By Layla
It was surreal to be driving alongside the Las Vegas strip in our little shuttle bus from Zion, but after a night in a non-Vegas-ish hotel, we wound our way past the poker machines all over the airport and by mid morning on Thursday had returned to the thankfully less-bright lights of Los Angeles.
We arrived in time for lunch at our favourite falafel restaurant at the very hip Grand Central Market, from which it was a five minute stroll to our home for the next few days. Our AirBnB apartment was impossibly hip. Genuinely the most stylish apartment I’ve ever seen, much less stayed in. It was amazing and we rejoiced, before grabbing an Uber to a rather obscure location: Frogtown! As we drove past happy people on swan-shaped pedal boats, Roz plaintively asked if that was where we were headed. No! We were doing an hour-long walk along a rather industrial-feeling river. Luckily I redeemed myself by taking us to to Spokes, an unlikely, hilariously hip riverfront bike shop/restaurant. We gorged on salted chocolate chip cookies, walked the requisite hour, then I crumbled and called an Uber back to Echo Park, that lovely park we’d passed on the way. We finished off with a nice stroll around the lake and major dog appreciation session, went home to glam up, and then grab a sneaky grilled cheese sandwich before the event that had brought us to LA in the first place: Taylor Mac’s 24 hour, 24 century history of America through music. It was spectacular. He’d split it into four sets of six hours and we had tickets for the first two (having previously seen the third in New Yorka few years back). It’s hard to explain six hours of spectacular performance, songs, politics, and all sorts of participation. It was hypnotic. And disconcerting. And made us see history differently. Though the full hour when they had us all blindfolded so we could use our other senses was a fatal combination with my jetlag... But gosh. Not so much a show as an experience. And home way past my bedtime.
The next day we took the train to Hollywood and, after a sneaky avocado toast in a cool coffeeshop, hiked up Runyon Canyon. It was beautiful. And teeming with locals walking their dogs, which was fun. Great views - if a tad too steep for my liking (the dogs weren’t complaining). Afterwards we took the train back home, and popped into Washington favourite Sweetgreen for a nostalgic salad lunch. It rained that afternoon so we read our books and we visited the lovely Last Bookshop for a bit of literary browsing. Delightful.
We returned through the rain to to Grand Central Market for a Thai dinner, then got back on the train (which is mostly used by homeless people, which is a bit odd) and returned to Hollywood for an evening treat: one of our favourite improv groups, Second City. Their show was Trump in Space and was good if not spectacular (or maybe we now think a good show has to last six hours?!).
On our penultimate LA day was sunny and on a whim we went to Pasadena on the train. I confess I was mostly inspired to visit the location where the Big Bang Theory is set but I was extra-delighted to find their city hall doubles as Pawnee’s town hall in Parks and Recreation. Sightseeing complete, we ensconced ourselves in a cool cafe for banana cake... then lunch. Finally we extracted ourselves to go to a beautiful bookstore, which was such a treat, with lovely book recommendations from the staff. And then we ubered to the start of a trail to hike Eaton Canyon.
I’d expected it to be a fairly prosaic hike but the recent rains had turned this riverside stroll into an adventure playground. We had to cross the river at several different points, leaping on logs and stepping stones, and miraculously staying semi-dry. But feeling like Indiana Jones, obviously. Well, until an array of women suavely passed us on the stones, leaping gracefully with their dogs under their arms...
We suddenly realised the time and dashed back across all the rivers and into yet another Uber to grab a quick bite to eat, dash home, glam up, and walk over to Taylor Mac part 2. Being the weekend, more people were dressed up and it was very cool with everything from a reimagined Mikado set on Mars to a song contest between Walt Whitman and Stephe Collins Foster. But our seats were in a draft, and yet again I got a tad sleepy at the 4-hour mark. We mused upon going home to our warm, comfy bed but in the end did not succumb to old lady-ness and stayed til it was over. Phew. Not old ladies yet.
Our final day in LA - how I hate the last day feeling at the end of a holiday. We checked out of our insanely stylish apartment and left our bags in a BagBnB location - this is apparently a new thing and very convenient for left luggage. A quick purchase of avocado toast later and we were ubering towards our final hike: a 6 mile round trip up the mountain to behind the Hollywood sign. What a cool hike! Spectacular views, lovely grassy scenery, and dogs aplenty. I rather messed up at the end by trying to send Roz up an almost-vertical slope to the sign before someone pointed out the clear sign up a normal road and we stood right behind the H, which was most cool.
But all good things must come to an end. We walked all the way down the mountain, then an extra twenty minutes to a strip of cool shops where we had fancy avocado toast (our second of the day - stop judging!) and artisanal icecream. And then got a succession of Ubers back to pick up our luggage and head to the airport. We had a final glass of champagne in the terminal, which humiliatingly made me drunk! And now you are experiencing the results of this as I type this blog (on a delayed plane). Goodbye LA! Such a lovely holiday and I can’t believe it was only a week.
Books Roz read on holiday:
Lullaby by Leila Slimani 7/10
Still Me by Jojo Moyes 8/10
The Idiot by Elif Batuman 7/10
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky 10/10
The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian Walker 6/10
Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland 7/10
Plus progress made on:
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Moon Palace by Paul Auster
Books I read on holiday:
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 5/5
The Idiot by Elif Batuman 3/5
H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker 3/5
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon 5/5
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 5/5
Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland 4/5
It was surreal to be driving alongside the Las Vegas strip in our little shuttle bus from Zion, but after a night in a non-Vegas-ish hotel, we wound our way past the poker machines all over the airport and by mid morning on Thursday had returned to the thankfully less-bright lights of Los Angeles.
We arrived in time for lunch at our favourite falafel restaurant at the very hip Grand Central Market, from which it was a five minute stroll to our home for the next few days. Our AirBnB apartment was impossibly hip. Genuinely the most stylish apartment I’ve ever seen, much less stayed in. It was amazing and we rejoiced, before grabbing an Uber to a rather obscure location: Frogtown! As we drove past happy people on swan-shaped pedal boats, Roz plaintively asked if that was where we were headed. No! We were doing an hour-long walk along a rather industrial-feeling river. Luckily I redeemed myself by taking us to to Spokes, an unlikely, hilariously hip riverfront bike shop/restaurant. We gorged on salted chocolate chip cookies, walked the requisite hour, then I crumbled and called an Uber back to Echo Park, that lovely park we’d passed on the way. We finished off with a nice stroll around the lake and major dog appreciation session, went home to glam up, and then grab a sneaky grilled cheese sandwich before the event that had brought us to LA in the first place: Taylor Mac’s 24 hour, 24 century history of America through music. It was spectacular. He’d split it into four sets of six hours and we had tickets for the first two (having previously seen the third in New Yorka few years back). It’s hard to explain six hours of spectacular performance, songs, politics, and all sorts of participation. It was hypnotic. And disconcerting. And made us see history differently. Though the full hour when they had us all blindfolded so we could use our other senses was a fatal combination with my jetlag... But gosh. Not so much a show as an experience. And home way past my bedtime.
The next day we took the train to Hollywood and, after a sneaky avocado toast in a cool coffeeshop, hiked up Runyon Canyon. It was beautiful. And teeming with locals walking their dogs, which was fun. Great views - if a tad too steep for my liking (the dogs weren’t complaining). Afterwards we took the train back home, and popped into Washington favourite Sweetgreen for a nostalgic salad lunch. It rained that afternoon so we read our books and we visited the lovely Last Bookshop for a bit of literary browsing. Delightful.
We returned through the rain to to Grand Central Market for a Thai dinner, then got back on the train (which is mostly used by homeless people, which is a bit odd) and returned to Hollywood for an evening treat: one of our favourite improv groups, Second City. Their show was Trump in Space and was good if not spectacular (or maybe we now think a good show has to last six hours?!).
On our penultimate LA day was sunny and on a whim we went to Pasadena on the train. I confess I was mostly inspired to visit the location where the Big Bang Theory is set but I was extra-delighted to find their city hall doubles as Pawnee’s town hall in Parks and Recreation. Sightseeing complete, we ensconced ourselves in a cool cafe for banana cake... then lunch. Finally we extracted ourselves to go to a beautiful bookstore, which was such a treat, with lovely book recommendations from the staff. And then we ubered to the start of a trail to hike Eaton Canyon.
I’d expected it to be a fairly prosaic hike but the recent rains had turned this riverside stroll into an adventure playground. We had to cross the river at several different points, leaping on logs and stepping stones, and miraculously staying semi-dry. But feeling like Indiana Jones, obviously. Well, until an array of women suavely passed us on the stones, leaping gracefully with their dogs under their arms...
We suddenly realised the time and dashed back across all the rivers and into yet another Uber to grab a quick bite to eat, dash home, glam up, and walk over to Taylor Mac part 2. Being the weekend, more people were dressed up and it was very cool with everything from a reimagined Mikado set on Mars to a song contest between Walt Whitman and Stephe Collins Foster. But our seats were in a draft, and yet again I got a tad sleepy at the 4-hour mark. We mused upon going home to our warm, comfy bed but in the end did not succumb to old lady-ness and stayed til it was over. Phew. Not old ladies yet.
Our final day in LA - how I hate the last day feeling at the end of a holiday. We checked out of our insanely stylish apartment and left our bags in a BagBnB location - this is apparently a new thing and very convenient for left luggage. A quick purchase of avocado toast later and we were ubering towards our final hike: a 6 mile round trip up the mountain to behind the Hollywood sign. What a cool hike! Spectacular views, lovely grassy scenery, and dogs aplenty. I rather messed up at the end by trying to send Roz up an almost-vertical slope to the sign before someone pointed out the clear sign up a normal road and we stood right behind the H, which was most cool.
But all good things must come to an end. We walked all the way down the mountain, then an extra twenty minutes to a strip of cool shops where we had fancy avocado toast (our second of the day - stop judging!) and artisanal icecream. And then got a succession of Ubers back to pick up our luggage and head to the airport. We had a final glass of champagne in the terminal, which humiliatingly made me drunk! And now you are experiencing the results of this as I type this blog (on a delayed plane). Goodbye LA! Such a lovely holiday and I can’t believe it was only a week.
Books Roz read on holiday:
Lullaby by Leila Slimani 7/10
Still Me by Jojo Moyes 8/10
The Idiot by Elif Batuman 7/10
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky 10/10
The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian Walker 6/10
Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland 7/10
Plus progress made on:
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Moon Palace by Paul Auster
Books I read on holiday:
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 5/5
The Idiot by Elif Batuman 3/5
H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker 3/5
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon 5/5
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 5/5
Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland 4/5
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