Monday, June 18. Bresee Center and Beverly Hills

I did a lot of driving again today. And I took some pictures. Once I figure out how to make my computer work online again, I will upload them.

I started my day by driving up to the Bresee Community Center near Hollywood. It is actually just off the 101, for those of you familiar with the area. The center is situated between 2 opposing gangs and right next to a middle school. They provide medical care, a youth center for the kids to hang out, homework tutoring, adult computer classes and much more. The even have a DJ booth and theater. They had their first film festival last year. Part of the training for filmmaking involves writing a script, which is a great motivator for learning some writing skills and how to put thoughts into words. I began to tear up many times as Jeanne was taking me on the tour. I have dreamed for years of having a youth center that would reach out to the entire family, but it is all so overwhelming. It is an amazing place.

I left the Bresee Community Center around 12:30pm and drove through Hollywood. Not too impressive. In fact, it kind of reminded me of a foreign country. Just cement and store fronts, one after another with no space in between. I ran into Santa Monica Boulevard and decided to take it because it sounded familiar and a sign said that it was part of Route 66. I eventually ran into Beverly Hills.

The houses were nice in Beverly Hills, but I decided that I wanted to see the view from atop one of the hills. I mean, they must have started building expensive houses up there for a reason, right? It must be beautiful. I drove up and around and eventually found a park. I have a couple of pictures of the park that I will upload eventually. I passed 2 places where they were shooting movies. Well, actually, they were only shooting in one location. The other location had them draping white stuff over trees. Before I saw the people doing it I just thought the poor trees had caught a disease! I met an older lady in the park who was born in Souix City, Iowa and decided that I was okay since I was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She told me all I could possibly want to know about the park and Beverly Hills. It was kind of fun to talk to her. She told me the best way to get to Rodeo drive and them encouraged me to go the Santa Monica beach.

I did both. I drove through the traffic and saw lots of people getting their pictures taken on Rodeo drive and I drove to Santa Monica. I don't think I would go out of my way to return to Beverly Hills, but I would go back to Santa Monica. It was beautiful and looked like fun. I walked around for a while, but had to watch my parking meter. I would plan that part differently if I returned and pay to park somewhere for a longer time.

Speaking of time, I am about out of time at the Internet Cafe, so I had better sign off.