This one was fun, and it had me getting paid to eat maple-glazed bacon donuts at the Nickel Diner.

Not recorded: Me getting kicked out of the forecourt of the Chinese Theatre for having a video camera. I felt like a 60 Minutes correspondent, only without the muckraking.

The original post on WalletPop explains everything in more detail, including the cross-L.A. walk I took that gave me the idea to make this to begin with. I cannot overemphasize how much I adore downtown Los Angeles when viewed in the context of its rich and mostly forgotten (by white people) history. Every time I’m there, I see more and learn more.

One of the new travel whippersnappers did a podcast in which he called the idea of discussing Los Angeles without a car “cliché.” To which I might answer: Then why haven’t I ever seen anyone do this video before?  (The same writer also admitted to covering the same topic himself. I looked it up. Tellingly, he never researched the possibility of taking the subway, dismissing it with “everyone I spoke to said that the Metro was useless.”)

A few days after this was published on WalletPop.com, my dear friend Brendan Milburn honored his 40th birthday by walking across Los Angeles, too. He went from Pasadena to the ocean and he found is as enriching as I did. Helluva way to turn 40, Brendan! You’re kicking ass even as you walk 20 miles.