[tylercheung]

i'm a transplant to LA so not as in-depth as some folks, here are my 2 cents

-never thought of my area (Pasadena) as that "hip" but so be it...Old Town is decent and convenient to hang around.

-Speaking of Jonathan Gold - he is known for highlighting a lot of the ethnic/off the beaten path cuisines. If you want to venture into K town, or San Gabriel/Alhambra/Monterey park for Sichuanese, hunanese, shanghainese, or cantonese food, read his column in the LA Times or LA Weekly.... The problem is, K town is near, and convenient; the other stuff is all the way over by Pasadena

-FLWright - I think a lot of his places are private residences, but the Barnesdale Art Park is a quick 1 hr jaunt in sunset/silverlake area.

Venice, Manhattan beach, SM area food- I like Gjellina in AK (Italian), but there are a lot of good places. Father's office for beer/burgers in Santa Monica. There were a few other places there that were not bad, can't remember, Cassia for American/Viet food hybrid? If you want to trek to Manhattan Beach, Little Sister and Fishing w/ Dynamite are good. Intelligentsia in AK. If in SM, might as well head to the Getty for a few hrs.

N/Naka is near SM, in Culver City, and is probably one of the greatest restaurants in America...but impossible to get a table. There are a few legendary sushi places around in the SM, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood area...just c an't remember which ones... (LA also is one of the largest concentration of Japanese Americans in the US, I think),

Echo Park/Silverlake/etc - there's an Intelligentsia there, I would say my favorite places are Night Market + Song (Thai), Pine and Crane (Taiwanese), L & E Oyster Bar, Black Hogg, there's also Cafe Stella which is OK, standard French Bistro stuff. Echoplex and a few other dive places for live music. Hotel Cafe is near-ish there. Providence is near as well, which apparently has been the highest rated restaurant in LA for a while but that is expensive. New Daw Yee myanmar place for burmese, i'd check that out if you can...lots of boutiques and places to walk around...

The drive-route I would suggest for Friday would be go thru Ojai first, then up Rt 33 all the way up to Rt 166, head west, then south on 101, then go east 246 thru solvang, then down 154 to santa barbara. Get dinner in SB - tons of great places downtown, I like Sama Sama Noodle Bar, but there are a lot of options. There may be wineries along the way but I'm not the expert in those (it's a mini-wine country area). Then you can head back on 101 at your leisure.


K-town: don't remember too well, maybe Ook Kook for all you can eat BBQ, Park's BBQ for the nicer meat, Beverly Tofu for nice savory tofu-stew, um, um, there's this boiled pork place nearby, but I can't remember, Kobawoo House or something like that, Ham Ji Park for pork stew, Seongbukdong for sweet braised ribs.

Coffee - Verve has been mentioned, that's in west hollywood on 3rd street which has a few nice places to walk around (near Melrose Place!), Go Get Em Tiger which has branches on LArchmont at Hancock Park(near K-town) and Downtown LA (if you go downtown, Grand Central Market is worth a stop, also across the street from the Bradbury Building which is famous in Blade Runner). Stumptown has a location in the DLTA Arts district, and Intelligentsia in PAsadena/Silverlake/AK. For architecture, I would also nominate DTLA - ignore the run down street fronts but soaring high up are some might impressive art deco and modernist skyscraper architecture...

If you do end up trekking to Pasadena, agree w/ Gamble house, Huntington Lib, Norton Simon museum, eats: Union for italian, Racion for spanish, Lost at Sea for seafood, The Raymond/1886 for drinks, red taco truck that parks nightly at the Nishiwa Autor Repair lot on Fair Oaks, Takuya or Ramen Tetsunoya for Japanese, Golden Deli/Vietnam House/Vietnam for Viet food, Chengdu Taste or Sichuan Impressions for Sichiuanese, Hunan Mao for Hunanese, Din Tai Fung or Hou Tou Xiang for dumplings, Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe (might have a new location in silver lake) for burmese, um, there's a bunch I'm probably forgetting.

Alternate suggestions: rather than Griffith (more history, touristy, Rebel w/o a Cause, Hollywood sign, yada, yada), can consider driving up Angeles Crest to Mount Wilson Observatory...much better views, may see some cyclists up that way.

Hikes: Mount Wilson Observatory Road, Eaton Canyon, Millard Canyon, Altadena Crest, Temescal Canyon, anything in Malibu...

Beach: my favorite is Point Dume in Malibu although you will have plenty in venice/manhattan/hermosa

Note, I just realized; some of the above suggestions may not be kid friendly....

Note 2: sorry, got carried away.