Saturday - Day 3 L.A.

Uncle Johns won it for breakfast again and right on time, Chuck Kelley from Luxuriamusic was at the hotel to take us on a tour of the Beach Boys old haunts.

First up was the old home of Hite Morgan. He had a recording studio here, and that was where "Surfin'" the Beach Boys first record was made.

The Morgans - Surfin' was born here

Next door to the first home Brian and Dennis lived was, surprisingly, the Grandparents house. Chuck really HAS done his research.

Home of the residual cheque!

Amazingly, when we got to Brian's first ever apartment of his own, in the Crenshaw Apartments, we managed to get in through the locked gate and found that Brian's old appartment was empty. We kept the gate open while Chuck ran back to the car for his camera. It may just have been an empty apartment in a block, but Chuck was clearly delighted at getting pix of the inside. This is where Brian was living when he got his first residual cheque.

After visiting David Marks' old schools we finally got to see the Beach Boys Landmark. It was great to see so many names on it that we knew.

The Landmark

The Landmark Inscription

Brians' elementary school was seen just before we went to Hawthorne High. Luckily for us, there was a gala day on and it was good being able to wander around the whole school no problem and without being challenged.

By the Hawthorne High Signage

A&W, the hang out of the Beach Boys, is now an O'Reilly's Auto Parts store but Fosters Freeze is still there, and Chuck and The Beeb treated themselves to a bit of ice cream decadence .

At Fosters Freeze

Then we went to El Camino College, where Brian and Al bumped into each other and had an idea about starting a group! Again, we were fortunate to get on site and wander around unchallenged, which meant we had the opportunity to walk around the music building - the very same corridors where Brian Wilson would have wandered.

Manhattan Beach, old haunts, various homes the Boys lived followed, and finally we ended up at the impressive Love family home on Mount Vernon & Fairway.

There was so much more in between what's been mentioned, and it was great having such an informative and enthusiastic guide as Chuck. A great day out, and we'd recommend anyone visiting LA to go out for the day with Chuck.

Back at the hotel, a quick change of clothes and a freshen up and then we headed off to Marina Del Rey to see Adam Marsland's Chaos Band at Brennans, but not before having a lovely meal at 26 Beach Cafe, in the company of International Pop Overthrow organisers, David Bash and Rina Bardfield. It was a pleasant change being able to have a relaxed conversation with them this time. Usually we're shouting in each others ear over the noise of bands playing and inbetween David and Rina dashing around organising the bands and introducing them on stage at the IPO in Liverpool!

Minty and The Beeb with David and Rina

David then dropped us off at Brennans for the Adam Marsland gig. We had a drink or two at the bar before Adam came in, and when he did come in he recognised us right away which was really nice. He'd already told us some of his set was based around us visiting Los Angeles.

Evie Sands had recorded in Scotland with Duglas Stewart and David Scott, so that meant we had mutual friends. Well..when Evie came over to meet us, it was as if we were long lost friends. She was just an absolute delight.

The gig was awesome - 50 songs in one night. So many weird and wonderful choices of songs were played. From The Beach Boys to Trio, via They Might Be Giants....what more could you ask for? A great venue with a great band, and at the end of the night you couldn't pull Evie and The Beeb apart, talking guitars.

Adam Marsland's Chaos Band

We were very fortunate that Ken and Laura who were at the gig were happy to give us a lift back to our hotel in Downtown LA. We got a detailed history of Los Angeles on the way back too. We now have two more new friends made during this holiday.

This had been a long and tiring day, but the time really flew in and we loved every minute of it. Both of us were absolutely exhausted by this time, and zonked out almost before the heads hit the pillows at 2.30am!