Down time in LA

Today is our last full day in Los Angeles and we'll be moving up the coast towards San Francisco tomorrow. There hasn't been much to report in terms of music but we've done a lot of sightseeing from our base near Venice Beach. On Tuesday we checked out Hollywood including Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood Hills. You can see why Brits like living here, with gorgeous weather all year round and some great places to live.
We checked out Joe's Bar and Grill in Burbank on Wednesday where a Cuban band was playing.. Ok but nothing special. We also returned to the Gene Autry Western museum that John and I visited last year and went on to the Griffith Park Observatory, which was excellent and again has some great views, including the Hollywood sign. I spent some money in the Amoeba record store and also picked up some 45s from a small black-run shop on Venice Boulevard but haven't gone mad this time. Nothing fantastic among my purchases but some decent blues and soul.
Yesterday we drove down the coast to Long Beach where we had a look at the Queen Mary. The old lady looks  a little bit tired and was dwarfed by a huge modern cruise ship moored nearby. The evening was a bit of a disappointment. We went to Viva Cantina, an old fashioned bar that had the feel of a juke joint. The Mexican food was good but the band we had come to see, the Lucky Stars, wasn't due on stage until 12 and we were knackered. We bailed out halfway through the support act, a dreadful brother and sister act called Tiny And Mary. Apart from that we've lazed around in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, where we had a drink with some old friends of John at the Kings Head pub. Tonight there  are a couple of genuine blues clubs that we are planning to visit, so the music will go on.