Spring Break: Big Dog Garage And Amoeba Records

One last day in the L.A. area - time for a visit to Jay Leno's "Big Dog Garage". It's not open to the public, but I've been friends with one of the guys who works at the shop since the Schwinn Boulder days. Both Jay and my friend John have Schwinns and Electras. I had previously toured the museum-like garage twice, however Allie had never seen the place but had heard this car dork rave about it in the past.

Photos are no longer allowed at the shop. I have some that I took back in 2005, but promised not to post. However, the following pix have already been published on teh innernets, so they're fair game as far as I am concerned..

Spread among five immaculate wood-beamed warehouse-like rooms, all cars are stored in a ready-to-drive state.

Note Porsche Carrera GT sitting opposite of Mercedes-Benz SLR

two of my favorites - blue Jaguar XK120 coupe (blue) and Citroën DS (red)
MacLaren F1 & one-off GM EcoJet

Handmade art decorates the walls. Most are reproductions of vintage advertisements, promotional posters or catalog shots.
Bikes, bikes, bikes. Harleys, Indians, Vincents, Ducatis, Aprillas, Hondas and many, many more.
From the earliest days to the latest high-tech, high-speed offerings.

If I had to pick a favorite, I think it'd be this Mercedes 1955 300SL "Gullwing".
The garage even has a full gourmet kitchen, courtesy of General Electric.
Just across from the kitchen is one of the most impressive auto repair and restoration shops I've ever seen. Water-jet cutter, CNC machines, rapid prototyping "3D printer", a dynamometer and of course paint booth, numerous lifts and extremely talented craftsmen. Everything an A-1 restoration shop would have.

But the most-spectacular room is the Duesenberg & Bugatti room. In this room you'll find the cars that Allie was most impressed with, especially the 1931 Murphy Beverly. Got ten minutes to spare? Play the video below.

The history of some of these cars is amazing. After these ostentatious beasts time had passed, many were essentially cast off. One had even been used as a tow truck/pusher at a gas station in it's later years.

After spending about two hours at the garage-mahal, Celeste had become very bored and impatient, so back in the car, passing this creepy sign that I was only able to get an unframed shot of as we drove past.

just glad it didn't say "Clown Liquors", 'cuz that's about the only thing that'd make it creepier

And off to Sunset to take a quick look at world-famous Amoeba Records. Hundreds of thousands of CDs, vinyl and (gasp) even a few hundred cassette tapes for sale.
I must return when I can spend a few hours browsing through all of the bins. Note that this image only captures about 40% of their inventory. They even had a pretty kick-ass Werner Herzog tribute shirt (knocking off the classic Danzig logo for those of you never-punks over 45 years of age).
But I couldn't justify the $25 price tag.

After the Amoeba visit we pointed Klaus back south for the 90 minute journey back home and to spring Juno from the kennel.

(Leno Garage image sources: Jalopnik.com, PopularMechanics.com)

Spring Break: Pasadena & Warner Bros Studio Tour

Wednesday morning we woke up in our Glendale hotel. With Pasadena sitting pretty just east of us, we decided to drive around and check out the city.

We drove by the beautiful and famous Gamble House (too early in the day for a tour - next time):
Also admired the fantastic architecture of the city. Cool downtown too. We had to see the iconic Rose Bowl as well:
And the beautiful if morbid Colorado Street Bridge (aka "Suicide Bridge", c. 1913):
After a quick lunch we scooted over to Burbank to take in a tour of the Warner Brothers studio.
Riding around in an electric cart (basically a stretch golf cart that seats fifteen plus the driver), we saw some of the various lots. This one was built about five years ago and, while looking like a typical American suburban neighborhood, each "house" actually holds offices.
Happy to see a cart with this, apparently they're working on a show based on a fantastic Twitter feed:
Most of the older homes, which don't feature interior offices, have two to three "fronts". Here's the backside of one such home.
This facade was the home of one of the characters in Gilmore Girls, a favorite show of Allie's. Rewind 30 years and it was the home of Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard. Apparently it was a screened-in porch at that time.

Just a few steps away from these 1940s-era homes is a small city, used as Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, as well as Hazzard, KY from The Dukes. It's quite obvious that no Gilmore Girls fan grew up watching the Dukes, just as no Dukes fan watched Gilmore Girls.
We drove through a bunch of the sound stages...
...stopped a few times to check out workers building new sets...
...a few "car stars"...
...and a green screen.
Naturally Celeste is saying hi to the monster from Where The Wild Things are while I'm snapping a pic. The studio lights reflect quite nicely off my grossly-misshapen and bald ass head.

Next up was the props department. There we found the "Central Perk" coffee shop set from Friends (blech) set up:
Allie liked that show as well, I'll go on record as calling it one of the worst shows of the 90s. The guide then walked us through a couple of sets from NBC's Chuck (a show I had no idea existed prior to the tour). All ready to go, just add actors and cameras. Pretty fascinating how they set up the apartment courtyard. Lights above replicate the sun or moon and can change position based on the time of day that they're trying to emulate.

A quick stop in the museum where we saw some apparently-famous costumes as well as a small set from The Corpse Bride all set up. Celeste really enjoyed that, sadly no photos were allowed.
All in all, yet another good day.