Adventures in LA- Manhattan Beach is in LA

Manhattan Beach is my favorite beach to take people who come visit me. It is nice and clean and has a great main street to go window shopping. I like this beach as opposed to Santa Monica because there is a certain way that it smells that is off putting and Venice which is a bit seedy and I always joke with friends that I feel like they dropped off the busload of the extras from Mad Max on the boardwalk and said "Here, establish a city! And you can keep the props!"

We headed to MB on a Monday a perfect day to travel the 405 without too much traffic. Which I guess is all relative to someone who lives in a town of 700 people. The day was sunny, but chilly, and wonderful to walk around in the sun. We walked the Strand to Hermosa Beach, walking past people's beach houses that would also go on that pinterest list of "things I would buy if I had a gazillion dollars" strangely some of those houses are listed on vrbo.com, hint hint.

A storm out in the middle of the Pacific and high tide strong undertow provided some of the largest waves I have seen since I have moved here. Which I guess do not look so big in these photos. What you also do not notice is that the undertow was so strong that a lot of these wave were full of sand.

We spent a good portion of the day in Manhattan Beach then booked it out of there before 3 pm traffic taking a leisurely way back up through LAs west side to see some sites before having dinner at Tender Greens. which was a continuation of our awesome food parade.

Adventures in LA-B-Day

I think my biggest regret this trip is that I didn't take a single photo on my Dad's b-day. If I did I would have taken pictures of us at Target, brunching at Tart where my Dad discovered a new way to make corned beef hash, a photo of us peering through stacks of antiques and mid-century furniture at t.i.n.i (this is not ikea) on Fairfax and the look on his face when he bit into his steak at Taylor's but stupid me, I did not take a single photo.

Adventures in LA-Hooray for Hollywood

Cover your eyes because your eyes won't believe what I have to say next. My Dad walked the Walk of Fame!!

Shut the front door right?

For this trip we rented a great little apartment in the Hollywood Hills. The famous Yamashiros and the Hollywood Bowl were our neighbors to give you an idea. It was very quiet and peaceful, you never knew that one the most touristy areas in the nation was just a stones throw away. We saw stars, we heard birds, we were greeted every morning by a dog with a rasta collar named "Okay"

We decided to take the short walk to Hollywood & Highland to do a little shopping and for Dad to see what it was all about. I carefully chose my route to avoid the "Street Performers"  I use that term very loosely. (There is an excellent documentary about the Hollywood Superman, if you are nerdy, like me and like documentaries)  It is amazing how the south side of the street is completely empty, we were able to still see Grauman's Chinese, the Hollywood and Highland Theater and see the stars in the sidewalk without the stress of the crowds.  Even though that crowd was across the street.

Shopping was quick but made us hungry, so we grabbed a bite in the 24hr diner in the ground floor of the Roosevelt Hotel. I had never been there before.  I love the wall paper.

The lobby of the hotel is really amazing, loungey and fancy, when I went back to take photos after lunch, they were breaking it down. Maybe there is a no lounging after noon policy?

The verdict on Hollywood was that it wasn't what he expected, but not someplace he needed to visit again. Which seems to be the general consensus.

And that was Day 2.