Los Angeles– a city I’ve visited plenty of times– for work, for pleasure travel, and to see old friends. And it’s the place Moon grew up, so neither of us are exactly tourists in this big city.
That said, it was our first time there with a 19″ van– which raised the level of difficulty considerably, as parking in L.A. often involves extremely slim spaces or crammed parking lots. Parking was an adventure every time, as was parking to sleep at night– we ended up boondocking on residential streets for our ‘accommodation’ for the first few days, to save a buck.
The days turning cold in the rest of the country, the sunny, mid-60s and 70s temperatures felt like a luxury. Say what you want about Los Angeles, but you can’t argue with the weather in the winter months. But we weren’t just in L.A. to soak up the solar energy and revive our vitamin D intake– we had errands to do.
We needed to take care of a few things on our to-do list before easing over to Palm Springs for a sunny, warm holiday season. Unfortunately for Mac, that meant a routine vet visit that turned into an unforeseen surgery– more on THAT doozy in Mac’s post, which he is currently writing about his ordeal (spoiler alert: it was gnarly, but he’s fine now).
But before any of that, we had some hours to kick around the city, and Moon and I split up– she headed to see her old neighborhood and elementary school, and I headed for Griffith Park to get some urban hiking in.
The morning was clear of smog — which you might know is not terribly common, so I lucked out.
If you’re familiar with Griffith Park, then you know it’s home to the famed Griffith Observatory– but having done that particular hike before– and seeing the crush of people at the top of it last time, I elected to take a different route. This particular trail crested the top, and provided 360-degree views of the city and valley below.
Of course, Griffith Park is urban hiking defined– though the noise of cars was mercifully lost, some folks carried speakers playing music as they walked, and others talked loudly into phones– but where the trail branched to become steeper, I lost a lot of the extra folks, and the trail became more serene, and it was easier to find some peace.
Of course, the scenery is littered with graffiti and stickers at times, and the city infrastructure — water and utilities– clearly leave traces poking in and out of the mountains and cliffsides– but the overall effect is still spectacular: as urban parks go, you can do far worse than Griffith Park on a clear day.
When we arrived in Los Angeles, given our mutual familiarity with the city — Moon and I decided to divide and conquer for a most of the time we were visiting. Moon and I had been living within 19″ of each other for 3-4 months– and any couple living on the road full-time will tell you– the breaks from one another are few and far between.
Not to mention, having some individual interests that don’t overlap is always healthy in a relationship– but can be hard to practice when you only have one vehicle that also doubles as a living space. Enter: a familiar place where you can easily spend time apart.
I love seeing live theater– something Moon is not really fond of– so I booked myself a ticket to see Clyde’s, by Lynn Nottage. I’d seen Lynn’s other major work, “Sweat”– about a working-class group of friends in an industrial town on the brink of collapse due to the outsourcing of the 90s– for which she won a Pulitzer Prize.
Clyde’s was a much more comedic script, but the show took on just as many real-life, tough issues. The entirety of the action takes place in a sandwich shop run by Clyde, a Black woman who was released from prison, and hires people coming out of prison and trying to build a new life for themselves. While the plot synopsis could have revealed a saccharine, feel-good human-interest story — Clyde’s was anything but.
We come to find that Clyde does not hire previously-incarcerated people out of the goodness of her heart, but because she can pay them less, and work them harder, fully knowing their options for alternate employment options are bleak. She mistreats them, but the play isn’t about that per se– it’s about how the 3 characters who make up the kitchen staff come together to discover their true worth as they work side-by-side.
It was a funny, lovely play– and I was reminded that the acting talent in L.A. is not limited to movies, but is fantastic all around. The performances by the lead actors were astounding, and a reminder that live theater should be higher-up on the list of activities tourists see in Los Angeles.
Then, it was time for a trip to my favorite bubble tea– increasingly becoming my only bubble tea: Happy Lemon. For those who know me, you know my obsession with Happy Lemon is insatiable. It’s a chain, but one with few locations– so despite looking at their map often to see about locations near our travels, I’m usually going without it.
So when I’m in a town with one, I find. away to go. This one was in a district of Los Angeles I hadn’t been to before: the Gardena district. Home to lots of local Asian businesses, Gardena is actually home to the largest Japanese population center in California.
It’s silly little things that remind you of home– these end up meaning so much when you’re on the road. And I will admit– I teared up when we walked across the threshold of Happy Lemon.
After I got my Happy Lemon fix, I was glad it was near lunchtime. Gardena was full of strip malls with local businesses crammed into them, with every kind of noodle, rice, or curry dish you could imagine.
Moon and I ate dessert first: Upside Down Creme Brulee Cream Puffs.
A place called Sunmerry Bakery had created a creme puff with burnt sugar across the top, which made the “upside down” cream puff even tastier– more decadent (you could only eat one). Sunmerry was also full of other treats like savory buns.
Lastly, I picked up some curried noodles at Sweet Rice, and felt even more at-home– as the warm curry hit a special note for me, as I melted into the hot-on-hot combination of the warm day and the spice. Like one of the signs in the same strip mall said, food is really just “Emotional Cuisine.”
This visit to Los Angeles was a good reminder that even when you’ve been a place a dozen times or more, there’s still more to discover. Pick a neighborhood you’ve never been to on the map, and plenty of new experiences can make a city feel new again.
Posted by Sun
