Sawtelle

February 27th, 2006General7 comments

Sawtelle facing south. Giant robot store on right.

My favorite street for ramen, Japanese goods, and Hipster-spotting. Seriously, if a Katamari ball rolled through Sawtelle, it would be composed of noodles, gashapon, and horn-rimmed glasses.

Lloyd has a good rule for determining if someone is a Hipster: Ask them if they are a Hipster. If they get mad at you, then they are probably a Hipster.

I sometimes wonder if I am a Hipster. I have large glasses and carry a Hipster PDA.

I do like seeing Hipsters wander around though, pushing up their glasses and carefully examining independently published comic books. I like to see them with their Hipster girlfriends, buying Kogepan stationery for writing love letters.

There are two types of people that hate on others because of their clothes:

The first type are wealthy, brand-conscious people (Banana Republic, Nordie’s, Abercrombie) who smugly hate on those who dress oddly or differently.

The second type are oddly or differently-dressed people who smugly hate on those who wear brand names.

Both types of people are still mentally stuck in high school.

I hate no one except for Hitler, and he’s dead. So all is well over here.

Sawtelle power lines, maximum contrast.

So I got HBO again (see Sopranos story far below) and my TiVo picked up the original Pee Wee Herman Show shot live at the Roxy in 1981 or something. It’s essentially a full-length Groundlings show with lots of little sketch bits.

I had seen this when I was a kid, so seeing it again was really great. Phil Hartman plays a crusty old sea captain. There’s singing and dancing and the jokes are really great. This thing’s worth a rental if you can’t find it on cable.

What’s also great is the original Pee Wee movie directed by Tim Burton — this is probably my favorite Tim Burton movie of all time, with “Edward Scissorhands” coming in close second. The Danny Elfman soundtrack by itself is fantastic. I just heard “Breakfast Machine” again in this video for apple nerds, and it brought a ton of memories flooding back in.