Must-Do's in LA

Here is a quick list (much more will be added later) of things you MUST do in LA (in no particular order)

-Hang out at Venice Beach and join the free hippy drum circle on Sunday afternoons (hard to miss the huge crowd of weed-smoking vagabonds and ex-protestors on the beach

I miss it more than my mom

-Walk down third street promenade and spend way too much money shopping and eating...Santa Monica style

-Hang out in Los Feliz. It's a small strip of Vermont Ave, north, driving towards Griffith Park. Eat at Fred 62, read books with the bookstore cat at Skylight Books, and check out a foreign or indy film at the local theater.

-Check out Silverlake for yummy cafes and boho lifestyles

-Go to TRADER JOE's gorcoery store and vow never to leave...it is that amazing and can only be found in CA and a select few parts of America (Minneapolis, NYC)...there is one in Silverlake and another in Hollywood

-Go to the Beverly Center to window shop and people watch

-The best mall in LA is the Glendale Galleria...hands down.

-Hollywood is wonderful and a bot scary...I lived in Little Armenia for a year, so here are my suggestions for to-do's:

You MUST got to Amoeba Music on Sunset. It is the best music store IN THE WORLD and tons of cheap used CD's..tons and tons and tons. Love it, live it.

Go to Jet Rag for great vintage (on La Cienega) and Buffalo Exchange for great used clothing. Jet Rag has a big parking lot sale where everything is a buck on Sunday afternoons. You really have to sift through it, but I found a couple of agood things. The vintage in the store is cheaper that anything you'll find on Melrose.

Go to unique, independant coffee shops...skip fucking Starbucks and Coffee Bean.

Avoid Hollywood and Highland. The shops are all boring and corporate, it's too busy, and you'' be over-charged for everything. If you must see the stars on the ground, go, but it is a skeezy area with sex shops and prostitutes and horrendous traffic. If you are there, take a break and check out a yummy, cheap, and chic Chinese restaurant East of the shoping center. It's called Kung Pao Kitty and it's on Hollywod Blvd. going towards the 101 freeway entrance.

You have to go to the In N Out Burger on Sunset. Cheap, delicious, oh-so-California. I miss it more than my mom. No, really I do.

More later....