I Don't Know About That - Los Angeles feat. Evan Lovett (LA In A Minute)

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

Evan Lovett is the creator of social media mainstay ‘L.A. in a Minute’ and the host of the podcast ‘In a Minute with Evan Lovett’. Lovett attended UCLA to pursue journalism, landing positions at the L.A. Times and NBC before moving into the AdTech space.  Lovett began ‘L.A. in a Minute’ through a desire to share the culture & history of his hometown. Creating highly-researched and entertaining videos about the evolution of L.A.'s neighborhoods, infrastructure, cultures and food;  residents of Los Angeles (and beyond) responded enthusiastically to these videos. Within one year, Evan was featured on KCRW, KIIS-FM with Ryan Seacrest, Access Hollywood w/ Mario Lopez, KTLA, Spectrum1, and Fox11, as well as sitting down with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to discuss her first year in office.    IG: @lainaminute Podcast: In A Minute with Evan Lovett   PRE-SAVE The Doohickey’s new single “Rein It In Cowboy” coming out 6/28: https://FortyBelowRecs.lnk.to/RIIC   IDKAT Live Show on June 25th at Flappers: https://www.flapperscomedy.com/shows/jim-jefferies-podcast/69873/   ADS: LITTER ROBOT: As a special offer to listeners of the show, go to http:www.stopscooping.com/IDKAT and enter promocode IDKAT to save an EXTRA $50 on any Litter-Robot bundle LIQUID DEATH: Go to http://liquiddeath.com/IDKAT to check out all their healthy, infinitely recyclable beverages and find your closest retailer   CHAPTERS: 0:00 — Ads 3:02 — Theme Song 5:39 — Judging a Book by It’s Cover 7:04 — Guest Intro 12:38 — Questions 16:20 — Theater District 22:11 — Bill’s Burgers 26:35 — Answers 29:10 — Ads 35:20 — When LA was founded 46:08 — The aqueducts 1:16:44 — Tommy LaSorda 1:39:50 — 7 Wonders of LA 1:42:38 — Dinner Party Fact     Follow Us: Jim Jefferies Website: https://www.jimjefferies.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/jimjefferies FB: https://www.facebook.com/JimJefferies Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimjefferies   Forrest Shaw Website: http://www.forrestshaw.net IG: https://www.instagram.com/forrestshaw Twitter: https://twitter.com/forrestshaw   Jack Hackett IG: https://www.instagram.com/Jack_hackett The Doohickeys: https://www.instagram.com/the.doohickeys

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Liquiddeath.com slash idacat. We have a live podcast coming up, Jim. When? June 25th at Flappers. This year? Yes, this year. All right. This June, yeah.

Right now, coming up. 8 o'clock at Flappers, June 25th. All right. We're doing another live podcast. We love doing these. Love them. Really fun. I do.

I do enjoy doing them. I'm going to not have the light on my face this time. I'm going to sit in a different place. Did you notice in the clips? Yeah, when I was watching the clips, yeah. But there should be some little light shining on me. I'm in the dark. Yeah, I noticed that too.

Yeah, the videos were kind of dark. I couldn't brighten them. I'll talk to them next time. That'll be all fixed. June 25th at Flappers. Come out to the- For the at-home. Looks great in person. I couldn't brighten them. I'll talk to them next time. That'll be all fixed June 25th at Flappers. For the at-home. Looks great in person. I don't know about the podcast. People who come have had a real good time.

Yeah, we've seen the same people come. I've seen a lot of the same people come. They have a good time. We've seen some new faces and stuff. It is really fun. And Flappers, good food, good people, good times. That's their new saying. See you then.

Carpet. Curtains. their new saying see you then carpet curtains which one do you reckon feels superior i thought you were gonna do it you might find out and i don't know about that with jim jeffries and jack and forest um i i would say that carpet feels superior because it gets the hang and it doesn't get treaded over all the time. No, curtains. Curtains. It's higher up. I think curtains would feel smug. Which one do you reckon costs more, carpet or curtains? Depends.

Depends what kind of curtains you get. Like a velvet curtain might cost a lot. I feel like curtains cost more, but they shouldn't because carpet needs to be more durable. They're surprisingly expensive. Curtains and window treatments are surprisingly expensive. Oh, yeah, curtains aren't cheap. And then carpet you can get for nothing nowadays. People want tile and wood.

Yeah, carpet's going out of fashion, but it'll be back. We got a long podcast today, so let's just quickly say go to jimjeffries.com for upcoming shows. You're going to be in Australia. You're doing a bunch of shows with all over Australia. You're doing shows with Jimmy Carr throughout Canada. You're doing... Mention the Dan Soder.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. September 13th, St. Louis, Missouri, with Mark Norman and Dan Soder. September 14th, Atlanta, Georgia, with Mark Norman and Dan Soder, and a bunch of other shows. Triple headline show. Yeah, so you're going to be with Mark Norman and Dan Soder doing those shows. September shows. Triple headline show. Yeah, so you're going to be with Mark Norman and Dan Soder

doing those shows, September 13th and 14th, Atlanta, St. Louis. You're going to be touring with Jimmy Carr. You're going to be doing your own thing in Australia and then also a bunch of other dates in America. We've got a whole lot of bunch of dates in America, and we've got one coming up at, I believe, it's still called the Ace Theatre, on December 14th, downtown in Los Angeles.

Mm-hmm. I wonder whether we'll talk about that. Okay. And then also next week, if you're in LA, come to the Improv, June 19th at 8.30. I'm doing a show called The Shawshank Show. Jim might be on that. Who knows?

The Doohickeys are definitely on it. Yeah, and come out to that show and go to foreshaw.net. I've got shows all over the country. San Francisco, Sacramento, what have you. All over the country. No, Florida. California. I'll throw out Florida, Texas, Austin.

Montreal. I just was on there. Boston. Just go to forestraw.net. I'll be all over the world. West Hollywood, North Hollywood. I've got tons of shows. Fuck off.

ID Cap podcast. All right. And pre-save the Doohickey single coming out June 28th. I'll put a link in the description if you guys can pre-save it. It helps us out. Thank you. Let's welcome our guest, Evan Lovett. G'day, Evan.

Now it's time to play... Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Maybe you're... Judging a book by its cover. I know Evan so I know what this is about of course yeah

it's about the city of Los Angeles and what Los Angeles is all about Evan has my one of my favorite Instagram pages to follow LA in a minute which is on his t-shirt which

I found out about LA in a minute because I was following LA in a minute which is on his t-shirt which what i found out about la in a minute because uh i well i was following la in a minute right and then i i i always like little facts doids that's why i do this podcast i like little facts and figures to say about a thing and i'm a i'm a person who moved here i'm a transplant into the into the city and uh uh you gave me little snippets of information that i could say that but then me and forest kept on coming to each other with the little snippets of information that I could say that. But then me and Forrest kept on coming to each other with the same snippets of information. We'd show up like that.

We'd be going, well, you know that this restaurant wasn't always, used to be a coffee shop, but now it's a blah, blah, blah. I told Evan that we were already a fan of his on this podcast. We talked about him on this podcast. But we found out by accident. We found you individually and then kept on telling information and then Forrest was like, LA in a minute?

I was like, let's get it. Let me introduce him properly. Evan Lovett, because a lot of people might not know. If you don't live in LA, you may not know. Yeah, maybe.

If you want to learn about LA. You don't have to live in LA to follow him on his Instagram. It's interesting and you'll see in this podcast episode. Evan Lovett is the creator of the social media mainstay LA in a Minute and the host of the podcast In a Minute with Evan Lovett. Evan attended UCLA to pursue journalism,

landing positions at the LA Times and NBC before moving into the ad tech space. Lovett began LA in a Minute. This sounds so formal. Yeah, well, I mean, this is the formal part. Professional. Through a desire to share the culture and history of his hometown, creating highly researched and entertaining videos

about the evolution of LA's neighborhoods, infrastructure, cultures, and food. Residents of Los Angeles and beyond responded enthusiastically to these videos. You can find him on Instagram, at LA in a minute. And his podcast is In a Minute with Evan Lovett. That's L-O-V-E-T-T uh thanks for being here Evan and tell us just a little bit more about yourself and how you got into this world of talking about LA thank you for having me on it's literally an honor to be here um yes so LA in a minute kind of was inspired because I too love random factoids, information, trivia.

And I was always the guy who would text my friends. He'd be like, did you know that Denny's actually started as Danny's Donuts? And sometimes they'd be like, I don't give a fuck about Denny's. I haven't been to Denny's in like 25 years. But other friends would be like, that's so fascinating. And I just love doing that. Love Los Angeles, native. I was born in Sepulveda, which is now known as North Hills, right in the middle of the valley. like that's so fascinating and you know like i just love doing that love los angeles native i was born in sepulveda which is now known as north hills right in the middle of the valley

but i've just always been like infatuated with los angeles uh my son grew up got into screen time discovered tiktok i was like you are staying so far away from tiktok uh but it was always a battle right to get him off the screen and he'd be watching tiktok anyway so at one point i was like fuck i'm to start a TikTok just for my son because I told him, I'm like, you got to learn something. If you're on the screen,

you got to learn something. So I started this TikTok, which initially was covering like LA stories in a minute, like just random newspaper stuff. But then one day I'm reading a book made in California by George Geary about all these eateries

that came from California. And so many of the fast food places came from Los Angeles. Like In-N-Out, Fatburger, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Hot Dog on a Stick, the list goes on, Carl's Jr. And I'm like, dude, why do they all come from LA? Do an episode on the oldest fast food chains from Los Angeles. That kind of got a little bit of a following. Did Denny's come from LA?

Denny's came from LA. It came from Lakewood. Absolutely. But we're counting San Bernardernardino then as la right no because loss because mcdonald's people say san bernardino but the first location was actually at the monrovia airport which is in los angeles so their father their father opened blown get this it was Orange Juice. They started in the Orange Juice business. I've watched this documentary. Don't worry about that.

I've watched this. And then they couldn't get it underneath a bridge, one of their buildings or something. They were going to transport something. And then they had an Orange Juice stand. And it was for work. And they came out here for the movie business. Anyway, you know.

Correct, though. You keep going. But in Los Angeles, because everybody says, like, McDonald's started in san bernardino which it's where it blew up and absolutely became mcdonald's because at first it was mcdonald's barbecue and then became mcdonald's barbecue damn yeah mcdonald's barbecue tri-tip the whole deal and then they're like this takes too long it's too time intensive too expensive that's why they have the mcrib once a year. It took that long to smoke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they've got smokers out the back to make the McRib.

So long story short, I love LA. I love discovering these factoids and information. Why is the LA River always dry? I walk across the LA River every day to the studio, and it's a concrete channel. And you're like, is this really a river? Like, why do they try to pretend like this is a river? But it really is, and it was so important to LA

and there's a reason why it's a concrete channel. So I love that stuff. People respond to it well. LA in a minute developed like a good following and I feel like we're uplifting Los Angeles,

especially with this narrative of, you know, negativity towards LA. There's a lot of rich history. I like LA. It's got its negatives, the taxes

and the homeless and they're the two things. That's true. That's the two things. But there's so many positives that outweigh it. So many positives. And like my friend says, he's like, welcome to life in the big city.

You want to go live in a small town? The thing is, it's not overpopulated because it's shit. Yeah. You know what I mean? Absolutely. There's not a lot of traffic because it's shit. I have friends that lean the other way from me politically, and then they'll come to visit me, and they'll be like,

hey, I'll take them around and do all sorts of fun shit and good fit. This is pretty nice, man. I saw on the news it was going to be just a war zone. I'm like, yeah. Exactly what you said. You think this many people live here because it's fucking terrible? We're sitting in traffic because it's good. Yeah, the weather. It's like you go to these butt-fucked places where if you can park your car

right at the front of your work and you don't own a parking spot, your town sucks. Yeah. If you only need 10 minutes to get to the airport. and you don't own a parking spot, your town sucks. Yeah, yeah. If you only need 10 minutes to get to the airport. You just drive up to the door, yeah, no problem. Yeah, your town sucks. So here's what we're going to do, Evan. I'm going to ask Jim a series of questions about L.A.,

and at the end of him answering those, you're going to grade him on his accuracy 0 through 10, 10 being the best. Jackson will grade him on confidence. I'm going to grade him on how hungry I am. And we'll add those scores together. And if you score 21 through 30, City of Angels. I thought that was going to be one of the questions.

11 through 20, City of Smog. And 0 through 10, City of Endless Traffic. So you don't want that. Well, first question. What does Los Angeles mean in Spanish? And what is the full original name of the city? The full original name of the city. City of Angels.

Yeah. And its full name was the City of Angels. I'm serious. Yeah, in Spanish? How do you say that? Espanolo is Los Angeles. Espanolo. Taco. Taco.

Okay. When was Los Angeles officially founded and by whom? What do you mean? Like when it became America or before it was America? When the city was established. Yeah. I guess what I, yeah. By the way, do I chime in?

No. I have as the answer I almost want to individually grade yeah okay after okay

so it was originally owned by the the Mexicans and then it became owned by the Mexicans the mafia by Mexico by Mexico

which is filled with Mexicans stop trying to make me sound racist because I'm saying it was is filled with Mexicans stop trying to make me sound racist because I'm saying it was owned by the Mexicans if I said

the aboriginals owned Australia and then yeah okay it just sounds funny you made that joke on the Jim Jefferies show it's just racist

just to go the Mexicans it's racist to put the in front of things it is true I'm gonna i'm gonna say because my father's an 83 year old man and that's what he said and he goes uh and uh i i said uh i said my dad was calling them uh uh afro-americans right he couldn't say african-americans but he's

an 83 year australian so he was like trying to say the right words right and he goes i met a nice afro-american man and i just went dad no just just african-american is fine or just just black is fine just you can say the word black that's okay and and uh and then he went he goes all right the black people. I said, I don't know why, but if you put the word the in front of things, it makes it racist. I don't know why. It's that little touch, but it changes the whole dynamic. The proper addressing.

Yeah, so it was owned by Mexicans. So just give me a year, and then there was a group of people that had a name. How about that? Yeah, okay. I'm going to say 1846. And the group of people were the Warner Brothers. That's a good guess. What is the significance of Olvera Street in Los Angeles?

It used to be the main street. Olvera? Oh, it's where the water duck runs that we now get water from the hills from Mulholland. What is the origin of the famous Hollywood sign? It was Hollywood land and it was a real estate sign and it was originally up there as a property development thing and then it was taken. They took

the land down and it just said Hollywood and then into the 1970s it went into complete disrepute and it was just covered in graffiti and there was letters falling down but luckily Disrepute? Luckily Luckily we had Hugh Hefner who went forward to try to repair

the Hollywood sign and it has been to this day and occasionally people go up there and change it to Hollyweed and stuff like that and try to do fun things but now it is a well protected landmark of the great cities of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is home to the largest historic theater district in the country what is it called theater district yeah you're playing there in december yeah yeah no no no i i well it's i know it's downtown yeah um uh i'm playing at the ace theater which you should do a thing on the ace theater because it's a fascinating one have you done one on the ace theater i mean are we jumping ahead here because yeah that area what'd you call it a district because the ace theater was in the bottom of the ace hotel and it was completely shut down and it was an old black and white movie center and you go in there and it is literally you know i've traveled done theaters like it's one of the most beautiful theaters inside in the world really so i've done an episode on the

district but not any of the individual theaters it was a weird thing with all these cats it was shut down like I don't know I'm going to say the 90s or something and then they were just like go in there it's something special you used that word disrepute I'll piggyback on that that entire area was just demolished I mean not demolished

but you look around it was not anything like the historic area that it used to be and slowly but surely starting with that district uh they rebuilt and that's where the renaissance of downtown la like kind of started that and then along with la live from the commercial section but they built it out and built it up and built it back i'm gonna say and it's changed name recently but because of and i assume this is what it would have been called the staples area crypto now it's now it's now it's the crypto area but it's it's historical name was staples what what is the name of the public market in downtown los angeles that has been operating since 19 oh

i don't know that i don't go down to get my fruit and vegetables from downtown what los angeles landmark i might visit egg slot once a year. They have restaurants. I thought you might have been there. I've been to some restaurants. In this area. What's the market? Yeah, where do you go to Egg Slut? You'd actually like it.

Where do I go? Where is the Egg Slut? I don't know. So you go to Egg Slut by destination, but not the... I've been to Egg Slut, yeah. Okay. What Los Angeles landmark is known as the world's shortest railway? The world's shortest railway? The world's shortest railway?

Is it by Eggslut? Near there. Well, I did recently watch a documentary on Disney, and the reason that he made his theme park is because he got bored of making movies, and he put small mini railways in his backyard, and then he thought, what if we expand that? And what things, carnival attractions and stuff like that, used to be like everyone's trying to rip you off

and take your money and all that type of stuff. And he wanted to make it a nice experience. Have you seen this documentary? No, no. It's how Disney built America. He doesn't answer the question. No. He just does all this.

I mean, that was cool. I didn't know about that. But my point is that Disney had a small railway in the back of his yard, and that's got to be smaller than what you're fucking talking about. We're upset. Okay. I got this.

I see where that was going. What is the name of the Los Angeles park that is larger than Central Park in New York City? Griffith. And who is it named after? Peter Griffith. Peter Griffith? uh griffith and who's it named after peter griffith peter griffith yeah it's a griffin but it's a different guy okay yeah yeah it's related los angeles is home to a unique urban wildlife population what famous wild animal roamed the hills of griffith park mountain lions do you know the name of one of the famous ones i know that there's one that always sort of goes past the hollywood sign that gets captured on film all the time,

but I saw one in Mount Olympus once. Did you really? I did. It was probably that one. I used to live in Mount Olympus, and I saw one in Mount Olympus. Wow. And there was one that once escaped in Santa Monica, like in Santa Monica down the promenade about 10 years ago.

Wait, on the like Third Street Promenade? On Third Street Promenade. Check this story. A mountain lion? There was a mountain lion that came down from the Malibu Hills, right? Wow. And he came down and he just started walking down the promenade. There's some news stories.

They shot and killed the cunt, man. No. They didn't tranquilize him. They had to get after him. We can't trust the mountain lions. Yeah, yeah. 2012, mountain lion shot and killed after drowning. What did I say around 10 years ago, Jack?

Did I say that? I think you might have. Poor guy. He's just hanging out. Yeah, he was lost. These are such cherished icons of Los Angeles. Not in Santa Monica. Different cities.

He's literally walking past the vans in the billabong store um not by my cheesecake factory you're going where where was the drive-thru invented jim the drive-thru was invented um in la by in and out all right he's the inventor of the drive-thru what now nationwide restaurant chain was founded in glendale california uh i'm going to say that would have been uh pan express all right what la-based invention impacted the world of ice hockey what ice we needed it for our drinks yeah that's a good one though let me let me think okay so i um i'll'm going to say the Zimboni. Yeah.

What music festival takes place each year at the Empire Polo Grounds? Not even know what that is. Yeah. I have no idea. What are the seven wonders of L.A.? Okay, the observatory. Yeah. I have no idea. What are the seven wonders of LA? Okay. The observatory. Yeah.

I'll say the Chinese theater. Yeah. There's a happy ending massage parlor in Sherman Oaks that does a wonderful business. I don't know. I've never heard of the Seven Wonders. Okay, we'll find out. Yeah, that's something. And I don't have this as a question, but we will talk about Bill's Burgers.

I'm sure it's a... Let's get into it. All right. And we can... There's so many other questions we can ask, but we'll just stop here. I love Bill's Burgers. Bill's Burgers, the actual, the griddle is 100 years old, and he believes that's where he gets the flavors from. That's right.

That's absolute. Bill Elwell, 97 years old, still doing it. One time he changed it. He had a wife. He's had a few wives. One time she went, I want my name on there as well. And he's like, all right, you know how it is with your wives, right? You go, all right, let's work together.

But she still seems to be working there. I saw her last time. Last time I was there, she made my burger. Absolutely. And a son. And son. Oh, is it his son? Is it?

You know, he facilitated the interview with Bill, but I feel like it might have been his grandson. But it could be his son. It could. I don't have been his grandson there's but it could be his son i don't think 97 you know but yeah but it's great look norman lear had twins at like 90 and look l well was married five times yeah so i mean he um start over uh i i've he sits on a milk crate out the back sometimes and i i always go, really good, I'm really... And he just looks at me like... Yeah.

We got our COVID shots together and immediately went to Bill's Burgers afterwards. Which they reckon makes the COVID shot not work. Yeah. They say don't drink alcohol and don't have a Bill's Burger. Yeah, because I got really drunk after the COVID shot, right? Because I was just like, I'm free. And then they were like, if you drunk after the covid shot right because i was just like i'm free and then they were like if you drink after the covid shot it lessens its ability or something

yeah within 24 hours you're not meant to get boozed wait that's really uh yeah and i got i got fucked off i think it's most vaccines you're not supposed to do that um but anyway uh yeah bill bill what year did bill's burger start when he came back from World War II. So he came, he opened it. He's been there for 60, I think it was 1965 that he's been there. Or 1962, perhaps. But it was a burger stand for 15 years before that. And prior to that, it was a coffee shop since the 1930s. If you're in LA, there's a whole list of like,

these are the best burgers in LA. And there's like these fancy new ones and the smash burgers but you gotta go to Bill's what is it on what street Oxnard

right in that industrial area it's crazy it's all these like auto parts auto repairs we went there it was a prison bus stopping off

getting burgers and there's a big car park and you're not meant to park in the car park but everyone does yeah and you just because it's meant to be

there's a library next to it or some shit yeah it's so weird and then there's a library next to it or some shit. Yeah, it's so weird. And then there's like drapery, like chemical upholsterer. Yeah, it's a- Is it open on Saturdays?

I think he's only open during the week, and now I'm not even sure he's open five days a week, because- He keeps on putting a bit of sticker over the top of the different things. Get there while he's still alive. Yeah. I'm assuming it'll stay open, but you never know.

Absolutely. It's a good burger. It's a good burger, and it's like... It's cool. It's a little counter. Yeah, it's right there in Van Nuys. It's cheap, and it's good. And like you mentioned,

LA's having this smash burger-like movement, which is cool. They're good. They're fine. But like the classic burgers are the ones that really define LA, like Apple Pan or even Bob's. I just saw that video. That was a good one. really like define LA, like Apple Pan. I just saw that video.

That was a good one. Bob's Big Boy, Bill's Burger. I mean, like LA is the home of the burger. So, I mean, like go respect the elders and the pioneers. Yeah. All right. Well, on these questions. Do you like heavy handed?

I just hated heavy. Okay. So I ate there twice. So I guess that answers the question. It is heavy so that's the one that made me kind of realize where i'm like look i like a smash burger but there's a formula and the formula works but i'll mix in a smash burger but for me i want the lettuce like you know that it's a lovely patty and because they use short rib uh it's a nice flavor but i feel like i'm getting zero rounded meal at least when i'm getting an in-and-out burger i'm like oh i got onions look at this and the crisp of the lettuce like i'm so refreshing yeah yeah yeah like i'm

eating like a clean it's not clean it's still a burger no you said it though after heavy-handed you can feel like shit, but it is tasty. You don't need to feel guilty about an In-N-Out, but that heavy-handed. Look, it's delicious, the flavor in itself, but you're like kind of a little bit guilty when you're walking out of there. Just grease trap. Yeah, but it's good though. So as far as the questions we asked. I'll eat there again today.

Today? Sure. The other questions I asked about L.A., how did Jim do zero through ten tens the best? He did pretty good, I think.

Wait, so zero to ten? Overall, ten's the most accurate in zero to ten. I mean, some he knocked out of the park.

Yeah. All right? Is that it? There's more to L.A. than that. I know, but I'm sure you're going to ask

questions. We just did four minutes on burgers. Yeah, yeah. Wait, what was the zero to 30 scale you were talking oh that's because he's gonna grant him a confidence oh okay okay okay okay oh man because again some you hit verbatim the hollywood sign i was like you're just doing my episode right there i've been sitting there i knew that one already you

hefner though that's a good poll and people don't realize that that's a good one right there. Yeah. Dude, thank you, Playboy. Truthfully, like 6.5. 6.5? Yeah. How do you do on confidence, Jack? I mean, like that question that he answered was like really confident, but then like there's like five of them. He just goes, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah.

So five. Well, I would have done. I thought there'd be more things about the sporting teams, you know, like when the Dodgers came here. We could talk about it, yeah. But we could also have Evan on again. There's so many, you know. That's it.

But I'm pretty hungry, so I'm going to give you 10. So City of Angels, you got 21. Nice. So the first question is, what does Los Angeles mean in Spanish and what is the full or original name of the city? You said it means City of Angels, and then the full name is I'm Serious, City of Angels, Españoles Taco.

How do you do that? Españoles Taco. Stumbled out of the gate. Sure. I'll be honest. I was a little bit concerned at that point how the overall score was going to be. So the name is El Pueblo de la Señora Nuestra Reina

del Rio de Por Si Uncula. Okay. de la señora nuestra reina del rio de por si un culo okay which which that's the full name but it means the city of our lady sorry the queen of angels of the river por si un culo which is what they called the la river because that's why the city was founded in that place because it was the strategic people sometimes ask me why wasn't la found near the coast it's so beautiful santa monica malibu when you're founding a city or pueblo i guess like part of the spanish uh empire at that point river canyon like strategic location but the river was the main source because you need those fresh water sources so yeah so it was right there

so they called the river the river Porcine Cula and it was for Our Lady the Queen of Angels it's a long name yeah it's a really long name just want to go

Los Angeles yeah Los Angeles I would say it like that dear cat mummies and cat daddies we know you're obsessed with your cats

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It's essentially an Arnold Palmer. It's fantastic. Lovely. When was LA officially founded by whom Jim said the Mexicans 1846 and then maybe

the Warner Brothers had something to do with it okay I started seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel on that one because that was

a pretty good guess September 4th 1781 so not bad in the scheme in a relative scheme it's like you're in the ballpark

on that and that's like part're in the ballpark on that. And that's like part of the United States? So you brought up a good point. No. So that's a great point. That's considered the city's founding, right? So it's founded by a group of 44 settlers called the Pobladores that represent 12 different families.

That's kind of a side interesting story. It was founded by Africans,ricans uh native mexicans uh native americans and even a filipino family so los angeles from day one of its formal founding was like a bastion of diversity which is like pretty fucking cool that's awesome yeah because that's la most diverse city in the world so yeah your diverse minute where you talk about all the different expats there and you you mentioned Australians. Australians. There's a lot of us in here. I double-checked that, though.

So London may have, according to some sources, more Australians than LA. What did I say when I was there? I was there going, no, no, you're wrong, because there's a quarter million Australians in London. So I saw a quarter million in UK. None of them are living outside of London, mate. I lived in Manchester. I was the only one.

And I lived there for three years. And people were like, what are you doing? Like that, right? Like that. And they used to call Earl's Court Kangaroo Valley. Mystical Earls Court Kangaroo Valley. Okay. And my parents, who are both Australians, met in London. So Wales.

They were both Australians traveling in London, and they met in London, and then they came back to Australia together. So LA would be the second most populous city for us. I believe that LA would be the second most populous. And also, the number of Australians who live in England, because what happens, we have a reciprocal thing that when I was under 27,

under 27 you can get a two-year reciprocal visa back and forth. So English people can go work and live in Australia. We can go work and live in England. They give the same thing to the Canadians. And then over the years it changed to one year and then it changed a bit longer but when i was 27 it was a two-year work visa so you have a shit ton of australians who are just there for a year year and a half two years right yeah and so so that sort of fudges the statistics i think you'd probably have more stationary living people here in la who have actually made the move right

but um for people actually just sort of you know have around london and so that's the problem that's the problem with london as well with australians in london so we all work behind the bars because you're not allowed to have jobs that progress your occupation because they don't want to take jobs away from the brit people, blah, blah, blah. So we're all doing menial work, but they want nurses and they want construction workers and school teachers and all this type of stuff. They're bringing them over by the blitz.

Yeah, yeah. But every bartender in Australia is South African, Australian or British or South African, Australian or from New Zealand. And so when you first start doing stand-up comedy, the heckle that you get is, why are you behind the bar? Some comedy clubs, I work behind the bar, so I actually had to go, and then go back there.

That's my time. But in your, so LA is the most diverse city? Is that what? LA absolutely is the most diverse city. Yeah, it feels like it. I grew up in Miami, which is diverse,

but in a different way and not as diverse. But not as many different types of people. No, no, no. Like here in LA. More Mexicans in any city outside of Mexico. Salvadorians in any city outside of El Salvador. Thai people outside of Thailand. Armenians. Cambod city outside of Mexico Salvadorians than any city outside of El Salvador

Thai people outside of Thailand Armenians Cambodians outside of Cambodia Armenians Persians the list goes on

they made like two things Armenians and Persians they just make up people to be here in LA from countries that don't even exist Ugandans

or Ugandans yeah Ugandans yeah one of our close family friends is Ugandan, man. Yeah, it's... Because when I moved here, I'd always be like, see all the towns? They're like Filipino town.

Yeah, Filipino's a good one. Thai town. Like every town, you're just like, K-town. Obviously, Koreans. Australians, we don't get. Wait, is there more Koreans? We don't get a bit. Yes, Koreans as well.

We have one restaurant. K-town's huge. One outback. I'll say it again i've said this for so many fucking years living in this country i'm i'm available outback steakhouse who's the cunt you've got doing the voiceover i don't know i'll do it for the same price whoever that fucker is like i must have a cheaper i must have a more known australian voice than fucking the guys like welcome to outback steakhouse we got the blooming onion that guy do you think that's

a real i mean you would obviously know no it's a real australian because that would be really if we do a small social media campaign i bet bet you can get it. Oh, for sure. Hashtag something. They might be religious or something. They don't like me. But there's some reason. Just fake it. Where are they based? Are you looking at it right now?

America. They've got nothing to do with Australia. No, but where? I wonder what the headquarters are. I'm just curious. Oh, that would be Orlando. They're always Orlando. It says William Snow.

All those big branches. Olive Garden was Orlando. always Orlando. Probably, yeah. It says William Snow. All those big branches, they all, Olive Garden was Orlando. It is. Right, yeah. These things, they just start off like, everyone's flying in from all around the world.

We'll just give you the world of restaurants. Like Epcot, but real, but Tampa. Tampa. Out of Tampa. Tampa.

Tampa. I was close. I was close. Just down the highway. Just down the highway. I was close. Tampa is home, Just down the highway. I was close. Tampa is home, supports Outback, Carrabba's, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse.

Fleming's. That's a pretty good list. The Bloomin' Brands. Like Bloomin' Onion? Bloomin' Brands International's Outback, Carrabba's, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming's is on Tampa. But you're right, Orlando's got so many. Like my friend built, like it was in construction.

Well, they may not be the company starts out in Orlando, but they always put their first restaurant in Orlando because that's the best test market from people all around the world. Yeah. Whether families are going to enjoy it because it's a family holiday destination. I got my first fake ID confiscated in Orlando.

Really? Yeah. Yeah, it was from Mississippi and the guy like took one look. So Disney in the corner? holiday destination I got my first fake ID confiscated in Orlando really yeah I was from Mississippi and the guy said Disney in the corner one look and he took it and then I

I booked it because I was like I mean you're young I was like 18 so I was like where were you trying to get into I don't remember

Margaritaville the club so yeah probably a club so when was it founded as a city Los Angeles the United States?

Like when? 1851. Okay. Yeah. Well, you were close with that one then. So yeah. There you go. So Australia, oh, fantasy, but you said 17 what?

81. Okay. So Australia is 1788. Really? In its modern term. I don't want to get into the aboriginals versus the colonizers or whatever but in modern same conversation about los angeles though frankly yeah modern australia started in 1788 um the whole country you just you just have one the whole the whole decade huh

yeah the whole country it's a great decade for this round table right here and i think it was 1770 when captain cook actually went in there you know captain cook his boat went in there and then 1788 was when they brought the convicts over wow so that's really that's a real story that's not apocryphal let's get into it right so what happens is people don't know they're losing at home. That's your catchphrase. That's your catchphrase. You've got to kick it. Let's get into it. Let's get into it.

Right? So, yeah, it was a prison colony, and they just started in Sydney. Sydney Harbour was the start of it. So if you go down to the rocks and everything... No European had set foot on it prior? Okay, so there's a few debates about this. Right? So in 17, and I might be a year out here,

but I believe in 1770, Captain Cook, who was exploring the world, came down with the Endeavour, came into Sydney Harbour, and then he went up and then he finished off in Hawaii where they killed him. Right? He was mapping out the Pacific. Who's they? The Hawaiians.

I don't know if his crew turned on him or wherever he went. No, no, no. Originally, they believed he was some type of god, and then it all turned to shit, and then whatever. So he was killed coming back up through Hawaii. um hawaii anyway um the the the the dutch had previously landed on western australia which was where they landed was just red dirt and just it was desert okay and they were just like fuck this fuck this right uh but then but then captain cook came into the harbour and he saw the bridge in the Opera House and he thought this place is this.

It's already done. He thought the Aboriginals, what they've built here is something else. And so he landed in a place called Botany Bay and that was still called Botany Bay and it's where the airport is now. And it's called Botany Bay because he was with Darwin, the botanist. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, okay.

And he had never seen so many new plants that were undiscovered in this thing. Because you've got to understand that you're coming from Europe. There'll be some little plants. Hold on. It's an island. Darwin? Like, Charles Darwin was there to discover Australia, if you will. I believe so.

He was on a lot of, that's how he was. I mean, the theory of evolution was he's traveling around on these ships. But wasn't that like Galapagos or something? I don't know. I'm getting all my stuff. I was terrible. I was traveling all over the world. He was a bot.

That seems like really significant on the resume though like we have a city called darwin i never heard that that's crazy but anyway so he was a botanist and that's why it's called botany bakers all the different plants see we're learning we're breaking knowledge bread that's that's gonna be our new slogan what is the significance of olvera street in los angeles jim said this is where the water duck runs the main street so it kind of seemed like it was going to be a throwaway answer because you're like oh main street and then the water duct and i was like you know what this was essentially not essentially the birthplace of los angeles modern los angeles the city was where alvera street is today which by the way wasn't called

alvera street ended up being uh named after augustus alvera augustine alvera who was the first judge and a uh county or one of the first county supervisors but before that it was the main street in los angeles where la was born and the zanja madre ran through alvarez street which was the precursor to the aqueduct but it was the first essential like way to get la river water to the burgeoning city so even still today when you walk down alvarez street which is kind of you know on one hand some people maybe think it's a tourist trap, but it really does represent this deep, rich Mexican culture in Los Angeles as the birthplace of LA,

but it's memorialized with a brick path right down the middle of Olvera Street where Zanja Madre ran. So it wasn't quite the main aqueduct, but at the time, like, absolutely. I don't think you've ever been there. It's like... It's cool. Yeah, I know what I get've ever been there it's it's it's like it's cool yeah i know what i get through yeah it's dope it's dope good little food and um and yeah i don't think people understand how important i mean if you've ever seen chinatown

that movie that's that but that's like the real life before i watched moved to la i never even seen chinatown i watched it and i was and i used to be a marine biologist and i used to do like water quality and water testing i I'm like water is like such a huge thing here. Like where it comes from, how much we have, how much we don't have. If you drive up north and through I-5 like all the ag fields and the people that hate LA

have the sign. Owens Valley we drink. I mean I don't know how deep you want to get into it. They took it from up in the mountains. Took it from 270 miles away. And now that's becoming more like desert, right? Absolutely. There used to be this lush mountainous thing, and the locals used to try to fucking bomb it every time.

They didn't try to. They did. Dynamite after dynamite. There are 27 different instances where they blew apart the LA Aqueduct, perhaps deservedly. The hillbillies. The hillbillies tried to stop it.

Yeah. Yeah. There's um and when you go like i don't know if it's all connected but in in across the bridge in san francisco and sausalito there's like a for the northern part of california there's a i don't know if you're seeing it's a model of the water of northern california and it has like it has the bay but it has all the all the different like um canals and aqueducts and stuff up there it's like a it's i'll send you a link to the if you're up there and visit it but that so all the water comes from like for us comes up there right and when was it dynamited

when was this so from the sierra so again so the la river only has enough water in its natural state for a city of a hundred thousand people. William Mulholland saw this developing. It's kind of an interesting story. Like you said, Chinatown, they paraphrase it, if you will. But there was a syndicate which included Harrison Gray Otis, the publisher of the LA Times, most powerful person in LA at the turn of the century in the early 1910s. Harry Chandler, Moses Sherman, and William Mulhohal and got and frederick eaton former mayor so they all saw la growing and it was just growing so rapidly 10 000 people in 1880 to 100 000 in

1900 and they had all these financial interests so they were they needed to protect their interests the city was growing but the city couldn't grow unless it got more water so mohal in this genius self-taught by the way not formally educated immigrant from Ireland figured out that in the Owens Valley there's enough water for 10 million people and if we can find a way to build a pipe to take that water and move it down to LA then you can have LA thrive for infinite time it's never gonna have 10 million people lo and behold yeah um so either way so Mulholland Eaton they all figured out this plot that they were gonna buy all the farmland they were gonna pay above market value for all the land with all the water rights and at first everybody's

like we're rich like we sold out like can't believe these guys from la are paying this much money but you know some people wisened up to it but they had different stories they ended up getting the majority of the water rights uh and getting clearance from president teddy roosevelt to use federal lands or to make these lands federal on the way from uh the sierra nevadas the uh owens river valley to la so they built this aqueduct 270 miles that pipes in water to silmar at the uh what do they call it the cascade and that's where the water he said uh he said uh let that what's his famous quote mohan when he turned on the aqueduct he said like there it is or something like there it is take it was his quote his famous quote and then

the water just started rushing in to the san fernando valley there it is there it is taken, which by the way, one small step. But Mulholland again, he's this gruff, he's this gruff, unformally educated man. So again, he had the vision and that land, the San Fernando Valley was all owned by Sherman, Otis, Chandler, Mulholland, Eaton. So they were all getting rich because now you have all the water to irrigate all the huge San Fernando Valley, turn all that farmland into developments and housing. So everybody got rich. I'm just looking at the clip.

There it is. It's like two sentences. There it is. Take it. And it was a big, yep. It was a big deal, man. So I always tell people that la exists the movie industry exists in la right the movie because of the weather and the proximity to you can get to

the snow you can get to the desert you can get to the beach and you get the most amount of hours and also our golden hour is magnificent our light i constantly talk about our light is superior to other place light people like that yeah there's there's there's a moment just an hour before sunset our golden hour which is golden and in other cities it doesn't quite have there's a there's a special light and so move the movie business is all about we're losing light. We need light. Where's the light? Right? And so that's why we have the movie industry. So it's reliable climate, beautiful light,

and proximity to any type of environment that you want to see. But look, I got to give one other reason, because movies were actually invented in New Jersey by Thomas Edison. By the way, we know Edison invented the light bulb, right? How many people are like Edison invented the movie? That's another episode. We've got an episode on movies. I don't know anything yet.

No, we did it. But he wasn't interested in making motion pictures commercially. He was like, there's the technology, but he patented it and licensed it. he was like there's the technology but he patented it and licensed it so he wanted to pursue or he had an army of lawyers attorneys that would pursue people that made movies without giving him the proper royalties and licensing fees and all that making it prohibitively expensive to you know this is a nascent uh genre like people don't you can't explore you can't you can't do projects unless you have some money but he was on him and it was on him. So people would get,

you said proximity. All that is correct. But whatever the opposite of proximity, the furthest proximity away from Edison was the West coast. So people were like, let's go as far away from this motherfucker as we can. So he doesn't sue us. And so his attorneys don't sue us until we have all this under our noses, all this under our belts.

And we can start making money on these things. And then we can go so his attorneys don't sue us until we have all this under our noses all this under our belts and we can start making money on these things and then we can go out as attorneys yeah so to get away from edison and his motion picture uh burgeoning uh patent farm in new jersey okay so i'll do a little name drop so so one time sean penn came to one of my gigs, right? And afterwards he was there with his then wife. And I said, oh, you come over, you know, you moved to LA to become a movie star. He goes, no, I grew up in Burbank, right? And, you know, Sean's older than me. So I thought I'd be a bit, you know, cheeky and a bit rude. I go, oh, back when it was just orchards

and he goes yeah it was so it was orchards and apple fields and shit like that in the valley am i right about that dude the valley was first it was the biggest wheat uh well first it was nothing when you see the old like san fernando mission pics of the vast valley it was not a proper climate for and you guys see this during the summer in the valley it's not a proper climate for much like trees shrubs stuff like that grassland chaparral they call it um but then when the agriculture started they figured out that they could do wheat so isaac lankershim and isaac newton vanhim Van Nuys these are all people were these wheat barons

all the streets in LA these are wheat barons of the San Fernando Valley and they were the biggest exporters of wheat in the world for about a decade until a drought

oh and I forgot an area it was a cattle ranch like the Rancheros the Mexicans when they made some of the huge we were the biggest cattle exporting area

in the entire world when people start really getting into red meat but it was LA was la was about then it turned into wheat in the valley but then exactly like you said orchards made more money oranges were the primary crop but you had everything and the irony is that everything can grow here in la which isn't again i always use that as a metaphor for like the culture and the people and all this kind of stuff but it's true you can plant any kind of seeds any plant and like grow it here but oranges were making

the most money but they had apples figs you name it I mean I have two orange trees in my yard and I wonder if it's

left over from the orchard there are a lot the one remember my backyard had that orange tree yeah giant one because the guy

that took care of my yard he goes this is he goes this is one it was a giant one. It's huge. He said, you can't get them like this anymore

because this is an ancient one, but old from a holdover because it just produced 365, 24-7. Wow. That's so cool. Because it's quite a young city. We went all the way back to the 1700s when it was founded and all that type of stuff.

But modern day LA is constantly expanding and all that type of stuff. Even if you go down to like the Sherman Oaks Galleria, they have photos of like Sherman Oaks before the Galleria is there and stuff like that. And you're like, that's the... And then there's like the intersection, Laurel Canyon and fucking Ventura.

And it's just like a gas station. That's where my Mincino Farms is. Yes, and that exact area that you're talking about used to be a sheep ranch right before the initial development. All right, I've watched all the PBS documentaries, and I have a coffee table book of all sorts of stuff, so I'm going to test you on things, even though I didn't know what the topic was going to be

when I got here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. Now, what was the Beverly Center originally? Beverly Center, I think, was Beverly Park, which was a theme park or amusement park. Yes, but the actual bit that the Beverly Center was was their petting zoo. oh the and by the way earlier when we were when we were talking about disney as well um walt disney visited beverly

park which was that amusement park right there and that was the aha moment that he was like dude this because it was a really popular like amusement park and he's like that's when i'm disneyland popped into his head So that's like an influence. Yeah, you got to watch this. It's how Disney built America. And there's several different episodes of, you know, this is how he made Snow White. And this is how he made Mickey, you know,

fucking have sound attached. But the best episode is how Disneyland was made and how many banks he had to fucking go to and how many fucking things he had to fuck. And people were just like, we make movies. No one wants to go to carnivals. There was Tivoli in Denmark that he sort of liked. But every other theme park used to be at the end of a tram line.

That's why if you're in Jersey or Coney Island or whatever, it's at the end of a train line. But then when the car was invented disney was the first bloke to go well they don't have to be at the end of train lines they can be massive and they can just be they can be inland in fields they don't have to be piers and all that type of stuff yeah then he bought all the land because at a home was a fucking field i'm saying when i grew up going to disney world you would there would be no cities for like an hour until you got to Disney World. Yeah, but that's after his concept had already been proven. I know, but he still did the same thing where he bought land where no one else was.

It was because of the car. So many things out here. That's all. The car, the car. So he went out to Anaheim and just saw all this fucking farmland. Yeah. And was just like, all right, we're going to build a park here. And then he was the first one where they were like normally they were like uh you know you buy a spinny machine you buy

this right everything everything was like everything was carnival rides that were from catalogs and he was like no i want original just one-offs and they're like get the fuck out of here and it was getting more and more expensive, more and more expensive. He went to all the networks. He got into TV. Now, back in that stage of TV, if you crossed over from movies to television, you got blacklisted because the movie industry believed that if you went to TV, it was going to try and kill movies, right? They couldn't coexist, right? That's what they believed, right?

Yeah. But he went, no, I'm going to TV. And he went to NBC and he went to nbc and he went to all of and he went to abc which was the smallest fucking network with no shows on it that was the last story he knocked on and he said i'll give you little tiny cartoons and little tiny fucking you know hayley mill type of movies and all that type of stuff right um and he goes and i will host the show and they're like he goes but you have to invest in the theme park and so they were like what and they wanted disney they were a fucking abc was nothing abc is now owned by disney right

something you gotta go back to this question no no no Hold on. Hold on, hold on, hold on. This gets interesting. It's going to get interesting. Right. So this was the thing. So if you watch those old Disney shows, and I remember, you used to get Walt Disney sort of walking around in between the shows, and then he goes, and Disneyland's opening up, and here's where the Pirates of the Caribbean,

and he would have little models that he walks around and stuff like that. It was the first fucking infomercial. And they didn't know it. They were just like, and I'll talk about it. He was that smart that he went, I'll get them to pay me to advertise my fucking theme park. And it was the biggest success ever. The word visionary gets thrown around sometimes, but that Walt Disney was absolutely like the definition. That c that did about five or six different things that had never been done there you go yeah yeah that had never been

done and they were all in different parts of the thing and from him to go i'm gonna make a movie like this i'm gonna do this and i'm gonna do that because the ride thing too and getting the original rides and now they have the imagineers imagineer and whatever he was the one who figured out like the peter pan ride he walked in and he was like everything was on tracks everything was on tracks Imagineers and whatever. He was the one who figured out the Peter Pan ride. He walked in and he was like, everything was on tracks. Everything was on tracks. Everything on tracks. And in factories, they're pushing things along,

car parts and stuff like that, on a trail on that. And he's like, why can't people sit on that? Yeah. And that was the first you're dangling from something, traveling around, and you flew over London and off to Netherland and all that type of stuff. Way more fun. Yeah, yeah. He's a hands-on fella.

All right. What is the origin of the famous Hollywood sign? Jim said Hollywoodland. It was a real estate sign. Fell in the disrepute. Hugh Hefner repaired it. He nailed it.

He knocked that out of the park. That was when I knew we were dealing with somebody serious right there. That was serious. That was excellent work. So it was a real estate person that just had the idea of putting it up there yeah yeah and just to sell and it's funny

because i still it's quintessentially it's a boring thing it's but everyone wants to see it it's a boring font it's just but i've been here for 15 years and i still get excited when i see it bro when i when i'm driving along and i get a little vision of it like that i'm like all right i will point it out in the car to whoever is with me i'm like there's like when you can see the hollywood or when you're lucky enough to be in some neighborhood or area i was in west adams my in-laws live in west adams and they have a street that you can see the Hollywood side. That's for whatever reason. That's exciting. But I'll tell you this. I lived here for 40 years. Had

never gone up there because I'm like, oh, I've never walked up there. Go up there. So this is the thing. So I did it. It's fucking awesome. Like I thought it'd be corny and I'm like, this is so come on. Like we're going to Hollywood cycle. It was so fun and so cool and you can get close and if you think it's cool from your car

go see it from like 50 yards away it's a bit of a hike you gotta park near like by the bottom of the territory I got some family coming out in August

take them yeah and I'll take them up there because yeah I um but uh as you said you can't climb on this side

and sometimes it's so weird the angle you see it from you're on a road and then you're like oh wow I didn't think it would be from and then you just see the end of it

or something like that. But everybody that comes, if I have a friend that's come in LA for the first time or they hadn't been here since they were young, they're like,

ah. They're always like, ah. You know, as I said, it's boring font and it's just letters and a hill

and something like that, but you've seen it in so many movies. It's been imprinted in your life. From the time you're about five, you know about the Hollywood songs. Yeah. And it doesn't matter where imprinted in your life. From the time you're about five, you know about the Hollywood side.

Yeah. And it doesn't matter where you live in the world. Yeah. You know about the Hollywood. You haven't ever fixed it? Is that, I didn't know. Dude, so these,

sorry, you want to go, you take this, take this. Get the pictures from the 70s when there's like a letter falling down. It looks. And they're all covered in graffiti. Whore movies.

Sad. I'll tell you what was cheesy was in the Elvis movie movie was when elvis wants to do the comeback special and so for whatever reason he meets the guy who might do the comeback special and elvis is just like sitting in one of the o's back on day they tried to ban me from certain things and i want to make a movie yeah look at it look at it good fucking done and think about for somebody what does that say about the city, man? Like when you're like your most famous monument, the most famous sign in the world.

Which isn't that expensive. No. It's not the Eiffel Tower. It's not made out of steel and this and that. It's just letters. You don't know what it's made of. If I'm not mistaken, it was something like $50,000 a letter. Like Hugh Hefner put it together.

I think Gene Autry bought one. I think Alice Cooper might have bought one. But was something like $50,000 a letter. Like Hugh Hefner put it together. I think Gene Autry bought one. I think Alice Cooper might've bought one, but it was like 50,000 bucks and it was 1978. So I know that's a different number, but even still, that's probably- 150,000. Like if they redid it now and they were like a million a letter,

you'd be like, that's- People would jump on it. Yes, exactly. Where you're like, of course, I sponsored the fucking D and Hollywood. I own the O. Yeah. And who does it now? Who keeps- I think, exactly. Where you're like, of course, I sponsored the fucking D in Hollywood. I own the O. Yeah. And who does it now?

Who keeps... I think... Okay. Our property taxes are very expensive. If they don't fix the fucking Hollywood sign, you'll hear about it from me. Yeah. I'm not paying this much in property tax and you don't keep the Hollywood sign looking nice. Yeah.

I know the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has some sort of... I'm just Googling. I don't know. Thank you. But it says, the Hollywood Sign Trust, a some sort of... I'm just Googling, so I don't know. But it says, The Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization, is responsible for preserving, protecting, and promoting... Trust. ...the sign. They clean it occasionally.

All right. But you know what I like about L.A. as well? It's been defaced maybe five or six times. Like with the Holly... When I moved, there was Hollyweed. Hollyweed. Hollyweed's the popular one. it's been defaced maybe five or six times. Like with the holly... When I moved, there was hollyweed. Hollyweed. Hollyweed's the popular one.

They just actually put a piece of tarp over it. Put a bit of tarp in the thing and then add a bit of cross. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not a hard thing to do. They did a good job of not defacing. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Once you could go up there and fix it very quickly. It wasn't the end of the world.

And this is what I like about LA people. I didn't meet anyone who was like, oh. Everyone was like, bit of fun. You know, they want to light it up, too. There's a movement to light, to be able to change the colors. In my brain, maybe it was Mandela effect. In my brain, it was lit up. And when I moved here, I'm like, it's not lit up.

I always thought it was lit up. There's some powerful neighborhood homeowner associations. like, it's not lit up. Like I always thought it was lit up, but it's. There's some powerful neighborhood homeowners. What? It's not lit up? No. I thought about it. Yeah. See?

Yeah. It's not lit up. In your brain, you think it's lit up. It's not. But a lot of wealthy people live near there. Yeah. And the lights. Light pollution.

Yeah. Our pollution's gotten better, right? I have an upcoming episode on this okay this is interesting because i i i i believe like in the 80s and 90s right it was meant to be dreadful and then with cars it's gotten better is it not gotten better because it did get better during covid listen it got so pristine during covid yeah that i would like every day i felt like m Mary Poppins and shit where I'm like wherever you look you talk about the golden era but the golden uh hour but LA also does have that special light and when there's no pollution you get a longer it's not even just golden hour it's like this

magnificent weight like the thickness of the air the radiance of the sun it's so clean it's so clear but I've been noticing this year man I saw it at the end of last summer but now even on like cloudy days then it turns into hazy days you're like wait i thought the marine layer burned off no and then the smog is back it's not back in full effect like you said 80s and 90s 90s we had like 236 days that were like unhealthful layers of ozone and the 70s we probably had more than 300 but they didn't count in the same way. But you see these pictures. You could be on fucking where Bunker Hill was trying to look towards City Hall and you couldn't see it. These pictures, it's like fully obfuscational. So it got so nice during COVID and so clean even into last year.

But the smog is back. So upcoming episode is like twice the smog. Half the city is hiking up into the smog is back so upcoming episode is like people hike up why is the smog but the city's hiking up into the small interesting story though quick quick story interesting story about the smog there is a day that you can pinpoint for la's first smoggy day it was july 8th 1943 i shit you not people wake up there's this noxious fucking haze over the city people didn't smog didn't exist this was like i mean didn't recognize it was different. It's not a coal soot like when you'd have a pollution before

because of the fucking coal plant or something like that. So it's this noxious haze. People thought it was a gas attack. Literally. And you see pictures of people putting on gas masks

because it was in the middle of World War II. And like, yeah, the Battle of Los Angeles, you know, off the coast of LA and like all these phantom sightings

of like Japanese attacks. So people were ready for a gas attack. But it was the day the smog came to LA. And it wasn't until 1952 that a scientist like put a name to, I forget his name, but it's 1952. He figured out that it's gases from like car emissions and the factories and the way that LA is situated with the mountains in the basin and it traps all the fucking irritants and all this kind of stuff. So smog was identified in 1952, but there is a single day where the smog came to LA and basically never left until COVID.

Wow. LA is home to the largest historic theater district in the country. What is it called? Not the Staples area, right? It's just Crypto. Crypto, right. That was a good guess.

It's called the Broadway Theater District. Which is now the name of the Ace Theater. I'm going to the Broadway Theater. I'm performing in the Broadway Theater that was called the Ace Theater. December 14th. 14th. Wait, so it is. Yeah, I want to come.

Go get your tickets, man. I know a guy. Broadway. Wait, Broadway Theater is the new name of the Ace Theater? For how long? Last year when I played it, it was called the Ace Theatre. It always has that other name, the United Artists or something. It's like the old sign.

The United Theatre on Broadway is its official name now. Can I see which one that is? I'm going to show you this theatre, man. This is the inside of it. It's got these really cool... Can I see? Yeah. Sorry. It's got these really cool can i see yeah sorry it's got really cool stuff on the side there and that lobby has like this interesting sculptures and it's really pretty theater it's awesome you know have you guys ever go to this show you should

get there early have you guys ever heard of the moth it's like a storytelling like npr kind of thing my friend tim is a storyteller professional storyteller and he does the moth and they had like the moth grand slam or something there so it is amazing it is beautiful yeah and i didn't put together that was the ace that was the ace yeah you know the ace for a while was like the coolest hotel in la they said it was all boarded up they said it did nothing for like decades well just sitting there and then it became the ace and then it became the ace yeah and then now it's not the Ace now it's the Broadway United

whatever is it a hotel though? but I've been doing the hotel's still there I've been doing gigs about once a year there for 10 years still

Broadway Theatre District and yeah oh it's a beautiful wonderful I always loved doing that theatre love it love it and we're doing one show

this year December 14th back yeah I want to talk about Chavez Ravine very quickly love it love it and we're doing one show this year December 14th back yeah I want to talk about Chavez Ravine very quickly oh

such a I've not done anything more polarizing this is a controversial thing tell people what it is because people don't

Chavez Ravine which I always find weird because it feels like it's a mountain not a ravine brilliant right so Chavez Ravine is where Dodger Stadium is, which, by the way, is for,

I only say these things for the Australian and British listeners that listen to the podcast, is the third oldest baseball stadium in America behind Fenway and Wrigley Field. There was other places, Yankee Stadium, but they've all been changed. And those three stadiums are going fucking nowhere. Yeah. filled there was other places uh yankee stadium but they've all been changed totally and those three stadiums are going fucking nowhere yeah they're they're they're here for the long haul no one beyond landmark status yeah yeah and it's a and i know it's gone through dodger stadium has gone through shit times and times but they always revamp it redo it in the moment and the moment

it's pristine it's lovely right now the the things they've done to it it redo it. And the moment it's pristine, it's lovely right now, the things they've done to it, it's the best. The area that used to be the smoking area is now like city walkout. Oh, yeah, they put all the new restaurants. All the restaurants and kids play equipment and stuff. And that used to be just, that was literally just the smoking area five years ago. and right and so so chavez ravine and also incidentally that was one of the disney options but he wanted like it wasn't like but he

would look at that as one of his options for disney factoid right yeah so so uh but then it took away a lot of homes and houses from, you tell me more about this. So first of all, Dodger Stadium, I think is the most beautiful stadium to see a baseball game. Again, not to keep going back to that, but because of the light and the view and the palm trees and the fact that the ravine is on top of a mountain, which gives you a funny perspective.

You're in a ravine that's on top of a hill. There's one parking lot, and it's a bad, if you're in the parking lot, it's really far away. But the view, it's way up there. The view from that parking lot is insane. They have a parking spot for each fucking seat in the stadium, right? Yeah, yeah. So the bad thing about Dodger Stadium is, the bad thing about Dodger Stadium is, you can't just go for a drink in the pub and then walk into the stadium

without walking up a big fucking hill or anything. So it's really, it's a drivable thing. Now they've made it better with Ubers. There's an Uber area and stuff like that. It's still tough. But, yeah, you're driving to Dodger Stadium. But once you're in there, there's a couple of palm trees. You know what it does beautifully that other stadiums don't do?

And I'm including Fenway in this one, and I'll even include, oh, no, not Wrigley. It's perfectly symmetrical. It's symmetrical with the two screens that are the same shape down the middle to the stands of the thing. It's just aesthetically it's a lovely place, and each seat's a banger, right? Yeah.

Even when I was a kid, I swear to God, my parents would treat us with, me and a friend, I'm an only child, but it would take me and a friend to good seats on the bottom level and we'd go up to the top. Back then, the nosebleeds, if you will, they were red. They had different colors.

It was the red seats because it was such an amazing view because up there you could see, I don't know, it's not 300 degrees, but 270 degrees. I don't know. But it was was so beautiful but there is not a bad seat in the house no matter where you are even if you're in that top left like blue corner because just part of like being la it's such a beautiful stadium but i used to have season tickets but i got rid of them because i had a another baby and it's just i know when i have a baby i'm not going to many

baseball games for the first three years right so I'm going to have three years without baseball games, or maybe one or two a year, but not enough to have season tickets. And so now I've decided with the games I'm going to go to this year, and I haven't been to a game this year, but I'm planning on going in about a week or so, a couple of weeks. I want to sit in – I had great seats behind the home plate. Now I want to go sit in those seats out in the outfield where you have the bar where you can catch the home runs.

I want to try that once for a different thing. So the bleachers? For the bleachers? Yeah. But they've got the new ones now with the counter where you sit at a stool in the front row. They're really quite sort of. Listen, you said it.

When I was growing up, I thought Dodger Stadium was the most magical place in the world which it was for a kid i have no regrets about that but when you start seeing more stadiums and stadiums started evolving and had all these amenities and fun different you're like dodger stadiums like outside of the baseball you're like it's kind of boring very basic and then they start adding little things here they added the food area the drink areas different kinds of food like entertainment mariachi bands sometimes statues like monuments like they did a big kids area but man so i was out in the bleachers for little league day like in april or whatever it was and i hadn't sat there

in a long time and i was super impressed with the fact that not only all the food and all that stuff but you get the seats around the bullpen, like you were saying. You get to watch these guys warm up. Before, you'd be a kid looking over the fence and be like, oh, back up, get away from there. Now they're encouraging it. It's such a cool, with a different foot. So every single element of it.

They have a glass window into one of them from a bar, from the dugout club thing, where you can actually see straight in. And also, if you ever get – I don't want to sound like – I've never bought a ticket in a dugout club, but I i have been invited about five six times to the dugout club by agents and managers and movie people it's fucking banging yeah man it's fucking it is it's a whole restaurant underneath there that's all you can go or no you couldn't go all you can eat and there's waiters coming to serve you and you get to sit near merry heart and there's bloodyers coming to serve you, and you get to sit near Mary Hart, and there's bloody Magic Johnson's about 50 metres away from you.

Tommy Lasorda back in the day. Rob Lowe, is it? Yeah, Rob. Jason Bateman's there a lot. There you go. He's always there. There you go. So Tommy Lasorda, beloved character of baseball,

friends with Sinatra. Sinatra came out to sing the national anthem and stuff because he was mates with Tommy Lasorda. Tommy Lasorda's last management job was at the Sydney Olympics where he managed the American baseball team. It was his last managerial job in 2000. That's really cool. I didn't know that.

Breaking knowledge spread. Breaking knowledge spread, man. So Tommy Lasordaa i was in vegas and my son was about six years old and he was signing jerseys in like a memorabilia shop and he was there was no line he was just sitting there and he was and this is close to when he died. This is the last couple of years before he died, right? And so I got all excited. Fucking hell, Tommy Lasorda, right? And my son, six, maybe seven, right?

I said, we're going to meet a very famous Dodger, right? This guy played for the Dodgers, managed the Dodgers. This guy is the Dodgers, right? Tommy Lasorda. And I went in and he's sitting there in a wheelchair and he's a big bloke. And he's like that. And I said, hello, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. And he goes, is this your son?

And I said, yeah. And he goes, now you listen to what he has to say. And now you listen to what I have to say. This is how you get through life. If you hang out with good people, and Hank looked over at me, he goes, keep eye contact with me. I've never seen a stranger talk to my kid.

If a stranger talks to a kid like this, you go, hey. It's fucking Tommy Lasso. Keep eye contact with the man. Do you have no respect? And he goes, keep eye contact with me. And he goes, if you hang out with good people, you'll be a good people. You hang out with bad people, you'll be a bad person. All right?

So what are you going to do? What are you going to do? I'm going to hang out with good people. And my son fucking remembers it. Wow. He sometimes, my son at 11, he sometimes quotes that. And I go, what's the rules to life? He goes, you hang out with good people, you'll be a good person.

Hang out with bad people, you'll be a bad person. Because that's how you should gauge your life. If you're wondering how your life's going, think of your five best friends and think of who they are and what type of people they are, and that's probably the type of person you are as well. Wow. That's great. So I'm a degenerate

virgin i've never heard jack say that three times we're gonna run out of time but you've been a virgin three times real quick the chavez ravine you said, we never said what that. So Chavez Ravine, there were three communities, existing communities, La Loma, Palo Verde, and Bishop.

And they were thriving Latino communities, which the city had wanted to condemn for being quote unquote blighted. And they were going to quote upgrade it and turn it into an upscale housing project there were protests there were debates the community obviously was against it because they were going to be relocated through eminent domain which is when the government pays fair market value for your property but they basically force you to sell right like that that's

what and then we're going to give you fair market value. So you're uprooting all these lives and all this heritage. Well, that didn't go through. And what ended up happening is Walter, Peter O'Malley, who was the dad, Peter O'Malley, the dad, was looking to potentially move the team, not necessarily the Dodgers, not necessarily out of Brooklyn,

but into a nicer stadium in Brooklyn. If I'm not mistaken, he wanted them to build the first dome in baseball. Don't quote me on that but i think one way or another the powers that be in new york didn't fund the stadium and he threatened to move the team because he was having dalliances with los angeles and it turned out that this space chavez ravine where those three communities were located well they were already ready to go through with eminent domain and And Los Angeles, being such a young city,

didn't really have any professional sports teams, even though the LA Rams had been out there. A lot of people don't realize the LA Rams were actually the first professional team. But the NFL wasn't extant yet. The football wasn't quite what it was. College football was still bigger than pro football. So even though the Rams were there, it didn't have the same cachet that like major league baseball

come to la because baseball was everything the american pastime so la pushed pretty aggressively there was a councilwoman i forget her name i wish i knew it offhand she recently passed away too i should totally know anyway she was really responsible for writing letters and trying to to sort of you know force the the dodgers hand So they presented this Chavez-Ravine scenario, had the voters vote on it. Of course, the voters wanted big league baseball. And then so eminent domain preceded. And all the families, except for something like 26 families,

accepted the offer. But those remaining families had to be like dragged out. Their homes bulldozed right in front of their eyes. There are these pictures of them literally like physically dragging people out of their homes to build this beautiful monument so i hope you enjoy it when you go right where the bobbleheads wait and one last stat to this day to this day and you wonder what there's not a curse at least i do there's an elementary school buried under where the third base foul territory is where as soon as they got all the people out they didn't even bulldoze all of it they were just like fuck it like cover it up let's just fill that shit with fucking sand

and cement yeah so to this day like i'm very australian and british listeners the dodgers were called after trolley dodgers because brooklyn used to have a lot of trams Which also sounds Like a slur Doesn't it Trolley Dodgers You don't want to go A bunch of fucking Trolley Dodgers

I dated a girl Fucking Trolley Dodger I tell ya But the teams were so How about this Dodgers were also called The Bridegrooms Yeah yeah yeah

The Brooklyn Bride Was their real team name The Brooklyn Bridegrooms real team name Brooklyn Bride we gotta answer these questions the name of the public market in downtown Los Angeles has been operating since 1917 Jim didn't know egg slot you had it

it's called egg slot Grand Central Market Grand Central Market you'd like it there's lots of I just couldn't click the name in my head what Los Angeles

landmark is known as the world's shortest railway Jim went on a Disney thing Disney's training he's back definitely there's

a Disney one it was very close it's called Angel's Flight interesting fact by the way is the founder of it

it was a private funicular it's a railway but it's technically called funicular gravity or something I don't understand they go up the mountains yeah founder of it was a private funicular it's a railway but it's technically called funicular so it was for bunker hill which was an elite neighborhood in los angeles and they for people to get their groceries they couldn't be bothered to walk up these stairs so they had the funicular but um the man who found it i think his name was aw eddie don't quote me on that

but i always find this a weird connection he He was a colonel in the Union Army that was personally like, I don't know, I apologize, but he was friends with Abraham Lincoln. And like, to me, like, it's funny that you never think of Los Angeles having like a direct Abraham Lincoln connection. So yeah, Angel's Flight.

It still works, right? Yeah, it's still, well, it was dismantled when they tore down Bunker Hill. So Bunker Hill became blighted and all this. Oh, man, those pictures are beautiful. Bunker Hill was one of LA's most elite neighborhoods. Then there was flight outside of downtown suburbia, and Bunker Hill got gutted,

and it turned into drugs and prostitution and blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. So LA, in urban renewal, demolished all of Bunker Hill to build what they thought was going to be their main downtown. It ended up taking them like 40, 50 years. But during that demolishment, they took down Angels Flight.

So they put Angels Flight back up around like 98 or something like that. So it wasn't continuous even though it was built. Yeah, because I've seen people riding it. Oh, no.

Now it's that proud. You see it in Connelly. Connelly's where Bosch, mostly in Bosch. La La Land has it. What was that? La La Land. There you go.

Perry Mason. Perry Mason. Perry Mason. All right. What is the name of the Los Angeles park? That's larger than the central park in New York city. Griffith park. He said, he said it was named after Peter Griffith though.

So close. Different guy. Different guy. So close. It is Griffith park. It was named after Griffith J Griffith. Yes. Who made his money.

I believe in mining. That would have been one of my comedy names ended up owning an ostrich farm he was going to traffic in ostrich uh apparel which was apparently in style in the 1890s ended up shooting his wife in the face getting convicted and spectering the and serving only two and a half years in uh san quentin but he bequeathed the land to the city and the money and all this to build the observatory and have this great big park which ended up being a pretty great park another offsets observatory three golf courses oh so many things plus all the hiking and so it's auction museum rocks fantastic all it's got a few carny rides

but it does have it does have those fucking four horses that just walk around in a circle strapped to a bar that always depressed me they stopped that last year did they stopped it and there was a big outcry by the way people wanted it back huge outcry it's a place to take your kids parties every weekend i remember driving by i used to live with that those horses weren't no i'm with you with you. I'm with you. I couldn't watch that. I'm with you. I'm an animal person. The train museum.

But our son's still with us. He's a little upkeep. Oh, no, you're still. Look, you try your best in this world. But I saw those horses. I was like, nah, man. But the observatory, I didn't know. Just going down to the bowels of it, too, was really cool, too,

where you can weigh yourself on different planets and the whole. That observatory is amazing. Yeah, it's really cool. It was the first one for the people in the entire world, he he was like that was one of his visions one of his dreams oh he built it too he didn't build it he bequeathed it and like said that if you guys are gonna take this land i shot my wife in the face but uh all right so i i'm gonna after i'm just gonna test you after you after Disneyland what was the next theme park out in Anaheim I mean I know Marineland was out in that part of town Knott's Berry Farm I would say Knott's Berry Farm I don't know I was just hoping you knew oh you know he's quizzing you but he doesn't have the answer Knott's Berry Farm I want to say was 1946 which might predate Disneyland I don't know

the opening and Universal And Universal Studios. How long was it a studio before they slapped the thumb? Fuck, Universal Studios. How funny. They were the first studio to give their tram rides for 25 cents, and they'd also give you a fried chicken meal while you were on the trams. But what was the question?

How long was it? I'll tell you. I've got a tram ride story. Okay. So for a short time there i had a sitcom um at nbc that got cancelled because of covert but we we we had a whole studio set i i used to walk i walked from the studio through the square from back to the future to get to my car like like fun things like that man you know and me and jack were we were going to be workers

on the universal lot i went there every day even if we didn't have to work i just liked yeah yeah we we had a pass i could just just it's cool yeah so anyway so i i the i get called in now it turned out that the head of comedy for nbc was a british guy who had watched me do stand up back in london you know he had followed me since I was 20. When you were a barkeep? Yeah, exactly. So he was like, he's like, hey, like I got a phone call from my management where they were surprised.

NBC have asked to see you. Am I in trouble? NBC University have asked to see you. So I in trouble? NBC University, I've asked to see you. So I go down to the Universal lot. I'm driving in there like this. And I walk in and I sit down. The guy's like, how would you like to do a sitcom, like a multicam? I want to bring back multicams.

And I'm like, what the fuck's going on here? And I'm like, sure. Yeah, I'll do that. Because I've been for a lot of general meetings in my day, right? And so I get out, I get in the car. Now, often the problem that if you work on the studio lot at Universal, sometimes you'll be late for work because you're behind one of those trams because they use the same roads

that the workers use those things are huge and always yeah and they're there and they're stopping and over there they're filming blah blah blah and over there so you're behind them like this i'm late for work i'm gonna stay behind the tourist tram right and you can't just like pull your car because it's like meant to be like five miles out you can't just go past you know hitchcock's office right you know you're passing dreamworks you're passing all these type of things right so i'm driving so i get out of this meeting i get in my car and i ring kate at that state i think it was uh i know i had a girlfriend at that stage right so so i was in between people and i so i i i rang uh i rang my girlfriend up and i was like this i've just i've just gotten off the phone with i've just gotten out of a meeting with universal and uh and i'm following this tram oh it's fucking tram but

i'm on my phone like just not paying attention okay i just got on this i just got off this fucking call i just i just got out of i just got off this fucking call i just i just got out of this meeting and universal's gonna give me a sitcom and she's like that's amazing i go i don't know what the fuck's going on like i'm a sweary comic and i want to give me a multicam this is brilliant right i'm driving along driving along and i'm and so now i'm just blindly following this tram at five miles an hour. I find myself driving into King Kong. I've gotten completely stuck. And there's another tram behind me.

I'm sandwiched between two of the tourist... I've gotten lost in the universe a lot. My fucking... My challenger is in between... Is in between two fucking... I might have even been on the phone good forest i don't know i was on the phone to someone right and it's like you're inside the king kong thing no i was going into the door but then the tracks hook the trams up and the whole thing goes like that why it's 3d and

i had to apologize to all the fucking tourists in the tram behind me why they slightly backed up why I did a 3.2. Sorry, everyone. No, I did something worse, though. What? We had a golf cart, so I was taking Kelly around, showing her the...

Yeah, Jack had a golf cart that was given to him on the lot of Universal. So he was just... Every day we'd go, where's Jack? And he'd be, oh, around.

I'm just taking some other friend, like, you gotta come while I have the opportunity. So we go to the, what was the Good Place set? And I park the cart. Yeah, it's like, Good Place is a little, you know, it's Little Europe. It's meant to look like France or whatever at any given time. So I parked the cart that seemed like in a totally normal spot outside of the lines of the tram.

Seemed like it was totally fine. We go in and we were looking at like the frozen yogurt signs from good place you held up the whole tour but you fucking illegally parked yeah yeah i backed up i backed up three trams because they couldn't make the turn and i come back out there's a guy trying to push the cart and i run up i go oh my god i'm so sorry and he goes no i'm sorry i don't want to be a bother i'm like you're fine and i just like peel out of there i'm like oh my god i packed up three trams why was he sorry though i don't he probably thought i was a worker and he's he's got to be nice and he okay you're not allowed to have road rage when you're driving 200 people

all right we got some other questions. But just quickly on Universal, if you're a tourist and you're coming out here, I think Universal Studios is a bit of fun. It's no Disneyland, but their Halloween is second to none.

We haven't done it in a while. Yeah, if you come out in October, go to their Halloween. We haven't done it in three years. It is second to none. Well, I'm waiting for my son to get to an age where he wants to go.

I can still do it. You got to do the VIP, though. Otherwise, you wait three hours. Urban wildlife population. Famous animal was the mountain lion, but it had a name. B-22. I know what he is. B-22.

Now, this is what. He was tagged, and he walked in front of the camera all the time, didn't he? Correct. Some beautiful shots. You're like, how is that not staged? They got one like right by the Hollywood sign overlooking the city. And it's like right after sunset. Blue hour.

Is that what it's called? I never even heard that. But you're like this. You couldn't ask for a better shot. It's so beautiful. But there's a new mountain lion that they did tag. They said for years that B-22 was because he was like, he was not stuck. But there was a highway mountain lion that they did tag? They said for years that P-22 was, because he was not stuck,

but there was a highway he had to cross. They're going to build this new wildlife bridge. But they said for years he was waiting for a mate, and then he never found it because no other mountain lion. And now a female mountain lion has showed up in Griffith Park. Too late. P-22's dead.

I'm telling you, I saw one in Mount Olympus. I saw one in Mount Olympus. So they live in the mountains, I guess. Yeah. Mount Olympus, if you ever get to go, it's in one of the Elvis movies. I used to live up in Mount Olympus, and it's a fucking delight of a place. It's cool up there. Yeah, it's cool up there.

The drive-thru was invented. Jim said In-N-Out. Dude, invented In-N-Out, 1948, Esther and Harry Snyder. Harry was a tinkerer. He saw the car changing the world, and he was like, listen, I'm going to have right off of the highway, because there still wasn't a freeway system, big high sign, which again sounds so normal now. Of course you do. But he wanted people to see it from the car and come through.

But back then, people walked up and ate, and he was like, I'm going to have people eat in their car. And people thought they were nuts. Like, nobody's going to want to eat in their car. That's crazy. So he tinkered in his garage. But they had car hops already. People already ate in their car. But they ate and, like, stopped in their car.

He invented, like, the drive-thru concept of, like, take your car and then you're going to eat it while you're driving and see in the open road. Yeah. Is that where the burger's in, like, a little sleeve? Yes, exactly. They still ask to this day, are you eating it for go? Are you eating it for go

or are you eating it in your car? And like sometimes you ever been in and out and you're all by yourself and like I've bought like two three by threes, right? Yeah. And they're like,

you eating this in your car or are you taking it home? I'll have one in my car and one's for someone that I'm taking it to. Because I don't want you to know that I'll have one in my car and one's for someone that I'm taking it to because I don't want you to know that I'm eating six

fucking patties is that your go-to the three by three by the way I love a three by three whole grilled onions with everything so whole

whole grilled onions means they don't cut them slice them up they keep them in circles yeah that's fucking and then

and occasionally I add the the banana peppers the bell peppers when they do the peppers when they do the whole when they do the whole grilled

onions how grilled do they go because they really like caramelize the regular ones it's such a long drive through

like you get your onions fresh the other ones are sitting there for a bit the whole grilled and you know what the good thing

about the whole grilled onion is it gives it a slight extra bite that texture is so important give it a go give it a go I Give it a go.

I am. I want to know what you think. Whole grilled's the best. Yeah, whole grilled onions. I'm looking for my perfect. I always change it up, but I always come back to just like it. I've been through a thousand different options, but the whole grilled onions is now my staple. Let's go.

What now nationwide restaurant chain was founded in Glendale, California? Is it Panda Express? I don't know if you would get that one because you don't eat there. Panda Express. How did you know that? I watched a documentary on the invention of orange chicken, and orange chicken was invented. You guys watch every fucking documentary.

There was a documentary? Yeah, there was a documentary about the invention of orange chicken, and it was a guy from Panda Express. Orange chicken has a- You're just digging at the bottom of documentaries. I can't believe that's a documentary. Next is a documentary series on Kung Pao chicken. My wife doesn't get

Me in documentaries Right She doesn't get it right And she was on the phone To one of her friends It's your favorite thing And she was like this What's Jim up to

And she goes Probably watching a documentary About Velcro Right That's what she said right And I was over on the TV And then my brain went Jeez I'd love to watch

A documentary What's that streaming on So anyways In the Orange Chicken documentary They talk about Panda Express. Yeah, it was invented at Panda Express, and it has since been copied. And it is a flavor that really didn't get out of America.

You don't really get orange chicken in Australia or anything like that. But it's an American original. Was it invented at Panda Express or Panda Inn? Also, the American invention is putting walnuts into shrimp. That's a good combo. People shit on Panda Express, but it's actually pretty fresh. Who shits on Panda Express?

They're out there. People are like, you're going to eat at Panda Express? I'm like, no, I've eaten good Chinese. I've eaten that fine Chinese dog. At an airport, they're doing the gig, man. I'll tell you this. Panda Express, proud LA company, not just Glendale. Glendale Galleria, by the way, which also housed the first Apple store on the West Coast.

But anyway. It was a Galleria. Panda Express at the Glendale Galleria. But it is a family-owned company that's very quality-oriented, philanthropy-oriented. Very quality oriented, philanthropy oriented. They are also the first chain that ever analytics, like applied analytics to their ordering. How long do the orders take?

What are people ordering? Affordable. Things like that. You can get a shit ton of food for like 13 bucks. And it was a couple that founded it. They met somewhere in like Missouri State getting their doctorates, but she was like a statistician or something. So she was one. Let's implement computers, computer, computer analytics stats.

So, I mean, Panda Express. I always get in before, like, so I go to Panda Express, and I go, I'll have the honey shrimp with walnuts, or the, you know, the walnut shrimp, which is the thing. And I get the orange chicken, and then I get the chow mein, because I, you know, it's just something different. But the two things that I, the prawns, or if you get the Angus beef one that they have,

but if you get the prawns, it's a dollar more, right? But they have to go, you understand that that's a dollar more. They have to say you understand, right? Because people are going to go like, it's just $12. You get two things and a thing. And so I always go like this. I'll have the shrimp with walnuts, and I understand that it's a dollar more. So I get in there first.

Hold on, though. We got to finish this. There were two answers, though. Bob's Big Boy was also founded in Glendale. Bob Bilbo, Big Boy, was the first burger chain to have a club section inside its burger long before the Big Mac. To have the middle section, which is called the club, which is, of course, from the club sandwich. That's fine. We got to fly through these questions.

What L.A.-based invention impacted the world? Forrest hates fun. He hates fun. There's another group coming in. Oh, true. Another podcast. What L.A.-based invention impacted the world of ice hockey? Jim said the Zamboni.

Fucking nailed it in Paramount. Paramount. What music festival takes place each year at the Empire Polar Grounds? Coachella. Coachella. Oh, I thought Coachella took place in Coachella. Yeah. Wow.

What are the seven wonders of L.A.? Okay, so this- That's Palm Springs. That's not L.A. I'm not taking that. I'm not taking that. Because you said L.A. I'm not taking Palm Springs. Maybe not. because you said la i'm not taking palm springs

maybe not seven wonders a little far hundred miles away the seven wonders of la and this is why i was looking at my phone that is a list that i created by the way okay yeah so it's not but i'm gonna run through four level interchange which basically changed i mean la is the home of the freeway and freeway culture because of car culture, but the four-level interchange, if you see it with the clover leaves, first of all, it's a beauty and an architectural marvel, but it changed the way that people drive. It changed freeways, interchanges, all this kind of thing,

made it more efficient, ironically allowed for more traffic. Great Wall of Los Angeles, longest mural in the world. It's in Valley Glen. Go see it. It's more than half a mile long. It's not far from your house and it's a history of los angeles from prehistoric times to present through the eyes of females and minorities but it was painted by a little juvenile delinquents from silmar uh under the got under the uh direction of judy baca is this great artist so that's number two six street viaduct six street bridge which

opened like two years ago it's fucking badass so cool that's gonna be a landmark LA LA Aqueduct which we talked about which people think is a water slide coming out of the valley the oil derricks

on La Cienega because when you're driving through a fucking major city and you see active oil being pumped you're like

what the fuck is going on and you love it it's like LA used to be the oil capital of the world. We were the Saudi Arabia of the world, producing 30% of the world's oil. Beverly Hills Cop 2 was the dirt from the oil rigs from where he went jogging, which

is the way they solved the crime. Yeah. And there's an oil rig at the Beverly Center that you guys mentioned earlier. There will be blood. And Beverly Hills High School. And Beverly Hills High School. Sunken city in San Pedro. And if you haven't been down there, fucking go.

This was a city, a beachside city in Point Fermin, San Pedro, that fell into the ocean because of a fucking landslide. So the ruins are still there because it's off limits. And I didn't know LA had like ruins of a city. And it's so fucking badass and so dope. Last but not least, the least the watts towers which are not only amazing but simon rodia one guy created this thing out of basically scrap metal bottle caps marble porcelain by hand and they tried to tear it down and said it was uh again blight and a danger

and they had they applied 50 000 pounds of pressure with a truck there are pictures of this truck trying to pull him down, and they don't come down because this guy, Simon Rodia, just built these amazing monuments in the middle of Watts that are so beautiful and amazing. You go there, and then you go to Hawkins Burgers. That's a good burger spot, yeah. I went there with my mom early on when I was here, randomly.

All right. We could talk about a bunch of other shit. Thanks for running through that. Real quick, dinner party fact. I think one of the ruins of the city was something you were going to say, but just give us of other shit. Thanks for running through that. Real quick, dinner party fact. I think one of the ruins of the city was something you were going to say, but just give us one other dinner party fact on LA. Bro, the high five was not only invented in Los Angeles. It was invented at Dodger Stadium.

What the fuck? Dude, end of the 1977 season, the Dodgers were on pace to become the first team ever to have four guys hit 30 home runs. Dusty Baker was the last to join that club. It was last day of the season he's got 29 home runs boom parks it hits his 30th home run I think they were playing the Astros don't quote me hits his 30th home run comes home the guy on deck Glenn Burke his teammate rookie young exuberant didn't know what to do just throws his hand in the air and baker's like what the fuck what am i gonna do he slaps it out of the air the high five was born sounds preposterous but look it up

there were low fives that existed since at least the 1930s african-american culture yeah of that ilk it wasn't even as smooth as it is i'd like to debate that i believe that half of the high five was invented in the 1930s in Germany. Jesus. So the high five was invented in Dodgers and the cheeseburger you said was also invented in Norway. And the cheeseburger, leaving him hanging. Lionel Sternberger at the right spot. If you translate high, what does it say? Don't leave me hanging.

Well, it was a long podcast. We could talk to you forever about that. don't leave me hanging well we went it was a long podcast we could talk to you forever don't leave me hanging Hitler this is why he took over the world

because he was left hanging wow I'm trying to promote Evan's site without you saying Hitler in it so I'm trying to

it's hard to do it's hard to do he doesn't make it easy for us alright see you guys Evan thanks for being here

if you're on Instagram go to LA in a minute even if you don't live here it's a great watch and follow and then podcast is in a minute with Evan Lovett thanks for being here

that was awesome thank you this was incredible and a lot of fun ladies and gentlemen if you're ever at a party and someone comes up to you and goes

there's no ruins under third base at Dodger Stadium, go, I don't know about that. And walk away. Good night, Australia.