Los Angeles: The Sequel July 2024 - The (Not) Highs and Lows

[moosha]

Los Angeles July 2024 (Not) Highs and Lows:

I like to do the highs and lows while they’re fresh in my mind even though they end up being a bit of a spoiler for the rest of the report. This year I’m not actually going to break down highs and lows and instead just do more of a general trip summary.

We had an excellent holiday in Los Angeles. As I’ve said many times, I love Los Angeles with all my heart so I’m always going to love going there. Last year on our first LA holiday, we experienced two hurricanes including freak heavy rain and flooding, an anaphylactic allergy reaction, a broken beyond repair mobile phone and one of us getting run over by an ECV at Disneyland and it was still the best holiday I’d ever had. This year had less unfortunate incidents than last year, in fact we only experienced another broken phone. So that was a success. But it didn’t quite hit the highs of last year and I put that down to four things.

Firstly, Mat’s dad had sadly passed away five days before the holiday. So of course, he wasn’t in the best place throughout the trip and there was a general background sadness. We had to continue with the holiday because we would have lost thousands of pounds and didn’t have the option to reschedule. So Mat just tried to get on with it as best as he could. But of course it affected how much he, and all of us really, could enjoy ourselves. However, it was good to have that quality time together during such a difficult period.

Secondly, there was an element of repeated things not hitting as hard as the first time. It’s natural that the feeling of doing something amazing is going to be better the first time than subsequent times because it’s new and exciting. There were definitely things I enjoyed as much the second time, and new things for this year that were awesome. Being in Los Angeles in general made me as ecstatic as it had the first time. But the initial high of seeing the Hollywood Sign for example is going to be less exciting the second time. And unfortunately there were things, restaurants primarily, that were not as good as they were on our previous visit which was disappointing.

Thirdly, my planning was not as complete this year since it had been a crazy and difficult time leading up to the holiday and I just didn’t have enough time to get the plans as tight as I would have liked. There were things in the plans such as concert dates and accommodation check-in and check-out dates that didn’t work perfectly as part of the wider picture so there were times when we were staying far away from where we needed to be so had extended journeys or days that weren’t the best option to do something but we had no choice because of those restrictions. And while I’m glad we got to experience Independence Day in the USA for the first time, most restaurants etc were closed that day so we had to be a bit creative and the day didn’t run as smoothly as I would have liked.

And finally, the city felt busier this year. The traffic was heavier. Last year, our journey times were usually the lower end of the scale given on google maps but this time mostly they took the highest estimated time. Driving five miles taking 25 minutes for example. I know Los Angeles is famous for its traffic and it appears we just got off lightly last year. The traffic sometimes seemed worse at weekends than weekday rush hours too which is why I put it down at least in part to people on vacation. Going in mid to late August last year, I think we had missed most American vacationers but going at the beginning of July this year, US schools were still off so more people were in the city on holiday. The car parks for the beaches in Malibu on a Tuesday were full whereas last year we’d been the only ones pulling up at some of those beaches on a Monday morning.

The absolute high points for me (okay so I’m kind of doing highs) :

Watching Disney: 80s - 90s Celebration in Concert at The Hollywood Bowl

Music and concerts are a massive thing in our family (understatement) so one of the things I did when planning the holiday was check all of the venues in Los Angeles for shows we’d be interested in. I really wanted to go to the Hollywood Bowl or the Greek Theater so when I saw there was a Disney concert at the Hollywood Bowl while we were there, it had to go in the plans. Obviously Disney has been a huge part of our family as the girls have grown up. Seren is Disney obsessed so she was especially excited about the concert. The venue exceeded my expectations in terms of how spectacular it is. Sitting in my seat in the warm Los Angeles weather with the stage and the Hollywood Sign in front of me and surrounded by the beautiful Santa Monica mountains…it was a real ‘pinch me’ moment. The Hollywood Bowl was also very well organised and efficient as a venue while also feeling extremely relaxed and chill. Perfect. For most shows they allow guests to bring in picnics and wine / beer and glasses which made it feel even more special. We brought a bottle of prosecco and it felt like a picnic in the park in an extremely beautiful and unique location. And then there was the show. The performers were top quality and we got to see Disney Legends Susan Egan (Meg from Hercules) and Jodi Benson (Ariel of course) perform ‘I Won’t Say I’m In Love’ and ‘Part Of Your World’ respectively. Seren and I cried a lot (in fact Seren cried throughout most of the show.) Both singers were excellent and Susan in particular blew me away…stunning.







Some Excellent Restaurants

I was gutted when I heard my favourite restaurant from last year, Nic’s On Beverly, was closing down before our holiday. It really was some of the best vegan food I’d ever had. When I was researching restaurants again for this year, I added in some new ones in the hope of finding some new favourites and I also kept the ones we had loved in 2023. Unfortunately we did end up with a few more misses than we had last year, but we also went to some very impressive restaurants.

My new favourite restaurant in Los Angeles is Crossroads Kitchen which for some reason I had avoided including in 2023. I think I hadn’t liked the menu last year but we went for it this time and I’m so glad we did. I had booked a Saturday brunch at the Melrose (West Hollywood) location and as soon as we walked in I knew we were going to love it. First of all, the restaurant is all vegan which makes our lives easier, especially as they also have a dedicated nut allergy menu. Seren is usually so restricted in restaurants being both vegan and with a nut allergy so a vegan restaurant with a nut allergy menu is heaven for her. It’s also really beautiful and the service is excellent. Best of all, it has a rock n roll theme with rock star photos on the walls and they play rock music. No actually that’s not best of all. Best of all is the food. We all loved our brunch on the first visit and so we ended up going back for lunch and again for brunch. We even went to their second location in Calabasas for dinner when we were staying out in Topanga as it was relatively close. We went really early and it was dead so the atmosphere wasn’t as good but the food, service and decor in Calabasas was also excellent. Keeping my fingers crossed that as my new favourite restaurant in Los Angeles, Crossroads doesn’t suffer the same fate as my previous favourite by the time I can get back there. Judging by how popular it is, I don’t think that will happen.







My second favourite restaurant is a previous favourite as we also loved it in 2023, Beachwood Cafe. Last year we went there twice and this time we went there four times, all for breakfast. This year one of our Airbnbs was less than a five minute walk from Beachwood Cafe and yes that was partly why we booked to stay there. Beachwood Cafe is very popular at least in part because it’s mentioned in a Harry Styles song. I did not know this when I first came across it and we as a family do not give two hoots about Harry Styles, but a lot of fans go to the restaurant because of the link. It’s always busy, and as well as the Harry Styles fans coming so they can post it on instagram, it’s also popular with locals and non-fans as the food is so flipping good. Our fourth visit this year was on going home day because we didn’t want to leave LA without one last visit. Highly recommended.





Other excellent meals were dinner at classic Hollywood restaurant Musso and Frank Grill, several breakfasts at Breakfast Republic (we loved their new Echo Park location which replaced a diner featured in a couple of my favourite TV shows), brunch at Lighthouse Cafe (a repeat visit and just as good, if not better than last year), Happy Hour at Gracias Madre (ditto), brunch at Donna Jean, lunch at Little Tokyo institution Suehiro, brunch at The Butcher’s Daughter in Venice (excellent both this year and last year), and drinks and sides at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood.

Musso and Frank:



Fried Nashville style mushrooms at Donna Jean were definitely one of the best things I ate all trip and that’s a high bar:





The Butcher’s Daughter:



Barney’s Beanery:







Gracias Madre:



Their spicy margarita:



We also found some new fast food / fast casual restaurants with excellent food. I had the best bowl I’ve ever had at Hey Sunshine Kitchen and definitely the nicest vegan fast food I can remember at Monty’s Good Burger and Plant Power.

Hey Sunshine Kitchen (Vegan) Fiesta Carnitas Bowl:



Monty’s:





Plant Power:





Fast Times at The Whisky A Go Go

We saw The Whisky’s house band, 80s covers band Fast Times twice last year because it was such a fun night, and we ended up doing the same this year. They’re a great band who play excellent songs, The Whisky is an iconic venue and if I lived in LA I would go to the show every Monday night. Amazing. Freya even got to play the bassist’s instrument from the front of the audience. Freya and I love the Fast Times shows so much we even bought their band T-shirts this year.







Cathy’s Corner Hike

Ever since I was planning last year’s trip, I had wanted to hike to Cathy’s Corner in Griffith Park which is where the iconic ‘A Lovely Night' scene in La La Land was filmed. Last year the plan had been to hike to Cathy’s Corner as an add-on to our Griffith Park Observatory hike. It takes about 30 minutes to hike to the observatory from where we park in Fern Dell and it would be another 50 minutes each way to Cathy’s Corner from there. So a round trip of roughly just under three hours. Last year when we got to the observatory, Seren was moaning that she didn’t want to hike another couple of hours. In addition, I had no signal up at the observatory and I wasn’t completely clear on the route. So we made the call that we wouldn’t do it in 2023 and would put it on the list for when we came back. In advance of the trip this year, I got very clear on the instructions so I knew exactly how we would get there. On our Fern Dell to Observatory hike day, Seren opted out of the hike while we were eating breakfast at the cafe at the bottom of Fern Dell. We were happy to leave her there for the hour’s hike up to the observatory and back but couldn’t leave her there for three hours. So the plans were scuppered for a second time.

I decided it was definitely happening this trip so I came up with a plan to park at the observatory one morning and just do the 50 minutes to Cathy’s Corner each way from there. The girls decided against getting up early to do it so Mat and I went one morning and it was so worth the wait. Definitely my favourite Griffith Park hike we’ve done. Better than Brush Canyon to the Hollywood Sign which I also love and while I do enjoy hiking up to the observatory from Fern Dell, it’s pretty steep and a bit slippy. The route we took to Cathy’s Corner was along a disused road, Mount Hollywood Drive, which was nicer to walk on than the dusty trails. The route was quiet except for other hikers, dog walkers, joggers, and slightly treacherously, pretty large groups of speed cyclists. It was definitely a popular route for locals. The views were stunning, especially of the Hollywood Sign. As we knew we were getting close to Cathy’s Corner, we commented to each other, ‘How will we know when we get there?’ We knew. It’s very much on a corner and it’s so beautiful I got emotional. We’ve watched La La Land so many times and it was awesome to stand there where that memorable scene was filmed. To top it all off, a friendly local hiker approached as we were taking photos and offered to take a photo of the two of us at the spot.



Gilby Clarke at The Whisky

When I was 14, I was obsessed with Guns N’ Roses. Obsessed. I would watch tour videos every morning before school and every evening after school and I was gutted that my mum wouldn’t let me go and see them live, especially when they played just up the road at Milton Keynes Bowl. As well as being obsessed with their music, I was in love with their rhythm guitarist, Gilby Clarke, and wanted to marry him. Eventually Axl Rose fired all the members of Guns N’ Roses including Gilby and I moved on to other bands but I always called him my husband when I came across him judging TV talent shows etc. While planning this year’s trip, I happened to see on The Whisky’s instagram that Gilby was playing there while we were in Los Angeles. Luckily everyone else was on board with going to see him. It was such a great (long) night with five bands on the bill, all of whom were really good. I’d got seats and a table upstairs for Mat and Seren as Seren is not great at standing all night at a concert, especially one she’s not really interested in, and Freya and I got down the front in general admission. The Whisky is tiny anyway so we were always going to be pretty close to the stage.

When Gilby popped down onto the stage during soundcheck I cried. It was actual real life Gilby in front of me after all these years. He was really good and even played a couple of Guns N’ Roses songs which was such a treat for 14 year old me (and 45 year old me to be fair.) He called The Whisky ‘$@*&ing rock n roll heaven’ and that’s exactly how I feel about it. The Whisky had been in my consciousness since I got into rock bands at age 12 and since most of my favourite bands are Los Angeles bands like Guns N’ Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers, it’s really special for me because they got their start there. It blew my mind enough to step foot in there for the first time in 2023, but seeing a member of one of my favourite bands when I was a teenager at The Whisky after that band broke through playing there in the 80s was kind of overwhelming. Absolutely the ultimate highlight of the holiday for me and I feel really lucky to have been able to go to the show and couldn’t stop thinking about it for days afterwards.





Stairs Hikes

Los Angeles is very hilly and a lot of the neighbourhoods in the hills have public staircases that were put in when the houses were built so that residents could get down to the main streets below. A lot of this development happened before cars were mainstream so the houses were located on ‘walk streets’ whereby the residents would walk down to the main streets such as Sunset Boulevard and get the trolley to work. This year we did three stairs hikes in Los Angeles. One in Silver Lake, one in Los Feliz and we repeated the one we had done in Beachwood Canyon last year. I cannot recommend stairs hikes enough. The views are fantastic, the houses you get to walk past are beautiful, and the stairs are a really tough workout which provides a fun challenge. Definitely will always make stairs hikes a part of our Los Angeles trips, even when the temperature is in the 30s like it was this time.







The Lost Boys Bridge

We’ve done a lot of Grease filming locations and a lot of La La Land filming locations and The Lost Boys is another one we’re trying to work our way through as it’s a favourite movie of all of us. My sister and I used to watch it daily when we were young. I love it so much. Last year we got to see the church from the movie on the Warner Bros tour. Everything else is in Northern California in Santa Cruz (on the list for our forthcoming at some point California road trip), with the exception of the iconic bridge that the vampires hang from, which is out in Santa Clarita just down the road from Six Flags Magic Mountain. We took the drive out one morning, spent about ten minutes admiring the bridge and then drove back. Seeing the bridge was as exciting as I’d anticipated. I’m always really impressed by filming locations and often get emotional seeing an iconic sight I’ve seen in movies in real life. Obviously Los Angeles is a great place for seeing movie locations and for me the impact isn’t dulled by having seen lots of over the last two holidays.



Sonoma Wine Terrace at Disney California Adventure

Disneyland overall doesn’t make my list of top highs this year. I’m in the camp that’s not loved Disney’s decisions as a company in terms of its theme parks over the last decade. Nickel and diming, making the guest experience less enjoyable with the complicated and frustrating line skip systems, poor maintenance of rides etc has all led to me not feeling the same way about Disney and Walt Disney World that I did on our first family trip in 2012. Last year I found Disneyland had not suffered from those issues as much as Walt Disney World which was a refreshing change and made for a much more relaxing holiday. This year, I found myself getting as fed up with Genie+ etc as I get in WDW. We also found a lot of long standby wait times or wait times that would double after we’d been in line for ten minutes or so, which in itself is a result of Genie+ and the whole letting dozens of LL guests through for every couple of guests in standby. And the number of rides closed because of technical issues was at times the highest I’ve ever seen. So I can’t overlook the fact that our time at Disneyland was frustrating because of those things.

There were still things to love and enjoy during our five days at Disneyland, don’t get me wrong. Disneyland’s Space Mountain is almost up there with Disneyland Paris’ Big Thunder Mountain as the best castle park attraction across the US and Paris parks for me. It’s excellent and way better than Space Mountain in Disney World. Radiator Springs Racers and Indiana Jones Adventure are top tier. The Alice In Wonderland and Snow White Fantasyland rides are way better than any rides in Magic Kingdom in my opinion. I love California Adventure a lot. We watched the Tangled show at Royal Court Theater in Disneyland and thought it was awesome, the kind of thing I wish they would do on the East Coast. And the Impossible Breakfast Schawarma is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in a Disney park with the exception of the potato and pea samosas at the India kiosk during Food and Wine at Epcot. So good.

But the thing I’m calling a high (okay the shawarma is also a high, I can’t deny that) is the Sonoma Wine Terrace in California Adventure. Mat and I don’t ride IncrediCoaster or Mission: Breakout as we are wimps. Since about 50% of our family’s time in California Adventure this year was spent with the girls on those two rides as they absolutely love them, we had to find something else to do while we waited. Luckily we found just the thing; the Sonoma Wine Terrace. I didn’t even know it existed until we walked past and thought it looked like a nice place to sit. Which it was. It was usually pretty quiet and there was always a shady table available. The Cast Members there were really friendly too. So we spent quite a lot of time at the wine terrace, chilling and chatting and people watching and….drinking wine. The Sofia is perhaps the nicest sparkling wine I’ve ever tasted and at $11.50 a glass, it's such a good deal when compared with Disney’s awful pre-mixed cocktails that are full of sugar and ice and not much alcohol. I also really enjoyed the sparkling red wine they had on the menu having never had sparkling red wine before. It was sweeter than the Sofia and a bit like sangria and so good.







Excellent Accommodation

We stayed at a total of eight accommodations this year; five Airbnbs and three hotels. Four of the Airbnbs were amazing, I would move into any of them tomorrow and loved pretending to live in them for a few days each. The fifth had some really special features but didn’t quite meet the level of the others and we had some issues with the host after the stay that really made me more negative about it afterwards. But considering last year we stayed at three Airbnbs and one of them was a stinker we had to abandon an hour or so after check-in, I feel really thankful that they were all very good to outstanding this year. We had a second stay at our favourite from last year and it was just as awesome this time. Plus we got to meet the lovely hosts this year, and they had very kindly left us some treats as a welcome back gift. We got to relax in the beautiful outdoor space at the property which we hadn’t had time for last year which made us love it even more.



Mat, Freya and I all loved the absolutely stunning house we stayed at in Beachwood Canyon. It was perfect and if I had the choice of anywhere in the world to live it would be in that house. It was very hard to drag ourselves away at the end of the stay. Besides being gorgeously decorated, the location couldn’t be better; at the bottom of the Hollywood Hills with Hollywood just down the road (I grew oddly fond of Hollywood this year, I think it gets a bad rap). And Beachwood Cafe was less than a five minute walk away from the house.









Continued below...

[moosha]

Continued:

We also all adored staying in a cabin in Topanga which was the last place we had settled on. Mat and I had been a little unsure of how we would actually get on being among the California wildlife in the mountains but it was amazing. We were supposed to be there for three nights but we stopped overnight in Hollywood on the second night when we went to the Hollywood Bowl show and we couldn’t wait to get back to the cabin. I think we’re actually secretly hippies.











Outdoor bath:



As I said, I loved all of those AirBnbs so much but my absolute favourite place we stayed was the Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood. We’d visited briefly on Jon D’Amico’s Rock N Walk Tour in 2023 and fallen in love with the place so I really wanted to stay there this year and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a perfect blend of luxury, rock n roll and being really chilled. No notes. My first choice of hotel in Los Angeles for sure for future trips, and absolutely my favourite hotel in the world at this point. The whole place is stunning, the service is great but in a relaxed way, and the Cavatina restaurant / bar is a delight.











We have been lucky enough to spend time in quite a few different areas of Los Angeles County during our two trips there last year and this year. LA County is 4000 square miles and comprises 88 incorporated cities so its size is one of the reasons we stay in several different areas during our time there. Our accommodations were in seven different areas (the eighth being in Anaheim in Orange County for Disneyland.) We also visited quite a few other parts of Los Angeles for day trips or a few hours, both this year and last year. New to us this year were Culver City and Highland Park, both of which I absolutely adored. Los Feliz, Silver Lake, West Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Venice and Beachwood Canyon are still all favourites of mine and this year Echo Park joined that list, as did Hollywood.

Echo Park Lake:





Further afield, Topanga and Calabasas were new to us and are lovely, as are Hermosa Beach, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks and Marina Del Rey, all of which we’ve visited both years. Last year I didn’t love Santa Monica and I still feel that way, although this year we explored Montana Avenue instead of Ocean Park / the pier and it was definitely nicer. We didn’t have great experiences in Malibu or Downtown Los Angeles this year (with the exception of the Arts District) but I’d still definitely go back to both on future trips as I know a lot of the issue this year was just down to bad luck on the day.

Culver City:





Coffee and Plants, Studio City:



Highland Park:



We had some not so wonderful moments with traffic, plans (or lack of) going awry, and a few dodgy meals, but we absolutely had a fantastic 23 days in Los Angeles. Disclaimer: I’m biased because any time spent in Los Angeles is still going to be better than being elsewhere in my book. I can’t wait to write all about our fabulous 2024 holiday; next day coming soon .

Some of our Top 5s of the trip:

My Top Five Things We Did:

1. Gilby Clarke at the Whisky A Go Go
2. Fast Times at the Whisky A Go Go
3. Hollywood Bowl concert
4. Cathy's Corner
5. Stairs hikes

Mat's:

1. Self Realization Fellowship, Lake Shrine, Santa Monica
2. Cathy's Corner (hikes in general TBH)
3. Descanso Gardens, Pasadena
4. The Hollywood Museum
5. Relaxing and chatting in our outdoor spaces at the
Airbnbs, plus the hot tub and outdoor sauna at two of the
houses

Seren's:

1. Hollywood Bowl concert
2. Disneyland
3. Book shops
4. Having snacks and watching Disney movies on a big
projector screen at one of the Airbnbs
5. Flea markets
6. Universal Studios Hollywood
7. Thrift shopping
8. Funko shop
(Her ADHD means making lists like this is difficult so she can't cut it down to five)

Freya's:

1. Fast Times at the Whisky A Go Go
2. Universal Studios Hollywood
3. Rose Bowl Flea Market
4. Disneyland
5. Knott's Berry Farm

Top 5 Restaurants:

Me:

1. Crossroads, West Hollywood
2. Beachwood Cafe, Beachwood Canyon
3. Musso and Frank, Hollywood
4. Breakfast Republic, Echo Park
5. Gracias Madre, West Hollywood / The Butcher's Daughter.
Venice / Barney's Beanery West Hollywood

(Honorable mention to the Impossible Schawarma at Disney California Adventure and the best fries we've ever had at Hotel Ziggy, West Hollywood). Easily two of the best things i ate on the trip.

Mat:

1. Musso and Frank, Hollywood
2. Crossroads, West Hollywood
3. The Lighthouse Cafe, Hermosa Beach
4. Suehiro, Downtown Los Angeles
5. Breakfast Republic, Echo Park

Seren:

1. Crossroads, West Hollywood
2. Musso and Frank, Hollywood
3. Millie's Cafe, Pasadena
4. Smoke House, Burbank
5. The Butcher's Daughter, Venice

She has a separate list of best food of the trip:

1. Dole Whip, Disneyland
2. Blueberry lemonade from Hey Sunshine Kitchen, Culver
City
3. Vegan egg sandwich from Maciel's Plant Deli, Culver City
4. Pazookie from Justine's Wine Bar, Frogtown
5. Apple fritter donut from Smorgasburg, Downtown Los
Angeles
6. Mint choc chip vegan ice cream from Salt and Straw
7. Vegan blueberry banana muffin from Trail's Cafe, Griffith
Park
8. Vegan pain au chocolat from Coffee and Plants, Studio City

Freya:

1. Plant Power, Hollywood
2. Hotel Ziggy, West Hollywood (best ever fries)
3. Beachwood Cafe, Beachwood Canyon
4. Smoke House, Burbank
5. Disneyland's beignets

Top 5 Rides:

Me:

1. Space Mountain, Disneyland
2. Alice In Wonderland
3. Radiator Springs Racers
4. Snow White's Enchanted Wish
5. Indiana Jones Adventure

(Radiator Springs Racers and Indiana Jones were my favourite rides last year but for some reason they didn't hit so hard on our second trip)

Mat:

1. Space Mountain
2. Alice In Wonderland
3. Mr Toad's Wild Ride
4. Indiana Jones Adventure
5. Pinocchio's Daring Journey

Seren:

1. Radiator Springs Racers
2. Mission: Breakout
3. Alice In Wonderland
4. Ghost Rider, Knott's Berry Farm
5. Indiana Jones Adventure
6. (Still not able to stick to a top five) Snow White's
Enchanted Wish
7. Space Mountain
8. Forbidden Journey, Universal Studios Hollywood
9. Toy Story Mania

Freya:

1. Mission: Breakout
2. Ghost Rider, Knott's Berry Farm
3. Jurassic World
4. IncrediCoaster
5. The Mummy, Universal Studios Hollywood
6. (Clearly also unable to stick to a top five for this one)
Space Mountain
7. Indiana Jones Adventure
8. Matterhorn Bobsleds

Top 5 Accommodations:

Me:

1. Sunset Marquis, West Hollywood
2. Beachwood Canyon Airbnb
3. Los Feliz Airbnb (repeat visit)
4. Topanga Canyon Airbnb cabin
5. Toluca Lake Airbnb

Mat

1. Beechwood Canyon Airbnb
2. Topanga Canyon Airbnb cabin
3. The Airbnb with a hot tub
4. Sunset Marquis
5. Los Feliz Airbnb

Seren:

1. Topanga Canyon Airbnb cabin
2. The Airbnb with a hot tub / projector
3. Sunset Marquis
4. Toluca Lake Airbnb
5. Los Feliz Airbnb

Freya:

1 Beechwood Canyon Airbnb
2. Sunset Marquis
3. Los Feliz Airbnb
4. Toluca Lake Airbnb
5. JW Marriott Hotel, Anaheim

[Minnie Mum]

Thank you so much for your detailed report. It really help with planning a trip. Sounds like you all had a wonderful time ❤️

[YorkshireT]

Good report we are just back from LA as well (second trip in 3 years). We enjoyed our time there again.
My ex colleague has a band and they played at the Whisky a Go Go a few years ago, I was quite impressed he had played there.

[spenners]

Fab round up of your trip, thank you for doing it.

[Pep]

Loved reading this . I really can relate to how you felt emotional when you were at wisky ago go. I felt the same way when i got to go to the Apollo theatre in Harlem. As a big music and movies fan I'd love to visit LA sometime in the future.
I remember when G&R first came on the scene and seeing all the footage of them around LA doing gigs in the early days, they were just a very exciting band. Also red hot chilli peppers Anthony and flea appearing in point break is classic LA to me
I also would love to see the griffiths observatory and scenes from LaLa land, there's just something special about old 1940s Hollywood and that art deco style.
Big fan of the lost boys film, too. never knew the bridge was somewhere you could actually visit !

[TractorBoy]

That was a superb report, thanks for taking the time to write!

LA is a good place to visit. Our first visit was in 1979!

Some great pics as well!