Pershing Square

Our alarms were set early. We got up at first light and had a nice encounter with a coyote while brushing our teeth. A few minutes later we left the campground, took some last pictures of the morning mist in Joshua Tree, and then hit the road to Los Angeles.
The closer we got to LA, the more traffic we encountered. We never really stopped though and made it to our meeting with Kenny at Mad Rock Headquarters in time. About 75 days earlier, two Duo Pads and two Mad Pads had been shipped from the headquarters in Santa Fe, California to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Manu had talked to Rene a few months earlier and Rene had called Kenny. All in all, we were really lucky to get four of these awesome crash pads! Our trip was a blast and would have been very different if we didn't have these pads. Thank you, Mad Rock! Thank you, Kenny! Thank you, Rene and Irene! And of course, thank you, Manu, for making this possible.
Kenny gave us a tour of the headquarters, starting with the shop, then the large warehouse, the small board climbing room, and finally the offices where we met some of the minds behind this amazing brand.
We got a glimpse of what's to come next year, with a new Shark to be released in the spring of 2024. Of course we used the time to try on some shoes, note down our sizes and use the time to give Kenny some feedback on our favorite items, features and things that could be improved. After an hour we said goodbye to Kenny and left Santa Ana with new shirts and a hat, but without our crash pads. They will live on as rental pads and hopefully see many more bouldering areas.
While Manu and Lisa went to their hotel and returned their rental car, Birte and I drove to visit Isaac and Amelia, who live in Anaheim.
Isaac was a post-doc at the University of Michigan, while Birte was there in 2021.
They had both visited us in Munich in July, and we showed them around the city, took a little hike to Andechs Abbey...or rather its beer garden...and went to a concert in Ingolstadt by the LA Master Chorale, many of whom Amelia knows from university and still works with at times.
Now it was the other way around. They had planned a lot of excursions with us over the next few days and wanted to show us as much as possible of this huge metropolis. Amelia had to work during the day, but in the evening we met her, Manu and Lisa for an evening tour of Downtown Los Angeles, Amelia's old neighborhood.
We started at Pershing Square and soon saw the old Los Angeles Central Library, an impressive building, but one that disappears among all the skyscrapers built around it. Then we walked through Grand Central Market, which is a food court, especially in the evening. In the Gloria Molina Grand Park we had a nice view of the City Hall, which is colorfully illuminated at night. We followed the park west and soon found ourselves between the Ahmanson Theatre and the LA Opera House, both of which are right next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The latter is a spectacular building designed by none other than Frank Gehry himself. The building is entirely clad in sheet steel, which was originally shiny. But the wealthy residents of the surrounding buildings kept complaining about the heat reflecting into their homes, so the building was sandblasted to give it a matte finish that would not reflect the relentless California sun as much as before. I prefer matte surfaces anyway, so the building looks great to me the way it is now. We finished the tour with an elevator ride at the Bonaventure Building, which gave us a great view of the city night sky.

After our tour, we had burgers and beer in a pub on a very busy street. Amelia had another experience planned for us. A bar. It was in the sutterain of an old building. A tall man blocked the entrance and checked our IDs. Inside was a counter where you could buy sandwiches. We followed Amelia to the end of the room. There was another door, an inconspicuous door, a door that probably led to a room with janitorial supplies. We knocked. The door opened. A very well dressed man in a suit and bow tie greeted us and led us to a table in the dimly lit room. It was as if we were in a time machine. We had traveled 100 years back in time! The Varnish is a tribute to the speakeasies of the Prohibition era. One of those places well hidden behind shops and restaurants, accessible only to those who knew where and how to find it. We loved the place! The cocktails were great and the setting was phenomenal.
The tour was great! Thank you Amelia for taking us to all these places!

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Manu and Lisa after we all left the Varnish. While we still had two weeks left in the USA, they had to take an Uber to their hotel at the airport from where they were leaving for Germany the next day. As always, it was a pleasure to travel with you! We can't wait for our next trip together!Read more