Last week Gaby and I took a quick trip to LA in partnership with Alaska Airlines whose intra-California flights could quickly become my new guilty pleasure day trips. Both Gaby and I hadn’t spent much time in LA before, and we had so much fun! Here’s how it went…
A Quick L.A. Trip
I first flew down on Alaska Air to Palm Springs for Alt Summit, a small business owner/creative influencer conference I love (main image above at The colorful Saguaro hotel where it was held). Palm Springs is such an amazing escape. Warm and sunny, beautiful architecture, and Joshua Tree is one of my favorite parks. The flight is so quick from SF, just over an hour and then you arrive in paradise!
After the conference, I rented a car and drove to LA (just under 2 hours) to meet up with Gaby for a couple days. We stayed at the LINE hotel, which we’d heard so many great things about and it did not disappoint! It’s a large boutique hotel with a very cool, concrete + modern vibe. I think my favorite part was the amazing rooftop greenhouse restaurant called Commissary, and the beautiful grounds all around it.
The LINE is in the middle of Koreatown, right by a famous Korean BBQ place called Quarters. We headed there as soon as I dropped off my bags Thursday night. I love Korean food, and that place is delicious! I can’t stop thinking about it.
PS if you stay at the LINE don’t forget to ask about hotel about their secret karaoke bar at night!
We were in LA for two days and it rained the entire time (of course, our luck!). So we had to shuffle our plans around a bit, but planned on vintage shopping, museums, and lots of eating of course. Perfect weekend away.
I had a couple meetings while in LA, one was with Ran here from Hello Society, an agency I do work with. We met at this cool coffee shop in Echo Park called Eightfold Coffee, close to where she lives. She said people really shut in when it rains in LA (which is rarely). The whole neighborhood did seem very chill and sleepy. I wasn’t expecting that vibe in LA, but was totally into it.
Next, Gaby and I met for brunch at Sqirl, a very cool eatery in the Silverlake neighborhood I’d heard so much about. The whole place was so hip and well designed. We split a bowl of the Sorrel Pesto Rice, which was incredible. Man, I could eat that everyday! Regretted not getting their toast too though- it looks amazing. Very randomly, I ran into a friend of mine there, Honora, from my high school in New York. She doesn’t live in LA but was visiting some friends. Small world at Sqirl.
Had to take a picture in front of these cool murals and the rainbow Micheltorena steps (main top image) across from the Clare V store and a cool records shop. In that neighborhood I also loved Mohawk General Store and Creature of Comfort. Silverlake hosts a weekly flea market every Saturday we would have loved to check out, but timing + weather didn’t quite work out for us.
It was really starting to pour so we hit up some vintage stores in the Silverlake neighborhood like Ragg Mopp and Foxhole Denim (pictured here). Vintage shopping is one of my favorite lazy Saturday activities. We also wandered over to Wasteland. We also have a Wasteland in SF and it’s my favorite curated consignment/vintage stores. While we were shopping, I kept on commenting to Gaby how surprised I was to see so many more men shopping than women. Impressed with all these LA men that are really into curating their closets!
Stopped by Neon Coffee in the afternoon for some matcha and military lattes. Loving the bright pops of pink!
For dinner, we ate at Cliffs Edge, across the street from another great restaurant Pine + Crane. Cliffs Edge has this amazing outdoor seating area that reminded me of the jungle entrance of the Disneyland ride, Jungle Cruise (ha!). The inside though was such a cool vibe, and the food at Cliffs Edge was delicious.
The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast in bed at the LINE hotel. Also, you can’t beat the views of the Hollywood Hills while you’re enjoying breakfast in bed! Wanted to spend more time wandering around there, but we really wanted to check out The Broad Museum and Grand Central Market before catching our afternoon flights back home.
I was so impressed with The Broad, a contemporary art museum in downtown LA with incredible pieces by all the heavy hitters: Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Basquiat etc. It’s right next to the MOCA too if you’re wanting to spend a day museum hopping. The Broad’s space itself is stunning, especially the 3rd floor exhibits. Admission is free, if you’re willing to wait 2-3 hours, otherwise it’s $25 a person.
I think it might be one of my very favorite museums, up there with the Guggenheim and SFMOMA. We really really wanted to see the Infinity Mirrored Room but it was a horribly long wait and we had a plane to catch!
A couple blocks down from The Broad is Grand Central Market. It’s an indoor space filled to the brim with eateries and bakeries. It was so hard to decide what to get! Had heard a lot about Eggslut but there was a huge Saturday morning line. Ended up eating at Madcapra Falafel. Honestly, it was the best falafel salad I’ve ever had. Could have stayed there all day and eaten my way through that place. Yummy.
We headed to the airport (only 20 minutes from downtown) and were back home with our families for their bedtime stories and kisses. These quick CA day trips are so much fun. Girls weekend trips? Easy spring break with the family? A quick romantic getaway without the kids? There’s so much I want to explore next time!
Thanks Alaska Airlines for sponsoring this post and making intra-California trips quick and easy.
i love the idea of “curating clothes,” i honestly hadn’t thought about it like that before. maybe collecting (or in my case, more like hoarding), but curating sounds much more purposeful. i’m going to start thinking about it like that from now on! looks like a fun trip!
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Love this. We lived in LA for a few years when we were first married. My husband lived there for years before that, so there are so many sweet memories of falling in love and our early newlywed days. Our oldest daughter was also born there. There’s a certain magic about your first pregnancy. Though I’ve idealized it now, LA wasn’t meant for us long term, phew it’s intense, but a place I treasure and love to visit. Also, where is your little waist purse/Fanny pack bag from, it’s darling.
That’s really kinda interesting to get to know the places from a keen observer I truly enjoyed reading this keep it up well done. Thanks for sharing this post.
How fun! Isn’t The Broad fantastic? We went there a few years back and loved it. I was so glad to get tickets in advance because that line is super long – all the way down the block and around the corner! The Infinity Room is amazing so you’ll have to check it out next time. The kids and I are actually heading to LA for Spring break in a few weeks. We’ll be meeting up with my sister who is flying in from Australia, so that’s pretty exciting. We haven’t seen each other on almost 3 years! Still haven’t worked out how we’ll be getting around yet – neither of us has a licence and we can’t Uber with kids! It will definitely be an adventure!
Saguaro Hotel looks AMAZING, oh my God. I totally want to stay there, too! LA is on my bucket list, hopefully one day I’ll get to go there… 😀
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
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