December 31, 1999: New Years Eve

On New Years Eve Day, Carol, Eddy, Aunt Elsie, Grandpa, Mom, and I took a bus tour that went to Hollywood, LA, and Beverly Hills.    We stopped at Mann's Chinese Theater.   We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe which overlooked Cedars Sinai Hospital.     Hard Rock Cafe was attached to the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills. It's an enclosed mall where some movie stars can be seen. 

Our tour also took us to Venice Beach which was so much fun for people watching. Carol and I got henna tattoos on our wrists. They were so cute.  Neither one of us wanted a permanent tattoo so we thought this was the next best thing.   

For New Years Eve, we had dinner at this seafood restaurant.   We got our first taste of sushi, which I didn't like.    Then, Carol, Eddy, Mom, and I went to Long Beach and watched the fireworks that overlooked the Spruce Goose and Queen Mary.   I will always remember where I was when we celebrated entering a new century.     We got home and watched the news where all of the cities/countries showed their 2000 celebrations.   Got to see my hometown of Chicago celebrate with fireworks on TV.    We blew our horns and let out a bunch of noise with the party favors that Carol bought.  

December 30, 1999: Los Angeles

We flew to Los Angeles on December 28th and stayed with Carol Wong.   Carol lived in Cerritos.   We drove into LA and visited Laura Vandermuelen. The traffic there was horrible.  There were about 6 lanes of traffic and no one seemed to use their blinkers.   I don't know how I got us around LA, but I did.  Laura lived on Detroit St. which was off of Wilshire Blvd.  Laura had a real nice place.  Her roommate was Kristy Walker.     Laura took us all around Beverly Hills, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Dr, and by Arnold Schwarzenegger's home.   We had lunch on Sunset Strip at the famous burger joint.    Also, we made a surprise visit to Jake Messinger at his work.   He worked in this store that sold gifts, cards, etc.  Estelle Getty, who used to play Sophia on "Golden Girls" used to frequent this store that Jake worked in.  Then, we went to Burbank to see the Jay Leno Show.   Arsenio Hall and Jimmy Buffet were guests on Jay Leno's show.