LA Weekend

I ran away to LA this past weekend.  Every winter I find that I need to take at least a weekend to just get away, but somewhere with sun.  I've started to call it my "Sanity Trip".  A little sun, some adventure, good people...ahhhh.  

Tickets happened to be super cheapo out to LA on Virgin and long story short, my best friend ended up joining me.  She's never been to LA so my other friend, our host, helped us with a little flash tourism.  Unfortunately, the sun was in no mood to come out but we made the best of it.  What did we do?  

Day 1: Arrive at LAX and cabbed it to Chateau Marmont.  After a relaxing lunch (burger was good, service excellent), a friend of a friend who works there showed us around.  It was cool to get to see the place.  I can see the appeal for celebs - it is very private, pretty, historic and secluded considering its location.  The hotel was packed for the SAG Awards and we could have just stayed there all day people watching.  We did have our first celeb sighting but that will be a secret now. :)

We were antsy to get out and about despite the weather, so we put on our ponchos and walked over to The Grove.  We took a route that passed through Melrose, where there are a bunch of shops.  The second we walked into The Grove we saw actress Emmy Rossum.  Such a gorgeous girl.  We walked over to the Farmers Market as well, got some coffee and headed back to get our bags.  We were run down.  Our friend picked us up and we had a quick dinner at Kitchen 24.  

Day 2: Drove around LA and made it up Mulholland Drive to the Hollywood Bowl Outlook. (Really great cuz you can just drive and see everything instead of hike, like by the Hollywood sign.)    

Then we headed down the hill into Hollywood to see the Walk of Fame & Grauman's Chinese Theater.  We also stopped into Roosevelt Hotel.  We drove through Beverly Hills, passed "the Witches House" and then on to Venice.  The sun had finally started to come out but once we got closer to the beach, the marine layer just never lifted and it was foggy and cold.  We walked through the Venice Canals,  

and onto the beach.  

We had a quick lunch at the Sidewalk Cafe and headed over to Santa Monica.  You could barely see anything with the fog.  After heading back and resting up, we set off to dinner at Tortilla Republic.  It was dineLA Restaurant Week - good timing on our part!  Next, we headed out to the gay bars.  We hit up The Abby and many others and had a blast.  

Day 3: Brunch at The Hudson, which was cool because it was literally built around these giant trees.  Then we headed over to LACMA, which is also next door to the La Brea Tar Pits.  We decided to take it easy and make tacos at home.  Even something like this was fun though because we got to go to a real supermarket, something I miss in NYC.  

After thanking my most amazing host, we headed home taking the Flyaway, which was very easy.  Can't wait to head back.   Everyone is so nice.  Even the bad weather days are nice.  I just love California.