Holiday Lanes

Eleven

Sam pulled into a random parking lot in Hollywood and parked in an open space. He turned off the car and we both got out. I put my camera bag on my shoulder and put the camera strap around my neck.

We walked down the sidewalk of Vine Street in a comfortable silence. Something caught my eye from across the street so I stopped walking and looked over. I saw the afternoon sun over the top of some palm trees with a couple standing in front of them. I pointed my camera and took a few pictures.

Next to this couple was an ice cream place. There was a little boy and his dad sitting on a bench eating ice cream cones that looked bigger than the little boy's face. I smiled at the resemblance to my brother and dad they had. I took some pictures of them and smiled as I looked through them.

"Vee, let's walk down to Hollywood Boulevard. I think you could get some great pictures there," Sam suggested.

I agreed and as we walked, I looked around in slight awe. Everything here is just so beautiful and alive. I'm used to snow and ice and the dead grass and trees, but here, there's bright blue skies and vibrant flowers and just life.

I looked down and saw that I walking on some of the stars of the Hollywood walk of fame and had an internal freak out. The star a few ahead of where I was belonged to John Lennon. I smiled wide and when I approached his star, I turned so I was facing the direction I had just been walking. I crouched down so I would see his star first in a photograph and other stars would be seen behind it. I took a few pictures and stood back up. I turned to Sam who just smiled at me in the cute way he does and waited patiently for me to finish being a tourist.

We walked a little further until we reached the busy intersection that way Hollywood Boulevard. I looked around at everything, trying to take it all in, and just started taking pictures. The big marquees of moving pictures and words, the different people just being people, the cars as they flashed by or waited in LA traffic, the way the sun was broken partially by the tall buildings. Everything. I wanted to photograph every moment and everything here.

I lowered my camera and saw the flashing battery icon, so I grabbed a spare battery out of my bag and replaced the dying one. I picked my camera back up and began taking more photos. I looked around at what was directly by me and saw a sticker on the street post that said "you are beautiful" on it. I focused my camera so the sticker was the focal point and everything else was slightly blurred and captured a few seconds in this moment of time.

"Do you want to know something funny about this spot?" Sam asked from next to me.

"Sure," I smiled as I lowered camera and looked at him.

"Colby and I were filming a video and he was basically dared to strip in a busy intersection. So, we walked here and waited like twenty minutes so there were no cops around and he walked out there and stripped. It was horrifying to have to film it, but it was funny," Sam explained.

"Is Colby or you getting naked a common thing for your YouTube videos?" I asked with a small laugh.

"No, well maybe a little bit. We usually don't get naked where we have to censor it but it does happen a little too often," Sam admitted.

We both laughed and soon began walking back to where he parked his car. Sam drove us back to the house and Sam was greeted at the front door by a beautiful white dog. Sam pet the dog as she ran around him excitedly.

"Vee, this is Circa. She's Elton's dog," he explained to me.

Circa came up to me and I leaned down to pet her. She had one blue eye and one brown eye and she was beautiful. I continued to pet her and she kissed my cheek.