Vacations Blog

Since hardly anybody gets the paper anymore (and obviously the LA Times is feelin’ it, because it’s laying off many of the humans who work there and, like, write stuff) I feel an obligation to tell you about a wonderful feature that the Times ran last Sunday.  Hopefully they won’t be getting rid of Christopher Reynolds anytime soon, considering that he is a one-man travel section for the paper.

In one issue alone, Reynolds provided the following:

-a travelogue of his road trip along the California coast, south end to north end.

-a list and review of hotels along the coast that offer good deals.

-a guide to the restaurants he visited.

And his picks for the top five coastal CA campgrounds, which includes my favorite, Leo Carillo beach.  And I know my SoCal beaches (see photos below).

I feel this need to tell you about it because I, unlike many other travelers, still actually read the physical newspaper.  While I get fantastic travel ideas from Uptake, nothing grabs my attention like a well-written travelogue that smells of newsprint that I can enjoy while I’m drinking my lazy Sunday morning coffee.  That is, until my toddler comes along to shred it out of my hands.

Oh, they still have other writers on staff, who provided more gems in this very same issue, including this item about luxury hotel renovations, a gold mine of info about California’s national parks , monuments, and historical sites.  If you do read the newspaper and you fear the day it starts arriving as one long sheaf of advertising and no information whatsoever, Uptake will be here to make you feel better.  Might as well start using us more regularly now (and subscribe, even!) to soften the blow.

If only Uptake smelled like newsprint.  But maybe they’ll come up with smell-o-vision for computers.

All photos by Kim Tracy Prince

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

I was at the mall this past weekend (picking up underwear, totally not a luxury item) and was noticing how crowded it was.  What were all these people doing here, spending all of their hard earned cash? Didn’t they realize we were in a recession, heading towards what some experts believe could be a full-blown depression? Shouldn’t they be throwing money towards their mortgage instead of at a new purse at Macy’s?

And then I realized that many of these people were not actually carrying bags of purchases.  A lot of them were families, strolling through the mall eating ice cream, or gaggles of teenagers walking and texting at the same time. Because shopping centers aren’t just about the shopping anymore – they’ve become destinations for recreation, socializing and dining.  Here are some of my favorite ‘shopping centers’ in L.A. that are not only good for the occasional impulse buy, but also for a family outing.

The Americana at Brand – this is one of the newest malls in the L.A. area, and for those that can’t bear to be too far away from their Juicy Couture, there are luxury apartments right on the premises.   The L.A. Times summed it up nicely when it described it as “luxurious living and consumptive indulgence.” It’s a great place to walk around, and an old-fashioned double-decker trolley takes you for a tour around the entire grounds.  They have mostly upscale boutiques here – Ed Hardy, Kate Spade and Kitson, with H&M thrown in for the bargain hunters. We did more snacking and people-watching the last time we were there; the $145 t-shirt that my daughter wanted was not in the budget for that week.

The Grove – This is one of my favorite places to shop and hang out, but mostly for the old Farmer’s Market that is located just west of the newly developed shopping plaza.  I prefer wandering around the stalls of produce to plunking down a week’s worth of pay for a pair of socks at Nordstroms, but that’s just me. Also, you’d be better off grabbing a meal at one of the many outdoor eateries in the old Farmer’s Market – better, more original food than what you’ll find at The Grove, where the Cheesecake Factory is the most popular choice.  (Call me crazy, but I’ve never quite grasped the appeal of the Cheesecake Factory – overpriced, gut-busting, gazillion-calorie portions of mediocre food.) But head on over to The Grove for their Vegas-style water show that takes place in the central fountain every 30-minutes.  The kids love it, and you might just catch a sale at the Crate and Barrel located nearby.

The Beverly Center – This is truly an L.A. shopping experience, not just because of the multiple levels of stores, but you’re guaranteed to see a celebrity or two.  I once stood in line behind Brooke Shields buying pantyhose at Bloomingdales, and a friend once (literally) bumped into Nicolas Cage.

Third Street Promenade – Not really a shopping center as much as a shopping corridor, the Promenade is one of the most popular places to shop, eat and relax in an outdoor setting.  Just blocks away from the beaches of Santa Monica, it’s a great place to just grab a coffee and a seat and enjoy the various amateur performers that are a popular draw.  The Good: Seis Cuerdas.  The Not So Good:  The guy doing a really bad Michael Jackson impersonation to a horribly scratched recording of ‘Billie Jean.’

Photo: Stock.Xchng