Patrick H. Madden -- Personal Information

Hollywood

I currently live in Hollywood, California, the happiest place on Earth. My building was built for Rudolph Valentino in 1926, and is featured in the book "Courtyard Living in LA." Valentino used the complex to house people who were working on his films. Recent previous residents include Delta Burke and John Leguizamo. The previous tenant of our apartment was a Go-Go dancer in the Austin Powers/Mike Meyers movie, and is dating the Red Hot Chile Peppers/Jane's Addiction guitarist. If you own a TV set, there are a couple of current residents who you'll see regularly (but they'll go nameless to protect their privacy). Sometimes it seems like we're the only people here who have real jobs. I've made a few celebrity sightings over the years.

We're about a 10 minute walk from the Hollywood Bowl, and about the same distance from the Walk of Fame. If you're in Hollywood, there are a few things that you must do.

See a movie at the Mann Chinese Theatre. This is on Hollywood Blvd., between La Brea and Highland. Many of the big movie premiers that happen in LA take place here. There are three screens here; you definately want to see something in the big room. Marilyn Monroe's hand-prints in the concrete outside draw a lot of tourists (who clearly have grubby hands).
See a movie at the El Capitan Pacific Theatre. Just down the street from the Mann Chinese, this is the big Disney theatre in the area (there's also the Crest in Westwood; very nice as well). For the big Disney films, they usually do a stage show along with the movie. The prices are way too high here ($30 to see a movie!?). There's also something creepy about the happy-Disney environment surrounded by the grunge of Hollywood.
Hollywood and Vine. There really is nothing interesting here; no one seems to know why this intersection is well known, but it is. The Capitol Records building is just up the street on Vine (one of the cooler bits are architecture in LA), but other than that, there's not much to say.
Guitar Center. This is on Sunset Blvd., near La Brea. Right next door is the Sunset Grill, the one from the Don Henley song. Yes, it's everything you might have imagined and more....
Go to the Hollywood Bowl. I prefer weekday nights, and the cheap seats. For shows like these, the people there are ones who are really interested in the music. The weekend shows have far too many people who are there to impress their friends at how cultured they are. You can bring food and drink, so haul along a bottle of Trader Joe's wine. The fireworks shows can be a lot of fun, so if you go on a weekend, try for one of those.
Trader Joe's. How often does a grocery store make a must-see list? It looks like the chain is growing and will expand to the right coast. I've never bought anything there that I didn't like.
The Formosa. This is a Chinese resturant at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and Formosa. Years ago it was a hangout for Elvis and John Wayne, and now seems to draw a more Gen-X crowd. It's diagonally across from Jones, where you'll see people like Joey Ramone from time to time.
Have coffee at King's Road. While this is technically in West Hollywood (being at the corner of Beverly and King's Road), I'll include it here. We have breakfast there occasionally on the weekends. The coffee is world class; don't have more than one cup, though.

Travel Photos

I've got a Connectix QuickCam camera, and a beat-up Apple PowerBook (a really old one). With them, however, I can take a pile of photos. I suppose I look a bit odd when I travel (stumbling about with an open PowerBook and a golf ball on a wire), but I have a good time. The archives of my QuickCam shots are here.