OT: 4 Days in LA...

[pdonk]

From my visit last year we had great meals at animal on Fairfax and guelaguetza on Olympic.

Animal is meat centric. Memorable dished were beef tendon with pho dip and a burger.

Guelaguetza has an amazing tequila selection and based on its website I love mole you can tell their specialty. Learned about it in the documentary city of gold.

[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by pdonk

From my visit last year we had great meals at animal on Fairfax and guelaguetza on Olympic.

Animal is meat centric. Memorable dished were beef tendon with pho dip and a burger.

Guelaguetza has an amazing tequila selection and based on its website I love mole you can tell their specialty. Learned about it in the documentary city of gold.

Guelaguetza is a great restaurant! It's food from a very specific region of Mexico: Oaxaca. It's very different than the food you would find in your run of the mill Mexican joint.

Jonathan Gold is a restaurant critic for the LA Times. The documentary "City of Gold" is all about him. It's a very interesting movie and will give you great insights into the lesser known-more diverse cultural restaurant scene in LA.

And, if you do find yourself on Fairfax, just up the street is Cantors Jewish Deli and down the block is Diamonds Jewish Bakery.

[beeatnik]

Originally Posted by pdonk

From my visit last year we had great meals at animal on Fairfax and guelaguetza on Olympic.

Animal is meat centric. Memorable dished were beef tendon with pho dip and a burger.

Guelaguetza has an amazing tequila selection and based on its website I love mole you can tell their specialty. Learned about it in the documentary city of gold.

Guelaguetza, LA's most popular Mexican restaurant, not loved by Mexicans.

OP, spend half a day in Long Beach. There's a little urban, a little hipster, a little Pasadena and a little beach. It's LA but not LA.

[mosca]

Think about San Pedro too, it's off the beaten path and much of that town is a real time-warp with a lot of old-school craftsman bungalows and such, and you can tour the USS Iowa. And the Minutemen are from there

Also, there are three nice Eichler neighborhoods in the city of Orange if you get down that way.

[buldogge]

I wasn't planning on heading into OC...but, i wouldn't mind checking out those Eichler neighborhoods. Pasadena should cover us on the Craftsman front.

I never saw the Minutemen, but I did see Firehose on the first tour, after D. Boon died.

-Mark

Originally Posted by mosca

Think about San Pedro too, it's off the beaten path and much of that town is a real time-warp with a lot of old-school craftsman bungalows and such, and you can tour the USS Iowa. And the Minutemen are from there

Also, there are three nice Eichler neighborhoods in the city of Orange if you get down that way.

[mosca]

This is a good resource for modern stuff. I've gone to a few of their open-houses looking for ideas for my own remodel:

http://www.socalmodern.com/

Also this has info that might be of interest:

http://la.curbed.com/

Likewise, I saw Firehose a couple of times back in the '90s, but missed out on the Minutemen

[stackie]

Intelligentsia is always good for coffee. Venice, Pasadena and Silver Lake.

Verve coffee just set up shop there. I'm familiar with them from Santa Cruz. They are absolutely top notch.

Took my kids to La Brea tar pits at 10 and 12 and they enjoyed.

MB post is good meal in Manhattan Beach. Pricey but good.

Pizzeria Mozza also good.

If you go to Santa Barbara, don't miss La Super Rica for Mexican. It's a dive, but super popular. Julia Child quoted saying "I would walk barefoot from LA for Super Rica"

Jon

[beeatnik]

Originally Posted by stackie

If you go to Santa Barbara, don't miss La Super Rica for Mexican. It's a dive, but super popular. Julia Child quoted saying "I would walk barefoot from LA for Super Rica"

Jon

Another Mexican restaurant not popular with Mexicans.

Ok, if I were visiting LA with kids and if I knew what I know as a lifelong LA resident and a former kid (wrap your mind around that twisted syntax), I'd avoid The Outdoor Shopping Mall LA Streetscape. That means, no Pasadena, no Melrose, no Santa Monica-Third Street Promenade. I'd also avoid "highly rated" restaurants; they're all disappointing, out here. Obviously, kids like crowds and activity. And the beach is the beach. So do this:

Avoid Santa Monica, go to Hermosa Beach (with a nice drive through PV into San Pedro for cheesy port fun).

Avoid Pasadena and go to DTLA. Everyone loves the Broad and you can drive 5 minutes East (while seeing the emerging Arts/Loft District) to see how working class Mexican-Americans (60% of Los Angeles) live and eat (definitely not Super Rica style).

Avoid Melrose (does anyone go there anymore?) and bounce around Sunset Blvd from Echo Park to Silver Lake. End with lunch on Vermont and a trip into Griffith Park.

On the periphery and if you enjoy being a car. Check out one of the world's largest chinese communities in the San Gabriel Valley. There's a 2 mile stretch of Colima Rd where you won't see a sign in english. 30 min from DTLA.

If you're an early riser, there are a ton of brunch spots on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks. Great people watching and less superficial (a tiny bit) than the Westside.

[buldogge]

Only interested in Pasadena for the Arts & Crafts architecture.

Love the rest of the suggestions.

Any specific taco joints to check out?

Where to stay...now that is the question!?

Early risers...yes. Getting family motivated...no.

-Mark

Originally Posted by beeatnik

Another Mexican restaurant not popular with Mexicans.

Ok, if I were visiting LA with kids and if I knew what I know as a lifelong LA resident and a former kid (wrap your mind around that twisted syntax), I'd avoid The Outdoor Shopping Mall LA Streetscape. That means, no Pasadena, no Melrose, no Santa Monica-Third Street Promenade. I'd also avoid "highly rated" restaurants; they're all disappointing, out here. Obviously, kids like crowds and activity. And the beach is the beach. So do this:

Avoid Santa Monica, go to Hermosa Beach (with a nice drive through PV into San Pedro for cheesy port fun).

Avoid Pasadena and go to DTLA. Everyone loves the Broad and you can drive 5 minutes East (while seeing the emerging Arts/Loft District) to see how working class Mexican-Americans (60% of Los Angeles) live and eat (definitely not Super Rica style).

Avoid Melrose (does anyone go there anymore?) and bounce around Sunset Blvd from Echo Park to Silver Lake. End with lunch on Vermont and a trip into Griffith Park.

On the periphery and if you enjoy being a car. Check out one of the world's largest chinese communities in the San Gabriel Valley. There's a 2 mile stretch of Colima Rd where you won't see a sign in english. 30 min from DTLA.

If you're an early riser, there are a ton of brunch spots on Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks. Great people watching and less superficial (a tiny bit) than the Westside.

[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by buldogge

Only interested in Pasadena for the Arts & Crafts architecture.

Love the rest of the suggestions.

Any specific taco joints to check out?

Where to stay...now that is the question!?

Early risers...yes. Getting family motivated...no.

-Mark

Don't forget to see this house when you are in Pasadena:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_House

Where you stay will depend on what you want to see and your budget. L A is huge, so you probably want to be centrally located to the different areas you want to see.

Figure that out and get back to us.....

[cadence90]

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[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by cadence90

This is the definitive carry-along guidebook to architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California. If you do not want to buy it I'm sure your library has a copy. It is a very useful book.

The Gamble House and a few other G&G houses in that immediate area are the ticket for LA Craftsman style, definitely.

FLLW's nearby "carpet block" Millard House ("La Miniatura", that SoCalSteve mentioned (never accessible, can only be seen from the outside)) and his Ennis House (Blade Runner; tours may be available, I can't remember) are also worth it if you're in the area. Also beautiful are homes by Neutra and Schindler, but as beeatnik stated those are just too far between them to make it worthwhile unless you are an architect/diehard.

I definitely recommend the Eames house in any case; not only is the building beautiful and iconic, and the address very accessible, but it has one of the greatest views/lots of any residence in LA.
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I'll second this 100 times over! I've been in the house on a tour. It's amazing! Plus, as a bonus...there are 2 more iconic mid century modern homes on the same cul de sac. Look up the Case Study Houses. 3 of them on the same block.

[cadence90]

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[Louis]

If there's interest in architecture and anyone in the crowd likes the movie Blade Runner, how about the Bradbury building?

https://www.laconservancy.org/locati...dbury-building

[ptourkin]

Originally Posted by buldogge

I wasn't planning on heading into OC...but, i wouldn't mind checking out those Eichler neighborhoods. Pasadena should cover us on the Craftsman front.

I never saw the Minutemen, but I did see Firehose on the first tour, after D. Boon died.

-Mark

D is buried in the same cemetery as Bukowski in San Pedro. I have pics at their graves. I saw the Minutemen many times.

Do whatever Beeatnik says in LA. He knows stuff.