A Friday Buffet
No. 042 And we're back...from LA!
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Hello!
Today is September 1st September 29. Wait, what? I haven’t written in a while. Almost a whole month, apparently. Whoops. Thank you for your patience as I made it through the busiest month of work in quite some time. However, we’re now on the other side of it and we’re back from a week(!) in Los Angeles. Wowza. It was a work trip, hence the busy weeks leading up, but we did manage to squeeze in some fun, some tourist moments, and a few great meals.
Read all about our LA Times (see what I did there?) after the jump. ;)
California has been on my “must visit” list for as long as I can remember. A child who loved nothing more than assuming Saved By The Bell was reality and pretty much memorized every outfit and location in Clueless, I knew that I would someday make my way across the country to the land of sunshine and shopping. Remember: my vision of CA was pretty narrow when I was little.
Of course, California is gigantic and now that I’m all grown up (kind of?), I appreciate the massive state for far more than its plethora of sunshine, pretty views, and endless shopping moments. Let’s be real: the weather during our visit was very nice, but not as warm as I expected and the sun was shining the most on our first and last days of the trip.
And while I could have spent all six days shopping in every nook and cranny of the LA-area, we only ended up with a few hours on our last day for my retail excursion. Probably for the best as my credit card now needs to hide in the freezer for a while or I need to remove Apple Pay from my phone. ;)
The majority of our week was focused on work which was a great success. All of the prep leading up to the conference was well worth it and everyone involved was extremely pleased. Hooray! It’s always a nice feeling when a team’s efforts pay off. Our team Made. It. Happen. I am impressed and proud of everyone and even made some new friends along the way. What more can you ask for in regard to a work trip?
Separate from work, Seth and I had a few opportunities to explore LA which we used to cram as much sightseeing into as possible. During my busy work days, Seth was able to drive around the canyons, snap some photos of the Hollywood sign, and take note of where he wanted to bring me back to once my conference had ended. Looking back, he did the “site visits” in preparation for our free time together which was incredibly helpful and kind.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to waste time driving aimlessly deciding where to go. Did I mention California is humongous?! Los Angeles is a vast, sprawling city and to see it all would be impossible in the time available. Instead, we picked a few areas beyond the neighborhood near our hotel and now I have great memories from each. :)
Please note that my comments on each area are brief because of time. We made the most of a short window, but the best part is that it definitely means we need to go back. California is giant and this trip just barely opened the gate to all it has to offer. We will return!
Summary comment on southern CA fashion: I felt like I brought all of the wrong items from my closet. People in this area really bring it when it comes to daily looks and I felt fairly out-of-place with my East Coast outfits. Not to say one shouldn’t wear what makes them feel their best, but I definitely would pack differently next time. I’m having a hard time pin-pointing exactly what I need to change, but here’s a start: all black everything is not just for NY and I was very glad to have brought my Golden Goose sneakers - they managed to fix most of my outfits to some degree.
Summary comment on southern CA food: While we went to a handful of restaurants, I did find the area in which we spent the most time fairly difficult in regard to safe, gluten free food. I was able to make it to a (great) GF bakery, but I was surprised by the tentativeness overall when speaking up about my gluten free needs at restaurants.
CA is very health-conscious and has what seems like an unlimited number of restaurants of all kinds. However, when viewing all of those options with an actual dietary restriction (not simply a preference), the options on each menu became quite limited. Please don’t read this as entirely negative; we had great food at many places but had to do far more research in advance than I anticipated. We will still return!
Hollywood
Our hotel was in Hollywood so the majority of the week we were in this neighborhood in the evenings for meals and events related to work. Friends, I’m not sure I’m hip enough for this area, but we did our best! We stayed at the Thompson Hollywood which was great and had some very cool restaurants connected to it. I’d recommend Ka’Teen for weekend brunch (the chilaquiles is scrumptious and the guacamole is superior because LA) or weeknight dinner. Mother Wolf looked fabulous and while I did not eat there, it’s at the top of my list for a return trip.
Seth and I went to Mama Shelter twice because it was fun and funky; the “vibe” was definitely more our style (read: relaxed, medium-energy, not a club). We had dinner at the restaurant’s bar, which was delicious then got drinks on the rooftop two nights in a row. All of the cocktails had fun names; for food, I highly recommend the spicy tuna hand roll (or a few of them as a meal).
Rooftops are the thing in LA and I quickly came to appreciate the view and fresh air from high above the sidewalks. For the record, I bought a couple souvenirs here - one giant tote bag and one small, crossbody/belt bag. Useful and memorable!
For small, but scrumptious tacos, we visited Trejo’s Tacos which was extremely convenient, just a short walk from the hotel. I know there are countless taco options in LA, but this spot worked well for when we were starving and needed something good (and safe) immediately. I really enjoyed the carnitas and shrimp tacos.
My last event for work was a party at Desert Five Spot located at Tommie Hollywood. It was another rooftop, which was awesome, and the food was great. Readers, I am now a rooftop person and prefer dinners and parties on rooftops, outside, in early fall, in LA. Delightful!
Larchmont Village
After hearing about this cute neighborhood on a few blogs over the years and it being recommended to me by someone I now consider a friend following the work week, Seth and I managed to pop over here on Saturday morning (our last day of the trip). I’m not moving to California, but this may be a neighborhood I would strongly consider if I had to make the move. So cute!
Larchmont reminded me of towns around here that have ample street parking, but everyone is walking around going into the shops, strolling with their dogs, and enjoying very nice weather.
We got iced flat whites at Go Get Em Tiger and I tried to not buy everything at Erin McKenna’s Bakery (completely gluten and dairy free). I loved the coffee cake and enjoyed a GF/vegan bagel with (vegan) cream cheese. I still regret not buying extra coffee cake for the flight home. Oh wait, they ship nationwide…
After we ate and were properly caffeinated, we walked around the nearby streets filled with gorgeous homes, friendly folks walking to those coffee shops, and envisioned (briefly) how it would feel to live in such an area.
In that moment, it felt very much like home. Fear not, we snapped out of that quickly realizing our meter was running out and I had to get to a work meeting. Larchmont was just lovely. Until next time….
Rodeo Drive
I couldn’t visit California without going to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. As someone who shops, and really loves to shop, how could I not go to this retail mecca? We couldn’t get to every great shopping corner of LA so it was Rodeo that won the day. It was delightful! Sure, it was crowded like Rockefeller Center during Christmas, but I was thriving walking down the bright-white sidewalks, peering into every single store, and even going into a few to purchase some goodies from the famous shopping destination. I loved every minute of it.
Yes, some of the stores have lines to enter and one must decide if it’s worthy of the wait. Chanel told me it would be 45 minutes(!) before I could go inside; sorry, I have other places to be and extremely limited time. Hermes had a line that I couldn’t bother to consider. Celine’s line was just short enough that we stood in the glaring sun (finally!) until it was our turn. Worth. The. Wait. :)
I know Rodeo Drive isn’t on everyone’s must-see list for LA, but I loved it. And it (thankfully) lived up to the hype that has swirled in my head for decades. I would definitely go back - there was even free parking!
Santa Monica / Venice
For our final few hours of free time in LA, before we had to face the reality of packing and going Back East in the morning, we drove to Santa Monica. We took the scenic route through Topanga Canyon and then down the PCH, which felt as glorious and cool as I’d hoped.
We even stopped on the side of the highway (pardon me, freeway) to snap some pics of the ocean and bask in the golden hour setting in around us. California was really showing off in that moment; this area was beautiful and I really wished we had been able to spend more time at the water.
We went to Gjelina in Venice for dinner at the recommendation of several people from work and the fact that I’ve been hearing about it as “the best” for years as I like to stay up-to-date on the must-visit restaurants on both coasts. It did not disappoint! Even with my gluten-free-needs, we managed to have a multi-course meal overflowing with flavor, local everything, and deliciousness on every plate.
Proud to have gotten seats immediately without a reservation, dining at Gjelina felt quite special and fairly meant-to-be for our final meal in CA. Once again, the neighborhood surrounding the restaurant was awesome and had the shops on Abbott Kinney not closed while we were eating, there was plenty of shopping that could have happened. We did pop in to Salt and Straw to view the ice cream flavors, but we were too full from dinner. Next time though…
Santa Monica and Venice definitely made me want to go back to California. I felt like I was dressed appropriately, ate well, and loved the relaxed, but on-it mindset that seemed to emanate from everyone around us. I’ll be back!
OK, California, I see you. What a place! We barely scratched the surface of seeing everything there is to see, but I got a pretty good handle on aspects of LA I enjoyed, spots I definitely need to visit again, and an even longer list of places I still want to go. My much-younger-self is still spinning from finally shopping on Rodeo Drive and my sensible self has now had a much-needed reality check in regard to real estate. LA is pricey! Wowza. But I will definitely go back.
Until then…
I should have started with this: please read this letter with The OC theme song in your head or whatever your preferred CA-anthem is at the moment. ;) LA is a vibe and it is one I will, for sure, go back to again (and again).
Thank you so much for reading. A Buffet for Today will return next week!
Cheers and joy,
Mollie