So after four years of school in Washington, DC, I finally moved to the west coast. Just signed the lease and moved into a place in Santa Monica at 23rd and Arizona, for those familiar with the area. Since I'm totally new to this city, I thought that would be a good excuse for a resource thread.

New York Version
SF Bay Area Version

Like the other two versions, please include any and all reccomendations for great places to hang out, shop, eat, drink, excercise, etc. Please include at least a brief description of the places you list. Hopefully this will give me, and all the other LA area 2+2ers a good list of stuff to do.

Watch a movie at the fox theater in Westwood.

Consider smuggling in some Diddy Riese cookies from across the street, or maybe just get an ice cream sandwich after the movie.

These things are only a buck, cookies are three for a dollar and delicious.

On one of those freakishly clear days we get every now and then, drive up to the old Nike missile base West of the 405 on Mulholland. Panoramic 360 views of LA and the valley. Sunset on a clear day is pretty incredible. Lots of mountain bike trails start from there.





Take Mulholland as far as you can go west. If you start going down into houses you've gone too far or made a wrong turn.


I'm curious to know if anyone knows if you can get up to the top of Mt. Baldy or Mt. Wilson (or something similar) at sunset? On one of those rare crystal clear days, I imagine you could see the whole LA Basin, which would be pretty spectacualar.

Langer's.

Get a pastrami (LDO) and an egg cream.

I like the Nippy Cheese sandwich at Langer's. Mmmmmmm.

Sushi Nozawa in Studio City. A few people say this place is overrated. But I thought it was the best sushi I've ever had, and I didn't know anything about the reputation when someone took me there. If you're a sushi fan you have to at least try this place. If possible take a friend who's never heard of it and see what they think. It's got the highest zagat rating of any sushi place in LA. I keep meaning to go back and do a real trip report with pics.



They call the chef who runs it the "Sushi Nazi". Supposedly he will kick you out if you try to order a California roll. Basically everyone just orders the special (omakase) and they start bring rounds of stuff until you tell them to stop (each round is charged).

Lots of tuna when I went, which is awesome for me. We let them go one round too far and couldn't finish our toro. The first round was some kind of tuna pieces in a tasty sauce that was unlike anything I've ever had a sushi place. It's the only sushi place I've ever eaten where the rice is warm, which seemed to make a huge difference.

The place looks like a hole in the wall, but is not cheap. Plan on spending $60-100/per. Also it's tucked away in a little strip mall, on a stretch of road where every strip mall has a sushi place.

Also, the cinnamon cake donut at Stan's in Westwood.

- Go to Hennesey's in Hermosa and sit on the roof, drink, and watch the world go by.

Basically, LA's got lots of good stuff, but most of it is severely overrated or just plain sucks, though.

Pink's Hot Dogs! If you can stand waiting in line.

James Beach in Venice has the best tuna tartare, and possibly the best calamari I've ever had. So good.

I've never tried Pinks. Is it worth the wait?

Not worth the wait, imo (but definitely solid). I prefer "The Weiner Factory" in Sherman Oaks.

Suzzer - good call with Nozawa, that place. Asanebo, Tama and Katsu-Ya are all within spitting distance of Nozawa on Ventura in Studio City. Asanebo is the best imo, and Tama has the best omakase value, but it's all really good.

-Al

1. Visit the getty museum and getty villa (you need reservations for the latter)

2. I second the suggestion for diddy reese.

3. See Bob Sagat perform at the Laugh Factory (I think he does Wednesdays). You have no idea how funny Bob Sagat is. It is NOT a clean show.

4. The best cinema in town is probably the Arclight Theater. Worth the 20 bucks or whatever for the ticket.

5. Bar Lubitch on Santa Monica Blvd. is pretty cool if you like Vodka. 100+ available.

Alas, Stan's is no more. I started going there in 1969, too bad.

YAY finally an LA thread! I'm at work so I can't really go in depth right now, but I'll post when I get home. This thread is already good. I have somewhere else to go for sushi besides Wokcano.

Oh yeah OP should check out 3rd st. Promenade LDO.

I used to live at Princeton and Arizona, four blocks from you.

3rd Street Promenande in Santa Monica is fun on the weekend. Hennesey and Ingalls bookstore, around the corner on Wilshire, is the best art and architecture bookstore in the country. In Santa Monica, I like Sushi Roku (Ocean and Santa Monica and Boa Stekahouse (also Ocean and Santa Monica); although both are chains, they're pretty good; bring your banker. Melisse (Wilshire and 11th) is supposed to be the best restaurat in the citny, I didn't care for it.

When the weather cools a bit, drive out to Pasadena; walk on Colorado in Old Town, go into the Norton Simon Museum, drive to the Huntington Library.

The Getty is pretty impressive; the restaurant is good, and beautiful.

Even after two years in LA, I have relatively little to offer (which is why I'm glad this thread was started).

Food spots on the that I fully endorse: Amelia's sandwhich shop on Main Street in SM makes some of the best sandwiches I've ever had.

Primitivo Wine Bar on Abbot Kinney is awesome, high-end "tapas." Next door, Joe's is a more formal, solid American restaurant with good food and service. We've been mostly undewhelmed by places like Melisse and Giraffe.

Both Mozza osteria and pizzeria, on Melrose and Highland, are great. Had some good late-night grub at the diner on the Standard on Sunset after day one of the Bike tournament.

The Landmark in Westwood (?) is a decent movie theater, and sadly I have not been to the Arclight yet.

I haven't explored too much of the area, but I do enjoy riding my bike on the path down by the beach up to the Pacific Palisades, and I drive up to the State Beach at El Matador once in a while.

Definitely feels like I'm still missing out on a lot of things in Los Angeles, it doesn't really seem to come together as a unified city experience, but I like living here (and maybe for that reason).