<![CDATA[Random thoughts in Los Angeles]]>I’m in Southern California for the Thanksgiving holiday, and I just wanted to collect a bunch of tweets that I made to preserve them for posterity, or something. At least those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter will get to see, anyway.

There's something really incongruous about hearing traditional (written by NYers) Christmas music on the radio in SoCal.

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 29, 2014

Warning: fairly random tweetstorm coming.

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

LA has managed to build an astonishingly functional transit system in basically just the last 25 years. #stilldoesntserveLAX @hungryplanner

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

(Pretty much everything that exists today other than the basic bus network was built in the wake of the Northridge earthquake — although I believe the Metro Red Line was in planning and/or construction already when that happened. MetroLink commuter rail was inaugurated to relieve pressure after parts of the 10 freeway collapsed in the quake.)

As much as I hate to give Anschutz anything, the visitor experience for hockey @ Staples Ctr is fabulous, easily best of any arena I've seen

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

And seeing back-to-back games at Staples and Honda, there really is no comparison. LA is a *place*; Anaheim, a parking lot w/freeway access.

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

And LA also has more hot dudes than anywhere else I've been. (Which is not to suggest that the women aren't!) #greatplacetobebi

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

Particularly the ones cycling up Mount Wilson this morning… First thought was "that's nuts!" but 2nd was "damn, I wish I could do that!"

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

Oh, to be 25 again! (But with my current income and experience, please!)

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

This is what $150 at Staples buys (Blackhawks @ Kings, section 107): http://t.co/yqxtBVcP9r

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

This view cost $50 at Anaheim (also Blackhawks, and we were surrounded by Chicago fans): http://t.co/UycslU0pNX

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

Amazingly enough, Staples only holds about a thousand more than Honda — but it feels much more full. Both home teams lost 4–1.

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

(I seem to be the bad-luck fairy for hockey; I don’t think the home team has ever won an NHL game that I attended.)

It took about as long to get from inside the Honda Center to my hotel two miles down Katella Ave. as it did to walk from Staples (1/2)

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

to Metro Center, take the Red Line to Union Station, then the Gold Line to Del Mar, then walk to my hotel in Pasadena. (2/2)

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

(About an hour in both cases.)

On the plus side for Anaheim the hotel there (a Comfort Inn) cost the same as this one but wasn't a dump. Back to Comfort Inn NoHo next time

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

(The Comfort on Lankershim was about $25 more expensive a night than this place, and it’s not all that wonderful either. Terrible radio reception, for one thing.)

And… I just missed the 11p airchecking opportunity. This concludes the tweetstorm.

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Garrett Wollman (@garrett_wollman) November 30, 2014

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