Hey guys! Scott and I are headed back to Los Angeles today to celebrate his 30th birthday. I KNOW! BIG DEAL! I haven’t been back to our old hood of Culver City since October, so I am extra excited. We’re catching up with fraaaanz at our favorite pizza & beer joint on Friday, then heading to the lovely Solvang on Saturday. But wait, there’s more! We’re going to see Louis C.K. live at the LA Forum on Sunday, Scott’s actual birthday. Whew! Should be a good time. Keep up with with our trip on Instagram, and in the meantime, scroll down to view our pics from Scott’s birthday at Disneyland last year! The captions are full of me pretty much yelling with excitement. It was magical.
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Culver City
Okay, my favorite things go like this. Scott, then corgis, then popcorn, then cheese. And I think wine and IPAs are in there somewhere. And queso. And guac. Okay there’s a bunch, but let’s move on to the point of this post. CHEESE! Scott and I made a visit to a new-ish cheese shop near our hood in LA, Wheel House. It’s a cute little spot filled with meats, charcuterie, olives, crackers, jams, and of course, CHEESE! Need a gift for mom this weekend? Cheese. Need a platter for a party? Cheese. We were a bit overwhelmed looking at the large selection of goodies. Blues, Bries, hard cheeses, soft cheeses. Oh good lawd, I was in paradise. Thankfully there were a couple very nice cheesemongers happy to steer us in the right direction. (Thanks Ben and Noble!)
Thank goodness for Instagram. I mean, I get to connect with all kinds of cool people. Brilliant bloggers, adventure seekers, sidecar-riding pups, rich dogs, musicians, my favorite cities, tastemakers in Tokyo and food trucks. GLORIOUS FOOD TRUCKS! Scott and I had a date set today for coffee and laptop-ing, but we hadn’t decided on a location yet. Enter Instagram. The first thing I do every day is scan my Instagram feed. (Guilty.) One of the first posts I saw was this one instructing me to head to a new coffee spot in my hood called Coffee Commissary and eat some damn good grub from Free Range LA.
Last Saturday was National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, arguably the most important holiday of the year. Just kidding. Kind of. Scott and I took this opportunity to visit Coolhaus, a gourmet ice cream spot born from the inventive minds of two gals from Los Angeles.
The story goes the co-founders bought a postal van on Craigslist, tricked it out with their love of design and architecture, then drove it to Coachella where they wowed festivalgoers with their delicious funky flavors like Avocado & Sea Salt, Sweet Potato Marshie, Fried Chicken Maple Waffle, Fruit Loop Cereal Milk, Grapefruit Tarragon & Gin and Nutella Almond. They now have trucks in LA, New York, Austin & Dallas and two storefronts—one in Culver City and the other in Pasadena. I’d like to be friends with these girls. Hey Natasha & Freya, call me!
Enjoy the pics, then go find a local shop, truck or retailer to get your sugar fix. P.S. If you missed celebrating National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, I won’t judge you for making up for it the rest of the month.
Scott and I celebrated two years of dating last Monday. He’s super fun. And super cute. I love him. Anyway! We started the day with brunch at Akasha in Culver City. Scott loves their pour over coffee and breakfast sandwich and I MUST HAVE their cold brew and salmon bagel plate.
After fueling up, we took the Metro downtown. I’m newly obsessed with the train. HOW CONVENIENT! HOW EASY! HOW FUN! I love watching the city pass by while people-watching the Angelenos who hop on and off. Where are you going?! Where did you come from?!
We ran into a friend fresh off the train, which made us feel really cool and Los Angeles-ish. (Hi Allie!)
We darted around downtown, running around like kids at recess. There is so much to see! I spent a lot of time wishing I had three hands to juggle my camera, iPhone and iced green tea from Sustain Juicery.
After a shortcut through the Los Angeles Public Library, we marveled at the beauty and coolness of Angel’s Flight Railway and the little park next to it that starred in 500 Days of Summer. So ridiculously cool. Downtown is such an oasis. I can imagine the people who work there appreciate being able to walk outside to enjoy the sun, fresh air and peaceful surroundings.
Our only planned stop for the day was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Andy Warhol’s exhibit “Shadows” runs through February 15, and the other exhibits in the permanent collection are quite interesting to look at as well. Monday was a great day to visit because we nearly had the place to ourselves. If you go (and you should!) take the stairs down to the Learning Lounge. It’s sponsored by Dwell, Hermann Miller and Design Within Reach, and was designed by Christopher C. Deam. Neat neat neat neat.
After artsy-fartsying around, Scott had the genius plan to walk to City Hall for a view. On the way, I had a happy attack at the site of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It’s unbelievable.
When we reached City Hall, we took a gold elevator up to the 27th floor where we were blown away by the amazing views of LA. A touch of vertigo tends to send me spinning when I’m around tall buildings or heights, but the incredible view was worth it. Yowza.
When we returned to ground level, we passed through Little Tokyo on the way to Wurstküche, where the brauts and brews are drool-worthy. The weather was perfect for sitting on the patio and our feet enjoyed the break.
After lunch, we wandered into a couple stores next door, Poketo and Apolis. I’m a big fan of both. (I’ll post more about Poketo later this month.) Apolis offered us refreshing iced tea and strong coffee when we stopped in. Thanks guys! Since we were so close to Angel City Brewery, we haaaaaad to visit. Scott and I love the people, board games, Cornhole and of course, beer. Check out their tours Thursdays through Sundays and definitely sign up for their newsletter to get the scoop on all their fun happenings.
Photo by Scott Rowan
We hopped the train back to Culver City and ended our day of adventure at A-Frame. It was exactly what I wanted. The vibe was super chill, the lights were dim and the drinks and Furikake Kettelcorn were suuuuh good. The resto is about to morph into a Hawaiian paradise (new menu out on Feb. 13), which means you can bet we’ll be regulars.
What a day, y’all. What a day.
