Religion, Vegans, and Macs: LA Coffee Shops March

Religion, vegans, and Macs were what I found during my March coffee shop excursions. I am constantly surprised by the uniqueness of the Los Angeles coffee scene. See below:

Holy Grounds Coffee and Tea

Serenity Now

Holy Grounds Coffee and Tea

5371 Alhambra Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90032

Serenity. This coffeehouse has a very Zen-like courtyard with a large stone fountain and hummingbirds buzzing around the flowers. Religious icons were placed throughout the courtyard including statues of Mother Mary, a golden Buddha, and a fertility goddess. There was even an area for tarot card and tea leaf readers. Very tranquil. Oh, and they also serve a good mocha and pastries from local bakeries. They also have a small lunch menu. Good place to work.

No Animals Harmed Here

The Butcher's Daughter

The Butcher's Daughter

1205 Abbott Kinney Blvd.

Venice, CA 90291

This place surprised me as the daughter is a butcher of vegetables - a total vegan establishment.  Inside was bright and airy with a central island where baristas worked and patrons sat around eating their butchered veggies and/or drank excellent coffee. They also have another counter for to go orders in case you want to take your beverage with you as you stroll along the shops on Abbott Kinney. Definitely a unique establishment.  I listed it under my coffee house visits as that is why I came - for the coffee, but it is more of a café with wait staff and reservations for the tables, so not necessarily a place to sit and write all day.

Groundwork Coffee

Hollywood Grab and Go

Groundwork Coffee Tea Community

1501 N. Cahuenga  Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

Across the street from CNN headquarters and cat a corner to Amoeba Records, Groundwork Coffee is at the gateway to Hollywood. It is only two blocks south of Hollywood Boulevard and is very busy with people coming and going. It is a good place to grab a coffee and head out to visit the local sites or have a quick lunch. The plates from the brunch menu looked very good as did the big cinnamon rolls.  All of the street parking, even on the small side streets, is metered at $1.00 per hour.

Mac Life

Found Coffee

1355 Colorado Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90041

Nice clean open coffeehouse. Chill jazzy music was playing low. The crowd was predominantly Occidental College students. And anyone on a laptop, was on a Mac. There was not a single PC in the place. Considering the décor was predominantly white with blue seats, I wondered if there was a connection. For food, they sold a number of pastries.

Found Coffee

Dragons, Bruce Lee, and Red Lanterns, exploring Chinatown

The heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown is packed with restaurants, stores and art galleries in a two-block square area.

From the Chinatown architecture-inspired Gold Line station walk one block west on College Street to North Broadway. The Dragons Gate is a long three blocks south on Broadway. If its daytime there are a number of Chinese shops and mini malls to wander through along the way.

  

The heart of Chinatown lies to the north between College and Bernard Street and Hill and Broadway. As you head north on Broadway make sure you look to your right between the buildings that make up Blossom Plaza for the rows of red lanterns strung between the buildings. They are beautifully illuminated at night.

Halfway up the block will be a stoplight and crosswalk that leads to Chinatown Central Plaza. Here you'll find souvenir shops, herbal stores, a jazz club, bakeries, the Bruce Lee statue, Chinese-style buildings and other interesting things to see.

Most of the Chinese restaurants are outside the plaza on Hill or Broadway. We ate at Full Moon House which I am happy to say states no MSG on their menu. Our dinner of honey walnut shrimp and seafood fried rice was delicious.

General Lee's in the plaza is an interesting two-story craft bar with a wooden interior giving it an old school Far East feel. For Chinese New Year they had a tasty Year of the Dog drink.

Across Hill is Chung King Court and Road. Painted on the side of the Foochow Restaurant on the corner is a note about how they were a filming location for the movie Rush Hour. The buildings and signs surrounding the court and road seemed a bit more run down than the central plaza across the street. However the businesses in the old storefronts are now primarily art galleries, studios and design companies. It was a very interesting contrast between the old and new. Most of the art galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. during the later part of the week and weekends.

Central Plaza architecture

One of the last places to close for the evening that is not alcohol related is Lollicup, a boba tea, ice cream, late-night snack type of place. It closes at 11:00 PM. I thought the ice cream was good and found the seating area with its number of mismatched adornments interesting.

Important note 1:  Keep in mind that most of the stores in Chinatown close by 6 or 7 except during special events like Chinese New Year, so go early if you want to shop.

Important note 2: The Gold Line and Uber make it very easy and inexpensive to reach Chinatown if you don't want drive and hunt for parking. The Gold Line station makes for a great starting point for your excursion.

 

Great Day Santa Monica

Santa Monica is an amazing place to visit for a day or a weekend. From the pier, amusement park rides, 3rd Street Promenade, movie theaters, restaurants, street performers and of course the great sandy beach, there's something for everyone.

 

Everything is close to each other with parking structures throughout the area. We parked in Lot 6 on 2nd street: free first 90 minutes, then $1.00 for every hour thereafter. Not bad if you're headed out only for a few hours.

 

Restaurants run the gamut of cuisines and price. As my son and I were eager to get to the pier, we stopped for a quick bite at Stefano's Pizzeria. They primarily sold pizza by the slice, which I'm sure is one reason why there were a number of high schoolers here. Their outdoor tables are also great for people watching as it was right on the corner of Arizona and 3rd.

From here we walked south on the Promenade past the dinosaur statues, stores and a street magician then through the Santa Monica Place open air mall.
 

Then we joined the throngs of people and headed to the pier on this glorious sunny 75-degree January day. From the top of Ocean Boulevard you have to walk down a long ramp to the pier itself. At the top of the ramp were two sets of street performers. One set was a pair of guys wearing a Trump mask and the other a Kim Jong-un mask who were posing for pictures with tourists. The other was a music dance troupe.

 

On the pier is the historic merry go round, restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp, lots of vendors and musicians. I particularly enjoyed watching two young women sing while their father played a ukulele. There were also fishermen on the pier and people swimming in the water. From the pier, are great views of Santa Monica beach and Malibu to the north. Looking south is Venice Beach  and the hill of Palos Verdes.

 

After walking to the end of the pier and passing a sign that said "66 End of the Trail",  we headed back to the car. We stopped at an intranet coffee shop and picked up a good smoothie for the hour and a half long drive to go 15 miles back home. Traffic from Santa Monica to anywhere in L.A. after 4:00 is a tough.

 

A great day out in Santa Monica!

Great Hollywood Hike

Runyon Canyon is a 2.5-mile popular hike in Hollywood with great views of the city that will get your blood pumping with its steep inclines.

Me and Rosemary - view from Cloud's Rest. Western trail in distance.

Runyon Canyon has magnificent views of the Hollywood sign, the observatory, downtown Los Angeles and the sea. At various outlooks the city installed benches to take a breather and feel the wind blow across your face as you gaze across the Los Angeles basin below. If you don't stop to take in the views, you can easily complete this hike in an hour.  One couple said they completed it in half an hour.

Downtown Los Angeles

The trail on the eastern side of the canyon is dirt and steeper than the paved the western side. There's an option to double the length of your hike by taking the far western route that branches off the western trail that will lead you all the way back to Mulholland Drive.  

Steps on eastern trail

It was definitely a Hollywood crowd with most people sporting mirrored sunglasses, yoga outfits and great bodies. Many people had dogs. 

A block south of the park's entrance is a man selling custom ordered fresh fruit cups. Very refreshing after the shadeless hike.

Fruit stand

Only street parking is available but fortunately no permits are required. That being said, always check the street signs wherever you park as parking rules constantly change in L.A. We parked on Fuller Street and walked 3 blocks to the park's entrance.

To wrap up our day in Hollywood, we ate a late lunch at the historic 101 Coffee Shop on Franklin. I had good carne asada tacos and my wife had a great portobello mushroom sandwich.  We topped off our meal with a decadent, although cherryless, hot fudge sundae.

A great day out in Hollywood.

Great inspirational sign on trail!

Venice Beach Highlights

With its live performers, artists, stores selling everything from sunglasses to t-shirts to Egyptian artifacts to marijuana dispensaries, Venice Beach is like a carnival where you can spend an entire day.  For the athletic, you can rent skateboards, surfboards, bikes, roller skates and more. This post will help you hit the highlights of Venice Beach even if you only have 3 hours to spend.

Free parking is available on Venice Way a couple of blocks away from the beach. A block closer and lots charge $20 for day parking.

We ate lunch at Great White on 1604 Pacific Ave. across from the street sign over Windward Ave. that welcomes people to Venice. From the outside tables
you can watch people standing on the corner taking pictures under the sign, like a young woman modeling in a red dress as a couple of guys stood by and watched. The food is amazing. I had the coco salad with salmon that was superb. 

From here we strolled under the Venice sign on Windward Ave. to the beach and boardwalk passing a great mural of Venice in the 50's. Venice Beach is filled with amazing street art. Make sure to look down each side street and alley as well as on the upper stories of buildings as you never know what you will see.

Cutting across the boardwalk we passed through graffiti palm trees to watch skaters in the skate park just to the north of Windward Ave. Even though I skated a little in my youth, I never learned how to keep your skateboard on your feet when you were in midair like these skaters.

Then we crossed the broad sandy beach down to the blue-green ocean, kicked off our shoes and walked in the shallows of the cold water heading north.  We cut back across the sand to the boardwalk when we reached the northern end of shops and walked south.

Temporary street vendors, performers and artist line the western edge of the boardwalk while storefronts and restaurants line the eastern side. As mentioned, you can find almost anything for sale here, a wide variety of food, and lots of handmade street art.

Make sure to check out #1 Bordello Alexandria house on Westminster Ave. a half block east of the boardwalk. It is a two-story purple painted house covered with Greek and Roman statues, gargoyles, paintings and wrought iron grill work. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen. 

We had arrived at Great White at noon and we're in our car and headed home by 3:00 pm. It was an amazing three hours.

If you have an extra 20 minutes, head south of Windward 3 blocks and check 

out Muscle Beach as it is an iconic location if you want to see heavily muscled bodybuilders. 

Los Angeles Coffee Adventures November

Here are four interesting eastside coffee shops I visited in November, plus a place to visit when walking with your coffee. If you have any coffee house suggestions to visit in December please leave a comment below.

Most beautiful building exterior

Urth Caffe

451 S. Hewitt St.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

While there were a couple of people working on laptops here, the majority of people at the tables were eating full meals, giving the Urth Caffe more of a cafe feel than coffee shop. That being said, they are known for their organic coffees and teas and there was a line of people waiting to pick up drinks. The food is great, the building is gorgeous and it is in the center of L.A.'s burgeoning art district.

Most interesting coffee food combo

Art + Science Café

101 S Madison Ave.

Pasadena, CA 91101

Sushi and coffee, who would've thought. It works. The place was full of college students. The sushi menu is limited but the owners take their sushi seriously. You can only eat the sushi at the small counter and my server said I had to eat my sushi roll within 10 seconds before the seaweed got stuck to the warm rice. I ate it in about 30 seconds, I can only eat a roll so fast. I did notice a change in texture from the first bite and last bite. The iced caramel latte was very good.

Most industrious

Swork Coffee

2160 Colorado Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90041

I walked in not knowing what to expect as I was headed to another establishment that I did not know had closed the week before. There was only one person sitting outside and one person sitting at a table by the window, so I was surprised when I walked in to see 15 people working on laptops and drinking coffee all along the far wall. It appears to be popular with students and professionals. I had a Mexican Mayan Mocha. Along with coffee drinks, they also have healthy gym-influenced blended drinks.

Brand New

San Marino Cafe and Marketplace

2507 Mission St.

San Marino, CA 91108

Quaint little cafe in San Marino that advertises the best coffee in town on a blackboard out front. Unfortunately, I was unable to try the coffee as I was still recovering, but I had a delicious smoothie. People are always coming and going here, some sitting and working, and the owner is very friendly.

Take a walk

Lacy Park

1485 Virginia Rd.

San Marino, CA 91108

My first excursion after surgery. Beautiful large open park seemingly out of place in Los Angeles. Great for picnics or taking a walk with your coffee.  Free to visit during the week, but there is a fee for nonresidents to visit on the weekend.