Visit to Evan, part 1

We saw Evan on Friday.

I have decided to tell you that the rehab center to is in LA. I have decided to tell you this so that I can complain about driving in Los Angeles. I have come to the conclusion that the taxi union has lobbied for two things. First they have somehow managed to get many different streets named the same, or nearly the same. Need to be on Ventura? Do you mean Ventura Place, Ventura Blvd., or Ventura Highway? Then there are the signs…or the lack thereof. On the way out we called the rehab center for directions. We told the guy what exit we were at. He said, “You have gone too far. Get off the freeway and come the other way.” So we got off. The off ramp is long and twists and deposits you into a neighborhood. The freeway is now gone. There is no on ramp across the street. There is no sign telling you how to find another ramp.

On the way out we were trying to find Highway 5. We saw a sign telling us to turn left. We did. The road went OVER Highway 5. There was no on ramp. So now we are on the other side of the highway, at an intersection, stopped at a light and there is nothing to indicate how we are supposed to get ON the highway. I mean, it was great that the previous sign told us where it was, but surely we were not expected to jump? We guessed and turned left. We were lucky in that we got a red light at the next intersection and so had time to look down both ways and see a sign for the highway a block away.

So, we get on the highway and look for the airport. The Bob Hope Airport in Burbank is not a huge airport, but it is not unreasonable that there would be a sign saying, “This exit for airport” now is it? Well…there are signs…but they are not where you can see them. As we passed one exit ramp we happened to look down. At the END of it, BEHIND a bush there is a sign for the airport. We took the next exit and, fortunately, at the stop sign at the end there was a sign there too.

We complained to a couple of locals. It seems that getting lost in LA is part of the LA experience Everyone gets lost.

It is a good place for him to have been though. The center is very small. It is a house which never takes more than 6 people at a time. They leave for 12 step meetings and he has gone to meetings with a couple of big movie stars. He says it is okay to tell because they are public about it, but it seems wrong to put their names in a blog anyway.

They have taken him to the beach, to Universal Studios, and to AA meetings in gay neighborhoods. A staff member even managed to get permission to take him to a production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" even though it was at a club known for drugs and alcohol.

So it was a good choice.

If I have to go there every again, I am going NOT going to rent a car.