LA Livin'

It is 10am on a Tuesday morning and I am listening to the sounds of South LA while I sip on my Nescafe Cappuccino and lounge on the sofa. 
The sound of children playing in the distance is drowned out by the abrasive sound of a fire engine racing through the grimy LA streets.
I'm honestly not sure what I expected of LA but it was definitely more glitz and less grime.

South LA makes me feel all kinds of nostalgic, it's reminiscent of my childhood growing up in Althone on the Cape Flats; people preaching on street corners to let Jesus into your heart, graffiti so high up on buildings and billboards you wonder why people would take the time, shop fronts closed up with bars on their windows and locked gates in front of their doors, the homeless with their trolleys full of their belongings or just their bags on their backs and alleyways you just intuitively know never to go down - on the plus side the apartment block that Paranormal Activity 3 was filmed is literally just down the road from where my cousin lives, which I was WAY too excited about.
In saying that though - Beverley Hills is all Glitz as can be expected. The streets are huge and the houses are even bigger. The tallest palm trees I have ever seen boarder the streets and it's full of tourists trying to get the best picture for the 'gram.

Our first night here we made it down to this Hawaiian themed bar called Lono in downtown Hollywood to celebrate my cousin's 30th. The drinks here (or maybe it was just in that particular bar) are a lot stronger than the drinks we have back in Auckland. I swear I only had about 2 drinks (A Pina Colada and a Whisky & Dry) and I was on a VERY good buzz. The music was right down my alley too - mostly 80s funk. I honestly spent most of my time outside having a good yarn with the bouncer Tony - this giant African American man who was an absolute sweetheart.
We took a Lyft home and stood chowing down corn snacks and yarning in the kitchen till 4am.

The next day we all surfaced at around about midday, my cousin made us breakfast and once we were all ready we headed to The Grove - a farmers market and outdoor Mall a couple minutes away from their house. We went into Nike so Kieran could price a couple of sneakers and then we went into Barnes and Noble. Honestly, the bookstores here a literally my dream. Barnes and Noble is 3 stories high. I could spend hours just roaming around, we went into The Last Bookstore yesterday and I've never been more in love with a bookstore. It was so quirky with little nooks and crannies of book sculptures and a Horror Vault - which is definitely a bit of me. 
For lunch we went to Grand Central Market which is essentially just a foodcourt in downtown LA. We had the best Pizza I've ever eaten and then headed to Target to pick up a couple of essentials.
For dinner we headed to an All American Diner. The food portions are HUGE and bottomless soda refills is literally the greatest thing since sliced bread. There was sweet pies on the menu for dessert and honestly - I didn't think I would miss an actual steak and cheese pie as much as I currently do. My cousin and her Dad are vegetarian so we've eaten everything but meat since I've arrived and all I want right now is a juicy steak or a mound of chicken wings.
I'm heading out to the desert today though - Phoenix, Arizona to spend some time with my Mom's older sister. The fan girl in me is excited because Bella Swan lived there with her Mom once (HAHAHAHA) but also I'm excited for the good weather. LA has been pretty overcast for the past two days. Hoping things will clear up once I'm back - but it's just reminded me of home so I barely feel like I've left Auckland at all.