LA April 27-May 6

[MAJUSCULE]

I'll be visiting, mostly as a vacation, although there may be some casual playing that happens.

 

Any recommendations? Anyone looking to hang?

[The Real MC]

Prepare for an expensive vacation.  I just came from NAMM and am recovering from sticker shock of prices of meals, taxi, all the essentials.

[Polychrest]

This is probably already on your calendar:

Oilers-Kings, Game 6

April 29th, TBA in Los Angeles

Unless, of course, the Oil win in 5....

[KuruPrionz]

Go to the Norton Simon Museum of Modern Art in Pasadena. 

It's fantastic, give yourself several hours, you'll want them. 

[MathOfInsects]

LA: "We're expensive."
SD: "Hold my [craft] beer!"

Eric, SD is a relatively short drive or train ride, depending when you do it. 

I've got a May 4 down here with my homiests of homies. Would be great to meet you if we can swing it.

Have a great time either way.

 

[Docbop]

Just remember in LA the when want to go to someplace that is about two miles away, that about an hours drive.  Also the LA is so spread out.   I technically still live in LA I'm in the northern most city of LA County and that about 90 miles from downtown LA. 

 

Everytime I go back down into the city I'm amazed how the traffic just keeps getting worse and worse. 

[MAJUSCULE]

Very much aware of the price of such a trip... but it's also the first actual vacation I've taken in a long time, and I'm just wrapping up a part-time day job contract thing, so I'm giving myself licence to indulge somewhat.

 

1 hour ago, Polychrest said:

This is probably already on your calendar:

Oilers-Kings, Game 6

April 29th, TBA in Los Angeles

Unless, of course, the Oil win in 5....

 

Didn't do it on purpose, but you can bet I'm packing my jersey. Prices be damned, if the series does go that far.

 

Haven't gotten many plans yet but I've got over a week to stretch out and check out places. Of course, venues. Would love to check out some stores as well. Does Ken Rich do tours?

 

And Josh, would love to if I can swing it. I'll be independent but I also won't be alone, so we'll see if I make it out of the city or not. Too bad you weren't around here when I actually did make it to SD way back when... Bobby and I went for lunch and hung out at his place a bit. Good times.

[ProfD]

I'm crashing the party if brothas  @MAJUSCULE and @MathOfInsects manage to link up in San Diego.😁😎

[Dave Bryce]

Brother Eric - 

 

If you find yourself inclined to explore northwest of LA, you’re more than welcome to come hang with me.

 

dB

[JohnH]

I have a classic rock gig on Saturday April 27 at the Lincoln House in Covina. I have a YC61 and you are welcome to sit in ( I have a guitar rig too).

[El Lobo]

My son is a Big Man in Hollywood. I asked him for recommendations. Top music places are:

The Roxy

The Troubadour

Hotel Cafe

Ace Hotel

Fonda Theatre

The Baked Potato 

The Greek Theatre

Hollywood Bowl

 

https://socalpulse.com/los-angeles/top-20-venues-for-live-music-in-los-angeles/

 

Food is a tougher one.  So many places have closed and it really depends on what part of town. There are of course two Thai towns but some of the best Thai food is in strip malls.  A couple places in Hollywood are classic:

Musso and Franks

Gwen - Michelin Star rest. owned by Curtis Stone 

Osteria Mozza 

Providence

Mother Wolf

 

Eater has a quarterly list: 38 essential restaurants in Los Angeles

https://la.eater.com/maps/best-los-angeles-restaurants-eater-38-essential

[Joe Muscara]

I wish you could have timed that with NAMM. You would have been swarmed with forumites, even if you didn't make the show itself. I saw that @eric, @Tonysounds, and Dan Patten went to Venice Beach, and you could have had to deal with me again.  

 

I hope you have a fun trip!

[TommyRude]

33 minutes ago, El Lobo said:

My son is a Big Man in Hollywood. I asked him for recommendations. Top music places are:

The Roxy

The Troubadour

Hotel Cafe

Ace Hotel

Fonda Theatre

The Baked Potato 

The Greek Theatre

Hollywood Bowl

 

https://socalpulse.com/los-angeles/top-20-venues-for-live-music-in-los-angeles/

 

Food is a tougher one.  So many places have closed and it really depends on what part of town. There are of course two Thai towns but some of the best Thai food is in strip malls.  A couple places in Hollywood are classic:

Musso and Franks

Gwen - Michelin Star rest. owned by Curtis Stone 

Osteria Mozza 

Providence

Mother Wolf

 

Eater has a quarterly list: 38 essential restaurants in Los Angeles

https://la.eater.com/maps/best-los-angeles-restaurants-eater-38-essential

 

I grew up in L.A., but it's been a decade since I've been there.  I would add the Whiskey and the Viper Room to Lobo's venue lineup, but not even sure if they still exist!  A Hollywood tour (although tours can seem cheesy), can be a good way to see all the cool movie & music stuff. 

 

Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier would be cool, although Venice Beach may have gone downhill over the years.  These are good for seeing all the crazy L.A. has to offer, especially the crazy whacky people. And check out the L.A. beach scene while you're at it.

 

Someone mentioned a museum - the Getty needs to be on that list.

 

Food - if you find yourself around Hollywood or downtown, try Tommy's original chili burgers, another L.A. icon.  More Hollywood eateries we used to go to were Ben Franks and Carnies.  Raising my hand - don't know if these are still around.  There's great food all over L.A., Yelp it and you'll do well.

 

Doc is right - even seemingly short distances can take hours, keep that in mind.  An iconic feature of L.A. is the traffic jams.  You'll see that no matter which way you turn.

[Docbop]

2 minutes ago, TommyRude said:

Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier would be cool, although Venice Beach may have gone downhill over the years.  These are good for seeing all the crazy L.A. has to offer, especially the crazy whacky people. And check out the L.A. beach scene while you're at it.

 

 

Hey watch it now I grew up in Venice area.   Venice was cool, then got a lot gangs at night, then the worst it became gentrified, now it's  commercial weirdness for $$$.  

[zxcvbnm098]

I would also recommend the Warner Bros. Studio tour. It's pretty cool, and not a giant time suck (around 2 hours). It's in Burbank.

 

Unlike Universal Studios (which is a theme park), the Warners tour, while a wee-bit gimmicky at points, is still a real tour of soundstages and outdoor sets where countless movies and TV shows were (and still are) filmed. You might even get to see something being filmed while you cruise by. 

 

Highly recommended for anyone, but for sure people interested in production and seeing how things are really made behind the scenes.

[MathOfInsects]

Venice has gone "uphill"--in price. It's bougie now. 

 

Definitely, if the goal is the great venues, Troubadour and Roxy and Hotel Cafe and McCabe's and Venice West (which gives you a chance to see Venice) are awesome music-listening experiences. 

 

Hollywood (the seedy version) is a great hang.

 

Santa Monica is great. All the little surrounding beach towns down into Orange County are cool too.

 

It really depends what you like to see of a place. LA has world-class museums, restaurants, and concert venues. For myself, whenever I have lofty goals to check those things out, I always end up bailing and hanging in some crazy neighborhood or "only in this city" kind of experience instead. I like to know what a place "is," instead of what it has. I was just in Chicago and had a way better day wandering around for miles and miles than if I'd kept to the museums I'd originally intended to hit. I'm sure they're awesome, I just always end up liking the "city as museum" experience better. 

I agree that the studio tours are fun.

Depending on your tolerance for such things, you should hit up some clubs. Those rooftop hotel-bar clubs and their ilk are VERY LA, and involve some very nice sight-seeing. It's awesome to stand there and watch everyone try to figure out who is famous enough to maybe help their career. I hate to be crass but the star-f*cker thing is real and is about as purely an LA experience as there is. 

Everyone in LA is an actor or musician, so IMO the coolest approach might be to ignore all of us and ask your Uber driver from the airport and see what he or she recommends. 

[Docbop]

25 minutes ago, MathOfInsects said:

Everyone in LA is an actor or musician

 

Actually that isn't far from the truth.   My house I lived in until I retired was typically of friends places and it would be this neighbor is a cameraman, those people in house behind me both are script writers,  next door is a set decorator, across street is porn producer,  and a record producer used to own the house,  down there some grips live and a few musicians scatter around. Just going to a little diner and sitting at the counter you probably be able to strike up a conversation with someone in the biz and hear some cool stories.  A small Chinese restaurant I used to go  to a lot on Pico I'd see Danny Elfman their eating with a score going over a film score and sometime Steve Bartek his Oingo Boingo guitar and writing partner discussing a score,  Same place see Kiefer Sutherland sometime his dad and many other actors to recognize the faces.   Local coffee shop I'd go I'd run in guitarist Buzz Feiten all the time and eat and chat.   The church I worked at had a long list of big name actors and lots of musicians and artists from the music world that attended regularly.   I'd say a lot of who you meet in LA will work in the biz or work for some place deals with the biz.    

[El Lobo]

I'm smiling as a read these posts. Yes, almost everybody in LA is in show biz in one form or another. The people that live in my son's neighborhood are grips, costume designers, script writers, singers and name musicians, relatives of famous performers of the past, and so forth and so on. My son is at the center of the live theatre world there and frequently has brushes with celebrities.

 

I lived in Santa Monica from age 12 to 16. My wasted youth was spent on the Santa Monica pier. Venice then was not hip and trendy, or bougie like it is today. It was a dump and poor, a place where broke artists and musicians and beatniks lived because they couldn't afford to live anywhere else, kinda the exact opposite of what it is today.

 

In my 30's and 40's, I'd go down to LA (from San Francisco) for parties and do some recording at my brother's studio or hang out at another recording studio, just a hanger-on and wannabe on the scene. We went to parties that were really funny because they were all gorgeous people hanging around wanting to meet celebrities, producers, directors, agents, anybody who could get them into a movie -- very pretty people all staring at each other with nothing going on and nothing to say. (One of my brothers is an actor, director, screenwriter and another brother is a musician who used to own a music store in LA but now lives in Santa Barbara, my son is in the center of live theatre in LA. I know this world, but I am not part of it.) 

 

My son moved to LA from Seattle about 20 years ago and now I only go to LA to be a grandad and let my son be the One Who Knows LA. I agree with the comment above that the best way to experience a city is just to hang out on the street and take in the city's vibe. There are parts of LA that you probably don't want to do that in. The problem is LA is huge. You can drive all day and all night and still be in LA. And amid the carpet stores and discount whatever, there's always an all-night taco stand that either has terrible food or some of the most sublime stuff you ever had but you'll never know it until you try. If you can't tell, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with LA. If you're adventurous, LA can be a fun and interesting trip ... if you can just get off the freeway. 

[TommyRude]

9 hours ago, Docbop said:

Hey watch it now I grew up in Venice area.   Venice was cool, then got a lot gangs at night, then the worst it became gentrified, now it's  commercial weirdness for $$$.  

haha... sorry Docbop, not intended!  I lived in Venice as well for a number of years, but further inland, near Penmar.  Santa Monica / Ocean Park as well.   Much of L.A. as I recall it was like a patchwork, cool neighborhoods next to violent, next to cool, violent, cool, violent.  I grew up in Sylmar, very violent, lucky to have survived.

[TommyRude]

yeah... studio tours, totally forgot about that!  I worked at Sony in Culver City for a number of years, really cool, went on the studio lot all the time.  The security was pretty heavy, guards at all entrances/exits, needed to show badges/I.D.  One time, I was walking on the lot and I saw what looked like a homeless guy riding a bicycle, floated right past me as I was walking, I'm like 'how the hell did that guy get in here?'...  Turned out it was Tom Hanks, they were filming Castaway.

 

So yes, if you can organize a studio tour, that would be a good one.  Universal Studios Tour - - - there you go.

 

EDIT:  agree with Mike (zxcvbnm098) - do the Warner tour.  I think WAY back the Universal tour was really about making movies - before they turned into a theme park.

[Mark Zeger]

I am far from expert advice on LA but I will highly recommend something I did there many years ago:

See a concert at Disney Hall.

The Gehry architecture is breathtaking. The sound in the hall is even more stunning. I saw the LA Phil play An American In Paris then, together with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, play Marsalis’ Swing Symphony. The sound just explodes from the stage. 

[Dave Bryce]

You know what could be cool? 🤔

 

There have been KC gatherings/jams on the East Coast and in the Midwest…but we’ve not had a West Coast one, other than the Buca dinners, of course.

 

If we could find a date when Eric is out here that would be convenient for those who might be interested in attending such a gathering, I believe I would be able to host. 😎🥳

 

dB

[Joe Muscara]

2 minutes ago, Dave Bryce said:

You know what could be cool? 🤔

 

There have been KC gatherings/jams on the East Coast and in the Midwest…but we’ve not had a West Coast one, other than the Buca dinners, of course.

 

If we could find a date when Eric is out here that would be convenient for those who might be interested in attending such a gathering, I believe I would be able to host. 😎🥳

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, Dave Bryce said:

You know what could be cool? 🤔

 

There have been KC gatherings/jams on the East Coast and in the Midwest…but we’ve not had a West Coast one, other than the Buca dinners, of course.

 

If we could find a date when Eric is out here that would be convenient for those who might be interested in attending such a gathering, I believe I would be able to host. 😎🥳

 

dB

Make it happen.  Maybe I'll crash the WCKCFH (West Coast Keyboard Corner Forum Hang) too. 😁😎

[BluesB3]

Is Duke's Tropicana still open? Hugo's on Santa Monica. (My wife saw Neal Young there on the curb and thought he was a homeless guy.) Baked Potato and Troubadour. Warner's Studio Tour over Universal's. Martini's and Shrimp Cocktail and suddenly it's 1952 again at The Smokehouse across from the Barham studio entrance.  Chez Jay's in SM.

[zephonic]

20 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Venice has gone "uphill"--in price. It's bougie now. 

 

I was just in Chicago and had a way better day wandering around for miles and miles than if I'd kept to the museums I'd originally intended to hit. I'm sure they're awesome, I just always end up liking the "city as museum" experience better. 
 

 

12 hours ago, El Lobo said:

Venice then was not hip and trendy, or bougie like it is today. It was a dump and poor, a place where broke artists and musicians and beatniks lived because they couldn't afford to live anywhere else, kinda the exact opposite of what it is today.

 

I agree with the comment above that the best way to experience a city is just to hang out on the street and take in the city's vibe. There are parts of LA that you probably don't want to do that in. The problem is LA is huge. You can drive all day and all night and still be in LA. 

 

idk, I've only been here for 12 years but to me Venice seems like more of a dump than it ever was. Homelessness is out of control everywhere in California, and Venice demonstrates that amply. I would avoid, or maybe just check it out to see how a few decades can do a 180 on a place like that.

 

While I agree just walking around is the best way to get to know a city, I feel like LA is the exception to that rule. Everything is too spread out and I mean, where are you gonna walk? DTLA? Santa Monica 3rd Street? Hollywood Blvd? The valley? Pasadena? It has to be one of the most pedestrian-unfriendly cities in the world.

 

@MAJUSCULE I hope you have wheels, if you were planning to rely on public transport, you're not going to see much. I made that mistake on my first visit in 2008, and ended up renting a car after two or three days.

 

I'm traveling a lot these days, but down to hang if it happens to align with the calendar.

 

edit:

 

As for muso hangouts, the Hotel Cafe is indeed one, the Federal (right next to AMP rehearsal) another. Herman Jackson does a jam session on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays at the Blue Room (it seems to change depending on his schedule), and CC Thomas has a jam at Harvelle's on Mondays. The Baked Potato also has a Monday night jam session.

[zxcvbnm098]

3 hours ago, Dave Bryce said:

You know what could be cool? 🤔

 

There have been KC gatherings/jams on the East Coast and in the Midwest…but we’ve not had a West Coast one, other than the Buca dinners, of course.

 

If we could find a date when Eric is out here that would be convenient for those who might be interested in attending such a gathering, I believe I would be able to host. 😎🥳

 

dB

Great idea! I'm in!

[MAJUSCULE]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!

 

dB, if it works out, I'd love to be a guest at a WCKCFH! I don't have too many concrete plans, so let me know if something works best for you.

[El Lobo]

6 hours ago, zephonic said:

 

 

idk, I've only been here for 12 years but to me Venice seems like more of a dump than it ever was. Homelessness is out of control everywhere in California, and Venice demonstrates that amply. I would avoid, or maybe just check it out to see how a few decades can do a 180 on a place like that.

 

While I agree just walking around is the best way to get to know a city, I feel like LA is the exception to that rule. Everything is too spread out and I mean, where are you gonna walk? DTLA? Santa Monica 3rd Street? Hollywood Blvd? The valley? Pasadena? It has to be one of the most pedestrian-unfriendly cities in the world.

I agree with you.

[TommyRude]

7 hours ago, zephonic said:

idk, I've only been here for 12 years but to me Venice seems like more of a dump than it ever was. Homelessness is out of control everywhere in California, and Venice demonstrates that amply.

Is the boardwalk scary and skeeved out?