#2256 I was this close to the Emmys

Last Sunday I was in LA with my son, my mom and my sister. We had done some sight-seeing around Museum Row and were going to have lunch at El Cholo, one of my favorite restaurants. We had a reservation at the El Cholo on Flower St. We were a little concerned about getting there on time because the Emmy awards show was being held that night and the venue, the Microsoft Theater, is only a couple of blocks away from the restaurant.

Sure enough, several streets and parking lots were already blocked off. Luckily, we found a great parking lot kitty-corner from the restaurant that was open to the public for only $10! A lot a block before was $40, so we were stoked about our find.

We walked across the street to the restaurant. I don't think we actually needed a reservation because the place is big and was not very busy yet, but best to be prepared. I would have been sad to not be able to eat there. The room we were in had a partial open roof, so we saw helicopters flying around getting shots of the Emmy red carpet, I suppose.

If you're wondering about the food, it was yummy. I always have the same thing: fillet mignon tacos. Doesn't that sound amazing? The meat is extremely tender and flavorful. There are three tacos on corn tortillas that have been slightly crisped and are served with salsa, avocado, pickled onion, and lime. At this location, the salsa was put on the meat and the avocado was made into guacamole. At the La Habra location you get to put your own salsa on the taco and the avocado is in strips which I prefer. I still gobbled it all down.

After our meal, the streets were FULL of black SUVs and limos. One of the limo parking lots was right next to El Cholo, so the lot was quite full of cars and drivers. I never thought about what the drivers did while the awards show was going on. Apparently they just hang out in the parking lot. Maybe they would go to El Cholo for some food.

We decided it would be fun to walk toward the theater. As we got closer, we could hear the crowd cheering for the celebrities on the red carpet. We came upon a line of very well dressed people that were queued up in what I think of as 'restaurant row'. It was very warm that day and I felt bad for these ladies and gentlemen who were all dressed up and waiting to get into the theater. Most of them were young looking, so I think they might have been seat fillers - you know, the people who would sit in a celebrity's seat while they went to the bathroom or to chat with someone. We looked at those people for a few minutes, then moved along.

As we strolled, I noticed that there were imprints of record albums on the sidewalk. Each record symbolized a year and listed the Grammy award winners for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist, plus surely a couple of other awards which I don't remember. I liked it, but I didn't know why the sidewalk had these records. Come to find out, we were right by the Grammy Museum. 

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show that I have no chill in front of the big wings. All of us had to get a pic with the wings. T was reluctant, but he did it anyway.

Back at the parking lot, I saw this car:

And that's how close I got to the Emmys. Probably the closest I'll ever be to any major award.

Ah...Los Angeles. You're fun.