L.A. Lost

I've scheduled a trip to Los Angeles (on September 30th) and will be staying there for a few weeks (until October 21st).

Haven't been to LA since 2004 and my work as a consultant on the Bewitched feature film and my producing gig for Bravo's hit five-part series, The 100 Greatest TV Characters.

So, I'm looking forward to the trip.

All things considered, LA really is a magical place....and wherever you go in LA, that is to say, at whatever location you find your, one thing is for sure:

I either worked there - or got lost there.

I remember one day, I guess it was in the Fall of 1988 or '89 - when I was working full-time during the week at Brentwood Publishing (which was really in Santa Monica) and part-time on the weekends at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA.

Getting to the Biltmore from Santa Monica (where I lived) was quite a trek every weekend...even for the early morning hours that I worked....I think it was 6 AM to 2 PM - or something insane like that.

Anyway, I just remember I would to get up at 4 AM to make it on time. Because once I got into downtown LA, I had to park in a lot that was about two miles away from the Biltmore. And I parked there because it was cheap....only 2 bucks I think. To park at the Biltmore lot was something outrageous like $90.00 or something...and that was only a little less than I was paying in rent. So that wasn't gonna happen.

So I ended up walking those two miles from the cheap parking lot to the Biltmore every Saturday and Sunday morning about 5:30 AM.

And it was the strangest thing:

When I would take those walks, NO ONE else was in the city. I kid you not. I felt like I was in one of those science fiction movies where all the people have been obliterated. I mean, there I'd be - walking ALONE - in the midst of empty sidewalks and streets. I could sing at the top of my lungs if I wanted to (and quite, I'm surprised I didn't) - and no one would have heard me.

That was just plain odd.

Then again, not odder (odder?) than one of the more confusing weeks that I worked at both Brentwood Publishing and the Biltmore. In fact, I was so confused that I started to hallucinate (I guess you could call it that). Here's what happened:

I used to work at the Biltmore...as a Gold Room Butler. Not blue room, not peach...but GOLD. Meanwhile, as I mentioned, I was also working at Brentwood Publishing, where I answered phones.

And upon answering those phones, I'd say, "Good morning (afternoon, etc) - and thank you for calling Brentwood Publishing."

Then, while at the Biltmore, I would knock on a particular guest door, and announce, "Hello - this is your Gold Room Butler."

One day, however, I was so exhausted from working 90 million hours a week at both places, that I answered the Brentwood phones with, "Hello - this is your Gold Room Butler," and then knocked on one guest room door with, "Good afternoon, and thank you for calling Brentwood Publishing."

Glad those days are gone.

I think.