Yep, it’s true. I traveled to all of LA in just 5 days. That’s got to be some kind of accomplishment, right?
Anyway, California is an absolute dream.
Whatever comes to mind when you think of California is most likely true: beautiful beaches, palm trees, perfect weather, endless outdoor activities, pretty people, and what seems to be a carefree way of life. It was a totallyyyyy different vibe from NYC, but I still prefer the gritty big apple, sorry la la land.
This was a super quick, unplanned trip and I didn’t have a minute to breathe, like I barely saw Pat and he came with me. But I’m not complaining! I’m super grateful I went, it was amazing, and I’m moving there tomorrow… JK.
The key to traveling to all of LA in 5 days is to keep moving. There is SO much to see and do, it’s almost overwhelming so I felt like a fish out of water and wanted to squeeze in as much as possible.
My full LA itinerary
MONDAY
9am-3pm: Fresh off the airplane and we headed right for the beach, Manhattan Beach as it turns out, which is only about 15 minutes from LAX.
So naturally we changed into our bathing suits on the side of the road and ran, well Pat ran and I walked to Vista Del Mar beach on Rosecrans Ave. There was no rhyme or reason why we picked that particular beach other than there was a taco place right on the corner (see “Where We Ate in LA”) and the waves looked decent… apparently.
3pm-4pm: Since I went to LA for work, I wanted to be close to where the majority of the events were which was West Hollywood or WeHo as the locals call it so we stayed at the Montrose, which to be completely honest was underwhelming and overpriced. The elevator was broken, there weren’t any towels by the pool, breakfast was not included, parking was not included, and the rooms were TINY. This may not sound like a huge deal for some but for $280 + an “amenity fee” + “overnight parking” totaling $375 for ONE night… it was a pretty big deal to me. Needless to say, I won’t be eating for the next month, (kidding, but you know what I mean).
4pm-6pm: When you look up in WeHo all you see are insane hills with insane mansions perched on top. So the Peeping Tom and real estate connoisseur that I am, I made Pat drive us around The Bird Streets to stalk houses and we ended up at the Doheny Estates, which at one point had a house listed by Josh Altman from Million Dollar Listing #nbd.
The houses in LA are sick, SICK and something every California traveler should experience.
7pm-9pm: Pat then drove me to an event with Revolve (blog post on that coming soon) in the Hollywood Hills. The. Hollywood. Hills. I was at the CEO of Revolve’s house in the Hollywood Hills and had to play it cool. While the other girls were taking pictures of their outfits I was taking pictures of the kitchen, literally. The center island was a dream.
TUESDAY
8am-10am: We got up and randomly started walking, first in search of breakfast, (see “Where We Ate in LA”), then we just wanted to explore every nook and cranny of WeHo. And I have to say there are some really cute, Instaworthy places to take pictures in, because of course that’s all I was concerned with. I love how the neighborhoods have a suburban-city feel, it reminds me of the West Village or one of the quieter neighborhoods in NYC.
11:30am-1:30pm: I had an event to attend at Palihouse in West Hollywood, which I might add is one of the chicest hotels I’ve ever seen, definitely a blogger’s dream.
2pm-3pm: We switched from the Montrose to an Airbnb (see pic below) still in the center of WeHo and literally steps away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame – perfect location for touring the city. (The Airbnb is no longer available otherwise I’d link it!)
4pm-7pm: We went to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I mainly went to walk around and take pictures (naturally) but if you have a few thousand dollars to spare you can have yourself a fun little shopping spree as most of the stores are high-end luxury like Chanel, YSL, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. Even if you aren’t a high roller, you should still see Rodeo Drive and experience a Pretty Woman moment.
Now, onto Beverly Hills itself. Oh. My. God. There are no words. Beverly Hills is one of my favorite places in California, (I’ve been there before BTW). The houses, the fashion, the cars… it is bad and boujee to say the least. You can imagine we did some major house stalking there too. We didn’t have that much time (seems to be the theme of the entire trip) so we just randomly drove around and ended up on Angelo Dr and Brooklawn Dr. There we passed by the Warner Estate, as in Warner Brothers, which is now owned by billionaire David Geffen of Geffen Records.
There is BIG money in Beverly Hills and the majority of homes are owned by celebrities, people in entertainment, real estate, plastic surgery, venture capital, etc. I honestly couldn’t get any good pictures because the houses were too huge to fit in one picture and most were blocked by trees/shrubbery.
7pm-9pm: We utilized the pool (and towels) that I had to have and celebrated not spending $375 a night by going to dinner and froyo (see “Where We Ate in LA”) on Santa Monica Blvd in WeHo. I’m not sure if there was something going on but the bars were POPPIN’, like, there was mechanical bull riding in outside on a Tuesday night. So if you’re into that sort of thing, check out Santa Monica Blvd for wild nightlife.
WEDNESDAY
8am-9:30am: Pat and I decided to be tourists and check out the Hollywood Stars and Chinese Theater which took about an hour and a half. We walked the entire duration of the stars and even had time to stop and take pictures. TBH it’s not a very pretty area so I don’t recommend spending a lot of time there. It’s the equivalent of Times Square in NYC with people trying to sell you every piece of memorabilia possible, homeless people, pee, litter, and half drunken bottles of alcohol. You can get through the whole thing in about an hour or so.
11am-12pm: Revolve arranged a private yoga class for us at Playlist Yoga which, like, if you didn’t take a yoga class in California did you even go to California?
Everyone always talks about the yoga in “Cali” and it’s for sure a stereotype so I had to see for myself and it was GOOD. It was just what I needed in the middle of a crazy busy week. My instructor was Ashley Shubert and boy was she a gem. I’ve taken countless yoga classes and most are disappointing to say the least because you can just feel the instructor’s soul isn’t in it and he/she is doing it for the wrong reasons (aka it’s “trendy”) but that was not the case with Ashley. She’s just a good human with good energy and I’m bummed I didn’t get to personally thank her so thank you Ashley for a great class!
1pm-3pm: For whatever reason I felt hiking the Hollywood sign after a workout class would be a good idea. I mean, I was in cute workout gear so couldn’t let that go to waste, ya know?!
Anyway, we drove to the sign completely on a whim and really had no clue what we were doing (a theme throughout this whole trip) but it worked out. From the Griffith Observatory it’s about a 3-mile hike to the Hollywood sign and I didn’t have that much time so we made it about half way and turned around. I do highly recommend going to the Griffith Observatory though during the day and night, it is a sight to see and is a pretty quick tourist attraction (you’d only need 30-minutes, tops).
5pm-10pm: Go to the Santa Monica Pier. Period. I’m so glad I was pushed outside of my comfort zone to go to these different events and parts of the city. Otherwise I probably would have played it safe and stayed in West Hollywood.
Santa Monica is the perfect combination of city, beach, and suburb. It’s classy with business professionals and super chic restaurants but it also has a boho vibe because you’re so close to the beach. And the pier, well, you’ll get all your Instaworthy shots there, serving up all the #carnivalvibes imaginable!
THURSDAY
8am-9am: Pat and I worked out in the gym at our Airbnb which was so convenient. Travel tip: always get a hotel or Airbnb with a gym so you can fight jet lag and have somewhat of a normal routine.
11am-2pm: I had another work event during this time back in Santa Monica which is only about 15-30 minutes from WeHo depending on traffic. We had a brunch at Elephante which was so stunning I can’t begin to describe it. The food was good, the drinks were better, and the atmosphere was the best. The entire restaurant was an indoor outdoor eating area with views straight to the ocean. It was spectacular.
2pm-4pm: After brunch we decided to explore Santa Monica a bit more so we hopped on some Birds and cruised around. A Bird is an electric scooter you unlock with an app and tour different cities in LA. They are literally everywhere in Santa Monica and Venice Beach and super convenient if you’re limited on time. We didn’t see any in Downtown LA, WeHo, or Beverly Hills.
FRIDAY
10am-3pm: The last time I was in California one of my favorite places was Venice Beach so I wanted to spend a decent amount of time there again because the “walk” (similar to a boardwalk but cement lined with local artists and stores) is incredible and requires at least 3 hours between walking it, stopping, taking pictures, shopping, etc. Like Hollywood, there are a lot homeless people but they leave you alone for the most part. Everyone is very laid back and chill and just trying to sell their art, which if I had more room in my suitcase I would have bought a ton of.
There’s also a skatepark and fascinating art sculptures on the beach that you’ll want to check out too. We stayed at the skatepark for like an hour staring in awe of their tricks and fluidity – they make it look so easy!
5-7pm: Later in the day I had an event with Revolve which took me to Melrose Ave. Melrose is probably the equivalent of West Broadway in SoHo with shopping galore and great photo opps. In fact there are 3 iconic places for photos, neither of which I saw: the LA angel wings, pink wall, and Made in LA. Regardless, it was still super cool to walk around and hang inside the Revolve Social Club, which I believe is appointment only.
SATURDAY
All damn day: We went to Huntington Beach for the entire day because, it was the least I could do for my beach loving boyfriend since I dragged him around LA the whole week. Pat mainly surfed (apparently the surfing is at Huntington Pier is incredible) and I mainly bronzed. I have to say later in the day it got crowded and seemed pretty tourist-y.
After Pat’s “surf sesh” we walked down the pier, which was amazing, and down Main St. The town is super cute but pretty slow and surfer-ish so if you want to kind of just chill and wing it, this is definitely the place. My favorite part of the day was when we found The Funnel House. This place may be my new favorite dessert spot ever, like I might have to order from them for my wedding, it’s that good! Pat and I split the Churro Sundae with churro ice cream and Churro Dunker with sweet milk sauce. OMG. That place in itself is reason enough to visit Huntington.
Where we ate in LA
El Tarasco – Definitely not my favorite Mexican restaurant but it was pretty authentic and you got a lot of bang for your buck. It’s also super convenient when your boyfriend drags you to go spontaneous surfing at Manhattan Beach. I got the Pollock Fish Tacos with rice and beans.
Elephante – The atmosphere in itself is reason enough to go but the cherry on top is that the food is great. The pizza in particular is insane.
Gravite – This was probably the healthiest of all the restaurants we went to. Everything was locally sourced, fresh, and delicious and the atmosphere was vintage and chic. We got the veggie omelet and the protein pancakes and the pancakes were absolutely incredible.
Prova – The pizza was great, the best we had while we were in LA. We ordered the classic Margherita D.O.P. which was just enough for 2 people. I have to say though, the service wasn’t the best. There was one waitress and only 3 tables and yet she was still super slow so do not go there for a quick bite.
Taste – This place got great reviews online, hence the reason we went. The atmosphere was 5/5, food was 4/5, drinks were about 3/5, and the service was probably 2/5 and here’s why…
For one our waitress was super slow and forgot half the things we asked for. Next, I’m not a big drinker, like at all. I’ll have one drink twice a month, if that, so since we were away from home I figured, why not? So I ordered the strawberry lemonade, which was a virgin drink, but I told the waitress to add vodka. After about 1/3 of the way into the drink, I don’t taste any vodka. I didn’t smell anything, I didn’t taste anything, and I certainly didn’t feel anything and I should have because a. I’m a lightweight and b. I was drinking on an empty stomach. So I told the waitress my concerns and she actually said to me “Well it’s probably because you ordered the house vodka and you’ve already been drinking it so I have to charge you for it”. I’m sorry what? Who the f*%k says that to a customer?!
I was shocked to say the least, so for that reason, I will not be going back, which is a shame because the food was pretty amazing. We got the white truffle oil and mushroom mac and cheese and apple and caramelized onion pizzeta to start and the wild mushroom risotto as the main dish.
Wahoo’s – I would describe this place as an affordable and easy eat. It’s pretty well known in the surf community in California. I went there before in San Diego years ago and neither time was disappointing. I got the citrus slaw taco and the Alaskan flounder fish taco which was crazy good. The service was fast and the atmosphere was super casual and cool.
Pizza Press – We ate here on our last night in LA for something quick and easy, which it was. The atmosphere isn’t outstanding but how outstanding can the atmosphere of a pizza place be? It kind of looks like something you’d find in a mall but the food was good! In theory Pizza Press is great because you can build your own pizza which creates a unique experience but for someone who is super indecisive, like myself, it didn’t work out so well and I ended up with a mediocre pizza. The staff though, was incredibly friendly and sweet. They all seem to love their jobs which made the experience even better.
Yogurt Stop – Since I’ve been eating “healthy” for the last 7 or so years I’ve gone from ice cream to froyo and quite frankly have tried every frozen yogurt shop up and down the east coast and I have to say that Yogurt Stop is by far my favorite. They had homemade cake and brownies as toppings! Freshly made confetti cake and brownies as a topping… I couldn’t believe it. That is thinking outside the box.
What I wanted to do in LA
See the pink wall – I mean, it’s legendary.
Eat at the Gratitude Cafe – Everyone else is doing it!
Go on a celebrity house tour – No one else is doing it but if they are they’re certainly not admitting it. I can’t help I’m a fangirl through and through.
I’m sure there are a ton of other things to do/that I should have done that I don’t even know about and I’m kind of glad because I rather relish in what I did do, than what I missed out on. It’s a much better way to live.
Have you ever been to LA? I’d love to hear all about it below!
xx
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