A few weeks ago I posted about how our recent vacation to Los Angeles inspired me to try making French Macarons (check out my recipe for Hazelnut Macarons if you haven’t yet). I thought I would elaborate a bit on our trip to LA and share some of the highlights on where we ate, where we stayed and what we did.
Los Angeles is a BIG city that spreads across a large surface area. The first dilemma we had was where to stay. You always hear about how bad the traffic is so we wanted to find a place that was central to everything. We ended up staying at a boutique hotel in the center of Hollywood. I must warn you that Hollywood is very tourist-trappy, but you are in the heart of it all with the Hollywood walk of fame, the Mann’s Chinese Theater, and all the celebrity spotting tours you could ask for (note: we did not do any celebrity tours).
Although Hollywood was a big tourist trap, it did prove to be central to everything we wanted to do, which means we avoided most of the crazy LA traffic. One of the first things we did was go on a behind the scenes tour of Warner Brother Studios. If you are a movie buff, I highly recommend this tour. It was so interesting to see the lots and how they turn them into different places/time periods depending on what it was being used for. They also have a museum that houses different film exhibits. The two we got to see where Harry Potter and Batman. All displays were of original props and costumes from the movies. Here are a few pics:
Real working Batman Tumbler
And of course there was my favorite part of the Warner Brothers tour…the real set from Friends! They preserved the entire Central Perk set in it’s own special exhibit. I sat on the same couch as Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey!
There is also a lot to do in Los Angelos that isn’t at all related to the film industry, plus they are often cheaper! One place that was really amazing was the Griffith Observatory. It is a free observatory and planetarium that is at the peak of Griffith Park, and it was right near our hotel. There is even a great view of the Hollywood sign and a beautiful sunset.
Some other really cool sights we got to see were the La Brea Tar Pits, The Los Angeles Zoo and the Getty Villa. Both were very reasonably priced, although finding parking near the tar pits was a little touch. The Getty Villa is off of Highway 1, and you just have to pay to park and then the museum is free to enter, including numerous tours. They do require you reserve a spot in advance so make sure you visit the website to pick an entrance time before you go.
After spending the day at the Getty Villa we drove back down Highway 1 and stopped at Will Rodgers beach to watch the Sunset.
OK so now on to the food! There are so many places to eat in LA but to be honest by husband and I are not the type to eat in super fancy restaurants. We like simple, good food. I’m also a vegetarian so finding places with good veggie options was a must. After watching the sunset we found a great restaurant near the Santa Monica Pier called True Food Kitchen. They have a great selection vegan and vegetarian dishes, and all their food is healthy, whole food. My husband loved it too, and highly recommends the honey lemonade.
Another place we found that was excellent for a quick bite to eat was the LA Farmer’s Market. It had so many wonderful shops and places to eat, we ate there probably three or four times for either lunch or dinner.
A few of the highlights from the market were the French Crepe Company (probably not the best crepes I’ve had, but hit the spot when we wanted something sweet), Singapore’s Banana Leaf, The Gumbo Pot (which had vegetarian red beans and rice), and of course Mr. Marcel which is where we got those yummy macarons I wrote about last week.
We didn’t just eat at the Farmer’s Market while we were in LA, although it may seem like it. We also made sure we hit a restaurant called Din Tai Fung. We first went to Din Tai Fung when we traveled to Singapore about five years ago and it was the best dumplings we had ever had. We heard that they had a restaurant in LA, and were delighted to discover they now have a few! We went to the Glendale location, and it was as awesome as we remembers (plus they have veggie dumplings which made me happy).
So in summary here are the 80Cakes recommendations for things to see and do in LA:
Good Sights:
- Warner Brothers Studio Tour
- Hollywood walk of Fame
- Griffith Observatory
- Los Angelos Zoo
- La Brea Tar Pits
- Getty Villa
Good Eats:
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