The Merry Men - Our First Day in LA

We arrived in Marina Del Rey on Thurs., Oct. 4th, just in time to watch the Phillies go down the drain, but while at the bar, we were chatting with a fellow who told Us about his yacht, his cars, his lawyer job, etc., well, be a bunch of doubting Thomases, we didn't believe him but listened intently, well, Greg the Lawyer, as it turns out was right on the money with his stories, being a guy who grew up in Detroit and recognized some down to earth guys, which obviously, we are, he is now an attorney in Beverly Hills, well, we told him that we were heading out looking for bars while sitting in "Tony P's Dockside Grill", the sports bar where we went to see the Phils, the first picture is our group shot taken behind the bar at Tony's. Greg suggested that he would take his two seater scooter home and get his BMV, well, we said good bye to him figuring that we saw the end of him, Greg showed up in 20 minutes as advertised with his convertible BMW, Freddy, Matt and Myself go out to the parking lot to begin this journey, as we got to the car, Chris Wenger aka Junior showed up, saying that Tommy told him that if he wanted to have fun to go with us, instead of hanging with Mom and Dad, we went to Santa Monica to a place called "O'Brien's", Greg might be a great lawyer but he lacked some parking abilities and dinged his BMW on the side of a Lexus SUV while attempting to parallel park, O'Brien's wasn't happening, so, our Tour Guide decided that we should go to Beverly Hills, us, being America's Guests went along to for the ride. First stop was "Smith & Wollensky", a high end steak joint on Rodeo Drive, no, Tigger that is not like Pat's Steaks, we go in there and rub elbows with a bunch of high end attorneys, including one who represents the stars and their kids including one who was Rod Stewart's kids lawyer, we also met Greg's financial planner who helped Matt Edgar put his 20's and 10's together in his wallet. After a few drinks there, remember now, we are in our 10th hour or so of drinking, we move on to "Nic's Beverly Hills Martini Lounge", where on the web site it says "Nic's restaurant and the Martini Lounge, the well-known celebrity hangout in the heart of Beverly Hills. A bit alluring, a bit bohemian yet very people-friendly", I know that you are thinking, wait until that get a load of these clowns, you are right, Greg introduces us to Larry Nicola who is the owner of "Nic's", Nic invites us into the Vodbox which is a -15 degree climate controlled room, our host pictured above put on her mink coat and directed us to a room full of minks, for our wearing pleasure, also, there were mink hats to put on, I, being a person who is against harming animals wore my Phillies hat with my mink coat, Greg is also pictured with us, Diane wasted a few breaths explaining the qualities of these $30. a shot, if we were paying mind you, vodkas, when Jacquins would have worked for us, we had a couple of shots, exactly what we needed, then went back to the bar, we stayed there for awhile longer and then Greg had enough of that place and we headed to "Mastro's Steakhouse", where if you go on their web site, you will see Tom Cruise and his wife dining there, as opposed to Freddy "Out of Cruise Control", who was enjoying this evening in the Hills, at the front door, the doorman, who knew Greg, asked where we, including Brad who was with us, who I worked with at TU in Wilmington who relocated to LA, we picked up Brad while at the Martini Lounge, were going as dressed as we were not, Greg told him that he was in a yacht race that day and he won and we were his crew and we were out celebrating, against his better judgement, I am sure, the doorman allowed us entry into this exclusive upstairs piano bar where everyone was dressed up, including jewels and all of the other accessories that rich people wear, while at the bar, drinking a Miller Lite, which obviously wasn't the drink of choice there, the bouncer kept waving to me, I waved back three times, but got tired of saying hello to him, I am thinking that this guy is pretty friendly, until he came over and told me to take off my f___ing hat, then someone else told me that he has been coming to this place for seven years and never saw anyone with shorts on, in there before, Greg's friends including his financial advisor advised him to stay at a nearby Beverly Hills hotel and let us, Merry Men, begone, smart move, Brad drove Matty and Me back to the Marina Del Rey Hotel, Freddy and Junior stayed behind to rub elbows, I know that this story was a tad bit longer then "Roots", it was our first day in LA, obviously, a fun time was had by all, stay tuned.........................................