Vacations Blog

What’s the first thing you think of when you imagine a vacation in Los Angeles?  Disneyland.  Okay, yeah, that’s been covered here already, so what’s the second thing?  The beach, of course!  If you live in Wisconsin and you’re planning to visit Southern California, you’re not coming here for the art museums.

Santa Monica on Veterans' Day

The obvious beach destinations are the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach, both places that are good for classic photo opportunities.  But if you’re the kind of beach lover who wants to see more beach than people, head north.  Once you pass Sunset Boulevard you leave the tourist traps behind in favor of some of the most beautiful beach spots in the area.  If you have the time and enjoy a beautiful drive, keep going even farther than the vast stretches of Zuma Beach, itself a great destination for a quick two-hour out-of-town getaway.

Family fun at Zuma Beach

The steep terrain that drops off away from Pacific Coast Highway makes some of these beaches a little bit more difficult to access, but that’s what keeps the crowds away, and almost guarantees that you will have a pristine view once you get down there.  Nicholas Canyon and El Matador are two beautiful less populated spots.  Look closely for the brown signs directing you to the turnoffs – they’re easy to miss.  Parking here is paid for at a machine, then you display your ticket in your window.  Solidly constructed staircases get you down to the sand, but there are a LOT of stairs, so make sure you pack lightly.

El Matador

Just up the coast, Leo Carillo State Beach has a campground to the east of the highway, and plenty of parking along the sand if you take the turnoff to the west.  There’s also a stretch of beach there that allows dogs.  Not just for sunbathing, you can watch surfers, windsurfers, and parasailors, or poke around in the tidepools at low tide.  Parking is $10 a day, so make sure you’ll be there long enough to make your visit worth the cost.

The last chance beach in Los Angeles county is called County Line.  No longer the true line that ends the county, this is a local surfing spot famous for its dual breaks, perfect for long- and shortboarders alike.   You’ll know you’re there when you see the turnoff for parking on the west side of the highway, right across from from Neptune’s Net, an old-school beach shack that attracts local color as well as beach visitors for bottled drinks, grilled meats, and steamed seafood.  (Warning – there are only portable toilets at this beach and restaurant, so leave your daintiness back at Leo Carillo’s flush toilets.)  It’s a perfect destination for your drive – sit on the porch and have a snack and drink while you watch the surfers, then head back south to that turnoff that you missed on the way up.

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

It’s time for another Thursday Thirteen! I was driving around the other day, thinking about how much I love this city. Of course, that was before that lousy driver cut me off on the 405 Freeway and totally harshed my mellow, but that’s a blog post for another day. For now, here a few of my favorite things:

1. Pink’s Hot Dogs – To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what makes Pink’s Hot Dogs so popular, but for some reason I just feel better knowing it’s there.

2. Guy who sells maps to the stars’ homes on Sunset Blvd. near Doheny – I’ve never actually bought one of these maps, but it’s nice to know that if I ever act on my urge to start stalking Will Smith, there’s somebody who can tell me how to find him.

3. Giant Chair Statue at Pacific Design Center – I love this humongous 30-foot chair, not only for its aesthetics but because we have a running joke: whenever I drive by it with my husband and kids, we always talk about how we’re going to somehow hoist the 10-year old up there and take a picture of her perched on its edge. It’s going to happen, I promise.

4. La Brea Tar Pits – Besides being a great place to take my kids, this place reminds me of my childhood. Also, I have friends who live in the area and have stories of (prehistoric!) tar bubbling up through cracks in their street, which is way more exciting than anything that ever happens on the block where I live.

5. Grauman’s Chinese Theater – Totally overrun with tourists, but where else can you get a close-up look at celebrities’ handprints? Nah, sneaking a look at Shia LeBeouf’s fingerprints at the LAPD isn’t the same.

6. Capitol Records Building – Because it was designed to look like a stack of records! Also, because they’re one of the first buildings every year to put up their Christmas tree made out of lights.

7. Book Soup – Absolutely the coolest book store in the city. Although it makes me sad to go there now, because the legendary Tower Records across the street on Sunset is no longer there.

8. Hollywood and Vine – This famous intersection provides some of the best people-watching in the city. Stopping at that traffic light for thirty seconds always makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a David Lynch movie.

9. Angelyne – I don’t really like Angelyne but she’s my favorite in more of a ‘fascinatingly hideous’ sort of way. Talk to ten different people, and you’ll get ten different Angelyne stories. I once saw her buying clothes at the drug store. She bought some pants, hopped into her pink Corvette and drove away.

10. Watt’s Towers –I urge everyone to get over your fear of driving into this area, and check out these amazing works of art, at least once. Personally, I think your life may be in more danger while trying to shop at Costco during the Christmas rush.

11. Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine – I know it sounds all new age-y and touchy-feely, but you should really check this place out. And don’t worry – you don’t have to have a religious bone in your body to appreciate it. A couple of walks around the serene path that winds around the lake and you’ll feel like a new person. If not, at least make yourself useful by feeding the ducks.

12. First Street, Little Tokyo – There’s nowhere else in the city that can say it’s home to my favorite spa, my favorite restaurant and my favorite coffee shop. I’d tell you about all these secret places, but then I’d have to kill you.

13. The Beverly Center – Yeah, it’s just a mall to most people, but it takes me back to my Sex And The City days, when I’d spend hours trolling the stores just to find a perfect dress to wear on a dinner date. Who has that kind of time anymore?

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

If you haven’t already, chances are you’ll soon be receiving one of those tax rebate checks from the government, intended to “stimulate our economy.” I think that’s just fancy talk for “buy lots of stuff” and I plan to do just that. Not sure how to spend yours? If you’re coming to L.A., there are many ways, depending on who you talk to…

If you’re my husband, the first stop would be Amoeba Records in Hollywood. I’m not sure what happens, but immediately after walking through the doors of this cavernous record store he gets a glazed look in his eyes and then disappears for hours, lost in the aisles of vintage vinyl and import cds. I’m betting if he had a supply of water and granola bars in his pocket he could stay in there for weeks at a time.

His next stop would be Guitar Center on Sunset. Even though it’s a chain, apparently the only true Guitar Center experience can be found in its flagship store in Hollywood. I have to agree, since from what I’ve seen the metal rockers there really do have the biggest hair.

My tween daughters would have a totally different plan for their windfall. (This of course, would be a fantasy sequence, where children actually had a say in how their parents’ tax rebate checks were spent.) They’d grab their Hello Kitty purses and head straight to Sugoi Life in Northridge, a mecca for anyone who loves manga and anything Japanese. They’d buy a few Pokémon figures, indulge in some Pocky Sticks (thin wafer sticks dipped in chocolate) and buy at least one plushy from their favorite movie, Totoro.

Then they’d talk me into driving across town to Menchies, where they would get the large, not the small, size of frozen yogurt. It’s a serve yourself place, where you dispense any one of their eight flavors of yogurt (they change daily) and then pile on your toppings, everything from caramel sauce to fresh fruit to Cap’n Crunch. They charge by weight, and with the remainder of the stimulus check burning a hole in their pockets my girls would heap on the gummi bears like there was no tomorrow. I’m thinking each of their cups would weigh fourteen pounds.

As for me, I hate to admit it but I would go straight to Target and spend at least half of that check. But for once, I wouldn’t spend it on detergent, or toothpaste, or Swiffer cloths or anything even remotely practical. No, I’d spend it all on myself – purses, clothes, big rings and that cute Mizrahi jacket I was eyeing the last time I was there buying detergent.

With what is leftover I would make a no-holds-barred trip to a good sushi restaurant, either Yabu or Matsuda. Usually I restrain myself from ordering too much since the bill at either of these pricey joints can easily run up into the hundreds. But with that rebate check sitting pretty in my new Target bag, I wouldn’t have to choose between the spicy tuna with jalapeño or the Kobe beef tataki – I could order it all.

How will you spend your rebate check?