La Cienega Just Smiled - Los Angeles with a Toddler
I have been in love with Los Angeles since I was a little girl.
It was one of the places my dad was considering moving to when we were moving to the States - Los Angeles, Phoenix or South Florida - and I grew up loving the idea of a golden city between the mountains and the beaches where it was sunny every day.
In the end, South Florida won out - my uncle lived here and that whole no state income tax thing were big factors in the decision - but I never stopped dreaming of L.A.
About a decade ago, I almost chased the sun out to the city of flowers and sunshine but at end, it all kinda fell apart, shattered my heart and I haven’t been back since.
Until now.
Pahrump is only about eight miles from the California-Nevada border but the trip to L.A. is about four and a half hours, so we left as soon as John finished his racing experience and planned to arrive in L.A. around 9:00pm - in time for a late dinner and drinks on the balcony.
We ended up at our rental house at 11:30pm.
Between desert road construction and an accident on the 15, we were stuck in the car for entirely too long but Will napped, I read and we listened to a lot of acoustic Zeppelin and Spotify’s Laurel Canyon Legends playlist which made the journey a little easier.
If I was doing the drive from Vegas to L.A. again, I would definitely leave first thing in the morning and make several stops to break up the drive - Calico Ghost Town and Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner which has dinosaur statues in the back as well as grilled cheese sandwiches.
Diner grilled cheeses are the best - especially if you get them with grilled onions, tomatoes and slathered with Thousand Island dressing. Trust me on this.
We pull up to the rental house (booked through VRBO) and immediately, we realize something is a little hinky.
The location is amazing - it’s up in the hills above Sunset Blvd with a gorgeous view of the city - but there are more red flags than a Maoist parade.
The rental is supposed to be the entire house but it’s actually a shared space and the owner has access to where we’re staying at any time. She knows if we’re home or not due to the presence of the car in the garage.
Keys to lock up? Oh no. None of those.
Oh and if anyone asks, don’t say you’re staying in a rental. Say you’re visiting friends.
At this point, though? We’re exhausted from our extended drive and just need a warm bed to collapse into, so we figure we’ll deal with it tomorrow.
One of the reasons we opted for a home rental is so we’d have access to a washer-dryer. When traveling with a toddler - especially to a cold climate - you have two options:
1. Bring everything you own which just isn’t an option because checked bags at Delta start at $30 each way.
2. Do laundry.
Having access to clean clothes and not having a mountain of laundry to do when you get home is a mental health game changer when traveling with kids.
Anyway, the next morning - I wake up and putter to the garage where I start a load of laundry. John comes in with his stuff, I throw that in the washer and then we realize that we’re locked out of the house.
The house where my son is currently in - all alone - watching his tablet. The house with multiple stair cases and a balcony with a killer view where he could fall to his death.
We start thumping the door and yelling that we’re locked out and the owner comes out to find a woman wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and socks, wild-eyed with panic shrieking about her kid being alone inside.
She lets us back into the house, I rush to find Will - who is utterly clueless as to what just happened - and I tell John that I need to get the hell out of this house and need coffee.
This becomes our game plan for the rest of our stay - the house is for sleeping, showering and keeping our bags.
We head over to Dialog Cafe which had great service, a perfect vanilla latte and serve-yourself housemade hot sauces. I ended up committing a Gallic culinary crime against humanity by snagging pieces of Will’s croissant and dipping them into the sauces. The salsa verde was the best.
No regrets. OK, like one regret - I should have gotten the breakfast burrito. And the banana-nutella smoothie with espresso in it.
OK, so lots of regrets. I need to go back.
The cafe is just a few doors down from BookSoup so we popped in so Will could see what heaven looks like.
We found him a great book about dinosaurs and I saw like, 500 books that I wanted to buy myself but books are heavy and my carry-on was already stuffed to the gills. Regret # 43 - should have bought the Raymond Chandler. And the Los Angeles noir anthology. And that punk rock Gatsby shirt.
Appropriately caffeinated and book in tow, we head to the Griffith Park Observatory for a 360 view of the city and to stretch our legs a little after being cooped up in the car for hours yesterday.
In addition to incredible views, Griffith Park Observatory is also known for being a famous filming location - Rebel Without A Cause was shot here as were scenes from Terminator 1 and 2, Back to the Future 1 and 2, La La Land and episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and 24.
David Boreanaz doing his best James Dean. God, that show was so good. They really should have done another reason with Wolfram and Hart. It’s time for a re-watch.
What else is it known for?
My favorite music video of all time - Rush Rush by Paula Abdul. It’s a take on Rebel Without A Cause, it stars a young Keanu Reeves and features the line, “All I want from you is what you are,” which is pretty damn perfect.
If I was a smarter woman, I would have hired a professional photographer and had family pictures taken here but I guess we’ll have to wait for another time.
After taking in the views, we headed over to the Travel Town Transportation Museum where Will had a blast playing with toy trains and exploring the real trains. This place is amazing and it is completely free. And for like, $4 - you can take a ride around the place on a mini train. It’s a great way to spend a couple of hours in the sunshine.
Kid’s really good about indulging his mom in taking selfies together.
After this, we were all ready for a bite.
Will’s new thing lately is hot dogs. He can’t enough of them and considering how good the plant-based hot dog game is now, I am all about this.
We hit up Dog Haus in North Hollywood and I had one of the best damn hot dogs I’ve ever eaten in my life.
Grilled Hawaiian rolls are the best of all things and from now on, I’m gonna use them when making pav bhaji.
Will has always loved being outside but he was big on “hiking” this trip, so after lunch, we decided to hike to the Hollywood Sign.
Will went hard in the paint on the hike so as soon as we left, he fell fast asleep.
We took advantage of this and figured it was the perfect opportunity for a little scenic drive action. So, we headed up to Mulholland Drive, through Laurel Canyon and decided to grab a pre-dinner drink at Harriet’s Rooftop which has the most incredible views of the city and the Passion Project - a really lovely cocktail made of Roku gin, passion fruit, hibiscus, lemon and club soda.
You’re not going to come to Los Angeles and not eat Mexican food - actually, you’re not going to go anywhere and not eat Mexican food but that’s neither here nor there - so we grabbed dinner in Koreatown at Guelaguetza, one of the best Oaxacan places in the country. Shout out to L.A. Taco for turning me onto it.
Oaxaca is the Land of Seven Moles, so our meal started with chips and mole - an incredible combination which should be on tables across the country. Don’t get me wrong - the spicy salsa at Torero’s is my favorite thing on the planet, but this? This is magic.
I’ve been into mezcal and coconut water cocktails lately, so the Flor De Piña was kinda perfect - mezcal, pineapple, coconut juice and honey. Super light and refreshing, this is the perfect cocktail for an afternoon at the pool.
I came to eat mole, so obviously, I ordered the Enmoladas. Oh my God - a giant platter of queso-filled tortillas drowned in mole negro. It was one of the most incredible Mexican meals I’ve ever had and I am a girl who eats a lot of Mexican meals.
Regret # 997 - the fact that Oaxacan food isn’t readily available all over the country.
Regret #998 - the fact that I have never been to Oaxaca. I’m on a campaign to do a Mexico trip in 2025.
The next morning, we woke up for beach day. Yes, it was freezing (relatively speaking, it was in the 50s) but we figured since it was our last full day in L.A., we should come out to the coast and have a few laughs.
For breakfast, we headed to a Los Angeles institution - Canter’s Deli. Will was super excited about the fruit cup but didn’t give one iota of a good goddamn about the history of Canter’s in relation to Guns ‘N Roses.
Straight up Philistine, the kid.
I’ve been reading about Ruth Reichl’s love of matzo brei for years and I figured there was no place better to order it than a proper Jewish deli. It was straight up comfort food and would have been exactly the kind of thing I would have ordered when I was in my 20s - post-concert, all sweaty and exhausted at 2:00am.
But as a grown woman whose definition of comfort food becomes more and more Indian-inspired every year, I have to ask - is it kosher to add onions and jalapenos?
After a truly staggering amount of food, we headed to the Santa Monica Pier so Will could see the Pacific Ocean.
Because I’m just shy of completely insane in terms of being an Indian Mom, we drove around the UCLA campus and I kept telling Will - “Look, honey! You can go to school here! The medical school is named after David Geffen and they have a great law school too!”
Will didn’t seem to give a damn, but he likes the colors blue and yellow and he likes bears, so I’m feeling optimistic.
I love the beach on a cool, windy day but Will was way more into the arcade.
The Jurassic Park game was a huge draw but after about half an hour - Will was overstimulated, I felt like I was trapped in a pinball machine and we figured it was time to head up the coast to Malibu.
We grabbed a snack at Paradise Cove - fresh sourdough bread, clam chowder and a hot dog and fries - and I had a great cocktail called the Bri-Wi made with gin, St. Germain, Kiwi, lime and sugarcane juice. It was kinda expensive but the portions were huge so if you’re planning on eating here - order for the table as opposed to individually.
After lunch, we explored the beach and Will had a blast running around. I love the rocks and the coves; you don’t see a lot of that in Florida.
Chasing a toddler on the beach is an endurance event and after we finally convinced Will to leave, we needed a drink…and chips and salsa because I always kinda need that, so we headed to the Malibu Brewing Company - another great spot where Will ran around while we enjoyed some quality time in the cool sunshine.
They had some great merchandise too including this rubber tumbler which is perfect for both little hands and G&Ts at the pool.
More rubber tumblers in 2024 and definitely more poolside gin and tonics.
There was a cute little candy shop next door where I found a treasure trove of English sweets and learned that that’s where all the British stars like Chris Martin from Coldplay and Robbie Williams buy their treats. I grabbed a Violet Crumble, Will grabbed some gummi configuration and I told the owner she should pick up some Quality Street for the holidays next year.
You’re welcome, Robbie Williams.
From there, we chased the sun to Venice and decided to catch sunset on a rooftop, so we ended up at High - the Hotel Erwin’s rooftop lounge.
Will passed out and as soon as we got there, the server positioned him under a heat lamp and gave us blankets which is one of the kindest gestures I’ve ever experienced.
Guys, it was 50 degrees. I love this so much. Southern Californians understand the cold just like I do.
It wouldn’t be a trip to California without In-N-Out. There is nothing that makes me happier than an animal-style grilled cheese, animal-style fries and a frosty Diet Coke.
Will loved it but who wouldn’t? It’s legitimately good fast food and I really hope that they eventually make it over to the east coast.
Look, Shake Shack is fine and I love that cheese-stuffed mushroom thing they have but the animal-style grilled cheese has my heart. Also, I know everyone complains about them but I like the fries. They actually taste like potatoes.
Our last day in L.A., we decided to head to Venice for donuts on the beach before our flight. We went to Blue Star which was…fine. We should have hit up one of the numerous donut shops owned by Cambodian immigrants as featured in The Donut King.
On our way to the airport, we found out that our flight had been cancelled due to inclement weather in the midwest (this was the weekend the Dolphins played the Chiefs in Kansas City and the temperature at kickoff was -4º).
So, we had three options:
Take another flight that would route us through Detroit where we had a six hour layover…or possibly more due to inclement weather.
Fly to Atlanta and catch a connecting flight home the next morning at 8:00am local time.
Stay in L.A. for one more day and take the same flight home the next day.
If' you’ve ever been in an airport with a toddler, you know there was only one correct decision here, so we took Will to a park in Culver City while we made a bunch of calls to figure out flight details, where we’d be staying an extra night (a hotel by LAX booked using points) and what we’d do on our bonus day in paradise.
Since John had never been to L.A. before and had never seen Hollywood Boulevard, we decided to check it out…but first, we needed lunch because man, that kid went hard at the park and was starving. Will wanted a soft pretzel so I found a great German spot called Wirtshaus which not only had giant soft pretzels with beer cheese but a truly excellent plant-based sausage and one of my favorite comfort foods ever, spaetzel.
You guys, we as a nation, are seriously sleeping on German cuisine. It is excellent.
Also, if I had to go to Hollywood Boulevard, I was gonna need a drink.
I’m not a fan of Hollywood Blvd - yes, there’s a lot of great history and Amoeba Records is there but personally? I just find it grimy and chaotic with way too many people.
I feel the same way about Times Square. It’s just a lot and I’ve seen it once and I never need to go back.
Will wasn’t particularly impressed with the Walk of Fame but he did get super excited about the fruit vendors. To be fair, those mangoes and pineapples with Tajin looked legit.
I really wanted to grab a drink at the Frolic Room - the dive bar where Charles Bukowski used to hang out - but they don’t take kindly to people bringing toddlers into their establishment so I’ll have to make my pilgrimage next time we’re in town without Will.
A couple of years ago, we spent a really happy afternoon hanging out at Bukowski Tavern in Boston and honestly, there is no peace like the peace of hanging out in a dive bar on a cold afternoon, nursing an even colder G&T and eating something salty, spicy and delicious (The Frolic Room offers Jiffy Pop with their drinks thus cementing it as a much needed oasis in the midst of bedlam).
I have loved this city for longer than I can remember. From the blue and white sweatshirt my dad got me as a kid to spending my teenage years devouring the works of Bukowski, Raymond Chandler and Francesca Lia Block - this city captures my heart in a way that no other American city does.
Los Angeles was my dream for so long and when I made the decision to leave my ex, I knew I was making the decision to give up on this dream.
That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and it hurt for a really long time. Some days, it still aches.
“And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I’m too scared to know how I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiled, “see you around””
But a decade later, I returned with my son and my husband. A man who, while driving through the Hollywood Hills - a place that reminds him of St. Thomas, the place of his birth - looked at me and said, “We could retire here.”
I don’t know if that will happen - I’m scared to put more hope into Los Angeles for fear it might dissolve again - but it seems more like a reality now.
Maybe we could retire here.
Maybe Will could go to school at UCLA.
Maybe we could live in a Spanish-revival bungalow, go hiking with our dogs, drive up the coast and spend our nights listening to the music we love while eating truly excellent Mexican food as the moon rises over the mountains.
Maybe dreams don’t ever really evaporate but rather evolve and come to fruition when you’re ready for them.
Until then, Los Angeles is only a six hour flight away - with a stop in Atlanta because even if you’re going to hell, you’re gonna stop at Hartsfield-Jackson - and I cannot wait to return.
