I never planned to become a regular in Los Angeles, but here we are. This visit started out as a work trip to Long Beach, followed by a few carefully planned days off.
My goal with this vacation was to have new experiences, and I think that worked out: if you told me six months ago that I’d be flying an airplane over SoCal, I would have thought you were crazy — yet it was the highlight of the trip.
Even the best laid plans can fall apart. I’d planned on trying a tasting menu at the chef’s table in an upscale new restaurant as part of an Airbnb Experience. The chef was ill and it was called off. No big deal though — I always maintain a list of backup plans as a contingency.
Some other thoughts and observations in no particular order:
- Long Beach reminds me a lot of Oakland: lots of working class blue-collar types, a big shipping industry, and a lot of places that aren’t really walkable.
- On that note, despite several Metro Rail extensions, Angeleno as a whole still have a huge problem with their car addiction. If the city is going to pull off the Olympics sustainably, the only viable option at this late stage is to go all-in on bus rapid transit.
- Staying in DTLA is pretty easy for me these days since I know how to find my way around, and some good food spots. Guisados is my go-to place for tacos with fresh, handmade tortillas. That’s the secret that elevates a typical taco into a great one.
- I hired a professional photographer to get some shots of myself in LA at night — the photographer turned out to be from the Bay Area too. Small world.
- I went on a tour of Union Station with the LA Conservancy that was sort of a mixed bag. Part of the building was closed for maintenance, and the guide could have been a lot more mindful about directing us around all the noise and skin-searing sunlight. Still, it was cool to see parts of the station I’d never seen before, and learn about parts I’d walked right past before — like the prop ticket counters from Blade Runner.
- I was sworn to secrecy on some aspects of this one: I booked a ticket to a “tea speakeasy.” It’s a relaxing spot where the proprietor serves as much tea as you’d like for a flat fee, there’s live music, and plenty of opportunities to socialize with strangers over board games and art projects. Doesn’t get much more LA than that.
- LAX’s new “people mover” tram still isn’t open just yet. A vision of LAX that’s not clogged with traffic is almost impossible to imagine, but hope may be here soon, as they were testing it out while I was there.
As a pro-tip for getting around LA, try relying on Uber and Lyft only for the last mile if you can; the LA Metro (buses, light rail, and subway) is dirt cheap at $1.75 so the savings are real.
Oh, and I still haven’t made it to that alien church. Maybe next time — Los Angeles has the strangest ways of drawing you back.
