That's the place I went to last night. When I got there at about 10:30, it felt a little like one the Hollywood parties Charles Bukowski went to during the shooting of the movie Barfly, as he described in the book Hollywood: a splintered party.

This place was definitely not a dive (thus the name High Dive?). Everyone was standing around talking in little groups, dressed casually. First order of business: beer, at the rear-end of the bar. A little conversation with my girlfriend about vodka--I told her French vodka is bullshit, and Polish vodka is the best. I don't understand how people can buy French vodka. It's like buying Polish wine. Doesn't make sense, right?

We went to the front of the bar where we eventually managed to secure a table just to the left of the stage. As the next band played (pictured above; I don't know their name), a few girls in hippy outfits--except for one who looked like she was dressed for ballroom dancing--started dancing in the front. Meanwhile everyone else was standing and watching, and not right next to them, but about ten feet behind them. If you looked down from the bar's ceiling you would see this big gaping hole as if there was a toxic spill there. It looked very bizarre to me but then I was on my 3rd or 4th beer.

We danced a little bit and it was a lot of fun (6th beer).

We played some pinball before we left. A girl came up and asked if she could slap my girlfriend's ass. I said sure, and you can slap mine too. Satisfied, she left. When I went to the bathroom I looked for her but couldn't find her. My girlfriend and I got in a fight about that on the way back. I guess I was trying to steal a trick or two from Bukowski...

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I liked Hollywood a lot. It's another of Bukowski's books that you flow through, although it's much softer in tone. It's all about his experience--and he really shows the inside of Hollywood--during the making of the movie Barfly, which was also good, but I see why it wasn't a huge box-office hit and it took three phone calls to find it in a video store. It's a story about a drunk: Charles Bukowski. Most people, myself not included, don't find that interesting. I think one has to be a fan of Bukowski to really like it. Micky Rourke and Faye Dunaway give really good performances. I'm glad I saw the movie first, and then read the book--I sometimes prefer the opposite order.