Royal Clayton’s, 1855 Industrial St, Los Angeles, CA
“Beer is in the eye of the beer holder”. That was the quote for this unique bar, which is located in a very interesting area in downtown Los Angeles. That night, there was “free I.Q test for alcoholics”, or better known as “trivia night contest”. Amy, a friendly bartender, had a good list of imported beers for the picky clientele. Tetley’s Beer seemed a popular drink here. Most of the people had a British accent and was not the classic Angelino crowd. As I was reading the drink menu, two guys satdown near me. Wei Shen from Malaysia, and Wesley from England, two nice guys with whom I couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with. Wei Shen said he is a photographer, and tonight was his first night at this bar. I told him that recently I had a Malaysian dish, which unfortunately wasn’t very good. He smiled at me, and said “that’s a shame!” Wesley was more into the trivia game than any of us; he was quiet but aware of his surroundings. I noticed that he smoked “vanilla cigarettes”, which I had never seen before. He said that there was a bar nearby that had ping pong tables; he invited me to join them there after the trivia game. I wanted to have a longer conversation with Wesley, but he had a goal: to win the trivia prize. Finally they stepped outside for a smoke, and I followed. The security guard, who was also British, shared with me that his twelve year old son played soccer for an important club in England. I could tell how proud he was by the beaming expression on his face. Soccer is a popular sport in The United Kingdom; it’s like being a hero. Wesley and Wei Shen finished their cigarettes and invited me to play pool and I accepted the challenge. While we prepared the pool table for the friendly competition, we heard the trivia game had just finished and Wesley was disappointed for his loss. I grabbed the pool stick to show off a bit and they found this new contest titillating. I was impressed by Wei Shen’s skill at the game; he didn’t give me a chance to show off more. Wesley stood in the corner and secretly wrote a poem in my little black notebook: “very good pool players, accepting to the scene, one tall, one small both fair, both mean” by Wesley. I scored that night, not necessary for the win, but for the pleasure of getting to know two great artists in a royal bar.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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