Hail to the Chief!

Had a surprisingly busy President's Day weekend, here's the round-up: Saturday I enjoyed the dark and seedy pleasures of Damiano's Mr. Pizza in the Fairfax district, which in addition to providing a delicious and cheap slice, has an impressive selection of Belgian beers. One overworked waitress left a little something to be desired in the service department and if you mind eating in an unlit room solely by the light of one table candle ensconced in red glass (read, very, very dark), this is def not the place for you. After dinner I joined some friends for an evening of theatre--at least that's what the flier said.
The advertised "Quantum Physics Sex Farce" left much to be desired. If sex farces could be made solely of mildly dirty acronyms (BOOBS=Brotherhood of Organic Beings, etc) and if single entendres were double entendres, they would be made in the shade. As it was, Walking on Sunshine provided a little humor mostly in the form of serious over-acting and many questionable choices in direction. We'll call it a group effort and blame the whole cast and crew. After that I definitely needed a drink, and got a couple at my fav neighborhood spot, NoBar, which sounds pretentious, but is actually fabulous for it's low-key, completely unpretentious not-a-scene scene.

Spent Sunday afternoon wandering Chinatown. Had an acceptable lunch in one of the interchangeable restaurants in the mall and then some yummy bobba downstairs in the tea shop. Then the weirdo weather turned nasty and sent me fleeing back to the Valley.

I learned on Monday that the Getty Center is never open on a Monday, even during a long weekend. However, the Getty Villa in Malibu, where I've never been, is open and we scored passes for that afternoon. Pattered on an ancient Roman villa that was destroyed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, the Villa houses Getty's collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan artifacts. The grounds are beautiful and, thanks to the rain, which was the harbinger of more cold weather, but cleared the air, offered an amazing view of the Pacific.