Friday Night Commute On Surface Streets Adventure

Last night when I got off work, I decided not to sit with the rest of the cattle on the freeway and take surface streets home instead.

While making my 25 mile journey from Burbank to the West Valley in L.A., I noticed some very interesting things along the way…

Victory blvd. parallels the 101 freeway which is always jammed between Burbank and the Valley during rush hour. I decided to take Victory along with a few other sides streets in order to keep moving.

As I made my way, I pulled up to a stoplight and heard a very loud song coming out of the car next to me. I turned to look and saw a beautiful blond girl in her 20's blasting "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" - "Hands across the water (water) Heads across the sky". She smiled at me and began putting her hair up into a bun.

The song suddenly got quieter (she must have got a text on her phone) then she cued up some other vaguely familiar 70's song and we drove off. It was a very National Lampoon's Vacation / Chevy Chase-Christie Brinkley moment.

The majority of businesses along the boulevard were nail salons, auto repair shops, restaurants and the usual businesses you'd see in a large city. But most of all, (especially in the North Hollywood area) the amount of illuminated "green cross" signs were staggering.

There were so many medical marijuana clinics it blew my mind. I lost count after 12. The smell of cannabis smoke was thick in the air as I drove by another clinic and smoke shop. Incidentally, while on the freeway in heavy traffic you can often smell a lot cannabis smoke there as well. It's not uncommon to see someone smoking a joint in their car in L.A..

As I made the halfway point I saw a sign for a Chinese restaurant in the shape of a dog bone (like how they are shaped on a dog ID tag) I kid you not!

Drove past the L.A. Metro station that hardly anyone uses and also saw a special bus lane inaccessible to cars. Then on the Burbank blvd. past the big park there and toward home.

If you've read this far, I thank you. I just wanted to share my little adventure driving home off the beaten path last nite after work.