Getty-ing Theatrical ~3~

Erin really saved my Californian road trip, for which I will be eternally grateful. However, she couldn’t save me completely. There had to be some price to pay for my stupidity. I had intended to drive from LA to Vegas over two days. I’d stop in Indio (so close to the annual music festival, Coachella, but several months off-schedule – fuck, fuck, fuck – I’d love to attend) for a night before driving the next day to Lake Havasu City. Here I wanted to see London Bridge. I was really pissed at myself for missing this!

The earliest iterations of this structure (50 AD to 410 AD) were built by the Romans out of wood. They were destroyed by fires, floods and revolts, including the 60 AD Boudican revolt. After the Romans left, the wooden structure remained the only road crossing the Thames. William the Conqueror rebuilt the bridge several times. The “Old” London Bridge, made of stone, was commissioned by Henry II and took 33 years to build. This lasted from 1209 to 1831. Upon it were 200 buildings, including multi-story houses, shops and a chapel. In 1759, a single “Great Arch” replaced two central arches to accommodate water-top transportation, and the buildings were removed in 1761 to ease bridge-top traffic. The “New” London Bridge was constructed 100 feet upstream from the medieval site to accommodate growing traffic due to the Industrial Revolution. This stood from 1831 to 1968. This iteration was sold in 1968 to American entrepreneur Robert McCulloch for the sum of $2.46 million. It was dismantled stone-by-stone and reassembled in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. (The Modern London Bridge, built in 1973, still stands at time of writing in 2026.)

Five days ago, once I was certain Hertz wouldn’t give me the car, I canceled my bookings in Indio and Lake Havasu City, booked a flight with Delta from LA to Vegas, cried a little in my sleep, swallowed, and cut my losses.  Instead of dropping Erin at LAX on Monday Feb 2 and driving on, she dropped us both at LAX. En route, we stopped for coffee and snacks at Alana’s Coffee Roasters in Mar Vista. On the flight, I was astonished to hear among the announcements that chewing tobacco was not allowed; never before had I heard that form of tobacco singled out.

Waiting at LAX