Four Days in Los Angeles: Sights & Bites

A guest blog post by Tracy

 

How can two Americans possibly regard themselves as well-traveled if they’ve never been to Los Angeles?  I don’t believe they can.  Despite visits to multiple California cities over the years, we’d somehow never made it to L.A., and so we finally corrected this oversite last February.

As I’m sure you’re aware, L.A. is not a budget-friendly destination.  We weren’t especially excited at the prospect of paying $500+ per night for a hotel room we’d essentially be in long enough to sleep and shower, so after a bit of research, we settled on the Hollywood Celebrity Hotel due to its reasonable rates and proximity to such classic Hollywood attractions as the Walk of Fame and TCL Chinese Theatre.  As for transportation, we decided to rely primarily on Uber instead of wasting our time trying to navigate a strange city (not to mention the headache that L.A.’s traffic situation would inevitably cause).

Now that the boring, practical matters are out of the way, here are some of the highlights of our long weekend in Los Angeles…

 

 

Day 1: Like many, when I think of Los Angeles, I think of the entertainment industry first and foremost, so we decided that our first day should be spent touring two of the biggest and most iconic movie studios…Paramount and Warner Bros.  Hands down, we agreed the Warner Bros. tour was our favorite of the two.  If you were a Friends fanatic as I was back in the day, you’ll love this tour!  I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to have coffee at Central Perk.  The entire tour was incredibly entertaining from start to finish.  We viewed exterior filming locations for numerous movies and television shows (including La La Land, Gilmore Girls, Big Bang Theory and Full House), strolled through the enormous prop room, marveled at Batmobiles from many of the various films in the franchise and so much more.  Oh, and I held an Oscar too – that sucker is heavy!

 

 

Day 2: As our getaways often revolve around food and drink (usually wine, but we don’t discriminate), we typically arrange for some type of food/beverage-related tour when visiting a city for the first time, as we feel it’s such a great way to get acquainted with new surroundings.  We’ve done them all over…Rome, Tuscany, Puerto Rico, Charleston, Savannah, Napa, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and, finally, L.A.  We booked the Hollywood Sites & Bites Tour which was guided by Trish of Tourific Escapes.  We arrived at the meeting place a bit early, which gave us time for a quick mimosa at 25 Degrees (a burger joint inside the famous Roosevelt Hotel).

 

 

We began our tour with a stroll down Hollywood Blvd. where Trish provided a bit of history about the area as we took in the many stars on the Walk of Fame and handprints at the TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theatre).  Due to the timing of our visit, preparations for the Academy Awards were well underway, so Trish showed us around the accessible areas, including the beautiful staircase leading into the Dolby Theatre and the perfect vantage point for viewing the famous Hollywood sign!

 

 

Next, we hopped in Trish’s van and headed out for the food portion of our tour.  We tasted bacon (more specifically, “crack bacon”) at Grub; devoured both a Margherita and a Bianca pizza at Pizzeria Mozza (some of the best we’ve ever tasted); wolfed down a delicious pastrami sandwich at Greenblatt’s Delicatessen (my mouth still waters at the memory); and sampled an array of melt-in-your-mouth artisan chocolates at John Kelly Chocolates (the semi-sweet chocolate and caramel truffles topped with Hawaiian Alae sea salt were truly out of this world).  All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our day with Trish and would recommend this tour to anyone visiting L.A. for the first time (or anytime).

 

 

Following our food tour, we hopped in an Uber and headed to the outskirts of downtown L.A. for a visit to San Antonio Winery, the oldest and largest producing winery in Los Angeles.  We tasted through many of their delicious wines while visiting with the incredibly friendly tasting room staff.

 

 

We followed our wine tasting with cocktails at the Gallery Bar inside the historic Biltmore Hotel downtown.  Built in 1923, the Biltmore’s interior is stunningly beautiful (picture carved marble columns, fountains, crystal chandeliers and ornate tapestries).  We felt as if we’d been transported to a bygone era.

 

 

Dinner that evening was 15 floors up, at the rooftop restaurant, Perch.  What a treat!  Despite the obvious popularity of Perch (even on a Tuesday), we were very fortunate to score an outdoor table with unobstructed views of downtown L.A.  The combination of skyline views, impeccable service, delicious food and amazing wine and cocktails made for a perfect evening!

 

 

Day 3: Today began with breakfast at quite possibly my favorite restaurant of all time…The Ivy.  If I’m being honest, I shamelessly made a reservation here with the hope of seeing a celebrity.  (Spoiler alert: Didn’t happen.)  HOWEVER, just a single step through the entrance and I was beyond elated.  There were countless roses of varying colors adorning every surface – it was simply gorgeous!  And just as I was beginning to come down from my visual high, we were offered a complimentary glass of Champagne before even being seated.  Yes, please!  We followed our Champagne with…what else?  Champagne sangria (French Rosé Champagne Sangria to be exact…with chunks of tangerine and apple).  Can it possibly get any better?  After one bite of the Homemade Fig, Apricot & Pecan Brioche French Toast and my subsequent kumquat margarita, I learned that, yes, it could get much better.  But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, so with great reluctance, we headed out to discover what else L.A. had to offer.

 

 

After a brief [alcohol-induced] nap in the taxi from breakfast, we arrived in Santa Monica where we strolled the famous Santa Monica pier, taking the obligatory photo in front of the Route 66 sign, and finally taking a spin on the Pacific Wheel, a Ferris wheel with unparalleled views of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding area.  I would love to have spent some time walking along the beach and enjoying the famous California sunshine, but it was an unusually cool and windy day, so our visit to Santa Monica was fairly brief.

 

 

That evening, we had a reservation at Bestia, a VERY popular Italian restaurant in the Arts District of downtown L.A.  While I was unable to book a table online, I called about ten days out and was offered bar-like seating in front of the open kitchen and eagerly accepted.  We were seated in direct view of the large, wood-burning oven, so we had front row seats to all the culinary action! It was truly like dinner and a show.  Please don’t pass up an opportunity to dine at Bestia if given the chance.  Every bite and every sip were delicious, rivaled only by the vibe, which was downright electric.

 

 

Day 4: This would be our final full day in L.A. and would turn out to be a very wet one.  While we were hopeful that the news stations’ warnings all week of impending storms would be erroneous, we had no such luck.  After breakfast at The Griddle Café where we had some of the largest pancakes known to man, we headed over to the La Brea Tar Pits. (I’m embarrassed to admit I stayed mostly hidden inside while my boyfriend excitedly explored the outdoor dinosaur exhibits in the rain.)  Afterward, we proceeded to the nearby Original Farmer’s Market where we stumbled upon Mr. Marcel Pain Vin et Fromage, an open air bistro serving wine flights and cheese.  What a delightful find!

 

 

Leaving the Farmer’s Market, we taxied over to Beverly Hills, where our original plan for the afternoon was strolling the ridiculously extravagant streets, window shopping in luxury boutiques we could only dream of affording, eventually enjoying lunch and a bottle of wine at an outdoor café…you know, simply enjoying the good life.  However, our plans were clearly foiled by Mother Nature, so we instead sought shelter in a Beverly Hills wine bar called Wally’s where we sipped a lovely glass of pinot noir in surprisingly unpretentious surroundings.

 

 

Overall, I’d consider our long weekend a success.  It’s my belief that L.A. has something to offer just about anyone…whether it’s the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the top notch art galleries and museums, the incredible food scene or the vast natural beauty of the surrounding hills and ocean.  Simply put, if you can tolerate the traffic, you can learn to love L.A.!

 

Tracy Thornton, Guest Blogger

Read a short bio on Tracy in Red Shoes. Red Wine.‘s Guest Contributor section here.  Follow Tracy’s adventures in Travel, Wine, and Photography on Instagram: @texanstracy and see her featured blog posts on Red Shoes. Red Wine. here: Tracy Thornton, Guest Blogger