The young lady was walking down the street towards us, wearing a pretty summer dress and hat to shade her from the sun.  As she walked closer, she stepped over a grate in the sidewalk, and a la Marilyn Monroe, the skirt of the dress blew straight up, revealing the unmentionables underneath.  She immediately pulled down the skirt, lowered her head and walked past us as quickly as she could.  It was only one of the interesting things that happened on our first day in L.A.

After checking in to the hotel, which kindly let us check in early, we took a stroll up a VERY steep hill to take a tour of the Disney Music Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion and a couple other theaters.  The docent was a former theater teacher in Long Beach and was now a member of the Symphonians, a group who support the work of the LA Philharmonic.  There she was, all dressed in her black with her bright red music scarf that matched the rim of her slightly oversized glasses, dramatically wrapped around her neck.  She was soft spoken but energetic and made it a point to learn everyone’s names in the group, taking time to speak to individuals as we walked between venues.

The other people in the group were from Dubai, Egypt and France with my husband and I being the only ones from the U.S.  It was fascinating to be with these people, listening to their questions and watching their reactions to the venues and artwork.  At one point, our docent spoke to the gentleman from Egypt about how there was some unrest in his country and he told her that things were getting better.  She then shared that there was also unrest in this country to which he responded that since he had come to the U.S. that everyone had been so kind to him and he was really enjoying himself.  Again, just another verification that this country is made of the people, not politicians.  Thank goodness.

As we left the tour, we saw a large number of food trucks with tables and chairs set up under tents in front of the music hall.  Standing in line for food were people dressed up in all kinds of costumes, some reminding me of Star Trek uniforms and others were obviously aliens, some in entire costumes with masks and make-up and some in street clothes and headpieces only.  It was a little surreal to see.  At one point I saw a man in one of the Star Trek type of uniforms walk across our path and I thought, he looks familiar, but that was as far as it went.  We found out that they were filming an episode of a show called The Orville and when we got back to the hotel, I looked it up on the internet, which is when I realized who the person was I saw.  Seth McFarland was the person I had recognized.  Oh well, I never said I was always up to date.

We walked to LA Live and saw someone handing out autographs, but we couldn’t figure out who he was.  Pretty sure we saw him stopped several times with his handlers handing him a writing utensil each time.  Never did figure out who he was but it was interesting to watch.

There were some sad things today too.  The man sleeping on the sidewalk with his feet almost in the street.  The man who angrily asked me if I had never seen a white man sitting on a bench before, the young man who loudly dropped F-bombs, complaining about “crackers” and “rednecks” and how he was glad he wasn’t one as he dragged his suitcase up the street.  The three young women who never looked up from their phones while three blind people stood beside them and were asking someone to please tell them where the entrance to the Subway was.

It was a day full of contrasts, from cultures to lifestyles, forms of transportation, and socioeconomic status. It’s a city where you can find just about anyone and anything, or as my husband would say, anything that blows up your skirt.