vacation, all I never wanted - LOS ANGELES recommendations thread

so many L.A. threads so I thought I'd just start a new one

I'm taking a working vacation for a few weeks starting, well, on Thursday, and would love some recommendations from locals

already have a L.A. record stores thread, so I'm more interested in...

- cheap but delicious places to eat -- ethnic food preferred (any recommendations among the glut of korean and japanese restaurants, for example?)
- great parks, walking neighborhoods, interesting architecture
- slept-on museums, tourist attractions
- bookstores (do they still have those?)
- just anywhere one might profitably spend a few hours chilling and wandering around
- I like city history so neighborhoods of particular historical interest eagerly sought
- ethnic enclaves too
- movie theaters that play old and/or offbeat stuff that I haven't already thought of (UCLA/new beverly/cinefamily)

FWIW I'll be spending a lot of time near UCLA so recommendations in that part of town are particularly welcome. though I've heard it's not a very exciting neighborhood.

THANKS LADIES AND GENTS

...yeah if you're near Westwood these days, um, escape. Thankfully you don't have to go TOO far, at least the Apple Pan is nearby:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apple_Pan

(And yeah, burgers/American diner food but trust me, you gotta go there at least once.)

i JUST went there for the first time, and yes, so good

walking spots - baldwin hills scenic overlook offers a great view of the city. ballona creek is pretty, though i'm not sure if you can walk on the bike path?

not sure if you know about the museum of jurassic technology in culver city but i tell everyone who comes to LA to go there (maybe don't read too much about it beforehand tho). the center for land use interpretation is next door and i always mean to check it out but still haven't

LA's bookstore selection is...somewhat lackluster but i like the last bookstore downtown, and beyond baroque in venice has a cool poetry/chapbook selection

film-wise the nuart and the landmark are over there, as well as the cinefile video store. if you want to head east for stuff there's echo park film center and also lots of small alternative exhibition spaces/galleries that occasionally have film/video screenings (e.g. human resources). also the velaslavasay panorama near USC is well worth yr time

if you eat meat, o dae san korean bbq in k-town is wonderful. i also like buk chang dong soon for tofu soup. over by UCLA there's little osaka/sawtelle but i don't know much about food options there. over on the westside i really like attari (persian sandwich shop) and i think other ILXors can vouch for it as well. i would skip chinese here unless you're willing to go into the suburbs east of LA

if you won't have a car but would like to explore points east the 2 and the 780 buses stop near the campus and will take you thataway, and you're not too far from the recently-opened expo line either

will post more if i think of them!

wait, my mistake, so kong dong is the tofu soup place i like

books: iliad books in north hollywood is imho the best used bookstore in town by some distance. brand books in glendale is great, as is book alley in pasadena (the latter is perpetually disorganized though.)

you can't go wrong walking around little tokyo imo, lots of good food there. i'm usually reliant on my korean bros to take me to good spots in k-town, the one i remember liking a lot is beverly soon tofu.

if you want to get some great mexican, try la cabanita in north glendale or cacao mexicatessan in eagle rock (both convenient if you're hitting up highland park at some point.)

- cheap but delicious places to eat -- ethnic food preferred (any recommendations among the glut of korean and japanese restaurants, for example?)

if you get up to the valley at all, there's sanamluang and sri siam (thai-chinese) in north hollywood, pita kitchen in sherman oaks and joe's falafel in the universal city area for good gyros/shawarma, "eat" in north hollywood and nat's early bite in valley glen for awesome breakfasts, daichan in studio city for unfussy japanese-hawaiian food with twee/ebay-retro japanese decor, brent's in northridge for all-around jewish deli brilliance, follow your heart in canoga park for crunchy/veggie straight out of a '70s timewarp, artisan cheese gallery in studio city for beautiful sandwiches.

for korean and japanese in the central part of l.a.: i just went to castle korean bbq on western ave, and it's cheap and grubby and the meat isn't top-shelf but it's certainly acceptable for a $9.99 ayce. and two sushi places i like are sushi gen and oomasa in little tokyo. daikokuya has good ramen. you may do better for japanese over on sawtelle, but i don't know that area as well.

You should go to Boyle Heights! Great food, great walking, lots of history (Jewish history!) all in one place. And there's even a cool community bookstore - Libros Schmibros, where you should top in and talk to the owner David Kipen. It's far from UCLA but you can ride the expo line ot bus down Wilshire to the Gold Line and make sure to take a walk through Union Station too - I make all my visitors do that under pain of death.

Enjoy Los Angeles, it really is the greatest city in America!

Also if you go downtown, you can hit up the aforementioned Last Bookstore, eat at Grand Central Market, ride Angel's Flight, gawp at the Bradbury Building, etc. I'm sure you will like all these things.

Sorry, don't have any Westwood recommendations for you besides the Hammer and film archive, although if you want to walk onto the VA campus that is adjacent to UCLA, it is an occasionally troubling but fascinating place which is good for an early evening walk. It's also the second most valuable parcel of land in the US after Central Park and a bone of contention for for various local nimbys.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2011/06/veterans_sue_to_take_west_la_va_back_from_fancy_brentwooders.php

thank all of you so so much, this is spectacular. i'm on the train to L.A. now, will be there in two days-ish

The train? Awesome! Have fun!

yup.

Will you have a car?

yup.

If you have a midday sat or sun, I recommend driving Sunset all the way from downtown to PCH and onto Malibu playing something yacht rock-ish.

would don henley suffice?

Oh yeah.

I use the mellow tracks on the first Phoenix album.

As always the Museum of Jurassic Technology is a must stop: http://mjt.org
as is the Center For Land-Use Interpretation: http://www.clui.org

Also, Guisados in Boyle Heights (and on Sunset too) http://www.guisados.co

just been to MJT

do the lil bike ride down the strand if you can, get weed if you can

I found that the downtown architecture tour was worth taking.

and quite liked the "De Mille Barn"

http://hollywoodheritage.org/museum/museum.html

oh yeah, that wasn't open today but we'll try to go soon

also this: http://theautry.org/

restaurants in echo park / los feliz / silverlake?

also, what's to do in boyle heights?

Taix is an old school French restaurant that's been there forever (never been myself but it gets mentioned as an LA thing to do).

Cha Cha Cha (on Virgil Ave) is a Caribbean resto that I thought was pretty good.

Mariachi Plaza in the East LA area (may or may not be Boyle Heights) may be an interesting place to visit.

BH used to be the Jewish area of LA and there's an old synagogue there that may be open (probably not, I think it still needs a lot of restoration).

I'm sure other Angelenos will be of more use than I am.

good tacos at guisados in boyle heights.

I'll second guisados.

And in Los Feliz a small place called Best Fish Taco In Ensenada on Hillhurst near Prospect that's good (tho not really a destination place). If you go to Barnsdall Park it's a good lunch spot. There's a FLW house in the park that's usually open for tours.

The Trails Cafe is a tiny little sandwich spot/coffee bar in Griffith Park just N of Los Feliz Bl. Great food!: http://www.thetrailslosfeliz.com

Mariachi Plaza is definitely in Boyle Heights - it's on the corner of E. 1st. and Boyle Ave.

Guisados is a must stop - the original location is in Boyle Heights, but there's one in Echo Park now.

mess hall in los feliz is a place i like a lot. good cocktails, good brunch, nice atmosphere. probably my favorite los feliz spot, independent of my own house of pies nostalgia as the spot where my wife and i had our first meal together. i love L&E oyster bar on silver lake blvd. LA Mill across the street from there is kind of OTT ridiculous but it's a good restaurant and they've got great coffee. there are tons of other places in those neighborhoods but i don't rate any of them very highly, cf a bar like the thirsty crow, which is pretty lousy for a place often rated as one of the best bars in town.

i'm not crazy about the food at taix but some of their cocktails are nice

will add my voice to the guisados chorus

barnsdall park has a wine tasting every friday night - $20 for 4 glasses, and you get to keep the glass when yr done. really lovely way to spend an early summer evening, but make sure to buy tix online at least a day in advance

btw my favorite breakfast place lately is a hidden gem called Lemon Poppy Kitchen over in glassell park, on verdugo just past verdugo bar, occupying a space in a strip mall alongside a laundromat. very tiny, but never super crowded and excellent, excellent food + coffee.

guisados is amazing

Favorite coffee bar is C Plus on Brand Bl. in Glendale next to the Subaru dealership. An angry, punk rock place that's a throwback to 1992 only up-to-date on cold brew, hand-cranked espresso, artisan etc.. No attitude if you order an iced latte, and most important of all - it's OPEN 24 HOURS.

i need to hit that up. i rehearse not far from there.

Think you'll dig it. Just don't go there if you're in a hurry.

cosign museum of jurassic technology. A highlight of my trip to LA .

BUMP!

Where would you take a 10-year-old in LA? Obvious and less obvious stuff - going to be there for a couple of weeks so have time to fill. Particularly interested in anywhere he would get to play with other kids as he’s an only child. Loves sport and being in water (he dives - boards rather than scuba). Recommendations please!

Not sure where you're staying, but I was at a buddy's house a couple weeks ago in Downtown and he took us to this rad food court... there's also a tiny railroad across the street that climbs Bunker Hill, the kid might enjoy that

https://grandcentralmarket.com/

Where in LA?

Griffith Park/Hollywood sign

Petersen Museum

Santa Monica pier, beaches

Raging Waters

Dodger Stadium (for a game, obvs)

My wife and kid loved Universal, ymmv

My 20-year-old son and I have driven Mulholland Drive at night, there are some super cool views of LA/Universal City/San Fernando Valley, if he would appreciate that

Where in LA?

No idea yet! It’s incredibly last-minute. Within easy commuting distance of Hollywood as Stet has to go to work while we’re there.

We go in two weeks so Raging Waters will be closed ;_;

I second the Santa Monica pier, go at sunset

I love the dude who runs the little Route 66 kiosk.

Fairfax:
La Brea Tarpits

Exposition Park:
California Science Center
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Santa Monica:
Santa Monica Pier/Beach
Annenberg Community Beach House
Third Street Promenade

Pasadena:
Huntington Library
Norton Simon

a tiny railroad across the street that climbs Bunker Hill

AngelsFlight.org

Was coming to recommend that. From the top of Angel's Flight you can walk to MOCA and the Broad, two great modern art museums.

While downtown you might like the view from the top of US Bank building.

The pier and beach at Manhattan Beach have some kid-playing potential. It's always populated with families and kids. You can rent bikes or rollerskates and do the whole strand all the way to Torrance Beach, very under the radar beach.

The next time I go to la I want to stay near redondo and manhattan beaches

If you're at the tar pits be sure to actually go in the museum there, it's where the reconstructed skeletons are. (obvious, but wanted to say it anyway)