In the richest country in the world you meet the poorest of people starving on the streets

We went for lunch yesterday to the Sunset Grill on Sunset Boulevard; on the wall there is a copy of the record by Joe Walsh of the song which this establishment influenced.

As you can see by the picture above it's next to The Guitar Center in Hollywood where I bought my guitar a few weeks ago. The neighbourhood attracts pop stars and musicians from all over the world and there are plenty of recording studios about the place and plenty of other guitar shops.

The record on the wall says either Joe Walsh (I think it does as I haven't looked closely at it for a long time) or The Eagles and if you look at the picture above we sat on those two chairs out front and, as the song says below, we can watch the working girls go by (the prostitutes).

There are not that many you can recognise these days as that little part of the area has cleaned itself up a bit although there are a couple of strip clubs opposite on the other side of Sunset and when he goes on to say in the song that the “basket people” walk around and mumble it's not the so called basket people who are doing the mumbling these days as a lot of people pass and appear to be talking to themselves because they have a mobile phone hidden somewhere and a discreet ear piece secluded away like the secret service. But instead of speaking into their shoulder like the secret service they talk out loud even gesturing with their arms as they walk.

If my grandmother were to suddenly rise from the grave and see how many people walk the streets and appear to be talking to themselves she would dive back into the grave.

I had a hot dog and my wife had beef quesadillas and we sat in the sunshine watching the world go by for a while. The Sunset Grill is one of the places in that immediate area where you can get a relatively cheap lunch but recently there have been a few of our favourite places closing down.

I wrote a post, I think, about The Last American Hamburger which closed down about six months ago and last week or so The Curry Palace further west on Sunset closed its doors; that and the Coach and Horses English Pub are no more.

It was nothing like an English pub by the way but it wasn't bad. Locals thought that Quentin Tarantino might buy it as he used to go there on Friday evenings but it wasn't to be so when you go there now there is a notice from some official body on the door to say the premises are available for someone to apply for a liqueur licence; so if that's what you are after you know where to go.

The places are closing down because the landlords are asking for more rent at the expiration of the leases; The last American Hamburger is to be replaced soon by Chipotle which will be more expensive so we are left with El Compadre, the Mexican Restaurant opposite and The Sunset Grill.

Food trucks are very fashionable in Los Angeles at the moment but they should know where to come; I know they are around there earlier in the mornings.

The one snag about The Last American Hamburger was that if you sat outside, hungry homeless people would come up and eat out of the trash bins; it was stomach turning and I couldn't help feeling guilty with a plate of food in front of me and people doing things like that; in the richest country in the world you meet the poorest of people starving on the streets.

Let's go down to the Sunset Grill
We can watch the working girls go by
Watch the "basket people" walk around and mumble
And stare out at the auburn sky
There's an old man there from the Old World
To him, it's all the same
Calls all his customers by name
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
You see a lot more meanness in the city
It's the kind that tears you up inside
Hard to come away with anything that feels
like dignity
Hard to get home with any pride
These days a man makes you somethin'
And you never see his face
But there is no hiding place
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Respectable little murders pay
They get more respectable every day
Don't worry girl, I'm gonna stick by you
And someday soon we're gonna get in that
car and get outta here
Let's go down to the Sunset Grill
Watch the working girls go by
Watch the "basket people" walk around and
mumble
And gaze out at the auburn sky
Maybe we'll leave come springtime
Meanwhile, have another beer
What would we do without these jerks
anyway?
Besides, all our friends are here
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill
Down at the Sunset Grill

Writers: Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, Benmont M. Tench,