LOS ANGELES: Thanks But I’ve Had Enough
Los Angeles was…an experience. I’ve traveled a lot but Oakland and Downtown Los Angeles are the only places I’ve ever felt like a country bumpkin.
Just like the San Francisco leg of my trip, Los Angeles was challenging. Obviously, we have homeless people here in NC, but the sidewalks in Downtown L.A. are covered in tents and they surround the bus stops–you can’t walk through nor would you want to. Keep in mind Skid Row and Hotel Cecil/Stay on Main are located here. I’m just gonna say it: not all homeless people are created equal, and the ones out on the West Coast are different from the East Coast.
My first day in town, I had a Very Scary Encounter in which I was followed by someone and then accosted by them at a bus stop. It not only put a damper on my time in L.A. and shook me up, but shook my confidence in myself, and shifted the emotional trajectory of my trip. It’s hard being a single woman traveling alone because you have to be highly vigilant and on-guard almost 24/7…after an extended time, it really wears you down.
That being said, I did enjoy certain aspects of this leg, namely the food (I feel like this is always the case).
What I Did
After hopping off the Pacific Surfliner, I checked in and dropped my stuff off at my hotel, then headed to the Grammy Museum. I mainly went because of the Motown exhibit which was fantastic (though they were mad disrespectful for featuring and attributing a dusty-ass wig to Ella Fitzgerald), but they had so many awesome exhibits, information, and tons of outfits on display from performers including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift. I also love how songwriters were acknowledged. I’m obsessed with the craftsmanship and skill it takes to be a songwriter and I adore NBC’s SONGLAND. Bet you didn’t know to get into the Songwriters Hall of Fame you have to have a “notable catalog of songs” and only qualify for induction 20 YEARS after the “first significant commercial release of a song”.
After the Grammy Museum, I met up with my friend, Erin, who flew out for the week. We explored the Japanese Village Plaza next to our hotel, grabbed some so-so sushi for dinner, and partook in the magic of SomiSomi.
On my second and only full day in L.A., I got up early to make it over to Hollywood for my “Iconic Sights of L.A.” Tour. It should have been an easy ride on the train, but I couldn’t find the train station thanks to it being blocked by tents and a police officer who was completely clueless and admitted to not knowing jack about the trains. I ended up having to order a Lyft and the driver stopped and asked ME for directions at the fork to get on the highway. I got there late but still made it before the tour bus–a Rasta Bus (???)–arrived.
The tour was shorter than expected but still took us all over: Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Griffith Observatory, and Hollywood with lunch at the Farmer’s Market. Our tour guide, Joe, an actor who moved to L.A. fifteen years earlier from Ohio, shared a lot of information and pointed out hotels celebrities stay at and mansions/condos/clubs they own. We passed by The Trocadero, The Viper Room (formerly owned by Johnny Depp), The Roxy, 1Oak, and Whisky a Go Go (which popularized go-go dancing).
(the Pretty Woman hotel)
A couple from facts from the tour:
- Venice Beach has legit canals with gondolas (I saw them!) and hella high price tags for tiny bungalows.
- Griffith Observatory is the closest commercial vehicles can get to the Hollywood sign. To get any closer, it’s a one-and-a-half-hour hike through the park but it’s discouraged to visit.
- During the summer and Halloween, people bring picnics to Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and movies are screened on the side of a mausoleum. The cemetery also has the largest Día de los Muertos ceremony outside of Mexico. [*Side note: I don’t even know what to say about a cemetery being a cultural events center. Is this weird to anyone else? Just me? Okay.]
- There are just under 2700 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame–I saw Robin Williams, Steven Spielberg, Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Godzilla, Christina Aguilera, and Shrek among others. You have to be nominated and selected to receive a star, then pay $50,000 (as of 2020) which covers the creation and installation of the star as well as overall maintenance for the Walk of Fame.
After my tour, I hung out at the hotel, then joined Erin and a couple of her L.A. friends for dinner and dessert in Koreatown.
My last day in L.A. got off to a great start with another visit to my Asian bakery. Erin dropped me off at The Ripped Bodice, the only exclusive romance bookstore on the West Coast. As an author of romances and romantic comedies, to go all the way to L.A. and not make it to The Ripped Bodice would have been pure blasphemy. BLASPHEMY. Anyway, it’s an incredibly cute store and the staff was super warm and welcoming. I spent a nice chunk of time reading book blurbs to select the one perfect book to purchase for the rest of my journey (limited space), looking for friends’ books (I found them!), and searching for the spot on the shelf where my books will hopefully appear one day. Right here:
After puttering around the bookstore, I walked across the street to In-N-Out Burger. I’d heard so much about it, I couldn’t make it to California and not try it. Y’all, I’m just gonna say it: I was underwhelmed. Maybe there was just too much hype to live up to, but it was an average burger. I thought my burger and fries from the Farmer’s Market were better.
Anyway, time sufficiently wasted, I hopped on an hour-long bus back to Union Station for my next train: a ten-hour ride on the Southwest Chief to Flagstaff, Arizona. I can’t say I was sad to leave L.A. in my dust.
Where I Stayed: Miyako Hotel Los Angeles
A Japanese-inspired hotel smack dab in the middle of Little Tokyo. I felt completely safe in the Little Tokyo bubble–a welcome change from Downtown Los Angeles.
Being that the hotel is Japanese-inspired, it means the bathrooms took some getting used to. There was a fancy toilet with a seat warmer and bidet, and the water pressure in the shower was set to “maim.” Seriously, y’all. After five minutes, I thought I was going to have bruises from the water and there was no way to make it chill. But besides that, the hotel was awesome.
Notable Eats
- SomiSomi – Ah-Boong: Forget Disney–this is the most magical place on Earth and I wish we had one of these franchises in the Triangle. SomiSomi serves ah-boong: a Korean dessert made up of a fish-shaped waffle cone filled with your choice of filling, your choice of soft-serve, then toppings. I got an “upside-down ah-boong” filled with custard, cookies ’n cream soft serve, sprinkled with Oreo crumbs, and garnished with a sliced strawberry.
- Yamazaki Bakery: Conveniently located for my sweet tooth in the Japanese Village Plaza beside the hotel… inconveniently located for my waistband and wallet. With incalculable baked goods between $2 and $4…I went multiple times and tried a ton of different things including: tres leches, a strawberry roll, French toast, a ham and egg pastry, and a strawberry croissant.
- OO-KOOK Korean BBQ: Erin’s friend, Jackie, and her husband treated us to all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ which was a new experience for me! We’ve had a ton of Korean BBQ restaurants popping up in the area over the last couple of years and I’ve been wanting to try it but had no idea what to order so I never went. In addition to things like filet mignon, marinated steak, pork belly, spicy shrimp, and some tasty traditional sides, I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried beef tongue (too tough for my liking) and spicy octopus.
- Sul & Beans – Bingsoo: After dinner, Jackie and her husband took us for authentic bingsoo, a Korean dessert made of shaved ice to which you can add condensed milk to make it sweeter and toppings. We got three different kinds: injeolmi (a traditional, not very sweet Korean flavor), Oreo, and strawberry. It was delicious and reminded me of snow cream. Again, if only we had tasty bingsoo in the Triangle…I’ll just have to make do with Pelican’s SnoBalls for now.
Tips
- If walking in Downtown L.A., know where the hell you’re going and take a friend!
- Always keep moving; especially at bus stops. If you need to wait for a Lyft/Uber–or even a bus, try and find a storefront.
Overall Thoughts
I was given a heads-up from someone who lives in L.A. beforehand about how sketchy it is, but I thought they were exaggerating.
Reader, they were not.
Los Angeles might be for some people but it’s definitely not for me. In some ways, I feel validated, but I also think about how I might feel differently about the city if I tried it out in my early twenties.
I got my B.A. in Communication Studies with a concentration in Media Studies and Production (basically TV/film) and minored in Screenwriting. A bunch of people in my program graduated and got internships out in Hollywood and the director of my screenwriting program even encouraged me to head out and try my luck, but I didn’t because I didn’t have a job lined up. I always wondered if I was missing out–and honestly, today, it’s still one of the only regrets I have.
At this point in time, the only reason I’d go back to L.A. is to eat SomiSomi, do an in-person event at The Ripped Bodice, or attend the premieres of my books’ movie adaptations.
Songs Added to the Playlist
L.A. additions to the playlist are as follows:
- “Tokyo Love Hotel” – Rina Sawayama: To be clear, the hotel in which we stayed definitely wasn’t a love hotel, but it was located in Little Tokyo and Japanese-inspired. Whenever I hear this song I think about it and smile.
- “LA Devotee” – Panic! At the Disco: This song is just as chaotic as the city itself. It makes me think of someone (or a lot of someones) selling their soul to the devil to get their big break. [*Side note: Someone write this story and make Hotel Cecil the devil’s headquarters. Hell, I might write it myself.]
- “Carried Away” – OVERSTREET: This song conjures up images of Santa Monica and beachy fun.
- “Canyons” – Barrie: Reminds me of the more chill areas around L.A. like Griffith Park and Venice Beach.
- “Beverly Hills” – Weezer: When Weezer says “Beverly Hills, that’s where I want to be,” I felt that shit in my SOUL. I did not want to return to downtown L.A.
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