Our Honeymoon Part III: 10 (ish) Things To Do In LA
I wanted to open this post, by saying I know this is a really really REALLY strange time we are living through, I’ve made the decision to keep on sharing what I had planned, whilst we can’t travel to the US now, most of my blog content is planned and written in advance. I have had lots of messages that people would like me to continue publishing, and that a bit of escapism is needed - hope you understand my decision, and that I’ve made the right one. I will share resources to inform and help over on IG Stories, please do DM or email me if you think there’s a message I can amplify.
Welcome to the 3rd and final honeymoon instalment, I hadn’t intended for it to be three posts, but turns out I have a lot to say about each stop of our trip. We had two nights 2 in Laguna Beach, 3 nights in Palm Springs and were finishing up with 4 nights in LA itself. When we were visiting there was also a massive conference on, which limited our hotel choices as we were to be staying in LA over a weekend. I’d initially wanted to stay to the East of the city, but our hotel, Avalon was on the west in Beverly Hills .
There were pros and cons to this hotel, pros being I loved the architecture and history to the building itself, and it didn’t seem like world’s away from Palm Springs visually, which I was super sad to be saying goodbye too. However I wouldn’t say Beverly Hills is where all the action is, and people told me LA was spread out, but let me reiterate LA IS VERY VERY SPREAD OUT AND YOU KINDA NEED A PLAN. It’s vast, especially if you’re used to London like I am, where everything is easily walkable and you can just stumble across things. I would love to go back and really discover the other side of LA, that we didn’t see much off, but on the plus side we were closer to Malibu, Santa Monica and beautiful beaches in general, so for our honeymoon, was perfect. Here are a few things we did and enjoyed:
Rose Bowl Flea Market
The biggest flea market in the whole state, takes part on the second Sunday of every month and if you think I planned us being there on that very Sunday by accident, you’d be very much mistaken. WOW WOW WOW, it was incredible! I booked early bird tickets online, which gains you access at 7am before general access at 9am . Wear comfy shoes, take a large shopper if you’re serious about thrifting (I wish I’d taken my flat pack Cath Kidston trolley now) and take water too. I didn’t actually buy a lot, because I was overwhelmed by the selection, but I took a million photos and left buzzing with inspiration. On the way home, we stopped at Cindy’s which was a recommendation from my friend Christina, another retro diner experience not to be missed!
Melrose
Hardly a hidden gem, but at the time of our trip Glossier hadn’t got a shop in Covent Garden, so first things first was a trip to millennial HQ. Just as a warning, it gets hectic, I went on a weekday at opening time and it was busy enough - I can’t imagine it on a weekend. I wrote a post about what I picked up in Glossier here, you can now get everything in London expect the zit stick but I still haven’t made it to the UK one yet. Also in Melrose Place is Clare V shop, Outdoor Voices, Mansur Gavriel, and if you want to eat some beautiful looking cupcakes then head to Sweet Lady Jane .
Christy Dawn
Oh dear, the wheels really came off in Christy Dawn! I’ve been a long time admirer of the brand, and whilst I love their photoshoots they don’t represent many different body shapes, so was never sure of the fit or if they even offered anything in my size. If you don’t know anything about Christy Dawn, they use dead stock fabric to mainly create ethereal dresses . Well turns out they do fit and they do have things in my size…3 dresses later I finally left their Venice store one happy Charlotte. Lincoln Boulevard where the shop is located has some nice lifestyle stores to wander around, and pick up ‘another’ souvenir to take home with you.
ROW DTLA
I first saw this place on DesignLoveFest’s IG , and following where Bri has visited over the years, I know her recommendations are always tip top. We drove through Downtown LA to get to Row , and it’s definitely a contrast than other parts of the city, the wealth disparity in CA is big issue, and I was under no illusion that there is problem with out pricing it’s homeless, there’s a documentary here that I think is an important watch before you visit. Row DTLA is a combination of indie shops and restaurants, including Poketo, Flock and Rappahannock Oyster Bar plus you can even do a ceramics class; Still Life Ceramics. On Sunday there’s Smorgasburg, which brings food vendors to the weekday Alameda Produce Market site. There’s lots of parking, with your first hour free.
Paramount Pictures
We booked two studio tours, this one and Warner Brothers. Unless you are a massive Aquaman / Superhero fan I would give the WB a miss, if it is Harry Potter you are after we are very lucky in the UK that we have the Warner Bros. Studio Tour - which I would really recommend above the the California one. The Paramount studio tour was like stepping back in time, and also a lot smaller and personal than the WB tour. Our tour guide was also studying film, and his passion came through as he told us the most magnificent stories of Katherine Hepburn, Tom Hanks, the making of The Godfather and Alfred Hitchcock. You can really daydream on this tour and I loved it. They also film This is Us there, and we were lucky enough to get a tour of the Grace & Frankie set. As a side note, Jack my husband works in the TV industry so for us it was super fascinating but I really think even if you are mildly interested in film and TV - you’ll enjoy this one.
The Original Farmer’s Market
The Farmer’s Market is in and is a really nice place to wander round and choose what you want for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or any meal time tbh). We split loaded bagels and some pastries at Michelina , and whilst much more than you might spend on a Brick Lane bagel, it was truly delicious. Also very very into the silver plates they served them on, if you go, you’ll know what I mean. The Farmer’s Market is close to The Grove, which we had a little wander around before it opened but not quite for me. However if you want bigger known brands, or Sephora, then you’ll find it here.
Freedman’s
This recommendation came from Courtney, Pretty Little Fawn , and of course she didn’t steer me wrong. Located in Silverlake (another area I want to go back and explore further), this restaurants serves Jewish American cooking in the perfect William Morris wallpapered surroundings. If you go, I would definitely recommend the Latkes, Pastrami Rueben, and ALLLLLLLLL the breads. I can still smell the heavenly aroma from The Challah and the Babka now. A big thumbs up from me! Before we ate here we had a drink at Bar Flores, which makes an excellent whiskey sour .
Venice Beach
People who say Venice Beach is crowded have clearly never been to Margate Main Sands on a sunny bank holiday weekend. Venice beach is MASSIVE (half a mile to be exact cos I googled it). A niche Doors reference, but how Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek found each other on that beach was bloody good luck. Yes it’s crowded when you first approach the beach, and has some touristy shops, walk for five minutes and you’d have a pretty good spot on the beach without too many people bothering you. We walked up to Santa Monica pier, which was indeed actually busy, we quickly got out of there ate a hot dog on a stick and hitched a ride back on one of the many tuk tuks available. I am not normally one for a barter, but we did get a ride for half the original price. I enquired about how much they were as I was genuinely curious, the guy then lowered his price twice, as I decided I was more than happy to walk. We eventually got in, and had a really beautiful ride across the beachfront. Venice Beach isn’t for everyone, but I rather enjoyed it, we didn’t explore Venice itself and only drove down Abbot Kinney , as we were quite happy chilling on the beach - another one for another trip. El Matador Beach was another beach we went to visit which was really secluded and quiet, if that’s more your vibe.
Jeni’s
OH JENI! Thank you for blessing the world with your beautiful tasting ice cream, it’s some of the best I have ever had. Located in Los Feliz, which is an area I hope to go back to one day, as it’s an are worth exploring all on it’s own, Jeni’s is the perfect after dinner stop. I was taken to Jeni’s by Christina Winkleman , who if you are not following on Instagram I would definitely recommend. Jeni has a few scoop shops located across the US, if you are near one I would try to pop in to sample some of the wonderful and weird flavours. Brown Butter Almond Brittle, and the darkest chocolate were just a couple of my favourites (I sampled A LOT in the name of research!). If you are wondering where we ate pre ice cream, Christina took us to Little Dom’s and I would definitely add it to your eat list.
Lastly a few things to mention. I would recommend getting your hands on some Mexican Coca Cola, it’s readily available, comes in big glass bottles and tastes SO GOOD. We also went to pay tribute to Elton John at the Troubadour, tried to get in Chateau Marmont for a drink and got turned away (after 6pm you need a reservation). Had a very average meal at Mels Drive in (but 10/10 for the Jukebox) which we wandered in after our aforementioned drinks didn’t go to plan. We also went up to The Griffith Observatory, which is definitely worth a stop, as you can see the Hollywood sign from here and it’s got great views of LA.
Two more things if you are driving. If like me, you’ve never heard of parking validation, it’s something a lot of places offer to encourage you to come and visit them. When you’ve spent money in a shop or restaurant you can ask to see if they offer parking validation, which means your parking is free or discounted because you’ve been a customer of that business. Pretty nice right? And VALET PARKING…I think was one of our favourite parts about our honeymoon, we are sad people who have spent far too long looking for places to park over the years. Some places it’s free, some places you don’t need it or they don’t offer it, and some places you pay for it. Either way, it’s GREAT, and we are here for the valet parking.
I think that’s pretty much everything and that concludes our honeymoon, I hope you’ve found it useful if you are planning a trip there one day. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below, and if you have somewhere you think people would love to visit in LA please leave it in the comments below too!
