If I had to sum up this week’s trip in a word, it would be “crazy.”
For example: the vibe at Amoeba Music is crazy cool, the food at Roscoe’s is crazy good, etc. There were also a couple of encounters that were just plain crazy ““ running into Disney hotel workers at the Critics’ Choice Awards midprotest, seeing Kanye West’s ex-girlfriend Amber Rose from 100 feet away and visiting a unique museum of psychiatry.
The bus ride along Sunset Boulevard was enjoyable even during Friday afternoon traffic. It’s the home of the Whisky A Go-Go, the Roxy Theatre and a couple of other famous clubs that look like garbage up close. After about 40 minutes on the bus, the Hollywood sign comes into view and you’re a block away from Hollywood Boulevard, the Walk of Fame and the epicenter of Southern California tourist activity.
I took the Metro Line 2 bus and ““ though I meant to get off at Sunset and Ivar, where Amoeba Music is ““ got off on Sunset and Howard. Then I backtracked a couple of blocks to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International headquarter for their “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” Museum, because that isn’t a topic you come across in museums every day. It felt like bizarre, bloated propaganda.
I finally made my way to Amoeba Music, the last stronghold for the classic way to buy music. It has a local record store feel, like a bunch of guys who like music decided to buy up a warehouse and start selling vinyls and CDs of their favorite bands. Actually, that could very well be how the original Berkeley location came into being.
The walls are covered with band posters organized loosely by categories like “European” and “’60s and ’70s bands.” To the right of the store there’s a collectibles section where you can get band buttons, books, stickers, weird bobble-head toys and tourbooks from shows that happened possibly before you were born. Interspersed throughout the store are random discount bins, such as “As Is” DVDs that are used and lightly scratched but very cheap. I almost bought “300” for $1.99.
I was surprised to see so many people in the store, especially when most modern methods for acquiring music are legally gray at best. Lisandro Aloi, 32, an L.A. musician who made a few purchases, said he goes to Amoeba because he likes to see things ““ he likes to physically interact with the merchandise. Also, the staff are friendly and helpful and the atmosphere in the shop is amazing, he said.
After Amoeba, I walked from Sunset and Ivar, passed the Critics’ Choice Awards where the Amber Rose and Disney hotel worker sightings occurred, and turned left on Gower Street to the original Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles.
If I didn’t know what a big deal Roscoe’s was, I wouldn’t have taken a second look at it. It has a sleek ’70s bar vibe complete with red mood lighting, but it’s so small there are probably Starbucks that can seat more people.
The service, however, is amazing. I’ve waited in drive-thru windows for my food for longer and the staff was attentive. I ordered a glass of water and the “Scoe’s one quarter chix prepared southern style, 2 waffles, our own private mix.” Anyone can make fried chicken and waffles, but there is a reason this place is famous. The waffles were soft, sweet and cooked well, and the chicken was moist but crispy on the outside. And they do taste good together.
If chicken or waffles aren’t your thing, they have sides like rice, mac & cheese and candy yams. There’s also a small selection of salads, sandwiches and burgers.
Charae Frazer, one of the hostesses at Roscoe’s, said the restaurant gets all kinds of people of all races. People’s common curiosity in the dynamic duo of chicken and waffles is an international unifier.
A final warning: portion sizes are big, but luckily you won’t have to walk far. The metro has a stop right down the street at Sunset and Gower.
E-mail John at ajohn@media.ucla.edu if you want to know what the fresh chicken livers at Roscoe’s taste like.
Visit dailybruin.com/spotlight for photos of John’s trip.