newelty

Last night, I saw The Runaways, and I can’t stop thinking about a few things:

• Los Angeles
• Glam rock
• Knee-high sparkly silver platform boots–and how it could possibly be that I don’t have a pair

The movie was a better-than-average bio pic (which is a low bar), but mostly, the visuals are what will stay with me. Every scene was smoky and scuzzy in that particularly mustard-colored 1970s way. Here’s the trailer for an overview:

What does this have to do with travel? It evoked a certain quality about Los Angeles. Not the glamorous Beverly Hills dream, but the drunken, debauched ranch-house-in-the-valley vibe. They included a couple of scenes of the girls getting drunk on liquor made up of everything siphoned off their parents supply behind a rusted, falling-down version of the Hollywood sign. It made me want to spend the day at Venice Beach.

More details after the jump.

Yes, they set a scene in an house party, complete with grope-y surfer dude moving in on Dakota Fanning. I’ll let that sink in for a minute–Dakota Fanning!–and mention that the best part of the clip is Kristen Stewart/Joan Jett batting back the heckler’s beer can mid-song.

You can compare them to the real Runaways, in case you’re interested:

Hello daddy! Hello mom! Sorry, I got distracted by the whole Mick Jagger chicken-dance mixed with Dr. Frank N. Furter’s costume.

Back to L.A.

The Runaways had the same quality, to me, as Lords of Dogtown. Both movies–and others like it–have scenes involving hordes of teens running from cops. But more than that, they have a recurring thread of taking something rotting (the falling-down piers of Venice’s boardwalk or a crappy old camper that the Runways rehearsed in) and using it as a gateway to something awesome and new. And novelty is compelling.

Here’s a trailer for that one, in case you missed it. Keep an eye out for an almost unrecognizable Heath Ledger:

Along this same theme, check out portions of the movie set to T. Rex. It features two of those same two obsessions listed at the top of this post (but, sadly, no sparkly boots):

I’m always skeptical of claims about “the wrong side of the tracks” in films “based on a true story.” But the real version of the zboys’ world actually seems worse than in the film, as in this video of kids hauling trash out of a pool and then skating around it:

The decrepit side of L.A., especially a historical one comfortably stored in the past, is still appealing to a lot of people, me included.

It’s why I wanted to go to Venice Beach, just to see if it was still has sketchy as I thought it would be. It was–in parts–but of course, it has also gentrified. The canals are beautiful there, not the cesspools they seem to have been in the 70s. It mostly had that feeling of places that used to be scary and now have arty boutiques or slightly funky restaurants (as at Chairman Mao’s). It was worth the trip.

I’ve been to the Getty Villa and to Rodeo Drive, but ultimately, this version of L.A. is more memorable and resonant to me. I’m not saying that a tour of Charles Bukowski’s resting place and Tom Waits’ haunts are likely to become more popular than Disneyland any time soon. Although one tour company thinks they’re at least worth $58 and $62, respectively–both, for now, cheaper than a Disney day pass.

But that’s before Bukowski’s apartment opens up to the public as a historic landmark.