A quick tour of NoHo

North Hollywood, otherwise known as NoHo is nowhere near Hollywood but I suppose it is roughly north of that city so I suppose I can't fault them on that.  There is a West Hollywood but there ain't no South or East Hollywood.  Just so you know. 

I've lived in North Hollywood for nearly six months and I like it.  There is a distinctly urban feel but no so urban that I am dodging bullets and walking past burnt out cars on my way to the supermarket.  There are lots of theaters here as well as acting, singing and dance schools. This is where you start as a wannabe and when you make your money, you move on down south to Santa Monica or Beverly Hills.  If you lose your money or your parents cut you off, then you probably move to Van Nuys or Northridge.  Or you go back to where you came from and suffer all the humiliation that goes along with having a failed dream.

You can tell when you're entering NoHo thanks to big gaudy sign that seems to say, "We're creative people here but creativity doesn't always mean good taste!"

And because we're creative people, we have multicolored sidewalks.  We even walk creatively. 

There are quite a few good restaurants in the area.  One of the favorites is the Pitfire Pizza which has plenty of outdoor seating and Ping Pong (or Table Tennis depending on which country you come from). 

And there's EAT which is only open for breakfast and lunch.  The food here is GREAT.  Note to myself; I must eat here more often. 

And right in my backdoor is the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Here's Johnnnnnnny!

I think they do some important stuff here but I'm not quite sure.  Maybe they just watch a lot of tv and hand out awards. 

We also have the Art Institute of California.  Once again, I have no idea what they do inside that building. 

I'm starting to realize that I'm a pretty lousy tour guide. 

Like I said, there are lots of theaters.  This is the NoHo Arts Center. 

And at the El Portal theater, they are putting on "Sort of a Love Story" written by my good friend, Rich Krevolin and starring Joe Bologna (also a co-writer) and Renee Taylor.  I was at the read through several months back and I'm looking forward to the staged production.  If you are in the area, please come out and support all their hard work.  You know I'll be there. 

This is a picture of a NoHo street.  It is a creative street, hence all the colorful walls. 

The first time I saw this sign, it cracked me up.  I've never heard of a Smoke "Shope" and Wellness Center.  I'm pretty sure that smoking and wellness don't go together unless we're talking about smoking pot for a variety of ailments which we're probably talking about. 

I've noticed that quite a few of the medical marijuana places have closed up shop in LA.  Not exactly sure why but maybe the officials are becoming more strict about such places and weeding out the shady operations. 

HempCon, the big doobie expo, was recently in Los Angeles.  If you missed it, then you can always drive to Denver and catch all the excitement in November.  Check out http://www.hempcon.com/ for all the information you ever wanted to know about starting up your own profitable business.  Glaucoma sufferers rejoice! 

And this is just a used clothing store.  This is probably a great place to shop if youre roommate stole all your clothes and you want that hip retro vibe look.   

 So that's it.  Pretty amazing stuff.  We also have a Ralph's supermarket and a frozen yogurt store.  And a vegan Thai places that serves tofu chicken.  There's a Starbucks and a Bank of America and a couple of homeless people.  You really can't go wrong here.  For now, I call it home.