Most of the time in this blog, you’ll hear about wine. I’ll track where I travelled to taste it, which ones were amazing, which ones weren’t in my humble opinion. My husband travels a lot, and I plan on taking more trips with him soon…so you’ll read about our travels, our extended tattoo family, artists and tattoo conventions intermittently as well…
This post though, is about my obsession with the film True Romance, and the trip we recently took to Los Angeles.
True Romance is my favorite love story, and my version of a ‘chick-flick’. Two outcasts that end up perfectly fitting together, adventure, danger, and happily never after on a beach in Mexico. I always said I would get married if I found my Clarence. I never thought it would actually happen, let alone that I would marry a tattooer that actually knew the artist that played the tattooer in the film. Luckily for me, husband doesn’t talk to an Elvis figure…as far as I know…
January 2013, we were in L.A. for a little over a week. We put over 1,000 miles on our rental car, before we went on our drive up the Pacific Coast Highway!!! We went everywhere, and I drank quite a bit of wine…but this is about True Romance.
We woke up early(ish) one of our first mornings in Cali, and found Rae’s Restaurant in Santa Monica. It’s a real dive diner, classic 1950’s design, probably a lot of the same regulars as the day it opened. Clarence and Alabama went there for pie after their first date at the movies. (Rae’s is actually a breakfast and lunch place, so don’t go looking for coffee & pie after 4pm.) I had a simple bowl of sausage gravy with biscuits, cup of coffee to wash it down…my Clarence had cherry pie (swear to God).
Food was very hearty, simple greasy spoon fare, easy to eat for under five dollars each. I, however, felt like I was in a fucking dream. I ran around like a tourist of the worst type *fangirl*, taking pictures of light fixtures, the menu, different angles….because I was at Rae’s!
Stuffed to the gills, we took off headed for my next mandatory (and last) True Romance location, concluding my pilgrimage. The Beverly Ambassador Hotel (location for the final shootout) had been demolished in the recent past, so that was a no-go. I had to see the Safari Motor Inn, where Clarence and Alabama took Dick to see the stolen suitcase….and where Alabama would face off with a terrifying hitman, played by James Gandolfini.
The Safari Motor Inn is a 1950’s themed hotel, located in Burbank, CA. The desk attendant was extremely pleasant, and more than happy to open the pool gates so I could frolic and shoot pictures. *Fangirl* shows no shame, and we had a very memorable visit! The rooms are not decorated in jungle theme or leopard print kitsch, so I skipped the room tour. The sign over the driveway in the movie was also just for filming …so I focused by the pool and that awesome neon sign 🙂
