weekend wrapup

Monday, June 14, 2004, at 06:12AM

By Eric Richardson

I didn't really mean to take the weekend off... It was just one of those things that happens sometimes.

Friday

Friday night Kathy and I took the subway over to Hollywood and saw Lee Beth Kilgore at the Hotel Cafe. She was playing the 8pm show, and, like most 8pm's, attendance was pretty light. As always the Hotel gives a good sound, though, so it was a fun time for those of us who were there (mostly friends of hers) to sit around and listen to her play.

We also stayed for the 9pm, Stuart Lewis, before taking off (I realized about 9:30 that I had a DVD due at midnight). It wasn't a bad set, but nothing special really caught my attention. To me it seemed Stuart might overperform for the music a little bit, if that makes any sense.

Saturday

Saturday our first destination was REI to pick up my bike. With parts and labor I think it was $90-something, which is just fine if it rides well now (and I did ride it in today and didn't have any problems).

Actually, before the REI stop we hit up Chick-fil-a for the second time in just three days, which is a frequency I'd love to be able to keep up. If I had a Chick-fil-a near enough I'm pretty sure I'd be there every day.

After REI we made our way up Aviation Blvd and into El Segundo. We hit up Lickity Split for some frozen custard. Kathy got pumpkin, fresh out of the machine, and I got root beer again.

From there it was a short drive up to the 105 and back to USC. We parked at Kathy's apartment and walked over to the Natural History Museum, which I had previously only been to when they had their baseball exhibit. We started out in the basement, where they have a display on the history of California and Los Angeles. The last part of the exhibit was most fascinating to me, as they showed Los Angeles in the 30s and 40s.

Two pieces stuck out most. One was a large (probably 12' x 8' model of downtown LA built in 1940. Since my apartment building was built in the early 1930s it was indeed present, and you can see it in the picture to the left. 1940 found a far different Los Angeles than you see today. Height limit regulations were still in effect, and Bunker Hill was still the site of many Victorian houses. Since not only has the building makeup of downtown changed, but so has the topography as well as the skyscraper building has carved and reshaped the hills on which Los Angeles is built.

The exhibit also featured a video shot as publicity for the 1932 Olympics. It didn't show my building, but it did show the Stock Exchange building directly across the street. It also said that at the time 7th and Broadway was the most heavily travelled pedestrian intersection in the world, something hard to fathom in today's spread out, car-centric city.

Upstairs we saw LA: light / motion / dreams. Though more visual candy than pure information, the exhibit does a great job at engaging the viewer and travelling through many of the different aspects of Los Angeles.

For dinner we made our way over to the Gaucho Grill in Santa Monica. The crowds on the Promenade quickly reminded me why it is that I don't make my way over there very often. My steak, though, made it all a little better.

We finished the night by seeing Napoleon Dynamite at the Laemmle Monica. Very funny. A relatively few huge laughs, but consistantly funny throughout.

Sunday

And, uh, the Lakers lost yesterday. Tony Pierce says it's not over, though. Yes, this is Hollywood, but the Lakers have an uphill climb to even bring it back home at this point. If anyone can do it...