neon sun

It just so happens that I ended up driving through Beverly Hills and West Hollywood via Santa Monica Blvd twice this week. The first time was at night and I noticed some very large and kind of random neon signs, in the center divider. Hey, it's L.A. right? Nothing here is normal. The second time, was during the day, and it was a bit traffic-y, so I got a closer look at one of these signs and made a mental note of the website at the bottom: neonmona.org.

Remember when I posted about the Neon Boneyard outside Vegas? (Which I still need to make a trip to see!) Well turns out Los Angeles, has their very own Museum of Neon Art.

These neon signs I spotted are intentionally placed, as part of a neon exhibit, along the historic Route 66 (another dream road trip of mine, LA to chicago along the old Route 66, but I digress).

Visit here for a slideshow of all the pieces involved, or just take a little drive through LA! (which I plan to do soon!)

adventures in los angeles

Saturday was filled with vintage deliciousness exploring LA.
First we met up with some friends at La Abeja in Highland Park. This is legitimate, authentic mexican food. The Huevos Rancheros were divine. Eggs over easy in a chile sauce with beans and rice. (I did not eat another meal for the rest of the day). Also recommend the Sangria soda (non-alcoholic). Which segues nicely into our next stop: Galco's Soda Pop Stop. When you first walk in there's just crates and crates of soda and beverages stacked high. Behind that is a magical place with 4 (i think?) long aisles of every flavored soda you can imagine. (there's even a root beer keg!) Then there's alcoholic beverages behind that. And a deli behind that. Oh and to your left, a vintage candy counter. All the good candies, in retro wrappers. And then a refrigerated wall of selected sodas. Fiance went for his standard favorites: Boylan Black Cherry and Sioux City Sarsparilla. I went for Chocolate soda (so good! no shaking required), Mexican coca-cola in a glass bottle (made with real sugar not corn syrup) and DRY Rhubarb soda. DRY is amazing, its a super subtle flavor, very refreshing. They used to sell them at school, I recommend the vanilla and even the lavender is brilliant (not flowery/perfumey at all). The Rhubarb was tart, it was an interesting flavor, though not my favorite.

We finished off our day with a showing of "The Town" at the gorgeous, retro Vista Theater.  Cheap tickets and excellent popcorn, old school welcome/concessions credits and a fabulous interior. I'll definitely be back.

umbria...um yes!

If you're a member of Gilt Groupe, then you'll also get email notifications from Jetsetter. It works the same way, exclusive limited time deals on luxury, only this is vacations instead of fashion. It's probably cruel and unusual punishment to subject myself to these emails with offers for stays at glamorous locations around the world. Especially when the deals are only good if you hop on that plane within the next month or so. But they feature some great ideas and locations for future reference. This one caught my eye today:

Sounds divine. Eating and Italy. What else is there?

hot hot hot

A couple weeks ago my cousin and I headed here for some much needed R&R

It was HOT. But it's a dry heat, which is so much more bearable than humidity.

There was a lot of this happening. Cranberry Blackberry (vodka) snow cones out by the pool. (In the shade for my poor pale skin.)

The only time you'll see the pool empty is in the morning. Pretty much all of downtown Palm Springs is a dead zone until 5 pm ish. Everyone must sleep during the day. Because then the pool/bar is insanely crowded at night until 2 am or later (the walls were a bit thin...). There's lots of fantastic local restaurants and shops along the downtown strip.

Just a little south on Palm Canyon Drive is Cathedral City. For chain stores, hit "The River" shopping center and hop from air conditioned Borders to air conditioned Starbucks to air conditioned Ben & Jerry's like we did. And definitely dinner at Yard House. (If you go to Yard House you have to order the draft beer float. "Young's Chocolate Stout with Vanilla Ice Cream. YUM!). Or PF Changs or Cheesecake Factory (be prepared for a wait, it gets busy). Or hit the movies at the Mary Pickford theatre or IMAX for more air conditioning when it's still 80 degrees at 9 pm.

Ace's King's Highway restaurant is fantastic. It's an old converted Denny's with a drool-worthy menu.
We stopped in for breakfast and I got:

Sydney got:

and we split:

yummmmmm. highly recommended.

missing you

this postcard wall is pure brilliance:

(via from the right bank)

New life goal: travel enough to collect enough postcards to create a wall like this in future home.
Second best: collect postcards from friends who travel (though this one isn't nearly as fun)

old school

Aren't these travel posters gorgeous?!
I kind of want all of them.

 (via)

They're by The Heads of State. It sounds like they will be expanding the store, but for now they feature: Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington D.C. and Miami. It kind of makes me sad that out of all those great cities I've only spent a significant amount of time in one (SF), drove through another (Seattle) and had a couple layovers in a third (Phoenix).

it's hard to be a saint in the city

Now that I'm a bit more settled in, I'm ready to begin travel-dreaming again.

So often I see New York portrayed as a fast-paced, 24/7 busy, exciting, crowded, big city. These photos taken by the lovely lady at {this is glamorous} show a quieter side of the city. More pensive, absorptive and calm. Someday when I make it to the other coast, I hope I'll get a glimpse of this.

gatsby anyone?

someday, someday I WILL attend the jazz-age lawn party on governer's island in new york. and subsequently be photographed by mr. scott:

(by the sartorialist)

looking up

my work is in downtown LA. right smack dab in the middle of all those skyscrapers. I'm LOVING the city vibe. so different from anywhere I've ever lived or worked. I've been getting to walk around a bit during my lunch breaks. I realized my building is across the street from the standard hotel, I can see their rooftop pool from our breakroom.

Last friday some co-workers and I went to a fantastic little japanese/sushi place a couple blocks down called octopus. the lunch special was $9 but when you consider it's downtown LA and the amount of food I got (california roll, teriyaki salmon, miso soup, rice, salad) I thought it was a pretty decent deal. i would also like to recommend the garlic butter edamame. YUM.

so you've seen (500) days of summer. right? yes, of course. well that whole montage scene where tom shows summer all the buildings in downtown made me totally geek out. maybe it's because i studied/work in engineering/construction and I'm a nerd about buildings. but i don't think i could ever get sick of seeing tall buildings. especially in LA where there's intricate historic stone structures mingling with rigid steel and glass high rises. so cool to see. I try not to be obvious and not trip in the crosswalk as I stare at the tall buildings when I'm walking to work from the metro station. I'm still too embarassed to try and take pictures for fear of looking like a tourist in my own (new) town. I felt the same way in europe, mostly in awe at the age of said buildings. But London has an even more impressive juxtaposition of contrasting buildings. love it.

i love LA

I'm alive! I'm all moved in (though not unpacked...) to my little studio apartment. I'm loving city life. I take the metro subway to work everyday, to my downtown LA office, on the 15th floor of a big high rise. Ahh! I don't have internet at my place yet (or furniture for that matter, I just got a bed, yesterday!) so I'm posting from Intelligentsia Coffee Bar in silverlake. A short 2 minute walk from my apartment, it's a cute place with free wifi(!) and delicious drinks. I've already got loads of places to post about. soon soon soon!