The image of a struggling writer at a dingy motel is a well-worn cliché. That of a writer housed at clean, wi-fi connected digs in LA's Koreatown is a little more fresh and is, as New York Times writer Dave Itzkoff tells us, a welcome change from the desperately posh hotels of Sunset Boulevard.
But even the most focused journalists need to leave the room sometimes. If you're in Koreatown, don't miss Tahoe BBQ on Wilshire Blvd. Bring a friend to this large, hall-style restaurant. Get a couple orders of samkyubsal (fatty pork), eat it ddukbossam style--wrapped in chewy rice cakes--and wash it down with a few shots of soju. Expect to pay about $15.
The next morning, get out of the neighborhood to have some delicious espresso at Intelligentsia in Silverlake. NYT says this cool, blue-and-white tiled joint has "the best cup of coffee in Los Angeles." Their signature Black Cat espresso is $2.
If inspiration is calling you towards the sea, the Library Alehouse in Santa Monica is your spot. Hammer out the last bits of your article before deadline, use the free wi-fi to send it in, and then relax in the back patio with a glass of high-gravity Belgian ale. At $7.50, sip slowly--or you might stumble into another cliché.
We were all excited back in the fall of 2006 when the Griffith Observatoryreopened after a four-year renovation. But the Visitor Access Program was a bit of a buzzkill since you had to book a timed-entry reservation on the website.
Well, some good news. Today there's no need for a reservation. The Observatory is wide open. However, as with most things in LA, the early bird gets the parking spot.
We showed up around noon and parking spots closest to the entrance were all filled up so we had to drive about a half-mile down the hill and then walk up to the Observatory.
Still the entrance was free (tickets to the planetarium show are $7) and the views are breathtaking, even with a slight touch of smog. Best of all, we loved being inside an educational place in Los Angeles. It felt like exploring a secret counterculture of some sort.
A while back Hertz banned us from renting their cars because of excessive parking tickets, no joke. We are fighting back by trying to help give visitors a clear view of the entire parking scene in a particular locale. We have put together our guide to parking in LA, and an accompanying map. On the map, we have plotted six LA public parking spots where we have had the most luck. Send along LA parking tips, tricks, and advice and comment here so other folks don't rack up steep parking fines, or worse yet, get towed.
We always thought a live human being had to issue you are parking ticket, however, Jaunted reader Maria, must be the exception that proves the rule. Once you read her story you may realize the only way to visit LA and not get a parking ticket is to never get behind the wheel of a car.
There are tons of outlet shopping centers in California but our secret stop is the Camarillo Premium Outlets in Camarillo which is just past Thousand Oaks which is just past Calabasas which is just past the San Fernando Valley.
It's a bit of a hike from the Los Angeles-area--you should be able to get there within an hour but the traffic on the 101 freeway is horrendous, so it usually ends up being an hour and a half or two-hour trip.
But once you get there it is so worth the drive. Our reasons why after the jump.
When people ask for tips on things to do in the Southern California area, we can't help but suggest places to shop. Living in the land of the materialistic, it's kind of hard not to shop here. Also, there are a lot of malls and shopping centers here in SoCal. Way more than in Jersey. Or so it seems.
Anyways, thanks to our excellent mall training at an early age we can assure you that a visit to the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, is a must-stop. For starters, this is where Marissa Cooper of The O.C. got nabbed for stealing some makeup, so you know it's a hot spot. Furthermore, this place has luxury stores galore but it also has a huge merry go-round in one wing.
Over the weekend, we had a little coffee date with an old friend and since we both happened to be in the wilds of San Fernando Valley, we decided to meet up at the The Commons at Calabasas, an outdoor shopping center. Or so we thought.
This was like no other shopping center. This was a ritzy and spacious "lifestyle" center, as real estate developers would call it. Imagine if Beverly Hills had a wide-open shopping center, this is what it would be like, only minus the designer stores and with your everday staples like Starbucks and Barnes & Noble.
Last week, Jaunted reader Mike took a day trip from Los Angeles to Fresno and back. So he parked his car in short-term parking at LAX and when he picked it up at the end of the day, he noticed this scene going on---a TSA party of some sorts.
Mike says the TSA employees were congregating over some barbeque but he couldn't tell what for. The party did however have a DJ who appeared to be a TSA employee as well. Our only question is, while these people were partying, who was scanning our bags?
A larger photo can be seen here in the Jaunted Flickr Pool.
When a friend took us to dinner last night at Blowfish Sushi we honestly thought it was just another cleverly-named sushi joint in a strip mall in Hollywood. But when we told our other friends that we were checking out Blowfish Sushi, they said, "Oooh, that place is supposed to be cool."
Indeed, it's not just another strip mall sushi joint. But those looking for a traditional sushi dinner won't find that here either. Blowfish Sushi is more an Asian fusion restaurant which is pleasing for those who can't (or won't) eat raw fish. It's also a small chain with spots in San Jose, San Francisco, and Auckland, New Zealand.
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by benh
