Return to Pete’s Tavern

May 16, 2025Leave a comment

A little place of mine in New York is Pete’s Tavern, down in Gramercy Park. For really obvious reasons. It is one of the oldest bars in the city and still a very popular pub, in a well-to-do neighbourhood, on the corner of Irving and E 18th. On the first day while the family rested at the hotel I walked down as far as Pete’s, and stood across the street to start the sketch above. I didn’t get that far, because I was eager to go inside and have a beer after the walk through the city, so I drew the outlines and did the rest later on. I came in and ordered a Pete’s Ale, and spoke to a guy at the bar who was waiting for his friend to arrive (when they did he said “this is Pete” and I said “welcome to my Tavern!” because I am cheesy). Pete’s has been going since 1864, same as my jokes, and is a great place to sketch. I remember first finding it on our trip to New York in 2008, but I spent a fun day here celebrating my 40th birthday with two of my best friends from London back in 2016. Here’s my post from 2016. On that day I sketched a similar view to the one below, but in the afternoon, and on the way through several more beers than I could have now.

On the last evening in New York, after dinner and a walk in the rain, I decided to get on the Subway and go down to Pete’s for a last time to sketch the inside. It was a busy evening, but I found that same spot at the bar, got a Pete’s 1864 Ale and sketched fast before jumping on the Subway back. I enjoyed this one, plus I got a couple of beermats that say ‘Pete’s Tavern’. Until next time, Pete’s!

beer and sketching after a long, long week

December 20, 2024December 19, 2024Leave a comment

After I was done with day two of the conference, finishing at about 8pm and exhausted, I walked downtown to grab some dinner and a couple of beers. Despite being tired I really needed to work out all the energy of that long long week into my sketchbook. I popped into the University of Beer, in a spot in the corner with a view that I have drawn before many years ago (2013), not long after it had opened. See below. I remember that afternoon, a hot day, and I was eager to practice my perspective sketching. Those older guys on the left were talking about Davis in the old days, the old bars that used to be there on G Street. They still had the long section of frost upon which you could put your glass to keep it chilled, but that seems to be gone now. And no more iPads with menus on! That seemed like a futuristic innovation back then but is apparently part of the dustbin of history now. To read the menu these days, you need to point your phone at a QR code, which means I have to read on my phone which is much smaller. So I’m sitting there looking over the rim of my glasses, even though I have varifocals, squinting to try and understand the ridiculous names all these beers have, looking for a nice normal amber ale. Back in the old days they only served beer too, but now they have all sorts of drinks, which is probably better for business to be honest, but the beer list is still long.

I ordered a beer and started drawing fast. I can draw quickly when it all starts coming out. As I drew, they started setting up for their Saturday night karaoke. It was pretty busy, that is a popular night out there I guess. People started singing, I didn’t always recognize the songs. I wasn’t tempted to have a go myself. I don’t mind a karaoke, historically, but I always like a stage. These ones where you are just in the corner by the door at the same level as people walking about would make me feel a bit odd. Not for me guv. Anyway, it was getting a bit loud, and I’d drawn very quickly and drunk my beer very slowly, but I wasn’t ready for the walk home just yet so popped by De Vere’s – sorry, not De Vere’s, it’s Bull’n’Mouth now, De Vere’s is in the past. I don’t go out much any more. They don’t do Smithwicks in there these days, and no Guinness, I think they are moving away from the Irishness of the predecessor pub. I drew a couple of quick sketches over a Bavarian beer, and made the long walk home for a long sleep. November was a long month.

tunnel records and trad’r sam

October 26, 2024October 25, 2024Leave a comment

Part Two of my day in the Clement Street /Geary Street area of San Francisco, about seventeen or so blocks further towards the ocean and the rolling fog. I was looking for the 4 Star theater, on the corner of 23rd, which shows older films and which unfortunately I had not given myself time to watch anything, but on this day they were showing My Neighbour Totoro (always a favourite), Toy Story 3 (good but I prefer 2), and North by Northwest (which I have never seen but I think involves a small plane and a man running away). I was here to look around the attached record store, Tunnel Records, which is in a little nook of the cinema. It is not the main shop of Tunnel Records, that one is somewhere else in San Francisco, another area I have not yet been to. It was not open when I got there, which gave me some time to draw the building. I stood opposite and looked up Clement, listening to another Jarvis Cocker interview, I can’t get enough of his soft Sheffield accent. I left the details of the other side of the street a bit sparse, sometimes that is all you need to get the message across, and all I had time for, this was not a ‘finish later’ sketch as so many seem to end up as these days, I just wanted to draw what stood out to me in those moments. The record store opened, and I went in to have a long browse. It’s something I don’t do any more, and I can’t remember how or why I do it, but once you start you can’t really stop and have to look at all the racks, alphabetically, in case something pops out that makes you think oh wait, now that I might like. There was one other person in there browsing too. I realized he was a few racks ahead of me, but browsing each rack one by one, same as I was, though more slowly. Was I not paying enough attention to what I was browsing? Either way, I knew at some point I would catch up, and would either have to go around to the next rack and quite obviously miss out the one he was looking at, or what, start looking at the same rack? You can’t do that. I would try to slow down by stopping and pulling out something interesting, to look at as if I could hear the music coming from the sleeve. I would nod and pull that expression people pull with their mouths when they want to show silent respect for something, you know the one, but I was just faking it really. In the end, I caught up. Instead of skipping to the next rack over, I decided to pretend that I needed to look at my phone suddenly, and then went to look at some t-shirts. I am not sure why I was acting like I was in some kind of play. I went and looked at the soundtracks section (like, why would I be looking there), and then after the other man, who was probably in some play of his own, moved to a different genre, I went back and looked through the alphabetical racks again but this time, in an unexpected move, in reverse order, starting at Z. I ended up not buying anything, despite being tempted by an Al Green album, because I didn’t fancy carrying a record around with me while sketching, and I didn’t really need it. I gave a little smile and raise of the eyebrows to the shop clerk as I left vie the movie theatre’s main entrance, and went off to draw a massive Russian church.

It’s pretty hard to miss as you go up Geary, yet it’s not one of the famous San Francisco sights. The Holy Virgin Cathedral “Joy Of All Who Sorrow” has tall, shiny golden onion domes that probably look even shiner in the sun, let alone on this foggy day. It’s a Russian Orthodox church; there have been Russian communities in the San Francisco area for over 200 years. This is the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral outside Russia, and was completed in 1965. I sketched it from across the street, adding in the metallic gold paint when I got home (you can’t tell here but the page is actually quite shiny). I popped inside, but only to peek through the door, I wasn’t sure if I could walk around and have a look. It was very ornate looking, and even though there wasn’t a service going on I felt a little bit like I was out of place, and I didn’t want to unwittingly break any rules. The Church Etiquette and FAQs pages of their website are quite interesting, full of extremely clear and specific instructions as to how you must behave. If your phone goes off: “You should answer the call (accept it), but do not start speaking until you have stepped away (outside or in the narthex). Walk out of the church quietly and calmly. Do not sprint/dash out of the church when this happens. Make the caller wait.” They are thoroughly disgusted at people leaving lipstick marks on icons, which is fair enough frankly and not something I was in danger of doing; as for clothes, shirts must have collars and be buttoned up, though you’re ok to loosen the top button if you have to, and don’t ever wear a t-shirt saying “This Bud’s For You!” I imagined there must have been a very specific incident involving a t-shirt with that phrase on it. I was wearing a Red Star Paris football shirt, which was probably a big nyet-nyet, and the big red Star on the badge may have been confusing, so I didn’t take any chances, and just peeked through the door. I tried to teach myself Russian when I was a kid, I didn’t get further than a few phrases, but I learned the Cyrillic alphabet and so I was enthusiastically reading the signs outside and trying to figure them out. I think it was in Old Church Slavonic, which would have blown my teenage self’s mind to see in person.

I stood outside the cathedral though to sketch my last destination on this day in the city, Trad’r Sam, an old tiki-themed bar that’s been around since 1937. It is not fancy, but is a real San Francisco legend I had read about on a list of historic San Francisco bars, since I have it as my mission to go and draw them all. I was already quite tired by this point, so when I drew the exterior and that big green sign, I went in through the saloon doors (am I misremembering that now?) and ordered a Lava Flow cocktail. I sent my wife (who loves a historic tiki bar) a picture of my drink; she was in Disneyland and had just ordered a Lava Flow ice cream at the same time, coincidentally. It was a pretty popular place on a Saturday afternoon and started filling with locals. The bar itself is a big horseshoe, my favourite type of bar set-up, and the barman was friendly. I chatted with some of the others sat at the bar, got comfy and finished off one of my sketches. I decided I didn’t have the energy to draw the bar itself, this time, but enjoyed the mood. I tried a Mango Mai Tai, and wow it was really good. I think it was really strong as well because I started feeling a bit drunk already; maybe that was the lack of a proper lunch mixed with looking at all that orthodox religious architecture and old pop records. I had to explain to the barman who Red Star Paris were; not the team I support, I just like their kits and the fact they aren’t PSG. He’d heard of Red Star Belgrade, and hearing I was from London he asked who my team was, giving me a fist bump and an acknowledgement of how good Sonny is when I told him. I talked to a couple who lived about a block away and gave me some good tips for other old local bars in this area, they are now on my visit and sketch list. It was a good place to wind down the day, and I had a beer to finish off, alas not an Anchor Steam which was always my SF drink, but eventually I had to get myself back to Davis, a long long journey from this part of town. I took the 38 bus back, got the Amtrak bus to Emeryville, took the Capitol Corridor train to Davis, and then had to walk back from the station up to north Davis, four hours later. I slept hard that night, but got up next day to watch Spurs batter Man United 3-0 away. A good weekend.

nice to see you, to see you nice

July 28, 2024July 26, 2024Leave a comment

We took the TGV from Aix to Nice. I do like taking the train in France, and the TGV – I mean, the ‘Ouigo’? – took us through Marseille’s mean quarters and along the rocky coast, which was a lot more grey than azure due to that weather we’d been having. I didn’t mind so much. The previous times I’d been to Nice I had taken a direct coach from Aix, because the regular trains were so slow, taking most of the day stopping at all those Riviera towns. We arrived in Nice in the early afternoon. I had forgotten just how big Nice is, it’s a huge bustling city with a lot of shops. We stayed near the old town a few blocks from the sea. I love being near the sea. The beach at Nice is pebbly, but wide and full of people enjoying the evening. We walked along the long Promenade des Anglais, the traffic intersections were a bit scary when we had to cross over, but it was nice being somewhere so different. I drew the scene above after the family had gone back to the flat, the daylight was still good even quite late, and I sat on the stone steps and sketched.

Before that, we were walking through the old town and saw that the England vs Denmark game was about to start on a big screen outside a tapas bar. Good place to grab some food and drinks and watch the football, it should be exciting. Well, the football may have been one of the most boring games I had ever seen (that is, until the first 94 minutes of England v Slovakia), but it was nice to sit and eat and sketch and listen to the people around us, there was a Danish couple who kept giggling whenever I would complain about how Højbjerg’s shooting and passing was, knowing him from Spurs (and yet, he got man of the match in this game, fair play to him, everyone else was terrible). Occasionally a few drops of Mediterranean rain splashed onto us, but it was fun sketching this and with the lettering at the top it reminded me of a comic book. England would be ‘The Fantastic Bore’. The old town was busy, but much busier on the second night, the same night France were playing against the Netherlands in a game that was equally if not even more boring. We didn’t watch that one out anywhere, not really wanting to be in a big crowd that went crazy after a goal, so we put that one on the TV in our flat in the background. We need not have worried, it ended 0-0. These Euros group stages, man.

I got up in the mornings and went for my usual walk-sketch-boulangerie routine. It was still cloudy on Nice, and I walked down to the old town and drew this pink clock tower, the Tour de l’Horloge, dating from 1718. One thing we were going to do but didn’t was to go up to the big hill with the castle on it, looking over the city and coastline from a great height. The views up there are breathtaking, but so is the walk up the steep staircase, and since the elevator was closed we said, nah we did that in 2002. We walked about the base of the big cliff though, got the same view but from lower down, and saw all the signage for the upcoming Tour de France which was to be ending in Nice this year (Paris being a little preoccupied with Olympics preparations). The sun was out by now, we took some photos and finally the sea was that shimmering azure.

I did get up early on the final day and walk over to that blue sea. The pink dome of the Negresco hotel looked lovely. I want to stay there some day. It’s very expensive, and I’ve stayed in some very nice hotels now but this one is classy. There are a lot of places along the Cote d’Azur I’d like to visit, or return to such as Villefranche sur Mer which I always loved, a short bus ride away. But Nice is far away from California, so who knows when next we will be back. It was easy to get to the airport on the tram, although the experience of waiting in the impossibly slow Ryanair check in line at Nice airport put us off flying through there for a while. I’m not done with my Riviera sketches though, as we did visit one other place on this short trip, somewhere that we as Formula 1 fans have wanted to got to for the longest time – Monaco!

friday evening down at the bull and mouth

July 2, 2024July 2, 2024Leave a comment

The day before I was flying to London, I had a very long day at work, trying to get as much done before travelling as I could. I would be doing a lot of work while in London too, but those would be in the hours before everyone got up, the 4am (sometimes 3am) wake-ups when the house was quiet and the wifi might work a little better. But that Friday was long, and I was feeling a bit stressed. This was my first trip back in a year and it really felt like a long year, a long time since seeing everyone. Anyway, I stopped at a moment I felt ok with, and realized it was already 8:30pm, so I went downtown to have dinner at Chipotle (that was , and popped into Bull’n’Mouth (the former De Vere’s) for a pint and a sketch, to wind down. It’s funny, I don’t know if it de-stressed me that much really, but it’s good to sketch, focus the eyes, breathe. I like drawing all the bottle shapes, though I don’t ever drink any of the things in them, never liked spirits. The beer was ok, I find I don’t really enjoys many beers as much these days; they didn’t have the Smithwicks I’d been hoping for, I guess. I drew fast. It wasn’t very busy in there, for a Friday evening at the tail end of the quarter. I finished up and went home to bed, or rather to repack my bags yet again, which I would do again in the morning. What to bring! I feel like I’ve packed lighter over the years and tried to carry less and less, yet my bag always feels like it’s really full.

up the fillmore, down to union square

June 29, 2024June 29, 2024Leave a comment

I ended up going towards Fillmore. I was up that way last summer when I spent the weekend in the city with my family, but it’s always worth a trip. I fancied doing a sketch from on high, so I headed up the steep way to Alta Plaza Park. By this time of the day, it was really very windy. Alta Plaza Park had some nice views, not as dramatic as Dolores Park or Alamo Square, but worth the hike. I was still listening to all of Belle and Sebastian, though my back was still aching, and the wind was going right through me. I like a big observation piece when I come to the city, like the view from Coit Tower or the view from the downtown Hilton. I walked down and bought an expensive donut at a trendy donut shop, that I waved for the train ride home. I needn’t have bothered, the donut was bland and tasted of nothing, not an uncommon thing these days (as I was reminded when I went to France recently, when every pain au chocolat or escargot de raisins at the morning boulangerie tasted a million times better than anything over here). I spent a lot of time in Paper Source, a shop I used to be obsessed with when I had the idea of making my own notecards years ago (it wasn’t worth the effort), and then spent a good half hour in Browser Books, which I had drawn last year, and keep thinking is called Bowser Books. I like this little store, and really browsed a lot. I even looked through some magazines, including one which an old friend of mine works for; I haven’t seen him in many years, and there was a small picture of him in there that for some reason took me by surprise, the same guy but older and sharper. I don’t know why it surprised me so much. The years move fast, I wonder how I would look to someone who knew me only as a much younger face, thinner and less sun-blasted, and I found myself suddenly worrying about age and time. I went to the music section, and picked up a small book about Pulp, who were a band I loved in the 90s (so, not worrying about age or time any more then). I had recently bought tickets to go and see Pulp right here in San Francisco this coming September, having never been able to catch them back in the old days; I honestly can’t wait. The guy behind the counter, it turned out, was a fellow Pulp fan and asked if I was going to see them. He had seen them in SF last year when they were here. The book was about This Is Hardcore, and album I really loved, though it was the sound of a changing time for me, mid university years, a comedown from the fist-pumping mid-90s when I could stay up all night long and not even be tired the next day, and everything was possible. Were age and time were getting to me even then?

After spending some of my age and time in the shops and streets of Fillmore I took the bus down towards Union Square. My back was still hurting. When I got there, I still had a bit of time before my Amtrak bus was going to leave, but I did need to sit down. I decided to sketch Sam’s Cable Car Lounge, which I must have passed a bunch of times before and always thought was a liquor store. It looks old, and the thing about places like this is that they are disappearing, so in my mission as the recorder of places I stood opposite and drew it, as best my tired fingers could manage. I think the motivation for sketching this part of the city has waned over the years, and it shows. Many of the big shops around Union Square are closing, there were so many large empty spaces where once there had been big stores, and the number of shoppers looked a lot less than in recent years. I heard that the large Macy’s flagship store on Union Square, a place I visited on my first ever trip here (going up to the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor) was going to close, with nothing to replace it. It feels bleaker around there. I couldn’t get too far before I just had to go and sit down, so I popped in for a beer. It’s an interesting enough interior, with the front of a cable car sticking out of the wall behind the bar, and the staff kept offering me popcorn. I ordered a beer without popcorn and sat sketching. As I sketched I got the news that the Amtrak bus was cancelled, and I’d have to take the BART out to Richmond to catch my train. An annoyance but not a huge inconvenience. The bar got a little busier as I sketched, I think mostly with the pre-theatre crowd. Anyway I think the staff liked my drawing, because when I ordered a second beer they said it was on the house. I got my bill; sure the second drink was free, but the first one was pretty expensive, about $14 with tax for a beer? Even in London these days that’d be a lot. I didn’t even finish my second beer. I handed over my card to the waitress, and she came back with the bill to sign, but no card. I went up and asked where my card was, they said maybe I dropped it. I hadn’t, it was never returned. They said they would look for it; ten minutes later, still no card. I was having to go to the BART soon. Perhaps I need to call the police, has someone here pocketed it? I could see them with flashlights looking all over the bar area. Eventually, the waitress came back and handed me my card, which had ‘fallen on the floor’. Strange they had not found it more quickly. I was very suspicious of that and have been keeping an eye on the card transactions since, but I won’t be going there again, and not only because of the beer prices. Still, I’ve sketched it now. I made the long, long journey back to Davis, tired and not completely sure if the day out was worth it, but I added a few more drawings and walks to the experience box. And when I got back to Davis, I discovered my bike had a flat tyre, so I had to walk all the way back from the train station. I rested well next day. I still like San Francisco, but after so many years I’m not feeling quite the same about it as I do about, for example, London, which I always want to go to. But I’m still glad it is (sort of) nearby, and has some interesting neighbourhoods.

at froggy’s corner

May 19, 20242 Comments

It was a Saturday, I needed to do a sketch, I went downtown, yada yada yada. Same old story. I’m quite a boring person, truth be told. Oh well. I headed to G Street, which is still blocked off to traffic since the pandemic, so that it is more of an outdoor eating and drinking space, although a few weeks ago someone who had possibly done a lot of drinking and maybe other stuff decided to take a drive up that street and crashed into a bunch of seating. I would have read more, but I don’t subscribe to the Davis Enterprise so that was all I could really gather from the glimpse I could read before it vanished. Anyway, on this Saturday the was a little market going on, people selling second hand clothing, music was being played, there was some dancing but that might have just been the way they were walking out of the pub, and I got excited to see some old football shirts on one rack; one had a big hole in the front, the other was clearly fake. No thanks guv. I decided to stand on the corner of G and 2nd and sketch Tommy J’s, aka Froggy’s, I have drawn this place before. I used to like coming here, many years ago, and it’s not really changed much. I always loved their chicken burgers especially. They were one of several local food places featured on a TV show recently (one of that Guy Fieri guy’s shows, though thankfully he was barely in it himself) where they were looking for the best dish in Davis. I was surprised to see Sudwerk on there, having eaten there recently with the family and been quite underwhelmed (sorry Sudwerk, I still love your beer), especially when the dish they put on the telly was called fish and chips, but mate, that is not fish and chips. The ones who won it in the end was the Hotdogger, and I agree, they have some pretty great hot dogs, although I only eat the chicken variety (and not very often). Anyway, I was glad to see Tommy J’s on there, because their food always hit the spot. I must go there to eat again sometime. On this day, I sketched from the corner, standing outside the smoke shop. I had my headphones on for the most part, I was feeling a bit grumpy, and I wasn’t really enjoying my sketching. I don’t know why exactly, but I go through this, where I just don’t enjoy the process as much. Like, I love to sketch, and it does help me relax and divert my mind elsewhere, but some days I just feel like I’m chiseling away and just feeling awkward. You would think I’d be over that. I see some people’s works online, and look I don’t go comparing myself or any of that nonsense, but I see such confident lines in some people and get annoyed with myself for not being able to draw circles. I am feeling in need of a reset button, if that makes sense. I will find that again, but sometimes I am just in a funk about it. The one above I started sketching when it was sunny, but it got cloudy, so it looked a bit gloomier by the end. One guy decided to stand in front of the trash bin for a while, I didn’t want to add him in though. Another bloke came over to the little drinking fountain and started filling a large super-soaker type water gun up, but it looked like he was filling it with cranberry juice as well, so I watched him suspiciously. Another guy came up and said something to me I couldn’t hear, I took out my earpods and he was saying “come on you spurs” (I was wearing one of my many Spurs shirts) and holding his hand up for a fist bump; I still didn’t completely understand and was holding my pen, so he said it again and I got it, and was like, oh yeah, right. It was a couple of weeks after we had been thwacked 4-0 by Newcastle, and a day before we were about to lose 3-2 to the other lot down the road. I guess I’m surprised there are still fans out there. It was quite a busy afternoon, a good thing I suppose, but I got as far as I could with my sketch and went over to Froggy’s to sit and have a beer, and draw the inside. The last time I did was, I don’t know, must be over a decade ago. That is ages. I sat and drew with the brown fountain pen, but again, I wasn’t really feeling it. I didn’t eat, because I was having dinner at home shortly after, but I captured what I could. Not really a classic, but it’s me drawing what’s in front of me. I was a bit nervous thinking about Spurs v Arsenal the next day. We ended up going 3-0 down before fighting back at bit, and losing only 3-2. As I write the season just finished, and it got a bit worse for us, but then we still managed fifth, and the other lot didn’t win the league. Speaking of football, on the wall of the bar there is a mirror advertising Newcastle Brown Ale, with the famous blue star, which as you may know is the best sponsor of any football shirt in history.

a beer at the shoppe

April 27, 2024April 26, 2024Leave a comment

After that last sketchcrawl, it was raining on and off a lot. My legs were in need of more rest after that 7k run, so I popped into the Davis Beer Shoppe for a nice beer and a sketch, while outside the day flitted between heavy rain and spots of sunshine. We were off to Utah next morning, I was already packed so not really in a hurry. The Beer Shoppe was fairly busy, and on the TV screen they were watching the end of Life of Brian, a film I know word for word pretty much. I found myself mouthing along to it all, “…Swedish separate from Welsh…” “…I’m Brian and so’s my wife…” “…you silly sods…”, it’s been a while since I last saw it but I did watch that film a lot when I was a teenager, that and Holy Grail. I settled into a beer and just started sketching the scene, because I can’t stop drawing for a minute can I. I last sketched inside this bar about ten years ago, a similar view, some of the details on the wall have changed but otherwise it’s not really different. After the film was over some people started playing video games on the big screen, Mario Kart 8 I believe, looked like a fun way to spend the afternoon. The couple nearby me were playing chess. Got me thinking, chess, Mario Kart, Life of Brian, beers… sounds like a typical night with my older brother. If there was a game of pool and a Spurs game on, that would be it.

Here’s that one from before, it was actually August 2013, a long old time ago now. I remember coming in here once and saw that they had it as the screensaver on their computer screen, which was funny. I don’t come in here very often to actually sit and have a beer, I usually only come in to buy from the shop, they have a really good selection of beers. I’ve become a bit unconvinced about beers lately, so many of them just taste very samey, or are getting too silly and gimmicky chasing the craft beer craze with new names and labels every season, it is a bit like the football shirt fashion trends in a way (though I still keep buying those football shirts). I am still sad that Anchor Steam is gone. Still it is nice to come to a local bar that has a good atmosphere and have a two or three pints while it’s raining outside. Shame they didn’t have any of the Holy Grail Ale, that’s a Python-themed beer I used to really like.

the rest of my Saturday, from USC to DTLA

April 7, 2024April 7, 2024Leave a comment

After the day at the Natural History Museum, the sun was starting to think about setting. It was a nice evening in South Central LA, around Exposition Park, and some fans were starting to arrive for the LAFC game that evening. I’d thought about going, because former Spurs captain and club legend Hugo Lloris now plays for Los Angeles, and I wanted to see him in goal, but I knew I wanted to go back to the hotel and have dinner at the downtown indoor Market. But before I got on my Metro back, I decided to take a look around the USC campus right opposite. South Central LA is famous for all sorts of stuff in popular culture, not least the gang-type stuff, but its home to USC, the University of Southern California (sometimes referred to by other Californians as the ‘University of Spoiled Children’ because it’s a rich private school, that’s what I was told), and it’s a pretty nice campus. I didn’t wander too far, I had wanted to go over to the film school where George Lucas (among many others) had studied, but instead I stopped next to this lovely fountain and looked out at the Bovard Auditorium building. There were graduating students in deep red robes taking photos by the statue of Tommy the Trojan; the USC nickname is the ‘Trojans’ (like UC Davis are the Aggies, UCLA are the Bruins, UC Santa Cruz are the Banana Slugs…) and the college football team is famous. As well my guy George Lucas, USC’s other famous alumni include Neil Armstrong, John Wayne, Frank Gehry, and former F1 Champion Phil Hill, plus loads of other famous people I’ve never heard of. It was nice to sit and sketch on a quiet campus. I like to draw other university campuses when I can, since I spend my days drawing every bit of my own campus. I drew only one other thing there, which was the statue below found near the entrance, a little dog called ‘George Tirebiter’.

George Tirebiter was apparently a little shaggy dog who was a beloved mascon for the Trojans back in the 40s and 50s. He would come onto campus and chase cars, biting their tires, and became so popular that the students would take him to the Trojans games in a limousine (yes a limousine, at USC) and lead the marching band onto the field wearing little sweaters and hats, and once biting the UCLA mascot ‘Joe Bruin’ on the nose. The statue was created by Michael Davis and erected in 2006, and people were stopping to take their pics with shaggy boy George. For some reason, little googly eyes had been put on him.

I went back to my hotel for a quick rest, then headed over to the Grand Central Market for a bit to eat. I’d walked through there once before several years ago and thought it might be a good place to grab dinner and maybe draw a bit. It was so busy! A very popular place on a Saturday evening. I eventually settled on a little fired chicken counter called Lucky Bird, and had what may have been the spiciest chicken sandwich of my life, stuffed with jalapeños. It was delicious, but wow it was hot. I didn’t end up doing any sketching there, but had some amazing ice cream and then headed back to the hotel. I didn’t fancy sitting in my room (though it was a very nice room) so I popped over the to the pub across the street, an Irish pub called Dublins. It may have had an Irish theme and name, but it was very much an old school hip-hop night, with a DJ playing some really cool old stuff from the 80s and 90s, and an accompanying MC in a glittery shirt walking about the bar with his mic really livening the place up, it was great. There was a good atmosphere in there, the staff were friendly and the drinks were great. My hands though they got to keep on drawing so I relaxed with the music and sketched what was in front of me, the bar itself, though it would probably have been better to sketch the people and the pub as a whole, this is all I could manage to focus on. I did chat a little to other people and enjoyed the music, before heading back to the hotel (grabbing a burrito from a street van on the way, I do like late night street food in LA). Spurs were playing early next morning, but I was having a good Sunday lie-in next day, before heading to Riverside. All in all, a nice Saturday in downtown Los Angeles.

the scum and villainy cantina

April 3, 2024Leave a comment

I arrived in downtown Los Angeles after dark, checked into my very nice hotel and nearly decided not to head out to Hollywood because it was already past dinnertime. But how often am I down this way? Not very often. So I jumped on the Metro, which didn’t take that long. The LA Metro on a Friday evening is a fun place full of all sorts of characters, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a hive of scum and villainy but it was interesting. It didn’t take long to get to Hollywood. I really like the aesthetic design of the station at Hollywood and Vine with its palm trees and movie cameras. The Oscars were happening that weekend, and further up the street they were preparing the Red Carpet. I eventually found the Scum and Villainy Cantina, one of my favourite places. I first came here in 2017, when it was just a pop-up place not expected to be permanent, and had a great evening with my friend from London (it was his birthday) and my brother-in-law. I came back a year later with my wife and son (who was then 10) for early drinks on the way back to our hotel in Burbank. So I was really pleased to see that these years later it was still going strong. It feels like the Mos Eisley Cantina, but has expanded its theme from simply Star Wars into a more general level of popular geekdom, with staff costumed in various guises such as the one guy dressed as Super Mario. I was particularly excited to see the one bartender dressed as Hunter from the Bad Batch, one of my favourite current cartoons. Some of the beertaps were lightsabres, and there was a comics-accurate Magneto helmet behind the bar. I ordered a deliciously messy “Charizard Chicken Sandwich” (I recognized Charizard from son’s Pokémon days) and a Blue Milk, of course. It was busy but not overly crowded, and I found a seat at a table with a good view of the bar, because of course I was going to sketch it. This is a very welcoming place that prides itself on being “Your Friendly Neighborhood Geek Bar”. The light was interesting; I was still getting used to my new progressive-lensed glasses so this was a test, but when it came to actually using my paints it was a bit of shot in the dark, as the blacklight changed most of my watercolours into something else, green being impossible to see. I know my palette pretty well though so I did my best, and when I looked at the sketch in proper light I was pleased with the accuracy of my colouring in. There was a lot of pink light though. I had another cocktail called Twin Sunrise, which I sketched below. I had a good evening, and the bar staff were pleased with my sketch, and the cantina reposted it on Instagram; someone commented that it looked like Snape and Voldemort were having a drink in front of me! It was just a couple on a date; I draw people pretty generically when I sketch bars (hiding features where I can – people isn’t my strong point!) (yes, despite the fact that I wrote a book about drawing people), but now I’m wishing that I had actually drawn people as sci-fi and fantasy characters, added in a Wookiee and a Gelfling or two. Maybe you can imagine the hairy figure on the left is Hagrid, crouched over. My eyesight was struggling as it was!

I nearly came back again the next evening, a fun place to hang out this was, but I was pretty tired after drawing dinosaurs all day (which was my Saturday plan) so I didn’t come back up to Hollywood, especially on the night before the Oscars when I’m sure the LA Metro would have been full of celebrities and stars. I can’t wait for my next visit back though, to try more things. I bought a pin; I wanted a t-shirt but I’ll get one of those online. If you want to see their website (check out their drinks menu!), it’s at: https://scumandvillainycantina.com/. If you’re in LA, check them out!