California Dreamin'

I'm back on home soil. I can definitely see the appeal, as I didn't see a cloud until the fourth day of my visit to LA.

Sure, the traffic's bad, but otherwise, what a life! My trip was fantastic, and I managed to tick off everything on my list. My first night there, I checked out The New Beverley Cinema.

The screen's not the biggest, but the admission & concessions are affordable, their programming is solid and everything is on 35mm. This place is a gem. I drove by the Chinese & Egyptian Theatres, and I'll definitely hit Cinefamily my next time round.

Being a big fan of David Lynch, I took the winding ride along Mulholland Drive with the top down, and dined at Du Par's, an establishment Lynch frequents often.

The next day, I walked down the stretch known as The Monster Mile, which includes such establishments as Creature Features, Dark Delicacies and Halloween Town.

I also went to Gallery 1988, which is currently featuring Alex Solis' series Icons Unmasked from which I picked up this beauty.

Saturday was Monsterpalooza, for which there are not enough words to describe the multitude of spectacles I saw there. All I have are these poorly snapped pics.

Sideshow continues to kill it.

Life-size I Was A Teenage Werewolf sculplture by Mike Hill. 

Shuna Sassi bust at Clive Barker booth.

Bunny from the Twilight Zone movie.

3D Frank the Bunny print by Dave Warner.

Painting by Clive Barker

Painting by Eric Swartz

Painting by Adam Padilla.

Painting by Chris Mann.

This little guy followed me home!

I was so busy walking around the show, I only got to see one panel, a talk on the current state of horror, including the likes of Mike Flanagan, Axelle Carolyn, Nick Phillips and Sandy King Carpenter.

Perhaps my highest priority was going to the various locations used in John Carpenter's classic Halloween. As most of you know, the original Myers house has been moved from its original location, and now sits right across the street from where the hardware store was.

The Strode house still looks similar, and the stone flats where Laurie waited for Annie to pick her up are still there, as well.

We looked up the other two houses used in the finale, and one still has the same outside lamps!

The last day I was there I went to Universal Studios. It was a really fun time, and especially liked seeing some classic sets like the Bates Motel from Psycho and the lake used for The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Norman welcomed us as we drove by.

The Bates house is tucked behind the plane wreckage of the War of the Worlds remake.

The Gillman lurks...

Then, alas I was on a flight back home. It was a super fun time and amazing to actually see the land I've spied in so many movies.

Now, back to reality...