Take Brite Spot, for example. I’ll admit to having passed by it a few times, dismissing it as just another old school American diner. Hey, it’s painted bright blue, it’s on busy Sunset Blvd, and claims to be Echo Park’s Original Diner since 1949. Ever since I supposedly had the best margarita in New York – ugh, it wasn’t good – I have avoided places with any such (inflated) connotations. However, my husband twisted my arm based on favourable Yelp reviews, and so we drove inland one very warm Sunday in May for brunch.

What a pleasant surprise. As soon as you enter, the left side of the diner is outfitted with bronze vinyl curved booths and large windows that let in the gorgeous light. The perpendicular wall is lined with mirrors and intermittent black & white light sconces; wooden swivel pub chairs surround the breakfast bar.  Its interior is a little bit retro crossed with some vintage, and complemented by wood paneling and exposed beams – it all works. Think: a 70′s ski chalet in the city. The menu features on-trend items like an egg topped kale salad and a vegan Garden Burger as well as modern twists of expected diner fare: 2 eggs any style with sausage and bacon (note: substitutes include egg whites, tofu, or veggie bacon). The diner’s dessert display case is filled with old fashioned favourites like the Chocolate Caramel Banana Creme Pie piled high with freshly whipped cream, and a sinfully sweet looking Key Lime Pie. The food is good. Really good, and fairly priced.

Served by a tattooed plaid shirt wearing waitress and surrounded by patrons, old school and new school, the Brite Spot feels like a microcosm of what’s happening in Echo Park today.

So, what is going on in this ‘hood, you might be asking?

Here’s what Eric Brightwell had to say in November 2011 via the Los Angeles Times:

All you hipster-haters need to check yourself. Yes, hipsters are offensive to the eyes, ears and nose and yes, they provoke violent urges in me but remember, the Echo Park you grew up in wasn’t always that way either. Echo Park began as a wealthy, white, Victorian neighborhood. Places change for the better and for the worse. I remember El Prado when it was a dive (I liked it then) and like it as a posh wine bar too (certainly there are more women in there now).

I miss some of the old Echo Park but it’s still got the Film Center, Pizza Buona, Echo Park lake, the Baxter Stairs, the memory of Room 8 the Cat, Jensen’s Rec Center (with its cool sign).

My advice? Ignore the haters, the hipsters and (most importantly) the hype. It’s not the Williamsburg of LA, it’s Echo Park… oh, and lying WEST of the LA River, don’t be an idiot and call it the EASTside.*

Today, this part of Sunset Blvd looks relatively unchanged – it is lined with burrito joints, markets, furniture shops, liquor shops, and tobacconists. Here and there, we’d notice a truck selling delicious smelling Mexican food. New condos developments stand in between many Craftsman-style homes built in the early 1900s. If you take a drive down Echo Park Ave, you’ll pass new coffee shops selling $5 pour overs and catering to WiFi dependents, as well as a yoga studio, a quirky boutique, hair salon, a bodega, and a real estate agent.

We scouted a beautiful home on Valentine Street. Designed by architect Raphael Sorriano and built in 1938, it is a salute to Modernism – sleek , simple, and lots of windows. Because the neighbourhood is so hilly, many homes have great views towards the Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory, downtown LA, the Valley and the 5 Freeway. Some downhill descents are so steep that with the gradual build up of momentum, and a subsequent “woosh,” your car feels like a rollercoaster.

Echo Park is certainly an area to watch and has the familiar feeling of a community on the verge… It’ll take some time to get there but I am happy about that as things seem to happen way too fast in this technology driven world.

The interior of Brite Spot Diner

Stumptown (artisan) coffee

A bit retro, a bit old school, a bit ski chalet

Stumptown Americano

Kale Salad: Chopped kale, fried egg, bread crumbs, toasted pine nuts,
lemon garlic chili dressing $9.75

Chocolate Caramel Banana Creme Pie

The Brite Spot vibe

Catering to the DAFT PUNK demographic

The view from Fargo Street – looking toward LA’s downtown

Steep streets with view that look onto the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory (right)

If you like rollercoasters, you’ll like driving in Echo Park

A sunlit wrought iron gate

That’s my husband looking onto the 5 Freeway – the Los Angeles River is in the background too

Smelling fresh baby peaches

Modernist architect Raphael Sorriano designed this home, built in 1938

Another view of the Raphael Sorriano home

*http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/echo-park/comments/

This was our second time in LA’s Little Tokyo – my first ever to any Little Tokyo, for that matter. On previous trips downtown, this enclave filled with shabu-shabu restaurants, bakeries, and Hello Kitty adorned boutique windows had kept itself a secret. Our initial discovery had been by chance, on a Sunday, when the space was packed with people; finding such a bustling spot in the midst of the usual weekend slow-mo was unexpected and welcomed. Dodging the lines that snaked out of every doorway, we found ourselves in a supermarket, distracted at every turn. Sweet and savoury, the colourful packaged goods decorated in anime and Japanese writing seduced themselves into our carry basket. We left $50 richer in rice crackers, matcha, and mochi, and made a vow to return on a quieter day. So that’s how we found ourselves in the area on a Tuesday, ready to explore.

The Little Tokyo Watchtower

From Little Tokyo you can see the tops of the buildings that comprise downtown LA; you have the Arts District to one side of it, and the Japanese American National History Museum at its end. The area is made up of about 5 blocks in total.

Japanese American National History Museum

The Japanese American National History Museum opened in 1992 – 50 years after Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the imprisonment of Japanese Americans. At the end of WWII, many Japanese returned to Little Tokyo; today however, most live in the surrounding cities of LA. We didn’t have time to explore the museum, but visited its store brimmed with Japanese knick knacks, art, and books.

Books in the Japanese American National Museum store

Decorations at the museum’s store

A lucky cat (?) at the museum store

Says Wikipedia…because of the global and local growth of overseas Japanese investment, Little Tokyo has resisted eradication and has continued to exist as a tourist attraction, community center, and home to Japanese American senior citizens and others…

On my visits, I haven’t noticed a distinct tourist vibe in Little Tokyo – a good thing, and while many Japanese Americans may have moved out of the area, it is obvious that they congregate here.

Art as seen through the window of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

Quiet a and outlook onto the plaza and watchtower

FOOD: red bean ice cream from Mikawaya Mochi Ice Cream, pour over coffees at Dulce Cafe, a green tea Malaysian Roti pastry, and rows of sake bottles – from specialty stores to grocery aisles, the international influence is woven into a strong Japanese fabric.

Fully prepared to suffer the consequences of another grocery trip of riches, we made our way towards Weller Court, the location of the supermarket we’d found on our first visit to J-town, as the area is nicknamed. What we weren’t prepared for was a greeting of yellow police tape.

A neighbourhood scare…

Baffled and feeling as if we’d overstayed our welcome, we turned around and made tracks to the car. We did stop at a smaller Japanese supermarket along the way, though our state of mind was firmly rooted back in the US of A.

Rice crackers – made in Japan

Who knew one could hill hop Hollywood’s infamous backdrop? All the way from Lake Hollywood Drive to the Hollywood sign, you’ve got a 360 degree view over Los Angeles’s urban sprawl. The only body of water seen from this vantage point is the Reservoir. For the Pacific, you need to cruise further West.

If you’re keen to travel the trail, it is called Cahuenga Peak; added to Griffith Park as public land with help of donations by City of LA, Tiffany&Co, Foundation Aileen Getty, Hugh M. Hefner, State of California, Steven Spielberg, Lucasfilm Foundation, amongst many others.

Inspired by the words of LA resident Moby, here are some pictures taken from those hilltops.

Griffith Observatory, left, and LA downtown, right

Reservoir, to the right

Overlooking the Valley and Universal Studios

Looking towards the Hollywood Sign – taken with SmartPhone

Here’s a better look at that Hollywood Sign:

http://marinachetner.com/2013/03/17/10-tips-for-the-second-time-la-tourist-calif/

It brings to my mind the word associations: STOP, attention, fire, love, and power. It evokes images of blazing sunsets, a Burgundy wine, and a bouquet of Valentine’s Day roses. It is considered a lucky colour in the Chinese culture, yet red is used across the world in warning signs – an indicator of danger and caution. I don’t know about you, but few people I know would paint the interior of their home in Pantone 188 (Brick Red) because of the sheer impact – walls like that demand constant attention.

Yet it’s Sedona’s redness that will mentally stop you in your tracks and round your lips as you silently mouth, “wow.” You know you’ve arrived in the town when you see red from the ground up; your eye will trace skyscraper red rocks layered intermittently with beige and orange all the way to a sky laced with cloud wisps. These rock formations are the town’s framework, sculpted over the years into jagged buttes and abstract shapes. The beauty of Sedona’s red environment is that the colour is ever changing – upon waking, your eyes may rest on sculptures of rusty red, only to have you return to the same scene at sunset and witness them donning a burnt sienna hue. There’s a bit of mystery to it all too: Sedona’s red rocks have a meditative effect yet instinctively they pull at you – they will you to explore their nature.

You may not necessarily paint the town red though Sedona will leave its mark on you, and your dusty sneakers, forever.

View over Sedona from Cathedral Rock

View from Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

Bell Rock

WHAT we did

Hikers in a past life, Sedona is where my husband and I ignited our passion for the adrenalin rush of a good rock climb. In our previous home of New York, we were urban dwellers where entertainment included theatre, restaurant, and navigating museums; where travel was via subway, car, or ferry. In Sedona, we used mainly our legs to get around and reignited long dormant muscles to explore this outdoor natural history museum.

Hikes

30 years ago, Page Bryant declared  that Sedona was a key area for vortexes – subtle energy that interacts with the being of each person that comes within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of it. Vortexes are a key draw to Sedona, especially for those on a wellness vacation as they purport healing powers. There are 4 hikes to choose from to experience this energy – Airport Vortex, Cathedral Rock Vortex, Boynton Canyon Vortex, and Bell Rock Vortex. I recommend the Cathedral Rock hike for its beauty and ease (a little steep in parts but the views from up top are infinite) and Bell Rock for the sheer fun of climbing the slopes of this “bell.” We didn’t take a tour and used the map and tips given to us by the hotel concierge.

Cathedral Rock

Cacti on Cathedral Rock

You can also hike around Bell Rock, in distance

Hiking towards Bell Rock

Vortexes

How to find the strongest points of energy? One way is by observing the Juniper trees around those rock formations pinpointed for their vortex strength. “Juniper trees respond to the vortex energy in a physical way that reveals where the energy is strongest. The stronger the energy, the more of an axial twist the Juniper trees have in their branches.”

Twisted tree trunks – a sign of the powerful energy of the vortex

A twisted branch on Bell Rock

Interesting Factoid

Long regarded a spiritual land by the Ancient Indians, “the Yavapai-Apache tribe consider this sacred ground their Garden of Eden, believing this is where the first woman mated with the sun to begin the human race.”

Sun streaming on Cathedral Rock – early afternoon

Bell Rock at sunset

WHERE we stayed

If you’re going to go to Sedona, you must stay at least two nights (3 full days) in accommodation that allows you to wake up to the Red Rocks first thing in the morning. There’s nothing more inspiring than seeing such natural and unexpected beauty from your balcony.

Amara Resort and Spa

My husband and I stayed at the beautiful boutique Amara Resort and Spa. Ideally situated in Uptown Sedona, it is located along Oak Creek, has a Red Rock backdrop, and is within walking distance of the main street’s boutiques and galleries, restaurants, cafes, and tour services. We were there in early November – an excellent time because of fewer crowds and warm weather, yet our morning yoga class was wall-to-wall packed.

Breakfast al fresco at the Hundred Rox Restaurant was a daily highlight. For me at least, there’s no better way to start the day than with fresh fruit, eggs, coffee, wonderful company, and a spectacular view, now etched into my memory. This mental visual is a lovely scene to reflect upon, months after my visit. In the evening, ordering a prickly pear cactus cocktail while lazing by the saltwater infinity pool felt decadent after a day of climbing and hiking. Bonus: All hotel rooms are located steps away from the outdoor area; the bed’s pillowtop mattress is the softest and most luxurious present ever after an invigorating day outdoors. If you stay here, I assure you an excellent night’s sleep.

Breakfast

Dining al fresco means a million dollar view

Poached eggs and crab cakes on a muffin

Throughout Amara Resort, touches that bring the outdoors inside add to natural appeal

Something new to taste

You don’t have to be such an adventurous eater to dig into some Nopalitos Cactus Fries – marinated, breaded, and flash fried strips of Nopalitos cactus served with prickly cactus sauce. They don’t have the crunch appeal; instead, think fried bell peppers. Head to the casual Cowboy Club – a 50 year old Country and Western style restaurant/bar to try them.

Cactus fries

The Cowboy Club and other galleries, cafes, and boutiques are located on the main road in town, N State Route 89A

HOW to get to Sedona

Driving to a town at an elevation of 4,500 feet means a steady ascent. As we were driving from El Paso, the State Highway 179-N guided us uphill and the Arizona 89A road led us into the centre of town – it also serves as Sedona’s main road. Expect to see a ground cover of columnar cacti and otherwise flat land prior to reaching Red Rock Country. The contrast is stark.

Red equals love

There’s a chill in the air – the sun is intermittent as it shies behind threatening dark clouds, which needn’t look so imposing for they never do precipitate more than a drop or two. A scare tactic, perhaps?

Except for the chirp of crickets and bird song, I can only hear the sound of the wind in my ears. Even my husband, who is walking alongside, is quiet. I recall a quote by Wilfred Thesiger, travel writer, from an article I’d recently read, “It was very still, with the silence with which we have driven from our world.” I am sure his description of the Middle Eastern desert was wildly different to what I am experiencing, but at this moment in time, I feel the sentiment.

We are deep in the Santa Monica Mountains, about a 15 minute car drive from the Pacific, but 1000′s feet higher – the horizontal line where the unending ocean meets the infinitive sky is out of sight. Hiking along a trail that will eventually round out at the 8 mile mark, we are reliant upon a path that doesn’t hint as to what is along the way – a fog topped mountain vista is instantly replaced at its turn with a scene that wows with the sheer size of an eroded and well sculpted rock formation, a product of volcanic and earth buckling activity.

Eagle Rock

Mountains, hiking, and stillness – atypical word associations with “Los Angeles”. Yet they are so deserving and true.

Travel Tips

Where: Topanga State Park. Parking is $10; a map is $2. Street parking is available; the map is a necessary guide.

What: They are plenty of trails to choose from – walk anywhere from 2 miles along the Santa Ynez trail – there’s a waterfall at it’s end, or 10 miles to Will Rogers State Historic Park (both routes are quoted one-way). We walked to Temescal Peak (2,126 ft) via Eagle Rock (1,957 ft) which was an 8 mile loop.

Note: all photos were taken with a Smartphone. Next time, the DSLR will take the trip too.

Eagle Rock from a distance

Filed under: California, Inspiration, Photography, Travel, USA Tagged: California State parks, hiking, Los Angeles, Topanga State Park, trails, Wilfred Thesiger ]]> http://marinachetner.com/2013/03/31/natures-bounty-in-los-angeles-ca-santa-monica-mountains-malibu/feed/ 26 marinachetner IMAG0359-1 IMAG0362-1 eaglerock IMAG0356-1 peope_on_eagleRock http://marinachetner.com/2013/03/24/writing-hemingway-during-earth-hour-la/ http://marinachetner.com/2013/03/24/writing-hemingway-during-earth-hour-la/#comments Sun, 24 Mar 2013 04:14:14 +0000 marinachetner http://marinachetner.com/?p=6833 Continue reading →]]> It’s 8.30pm on a Saturday night in Los Angeles. In honour of Earth Hour, the lights are off and I am typing the words of Hemingway by candlelight. I loved this passage in A Moveable Feast - for the words as much as the sentiment – and wanted to share it with you:

“To have come on all this new world of writing, with time to read in a city like Paris where there was a way of living well and working, no matter how poor you were, was like having a great treasure given to you. You could take your treasure with you when you traveled too, and in the mountains where we lived in Switzerland and Italy… there were always the books, so that you lived in the new world you had found, the snow and the forests and the glaciers and their winter problems and your high shelter or your pension in the Hotel Taube in the village at night; and you could live in the other wonderful world the Russian writers were giving you. At first there were the Russians; then there were all the others. But for a long time there were the Russians.”

My heavy copy of War and Peace, waiting to be read…

Here are 10 suggestions to help you sidestep the well trodden tourist path:

1. Mulholland Drive – Perhaps one of the most appealing things about LA, aside from its warm climate, is its proximity to the ocean and mountains. To see it from top to tail, rent a car and cruise along the 21-mile stretch of winding Mulholland Drive. The road will take you through the Hollywood Hills, over the Valley, and to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Tip: GPS is essential in navigating this road as it is broken up in parts.

From Mulholland Drive, looking over LA’s downtown

2. Hollywood – LA looks different when you look at it through the letters of the Hollywood sign. To get to the top of Mt. Lee, Google: Beachwood Drive and Hollyridge Trail. There’s room for parking and it’s about a 40 minute walk, one way. Tip: Keep on track by staying left of the trail.

My sis and me peeking over the fence at “that” sign

3. Griffith Park – Los Angeles is home to a variety of architecture; Moby even has a blog dedicated to it: Moby Los Angeles Architecture Blog. A beautiful example is The Ennis House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. At once futuristic and historic, the details of its precast building blocks harken to Mayan times; you may also remember the house from the 1980’s movie Bladerunner. Tip: Address is 2607 Glendower Ave, Loz Feliz.

Part of the Ennis House

4. Echo Park – Echo Park Avenue has the artisan feel. Street art colours the hilly neighbourhood; cafes offer pour over coffees for $5 a cup. Located close to downtown LA, the area feels like it’s on the cusp of something big. Tip: Go to FIX for a pour over coffee – order anything from the “Handsome Coffee Roasters” line. Pazzo Gelato on Sunset Blvd offers $1 scoops during its 4-6pm Happy Hour. The Pear Sorbetto is highly recommended.

Top: European Yoghurt, and Strawberry Custard Gelatos; Bottom: Pear Sorbetto, Espresso Gelato

5. Silver Lake – More than 500 staircases around Los Angeles used to serve its public transportation system; now they are a good excuse to stairwalk and see a neighbourhood up close. An excellent starting point for the novice is the Music Box Stair Loop in burgeoning Silver Lake, made famous by the movie starring Laurel and Hardy. Tip: Check out Walks @ Secret Stairs-LA for more routes. The website counts the Music Box set to have 133 steps across multiple landings as part of a 2.5 mile loop.

The shaky looking “Music Box” Steps

6. Downtown LA – Newly built condos in the area have attracted a young entrepreneurial community. The Art District has injected a creative vibe in this part of town, and galleries can be found along Spring and Main Sts between 2^nd and 9^th. Tip: Check out a couple of the laid back eating spots: go to Urth Caffe on Hewitt St for a Moroccan Mint Latte, or a Belgian Beer at Wurtskuche on East 3^rd.

Arts District

7. Westwood – In the midst of a cluster of office buildings rests Westwood Village Park Memorial Cemetery. Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, Ray Bradbury, Truman Capote, and other stars are buried here. Tip: Located at 1218 Glendon Avenue, the narrow street looks like the entrance to a parking lot – it’s easy to overlook.

Marilyn Monroe is buried in the site at the top right

8. Pacific Palisades – For a panoramic scene that spans downtown LA to the ocean, hike to the top of the Los Liones trail. It’s 2 miles each way and not too strenuous but wear your sneakers. Tip: Go on a sunny day for a clear view.

At the top of the Los Liones trail – Pacific to the right, and downtown to left (not seen in this photo)

9. Malibu – Perhaps one of the loveliest museums in LA is The Getty Villa. High up in the mountains, with the Pacific as the backdrop, it feels Mediterranean – manicured gardens, fountains, and a herb garden surround a villa that houses antiquities and sculpture collections. Tip: Allocate some time to lunch on wine and cheese in the courtyard, but don’t forget to reserve your entry free tickets on http://www.getty.edu prior to visiting.

The grand pool at The Getty Villa

10. Venice Beach – The Pacific is alluring, the boardwalk is not. Navigate the Venice Canal Walk in the direction of Abbot Kinney – a retail stretch of road where you’ll build up an appetite as you window shop. Tip: Go to Gjelina for an excellent modern Italian meal, or stop at TOMS for a pair of shoes. Browse as you sip on an espresso made to order from their in-store coffee bar.

Inside the TOMS store

# 5  The San Antonio Museum of Art: I love to visit museums, and especially appreciate those with manageable, and varied, collections of antiquities, paintings, and sculpture.

Wreath of laurel leaves and berries – Greek, 4th -1st Century BC

Torso of a Woman, and Marcus Aurelius – Roman AD 140-150

“Double Scramble” (1968 by American, Frank Stella

# 4 Stopping by The Alamo: it’s the site of heroism and freedom encapsulated.

# 3 Lunching is always a highlight. Luckily in Texas they eat big… This spot is located along the city’s famed Riverwalk.

Guacamole

# 2 Sleeping like a baby in the haunted Emily Morgan hotel.

*Legend has it that Emily Morgan is the Yellow Rose of Texas. She was a Texan spy that helped distract the Mexican president as Texians staged an attack and paved the way towards independence.

# 1 Being greeted to the warmest day since we left New York City in October, 2012. Wide quiet streets, palms, flowers, and the warm sun couldn’t have been more of a contrast to the weather we had left behind in the Big Apple. It felt good.

This is how it went for my sister, Katya, and I in the last few days prior to her departure. We packed it all in: Universal Studios, LA downtown (we needed to drive by the Cecil Hotel, currently making crime story worthy news), Malibu, as well as a side trip to San Francisco. We made pit stops at all of Urth Caffe’s locations, scattered over different parts of LA, and managed to catch some spectacular sunsets either from the car, or from a prime vantage points.

Though the trip may have started with tourist spots at the forefront, it finished with talk of a UCLA transfer. I couldn’t have been prouder – Katya had successfully transitioned from wide eyed tourist to enthusiastic traveler. Here are some highlights of the final days in LaLaLand, and beyond.

At The Getty Villa, Malibu

Seated Hermes, Greek God of travel and commerce

Malibu Pier

City lights from the Griffith Observatory

Sunset from the Griffith Observatory

Lombard St, San Francisco – the world’s windiest street

Painted Ladies houses line Alamo Square, San Francisco

Me and my sis making heart shadows

Sea Lions at Pier 39, San Francisco Wharf

Views from Sausalito – joined to San Francisco by the Golden Gate Bridge

Me and my sis – meeting of the minds as we look over the view from Sausalito

Golden Gate Bridge via iphone

Sis taking pics

Panorama via iphone

San Fran’s Filbert Street at night

Francis Ford Coppola’s, Cafe Zeotrope – in San Fran

My sis with The Simpsons, at Universal Studios

Sunset views of LA’s downtown

Tree line from Elysian Park, near Echo Park, LA

Farewell cake made by my husband for my sis – Raspberry baked cheesecake accompanied by prosecco topped with those red berries

1. Hiking to the Hollywood Sign.

2. Walking Hollywood Boulevard.

3. Driving through Orange County – to Laguna Beach and San Clemente.

4. Exploring Beverly Hills and witnessing everything it is known for – the Lamborghinis; the brand name stores – Gucci, Prada; Rodeo Drive…

5. Drinking a Moroccan mint matcha latte at Urth Caffe in Santa Monica.

Though I’m a resident of LA, even I get excited when I glimpse the Pacific Ocean’s shimmer on a sunny day, take a Star Line tour of Hollywood stars’ homes, and hopscotch the Hollywood Walk of Fame. While Kath’s Top 5 may read like that of a guidebook, it’s a worthy list that reminds me that all that glitters in LA really is gold to the tourist.

My sis and me peeking over the fence at “that” sign

Hollywood Sign c/o the iPhone

Top of the Sign

Kath looking over LA

Lucille Ball’s old home in Beverly Hills

Bijan’s million+ Bugatti on Rodeo Drive

Harry Winston store on Rodeo Drive

Tourists

Oz premiere on Hollywood Blvd

Chilling at the pool at the Loews Hotel Hollywood

Laguna Beach

Warming the fingertips – Montage Hotel Laguna Beach

Photo Shoot at Treasure Island Park, Laguna Beach

The Pacific

San Clemente – through Katherine’s rose coloured glasses

My sis, Kath, with her fave Moroccan Mint matcha drink at Urth Caffe