Nov 1, 2007

what DO the common folk do?

i do not *heart* L.A. not driving in it, anyway. driving into, through or out of downtown L.A., well, i can only liken it to surgery without anesthesia.

but occasionally, things happen - the stars align, blah, blah, blah, that makes it allllllll worth while.


ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Staples Center. and yes, the Husband did give me a 'ohfortheloveofgodandallthatisholy' look as i stopped in the parking lot to snap this.he SO forgets that 1) i am a picture taking freak, 2) i scrap, for heaven's sake and 3) of COURSE i'm posting this on the blog.


boys. go figure.we got to the parking area directly across from the Staples Center - where parking is $20. yep - t-w-e-n-t-y bucks. we pulled in, and Husband showed our ticket to the parking attendant who said, 'this isn't a parking pass, this is your ticket, sir.'


'no problem,' he said, only it was a problem, since we didn't GET a parking pass. 'can you tell us where we do need to go, or how much parking is here?'


after a short pause, the attendant handed us a parking pass. 'park anywhere you'd like. enjoy the game, folks.'


freaking sweet! parking just got free, too!


oh, and did i mention skybox patrons have their own exclusive entrance?!


i love L.A.


we headed up to the third floor - which by this time was looking more like a really nice hotel than an arena.

welcome to our skybox. please scan your ticket for admission to the box.





yep. this is the skybox. and me without my wide angle lens. but across from these couches, is this table with veggies. there are plasma screen TVs on either side of the room, and these bar seats like above.


below those are more seats. AND a mini tv above the seats.


holy freaking cow. this SO rocks.



the box is stocked with plenty of sodas, water, a bottle of wine and some beer. we had hot dogs, with or without chili, chips, pretzels and tortilla chips. oh, and wings and veggies.


oh, and did i mention the dessert cart that came by with a selection of red velvet cake (see, Melissa? we ARE cultured!) s'mores brownies, caramel apples, skittles, brownies, and dang i can't remember what else. we took a variety selection for the rest of the room.


we had about 12 people in the room and we were all comfortable. one of the most amazing things for me was, when i left to use the ladies room, i walked into a sparkling clean, EMPTY restroom. no lines reaching down the hall. seriously. i cannot remember ever not waiting in line at a restroom at any event, much less a sporting event.


heck. even when we went to Billy Joel years ago, i hit up the mens room. i couldn't stand it any longer. i'm sure i pissed off some people.


pun intended.


long story short - we both had a great time. the Kings lost (imagine that!), but i think the only one who cared was the guy and his wife wearing their matching, autographed Kings jerseys.


the rest of us were happy drinking free beer, eating free hot dogs and relishing (we were, anyway) in our free parking and our moment in the sun.


living like celebrities. or hot shots.

i love this town.

6 comments:

doodlebugmom said...

how cool is that!

Melissa said...

That sounds so great! I often wonder who is in the skyboxes at the Grizzlies games. Or, even who is in the First Tennessee Bank Club Level, where they have tables and laptops.

And a bouncer to make sure no one gets in who isn't supposed to.

Anonymous said...

I've had the pleasure of using a skybox too. Loved it. Loved being able to stay inside if I wanted or moving out to the seats. Loved the food and absolutely LOVED the lack of bathroom line!

Jaq

Tug said...

YAY for YOU!! How much fun is that...and the free parking? Double YAY!!

My boss in Vegas could get box tickets to Nascar...LOVED it!! So glad you had a good time.

Angi said...

That sounds so totally freaken awesome!
My Hubby used to get some great perks when we lived in Vegas, and he was just a supervisor then - but he handled the Nextel account for the company, so one year we were invited by his Nextel rep to box seats to Nascar (since Nextel had just purchased it) it was so cool. We got pit passed and were actually down on the tracks, and in the garage, we saw many drivers, met a few, touched cars, took pictures in the pit crew area. It was heaven!
Then one time the co. was giving away tickets to a motorcross event, it was kind of funny that they chose me cause they needed a chaperone and figured since my hubby was a supervisor, they'd get one by just claiming me a winner (we used to work for the same co.) so we went and it ended up being box seats at the Orlean's Arena, and it was so decked out in food and drinks compliments of the sales team. It's great to get treated specially! Now that we live in New Orleans and my hubby is a manager, we don't get any perks cause he runs the office. The sales district manager also works out of the same office and so the sales dept. has season tickets to the Saints football team, but it's not a box, but damn good seats - however, she rarily offeres them up to us. We saw 1 game last year, and so far only a pre-season game this year, and they aren't even as hot as they were last season. They've lost lots of games already, but last yr. almost made it to the Super Bowl.
It sounds like an awesome night and makes me miss growing up in So. IL and going to St. Louis to watch the Blues play, it was MY only real sport of choice, but hockey must be watched live to appeciate it, TV's not the same!

Susie Q said...

This is so freakin' sweet! Wow. I am not worthy...you have been in a skybox in the freakin' Staples center. How many times can I say freakin' in one comment? Apparently 3. I do think this is cool...and am envious or could you already tell? : )
I think that is a freakin' cute picture of you tow. Oops. That would make *4* times.

Love ya,
Sue