Part I: A Month in La La Land
In late autumn, Julie spent a month in Los Angeles to undertake a research Fellowship at the University of Southern California. She hosted visits from her sister and Arran and made the most of weekends off to explore a city that really did feel like La La Land.
Firstly, some words need to be dedicated to where she was staying. Julie rented an apartment in Venice Beach with a thirty second walk to the beach. When you walked out of the apartment you could see the Pacific Ocean, sailboats out at sea, rollerbladers traversing the boardwalk and Angelenos and their dogs basking in the autumn warmth. Every morning Julie would walk along the boardwalk to Downtown Santa Monica Station to jump on the Expo Line to the USC campus. Early starts meant that she often got to see the sunrise and the lavender hues of early morning cast gorgeous shadows across the distant mountains. Returning at dusk, the skies were even more magnificent and palm trees became backlit with the most intense, candy-coloured hues. These daily walks along the beach became a highlight of the whole trip and you’ll find this blogpost full of photographs of such skies.
Julie’s sister arrived at the end of the first week, so we had a great weekend doing all sorts of quintessential touristy things. First things first, brunch. We went to Fig Tree, situated right on Venice Beach. We sat outside and devoured iced chai lattes, lox and cream cheese toast and what a Brit might describe as a full Los Angeles: grilled plantain, refried beans, sunny side up eggs, bacon and avocado. It was the perfect start to the weekend.
After brunch we headed to the famous Santa Monica Pier. We walked along the beach, enjoying dog spotting, the warmth of the October sun and the pelicans divebombing into the Pacific.
On the pier, there were Día de los Muertos festivities, including a parade, live music, and dancing. It was heavily populated, but the atmosphere was wonderful. People were queueing to take photos with the end of Route 66 signpost, you could hear the squeals of the rollercoaster riders and the animated street performers encouraging crowd participation. The garish colours of the amusement park, the multicoloured parasols, the sugary scent of candyfloss, the lively sounds of vendors and the cherry and banana yellow Ferris wheel was quite the sensory overload. You certainly felt like you were in the land of the living, and it was a lot of fun to people watch.
After Santa Monica, we headed back along the boardwalk to Venice Beach, stopping for cocktails at Gran Blanco. Two Sunrise Spritzes toasted a wonderful first day together.
Sunday was dedicated to one of Los Angeles’s most famous exports: Hollywood. We visited the Warner Bros. Studios for a tour of their lots, working sets and costume, film, and special effects exhibitions. We saw the set of Gilmour Girls, which was also the set for Pretty Little Liars. The Studios really are incredible. Everything from a Midwest town to a jungle lagoon are represented on the Studio’s backlot and we learnt how sets can be dressed, remodelled, and decorated to resemble any time, period, or look imaginable. Warner Bros. has made some of the most iconic performances in Hollywood history and it was fascinating, if a little mind-boggling, to see the inner workings of their 110-acre backlot. After the tour we enjoyed lunch at Central Perk before heading to possibly the most iconic of LA’s landmarks.
We hopped in an Uber to the intersection of Fern Dell Drive and Black Oak Drive to begin the Ferndell hike. This very manageable walk takes you up to the Griffith Observatory. From it, you can see sweeping views of the city, including Santa Monica, Downtown LA the Hollywood Sign, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Pacific Ocean. The view of the Hollywood Sign never got boring during the month, it was always a fun thing to spot on the commute to USC, in addition, it was part of the view from Julie’s office on campus. After absorbing the majestic, panoramic views, we explored the Griffith Observatory, marvelling at its Art Deco architecture and its overall impressive interior and astronomical displays.
The Tuesday of the following week was Halloween, which we celebrated with a sunset walk along the waterfront and takeaway burgers, fries and iced teas from Shake Shack.
On the first Friday, before Julie’s day of work, we woke up very early (which was becoming a habit because of jet lag) and headed out for a sunrise walk along the beach. We loved seeing all the waders, including sandpipers, curlews, snipes, and sanderlings, search for their breakfast. The sanderlings were particularly sweet, the smallest of the shorebirds, as they would hug the shoreline and then scurry away on their little legs as the waves came in. We admired morning surf clubs catch the daybreak waves, watching their silhouettes against the hues of a stunning sunrise. Honeys and peaches seeped into lavenders and lilacs, as frothy violet waves spilled onto the sand.
After our sunrise walk, we headed in the direction of the Venice Canals, stopping by Venice Farmers’ Market to check out their fresh produce and enjoy a spiced chai latte.
To conclude our morning explorations, we strolled around LA’s response to Italy’s Venice canals. This historic district is a man-made wetlands canal network, built in 1905 by developer and conservationist Abbot Kinney as part of his Venice of America project. Kinney sought to recreate the appearance and feel of Italy’s Venice in Los Angeles. The buildings around the Venice Sign also pay homage to the area’s Italian namesake with architectural arches reminiscent of famous Venetian landmarks like the Doge’s Palace. The canals are a peaceful sanctuary away from the hustle of Venice Beach. We weaved our way along the quiet footpaths, crossing the canals via white wooden footbridges. We admired every property, becoming especially fond of the satsuma orange and lemon yellow homes sat next to each other, of which a pink flamingo pedalo was moored out front. The still waters performed as mirrors for tufted palm trees and little egrets sat serene on row boats.
After Julie finished work, we had dinner at Great White in Venice, a causal dining place with delicious, locally sourced food and cocktails. It also felt great to sit outside on an early November evening.
At the weekend we continued our tourist trail and booked onto a Hop On, Hop Off bus tour of the Hollywood area. We passed Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Melrose Avenue and the Sunset Strip, and any Selling Sunset fans will know how exciting it was to see the Oppenheim Group office! If truth be told, some of these areas were a little disappointing, Hollywood Boulevard was not particularly glamorous. However, this was the perfect way to see some of LA’s most (in)famous landmarks. Moreover, it’s such a big city, spread over miles and miles, with no vast public transport network to accommodate, which makes visiting several landmarks in one day unfeasible without a car. This is where the Hop On, Hop Off buses are really great. Before heading back to Santa Monica, we window shopped along Rodeo Drive and wandered the suburban streets of Beverly Hills, pretending to fit in whilst surrounded by vast displays of wealth. Did you know that each street in Beverly Hills is lined with a different type of tree; each house has a side alley dedicated to rubbish disposal so that household waste cannot be seen spoiling the streets and, finally, all fire hydrants are painted silver rather than the customary yellow?
We took the bus back to Santa Monica, where we grabbed iced coffees and went for a walk along the front, where we saw the famous architectural opposites of the Barbie house and Batman’s bachelor pad. It’s hard to miss the striking structure but easy to see how it gained its moniker. Clad in garish shades of bubblegum, the home would have been our childhood dream as it looks like a supersized doll house. Its neighbour is the antidote to the sugary display of pink, a house entirely painted black. They’ve become an iconic duo on Santa Monica’s beachfront, and we enjoyed inventing stories about the houses’ possible residents.
We concluded our Saturday with a wonderful dinner at Élephante. We were treated to a fabulous table on their terrace where we had the perfect spot to watch the sun go down. Cacio e pepe and spicy vodka pasta were enjoyed with several cosmopolitans. It was the perfect conclusion to an amazing second week.
On Julie’s sister’s final morning in LA, we did a small shop at Wholefoods and went for brunch at Café Gratitude on Rose Avenue. This felt like a properly LA way to finish the week as each menu item is a positive affirmation which you tell the server when you order. We had one I Am Peaceful (smashed avocado toast) and one I Am Open-Hearted (berry and maple-syrup pancakes). Before organising a transfer to LAX, we had one final mosey around the Venice Canals, lapping up the 25°c temperature and the flawless hibiscus, frangipani and protea blooms, before Julie’s sister returned to the inevitable overcast weather of winter in England.
Click here for Part II of the Los Angeles blogpost.