Amoeba Music

NOT just a playground for hipsters and musicians, also a fantastic rainy day activity.

SO what do you do on a rainy LA day? That’s right… the movies. But if you’re headed to Hollywood, the famed Arclight cinemas are right next to Amoeba music, a great place to explore, kill some time, and stay dry!

What started in Berkley as an independent haven for music lovers amid corporate giants such as Tower and Virgin is now a landmark in Hollywood as well. They’ve outlived the majority of their corporate competition, have incredible customer service and offer everything from CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, and cassette tape to posters and books. I thought record stores were a thing of the past, but after nearly an hour I could barely tear myself away! For $9.28 I walked back into the torrential rain with four new CDs, random selections from different sections of their clearance racks. If that’s not an economical and horizon-expanding way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, I don’t know what is. They have bands play in the store regularly and the walls are covered in signed memorabilia.

To top it off, the expansive collection of DVDs rivals Blockbuster, and although you can’t rent these movies, the majority of their collection cost as much as a new release weekend rental. And when you’re through with it, bring it back – Amoeba will buy used CDs an DVDs any time.

--Sarah Kruberg

Photo Credit: Sarah Kruberg

Lake Shrine

LAKE Shrine sits behind a small wall of foliage just before the the corner of PCH on Sunset. It's not a sparkling blue lake, in fact, it's murky at best, but the manicured gardens provide a quite public refuge where the five major world religions live harmoniously through the recognition of their inherent interconnected sense of spirituality.

My mother and I took a short walk around the water. Swan Lake, she used to call it on trips with her father over thirty years ago. "It looks pretty much the same" she told me.

We stop to admire the gardens and talk quietly on one of the many benches as we observe tourists snapping photographs and grounds keepers "shush" a pair speaking a just louder than a whisper.

The small Windmill Chapel at the entrance of the walk allows no photos and asks for complete silence - this is a place for meditation. As we walk in the small building has two rose of four chairs facing the front of the room. Here the images of six men are displayed, five of the religious leaders and one of the Fellowship's founder, Paramahansa Yogananda.

The lush gardens display pillars that recognize the five world religions and their principle symbols: Christianity,Islam, Judiasm, Hinduism, and Islam. The site is also home to the Mahatma Gandhi World Peace Memorial, a small temple containing a sarcophagus containing Gandhi's ashes.

The Fellowship leads weekly classes in meditation, both on the grounds and through literature, but is open every day except Monday. Tuesday through Saturday their hours are 9:00 am - 4:30 pm and Sunday from noon to 4:30. There is free public parking a small museum, gift shop, and visitor center, in addition to the Windmill Chapel.

--Sarah Kruberg

photo credit: Sarah Kruberg