L.A. trip report--long, detailed, a little greasy
Sep 29th, 2003, 10:52 PM
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L.A. trip report--long, detailed, a little greasy
**NOTE: I like really detailed trip reports, the kind where you can truly get the down n dirty feel for what something was like, so that's what I write on Fodor's.**
My boyfriend lives in Santa Cruz, so sometimes he comes to L.A. instead of vice versa and we spend a three day weekend eating our way through the city. So here's a long, detailed, and belated trip report from Labor Day weekend about two twenty something kids--a pure bred Valley girl and her northern California boy...
Friday evening, he arrives at Burbank airport on Southwest. My two favorite travel partners, Burbank and Southwest...the "cattle car" thing about Southwest doesn't bother either of us, I don't know why some people are so uptight about reserving a seat, especially for an hour long flight. And Burbank airport, sweet, tiny, sincere Burbank airstrip (he calls it "the dirt airport"), which recently took an awkward step into adolescence with its shiny new look: a queer looking gelato bar/pricey salad bar/wall-of-tvs sports bar conglomeration (with the most hypnotic silver tables I've ever seen). Possibly the only airport that still uses "air stairs", like in old movies. I think it's cool, AND you can exit from the front and the back of the plane. God bless convenience.
We head over to the Magic Castle Motel, on Franklin Bl west of Highland, a few minutes south of the Hollywood Bowl. It turned out to be a great little hotel, but we really only stayed there because I wanted to take him to the Magic Castle, having been there a few years back. You can't get in there unless you're a member or a guest of a member, OR, their little secret, if you stay at the hotel. It was only $79 a night for a room without a kitchen, although it had a little fridge and coffee maker. It's motel style, with outdoor hallways, the entire building wrapped around a pretty swimming pool filled with floaties. The building is painted in soft whites and creams and yellows, with lots of flowers and patio furniture and decoration. It's not overdone, it's just breezy and very pleasant, very California. The rooms themselves are pretty standard motel fare, but very clean, nice size, good sized bathroom, and everything worked right. The desk staff was very cordial and nice to us as well. AND there was outside DSL access, near the pool, which I thought was pretty funky cool.
We checked in and raced over to eat at Farmer's Market (3rd & Fairfax) before they closed. We freakin love Farmer's Market, OMG. Too, too many choices, many of which to be exploited over the course of the weekend. We settled on the Gumbo Pot, which is always excellent, no matter what you have...we had jambalaya, blackened catfish, and big, crispy, cold shrimp cocktail, all with this green salad with these sweet pecans in it, and hunks of corn bread. I'm sighing just thinking about it. Also, pucker up with a carbonated limeade from the stripey painted ice cream place just around the corner (forget the name) and top it off with homeade bubble gum ice cream from Bennett's that will make you swear off store bought ice cream, it tastes so fresh and creamy wonderful. Dreyer's tastes synthetic to me everytime I eat it after a Bennett's.
After dinner, a friend picked us up and we drove to our favorite electrotrash club night, Synthetic at a club in Echo Park called The Echo. It's a cool place, big inside, lots of tables and booths on one side, a big dance floor, and they let you go outside behind the club for fresh (smoky) air. They claim they serve food, but I've yet to see it happen. But it's always packed with all the cool kids with the mod dresses and the hipster haircuts, and everyone dances, which is awesome (as opposed to some places where people are too cool to dance). On the downside, the parking lot adjacent to the club, although huge, can get a little sketchy. My friend's Honda wheel covers were stolen that night. Unbelievable, the humanity, and so forth.
My boyfriend lives in Santa Cruz, so sometimes he comes to L.A. instead of vice versa and we spend a three day weekend eating our way through the city. So here's a long, detailed, and belated trip report from Labor Day weekend about two twenty something kids--a pure bred Valley girl and her northern California boy...
Friday evening, he arrives at Burbank airport on Southwest. My two favorite travel partners, Burbank and Southwest...the "cattle car" thing about Southwest doesn't bother either of us, I don't know why some people are so uptight about reserving a seat, especially for an hour long flight. And Burbank airport, sweet, tiny, sincere Burbank airstrip (he calls it "the dirt airport"), which recently took an awkward step into adolescence with its shiny new look: a queer looking gelato bar/pricey salad bar/wall-of-tvs sports bar conglomeration (with the most hypnotic silver tables I've ever seen). Possibly the only airport that still uses "air stairs", like in old movies. I think it's cool, AND you can exit from the front and the back of the plane. God bless convenience.
We head over to the Magic Castle Motel, on Franklin Bl west of Highland, a few minutes south of the Hollywood Bowl. It turned out to be a great little hotel, but we really only stayed there because I wanted to take him to the Magic Castle, having been there a few years back. You can't get in there unless you're a member or a guest of a member, OR, their little secret, if you stay at the hotel. It was only $79 a night for a room without a kitchen, although it had a little fridge and coffee maker. It's motel style, with outdoor hallways, the entire building wrapped around a pretty swimming pool filled with floaties. The building is painted in soft whites and creams and yellows, with lots of flowers and patio furniture and decoration. It's not overdone, it's just breezy and very pleasant, very California. The rooms themselves are pretty standard motel fare, but very clean, nice size, good sized bathroom, and everything worked right. The desk staff was very cordial and nice to us as well. AND there was outside DSL access, near the pool, which I thought was pretty funky cool.
We checked in and raced over to eat at Farmer's Market (3rd & Fairfax) before they closed. We freakin love Farmer's Market, OMG. Too, too many choices, many of which to be exploited over the course of the weekend. We settled on the Gumbo Pot, which is always excellent, no matter what you have...we had jambalaya, blackened catfish, and big, crispy, cold shrimp cocktail, all with this green salad with these sweet pecans in it, and hunks of corn bread. I'm sighing just thinking about it. Also, pucker up with a carbonated limeade from the stripey painted ice cream place just around the corner (forget the name) and top it off with homeade bubble gum ice cream from Bennett's that will make you swear off store bought ice cream, it tastes so fresh and creamy wonderful. Dreyer's tastes synthetic to me everytime I eat it after a Bennett's.
After dinner, a friend picked us up and we drove to our favorite electrotrash club night, Synthetic at a club in Echo Park called The Echo. It's a cool place, big inside, lots of tables and booths on one side, a big dance floor, and they let you go outside behind the club for fresh (smoky) air. They claim they serve food, but I've yet to see it happen. But it's always packed with all the cool kids with the mod dresses and the hipster haircuts, and everyone dances, which is awesome (as opposed to some places where people are too cool to dance). On the downside, the parking lot adjacent to the club, although huge, can get a little sketchy. My friend's Honda wheel covers were stolen that night. Unbelievable, the humanity, and so forth.
Sep 29th, 2003, 10:53 PM
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Saturday...had early lunch at Fatburger (questioning now WHY we skipped Farmer's Market, when it was obviously still at our disposal), then drove over to the coolest museum ever, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, on Venice Bl near Robertson (www.mjt.org). It's like five bucks to get in...it's in a storefront very near the corner of a residential street, you may not even know you're standing in front of it, you have to ring the bell at a big ornate door to get in. The place is a little hard to explain...first, it's very dark and moody inside, with twisty corridors and private coves...I'm always filled with a strange yet wonderful sense of calm when I'm there. Basically, it's about innovation in all its different, strange, and wonderful forms. Two standouts of the permanent collection: a dark room filled with dioramas illustrating bizarre superstitions, and a room filled with large glass cases with dioramas and photos about the history of mobile homes in the US, and people who built their own. We also saw several exhibits about different people and their ideas and inventions, all incredibly illustrated in every way you could imagine--strange little paintings, glowing orbs, spinning things, holograms, dark boxes to peer into...the place just keeps surprising you, and you can spend several hours there because everything is so intricate. It's truly fascinating for both adults and kids, and something really unusual to do in L.A. that you'll never forget.
From there we continued on to Venice Beach since he'd never been. What can I say about Venice? It's very, very hard to park, and the parking lots will try to gouge you with like $13 flat fees, maybe more. But you're there to walk. The Venice Beach Boardwalk is a garish mixture of junk tshirt stores and $1 pizza slices and blueblockers on one side, the beach and the grassy beach park area with the winding path (which is really quite nice) on the other side, and all the strangeness of (in)humanity inbetween...the freaks cometh. Venice continues to entertain, with its otherwordly amalgam of one-woman shows, laughable psychics, and freaky men who are more than willing to follow you around for a little while. That said, I wouldn't really say it's unsafe, just like any other packed city area, I mean, there's a LOT of people there, and they all seem to hold their own pretty well. I just don't know if I'd go there at night; I haven't BEEN, but it's because of the things I've heard on the ten o'clock news. You can't miss the canals though, which seem like they're a million miles away from the dirt and hustle of the boardwalk. People have lovely gardens and beautiful houses, all right up to the edge of the quiet canals, dotted with curved bridges and canoes. Stop there after you see the boardwalk, it's truly calming.
Back over to the hotel to get ready for our big night at the Magic Castle. It's a big, old, ornate Victorian type mansion up on the hill, very pretty at night. You walk in the lobby and must turn to the bookcase and say "open sesame" to gain entrance. We had dinner reservations so went upstairs to eat first. The dining room, as does the whole castle, has a very old fashioned, well decorated, parlour feel--dark woods, ornate furniture, big portraits on the walls, intricate detail work, deep jewel tones...very warm and cozy feeling, the kind of place you want to settle into a big burgundy chair and linger over a drink with someone mysterious. Dinner was pretty standard fare of meat, fish, and pasta, but my filet mignon and his fish was excellent.
After dinner, we started to hit the magic shows. Our first show was the close up magic parlour, which only seats about twenty-five people and focuses on one magician doing some unbelievable tricks very close up; we were in awe the whole time. We proceeded to a tiny tiny theater which featured three magicians in a row, each were equally funny and amazing, AND I got to participate in a trick. Finally, we saw the "big" magic show, the one that's more David Copperfieldish, sawing chicks in half and so forth. A good show, but not nearly as awe-inspiring as the close up magic. After the last show, we settled into Irma's piano bar area where Irma the ghost plays the piano from beyond the grave. Call out a request, or ask a question, and the piano will immediately begin playing out the response by itself. I still don't know how Irma sucked dry the drink the waitress set on her piano. We sat in that lounge for quite a while, enjoying the drinks and the atmosphere, and really didn't ever want to leave.
From there we continued on to Venice Beach since he'd never been. What can I say about Venice? It's very, very hard to park, and the parking lots will try to gouge you with like $13 flat fees, maybe more. But you're there to walk. The Venice Beach Boardwalk is a garish mixture of junk tshirt stores and $1 pizza slices and blueblockers on one side, the beach and the grassy beach park area with the winding path (which is really quite nice) on the other side, and all the strangeness of (in)humanity inbetween...the freaks cometh. Venice continues to entertain, with its otherwordly amalgam of one-woman shows, laughable psychics, and freaky men who are more than willing to follow you around for a little while. That said, I wouldn't really say it's unsafe, just like any other packed city area, I mean, there's a LOT of people there, and they all seem to hold their own pretty well. I just don't know if I'd go there at night; I haven't BEEN, but it's because of the things I've heard on the ten o'clock news. You can't miss the canals though, which seem like they're a million miles away from the dirt and hustle of the boardwalk. People have lovely gardens and beautiful houses, all right up to the edge of the quiet canals, dotted with curved bridges and canoes. Stop there after you see the boardwalk, it's truly calming.
Back over to the hotel to get ready for our big night at the Magic Castle. It's a big, old, ornate Victorian type mansion up on the hill, very pretty at night. You walk in the lobby and must turn to the bookcase and say "open sesame" to gain entrance. We had dinner reservations so went upstairs to eat first. The dining room, as does the whole castle, has a very old fashioned, well decorated, parlour feel--dark woods, ornate furniture, big portraits on the walls, intricate detail work, deep jewel tones...very warm and cozy feeling, the kind of place you want to settle into a big burgundy chair and linger over a drink with someone mysterious. Dinner was pretty standard fare of meat, fish, and pasta, but my filet mignon and his fish was excellent.
After dinner, we started to hit the magic shows. Our first show was the close up magic parlour, which only seats about twenty-five people and focuses on one magician doing some unbelievable tricks very close up; we were in awe the whole time. We proceeded to a tiny tiny theater which featured three magicians in a row, each were equally funny and amazing, AND I got to participate in a trick. Finally, we saw the "big" magic show, the one that's more David Copperfieldish, sawing chicks in half and so forth. A good show, but not nearly as awe-inspiring as the close up magic. After the last show, we settled into Irma's piano bar area where Irma the ghost plays the piano from beyond the grave. Call out a request, or ask a question, and the piano will immediately begin playing out the response by itself. I still don't know how Irma sucked dry the drink the waitress set on her piano. We sat in that lounge for quite a while, enjoying the drinks and the atmosphere, and really didn't ever want to leave.
Sep 29th, 2003, 10:53 PM
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On Sunday we checked out of the Magic Castle hotel and went to have a big greasy breakfast at the Dupar's at Farmer's Market, always an excellent place for this kind of thing. We picked up some bread, cheese, and olives for a picnic to take to the Natural History museum...Mr Marcel is a deli/gourmet store with great meats and cheese and wine, and like a dozen barrels of mouth-watering olives. We headed over to the Natural History Museum (by USC/Coliseum)...they were showing the Machu Picchu show at the time, I don't know if they still are. I guess we were a little disappointed by it, I think maybe we wanted to see lots of photos of the place (certainly not the place for this, but it's what we're into and what we secretly hoped for I guess) but all we got were cheesy dioramas and a ton of old tools and stuff. I don't know, it just wasn't that spectacular to me, but maybe someone can offer a different point of view. We did spend about four hours exploring pretty much the whole place, as we had a set time to see the MP exhibit because of the crowds. We really liked the insects, the dinosaur stuff, and the hall of gems, a dark place punctuated by a million sparkling colors of all shapes and sizes. Afterwards we had our picnic lunch in the enormous rose garden outside the museum...there's some grassy areas, a fountain, and just row after row of all different varieties of roses, it's a wonderful place to wander around or have a picnic in the shade.
That evening we checked into the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel on Sunset Bl (near San Vicente, by the Viper Room), as I had earned a free night with a credit card. It's a little bit away from the true heart of the action, not like say, The Standard, but it's okay. It's a pretty hotel, lots of art to look at in the lobby. The room was huge, it had a living room area and a step up bedroom that you could close off with a curtain...warm, pretty bathroom...lots of warm reds and greens--classic, yet modern. The rooftop pool was totally awesome, views all around. Courteous staff, and the lady seemed to remember me. Parking's $20, no ifs, ands, or buts. All in all, a moderately upscale place to stay, although it just didn't seem as "together" in terms of general service and upkeep as other more upscale hotels I've been to.
Late Monday morning, one more meal at Farmer's Market...fish n chips/little shrimp cocktail from Tusquella's, quite good, perfect flaky fish; jealous of his strawberry/nutella crepe and his french press of coffee from the crepe place. Spent the rest of the day shopping...wandered briefly around the Grove, adjacent to Farmer's Market--an open air, upscale shopping plaza vaguely reminiscent of Disneyland's Main Street USA, complete with little green trolley car. There's lots of nice looking and smelling restaurants--several outdoor, a big movie theater, a Nordstrom's, the typical chain stores (J Crew, Banana, Victoria's Secret), and a pretty centerpiece of a shady lawn and a fountain (check out THE ugliest statues we've ever seen--bronze statues of little kids on a hot summer day, lemonade stand, drinking from a hose, etc...the ugliest faces and gestures on those kids, oy). Spent the rest of the day on Melrose...funky clothes, upscale shops, cafes, record stores, thrift shops, Urban Outfitters...too many clothes to look at, what's a hipster to do.
Back to beloved Burbank...a simple in n out parking job, breezing through Southwest's self check in, down to the typical no line at security and he was gone. Why's Burbank gotta make such short shrift of a sweet goodbye?
love
roxy
That evening we checked into the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel on Sunset Bl (near San Vicente, by the Viper Room), as I had earned a free night with a credit card. It's a little bit away from the true heart of the action, not like say, The Standard, but it's okay. It's a pretty hotel, lots of art to look at in the lobby. The room was huge, it had a living room area and a step up bedroom that you could close off with a curtain...warm, pretty bathroom...lots of warm reds and greens--classic, yet modern. The rooftop pool was totally awesome, views all around. Courteous staff, and the lady seemed to remember me. Parking's $20, no ifs, ands, or buts. All in all, a moderately upscale place to stay, although it just didn't seem as "together" in terms of general service and upkeep as other more upscale hotels I've been to.
Late Monday morning, one more meal at Farmer's Market...fish n chips/little shrimp cocktail from Tusquella's, quite good, perfect flaky fish; jealous of his strawberry/nutella crepe and his french press of coffee from the crepe place. Spent the rest of the day shopping...wandered briefly around the Grove, adjacent to Farmer's Market--an open air, upscale shopping plaza vaguely reminiscent of Disneyland's Main Street USA, complete with little green trolley car. There's lots of nice looking and smelling restaurants--several outdoor, a big movie theater, a Nordstrom's, the typical chain stores (J Crew, Banana, Victoria's Secret), and a pretty centerpiece of a shady lawn and a fountain (check out THE ugliest statues we've ever seen--bronze statues of little kids on a hot summer day, lemonade stand, drinking from a hose, etc...the ugliest faces and gestures on those kids, oy). Spent the rest of the day on Melrose...funky clothes, upscale shops, cafes, record stores, thrift shops, Urban Outfitters...too many clothes to look at, what's a hipster to do.
Back to beloved Burbank...a simple in n out parking job, breezing through Southwest's self check in, down to the typical no line at security and he was gone. Why's Burbank gotta make such short shrift of a sweet goodbye?
love
roxy
Sep 30th, 2003, 07:51 AM
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Brava, turn_it_on! Brava! What a wonderful, lively, and engaging report!
Read EVERY WORD!
The Magic Castle! omigosh! Had forgotten all about it! but your report brought back a lot of memories! GREEEAT place! So much FUN! Thanks for the tip about their hotel. We'll try to spend a night there just to be able to get in to see the shows again!
And Farmers' Market! We'll try to eat there too! You have me salivating and feeling "greasy" from your descriptions of your food outings!
Thanks a million!
Jason
Read EVERY WORD!
The Magic Castle! omigosh! Had forgotten all about it! but your report brought back a lot of memories! GREEEAT place! So much FUN! Thanks for the tip about their hotel. We'll try to spend a night there just to be able to get in to see the shows again!
And Farmers' Market! We'll try to eat there too! You have me salivating and feeling "greasy" from your descriptions of your food outings!
Thanks a million!
Jason
Sep 30th, 2003, 07:57 AM
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....ooooh, thanks so much for that information! I just matched my plans for LA with your journal, and thank goodness, they are not at all alike. I'm thinking you must have paid very close attention to all the hot tips in Lonely Planet. Glad you had fun. I'd call that a gonzo trip, andf all the Hunter Thompson fans would know just what I mean. A real fear and loathing episode. Have a good day recovering.
Sep 30th, 2003, 08:16 AM
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Thank you Roxy!! This was one of the BEST trip reports in a while!
OMG! I remember living in Hollywood Hills and having a date take me to the Magic Castle..weird elevator experience!
We used to use Burbank airport for our forays into Las Vegas..
So thank you for such an entertaining report that is every word readable!
Please do something else soon and tell us about it too
Scarlett
Oct 1st, 2003, 07:33 AM
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Roxy- thank you for this wonderful report!! Hubby & I will be in LA in two weeks and we are planning to take advantage of the Farmer's Market as well.
The Jurassic Technology Museum sounds like something we need to see- do you have any other info on it- address/website or the like? Also- is it within walking distance of the boardwalk? Or will we have to park twice?
The Jurassic Technology Museum sounds like something we need to see- do you have any other info on it- address/website or the like? Also- is it within walking distance of the boardwalk? Or will we have to park twice?
Oct 1st, 2003, 11:05 AM
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Oct 1st, 2003, 08:28 PM
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Artchik,
Yes, the website for the museum is www.mjt.org. It's "driving close" to Venice Beach, but nowhere NEAR walking distance. They would definitely go together on a day's agenda though. Parking's easy for the museum though, there's plenty of parking on the residential side streets.
To everyone else,
Wow, I lose computer access for a few days and I come back to all these glowing messages! It's actually a lot of fun to be on vacation in your own city with a visitor. He lives in Santa Cruz so I spend a lot of time there and in SF, I should actually write a report about our rollicking adventures in those places. I have been to NYC several times, I might try to write a conglomerate trip report, although it's been a couple of years. I like that someone mentioned the Lonely Planet guidebook, I've never even seen the one for LA! Do they steal my ideas?
Oh, and re: Bob's Donuts at Farmer's Market...between the ice cream and the candy from Little John's toffee stand, we never made it to Bob's, although we usually do...when I was there a few weeks before the trip though, I DID squeeze in a cat head donut before lunch, so there. What can I say, it whets my appetite.
Please forward all donations to Paypal; I will go wherever the highest bidder wants me to!
xoxo
roxy
Yes, the website for the museum is www.mjt.org. It's "driving close" to Venice Beach, but nowhere NEAR walking distance. They would definitely go together on a day's agenda though. Parking's easy for the museum though, there's plenty of parking on the residential side streets.
To everyone else,
Wow, I lose computer access for a few days and I come back to all these glowing messages! It's actually a lot of fun to be on vacation in your own city with a visitor. He lives in Santa Cruz so I spend a lot of time there and in SF, I should actually write a report about our rollicking adventures in those places. I have been to NYC several times, I might try to write a conglomerate trip report, although it's been a couple of years. I like that someone mentioned the Lonely Planet guidebook, I've never even seen the one for LA! Do they steal my ideas?
Oh, and re: Bob's Donuts at Farmer's Market...between the ice cream and the candy from Little John's toffee stand, we never made it to Bob's, although we usually do...when I was there a few weeks before the trip though, I DID squeeze in a cat head donut before lunch, so there. What can I say, it whets my appetite.
Please forward all donations to Paypal; I will go wherever the highest bidder wants me to!
xoxo
roxy
