Drove out to Los Angeles this afternoon and made it to the Red Lion Tavern for some German food and drink. Good thing I was driving, allowing mom and daughter to get a little bit sloshed.
Leaving L.A.
It’s Memorial Day. Monday morning, and the streets are still empty. The first sun rays are making their way to ground level as we are about to start our ride home. These quiet desolate occasions in a city that is almost always abuzz sure is a peculiar sight. This is a part of Los Angeles few have the opportunity to see. By 9:00 a.m., the roads will be full, shops will be open, and the frenzy that is found in this metropolis will be back in full swing.
The Wilshire Motel is on the right. About four miles straight ahead is the furthest west we can travel without requiring a boat. Just down the street is Santa Monica, and beyond that, the Pacific Ocean. If time allowed, we would head that way for one more walk in the sand, but we were expecting heavy traffic on the return to Phoenix as we were not alone in heading to southern California. San Diego, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles are probably the three most popular weekend destinations for those of us who need to get away from Phoenix for a break. As I look at this empty thoroughfare, I can easily imagine a no-car day in L.A. where, on that occasion, only bicycles would be allowed. All across the southland (as it is known locally), people could explore the various interconnecting cities in the luxury of quiet that we are able to experience on these rare holiday mornings when most people opt to sleep in.
Well, we weren’t going to leave L.A. without at least a little bit of fanfare. The first stop before getting on Interstate 10 eastward was at The Original Pantry Cafe. I’ve probably told the story on my blog before, but here it is again. This place has been open 24/7 since 1924 – it has never closed. I have been coming here since 1981, and Caroline made her first visit somewhere in the late 1990s. Besides some furniture repairs and equipment replacements, I don’t believe much has changed about this place in the past 87 years. The breakfasts are huge and very inexpensive. The nostalgic feelings from a time lost are still alive and kicking at this landmark. With bellies, our minds, and experiences full for one long weekend, we leave for the 388-mile (628 km) drive home.
Another Perfect L.A. Day
Los Angeles is one of those places where you can feel like you have a purposeful life as a part of the city, that your existence is intertwined with the culture that surrounds you – as opposed to a city where you simply exist as an element within the hive. This was our first visit to Zabie’s Neighborhood Cafe in Santa Monica, and the owners welcomed us as though we were familiar regulars coming in as we would on any other Sunday; you won’t find that in Phoenix very often.
Caroline and I both ordered the Whole Grain Pancakes but couldn’t choose if we wanted blueberry, strawberry, or banana, so we asked for all three, and that is what we got. Breakfast at Zabie’s was perfect, starting us off on the right track to enjoy our Sunday.
It was still too early to do much in L.A. – even in go-go Los Angeles. So there was but one thing to do, head on over to the beach for an early morning walk in the sand and surf. In a few hours, as the day warms up, this beach, like most others along the southern California coast, will fill up with worshippers of the sun. My preference is for a quiet walk on an uncongested strand where, for a moment, the beach is an idyllic island setting, and it is all mine to enjoy.
Free parking is not always easy to find in L.A.; as a matter of fact, just around the corner from this stop sign that asks us to “Stop Eating Animals,” we saw our first parking meter that allows the use of a debit or credit card in addition to coins. We kept on driving into the neighborhood and found an empty parking spot free of charge. Approaching this stop sign, we saw a placard outside a small duplex advertising a two-bedroom unit for rent. I called the number to see what they were asking for, $2,400 a month; I choked. We pay less than a third of that in Phoenix – one of the main reasons we put up with our desert town.
Years, it took years for Caroline and me to finally make the time to visit the Craft and Folk Art Museum on Wilshire Blvd across the street from the La Brea Tarpits. Every time we drove past this small museum, one or the other of us would sound off the reminder that one of these days, we need to stop in. Today was that day. On the second floor is where the exhibits begin, the museum typically hosts two artists or themes. For three and a half months, the second floor would be dedicated to a bug art exhibit by Jennifer Angus, titled: All Creatures Great and Small.
When you walk into the main space, you don’t immediately recognize what you are looking at; it doesn’t even look all that striking from a distance. Then, as you approach and start to see the details of what makes up the exhibit, you are struck. You are looking at insects. Brightly colored and arranged in patterns or made up in scenes within the cases, filling in for what might normally be figures in a dollhouse. Extraordinary and fun.
The artist occupying the third floor was Ann Weber; her exhibit was titled Love and Other Audacities. Ann weaves together large sculptures created from found cardboard. We should have started up here as her work is really nice, but being overwhelmed by the exhibit a floor below, it was hard to change channels from shock and amazement to interest and subtlety.
From the museum, we needed to make our way over to the downtown area of L.A.
Time for lunch on our unfolding perfect day. I read about Wurstküche on a blog some time ago. They have become somewhat famous and very busy. The line was longer before I snapped the photo, but then once in the lobby, it snakes through there before you arrive at the cash register and place your order. We split three sausages, the Mango Jalapeno with chicken and turkey and the Rattlesnake & Rabbit with jalapeno – this is one of their signature sausages, and it was yummy. The one sausage we didn’t really enjoy was the Vegetarian Mexican Chipotle. It was too spicy, and we love spicy, but there have to be other outstanding characteristic flavors besides just hot – this sausage didn’t cut the mustard. We also split an order of Belgian fries glazed in white truffle oil with two dipping sauces, the first was Bleu Cheese Walnut and Bacon, and the other was Chipotle Aioli. Caroline topped off her lunch with a rare find, a bottle of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier from Bamberg, Germany – a smoked beer.
Over to 2nd Street for a drive through one of our favorite landmarks in L.A. – the 2nd Street Tunnel. If you don’t remember this sight, think Blade Runner, Terminator, and recently the movie Transformers. We have, on previous visits taken a moment to go over to Union Station, another location used in Blade Runner. One of these days, we’ll visit the Bradbury Building, where many of Blade Runner’s interior shots featuring J.F. Sebastian’s apartment were filmed.
When you live in a desert, splashes of unexpected colors can be startling. We were meandering through the downtown area as we were not in a hurry to get to our next location. Along the way, we came across a bunch of Royal Paulownia trees in bloom – WOW. Our destination was Mitsuwa Marketplace at the corners of Centinela Ave and Venice Blvd. There is a Japanese grocery that also features four or five small restaurants around an open court, and a Japanese bookstore is near the entrance. We stopped here Saturday night with the hope of eating at Santouka Ramen, a highly rated and super popular ramen shop, but we arrived shortly before they closed. As we just had lunch and weren’t hungry, we wouldn’t be eating at Santouka today either; we were going back for Caroline to check the bookstore for their collection of Japanese craft books.
We had come back out towards Santa Monica and West L.A. because we had reservations for the eighth-row center at 4:00 p.m. at The Landmark Theatre on Pico Blvd for a showing of The Tree of Life. This and the Burmese food were the main reasons for our weekend trip to southern California. I was nearly certain that The Tree of Life would not play in Phoenix, or if it did, it might play in near-empty theatres for a week and be gone. As it turned out, the movie ended up playing in Phoenix for almost two months – who knew? Yes, it was worth it, driving to L.A. for a movie – we loved it.
After the movie, we took a drive through Hollywood. By 8:30 p.m., we were getting hungry again, but with so many choices of small, funky restaurants, it was hard to choose one. We had considered Korean in the Koreatown district but kept on driving, looking for something really different. Then, at 8:58 p.m. on a Sunday night, we spot this place called Green Leaves Vegan Vegetarian Restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. Drats, it’s 8:58. They’ll never seat us, but we’ll try anyway. Hey, no problem, come on in and have a seat – we are open until 12:00 a.m. Big frowns ensue for the city we live in because nothing is open past 9:00 p.m. on nearly any day of the week in Phoenix. I’ve stated this before on my blog: I am not vegetarian, Caroline is, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying something different, and for most of the country, vegan and vegetarian is as exotic as finding the cuisine of central Africa. This place rocks, we split the Cha Cha Pumpkin – worth coming back for. The other dish is lost to forgotten memories, but it must have been good, too, because we both want to go back.
Now, this was a perfect day.
Off To Los Angeles
Up early in Phoenix, Arizona, for a 380-mile drive to Yoma Myanmar-Thai Restaurant in Monterey Park, California. Our first stop in California was just across the street at Shwe Minthamee, where we picked up some desperately needed Burmese ingredients for making salads that we fell in love with back when Little Rangoon was open in Scottsdale. Now well stocked, it was time for lunch. First up, we split a Lahpet Thoke. Laphet is the most famous salad ingredient in Burma (now Myanmar); it is pickled (fermented) green tea leaves. When these tea leaves are mixed with shredded cabbage, tomato, egg, and a mix of crunchy bits – including peanuts, roasted garlic, sesame seeds, and roasted yellow peas, we have the perfect salad – in our book. We had a couple of other items, but it was the salad that made our drive worthwhile.
For dessert, we visited Beard Papa’s, obviously very popular with L.A.’s Asian population. Beard Papa’s serves up “Fresh’N Natural Cream Puffs,” claimed to be the world’s best.
Next stop was Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. This was our first goofing-off mini-vacation this year, as I had to cancel any pleasure trips in order to focus on writing my book. The first shop, and really the only stop we were interested in, was the bookstore upstairs in this photo. It is called Kinokuniya, and rarely do we leave this place without spending a quick $100.
Caroline spent a good hour looking through fibercraft books in Japanese – it is a Japanese bookstore, after all. Afterward, we took our time to walk around Little Tokyo.
Coming out of Phoenix with our drab, conformist, and generic urban areas, it is always nice to visit a vibrant city center. We are looking at one of the corners of Little Tokyo; also in front of us is the L.A. City Hall in the distant background. A mile north is Chinatown, and adjacent to that is the Old Barrio of L.A. – where Los Angeles got its start. A few miles west is Korea Town, Little Saigon is over in Orange County, Little India is in Artesia, and Thai Town is over near Hollywood. Throughout the greater Los Angeles area, funky enclaves of culture thrive and give Caroline and me wonderful choices to choose from for entertainment and food compared to strip malls and drug stores on every corner out in the desert we live in. If you are wondering why I can complain about Phoenix while extolling L.A., we would live here in the City of Angels, except the cost of living would probably keep us as economic slaves to trying to maintain a small apartment.
Time to head west and check into our motel, one of our favorite motels anywhere – The Wilshire Motel. This tiny spot on Wilshire Boulevard on the way to Santa Monica is a cluster of cozy and clean bungalows just a few miles from the beach. The lady who operates the Wilshire always remembers us, even if it has been a couple of years between visits, although I don’t think we’ve ever gone that long between returns.
With our lodging taken care of, we raced to the ocean and headed south through Venice to Marina Del Rey for a sunset walk on the beach. It was almost too late when we arrived as the sun had just dipped below the horizon, but we still had a short while to walk in the water and enjoy the late-day golden glow of the setting sun.
Heading back towards our motel and about a mile roughly east is another Los Angeles favorite – Ramenya. Since our first visit when the line was outside the door, this small ramen shop has since gotten some serious competition, but we are still loyal and enjoy the variety of ramen on offer.
This somewhat unappetizing view (I will not claim to be an exceptional or even mediocre food photographer) is a bowl of seaweed and tofu ramen. I opted for the spicy curry ramen. This ended our perfect day in Los Angeles after waking up at 5:00 in the morning over in Phoenix. It’s amazing what one can do with a little effort to get out and have some fun.
Visiting Another World
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010, shortly after 6:00 a.m. I get in the driver’s seat of Sonal’s van for the drive to Los Angeles, California. The reason for our short two-day trip was to visit the suppliers that keep her store stocked with Indian and British goods. Thanks to the one-hour time zone difference between Arizona and California, we arrived at the first supplier before 11:00 am. Nirav is near the downtown L.A. area, and Sonal is here to say hello, order Ready to Eat items and see what’s new. Next up is India Imports, who, we learn, are also handling Deep Frozen Foods. Sonal usually orders Deep Foods from New Jersey, this offers the opportunity to save a little on shipping – if this distributor can consistently have what she needs in inventory.
South on the 110 freeway, we go to Gardena, home of Kostas International, to pick up flour. Not just any flour, though; most Hindus have their favorite brand of flour, or Atta, as it is known. We were picking up 320 pounds of Sujata Atta, a whole wheat flour popular for making chapati and roti. By now, we are starving; it is just past 2:30 pm as we hop back on the 110 south to the 91 freeway east, exiting Pioneer Blvd. in Artesia to visit Little India for something to eat. Lunch is a couple of Indo-Chinese dishes fixed for us by the owner of Mumbai Ki Galliyon Se. In the same plaza, we also visit Ajay at Little India Market Place. Sonal and I met Ajay when he was working for Nirav some years ago he now owns and operates this small grocery with a beautiful display of garlands as you walk in.
House of Spice – the granddaddy of and apparent current giant in the Indian food distribution arena was the last business stop of the day. While I enjoy the hospitality of all the business owners who invite me in to look into their operations, it is definitely House of Spice that is the most welcoming, open, and helpful in explaining the current trends and situations regarding the logistics and market conditions that surround the Indian grocery distribution world as it pertains to the western United States. I would like to share with you what I learned, but I suppose that for those of you with no interest in the mechanics of this industry, it would be boring. It’s nearly dark as we wrap up our visit while the workers at House of Spice rush to empty a container of food that arrived the day before from India.
Our hotel is the Rodeway Inn on Artesia Blvd – they have four Indian channels available on the TV in the room. We check-in, and just as quickly as we drop our bags, we get back in the van and head back to Pioneer Blvd. At Sukhadia Sweets, Sonal buys something special for her and her girls, and I bought some coconut and cardamom burfi for Caroline.
Ziba Music & Gift was still where they have always been, it was encouraging to see them still in business after so many other music resellers have gone out of business. Ziba sells music, movies, and Indian musical instruments. The music on offer ranges from bhangra to Bollywood and Carnatic to lounge. I was here to pick up a copy of the soundtrack to Veer Zaara; after listening to it for so many years, it was time to support the industry and buy a copy.
Dinner was at Ras Raj. I had the Manchurian Sizzler, and Sonal went for the Chole Bhatura – mine was better, although that is only my perspective. As we waited for our order, half a dozen other dishes pictured on the walls inspired me to want each of them. Being in Little India, it is difficult to pass up dessert, especially when falooda is on offer, so I didn’t pass on falooda – yum.
The last stop of the day, of what by now was becoming a very long day – NAZ8. What is a NAZ8? It is a movie theater a few miles away from Little India that specializes in movies from Bollywood. We were here to watch 3 Idiots starring Amir Khan. While older Hindus would argue that the golden age of Bollywood was in the 50s and 60s, for Caroline and me, it began in the mid-90s and ended in 2009. 3 Idiots was a good film, with great laughs and great acting, even from Kareena Kapoor. The problem is for me that Bollywood is going the way of Hollywood, as in American Pie kind of humor. Not that the Masala film has gotten to that level yet, but the groundwork is being laid. For the first time in a Bollywood movie I have seen, men are seen from behind relieving themselves at the urinal while other men are filmed from overhead sitting on the toilet – all of this as part of one of the musical numbers. If you don’t know Bollywood, then you don’t know how revolutionary this is. All the same, three hours later, we are leaving the theater, and I’m thinking 3 Idiots was pretty good.
Without an alarm or wake-up call, I’m up early, turn on the TV, and check the Indian stations. Cricket, cricket, soap opera, and an old movie. I decided against the absurd chase scenes in this movie not featuring an actor I can recognize and tune in to the news about cricket. I don’t particularly like cricket, or sports for that matter, but the difference of it all and the great lettering in the onscreen graphics had me entranced for a short time. Starbucks called me from across the street, and soon, I was replenishing my caffeine stores.
Ajay over at Little India Market Place told us that Rani Foods wasn’t far away, so they were our first stop of the day. Another good place to find out more interesting facts regarding FDA involvement with food suppliers in India, embargos against particular products, who is really behind some of the popular brands Indians insist are the best, and how the Indian food industry is changing.
At Piccadilly Imports, we spend a good part of the day with Emma and Ben, learning why certain British foods are, at times, impossible to find in the American market. Be warned, lovers of Smarties: the FDA has banned Smarties in the U.S. until the blue Smarties are removed, as the food coloring is not approved for the American market. Later Ben shows me a cherry red 1961 Porsche parked in the warehouse, which he has restored. It seems that the food industry is about to take the backseat as he looks to expand his time into more ‘me’ time and maybe less career time. Emma takes her time to walk around the shelves while we slowly shop and check out some products we knew nothing of, such as the case of award-winning Scottish Haggis made in America that will now be on the shelves of Indo Euro Foods in Phoenix, Arizona.
The last distributor to visit is on the edge of the downtown Los Angeles area, Samra Produce. Samra specializes in Indian and Oriental vegetables. If you are in need of guvar, tindoora, bitter melon, Thai chilies, Indian eggplant, or sin qua, Samra likely has it – as long as it’s in season. With the vegetables loaded into the van, we are once again heading back to Little India.
Lunch was at Tangy Tomato on Pioneer Blvd. We had the buffet, and while I would have enjoyed the foods being warmer than they were, they were well-spiced, flavorful, and all-around pretty good. The Sag Paneer was my favorite, as was the hot fresh garlic naan. With stomachs full, we head back over to House of Spice to pick up a few items they packed up for us; the van is almost full. Around the corner, we meet up with the girls of Nanak Foods as Sonal has a client with an immediate need for paneer who cannot wait for her next shipment. It is now getting late; there is no way to avoid the afternoon rush hour as millions clog the freeways on their way home. It takes us almost two hours to finally get through the 50 miles of traffic jam and see a break on the road that allows us to start driving home faster than 25 miles per hour. It’s midnight when we get back to Phoenix.
Real Purpose
The real purpose of this weekend trip to Los Angeles was not to go to Disneyland or see Toy Story; it is related to the reason we are here on a Monday morning, and considering we are rarely in L.A. outside a Friday night through Sunday, it must be important.
Trust me, it wasn’t just so we could have breakfast like a couple of swingers at Swingers Diner.
Nor was it to gaze at the full moon.
Caroline had an appointment with the German Consulate to get fingerprinted so she could get a new passport. Of course, this being a government office, it is only open Monday through Friday. After an uneventful, pleasant, even visit with a German official for the first time in over 15 years, we had some time left before having to return to Phoenix. This was our view from the waiting room at the German Consulate.
And with that, we pointed the car back west on Wilshire Blvd not quite ready to leave Los Angeles, and so we paid a visit to the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary. This is the famous resting spot where Marylin Monroe is entombed.
Talk about a love/hate relationship. I did not like Ray Conniff, I’m not old enough, but that he’d have this nod to Somewhere My Love on his gravestone is kind of peculiar as the music to that song was Lara’s Theme (Doctor Zhivago) from Maurice Jarre (Composer for Lawrence of Arabia – a favorite of ours) who passed away earlier this year, father of Jean-Michel Jarre who I did grow up really liking so I guess this creates some mixed feelings.
On the other hand, here’s Dean Martin, who I can’t listen to today, but when I was a kid, I loved every Martin & Lewis film I could watch as the chemistry between Jerry Lewis and this guy was perfect to me when I was ten years old. I suppose I can also admit to enjoying his musical schtick with this suave character who always seemed a bit drunk and too cool. But if I ever have to hear That’s Amore again, it will be too soon.
And then there are all these other famous dead people from my childhood, including Eddie Albert of Green Acres fame, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, Carroll O’Connor from All in the Family, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Wilder, Natalie Wood, and Bob Crane of Hogan’s Heroes who was murdered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Don Knotts, Mel Torme, Heather O’Rourke, Peggy Lee, Merv Griffin, and Truman Capote are all laid to rest here too.
Our favorite headstones were from Merv Griffin, which read, “I will not be right back after this message,” and Jack Lemmon’s, which simply reads, “Jack Lemmon in.”
And with that, it was time to return to Phoenix, Arizona, before we grew too comfortable here.
Toy Story in 3D
We had time to burn, but not so much time we could revisit Disneyland this morning, so instead, we went to the next best thing, a farmer’s market. Not just any market either, but the zoo that is the Hollywood Farmer’s Market. The one where Scientology is always in the background, where the market band could be pop stars next year, or you could get mugged by a crazed former child actor.
As where we used to come here relatively often to stock up on fresh veggies but now rely on Tonopah Rob for those luxuries, we were here for reconnaissance on his behalf, allowing him to have a second-hand look at what our California neighbors are offered and what they pay.
Yep, Oki Dog for the lunchtime win with a pastrami burrito that KILLS.
After sixteen hours in Disneyland, what could be more fun than going to El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D with special live guest appearances by Jessie, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear – exactly, we couldn’t think of anything else either, and so that’s precisely what we did.
We had ordered our tickets weeks before our little weekend trip to Los Angeles and scored 7th-row center reserved seating. What we didn’t know was that our tickets came with free drinks, a souvenir container of popcorn with a free refill, and during intermission, they were giving us a sliced apple snack.
Before the screen went up, we were treated to some live Wurlitzer organ music. This historic instrument, built in the 1920s, was originally installed in 1929 at the San Francisco Fox Theatre. Today, the organ rises from below the stage level at the El Capitan and uses over 2,500 pipes installed on each side of the theatre.
After our 20-minute concert, the organ disappeared, and the crowd went wild when Jessie, Woody, and Buzz took the stage. Who knew this ensemble could dance so well? We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D.
To finish off the day, we made a pilgrimage to the Bee Gees’ star on Hollywood Blvd. We know how to live large!