Los Angeles, California | Travel Diary
For the first trip of the year, we decided to go back to the city of angels! Los Angeles has always been a special place for me… won’t get into it. Haha!
So this time, we invited our good friend Khai to join us for our mini-vacation. He had never been, so we planned to show Khai our favorite spots as well as give him a tour of the city. Plus, the two are a HILARIOUS duo so it made traveling that much more fun! Seriously, I wish I recorded so many funny things with these two... No dull moments!
L.A.: Day 1
We got an Airbnb for the first time (found the cutest apartment in the middle of everything we planned), and let me just say: If you haven't tried Airbnb, I totally recommend it! It was super easy to use and find places within our budget. Plus, having the feel of being at home made it so worth it!
Anyway, after falling in love with our apartment for the weekend, we headed to Venice Beach — the perfect first stop for Khai.
We checked out the boardwalk, the beach and of course, the people, before ending up at The Sidewalk Cafe to eat. It's a laid-back place with good food, drink specials and an outdoor covered-patio (perfect for the weather and people-watching 👀) The portions here were also pretty big. We all ordered different things and all ended up with leftovers! (Below: Venice Beach + my chicken nachos)
After lunch and finishing a pitcher of their Long Island Iced Tea, it was time for a much needed nap! 😴 So we headed back "home" before our plans to visit the Santa Monica Pier during the best time — at night! Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go as planned… our nap lasted longer than we wanted due to jet lag (and/or food comas). So we missed the Pacific Park rides and food this time. 😔 But the lights were still on and the weather was still PERFECT. It turned out to be very relaxing and the view, as always, BEAUTIFUL.
On our walk back to our car, we did notice something we hadn't noticed before: Tongva Park. It’s design and the lighting is what drew us to it — we had to check it out. We mostly Snapchat our lil walk-through, so I don't have much to share. 😕 But it is a pretty cool new addition!
Next up, bar-hopping! Jeff had a couple of "secret bars" he wanted to check out this trip, and for the first night we headed to Seventy7 Lounge. This speakeasy wasn't as hidden as I thought it was going to be, but it is located in a back-alley. Just gotta look for the glowing red “cocktails” sign:
Seventy7 Lounge was pretty chill, they had live music and great craft cocktails. I am terrible at making decisions, so I just found “absinthe” on the menu and went with that. GREAT IDEA, too. The drink: "Absinthe Fizz" and OMG was it good!
The other the bars in that area were pretty dead (it was a Sunday), but thanks to Yelp we found Backstage — a dive bar right across the street from Sony Studios!
This bar was real laid-back. We we made friends with the bartender (who BTW was a doppelganger of one of our other friends), and got to hear some pretty cool stories about the place! He invited us back out for industry night the next day (Khai's a bartender), but more on that later!
L.A.: Day 2
Day two, we planned a hike after getting some food, that also lead to drinks (not the best idea before hiking, but I'll get to that in a bit...) Jeff and I took Khai out to the Original Farmers Market to eat at Mixology 101, because everything is SO GOOD there! For apps we ordered bruschetta (delicious, but overpriced for just 3) and then, some burgers with tater tots and sweet potato fries (and regular fries — Jeff 🙄). AND some cocktails that were not only pretty strong but REFRESHING! 👌
Seriously, if you ever go, try "GRACE." It's made with Grey Goose La Poire vodka, fresh pear, apple and lemon juices, honey syrup, lemongrass and fresh mint. Amazing! Khai and I could not stop talking about it. But like I said, it's stronger than you'd think...and we had that hike. 😯
OK I gotta rave about my sweet potato fries real quick, y'all. They came with some kind of cinnamon dip (that I originally thought was ranch, but no, it's CINNAMON DIP) and it forever changed my life. 🙌 Best (unexpected) combo. Oh, and Khai's tater tots — biggest I've ever seen! (TWSS) For real tho, they were jumbo, cheese-infused tots...FN delicious! 😋
Afterwards, we decided to take a stroll through the Farmers Market/The Grove and walk off our meal a bit/mentally prepare for our hike. But even after our walk, I was still buzzing. 😔 And we all got sleepy. Still, we drove to Griffith Park to hike!
Starting out, we were so motivated! (Could have been the alcohol) and then we realized we we forgot to buy water and it was like 80+ degrees out. All we had was ONE bottle we all would have to share during our 3-mile hike. (FML, right?) Yeah, I almost died. 😓 Luckily, I had Jeff and Khai's encouraging words (and most of our water), so my jello-legs made it to the top with them! Even took some pics despite my need to just lay down and die.
Coming down was wayyy easier on me, and the experience really was still great with those two. But never again will I drink alcohol before a hike without a shit ton of water!
For our last night there, we started out at the other speakeasy on our list: The Blind Barber in LA. Jeff and I had a memorable time at the New York location, so we were excited to check this one out! Getting in wasn't as cool as the one in NY, but it's the same basic setup. It's still just your standard barber shop in the front, with a "secret" back door that leads you into the hidden bar.
Check out our exit:
After some drinks, we ended our night in L.A. back at Backstage! So fun! It def was one of #Jancy's favorite trips! Can't wait for another! 😊
To see more from our trips, follow me on Snapchat & Instagram @nancytaguirre!
Funniest thing we overheard this trip:
"Quit throwin' rocks at me, Coco" — N/A 😂
