The wild night


There are nights and there are nights. Last night was one of those such nights. Zac had to work at an underwater photo shoot yesterday so I bummed around the apartment working on homework and catching up on blog posts. When Zac returned it was a shotgun start for the evening. We called some buddies down to Zacs place and kicked it off with a little whiskey drinking.

We had heard there was going to be an art walk downtown which was on the four blocks surrounding Zac’s apartment. We took to the streets and started winding in and out of art exhibits trying to score free booze. The sad thing is down here the art galleries aren’t known as much for their free food and drink as others are…I did get some free cheese though, which was lovely.

We met up with Jen on the street and walked around a bit more finding a beer here and there until we finally returned to the apartment. Zac lives on the 12th floor of his apartment building and you can sit on the window to smoke cigarettes and look out on the downtown landscape. Jen likes to explore the very sketchy bird-crap ledge made of aluminum attached to the brick facade of the front.

Jen on the Window
Jen on the Window

After that craziness we headed to 7-11 to get some more booze but ended up at Rite-Aide where Zac made Jen buy a bunch of crap that none of us needed like combos and disposable cameras…that was fun because we filled her disposable camera with really odd pictures of strange things. If that ever gets developed, I apologize to that nation of nice visiting people from India.

Hopefully she someday finds use for a picture of a garbage can…

On the way back from the booze spot we ended up at Zach’s (note the different spelling) tight downtown LA loft where him and a couple of roommates live. We had a few beers there and went up to the rooftop. The rooftop penthouse on the Spring Tower Lofts is really awesome. There are couches and places to sit everywhere and a ton of people hanging up there. We found a comfy spot and joked and beat boxed for a while…I’ll have to upload those videos…white boys cannot freestyle as good as they might think that they can. The best part was there was elvis looking rockabilly guy who was all tough with his wifebeater and tattoos and Zac began making fun of him but no matter what Zac said the dude only woke up from his half passed outness to high five Zac every five minutes and scream, “Wheres the pool?! Lets go SWIMMING!”

Beatbox on the Rooftop
Beatbox on the Rooftop

Sitting across from us was a dude with a perm who looked like an American Idol contestant. Zac told him that he looked like Justin Timberlake, which he kinda did…Hence Timberlake became his nickname. His brother was in tow…who got the unfortunate naming rights of “Timberlake’s Brother.” Its amazing that Zac in a drunken state was able to call someone Timberlake that many times as loud as he did without starting something…Had anything happened though I was sure that we’d be all set. After all Zach had just told us a story about a fight he got into where he first had to “tear his sweatervest off.”

That could be the coolest thing I’ve ever heard as a pre-fight tease…”Don’t make me tear this sweatervest off.”

Zac and Sonia
Zac and Sonia

Zac wanted to meet up with Sonia so we ran down to Petes bar again to pick her up. We ended up staying there for a while which was fun because it was all outside and we were being constantly harrased for change. Every imaginable ploy to get money was used on us…The best part was the famous LA pirate. Zac tells me that he ends up in a lot of movies and he is just a homeless dude rocking a pirate hat…He chased Jen back to the apartment building where we finally all met up.

LA Pirate
LA Pirate

Then Jen explored my anxiety even more by laying on the railing outside Zacs apartment. This morning I had looked up the building to gauge how far that really was and it made me nervous just thinking about it. The next morning I would end up joking with Zac and her, “All we would have heard was, flip, splat, and that’s the end of Jen.”

Jen on the Veranda
Jen on the "Veranda"

Finally the words that I had been waiting to not hear all night came out, “Lets go to the roof.” The roof on Zacs place is a lot different from the other Zach. You have to climb a fire escape ladder built in the 1920s to get on top of the building. You start 13 stories up and climb a fire ladder through a small hole…It was so beyond my comfort level I was shaking when I got to the top of the roof, but of course there were girls around so I pretended that it was no big deal even though I was clutching onto a steel railing.

The Rosslyn used to be a relatively nice hotel and they have a great sign on the top of the building that Zac no doubt uses to get friendly with ladies often. He turned on the light with a Moulan Rouge sort of glow and Sonia melted in his arms…It was a great moment to not experience. That son of a bitch. I bet that works so well for him all the time. Its the sort of thing that makes me want to build a gigantic sign in my backyard and tell girls its famous and let them turn it on…awww yeah.

View from the Rooftop
View from the Rooftop

It didn’t take long before “captain” the security guard came up on the roof to get us all down. He was pretty cool about it and let us ride the service elevator back down to our floor. This was great because the last freaking thing I wanted to do was climb back down the sketchy fire escape railing. He was like my security guard savior.

Speaking of which. The security guards here are very awkward. I caught another one of them sketching girls pictures on their ID cards on paper in their free time. Creativeness sketches over to creepiness quickly here. Oh and that’s another odd LA thing, in the crappy downtown apartments you have to leave your ID card at the desk to prove that you’re not a homeless dude sleeping in the stairwell.

Zac wanted some alone time so I ended up walking back to Spring Tower Lofts and crashing on a couch there. I was more than happy to because they had air conditioning and a comfortable couch that I had all to myself…I drifted off into dreamland somewhere around 4:00 AM.

Now it is morning. I went back up on the rooftop to take a couple of pictures and bask in the sun. Its cool here today the kind of breeze that we are only fortunate enough to get in Minnesota once or twice a year. I had a few revelations up on that roof. Zac lives in a community of blocks in downtown where there is some familiarity and cohesiveness. Despite the poverty and the inner-city life it is actually very nice here. There is a comfort in knowing where everything is and its fun to walk the streets late at night with UFC fighter friends because you can literally get anywhere, get anything you need and talk with whomever you want at any time…Its actually pretty accessible and a totally different lifestyle than I’m used to.

Daytime view on the Rooftop
Daytime view on the Rooftop

Though, I have to admit I really am starting to like it, especially with views like these.

lunks


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