'Anne At El Compadre' - April 26 (2)

At a Mexican restaurant in West Hollywood sits Anne, a Dane seeking out her little slice of LA life. We met at The Oil Cave (my workshop back in Denmark) a few weeks ago and figured we might meet again over here, should our plans align.

Stepping from sharp sunlight into the darkness of El Compadre is like stepping into a different dimension, and again I wonder for a second whose weird dream or fantasy I just entered, because it sure doesn't look like any of mine.

Anne greets me from the bar, curious to see how I'd react to the place. She's pleased to learn that I'm thrilled no end. Guess it helps if one likes traditional Mexican music - which I do - and after ordering lunch we go to sit in one of the booths (I like restaurant booths too). The picture below gives but a vague idea of what this her favorite hangout looks like. Were I to do a shady deal, order an assassination or something even more sinister, I'd go out of my way to arrange it at this place. Apparently the movie industry agrees, so El Compadre has been used for numerous films.

El Compadre, which must be the coolest place in all of West Hollywood. Note booths clad in dark red leather.

Across the street we check out a guitar store.

For the afternoon I briefly consider seeing an art museum not far from here, but choose instead to head up in the hills, for Mulholland Drive and a view over the smoggy city. Nice roads, boring view, so then it's down again into packed freeway traffic, and miles upon miles of lane splitting, working my back to Seal Beach. The local bikies do it too, of course, on their choppers, their offroad bikes, their sportsbikes (wearing safety t-shirts), and all riding at speeds well above what I dare go at. I also run on reserve much too soon; either the trailer wreaks havoc with my mileage, or it's all the time I spend in stop-and-go traffic. It's certainly not because I cane the bike, as practically all of the time I turn the throttle up no more than a third.