Bringing La Mecca to the Streets - Day 1

While LA MECCA is bringing fashion to the streets, the symbiotic equation to that involves LA MECCA being brought to the streets. So today was the first day we took Sammy (the truck) out to work! We went…and we returned... It was a learning experience involving two broken mirrors and a dent to his body. …now while the two broken mirrors may spark a sudden grimace in lieu of common superstitious beliefs, I can tell you that at the end of this tale science outweighs superstition and two negatives equal a positive.

Rewind one day: I was happily meandering the Melrose & Fairfax Flea Market wearing my little-red-ridding-hood cape-coat when the stars aligned and the last piece to the puzzle (a magic mirror), which is why I had come, I found. It was perfect – the perfect size, unique, ornate, and framed so it could be easily hung. Later, with the electric drill & screw driver (new tool! thanks dad ;) ) I hung it in the truck and it really was that last missing piece; it completed the outlined components. I knew we were ready to go.

So today…

We head to Santa Monica…our precise destination being based upon wherever we could find two metered parking spots tandem to one-another (as Sammy was rather large). About 3 minutes enroot and there’s a high-pitch CRASH. Rebecca looks at me. I look at her.  “What was that?!?”. Grimace. “THE MIRROR.“

“Is the mirror broken?”

“Yup…the tire fell on the mirror.”

“How broken?”

“All broken.”

We pull over to evaluate…do we need the mirror? YES. How will people try things on with no mirror? We need a mirror. We decide to detour and reroute to Bed Bath & Beyond. Of course, being 16 feet tall though, you don’t fit in the average parking structure (except maybe of Home Depot); so I waited with my hazards on, pulled over on the street while Rebecca ran inside.

A little while later, a little shaken but feeling like we pushed through it, we get into downtown Santa Monica…what a busy place full of people trying to find parking! Eagle-eye Rebecca spots a tandem twosome ahead on the opposite side of the street. We get excited. It’s not as easy as you think to get to the opposite side of the street on gridlock system incorporated with a walking mall “the promenade”. We know the fabulous beast we were driving can’t take tight turns, being a big truck, so a U-turn was out of the question. His size we underestimated however…although obviously large, he really seems more petite from the driver’s seat! …An alley seemed like the best option. Off the alley there was a drive into a parking lot that exited back onto the street in the right direction so we decided to turn into it. The turn looked a little “tight” but didn’t look like anything that a 3-5 point turn couldn’t easily accomplish. …But, shortly after, stuck between a triad of walls, dented, we now know a little more about how wide “tight” isn’t.

A little shaken and back on the alley way, we see the light at the end of this darkened alley and take a deep breath as we are about to exit. Watch out! SMASH passenger side mirror snaps against the window and the mirror shatters. We clipped another truck in the alley, which had been unloading. It startled them but no damage was done, given that where we hit it was its back corner…which was already dinged up all the way up and down. Unfortunately, you may start to notice that this dinged-up-corner syndrome is a commonality among large trucks…and now, after a dent and clipped mirror, we understand why. Driving these things are like driving beasts.

We decide we should go home and reevaluate. The ride home was a little stressful; with the passenger side-view mirror out and not having a rearview mirror in trucks, it left us with only the driver side-view mirror. The passenger window doesn’t roll down (weird design) so there was no way for Rebecca to look and see what was coming in the right lane. We were like Derek Zoolander and couldn’t turn (right). Eventually though, we made it to Sammy’s home, disposed of the mirror and left to regroup. We go to lunch at the Grove to perk up with some Christmas cheer, make the arrangements for fixing the things tomorrow, and relax about the whole thing….a little perplexed…it certainly is not how I imagined it would happen going into it the first day but….

the mind does not passively soak up knowledge. The positive becomes “Well now we know”. What do we know? We know we do not fit in allies with other vehicles present. We know that spare tires are very heavy and can a be a destructive hazard; thus more significant though, we know that we should evaluate ALL inanimate objects for destructive and hazard potential (and create a prevention plan). While theoretically we “knew we couldn’t make tight turns”, now we know how wide “tight” isn’t…”tight” is a value, in my opinion, based upon the subject’s size.

We will see you tomorrow Santa Monica! xoxo