When I first arrived in LA to go to design school at the age of 17, I was disappointed. I'd chosen LA because I wanted to move as far away from New York as I could, and I grew up watching Battle of the Network Stars - a show that was filmed at Pepperdine in Malibu. I was seduced by the beautiful people, who seemed to promise only success and happiness, set against the backdrop of sunshine, rolling hills and bright blue sea. But, that was not the LA I encountered.
Los Angeles was gritty, sprawling, and unkind. I thought that because I was from New York I could handle anything. But LA was rougher than I'd expected. The first month I was there, someone tried to mug me. The front door of my dorm was shot out. I had no car, and I had to take the bus seated next to gang members with teardrops tattooed on their faces, through neighborhoods unlike any I'd seen before. There was no center of town, and downtown felt like a remote outpost that everyone had left behind for the glittery hills (and boy, has that changed). It was as depressing as a place could be.
I moved around a lot over the ten years I was there, and eventually began to understand that each neighborhood was a city center unto itself with its own unique local character. What evolved was the realization that I was in a city filled with many destinations, and suddenly LA was fascinating. By the time I moved back to New York for a job, I was certain that I wasn't certain I was doing the right thing.
This weekend, I've convinced Dan to accompany me to LA. And I know that when I step off the plane, it will feel like home.
We're staying at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills - partly because I want to stay in a quiet, leafy residential neighborhood, but mostly because Kelly Wearstler did the interiors.
We only have the weekend, so I've researched, inquired, and foraged to create the best LA experience one can have when not familiar with the city (as Dan is not). More to come.
Photo of the Avalon hotel from Dynamist on Flickr, who took some wonderful pics of the property.
Dan and I are just back from a weekend in San Francisco. We stayed at the Laurel Inn, a renovated motel in Pacific Heights with a groovy neighborhood cocktail lounge called Swank; had soju ramoz fizzes and chicken hash for breakfast two days in a row at Ella's (across the street); walked 9 miles to golden gate park, the beach, and back; had a late night dinner at Firefly in Noe Valley, and a quiet Sunday dinner at Garibaldi's, which was an unexpected surprise.
Itinerary highly recommended.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=043b76e4-194b-4343-8a1c-bb13ecfcb832)
This photo is from a very cool book I just discovered (via tumblangeles) - empty L.A., a photography book about one of my favorite cities. It's a bit eerie. Some people have commented that the images show us just how ugly Los Angeles is, but I don't feel that way. I see pieces of a city that I once lived in, quieted and vulnerable.
The photographer, Matt Logue, works in the film effects industry. Kind of explains his eye.
My birthday last week slipped by without much fanfare, which is totally fine with me; except that it’s always a good reason to take a trip. I’d planned on traveling to LA, but the trip was cancelled. Now, I'm most likely not traveling until December. Try not to get too depressed.
So what to give myself for my birthday (because, you know, this only happens once a year)? The $395 perfume or $348 bag? Each one is worth the price of a plane ticket, so I figure, it’s almost the same as if I’d hopped into seat 6A on Continental from EWR - LAX last Friday.
Almost.
More from our vacation...
Some quick tasting notes:
1. Decant complex reds. Seriously, I didn't think decanters were anything more than lovely glass pitchers for wine. Until our laid back, but keenly knowledgeable pourer at Ridge taught us the difference. He poured us a tasting of wine that had been open for a day and decanted, or aerated; and wine that had just been opened. Turns out, there is a huge difference in taste. So much so that I now think seriously about drinking a red that has just been opened (for me that is serious thought). Complex reds: Zinfandels, Cabernets, Petite Sirahs, Syrahs, and any other reds that are heavier blends.
2. The glass does make a difference. Again, I doubted this to be true, figuring it was just some marketing ploy by Reidel. Our pourer gave us a red in two different glasses and asked us to smell, then taste. The difference in smell was so pronounced between the two glasses, I didn't even have to taste the wine to know that it would be better in the proper glass (in this case, it was a Cabernet in a glass with a larger bowl vs a glass with a smaller, narrower bowl).
And Ridge wines? All fantastic, and you can get most of them anywhere in the country. The tasting room is located in Dry Creek Valley, a gorgeous drive from the crowds of St Helena. Highly recommended.
The aroma of fresh coffee woke me sometime around 8:30 on Sunday morning. It had been placed outside our door on a tray, fully serviced with the proper accoutrements. The temptation to sleep in was strong, but I'd read so much about the fantastic breakfasts prepared by Phillip that we forced ourselves awake, and joined the other guests in the dining room. Cranberry corn muffins and eggs benedict with an orange hollandaise sauce were on the menu that morning.
There were eight of us at the table. A mother and daughter from the South, and two couples. I was eager to ask everyone for wine tasting recommendations, but no one wanted to get a conversation going. A B&B risk I'd forgotten about - awkward silence at the communal table.
Peter, who'd served breakfast that morning, had suggested several places; and so we began in Sonoma at Ledson. It is family -run winery housed in a 16,000 square foot faux-French Normandy "castle" with a gorgeous view, although compared to rustic Charbay, it felt like a wedding hall. Nonetheless, it was lovely and the wines were outstanding. Of note, the 2004 Reserve Redwood Valley Old Vine Zinfandel and an exquisite Reserve Pinot Noir that I couldn't buy, because it was a Future release. I seriously thought about joining their wine club so I could purchase it, and am still thinking about it. Ledson wines are only available for purchase at the winery, a very select group of wine shops and restaurants, or via the online store.
From there we stopped in at Kunde, which was forgettable; then Mayo Family Winery in Glen Ellen. We had to try the "Adventure Tasting", of course, which featured 12 wines. I have since decided that 12 wines in one tasting is too many to process. Thankfully I had my notebook, and jotted down things like " '05 Page/Nord Syrah, lucious plum, delectable, tastes like dessert", and "the Sangiovese... walking through the vineyard on a late summer afternoon"... my notes became more colorful with each glass.
The 2002 Syrah we tasted at Merryvale was glass number 25. I love Merryvale reds, particularly the Cabs, so it's always a stop for me when I am in Napa. It was the end of the day, and our server had lost track of which tasting we had ordered (we'd kind of lost track as well), so we ended up tasting 6 wines in total, including the pricey "Profile" flight and a fantastic Cabernet 2004 Reserve.
The only wine we purchased that day, oddly enough, was the Libertine from Mayo. My notes about LIbertine read: "Libertine, an easy evening wine". Not so much, it turns out. The wine is indeed true to it's name - and probably the reason we ended up outside in the hot tub, in the middle of the vineyards, at midnight.
