Monday, January 03, 2005

cK & n8 go to Secret Stash

Comic books, eating at Chili's and NV.

It was the last day of n8's Los Angeles visit. The weather wasn't co-operating with any outdoor activities. Rain kept falling and made our options for fun seem to grow smaller and smaller. Well, I decided to take a drive into the UCLA neighbourhood of Westwood Village. We decided to eat at Chili's and get lunch (since this would technically be our breakfast). But before we did that, across the street, we saw director Kevin Smith's comic bookstore "Secret Stash". This is the expansion store of the original in New Jersey.

n8 in front of Secret Stash

This place was totally cool. It wasn't just a comic book store, it also had a lot of memorabilia from Kevin Smith movies. Kevin Smith doesn't live to far from the store, so he frequently comes in and autographs items. n8 was soo happy and excited to be in there. Such items as the actual outfits from the movie, "Jay & Silent Bob Strick Back" - the Bluntman and Chronic outfits. Even the outfit Ben Affleck wore in DareDevil.

After hanging out in the store for a little bit. We then crossed the street and went to eat at Chili's. the place was quite empty, I guess it was still early. n8 and I joked and reminisced about the crazy weekend we had. We had some great food and then decided to drive into Hollywood and sightsee. We weren't going to really stop and go into anything... the rain was pouring. It just seemed like something fun to do. It was SOMETHING to do on a rainy day. I really wanted to take n8 to see the Pacific Ocean, but the rain wasn't letting us do that. While in Hollywood, I pull over to a liquor store and try to find this special Michelob Ultra bottle that n8 saw in Vegas but didn't get. He wanted to add that to his collection. We didn't find it there, but we did see some *new* blue liquor called NV. So I buy that for consumption later.

So we drive around Hollywood and then we decide we want to do an indoor thing like play video games -- like the ones we were playing in Las Vegas at New York New York. So I figure there has to be one at the Howard Hughes Center down the 405 highway. When we get there, the closest thing to a video arcade was an Electronic Boutique store. So after that failed attempt, we drive back to my place and play video games until I have to return the rental car and take n8 to the airport.

While playing video games, we decide to test out this NV drink. From the bottle, it looks like a navy blue liquor, darker than HPNOTIQ and Alize Blue, but when poured out, its like an electric blue. It tasted strong, but nice. Another french cognac mixed with berry flavours.

After playing WWE SMACKDOWN for PS2 for a bit, it was time to take n8 back to the airport. We returned the car ontime and n8 arrived in time to check in to fly out. Overall, it was a great New Year's Eve weekend. I had a fantastic and memorable time.

cK and the Blue Pontiac Sunfire

You can read n8's version of this story here.