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015745

Los Angeles Anytime

	Restaurants	Style / Comment / Facts
	The Grill	The Grill is tucked in just off Rodeo Drive on Drayton Way. I find it to be an `old Hollywood' kind of place. I usually am there off-hours, often mid-afternoon, and for reasons that are completely unclear to me they have always been kind and courteous. Feels like a civilized, classy old-time LA to me, with a menu to match. And it's a nice break in the stroll up and down Rodeo Drive.
	Pacific Dining Car	An odd place that is only passably good, but has an unusual feel (an old RR `Dining Car' motif) and is open both early and late, something that can be an advantage if your clock has not yet adjusted to West Coast hours.
	Versailles	I love it (them, actually, as there are two sites). A very simple Latino place distinguished only by the fact that the food is very good, very simple and extremely cheap. Zero ambience except that in fact there is so little ambience that it becomes colorful.
	Chinois	Puck's `Chinese' place in Santa Monica. Good food, and very pretty. Decor is by Puck's friend Barbara. On a pleasant street, in an area worth strolling.
	Spago	Puck's original place (sort of). Along with Panisse in Berkeley, this is where California Cuisine began. Impossible to get in except at odd hours and then only by chance. But surely you'll see someone there. Someone is always there.
	Bernard's	Sadly the formal dining room of The Biltmore Hotel downtown has been turned into a steakhouse. It was a classy old room where they played the harpsichord during your fine dinner. I'm sorry it has gone.
	The Rose	The Rose is a brunch/lunch place on Rose Ave. in Santa Monica. Feels quintessentially California to me. Food is fine, but I mostly like the place because it is a bright cheery LA `spot'.
	The West Beach Cafe	I don't know if they still do late night pizzas at the West Beach, but the crowd that gathered there was always attractive and lively.
	Casablanca	The Casablanca is a old-style mexican restaurant particularly distinguished by the fact that the tortillas are served fresh and warm.
	Citrus	Citrus is (was?) a wonderful spot. I say `was' because I have the feeling that I saw a `Closed' sign on it the last time I drove down Melrose. It is/was a trendy spot that collected people both to be seen and to enjoy the food.
	Patina	Much like Citrus. Pretty, LA-style crowd. Good food.
	Bars	Cooling `Hot' Spots
	Hotels	Where
	Bel Air	Certainly one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in regularly. It probably gains something from the quiet serenity that contrasts so strongly from the world outside Bel Air. The Dining Room is also a pleasure, and you're reasonably likely to run in to some of your neighbors---only the dignified entertainment folks bother to live in Bel Air. There was a time that this hotel only cost $50 more than a `conventional' hotel, but those days are gone and it now costs more what you'd expect of such a fine place.
	Airport Hotels	The LAX hotels are no particular pleasure, but off cycle they sometimes have good deals, so they end up being cheap on Summer Weekends, for example, as there is no `business' business, and tourists generally want to be elsewhere. Being on the 405 and reasonably close to the 10 isn't a bad location for many purposes though.
	El Segundo Hotels	As as experiment on my last visit to LA, I stayed in one of the hotels South of the Airport, out by Rosecranz and Sepulveda. It was a nice suite hotel with comfortable rooms and facilities, and had the advantage of being about 100 yards from a stop on the Beach Line of the LA Metro. This made getting Downtown a breeze, although it took a couple of changes to get all the way into the center. Enjoyed the hotel and the accessability to both the Metro and the 405.
	Sights	What to See
	Mulholland Drive	This drive is either great or fabulous. Fabulous only happens when the air is really clear, so that's only a few days a year. But even if you can't see the mountains on the far side of the valley, the views are pretty spectacular anyway.
	Rodeo Drive	For me Rodeo Drive is a bit like Las Vegas. I really didn't `believe it' until I `saw it'. It would be easy to drop $10,000 dressing for the evening if you shopped here. It's a concentration much like Monte Napoleon in Milan, except there aren't any food stores, and the clothes seem to be haute chic rather than haute couture. This could have been categorized under `shopping areas', of course, but since I'm highly unlikely to pay the prices here, I regard it as a sight rather than a shopping destination.
	Museums	Character
	Getty	I have trouble categorizing the Getty as a Museum rather than as a Sight. Or it could be an `entertainment'. I have never been in love with its collection, but I am in love with Richard Meier's incredible architecture, and with the choice of site. Don't consider eating in their lousy restaurant (at least it was the last time I was there). Go there and wander all over the place, but don't waste too much time inside looking at the collection. One of the few museums you should save for a non-rainy day. It is also fair to point out that the Getty is quite serious about `education', and I generally find that I learn something by going there. Last time it was about `natural light' and how it showed paintings. Earlier I learned something about casting bronzes.
	Los Angeles County Museum of Art	A good collection, though it was somewhat short of great the last time that I was there.
	Contemporary	I like the Contemporary. It is a good size for me, I enjoy all of it, but am usually ready to leave just about the time I finish passing through. Some of the displays are very simple but very effective.
	Contemporary at the Geffen	This was the site of the `temporary' Contemporary when they were re-doing the central site a decade or so ago. Now it houses an odd collection of stuff that might be called `industrial design'. But it's a fun collection, and well worth the time it takes if you are visiting Japantown of Olivera Street anyway.
	Shopping	Areas
	South Coast Mall	A classic Orange County mall. Shops that range across the whole economic spectrum.
	Fashion Island	Located at Newport Beach, this is sort of the Gold Coast of Orange County.
	Westwood	Westwood houses UCLA. That produces a youth-oriented shopping / cinema / Restaurant area not far from Bel-Air and just a block or two up from Wilshire and just LA-side of the 405.
	Food	Areas and Off-Sale
	Farmer's Market
	Charmers Market
	Cheap and/or Ethnic Eats	Characteristics
	Near Union Station	The old Mexican district on Olivera Street, right across from Union Station is incredibly touristy. Therefore it should be bad. But it isn't. It's all a bit hokey, perhaps, but the food that I have had there is good, and it's a pleasant scene, particularly on a nice day.
	The Valley	The Valley seems to be home to an incredible number of Vietnamese and Thai Restaurants, as well as lots of food of other ethnicities.
	Parks	Various Things
	La Brae Tar Pits
	Huntington Library	While the Huntington Library has a Guttenberg Bible and some other wonderful things in its collection, the real jewel is the surrounding park which has a fabulous collection of `old' roses and other flora.
	Nearby	Only for California
	Only in California is there almost as much interesting and colorful stuff going on `around' the cities as in the cities themselves. The places mentioned here are never more than `day trips' away from the center of the cities.
	Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara is about 1.5 hours mostly West of LA (yes, West, even though most people think of it as North). Santa Barbara is a relaxed `money town' with lots of high-ticket retirees, and a laid back style that makes LA look like NYC in comparison. Nice beaches, but generally too quiet for my taste. And the food is pretty `average California' and therefore way below the quality of LA.
	Orange County	A large and increasingly diverse community just South of LA. Used to be the core of Conservatism, but now lots of Latinos, Nesei, and even artistic hippies have moved in to mix up the picture. The Ritz at Laguna Niguel is a wonderful hotel just South of Laguna Beach. South Coast Mall and Fashion Island are described above.
	San Diego	San Diego is now one of America's Largest cities (#7). A famous Zoo, perhaps the best in the US. Coronado is delightful, and the Hotel del Coronado is worth seeing, although not worth staying at. `The Gaslight' is a nice downtown district of good restaurants and nice street life.
	Palm Springs	Palm Springs is about 90 minutes past East LA going East on I10. It is a `different take' on the Southern California experience. Fantastic homes, but no LA with regard to food. I guess it is a golfer's dream. But then I don't golf.