after a while you’ll see that most of the hotels around la attract a certain type of guest.
believe it or not, rappers, for example, really like the waldorf
and the W
therefore, you’ll pick up their fans there.
rockers like the sunset marquis
well-off tourists from cold states love shutters
billionaires hide out at the bel air hotel
and the older crowd likes the classic beverly wilshire and the peninsula.
as i normally do at hotels, i ask the people if theyre in from out of town.
chicago! he said.
he was an older guy, coming out of the perfect hotel for him.
chicago? i asked, and turned my cubs hat around and asked, didja see this?
we laughed and i knew things would be good.
but i didnt expect them to be this good.
usually with chicagoans i’ll tell them about my suburb i grew up in
or how you can get portillos down in orange county
and now theres a gino’s east in sherman oaks
just nonsense chitchat that’s safe and light.
instead of going there, i asked, what are you out here to do?
im here to visit my daughter, he said with a big smile i caught in the rearview as we drove down wilshire
oh, what does she do?
he said, shes in a band, but unless you were a high school girl in the 90s you probably haven’t heard of them.
i joked, but said loudly: I WAS A HIGH SCHOOL GIRL IN THE 90s!
he laughed.
NO REALLY WHAT BAND?
he asked, have you ever heard of veruca salt?
i was all, omg the seether? american thighs! i couldnt recall their follow-up hit but i really liked them. not a lot of female-fronted bands rocked like they did.
i wanted to tell him rodney on the roq still play them but rodney is a controversial character these days, and im glad i didnt go down that path either because he was fire talking music
we gabbed about the beatles, the stones, the who. he told me that the dave clark five were just as good as all of ‘em
i told him i would look them up.
then he told me this great story about a friend of his whose son didn’t get accepted into an ivy league school.
he told his friend confidently, oh it will be ok.
the depressed dad asked, are you crazy? you’re a father. don’t you want the best things for your kids?
and my passenger said that he thought about that question for a while and finally told him the most beautiful thing
he said, i do want something for my kids. i hope that they love music.
rarely do i shake my passenger’s hand after a ride
but after that one i did.
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