Drove through WEHO with my mom

My sister wanted to go to a UCLA baseball game today, and my mom felt it would be a good idea to accompany her. My dad, mom, and I went along. My dad went to the game, and I didn't- although it would have been fun. My mom wanted to go sightseeing, so I said I'd go with her.

We listened to KEARTH 101's old/new remix weekend, and it is actually pretty good as they are breaking out the oldies, but also I heard the English version of Sukyaki.



The UCLA baseball stadium is right off the 405 at Wilshire- we started there- dropped them off, then went across the street to the LA National Cemetery. We never knew this was where my mom's dad was buried. It used to be called Sawtelle back in the 70s when he died. My mom hadn't been since her dad was buried- mainly because it is so far away. My mom always called it Sawtelle, and my grandma always said she wanted to be buried at Sawtelle- only recently did we learn it was LA National Cemetery. I guess that Sawtelle is the informal name. My mom miraculously remembered the name of the street he was buried on within the cemetery, and it was right near the front. It was interesting to see the people were literally buried by the date they died. We found the street, I used my iPhone to punch in his name on the cemetery's grave finder website, then we parked, and found his grave within 2-3 minutes. It was really special for my mom. Unfortunately my grandma still hasn't been buried, which I know was hard on my mom. We came back later with flowers.



After this we were off to the LA Farmer's Market, so we wound our way through Beverly Hills, passing Rodeo Dr. down to Fairfax. We hadn't been to the Farmer's Market since a few months before The Grove opened- so we're talking about 2002ish. We were shocked to see that the Farmers Market is mainly food places. I remember coming down there with my parents probably 6-7 times as a kid and having napoleons at the market. We did that for old time's sake. I would have loved to have eaten- the food smelled so good.

After the Farmer's Market we hit The Grove for some shopping. I think it was a good thing- there were lots of gay guys there. My mom didn't seem to notice- she was more into observing- the amount of people, the architecture, how it looks so much bigger when shown on the news on TV, how she thought it would be bigger, but there is not a lot of room in the area, the stores (it seemed like there were a lot, but we have more out in the IE at Victoria Gardens, and many of the same ones). In Lucky I found 2 buttondown shirts on sale for $19.00. At the register there was a gay guy working. He was totally flirting with me. He told me how HOT those 2 shirts would look on me, how it was such a great deal, and asked if we were from around there. Now how many straight guys would tell another how hot a shirt would look on them? Anyways, he asked what city we were from, and we said. He said he came out to the gay club I go to in my city. He used the words GAY. Thank goodness. He said how nice our city was and how he enjoyed it. It seemed to buy points with my mom and they had a conversation about things to do in our city. My mom made a comment about how nice everyone was we met in the stores.

After The Grove we had some time to kill. I seriously wonder how I get by without my iPhone as we used it to look up a flower shop. We found a flower shop on Beverly Blvd. to the west of The Grove where my mom bought Easter lillies to put on her dad's grave. This was also time for me to "get lost." I had a pretty good idea the Farmers Market/Grove were south of WEHO. Not knowing what to do for the next hour or so, I decided we'd go through WEHO. I was gutsy. We headed up Fairfax to Santa Monica Blvd, then drove down it until we hit Wilshire again. My mom made a comment, "there's lots of guys out together," and she got an eyeful I'm sure. We passed a store she joked I should go into called "Into Male" or something like that with male underwear in the window on the manikins. Bruce- when I told you I went to WEHO I walked down as far as Interior Illusions I discovered- I know I didn't remember the name when I told you. My mom saw a few shirtless guys, and made a comment about how tan they seemed, or in most places you wouldn't do that. I don't know if she knew where we were. As we got closer to the bars- the skankier part- my mom did see some rainbow flags on buildings, and commented "we seem to be in a friendly alternative lifestyle area." Ok, and so we were. That was all that was said- it was said in a disapproving tone, however.

Overall things weren't too awkward today between us- more or less normal- maybe why I felt so bold driving through WEHO.

So we got back to the cemetery, my sister and dad called as we were leaving, so we crossed the street to pick them up, and headed home. We did stop at Sizzler for dinner because sister wasn't wanting to be adventurous and try anything different. Gah. We were thinking of going to somewhere around The Grove or back to the Farmers Market.