don't drink the blue milk

i'm pretty sure you're aware of my level of star wars-nerdiness.  i loved those movies as a kid and have rediscovered them while watching them with the bean over the last few years, plus the new ones.  not the ones that came out in the 2000s, though - those sucked.  so boring.  but i digress.

luckily, i have friends who are just as star wars nerdy as i am.  and when word of a pop-up "scum & villainy" cantina straight out of the movies came out, we signed up for a reservation right away.  it took what seemed like forever, and then finally it was time for us to head out to hollywood and check it out.  none of us really knew what to expect other than a couple of themed drinks and a handful of food options, so we went in hoping we'd have some fun in a cool environment.

i even busted out some of the star wars fabric i've been hoarding, waiting for just the right moment to use it.  and since we were experiencing a crazy heat wave, i decided to make a simple tank-style minidress:

i love riding with lilcee to the west side.  she always knows all the best shortcuts and is a super aggressive driver who can handle any sort of traffic the universe throws her way.  she found us a great parking spot just across the street and around the corner from the cantina, with a great view of the creepy ass scientology building.

as we crossed hollywood boulevard, we could see the hollywood sign off in the distance.

and then we were there...or so we thought.  the guy standing here told us to keep walking around the corner and join the line that was formed in the alley behind the building.  i guess no experience is worth it if you don't have to work a little for it, huh?

the girl who checked us in handed us these tickets (to exchange at the end of our visit for some commemorative merchandise) and two drink tokens.

it wasn't a very long wait though, and we found ourselves moving towards the entrance in no time.

just inside the door was this out-of-order atm.  hmmm.

and then we came across our first photo op:

there were a few pieces of merchandise available for sale.

and then just past that, we got our first look at the "cantina."

all of the tables were taken, although there was a couple there with their little boy who offered to share their booth with us.  we happily accepted and made small talk with them as we perused the menu.

along with a couple of the others, i opted for the blood orange-flavored "a bad feeling about this" drink, while dailygluttony decided to try "the chosen one."  all were served with "light sabers" that we all agreed we could have done at home with glow sticks from the dollar bins.  heh.

being 3:00 in the afternoon, there weren't too many costumes in the place.  i saw one princess leia, a girl wearing a skirt with a light saber print on it and this guy, presumably dressed as a jedi knight.

oh, and this guy who was totally out of place in his star trek outfit.  he totally knew we were looking at him and even smiled as lilcee snapped a photo of him.

group photo!

there's a frog in this vat of juice...

meanwhile, the bean was having a blast at the beach with her daddy.

we tired of the dive bar experience pretty quickly and got outta there about an hour after we'd arrived.  one more photo op, just because:

in the car, i checked out the merchandise we'd received - an etched glass and a souvenir token of some sort.

we decided to hit up a nearby thai restaurant that the others had heard great things about.  it was located across from the "crossroads of the world," a spot that has some sort of historical significance that i still need to look up.  a smaller version of this is in hollywood studios over in disney world, so it must have a story behind it.

here's where we ate:

because i'm 10, i totally giggled at "dang soda."

thai iced coffee.  it was super sweet, but i liked it.

we ordered several dishes and shared them, family style.  there was a spicy crab curry, an order of jade noodles with crispy pork cubes, and thai-style fried chicken that was super delicious.

and as we ate, the hub sent me a picture of the bean happily playing with one of his friends' dogs at their beach house.

and so i guess you can tell that the scum & villainy experience was not something we would necessarily recommend.  like i said, we didn't really know what to expect, but what we got definitely wasn't worth the drive out to hollywood.  so if you're thinking about heading out to check things out - well, proceed with caution.  and plan to eat elsewhere.  heh.