THE CLACKAMAS PRINT GOES HOLLYWOOD
SANTA MONICA: IN-N-OUT
BY KATIE ARCHER
Seven m em bers o f The Clackam as
Print traveled down to Los Angeles
for a journalism conference. Three of
the members stayed the night at an
international youth hostel in Santa
M onica. Santa M onica w as a n ice
change after two nights in Universal
City. Here are som e o f the reasons
why staying an extra night was great.
The Beach. Yes, an uncrowded beach
w ith a w arm er ocean than Oregon
does exist. There were more people at
the beach compared to Oregon but we
were not there during tourist season,
and the beaches were large. Looking
out on the ocean there were sailboats,
surfers and parasailers. The ocean had
a cold nip, but it didn’ t take long to
get used to. Caution, the undertow
there is stronger there than in the
Oregon oceans.
The Santa Monica Pier. There are
places to eat and Pacific Park,, w ith
rides like a Ferris w heel and a roller
coaster. We rode the coaster and I had
fun.
The Hostel It was safe. For $67 each,
we stayed in a six set dorm that had
lockers. There was a free short-term
room to hold your bags for free and
large lockers that could multiple bags
for $5. We were able to fit our nine
various sized bags into one locker.
It had free cereal but there were no
alterative options for food if someone
had allergies. One guy told us that he
is working to change that.
Other cool things. Third S treet is
accessible only by walking and a gi
ant outdoor mall. Venice Beach is a
nice walk down the beach from Santa
Monica and has lots of shops, food,
bike rentals and henna. Be sure to
have cash because the ATMs looked
sketchy. In -n-O u t is about an hour
walk south from Santa Monica but we
The Cinerama Theatre on Sunset Boulevard is a Los Angeles landmark.
were able to make the trip.
BY MATT ROWNING
I was exiting the Metro in Los Angeles
onto Hollywood and Highlands. The goal
was to find the landmarks: the Pantages,
the Chinese Theater, the Cinerama, the
works. I don’t know why, but everyone
was behind me, and anytime I’d fall back
in line, people would slow down.
Naturally I manipulated the gait of those
behind me as much as possible.
There was a lot of light, I rem em ber
that much. We were shambling through a
human blob street side on sidewalks much
larger than Portland’ s. I walked a mile. A
skateboarder raced by before eating shit
on the sidewalk at 15 mph. He jumped
back on his board and raced off down the
10 Clackamas Print FEBRUARY 24,2016 thedackamasprint.com
road, hoping no one had noticed.
I picked up his hat and continued walk
ing until he realized he had left it. He
skated back towards the group I was in.
“You picked up my HAT!”
“ I guess being a Good Samaritan is in
m e...”
We embraced and proceeded to chat.
This man, Trey, was obviously enjoying
the kicks of MDMA with the amount he
was trying to touch me. One hug. Two hug.
Jesus Christ, stop touching me.
After a mile of friendly chatting he tried
to touch some of the other people in the
group. We grabbed a picture with this fine
young man. With a smile he kicked his
board back under his feet and rolled away,
both physically and mentally.
Hollywood has a bad reputation for be
ing a bad neighborhood. As far as I can
tell, this is probably only the opinion of
suburbanites that are uncomfortable in
any urban setting. Hollywood was beau
tiful, having been freshly washed by a
sheet of rain the previous day.
We walked from Highlands down to that
famous intersection Hollywood and Vine,
the entertainm ent center of the entire
world. I took a moment by a monument
on the south side o f the street. I was
standing next to a Starbucks, looking at
a billboard that had an advertisement for
the Church of Scientology. I realized that
while Portland feels self-obsessed right
now in its gentrification complaints, but if
the former center of the film world has a
Starbucks and that old facsist Scientology
center illuminating its blacktop, then all
of the America’s cultural centers must be
in some jeopardy.
We found the Chinese Theater, and I
walked around alone. I found my heroes
Jack Nicholson and Frank Sinatra. Turns
out 01’ Blue Eyes and I have the same
size feet.
Funny. I was worried that I might not
fit in in Hollywood.