Silver Lake

I stayed in Silver Lake during my week in Los Angeles, it's known as a 'hipster' area but I was running around greater L.A. so much that I didn't have much time to really explore the neighborhood. On my last morning before heading to the airport, I did have a fantastic breakfast at LAMILL Coffee in Sliver Lake and saw this on a nearby window; it was a fitting conclusion to my week in La La Land.

Santa Barbara

Today I went to Santa Barbara, a place I'd never been before, to visit an old friend and see a new place. Santa Barbara is gorgeous. It has a laid back vibe and and an "old California" look. My friend Alison took me to the courthouse which was built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial style, and we climbed to the top of the clock tower to get a better view of the area.

Taco Tour

What better way to spend one's birthday than eating tacos with strangers in Culver City? None, I tell ya. So off I went to meet William, the taco tour guide at Tito's Tacos. Tito's has been serving the quintessential American taco since 1958: hard shell, cheddar cheese (a product unknown south of the border), and iceberg lettuce. My fellow taco-tourists were Eddy and Alexandra from Cambridge, Mass. and Abi from New Zealand by way of Oman, and we all agreed that Tito's tacos were tasty, but we were just getting started.



















Our next stop was Tacos Tamix, a taco truck that specializes in tacos al pastor, which is sliced pork roasted on a vertical spit and shaved off directly into a tortilla. These were true Mexican tacos and they were fantastic.





















Our third stop was Kogi, which Roy Choi, a Korean-American started as a food truck. Choi is credited with starting the gourmet food truck craze which is prevalent in L.A. and Seattle; Portland has taken it to a new level with an entire community of food trucks downtown. We had short-rib tacos with a fresh kimchi slaw - fabulous.

Last stop was Bäco which serves... well, not actual tacos but meat and slaw wrapped in a flatbread very much like naan, which in its own way is kind of taco-esque, if not technically a taco. We had green herb chicken with purple cabbage, lemon vinaigrette, thyme, and spiced yogurt. They were fancy and delicious, and a great way to end the evening with fellow travelers. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't until I was driving back to Silver Lake that I remembered it was my birthday.

Abi, William, Alexandra, and Eddy

The House of the Mouse

Before yesterday, I'd been to Disneyland three times, once when I was a child, once when I was an adolescent, and once in my 20s. Yesterday I went to Disneyland for the fourth and possibly last time with my pals Kirsten and Clare who drove up from San Diego. I had a great time. The rides were fun, hanging with the girls was fantastic, it was a beautiful day, and the lines weren't too long (I purposely chose a mid-week date in winter for the excursion); and while Kirsten feels the Disney Magic quite deeply (she has bought an annual pass for years; her most recent trip before yesterday was last Saturday), I was a little less touched by the fairy dust. I had a great time and would hate to give the impression that it was anything but a really wonderful day, but let's just say I'm never going to reach the fandom of this lady:

Guardians of the Galaxy ride. After the first DROP,
I screamed and clutched Kirsten's arm like someone in a plane that just lost its engines.
It was terrifying; we went on it twice. 

The Canals of Venice... California

Today I explored a magical part of Venice, a neighborhood I've been in many times. I always knew there were canals in Venice, hence the name, but I'd never seen them. The paths along the canals were a quiet, gorgeous place for a walk on a sunny California afternoon.

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Today I went to see Jimmy Kimmel Live, a show that's taped. I've never been to a taping of a TV show before, and as much as I'm a fan, I don't think I'd go to the trouble again. If someone handed me a ticket to be in the Saturday Night Live audience and escorted me to my seat without having to stand in line for two hours, I'd happily take it, but despite having a PRIORITY ticket for JKL, I stood in line with the masses for almost two hours before we were allowed into the theater. I did have a second row seat however, from which I noticed that Jimmy is a lot smaller than I thought. The guests were Zach Galifianakis, hilarious as usual, and Antonia Thomas, whom I thought looked familiar on The Good Doctor, and now I know why - she's the British actress I know from a show called Lovesick (previously known by the hideous title, Scrotal Recall). I didn't recognize her at first as she's yet another Brit who can do a flawless American accent so I didn't tie her to Lovesick which is decidedly British. The musical guest was the band Tune-Yards, who did two fantastically lively numbers. It was fun, but unless Dave decides to do another talk show and invites me to sit in the chair on the stage right next to him, I'm good.

Hooray for Hollywood

It was cold and wet in Seattle when I decided to come to L.A. Today was spent in glorious sunshine visiting iconic sites on a tour with a group of travelers and our guides, Natalie and Javier, who helped us get a ton of great photos.

 

"Urban Light" by Chris Burden: an installation of 202 restored cast iron antique lamp posts in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

City of Angels

An Evening of Solo Pleasure

That's what Sondre Lerche's concert at Largo last night was billed as. And it was exactly that, a pleasurable solo performance by the elfin Norwegian singer-songwriter; although the solo briefly became a duo when a gentleman named Van Dyke Parks (apparently a legend in the music industry) joined Sondre for a couple of songs. His songs have almost the cadence of childrens' tunes but the subject matter is heartbreak, regret, guilt, and self-loathing; I think one song was about attempting to seduce the neighbor upstairs, but with an air of joyfulness and sincerity. That tone is what I remember enjoying in this song, which was at the end of a sweet movie called Dan in Real Life, for which Sondre wrote the entire score. From my seat in the first row, I was able to experience the full force of his charm and his... I'm going with "sleepy-charisma" (he looked like he could have used a nap) and it was wonderful first night in L.A.