Aerial View was WFMU’s first regularly-scheduled phone-in talk show. Hosted by Chris T. and on the air since 1989, the show features topical conversation, interviews and many trips down the rabbit hole. Until further notice, Aerial View is only available as a podcast, available every Tuesday morning. Subscribe to the newsletter “See You Next Tuesday!” and find tons of archives at aerialview.me. (Visit homepage.)

February 10, 2015: Let's Unravel Your Travel!

Tonight: Let's Unravel Your Travel! This Friday my wife and I head out to vacation in sunny Measles-land... umm, "California" yet again. Which means this week will be exhausting. In addition to the day-to-day obligations and annoyances there's all the stuff that goes on before we can "relax": Make sure my work is covered. Write this newsletter. Prepare for Aerial View. Begin writing next week's newsletter. Pick up suit at the dry cleaners. Do laundry. Figure out what to pack. Figure out what NOT to pack. Pack. Hire a ride to Newark Airport. Get to the airport. Make it through security without going mental. Sit in a cramped seat for six plus hours. Land at LAX. Retrieve the luggage if it was gate-checked. Find a cab to where we're staying. Get there. Collapse. Of course all this went on beforehand: Book air travel. Find a place to stay. Rent a car. Plan an itinerary. Line up a pet sitter. While I do love getting away I'm not sure that's the same as enjoying traveling. Which is why I haven't done much in my life. I'm one of those types who goes to the same locales over and over. For years it was New Orleans. I've been in Los Angeles every year for a week since 2000. Since I got married we do a week on the Jersey Shore every summer. For work I travel to Louisville, KY every March and Dallas, TX every August. Here are other places to which I've traveled (and stayed at least overnight): Asheville, NC Austin, TX Baltimore, MD Bennington, VT Berkely, CA Boston, MA Boulder, CO Buffalo, NY Carlisle, PA Chicago, IL Cleveland, OH Concord, NH Denver, CO Dunellon, FL Flagstaff, AZ Great Barrington, MA Hyannis, MA Joplin, MO Lake George, NY Las Vegas, NV Lebanon, TN Los Angeles, CA Memphis, TN Michigan City, IN Monterey, CA Nashville, TN Niagara Falls, US & Canada Orlando, FL Palm Springs, CA Petersburg, VA Plantation, FL Philadelphia, PA Pittsfield, MA Phoenix, AZ Providence, RI Quebec, Canada San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Luis Obispo, CA Santa Barbara, CA Seattle, WA Tijuana, Mexico Toronto, Canada Torrington, CT Walcott, IA Washington, DC Waupun, WI West Palm Beach, FL Wichita, KS Woodstock, NY Some list, eh? I've (almost) been everywhere. In North America, that is. You may have noticed but I'm not exactly a world traveler. It's always been a dream of mine to visit the places my people came from: Italy, Greece and especially Malta. We keep talking about it but it hasn't happened yet. There are other places I'd like to see for myself: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, London, Paris, Rio, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Vienna... too many more to list. If it wasn't for actually having to get there, I'd be all over the globe. Tonight, call 201-209-9368 and tell me about all the places you've gone, the ones to which you'd gladly return, the ones you'll be glad never to see again and the ones you dream about. I also want to hear your traveling tips and tricks and especially how you pack for that getaway. Let's unravel your travel!  Click on the photo above for a drive through the Hollywood Hills with yours truly. Listen to this show:  Pop-up player! The Los Angeles List NOTE:  These are places I've actually experienced and can wholly recommend. I've left off the obvious stuff, like Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood Blvd., Walk of Fame, etc.   eat/drink 101 Coffee Shop. 6145 Franklin Ave Hollywood, CA. Usually a celebrity or two, great jukebox. Bob's Big Boy. The original Burbank location. Farmer’s Market. Old-time Hollywood landmark, lots of shopping and great food and produce. Hollywood Farmers Market. Open-air Farmers Market every Sunday.  In-N-Out Burger. One of the best hamburger chains. Go to the one in Hollywood. Here’s the “secret menu”. Mao’s Kitchen. The best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Original location in Venice Beach and one in Hollywood. Reel Inn. In Malibu. This is where I saw Sean Penn. But go for the food. Umami Burger. I’ve been to the one in Los Feliz on Hollywood Blvd. but they’re all over. Fantastic.   shop Amoeba Records. The biggest record store I’ve ever seen. Carvin Guitars & Amps. They sell mostly via catalog and online, but Carvin has actual stores. The one in Hollywood, on Sunset Blvd., is near a bunch of other guitar stores (though I found the Hollywood Guitar Center – which is the original location – to be a waste of time apart from the “Wall of Fame”). Counterpoint Records & Books. 5911 Franklin Ave, Hollywood. Echo Park Time Travel Mart. Created by the writer Dave Eggers to support the 826LA Foundation, a non-profit writing and tutoring center. Full of items to satisfy all your time-travel needs. Fry's. More than an electronics store, each one has a different theme. The one in Burbank has an "Alien Invasion" theme with a UFO crashed through the front and space creatures throughout the store, including a huge atomic tarantula. Really worth the trip. Melrose Trading Post. A great open-air flea market every Saturday morning in the parking lot of Fairfax High School at the corner of Fairfax and Melrose.  Soap Plant/Wacko. Like no store you've ever seen, crammed to the gills with great pop culture ephemera AND an art gallery.    other Arclight. Home to the Cinerama Dome Movie Theater. A couple bucks more than a standard movie theater, but you have the benefit of reserved seating, no previews and beer. Autry National Center. A museum of the American West. El Matador State Beach in Malibu is clean and peaceful and beautiful. Griffith Observatory. You’ve seen it in many movies, now go check it out. Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Across from Paramount Studios, a great place for some peace and quiet and to see famous graves like Johnny Ramone’s, Cecil B. DeMille. Hollywood Hills. Take Beachwood Canyon Drive and make your way over to Lake Hollywood Park (it’s a reservoir with a dog park nearby). LACMA. The Los Angeles County Art Museum, currently running a Stanley Kubrick retrospective. Mulholland Drive. Spectacular views of Los Angeles and Hollywood as you wind your way east or west. Museum of Jurassic Technology. 9341 Venice Boulevard, Culver City. Part natural history museum, part art prank. Founded by experimental filmmaker David Wilson, the MJT is a quiet, weird mid-sprawl wunderkammern with a small, extraordinarily well-selected bookstore. Odd hours. Check  Petersen Automotive Museum. On the “Museum Mile”, near LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits. LA is a car culture: you might as well see the car museum. (The Notorious B.I.G. was leaving a party at the Petersen when he got shot.) Currently closed for exterior renovations. Santa Monica Pier. One of my favorite drives is to take Sunset Blvd all the way from Hollywood west to Santa Monica The Getty. An art museum in a stunning setting with incredible views. The Groundlings. Improvisational comedy, alumni include tons of SNL cast and today's top comedians. Topanga Canyon. Another of my favorite drives is to take Topanga Canyon Road west to Malibu. It ends at the Pacific Coast Highway, pretty much right where the Reel Inn sits. Upright Citizen's Brigade, 5159 Franklin Ave, Hollywood.  Venice Beach Skate Park. Go at sunset. Wally Parks Motorsports Museum. Wally was the founder of the NHRA and Southern California is where hot-rodding came of age. Located in nearby Pomona. Artist Track Album Label Year Format Comments Images New * / Special *** Approx. start time Steve Chris T. Miller  Jet Aerial View Airliner   → "Jet Aerial View Airliner" by "Steve Chris T. Miller" Aerial View Intros    2015  WAV          Petula Clark  Downtown (German) (Listen: Pop-up)   → "Downtown (German)" by "Petula Clark" Petula Clark sings German    1964  45          <-- Previous playlist | Back to Aerial View playlists | Next playlist --> RSS feeds for Aerial View: Playlists feed | MP3 archives feed | Email the Program Director | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Aerial View | Listen on the Internet | Contact Us | Music & Programs | WFMU Home Page | Support Us | FAQ Live Audio Streams for WFMU: Pop-up | 128k AAC | 128k MP3 | 32k MP3    (More streams: [+]) Give the Drummer Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Rock'N'Soul Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Sheena's Jungle Room: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Listener comments! ♥ 6:03pm → Mike East: tis the season to get the hell away from the snow. I'm headed to Miami next Monday for five days. We thought about California but opted for slightly less time on a plane. ♥ 6:05pm → Aaron in Minneapolis: Its either snow or the anti vaccinators, take your pick ♥ 6:15pm → Ken From Hyde Park: Please don't catch the measles out there! ♥ 6:16pm → Fuzzy: It would be cool if you could go to Venice Beach and do a brief interview with Harry Perry, aka The Kama Kosmic Krusader. He's the dude in the turban on roller skates jamming on the guitar. Get him to play "Heads of Skin!" ♥ 6:17pm → Greg from Bloomfield: Evening, folks! ♥ 6:23pm → Ken From Hyde Park: If you're packing shoes, roll up some socks and stash them into the shoes to save space. ♥ 6:25pm → Mike East: Germany has great sausage and bread.   6:26pm → Marcel M: If you like sausage, mustard and beer you'll be in heaven in Germany. Not to mention chocolate cake. ♥ 6:33pm → dale: dunkirk, ny - my wife's home town!!!   6:34pm → Willa J.: I never trusted sheep and now I never will. ♥ 6:34pm → dale: must have been at the Clarion hotel, or as my mother in law says - the Claritin ♥ 6:35pm → dale: el kabong ♥ 6:35pm → Greg from Bloomfield: THANK you Chris. Brevity is the soul of etc.   6:35pm → Robert: That was the point -- I could hardly take another moment of that trip!   6:35pm → Chris T.: Is everyone digging the newsletter on the playlist? I'd like to keep doing it. ♥ 6:36pm → dale: that dude he hung up on calls seven second delay and shut up weirdo and they're starting to like his long-winded anecdotes ♥ 6:38pm → Mike East: yeah, Chris T, its cool. I don't always get to read the email during the day, so its nice to check it out live and still be able to keep track of comments. Have a great trip, btw.   6:40pm → Robert: In Ann Arbor, one of my friends I picked up for the ride back wanted as much time as he could get with a lady he'd met, so we wound up getting farther behind schedule--so far behind that I started falling asleep on I-94 in Mich. So I pulled off to sleep at a gas sta., and everyone else slept OK, but for some reason on that road people were drag racing & shooting firecrackers, so I hardly slept. Wound up not making it back until well into the next day, and all my passengers were upset at the compromises they had to make with all the others & being late. Never again! ♥ 6:40pm → dale: it works for me. ♥ 6:41pm → dale: i always expect frangry to dump him but she doesn't   6:41pm → Robert: No, that WAS the point -- how long & annoying the experience was. Guess you have to get a taste of it in the telling.   6:43pm → Robert: I think I might've called Frangry & Michelle's/Andy's program once, but I don't think that's me you're thinking about.   6:43pm → Willa J.: Don't trust sheep. Trust Dale like Chris does. ♥ 6:44pm → dale: take it you've been to the petersen museum in la brea. if you want to see professor fates hannibal 8 that's the place to go. ♥ 6:48pm → Greg from Bloomfield: Frangry has to reserve all her impatience for Orlando. ♥ 6:49pm → Fuzzy: El Pulpo on Av. Constitucion in Tijuana has the best chicken enchiladas -- check 'em out! ♥ 6:49pm → dale: fish-a-ma-jig was the red barn's fish sammich   6:50pm → Robert: Once I was in a friend's living room talking to her and another friend walked in & asked what we were discussing. The 1st friend said, "That's just Bob. We stopped listening to him 10 mins. ago." ♥ 6:53pm → dale: i went to pasadena flea once - paint by numbers were like $50 and up! ♥ 6:54pm → dale: don't forget the brown derby. oh - wait...   6:55pm → moe: Its san peedro! Dick.   6:55pm → LES: Good show ChrisT. Happy trails bud.   6:56pm → Robert: I AM the long-winded guy! ♥ 6:57pm → Greg from Bloomfield: Thanks, Chris- safe trip!   8:48pm → Paris Jean: French people will not make fun. Visit us. Comment! Name Email ✖ Re To songs (C) 2024 WFMU. Generated by KenzoDB, written by Ken Garson To Comments!