City of Angels

Friday-The Arrival

There was horrible traffic when we arrived in LA. Took us 45 minutes to get to the hotel. The hotel is located in Westwood in a very nice and quiet area. Its next to Beverly Hills. Westwood Village District is approx 2 or 3 blocks away.  There are 2 great restaurants to eat there. Acapulco Mexican restaurant serves great appetizers and margaritas and The Garden which makes a fresh guacamole dip. Its made literally right in front of you. The hotel itself is ok, no big deal. We had a great view, 14th floor and they offer free internet service on the 1st floor. The hotel offers a breakfast buffet but I would stay clear from it. The french toast was hard as a rock. Eat at Griddle's  Cafe. I didn't go there but its all the rave by locals. For dinner we ate at KOI. Reservations are required. Food is awesome and the place rocks. Definetely try the Creamy Rock Shrimp and the Chilean Sea Bass. Afterwards we headed out to clubs . We grabbed some drinks  first at Cheatu Momont and then danced the night away at the Spider Club, which is within the Avalon. This club in across the street from the Capitol Records building.

Sat-Jet Lag Kicked in

We woke up early and took a "Grand Tour" of LA. The company we reseved our seats with offered complimentary pick up and drop off at the hotel which was great because we had a late night. I highly recommend a tour if your going to LA for a short period of time because it covers everything, from the celebrity homes,  major attractions, neighborhoods and much more. There are several stops. Rodeo Drive, Walk of Fame, Mullholand Drive and City Walk for lunch. If you eat at the Ranch you get 20% off your bill. They serve big portions and are quick. The tour is pretty much an all day thing so by the end of the day your exhausted. For dinner we had reservations for the Ivy. Great ambiance, very cozy however the food wasn't out of this world. This is definetly a celeb hot spot. Afterwards we headed out to Chocolat for some drinks. This place was packed. You couldn't move at the bar, then it was off to the Viper Room and Whiskey A Go Go. (Another late night)

Sun-Finally on LA Time

Slept in a bit and checked out of the hotel. The hotel offers to hold your luggage which was great because our flight wasn't leaving until 9pm that night. We grabbed a cab and headed out to Santa Monica. Santa Monica is beautiful but was surpised walking along boardwalk headed towards the pier by the amount of homeless people. Third street promenade has tons of shops  but mostly commercialized, you'll find the Gap, American Eagle, Nine West, etc....Don't forget to grab coffee or tea at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. If your a coffee drinker like me you should compare. The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf is all the rave over there but didn't get two thumbs up from me. I'll stick to my Starbucks. Oh don't forget to check out the arcade at the Pier and the ferris wheel. The view from up top is priceless. You can see the mountains and all of Santa Monica. Truely breath-taking. Afterwards we grabbed a cab and headed to Venice Beach. We walked briefly down Venice Beach, came across Muscle Beach and called it a day. We ended our trip back in Westwood Village where we grabbed a bite to eat at The Garden ( thats where they make the fresh guacamole dip). Walked back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and got into our limo to head to LAX.

I went with two of my friends for a weekend getaway. Next time I go to LA I'll look into hotels that are closer to the sunset strip. We didn't rent a car so we constantly took cabs and we spent a pretty penny. We heard parking in LA is impossible so we opted from doing that. Santa Monica is a great place if your going to relax and just do the beaches. Stay in LA if your looking to party. Also, to add to our expiernce in LA we decided to have a limo pick us up from the airport and back and it was awesome, it really did add to our expierence. I'm anxious to re-visit LA.