I was in LA on Wednesday, 5 December, with an old friend to see The Cult at the Wiltern Theatre in LA. The Wiltern and adjacent 12-story Pellissier Building are an Art Deco landmark, according to Wikipedia…read more. They are on Wilshire Boulevard at the western edge of Korea Town. That should have been good for my buddy and I since we have both spent a fair amount of time in Korea.
It wasn’t. We got into the city early to beat the traffic…it is as a bad as you have heard it is. Nonetheless we got perfect parking and had time to kill so of course we went looking for a bar. As I noted earlier, we were in Korea Town. There was not a bar within six or eight blocks east or west of the Wiltern on Wilshire that was open. Finally, in some kind of DT brain flash, I see a UPS guy moving some parcels down the sidewalk. I figure a UPS dude probably knows a fair amount about places on his route be they eateries, bars, clean crappers, or whatever. Sure enough, he sends us right around the corner to the Caffe Brass Monkey .
Little did we know it was a karaoke place. There was some talent but the action started at 4:00 in the afternoon and the drinks, $5 for a Bud at that time, are reported to double after 9:00 PM when things really get hopping. Google it for more info. Supposedly there have been, and might be more, sightings…of Hollywood talent.
Anyhow, we dropped some coin for a few drinks and headed back down Wilshire to the venue. The concert was awesome. I was like a fifteen year old screaming and singing. Got my voice back about two days afterward.
Bottom line though…I owe it all to Brown for directing us to a place where we could get a beer to start with.