Los Angeles: Things To Do And Places To Go

[wdead]

Besides eat food, what is there to do in LA

[OrangeCat]

I lived in that area for decades but moved away a couple or years ago.

You are in one of the best locations in all the LA area. Really.

Avoid the valley. With only very few exceptions, nothing there is worth the drive. The west side has it all. (Note: For me, those exceptions were two great jazz clubs in the valley, The Baked Potato and La Va Lee)

Good call for Bay Cities deli on Lincoln. Great place.

Best Mexican fast food is King Taco. There are several.

Very, very good music scene on the west side. All kinds of acts. Get the LA Weekly and see as much as you can.

Fastest way to get to West Hollywood is to go east on Olympic then turn north on Doheny.

[ThaHero]

For food, I see a lot of places mentioned on the Westside of L.A. I'll mention one more place.

Uncle Darrow's Cajun Eatery. If memory serves me right it's on Lincoln and Washington in Marina Del Rey. The absolute best Shrimp Po Boys I've ever had(in L.A.). They also serve breakfast and their other food is good too. They even have Beignets.

South of the 10 seems to be a neglected area. Of course there's Roscoe's, but it's also in Hollywood. It's sorta touristy but the food is better than a Denny's or whatever. Down the street from the one on Pico is a place called CJ's that serves good food. Also on Western(north of the 10, south of Wilshire) is El Cholo. They have really good Mexican food and good Margaritas. I like the Sonora Style Enchilada, but most of their items are tasty.

Tito's Tacos on Washington Place and Sepulveda has good tacos too, but there's always a line so I don't go there as much. Across the street(sorta), is Markie D's A Taste of Philly which has a bunch of Philly style food, including some really good Cheesesteak Sandwiches.

For those that don't feel like waiting in line at Pink's, there's a place called Skooby's that sells good hot dogs. It's on Hollywood Blvd.

This has really become a food thread. For activities, I would also suggest checking out The Bridge Cinema De Lux for the movie buffs. It's over on Centinela and Sepulveda in the Howard Hughes Center. I used to work there, and surprisingly still go now. On weekend nights there are sometimes lots of high school kids though, but weeknights are pretty chill. The Director's Hall seats are really comfy, but unfortunately they don't lean back. They're huge seats though and leather.

Citywalk is always fun. 3rd St. Promenade has already been mentioned. Just walking down Melrose and window shopping on a Saturday afternoon can be pretty fun. There's the obvious amusement parks. Sadly I don't go to the museums as often as I should so I can't really give advice there.

I may come back with more info, but I wanna avoid making 5 posts in a row like Zee Justin lol.

[RJT]

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1. Visit the getty museum and getty villa (you need reservations for the latter)

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Visit my sister-in-law’s bookstore, Village Books, in the Palisades.

[Los Feliz Slim]

This thread is too Westside heavy. IMO if you ignore the eastside and downtown you're missing out on much of what keeps LA from being completely unlivable.

Yuca's - On Hillhurst in Los Feliz. Tiny authentic Mexican stand that won a James Beard award last year. Cochinita Pibil (Yucatan style pork) is their specialty, but everything is good. I get a chile verde burrito with no beans.

Sushi Go 55 - Sushi bar on the top level of an enclosed mall in Little Tokyo downtown. My favorite sushi place in LA (thanks 2+2!). Very straightforward, large, fresh, cuts of fish. Go early and wander around the mall, there's a crazy Japanese arcade and some other cool stores.

The Edison Bar - HUGE bar in the basement of a loft building downtown where a power plant was once located. Extremely dramatic space, would be a good place for a date.

Nick & Stef's - High-end steak place in the Wells Fargo Center downtown. My favorite steak in LA, you order your meat a la carte and add on a bunch of sides. Not cheap, ldo.

Disney Hall - Gehry-designed concert hall that's home to the LA Philharmonic but also has concerts from visiting musicians. Truly special place. Patina Restaurant is on-site and amazing imo. Definitely worth visiting.

Some restaurants I love that aren't eastside: Grace Restaurant on Beverly near La Brea, Melisse in Santa Monica, Pastis on Beverly near Crescent Heights (just had an incredible meal there), Jar on Beverly near the Beverly Center.

[ALAEI]

Nice thread. I moved back to LA in February and absolutely love it. I live on the westside so I'm really only familiar with that area, but here are some of my fav's.

Food


Matsuhisa on La Cienega-Hands down THE best sushi in town (best I've ever had and I eat sushi A LOT)

Sushi Roku on 3rd-Only been to the BH one a couple of times and prefer the Vegas one in Caesars, but still quality fish.

Katusya in Brentwood-Really nice, trendy place. Good food too. (A little far for me)

Izakaya on 3rd-Very affordable, unlike the others, and you don't have to sacrafice quality very much. Highly recommend the Yellowtail collar and the Plum tempura ice cream.

Osteria Mozza on Highland-My favorite restaurant in LA. AMAZING FOOD. Grilled octopus is a must have, as well as some of the Burrata dishes. Oh yeah, the olive oil gelato too.

Pizzeria Mozza on Highland-Next door to Osteria. Mario Battali and Nancy Silverton do an amazing job on these two places. Fantastic food. Best Pizza in town. Must make reservations.

Il Sole on Beverly-Great Itallian food, highly recommended.

Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga-Really beautiful, great date place. Food is meh, but the atmosphere compensates for it well.


Healthy Options

Real Food Daily (RFD) on La Cienega-Really good, affordable vegan food.

M Cafe on Melrose-Really fantastic quick, trendy, affordable healthy option.

Urth Caffe one on Beverly and one on Melrose-Another really great tredy quick healthy spot.

Newsroom on Robertson-Delicious healthy food. Also walk to a lot of great shopping nearby after your meal.


Late Night

I am still trying to discover new places, but, when I need a quick late night fix Dammiano's on Fairfax delivers really tasty pizza until 4am.

Also, Canters on Fairfax is open 24 hours.

The Elixir Tea Garden on Melrose has an amazing atmosphere and great tea's.

As far as movie theatres go, there are many cool independant theatres that show movies that aren't shown in places live Vegas that I enjoy. The nicest theatre is definitely Arclight on Sunset.

The Hollywood Bowl has some cool concerts that you can bring food to and kind of have a picnic while you watch. If you sit in the pool circle you can order food/wine as well.

There are tons of cool exhibits and shows etc here as well. Check out www.experiencela.com for some.

I'll add some later as I think of more, I am sure there's a lot I am leaving out.

Gavin Smith once asked me "Besides the ocean, what does LA have that Vegas doesn't have?" LOL

[Tron]

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Grace Restaurant on Beverly near La Brea

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I just went to Grace and have been meaning to write up a review, but I don't think that will ever actually happen, so here goes the abridged version:

Very cool ambiance, they play cool music and the place seems "noisy," but you can easily hear someone at your table speaking at a reasonable volume... It really is a perfect balance that I wish more restaurants had.

Had a drink called the Luca Brasi which I ordered solely on the basis of the name and was composed of blood orange vodka, punt e mes, and club soda... It was incredibly strong, but I feel like that might just be because I'm a terrible drinker.

Had marlin for an appetizer, it was good but I wasn't blown away. Had wild boar for the entree, which was delicious, and so was the pasta-like stuff it was served upon.

Doughnuts for desert, which were super-awesome.

[hanster]

Enzo's Pizza in Westwood is pretty damn good.

[uclaben]

What are your interests? What "scene" are you into, if any? Los Angeles has a little bit of everything, but it's kind of hard to make recommendations without a little more background; the culture can vary dramatically from neighborhood to neighborhood.

With that said, here are some of my favorites:

Shopping: Check out Melrose, roughly between Fairfax and La Brea. There are a lot of interesting boutiques in various price ranges, and the people-watching can't be beat.

Food: There are twelve million outstanding restaurants in Los Angeles, but I find the area bounded by La Cienega on the west, Melrose on the north, La Brea on the east, and Third Street on the south to be LA's true dining epicenter. Some standouts are AOC and Jar on the upscale side, and Swingers for fun diner food. The Farmer's Market is also a great place to hang out for a couple of hours and shop; the adjacent Grove is one of the city's hottest attractions, but it always feels touristy to me. YMMV.

Music: For rock music, I'd avoid Hollywood as much as possible and head east to the Silverlake/Echo Park area. The clubs there (Spaceland and The Echo being the most prominent) consistently feature the best up-and-coming bands, at very reasonable prices, usually $10-15. Be prepared to deal with hipsters, but if you come on the right night you can see some outstanding acts. For blues, a no-longer-so-secret LA institution is Babe and Ricky's, which features an amazing Southern dinner on Monday nights, included in the $8 cover. The hipsters have found this spot, too, so show up early to get a table. A-list jazz acts frequently come through the Jazz Bakery, a friendly, intimate venue in the Helms district of Culver City. Much recommended as well.

Miscellaneous: The Getty Center may be the most beautiful destination in Los Angeles. It's free - go often, especially on beautiful weekend mornings. Great brunch in the restaurant as well. The Griffith Observatory re-opened recently, and while I haven't been, I've heard a lot of good things. The ArcLight is your best bet for watching a movie; it's pretty ridiculous at $13, but probably worth the extra couple bucks for reserved seating, full bar access, etc.

That's all I can think of right now. Let's try and keep this great thread going - I know we've got a ton of LA kids here. Los Angeles suffers from its obscene size and sprawl, but that makes for a lot of little-known destinations. Spill the beans!

[dknightx]

ill be in the LA area next week for the GFs bday and wondering if there are any nice/romantic places to take her ($ not a concern)? Ive only been to LA a couple of times, so really don't have any ideas of where to go. Also, no japanese places, if possible, as we will be getting japanese down in SD the day before. Thanks!