Los Angeles Rammed

Friday 19th July 2019

Los Angeles has its good and bad. Like pretty much all towns and cities around the world. I’ve been here before and it was extreme tourism all the way, taking in the likes of Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, the observatory, the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Santa Monica and Venice, along with our match at the ‘Stubhub Center’ against Chivas.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it. But, unlike many of the worldwide places I have been lucky enough to visit, all those things didn’t make me want to rush back.

Arsenal dictate my destination however, so leaving Denver Tuesday morning our Delta Airlines flight was all on time and the combination of being a little weary after our exploits in Colorado and not necessarily longing to return to the tourist areas mentioned above meant it was a fairly low key start to our visit. A bit of tucker and a few beers in an excellent ‘dive’ style bar started proceedings in a highly acceptable manner.

Despite my job giving huge flexibility in allowing me to enjoy my Arsenal travels, I do have to continue with elements of my role wherever I am. And California couldn’t be worse time difference wise. Starting at midnight I tend to set an alarm every hour on the hour throughout the night to keep an eye on things. Not ideal but necessary and broken sleep is better than no sleep.

And my Tuesday night and Wednesday working daytime in the UK had its share of problems so it was a very tired Stubbsy that headed out for a typical US breakfast on matchday morning.

Beckham’s ex gaff

The same stadium as our previous visit, the renamed Dignity Health Sports Park is based in the Carson area of the city, a good 30 minutes out of downtown and being one of the most spread out cities in the world, using the likes of uber and lyft is almost essential at times. This time was no different and after collecting our match tickets from a box office in the shadow of a huge statue of David Beckham we headed to our overnight motel for the night.

Last time we were here, a Mexican bar/restaurant played host to our pre-match build up and as it proved highly entertaining then we had no reason to change it for our latest visit. And a decent decision it proved with food, drink and the usual banter making it and enjoyable few hours.

Ooh aah

The LA Gooners had organised a ‘tailgate’ and although we heard it was enjoyed by all those who attended, we, in typical British style, left not enough time to fit it in before kick-off! We did however, bump into Ray Parlour once more and took the chance to have our picture taken with the gold ‘Invincibles’ trophy. Did we mention nobody else has got one of those?

Yellowwwwwwssss

I’ve said many many times down the years, both back in the diary on arsenal.com and in this blog, how much I absolutely hate us having an away kit in any other colour than yellow. So forgive me for behaving like an excited child on Christmas morning when our new one was announced.

And the Arsenal that made its way out onto the pitch just before kick-off looked striking, mighty and magnificent. Come on you yelloooowwwssss!

Once again massively outnumbering the fans of our opponent, the enthusiastic and noisy crowd were treated to a pretty entertaining and open game throughout. Going forward we looked exciting and created numerous chances across the 90 minutes and overall, in a performance with lots to be positive about and despite Bayern also having a few chances of their own, we were definitely deservedly victorious.

And everyone likes a late winner!

Victorious

The one area of LA I did quite fancy returning to if time permitted was Venice Beach and after a few post match beers back in the Mexican and some work affected sleep (again) the lure of a day in the sunshine on the golden sands proved too much of a temptation.

Sun

For those who havent been it is one of the most bohemian, quirky and crazy locations you are ever likely to visit. If you are a fan of people watching there can be few better places. Throw in some quite mad architecture, the ocean, rooftop bars and restaurants, the beautiful beach and the huge chance you will see something that could see you react with anything from a gobsmacked smile to just simply scratching your head, its quite a combination.

A man who had converted a car so it had a stage on the roof is interesting enough for example. But when his instruments were a large piece of broccoli, a man that those of us old enough will remember as off the ‘Smash’ potato substitute advert and with baked bean tins on his feet, I think you get the picture!

Crazy Venice

So, our final night was spent back in the city’s downtown quenching the thirst that a day by the sunkissed seaside tends to produce and our thoughts turn to Charlotte.

Whilst I’ve written these latest thoughts on my United Airlines flight out of the quite vast Los Angeles airport, I’ve uploaded it in Houston, Texas. Of the various routes and choices available, this price/timings combo worked best for us.

Shortly we board our 2nd flight for a weekend in Charlotte and our 3rd game of the trip against Fiorentina.

The tour continues.

Frank
@stubbsy70