killing time in LA

the schedule for the 561 is at
http://www.mta.net/metro_transit/timetables/images/233-561.pdf

the schedule for the 14 is at:
http://bigbluebus.com/busroutes/map/index.asp?routeid=14

The mta also has a very good trip planner, so if you know when you want to go, it'll set you up with info on bus connectuons and times.

If I had just a few hours to kill I'd get drunk with my friends in a bar at the end of the Santa Monica Pier.

If I had just a few hours to kill I'd get drunk with my friends in a bar at the end of the Santa Monica Pier. Or I'd just drive down Sunset Blvd. from downtown to PCH.

By Thursday afternoon, do you mean tomorrow?

b zuraw that's good info, thank you! is there a shuttle that goes from LAX to the big blue bus? the 561 bus doesn't sound too bad actually, provided i don't barely miss one, the wait time between buses is shocking

Even if you only get to spend an hour at the Getty, it'll still be better than hanging around LAX.

the 14 is a santa monica bus - i don't think the mta operators are totally fluent in other bus systems. i also prefer the online planner at www.mta.net to the phoneline, although obv there are situations where the phone is the only way to go.

if you miss the 561 (i didn't realize it goes all the way to lax) you can take the santa monica 3 at lax to the 14 9switch nr bundy and montana). the 14 is also kinda infrequent, though.

there may be waits for indic exhibits, but i think the waits in the early days that people used to complain about were for parking reservations and bus riders could waltz right in anytime.

"the 14 9switch nr bundy and montana)"
read
"the 14 (switch near bundy and montana)"

and for "indic exhibits" read "individual exhibits"

since i can't type, i probably shouldn't abbreviate.

and, drop in next door at the center for land use interpretation, if you can. they have rotating exhibits and a good collection of books about human impacts on the land, from land art to military installations to public works to movie locations.

I hope you can stretch it, Tracer, as I'll be there, too. As much as I'll enjoy meeting the new suspects, it would be cool to also hang with one of the NY crowd.

Santa Barbara was a joke, just totally picture-book exotically gorgeous (spolied somewhat current-events-wise by the eight oil derricks lingering near the horizon whenever you looked out to sea) though i suspect rather boring after awhile even if the town council doesn't mandate 4 hours of surfing or skateboarding per day for all schoolchildren as the envorins so clearly call for. The idea that anyone could WORK in such a place boggles the mind. Wish I could have hung on Sunday, it would have been cool.

Sorry I came to this thread too late but I would have told you to waste time with the hipsters on Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz of a Thursday afternoon.

i used to live a few blocks north of sunset between echo park/chavez ravine/silverlake during my school daze in la. but this was probably pre-hipster days, unless central american families are very hip (not to say that they aren't, just that i may be more out of touch than originally thought).

One of those rare times when I'm happy to have been wrong. Glad your trip to the Getty was so easy. There's a lot of great stuff in L.A., and a lot of bad stuff, and for a many people who have lived there, the bad just gets to be too bad after a while and you leave. But the good stuff is still great. And speaking of good stuff, eating pancakes at Good Stuff on the Strand in Hermosa Beach is very good indeed.

This post is very L.A. The only signifying words are "good" and "stuff" that is to say, virtually without semiotic content.

I just noticed this. How did you go over to the Dark Side? This is very sad.

don't ask... just growing up in the middle of nowhere can cause strange things to happen. :-D

i'll be in LA tue-fri next week. tell me things to do to kill time, ilx! (little things especially - no idea how much time i'll have to myself.) (i don't drive.)

You're actually in LA, there are more public transport options than where I'm at! (But the differences between London and LA's system will be all too immediately apparent.)

First off, where in town are you staying, IE what hotel?

ha, that's not sorted out yet :/

there's this little store called Amoeba...

what do you want to do?

x-post -- See, I was going to suggest that but I honestly don't know if the Lex would want to spend an LA visit in a huge record/CD store! (So, would you?)

i could!

would appreciate recommendations for places to eat or places to just chill out, or any good evening stuff which might be happening...once the hotel is confirmed i'll post that.

Places to eat = millions of possibilities for sure. Yeah, figure out which hotel and then it'll be easy to dig up options.

without a car, you probably aren't going to be able to get very far on your own. given the size of the place, it'll be hard for people to make recommendations until you know where you're staying. if you have any say in that, however, people might be able to recommend what area to stay in.

one would need to take a cab to/from Amoeba, no?

All depends -- the Hollywood/Vine Red Line stop is just two blocks away from Amoeba, for instance, so if he's staying downtown he would just need to use that.

ok i'mma be in the crescent in beverly hills! tell me appropriate things o ilx.

i ate brunch there once, seemed like a nice hotel but not too snooty

beverly hills is not a place you'll want to spend a ton of time in. you'll be just east of the main commercial area, you can wander around there a bit, over to rodeo drive and the surrounding streets, just to say you've been but it's kinda dull.

one hotel a few blocks from the crescent on burton way is L'Ermitage, a very upscale (and inconspicuous)place favored by celebs because it's low-key and discreet. if you go there in the evening for a drink, you'll have a decent chance of seeing someone famous, if that's your thing

la is sprawling, but you're not too far from west hollywood and the beverly/fairfax/3rd street area. lots of dining/shopping options around there.

from your hotel you could take the wilshire bus (20 is local, 720 and 920 are rapid) east to fairfax and then the 780 bus goes north on fairfax and turns east on hollywood blvd all the way out to los feliz. lots of options!

or if you want to check out the valley, take the 218 bus from santa monica blvd and crescent heights up through laurel canyon and it'll drop you on ventura blvd.

go to the Tropicana at the Roosevelt in Hollywood on Saturday night and you can chill with regulars like Paris, Scarlett and Leo.

velko otm re rodeo drive, etc. if you have an hour or more to kill while there's daylight (where will you be during the day?), i think it would be interesting to walk around the blocks of residential beverly hills to the immediate Northwest of where you're staying - the streets are lined with interesting LA houses (some/many of which verge on bad taste, though we're talking more bungalows than mansions here) and many of them are lined with tall palm trees. i don't know how aimless pedestrians are received in the area, tho, and you have to cross both santa monica boulevards. there's also a small-ish park en route, and a pain quotidien down santa monica from which you can grab a sandwich.

idk about public trans, but you could probably cab to/from west hollywood and the beverly/fairfax/3rd street area - i'd look up and bring the phone numbers for several cab companies that service the area (assuming you have a cell phone). your hotel also says car/limo service available - i'd find out what that means: what's the charge if any, what are the hours, how far will they take you, how long do you have to wait, etc. they and other places can always call you a cab, of course.

for food, your hotel has, appropriately, a small, hip/bar-oriented, decent enough creative American place with outdoor seating. the following places are also within walking distance:
very close - Nate 'n Al's (famous Jewish deli popular with Hollywood types); Enoteca Drago (smart cas Cal-Ital small plates)/Il Pastaio (cas, less-expensive Ital from same people)
very expensive, serious restaurants - Spago (famous/(over?)hyped euro and asian-influenced California food); CUT (popular mod-Cal steakhouse from the Spago guy); Muse at the Montage Beverly Hills (ontemporary hotel restaurant)
sushi/Japanese - Urasawa (super-duper-expensive); Sushi Sushi (casual quiet place, expensive and a long walk); Katsu (cheaper); BondSt Beverly Hills (LA outpost of hip NY place, expensive)
other Asian - Mako (East Asian small plates in Cal-ish smart cas room, expensive), Crustacean (Hip, dressy vietnamese, expensive)
Mexican - Frida Mexican Cuisine (casual, not super-cheap or -authentic, but surely better than what you get at home)
LA vibe - Kate Mantilini (mod diner for Hollywood people and late-nighters); Mr Chow (yes, that one, with celebs/Hollywooders); the Grill on the Alley (Bev Hills vibe at least; expensive steakhouse for power lunches)
schtick - Wolfgang's Steakhouse (recreated NY steakhouse experience, very expensive); Luau (mod tiki place with contempo-ish polynesian food)

the distance from your hotel to the Roosevelt is about the same as that from Tower Bridge to the Albert Hall

i have landed!

thanks all for yr recommendations but there was a last-minute change-up and i'm actually in the grafton on w sunset blvd instead. i think i'm being looked after tonight but after i'm done w/tomorrow's interview (hopefully by mid-afternoon) i might have wandering opportunities.

ps i love this city

(this might just be the sheer joy at feeling warmth again speaking)

oh actually if anyone's online now who has recommendations for a good place to eat tonight around the grafton, that would be awesome...

Gimme a sec, lex, I'll scare something up. And yeah, welcome to warmth!

seriously after the winter we've had...we were just awestruck, almost, when we stepped out of the airport.

also: the view over the desert as you fly into LA is quite something.

& thanks!!

not to bum anyone out, but it may rain thu-sat

on thu i'll be in the desert all day apparently

Lex I'm seeing Norman's one block over as a recommendation from Jonathan Gold and others, that's usually a good sign, and it's one block over -- here's Gold review:

Norman’s:

Norman Van Aken’s style of cooking, sometimes called Floribbean cuisine, processes Caribbean recipes through the matrix of French technique, often inflecting a dish with an Asian flavor or two: the kind of French toast you’d hope to find in an $800-per-night Antigua resort, for example, piled with seared foie gras and gingered lime zest, or duck cracklings served with a loose polenta that can’t decide whether its flavors come from Valencia or the Yucatán. Craig Petrella must have been the most talented chef in Van Aken’s restaurant empire, because it is impossible to discern where Van Aken’s ideas ease off and his own ideas begin. Except that I think I like the West Hollywood restaurant much better than the Florida original. 8570 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 657-2400. Tues.–Thurs. 6–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 6–10:30 p.m. Lounge open Tues.–Sat. at 5:30 p.m. Full bar. Takeout. AE, MC, V. $27–$39. New World.

Whoops repeated the one block over part. You get the idea.

asia de cuba in the mondrian hotel is close by and good (if someone else is picking up the tab!)

Looks fancy schmantz but hey, if you're on an expense account and can get yourself in:

http://www.normans.com

And yeah, Velko's right, who's paying for all this!

omg i had not realised how hungry i was until now. have eaten nothing but gross airline food for 12hrs, ugh that "spinach and ricotta wrap" ughhh. i shall suggest both of those to the tab-payer! we saw the mondrian on the way in - the one w/the skybar, yeah?

yes

Sounds like you're covered either way. Enjoy the warm evening, get some food and relax!

Ironic this thread comes up given that I'm going to LA tomorrow and staying through the weekend.

Those are all pretty decent recs Gabb as far as food goes, although I've thought Spago was over for years. I'm eating at Puck's Red Seven on Friday though. And (hestitantly) eating at STK this week as well.

Can I derail the thread and bemoan the franchising of every restaurant ever? I was in SoBe last weekend and I had no idea that what, a dozen resty from NYC are now calling that shitpad home. Ugh.

Lex... As an alternate restaurant, check out The Spanish Kitchen on La Cienega - not my #1 recommendation in general, but you guys owe it to yourselves to get some screwball Mexican food/cheap margaritas

http://www.thespanishkitchen.com/

dude it's restaurant week here in LA, and you can make reservations for most of the places through opentable:

http://www.dinela.com/restaurantweek/

i recommend chaya:

http://www.dinela.com/restaurantweek/listing/12502/CHAYA-BRASSERIE-RESTAURANT

or if you feel like going out to culver city, ford's filling station is terrific (and it's run by harrison ford's son):

http://www.dinela.com/restaurantweek/listing/27518/FORDS-FILLING-STATION

ah wow thanks jody. we realised we'd need to book for norman's so just ate the most massive steak ever in the grafton restaurant, and will be doing norman's tonight hopefully...

why am i only here for three days :(

Chaya's definitely worth it, try that on Thursday.

RW menus often disappoint. the places that would interest me are the new Jose Andres, Campanile, 3 on Fourth and Grace. maybe Water Grill for the pricing, though i've never really believed it was that interesting. i've always thought ford's filling station sounded like my kind of place, but lost interest when i looked at the menu.

I've thought Spago was over for years

i think Puck in general has likely been over for years, and probably wasn't my cup of tea in the first place. if i'm gonna spend money, i'd probably do it at Sona or Providence.

i wonder what's on the Bubba Gump RW menu

oh gabbneb-paws

actually, ford's rw menu looks very nice.

and the regular menu looks kinda unexciting, as usual

ladies and gentleman: gabbneb.

kinda unexciting, as usual

is club bang still around? i think the lex should do a scene report.

not far from Tropicana too.

actually, Dan, I need no introduction

Fords filling station is kinda crappy. Granted I've only been once but I felt no need to ever go back and Im within walking distance.

(xp) extra points for "actually" and first name usage

walk over to the chateau marmont and go up to the lobby and/or the beautiful courtyard. have a drink if you like (eventually one of the staff will come up and ask you). chance of seeing a celebrity is about 75%. i used to bring visitors there all the time.

ok the asia de cuba rec was SPOT ON, i am going to have delicious dreams about that alaskan butterfish for a while to come