48 Hours in LA

an itinerary for visitors, and thoughts on itineraries

Dear Reader,

The condition of “having visitors” to one’s city and home marries ambassadorship with hostessing, transforming oneself into a food critic, tour guide, local historian, transportation officer, and weatherman. In the weeks before you’ll find yourself telling friends that you’re “having visitors” soon and implore them for potential ideas with a tinge of desperation. “We’ve done that already,” “tickets are sold out,” “it’s too hot for a picnic,” etc. etc. It’s also a great challenge if you enjoy making itineraries within certain parameters, whether it’s personal interests, budgets, or time constraints. In that way, “having visitors” has the same appeal as planning a dinner party to suit different dietary needs while maintaining seasonality and cohesion.

I like having visitors in LA because it is a place that I never really visited myself until I was considering moving here. My mom tells me that our family visited to do Hollywood tourist things when I was too small to remember, and my other memories are limited to a quick visit to The Getty after visiting my cousin Melissa in San Diego and several UCLA Model UN conferences in high school. I did not hold much of an impression of LA other than enjoying van Gogh’s Irises and Diddy Riese ice cream sandwiches. This is not to say that all of my visitor visits have been perfect; when my friend Chuck visited last September my junky ex-car couldn’t handle the perilous Getty Villa hill (we were okay, but it was a near miss), and I recall my parents visiting in January and spending a good half day helping me move my very unwieldy bed frame up my very steep stairs.

I’m particularly proud of this latest parent visit because it was jam-packed and delightful in just ~48 hours (without any furniture hauling or other difficulties). Past visit highlights have been the Labor Day weekend where my mom and I went to Ojai and the Tar Pits and Canter’s for a pastrami rueben sandwich and Shakespeare in the Park, and a single day where I took my parents to the Rose Bowl flea, Roma Market for The Sandwich, the Huntington, Griffith Observatory for sunset, and Jitlada for dinner. That’s not to mention waterfall hikes, art museums, islands, ghost towns, outdoor movies, reservoir walks, stairway walks, and all of the excellent things to do that I don’t even know of yet. It’s a great city (except for the earthquakes).

Without further ado, the itinerary:

Friday night

• I pick my parents up from the Burbank airport (the only airport to fly into in LA, it’s imperative to avoid LAX at all costs unless it’s international) in the afternoon.

• After relaxing at home and watching the Olympics for a bit, Sebastian arrives and we head out to do the activity that was the impetus of the trip: Friday Night Wine Tastings at Barnsdall Art Park with a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House. Barnsdall is my favorite park to watch the sunset with friends, and it was fantastic to finally step inside the Hollyhock House. Like many Wright designs, it’s a sculpture you can step inside with some delightful impracticalities — the fireplace is set up to have a water feature in front of it, the use of which was quickly discontinued.

• The scene at the wine tasting is peak LA, and the sunset is gorgeous. If you do go to one of the remaining three wine tastings of the summer, I’d recommend coming earlier to set up a blanket because real estate was extremely limited. Tickets are $47 for just the wine tasting and extra for the tour which I think was worth it; the pours were heavy and they gave you a cute commemorative glass to keep, but if you live in LA I’d schedule a tour of the Hollyhock House for a separate time.

• Wine-silly thanks to Silverlake Wines (which may have been the first time my dad had natural wine, he was bemused by the debris) we were starving. Instead of enjoying the Triple Beam food truck at the event (we were getting pizza Saturday, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to resist Nancy Silverman’s greatness), we opted to head to nearby Thai Town for dinner. Seb recommended a place I’d never been to — Ruen Pair — and it was the platonic ideal of late night thai food. Our Pad See Ew, Tom Kha, and crab fried rice arrived quickly despite the bustling restaurant we’re absolutely delicious. I’ll be back soon.

Note: my dad left his glasses in his car, so he had to wear his prescription safety goggles the whole trip…they have a certain je ne sais quo, non?

Saturday

• Just a little groggy from all that natural wine, my parents and I head out to Malibu’s Point Dume for an early morning beach trip. I have quite a few beaches on my roster and like to mix it up, but Malibu is great for visitors because you take a scenic drive through the canyons to get there. I have a firm early morning beach policy and felt affirmed as we were leaving just past noon, sunburn-free, and passed a monstrous line of cars fighting over scant parking.

They fit in at Malibu. Also, this was the maiden voyage of the two Helinox Chair Ones I got on super sale, and they are exactly what I was looking for — a super light, low chair that works for camping and the beach.

• We head down Highway 1 to the Reel Inn for lunch and all opted for the catch of the day — Cajun style swordfish. I paired mine with fries and salad, my parents with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. We also had a half dozen of local oysters that were alleged to have notes of cucumber. I loved it, as always.

• We had some time to kill before our evening activities commenced so I opted to take them up through Topanga Canyon. Topanga is a fascinating mix of rich bohemians and kooky, slightly mean hippies. Lots of RFK signs and beautiful handcrafted bowls. We peaked into a couple of shops and got soft serve cones and concert provisions from Topanga Gourmet.

• Briefly back home for rest, showers, and more Olympics we were again joined by Sebastian who drove us to his secret parking location for the HollyWood Bowl - The Dolby Theater. It’s a bit further away but much easier to get in/out of, and a nighttime walk in the evening is always a bonus.

• We went for an intrepid walk through the Walk of Fame area of Hollywood, a spot that I never go to but is indeed fun every now and then. Too many of those hate preachers this time around, though. Nearby and on a sort of run down street is the blink and you’ll miss it entrance to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Seb and I went to this pizza place and the Hollywood Bowl on our first date, and I’ve been dying to revisit the pie we had there, the Margherita Sbagliata Pizza, a simple margherita with the twist of smoked provolone cheese. We also had zucchini blossoms, meatballs, and a beet salad, and my dad was impressed that the bill was under 100 for four people and delicious food. A win!

• Afterwards we walked up the hill to the Hollywood Bowl to see Khruangbin (joined by the Youth Orchestra of LA!) and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The Bowl is so good in so many ways, but I especially love that you can bring your own wine and food. Sebastian made the particularly clutch choice of bringing frozen Trader Joe’s lemon bars, and bartered with people sitting next to us to get some ice to chill our white wine. The music and visual effects paired together to give the concert a trance-like effect, great vibes. I highly recommend the Khruangbin Tiny Desk for chilling at home:

Sunday

• After a busy day and late night, we slept in on Sunday. I wanted to give my parents a glimpse of a typical Sunday so I took them to Atwater Village to get the best breakfast burritos at Tacos Villa Corona, check out my favorite bookstore Alias East, and get some stone fruits and berries for the week at the farmers market.

• Finally, we made our way to Autry Museum of the American West. I’ve visited here before and would highly recommend — it gives a well-rounded portrait of the past and present of the American West and has lots of tricked out revolvers and western wear to ogle. I especially enjoyed the Imagined Wests exhibit, which looks at the idea of the West in popular culture. My parents spent several years working as teachers on the Apache and Navajo reservations in North Eastern Arizona and have a depth of knowledge of the West, both real and imagined, so this was especially fun.

• It felt fitting to take them to an Armenian restaurant, so we went to a new-to-me place that I would definitely revisit — Elena's Greek Armenian Restaurant — for urfa and lamb kebab and salads paired with especially good hummus, moutabel, tabbouleh, muhammara, and labneh.

• I did end up taking them on one practical errand after all. Their flight was delayed so I took the extra time to bring them along with me for a car wash. I played Plantasia in an homage to High Maintenance and then it was back to the Burbank airport (as always).

There you go, an itinerary for a very busy, very fun 48 hours in LA. This one has a lot of things I consider crucial to a good visit to LA - a balance of cultural events and the outdoors, and better yet, cultural events outdoors! Plus, a lot of fantastic meals that felt genuinely special and didn’t break the bank. I love having visitors, and being a tourist in my own city and would love to hear your thoughts on what makes a great itinerary for visitors. Going forward I would like to use this blog to record more thoughts on doing things, and less of a space to share personal things, but I’ll leave you with this: It’s been about a year since I went through a really rough patch, and it’s a relief to feel stable, loved, and hopeful again. I’m glad to be here, really.

Love you, love LA,

Maggie