For the last few months they have been resurfacing the street in front of Hong Kong. Its done now and looks good. The side Hong Kong is on is about twice as wide so there is plenty of room to dodge the street girls without walking in the street if that is your inclination.

Last week, the street was clear of girls. they were all stuffed in the lobby of the hotel with the stairs. Here is a link to the local newspapers report on whats happening.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20041011-9999-1m11move.html

Finally got a chance to visit California and Tijuana for the very first time a week and a half ago. I really enjoyed my little whirlwind three-day trip.

I started out Jan. 22 with a 6 a.m. flight from St. Louis to Denver. The plane was about half full of military—real young men heading west to San Diego. Looked like they were fresh out of boot camp. The second leg, Denver to San Diego, was a much bigger, much newer, much nicer plane. We picked up a lot more military in Denver.

Landed in San Diego about 10 a.m. local time, (great view of SD on descent) took the bus to the Amtrak train station downtown, bought a ticket to Van Nuys and, as ring announcer “Classy” Jimmy Lennon Jr. would say, “here we go.”

Heading north on the train and getting a chance to see with my own two eyes all these places I’d read about or seen on TV all these years: San Juan Capistrano; Richard Nixon’s San Clemente, Angels Stadium, etc. Ho-hum stuff for the SoCal folks, but for a rube like me, pretty cool indeed. Here it was January, and the surfers were out in force. I can imagine what it would be like in the summer months.

It’s kind of funny how the northern San Diego metro area kind of blended into the southern LA metro without me even realizing it. The train pulled into Union Station, and a 20 minute wait before we were off to Glendale, Burbank and my final destination, Van Nuys.

About four blocks north of the Amtrak on Van Nuys Blvd, I had my first ever In N Out burger. Perfectly good, but still rates a rung down from the Texas Whataburger in my book. From there, caught a local LA bus all the way down to the Sepulveda Pass on into Westwood, where I would have to catch a Big Blue to Santa Monica. It’s quite a long and tedious ride. On the way, I met a gal who started up a conversation. She said she lived at Venice Beach and was way up in Van Nuys visiting a friend. I told here I was heading to Santa Monica and she suggested a night on the town in Venice. I was just too dogged tired, so I said I’d see her in Venice the next morning before heading to Hollywood.

I checked into my SM Hotel and pretty much hit the sack. I had planned on a couple beers down at the pier. Pero mi pobre cuerpo no daba para mas. I woke up about 5 a.m. showered, drank some water and was out on the street in the pre-dawn hours. People were already out running with their dogs, going to work etc.

I caught a Big Blue to the pier just as the sun was coming up. Not many tourists stirring yet, only a few Japanese. I walked all the way to the end of the pier, then down on the sand out to the water. I have never seen such healthy, well-fed seagulls in my life. They got it good.

About nine, I caught the local Big Blue to Venice and sure enough I ran into my friend from Van Nuys on the boardwalk at Clubhouse Alley. She helped me find a good buy on a sticky green leafy substance without having to buy a card.

She introduced me to some of the locals—quite an interesting crew to say the least before I bid farewell. By this time I had realized how time is of the essence in LaLa Land. Everything takes a damn long time. Getting from point A to point B may be easy, but it sure takes a while.

I bussed back to my hotel, checked out, then caught the Big Bus 14 line which takes you down Bundy, right past where OJ nearly cut his wife’s head off back in June 1994. I got a good look at the gate of the Bundy condo as the bus went slowly past. Put another check mark on my bucket list.

Not long after passing Nicole Brown’s condo, I transferred to the famous “Number 2 Line” which runs up and down Sunset from near Dodger Stadium all the way out to Pacific Palisades. Caught the 2, got a good look at the perimeter of UCLA and the frat houses, saw the Beverly Hills sign and the gated mansion fences and hedges. Signs along they way pitching “maps to the stars” homes. It would have been nice if I had the time to check out some of the opulence, but the day was ticking away.

Finally made it to my hotel “on the ass end of Hollywood” as a prominent member of the CH board describes it. I had about $100 worth of Philippine pesos from a trip seven years ago that I needed to cash up by Jimmy Kimmel studio. What a zoo that Hollywood-Highland area is. Kids running amok without any parental supervision—a veritable absurd circus I had trouble getting my mind around. I got my pesos changed to dollars and got out of there, over to Thai Town for a big order of boat noodles and Thai iced tea. Finally a chance to chill out and take it easy. Awesome.

My plan for the evening in Hollywood went up in smoke due to fatigue as well. I was tired and my feet hurt from all the walking and hauling ass I had been doing the last 48 hours or so. I originally had planned to maybe hit a couple strip clubs or dive bars in the area. Had some names, numbers and addresses, but ended up buying a six pack of Bud tall boys and a half gallon of water at a store around the corner for $15, which is pretty damn steep. It was a cool, rainy evening anyway, so I drank the beers and enjoyed my green leafy substance—a regular ol’ redneck night of it. The Aussie Open Women’s semis were on so I was a happy camper.

I crashed early and checked out about 6 a.m. Went to Union Station and got the early bird back to San Diego.

Upon arrival in SD, caught the blue line south and got off in San Ysidro. The weather was nicer now. Partly cloudy and sun peeking in and out. I asked a guy to point towards the TJ arch and point towards the way to start the journey.

WELL, let me say this. Tijuana is a hell of a lot nicer and waaaaaay more developed than the South Texas border towns I cut my teeth on back in the stone age. Funny, since this was my first ever TJ crossing I had worked myself up a bit about things like getting in to and out of Mexico. Turned out to be a total breeze. The ‘new’ entry which had a few people on the board, me included, stressed, was a total piece of cake. Of course I wasn’t driving. But it’s a snap arriving on the trolley.

I figure I must have hit TJ during rare conditions, even optimal for me, as it was very quiet and tranquil, coming, going and being there. I’m sure late Janurary and being a bit rainy had a lot to do with it. No question there’s sure to be a lot more “movimiento” at other times of the year.

I stayed at Cesars Hotel. Great location right on Revo. The lobby is very spacious with a well stocked cooler of water and several types of fruit drinks and sodas that were fairly priced. In Costa Rica they would have charged 25 to 50 percent more for a jug of water. The room cost $30 USD all in.

Only drawback at Cesars was the room size. Not much space on either side of the bed. No AC, no window or ceiling fan. I’d make sure to get a ceiling fan room, if available, during the warmer months. If not, take my business elsewhere.


After checking in at Cesars I hit the street, northbound on Revo. I was coaxed into having the ol’ TJ 2X1 margarita at a bar with tables set up outside halfway up the first block. I remember my waiter’s name, Lucas as we chatted a while. Surprisingly, he asked me if I would like to have sex with his niece. Oh boy, here we go.

Peanuts and beer, bought a vitamin c at the insistence of the
I can see that place could be real good given the right circumstances ie a large quanity of younger better looking girls needing financial assistance. But alas that was not the case, two or three older gals who just didn’t trip my trigger.

From P and B, headed north up Constitucion and it wasn’t long before I could see I’d be going downhill and into the infamous TJ Zona Norte. Lo and behold I happened to spy the famous worm hole bar I had read about, the one whose name starts with a Z followed by 27 letters (seems like).

I figured this is as good a place as any to break my ZN cherry so in I went down the stairs and ordered up a Corona Cauguama—not the first one of these babies I’ve ever wrapped my fingers around that’s for sure. The beer was cold and fresh and there was a faint scent in the air.

I left the worm hole and started wandering into dive bars. All were pretty laid back. Didn’t see many gringos or customers for that matter.

The “famous” strip clubs were a bit too Americanized for me though. I had more fun in the smaller dive bars dotting the area. Saw some very attractive street girls but just didn’t have enough time, piss or vinegar to get worked up enough . If I would have spent another day, I would definitely have gotten the groove on.


Many thanks to the TJ “old timers” who were kind enough to answer all my newbie questions.

The first time going anywhere is always the toughest. Once you’ve done anything once, the subsequent trips area always easier, whether crossing the Mexican border or flying to the PI.

Loved that little upstairs bar with the good jukebox, on the Mexican side just before crossing back into the US I bet many on the board know the place well.

Well, there you have it, the PG rated report of a caballo viejo. I know I didn’t have the sample size of time to claim I know anything. But I definitely was impressed. Would I go back? Si Senor…

Interesting, you visited TJ but spent little time in Adelitas and Hong Kong? Did you at least visit Chavelas and Tropical? Seems a little strange to me for someone from here visiting for the first time to bypass those places, but as long as you had fun I guess that's all that matters.

Tjcraze,

Actually I was all over the place on figuring out what I actually wanted to, or could do in such a short amount of time. Originally was going to do three nights in TJ. But I know myself. That would have devolved into a downward spiral of debauchery that I would have trouble remembering when it was over. Then I thought, how bout a night in Ensenada and two nights in TJ? That was the plan until one night I was monkeying around on the internet and got the idea of spending one night in LA and two in TJ.

OK, that’s the new plan. So what do I want to do in LA?. I decided what could possibly be a cheesier, more touristy thing to do than see a Jay Leno taping. So, I entered the drawing and was surprised a couple weeks later with an email from NBC Studios notifying me that I had been selected for the Jan 23 taping. Great.

Well that kind of sealed it. I was going to have to spend two nights in LA, and one in TJ. BTW never made it to Leno, as I saw where guest number one that night was Heidi Klum. The night before was Dana Carvey, the night after Robert DeNiro. I would have loved to see either of them, but not Heidi Klum.

In TJ on Thursday, I got in a 12-hour “beerathon” from 4 p.m. Thursday to 4 a.m. Friday. Nobody tried to screw me around, no billete switcheroo, no cheese platter scam. Even the women weren’t pumping for fichas. I spent a couple hours in HK, a couple in AB. I did buy maybe four ficha drinks and got some nice bump and grind, titty twisting and grab ass at the booth. That’s one of the great things about Mexico—you can get crosseyed drunk and not have to worry about driving (if you’re spending the night in a hotel).

The first thing I did when I got back to my hotel about 5 a.m. was change my flight from a noonish to a 2215 redeye from San Diego to Washington Dulles, from there to St. Louis. Boy was I ever relieved knowing a good six hour sleep would be followed by another six hours of daytime borrachera in TJ.

Friday afternoon, I met a friendly TJ local and we went over to Tropical Bar. Spent an hour or so in there. The joint was hopping pretty good. I bought a gal a drink there. Then we went to Chavelas and one more stop at AB. Spent a couple of hours in AB, got tequila poured down my throat and had a pretty good time. Last stop, I think was “La Gloria.” Got a privado there, which only cost me the beer I was drinking and the beer the chica was drinking. Probably spent $40 for about 45 minutes. She was not a guzzler and let my hands roam.

Finally it was time to go. I hit that upstairs bar by La Linea Sentri on the way out of town for a couple beers and back on the trolley heading north. Anybody provide the name of that place?

I sat next to a tall fortyish guy from San Diego wearing shorts for the red eye to Washington. He was on his way to the Dominican Republic. Hell, it might have been Blazers or Sancho, but their destinations usually tend to be westerly. We had three beers apiece before both nodding off. Probably slept half of the four-hour flight to DC…

What did I miss about your new plan schedule? San Diego to Dulles, and then St Louis sounds a little strange. Why not San Diego direct to St Louis? I know, you wanted more frequent flyer miles, or was it the 12 hr beerathon. Sometimes to 12 hr beerathon's make the longer trips shorter.

Whatever.

MM

It was the last avilable flight out of San Diego that day. If I would have waited till Saturday it would have been at least $175, whereas the red eye late Friday was only $75 extra...