Los Angeles | loveliness.

Category: Los Angeles
- orange county
  
  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on February 2, 2018
  
  I mentioned here that we started a list of things we want to do now that we’re living in Southern California, so I thought I would share. I love to do anything outdoors, especially hiking or anything to do with the ocean, and there are also random activities and restaurants I’ve been wanting to try.
  
  I’m definitely still learning my way around here, so maybe some of these will get knocked off the list once I learn more about them, and I’m sure there are lots I’ll be adding as I learn about new things, so I’ll update this every once in awhile to see where we’ve been and what we thought, and any new additions.
  
  On that note, if you have any recommendations for things or places you love to visit, please leave them in the comments section!
  
  Activities
  Concert at the Hollywood Bowl
  Weekend trip to Catalina Island
  Scuba dive
  Rent this AirBnB Airstream in Malibu
  Run and Yoga at Santa Monica Pier
  Surf lessons
  Stay overnight at the Beverly Hills Hotel
  Movie on the rooftop of the Montalban Theater
  Camp at Joshua Tree National Park
  Rose Bowl Flea Market
  Weekend away in Palm Springs
  Rent paddleboards in Long Beach
  Go to a Speakeasy
  Skating at Hotel del Coronado in San Diego
  Griffith Park Observatory
  Visit the Flower Market
  
  Restaurants
  EggSlut (I’ve been here a couple of times, in Vegas and Venice, but it’s so good I’m going to leave it on here.)
  Salt and Straw
  Petit Trois
  Pizzeria Mozza
  Gjelina
  Malibu Farm
  The Bungalow
  Ivy at the Shore
  Grand Central Market
  Creme and Sugar
  Anaheim Packing House
  Spire 73
  
  Hikes
  Devil’s Punchbowl
  Mt. Baldy
  Sturtevant Falls
  Escondido Falls
  Bridge to Nowhere
  Rose Valley Falls
  Top of the World
  Solstice Canyon
  Del Cerro Park
  Shipwreck Hike (we actually did this last weekend, post coming soon!)
  
  Posted in California, life, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged hiking, Los Angeles, orange county, restaurants, southern california, things to do, travel
- thousand steps beach
  
  Posted at 11:20 am by jasminedesirees, on September 15, 2015
  
  We were in L.A. last weekend for a birthday party and visiting some of The Boy’s family. On Sunday morning we got up early (we left Long Beach at 5:30 am, nobody knows why) and drove to Laguna to Thousand Steps Beach.
  
  We were there for sunrise, it was pretty empty except for a few people doing yoga and some surfers and boogie boarders. I think it gets pretty busy there later on so it was nice to chill out and enjoy the quiet.
  
  Thousand steps is a little misleading, it’s probably not even a quarter of that, so I wore my runners and brought a bottle of water, expecting a treacherous climb, but I wasn’t worried after Pura Lempuyang last year. That actually was 1,700 steps, and that was only once you were at the very top. So this wasn’t quite the workout I was expecting.
  
  We walked down the beach to the end to watch the surfers and check out the tide pools, they are man made, with cement around them, and they are tucked away in the back corner of the beach. It’s such a great idea, I’m surprised there aren’t more around.
  
  The whole cove around the beach is filled with the most amazing houses, it would be the best view to wake up to every day.
  
  Before we left, we walked down to the other end of the beach to check it out, and we saw a viking, Deadpool, and some kind of princess fighting with the cops because they had slept on the beach (it was Long Beach Comic Con last weekend).
  
  They were yelling, and I’m pretty sure the viking got arrested, but it was pretty hard to take his righteous indignation seriously when he was wearing a horned helmet and fur vest.
  
  After the beach we grabbed breakfast at a little restaurant with a beach view in Laguna, and then headed for home. We ended up driving down the PCH instead, and added an extra 45 minutes to our drive, but it was worth it for the views, and to be by the ocean for a little bit longer.
  
  We basically decided then and there that we don’t care where we go after Arizona, but it needs to be near the sea.
  
  Posted in beach, California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 2 Comments | Tagged beaches, California, hiking, pura lempuyang, thousand steps beach, tide pools
- the last bookstore
  
  Posted at 8:51 am by jasminedesirees, on August 18, 2015
  
  On our way from Phoenix to San Francisco last weekend there were 3 things I wanted to do. One of them was to stop in at The Last Bookstore in L.A.
  
  I read about it a couple of years ago, and had been wanting to go, but the last few times I was there I ran out of time. This time I was looking for any excuse to break up the interminable dross of 11 hours in the car, and it was just what I needed.
  
  The Last Bookstore is in downtown L.A. As soon as I walked through the door, I was struck by what a cool place it was. It’s very big and open with rows of book shelves (obviously), and a big art installation made from paperbacks along one wall. The back right corner is dedicated to old records, and the entire upstairs section is more books, and art displays from local artists.
  
  There is a little stage/nook area where people were cuddled up reading in big comfy chairs.They often do author readings at the store. There were so many books I wanted to get, I could have spent hours in there, but unfortunately I only had a few minutes. I ended up picking Before I Die, a closer look and compilation of all the Before I Die projects walls, all over the world.
  
  I’d heard of the project a few years ago and had been wanting to check it out. It was between that, Letters of Note, a book based on a blog I’ve followed for ages, and an amazing looking veggie cookbook, but Before I Die won out in the end.
  
  We ended up stopping at Griffith park for a picnic afterwards so I got to spend a couple of hours lounging in the sun reading, before we headed to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch Vertigo. It was a perfect few hours in L.A.
  
  Posted in books, California, exploring, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged before i die, California, reading, the last bookstore
- hollywood forever
  
  Posted at 8:40 am by jasminedesirees, on July 6, 2015
  
  A few weeks ago we drove from Phoenix to San Francisco. I don’t know if you’ve ever done that drive before, but I have and it is one of the most boring drives ever. It is just unchanging desert for the first 5 hours, and then you get to L.A., and you’re like great we’re here. But you’re not there, and you still have about 6 hours left in the car.
  
  So this time to break it up, we left early Saturday morning, hung out in L.A. for the day, and then drove the rest of the way on Sunday to break it up. Once I knew we were going to be staying, I immediately, as is my habit, checked the Cinespia website. I’ve been wanting to go to a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for years, but they only do it during the summer, and only on certain weekends, so even though I’d been actively checking every time we went to L.A., we had never made it.
  
  I was so excited because they were showing a movie that night, and it was Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which is really everything you’d want in a movie you’d watch in a cemetery. I bought tickets right away, they were $12 each, so not bad, and I also bought the parking pass, which is $10. You park in the Paramount Pictures lot about half a mile away, but I definitely recommend getting the pass, because otherwise parking is kind of a nightmare.
  
  I definitely recommend getting there early as well, we got there at about 6:30 for an 8:30 movie, and there were already people lined up almost around the block. Definitely bring snacks, people had amazing picnic spreads, and I saw more than one person balancing a stack of pizzas in line. You can bring low lawn chairs, there is a lawn chair section, but we just brought blankets and pillows to make a little nest.
  
  We saw a few people with tarps, and we were like, those people are doing too much. But then the ground was kind of wet, and our blanket got kind of wet, and we realized that those people were geniuses, who had obviously been there before.
  
  The movie itself was great, we had a really good spot, and could see and hear perfectly fine. It was such a fun summer activity because everyone was there with a group of friends to hang out and drink wine and watch a great film, and the weather was perfect.
  
  We decided to sneak out a little early because there were a lot of people there and we didn’t want to get stuck behind everyone, but once we were away from the crowd we realized we were alone. In a graveyard. In the pitch black of night. And we were lost. They don’t light up the rest of the cemetery, and they don’t really have signs or anything, but I knew there was a back way to get out that lets you out closer to the Paramount parking lot, so we were scrambling around in the dark trying to find it. It was basically terrifying, but we made it out alive (obviously).
  
  All in all, it was everything I thought it was going to be, and if you are going to be in the L.A. area in the summer, definitely check it out, at least once. Also, if you haven’t seen it, watch Vertigo. Because Jimmy Stewart.
  
  Posted in California, Los Angeles, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged California, hollywood forever, Jimmy Stewart, LA, movie, vertigo
- we could run away
  
  Posted at 9:20 pm by jasminedesirees, on April 30, 2014
  
  Last Wednesday, my parents called me from L.A., they were in Phoenix and decided to take a spur of the moment trip out to SoCal to watch the Sharks play the Kings.
  
  We immediately decided we were going, but we were supposed to go to Phoenix for a wedding the next day, so it took a bit of finagling. We managed to switch our flights to leave from Long Beach, hopped in a rental car, and drove down.
  
  We were only in L.A. for 24 hours, but we had a great time creeping around Venice and watching the game from a suite at the Staples Center.
  
  Venice is one of my favourite beaches in southern California, I love the vibe, the people, and the graffiti. People there are so unique and unapologetic, and I love seeing all of the colourful art for sale on the boardwalk. We were there last year and I found an artist doing these really simple, almost comic book-like drawings, but they were so beautiful.
  
  We stood and looked at all his paintings for almost an hour, because I wanted all of them and I literally could not pick a favourite, but eventually I got dragged away. I asked if he had a website where I could order some of his paintings, but he didn’t, and told me to come back because he was always there. He wasn’t there when we went back this time, so I shall spend the rest of my life fruitlessly searching.
  
  I hadn’t noticed it the last few times we were there, but they have a really cool half pipe for skateboarding set up right on the beach. We stood and watched them for awhile, some of them were really good. I was pretty jealous of their skills, I tried to get the boy to teach me how to long board last year, but he pointed out that I would almost certainly be irreparably damaged due to my lack of coordination. He was not wrong.
  
  Posted in art, beach, California, family, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 3 Comments | Tagged art, beach, California, graffiti, Phoenix, road trip, sharks, skateboarding, spur of the moment, travel, Venice
- venice
  
  Posted at 4:13 pm by jasminedesirees, on April 24, 2014
  
  We decided last night to drive down to SoCal this morning. It was very last minute, and there were lots of reasons why we probably shouldn’t have come, but I usually find that those are the most memorable adventures.
  
  We’re off to Phoenix in the morning, but we’ve got all night to play in LA.
  
  Posted in beach, California, exploring, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged adventure, California, exploring, road trip, travel, Venice beach
- L.A. wanderings
  
  Posted at 12:54 am by jasminedesirees, on January 25, 2014
  
  Just a few more pics of our trip to L.A. last weekend. We ended up doing everything I had on my list, and lots of other things, like spending the day cruising down the PCH and checking out Venice and Huntington.
  
  We were there for four days, and didn’t have any real concrete plans so it was very relaxing. We ate lots of yummy food, and found hoards of 49ers fans in Huntington beach to watch the football game with on Sunday. The niners lost, but it was a beautiful day, and it was $3 mimosas so I wasn’t too upset.
  
  Also I read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) on the trip and at the beach, and loved every second of it. Mindy Kaling is my spirit animal.
  
  It made me endlessly happy that there is a restaurant called Pink Taco and that their sangria was basically the nectar of the Gods
  
  Santa Monica pier at night
  
  Kt von D’s tattoo shop. I was very excited, her eyeliner makes my life complete
  
  Grauman’s Chinese theater, the Harry Potter cast
  
  Posted in beach, food, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged beach, California, L.A., Los Angeles, macarons, Venice
- rectory
  
  Posted at 1:44 am by jasminedesirees, on January 23, 2014
  
  I signed up for AirBnB awhile ago, but hadn’t had a chance to use it yet. After the new year I got an email from them offering one night free if you booked two nights, so I decided to give it a try when we went down to L.A.
  
  We found this amazing house to stay in, it used to be an old Catholic rectory, turned into a home by a cool musician and his wife. Our stay was lovely, he worked nights and slept during the day so we barely saw him and had the place to ourselves, and it was one of the most beautiful and most unique places I’ve ever stayed.
  
  There was a lot of stained glass windows, and lots of tiny little details that really made it special. I also loved his collection of musical instruments, scattered around the house as decoration, and also ready to be played at any time.
  
  Our first AirBnB experience was awesome, I’m planning a trip to New York in March (I’ve never been, and I’m soooo excited, I’ve wanted to go since I was little) so I’ll definitely be looking around to find a neat place to stay there during my visit.
  
  Posted in California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged AirBnB, architecture, catholic church, decoration, design, Los Angeles, rectory
- runyon
  
  Posted at 12:01 am by jasminedesirees, on January 22, 2014
  
  We had a truly gorgeous long weekend in L.A., it was upwards of 80 degrees every day we were there. One of the things I had been wanting to do was hike Runyon Canyon, we did the Hollywood sign hike last time we were in town, so even though it was sweltering, we grabbed some waters and set off.
  
  After spending 45 minutes searching for parking we finally made our ascent. The hike is beautiful, if a little crowded, with scenic views of downtown L.A. and the Hollywood sign. It’s also a dog park so there are dogs of every shape and size coming up and down.
  
  It’s not a very strenuous hike, there are some stairs that are kind of hard to navigate but other than that it’s a pretty easy, pretty quick hike, I would definitely recommend it if you’re in town and want to get some exercise and some sun.
  
  Hollywood sign
  
  Stark can not hang
  
  made it to the top
  
  Posted in California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged dogs, exercise, hiking, Los Angeles, Runyon Canyon
- south
  
  Posted at 10:38 pm by jasminedesirees, on January 16, 2014
  
  Happy long weekend!
  
  We are driving down to L.A. tonight, leaving right after work. I’d much rather drive down at night, it’s just 6 hours of singing and sleeping and then I wake up and we are there (sorry Derek).
  
  We don’t have a lot of plans, we’re going to tour a few universities tomorrow, but other than that we’re just going to creep around and explore, and try to decide if it’s somewhere we’d want to live.
  
  Other tentative plans include:
  
  A visit to the Santa Monica pier (and the Brandy Melville store right beside it)
  Breakfast at Toast Bakery
  A hike at Runyon Canyon
  Dessert at Bottega Louie
  The beach
  Visiting with Derek’s family
  
  And we found a really neat place to stay on AirBnB, it used to be a Catholic rectory so it has really neat architecture and stained glass windows, and a huge garden. And also a claw footed tub. I may never leave.
  
  I’m prettttttty excited to get going, is it 5 o’clock yet?
  
  Posted in beach, California, Los Angeles, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged Bottega Louie, Los Angeles, restaurants, Santa Monica Pier
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