DTLA - Walking Around

 On a random weeknight, the boys took me out in DTLA.  I was able to knock out of a couple of to-dos which always makes me happy.

We started the night at Honeycut which is this small lounge / dance venue down an alley near LA Live.  There's always a line, but we were early enough.  I was actually surprised at how small the venue was, but we had a good time dancing away to random music and drinking artist-anal drinks.

This is the type of place that I would love to gay guerrilla bar.  Lots of straight energy that needs some jolting.

What I love about J.lo is that he loves to dance to any beat.  Latin beats are his favorite and I dance along while our bae sit and watch us awkwardly.  The light up dance floor at Honeycut makes for fun pictures.  Shake shake shake those hips.

Ghostly Andrew

 The night was a bit of a mixed bag.  There was an impossible line at the Standard hotel rooftop bar so we took a rest stop at Library bar.  We stopped by The Falls which spelled like BO.  We quickly left and discovered Peking Tavern hidden away on Spring Street.  You wouldn't know to go downstairs unless you saw their sandwich sign.  And bam... a glorious light night bar and restaurant.

Why Yes McKenzie, they have authentic Chinese food in DTLA at 1AM in the morning for a few bucks more than it should be, but that's okay considering the location!  A gastropub nonetheless.  You can read about it all here.

J.lo was a little buzzed and went up to flirt with the bartender to guess his age and ethnicity.  Chuckle chuckle.

Oh and next door to Peking Tavern is Crane's bar which is a dive bar except it has this crazy bank front entrance.  #hiddenLA I love it.

Exploring the LA River

I really wanted to check out the bike trail along the LA River and dragged my friends out to explore. We specially walked along the greenway trail.  There are projects to revitalize the river to make it more appealing to the public, but for now it remains what a lot of LA is - Ugly Beautiful.

The LA River is all concrete, but there is vegetation and life in between.  The bike trail was intense but clearly underused.  One day I will take a bike out there.

We saw about 10 people total hiking, fishing and hanging out in the perfect weather on a Saturday.  So much neglect.

What's amazing to me was Highway 5 was separated by a small metal fence.  As we walked back to our parking spot, cars were going 70MPH - too close for comfort.  There was essentially nothing protecting us from disaster if a driver lost control of the wheel.

I'm excited to see what the LA River becomes starting with 6th Street bridge.  Like all the other dozens of projects happening in the city, it's going to take lots of time.  But this is the city to be in.

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I'm starting to realize that I have a lot of sufficient looking pictures on my iPhone and I should stop stealing Jimmy's.  I should take the time and do some edits and create my own.  So far, I like the results.

But Jimmy's LA River photos are amazing - there are a couple of boyband pictures that he took that are quite amusing.

Exploring Spring Street in DTLA

I planned a lunch at Grand Central Market to try Sticky's Rice's Hainese Chicken Rice dish that LA Weekly said was one of the best.  It was wonderful!  And recently we discovered that the garage next door is one hour free with validation.  Score!

But too late for this day, we parked on the street which allowed us to do a little exploring specifically on Spring Street

Grand Central Market is evolving with newer trendier places to eat which includes Sticky Rice, Horse Theft BBQ and Egg Slut which is getting a lot of hype.  My coworker from London says that Egg Slut does their bacon like in the UK and she loves it.  It seems like the original food stands don't seem shaken by the new competition ... if anything it brings in more people into the market.  Hopefully this market keeps its charm and continues to grow humbly.

Spring Street Park is also a new addition to DTLA.  It's nestled between tall buildings and offers a nice walk way and play area for children.

 

As we kept walking we noticed a surprise farmers market that was about two blocks long.  How pleasant.  This guy's socks caught my eye.

I've walked through the Last Bookstore, but I never explored the upstairs which was an awesome adventure complete with art, vintage goods, mazes and secret reading rooms.

I don't know if sorting the book by color is helpful.

Old Zoo and Carousel

Jimmy and I explored the Old Zoo of Griffith Park back in February.  Here we found abandoned cages and hiking trails.

Inside of the cages was some colorful graffiti and interesting lighting.

We walked to the old carousel and rode the antique mechanism.

There was a bench that was labeled as The bench that Walt sat on when he visited the park.

We decided to top our adventure with some classic nachos and chili.

It was the perfect date.

Murder Mystery

I have to hand it off to Groupon for informing me of interesting happenings in LA.  In addition to half off overpriced meals and tons of monthly Yoga class passes, Groupon also lists unique things such as a Mystery Murder Dinner.

The only thing I really knew about this event is that it is Stuff White People like, but I lowered my expectations and focused on the main part of the experience: DRESSING UP!

We adopted characters based on clue.  Tried to be colorful, but came up with more muted tones like olive and beige.  Jimmy put together some clue card profiles:

Yes... I was the whore... but I was looking for an opportunity to reuse my red and pink feather boa.  And here we go, back to the 1920s.  Last time I was in that decade, I went to a Rum bar, but this time it was all about a mystery.

When we got there EVERYONE was dressed up.  Well 85% of the attendees were and the folks that were stuck in the 2000's looked ridiculous.  Come on people, get into character!

The restaurant was in downtown and while we enjoyed a pretty good Italian dinner, we watched a mystery unfold.  Each table was assigned a character.  We were part of the Graves family - bootlegers and the rival mafia.

Steve did an amazing job as the mob boss, cracking jokes with the cast and staying in character.  We were given binders with motives and a mission.  Every table had a back story, motive and mission and it was their job to interrogate everyone to solve the mystery.

Between each course, the cast would reveal something new and we were given money to bribe other tables for more information.

At the end of the show, they gave out awards to folks who stayed in character, who were the most innovative and of course to the people who solved the mystery.  Our table was far from the answer.

I wish I got a picture of this cute group of flappers, but we managed to steal some good lighting photos outside.

It was me, Mr. Scarlet at 321 with a feather BOA!!!!

Hidden LA Continues

The weekend of September 17th I experienced a lot hidden LA adventures.

September 17 - A Capella Fanboy
I was going to go by myself to this a Capella show at the Bootleg theatre down the street, but Jimmy joined last minute to keep me company.  I had imagined a theatre with seating where I can freely hold up my fanboy poster shamelessly, but as I entered the venue, I had discovered that it was actually more of a indie rock spot.  There was a bar and lots of standing space like a concert.  I didn't realize that indie kids were into a Capella.

The beer helped me relax. I was thankful Jimmy joined me because I would have just stood in the dark corner which would have been terrible. The Silverlake Chorus pleased the denim jacket wearing, facial hair growing, bicycle riding crowd.  After the show, I approached Manu to tell him that he did a great job, he was flattered I made him a sign and amused I didn't hold it up because I was embarrassed.  I actually found out about the performance through Manu's tumblr...  it was a great night because checking out the Bootleg theatre in my 'hood was also on my to do list.

"You made that for him!?!?"  His mom asked me about this sign I made for a guy I've never met.
"um.. yes... I have to go now! You did great!"  I think his boyfriend glared at me.  OOps.

September 18 - Self-Realization

We found ourselves at Lake Shrine, a spiritual sanctuary where we rediscovered nature, meditating and multiple forms of spirituality.

I felt like I had escaped LA.  We noticed some swans floating in the lake which we were convinced were animatronics.

Inside the windmill we meditated with images of spiritual leaders watching over us.  In the silence I noticed the irregularity in my heartbeat. 

We headed to the Bergamot Station to check out multiple art galleries

Interacting with the art

There were a couple of things that I wanted to own like funky clocks and chairs made of cork!

For dinner was Thai Patio - this amazingly cheap and delicious Thai place in Thai Town.  YES!

Ginger Chicken, Satay, Fillet Fish, Tom Kha, Drunken Noodle, etc etc. all dishes were amazing

Apparently Drunken noodle has to be spicy otherwise it's not "drunken noodle."  We are so used to control how spicy something is, we don't realize that the spice that's adding is a very important ingredient that just be controlled.  It's ridiculously American of us to get a Sandwich, light on the mayo or a Pad Thai at mild spice instead of accepting and appreciating the dish for what it is instead of altering it to meet our criteria of delicious.

In the same plaza we found this place sells insurance AND perfume!!!

Ended up in WeHo.. ugh.. but at Eleven this time!
Got dropped off - no cover with flyer - open bar for 7 minutes around midnight.

I watched my friend vomit in the toilet as I held the door for him.  Looks like he won't be drinking for a while. Looks like the Filipinos took advantage of the open bar and grabbed enough free cranberry vodkas for the rest of the night... "ME WANT MORE!"  And a drag performance by a LaRoux look-a-like.  Woot.

September 18 - More Hidden

Another thing on my todo list is visit the historic Vista Theater!  We watched The Town, which wasn't my type of film, couldn't understand their Boston accents.  But I loved the Vister theater's Egyptian theme.  There were hieroglyphics all over the walls and large Sphinx statues.

Huge screen, but only one.  I'm definitely hitting this place up for my future movie viewing endeavors... or date.  :]  Plus cover, i mean admission was only 6 bucks for matinee.

And finally, El Chavo for authentic Mexican food, next to the theatre, with decorations that made you feel like you were in the warm sidewalks of Mexico.  Though the bar had neon sombreros hanging from the ceiling... not very authentic.

I love LA.