on to the seaside community of Venice. We had only a half hour stop on our tour.

Let me tell you, a half hour does not even brush close to enough time in this place. The beach is a day trip in itself, and I was crazy about this place. So on day three, I maneuvered one of the countries busiest public transportation networks and made my way back for a day on Venice Beach.

I don't even know what to say about this. It is probably one of the creepiest things I've seen in my entire life. Go ahead, click and enlarge it. Take it all in...

And the beach itself...

...but first, more plovers.

And this case of right time, right place.

but I digress!

Walk with me.

The Santa Monica Pier was ripe with buskers, working hard to make a living. This chick had the coolest look about her, but to be honest, her music wasn't to my taste.

This guy, however, was a whole other story.
With only his guitar and his ability to beatbox, he managed to convince me to sacrifice my only bill - a Canadian ten-dollar - for his CD.

His name is Zack Andrew, his YouTube channel is called BeatsNStrings, and you should definitely look him up (or just click here). That is, after you take a peek at my video of course. ^.^

From the pier:

And back on ground level.
Kind of.
I call this section 'Things People in California Do' and there is some pretty cool stuff.

See that blue rope across her ankles? It's not rope. It's elastic. These people were walking tightropes and bouncing on them like trampolines. Chances are she's not falling in this shot. She's likely landing on the elastic on her bottom and bouncing back up again to continue doing tricks.