Category Archives: Los Angeles

A Perfect Travel Day In LA

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A Travel Day in LA

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller

There are days that I miss traveling so I  decided to have a travel day in Los Angeles.  This would be my perfect travel day.

It is always a traveling day in my car.  I listen to a Canadian radio station that only plays French music.   I am usually driving on the streets of Paris. There are cds in my car from my trips – most recently Turkey, Argentina and of course Grouplove (LA band who met in Crete).  I am always going somewhere much more exotic than the market or yoga in my head.

For breakfast I have Greek yogurt (the not nonfat kind) with fresh honey and either a latte or cappuccino with whole milk (not soy or almond). Another option is  a croissant from Tavern and a Spanish Latte from Urth Café. Truthfully I drink this several times a week.  Carnation condensed milk in coffee always reminds me of being in my early twenties in Greece.  This was all they used until they became weight conscious and got Starbucks.

I go to a museum on a weekday morning.  There are mostly tourists and schools there.  It is just like exploring a foreign city.   I love modern art so LACMA and MOCA are good choices for me.

For lunch, there is sushi. I pick a place where the clientele is mostly Japanese and I feel like I am in Japan. Some good places are Mori Sushi, Hama Sushi and Sushi Gen. Or you can have a real travel experience and take an interesting guess .  Walk into a place on the street in Little Tokyo or Sawtelle Blvd. They both have Japanese markets , bakeries, stores and restaurants.

I stop off at Travelers Bookcase  to get books for my next trip.  There is always some fabulous conversation going on about somewhere in the world that I never heard of or want to go to.  Natalie has a ton of book recommendations, interesting friends and customers and loves talking about everywhere!!  Isnt that what books are for anyway? To travel without packing? Here are some of the books they love -me too.. https://travelwellflysafe.com/2012/12/18/byob-bring-your-own-books/

In the afternoon I see a foreign film. Now we have many in LA to choose from. They play at the Llaemmle theatres or the Landmark. I have pop-corn (French for popcorn).  I love going to the movies in the afternoon anyway.  The theatre is empty and it feels like sneaking out of school to go to the movies.  I think it is ok to admit that now.  There are two blogs on foreign films if you want to see some of my favorites. (https://travelwellflysafe.com/2012/12/05/favorite-foreign-documentary-films/ and https://travelwellflysafe.com/2012/09/23/favorite-foreign-films/)

I have some Thai iced coffee at Chan Dara and  head out to Venice, Santa Monica or Malibu for a beach walk at sunset. If I am anywhere in the world and there is a beach, I am walking on it. This is followed by Tapas and Sangria at Bar Pinxto.

Dinner is somewhere like  Angelini Osteria  or Osteria Mozza for fresh pasta and traditional  Italian dishes.  Bar Ama is great for Mexican food – not so traditional but so delicious.  My favorite restaurant is Hinoki and the Bird for Asian ambiance, amazing food and green tea donuts.

I am dating someone from Mexico City so we spend the whole day speaking Spanish.   I pretend I understand just like I do on a real trip or with men in general.

At home I start reading the books I have bought and plan my next trip – one where you take a plane. Tomorrow I will have a diet day.

What are your favorite  places in LA?

Fly Safe,

JAZ

www.grouplovemusic.com/

www.tavernla.com/

www.urthcaffe.com/

www.lacma.org/

www.moca.org/

morisushi.net/‎

hama sushi 347 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, (213) 680-3454

sushigen.org/‎

http://www.travelbooks.com/‎

www.laemmle.com

http://www.landmarktheatres.com

chandararestaurants.com/‎

www.barpintxo.com/

www.angeliniosteria.com/

www.osteriamozza.com

www.bar-ama.com/

hinokiandthebird.com/‎

Urs Fischer At MOCA – Clay LA

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Urs Fischer at MOCA – Clay LA

“Everything is sculpture… Any material, any idea without hindrance born into space, I consider sculpture.” Isamu Noguchi

1500 Volunteers

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from Elementary Schools

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to Professional Artists

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12,320 bags of clay

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Four weeks

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weird, crumbling clay

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diverse, human creativity

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How it happened

Fly Safe,

JAZ

PS We saw it on the last days. It was crumbling and melting at its finest!

Weird Things I Have Learned In Los Angeles

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Weird Things I’ve Learned In LA

“You’re not going to see people like this again for a long time, he said and I said I always saw people like this & he looked at me for a moment and said, You’re not from around here, are you?” Brian Andreas, Story People

You can drive one block in Los Angeles. In fact most people do.

Parking meters in Venice can only be used for their allotted time. If you try to put more money in, you have to move your car and come back. Is this something new?

The bus system in Los Angeles is a lot like a third world country.  The bus is on a major street and for no reason makes a turn to go down a quiet residential block and then come back. I picture the driver saying “Hm that looks like a nice street. I think I will go there.”

The subway system goes no where that I need to be.

Every few blocks in LA  is a different city or named something different. Ex Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Adjacent, Beverly Hills Post Office. Beverly Hills Flats.

Los Angeles is the most populated city in  California and the second most populated in the United States, after New York City.

It is illegal to manufacture pickles in the industrial zone of downtown Los Angeles.

When Los Angeles was founded in 1781, 44 people (14 families) lived in El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula (Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angeles of the Small Portion). The population grew, but the name shrank to simply “Los Angeles.”

Animals are banned from mating publicly in LA within 1500 feet of a tavern, school or place of worship. It is a big problem for my dog.

The citizens of Los Angeles are called ‘Angelenos’, which  rhymes with casinos.

The Shirley Temple, a non-alcoholic cocktail, was invented in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is home to over 1.2 million college graduates. Many of them are actor waiters and their parents are not happy.

There are lots of beautiful people in Los Angeles – highly concentrated in upscale nightclubs and expensive shopping areas . There are also lots of ordinary people who make the effort to look their best. Sometimes too much effort leads to scary.

It is not a great place to grow old. I picture plastic surgeons who look at these women who try so hard and say after the anesthesia” Ok, let’s have some fun.”

Los Angeles is considered to be the world’s entertainment center. Here, on an everyday basis, there are over 100 movie and television production crews shooting for their respective soaps/films on location.

Los Angeles is not filed with beautiful blondes. It is 70 per cent non white with Hispanic being the largest percentage. Orange County is filled with beautiful blondes.

There are sixty-five people in Los Angeles who have the legal name Jesus Christ.

The Summer Olympics have been hosted twice by the city of Los Angeles, first in 1932, and then again in 1984.

Jeans and flip-flops go just about everywhere in LA.

The most important industry in LA is manufacturing.

Most of your waiter and waitresses are actors, models, dancers and comedians.

It is illegal for human beings to marry rocks in the City of Los Angeles. But it is not illegal to marry rock stars.

The Rams came to L.A. from Cleveland in 1946. The Dodgers arrived from Brooklyn in 1958, the Lakers from Minneapolis in 1960, and the Kings were an NHL expansion team in 1967. Prior to the Rams’ arrival, the L.A. sports scene centered on UCLA, USC, and two minor league baseball teams

You rarely get a straight answer when asking people in LA what they do for a living. They are between projects or a life coach or a pet psychic etc. 

Every year, about 100,000 women in Los Angeles County have their breasts enhanced.

Someone in LA will always tell you when mercury is in retrograde. Someone from NY will never know this.

In LA, they know how to make a great salad but not bagels, chinese food or cannoli.

In LA most people do not come to a complete stop at a stop sign. It is called the California slide or roll.  I learned that it is illegal. Long day at traffic school for trying to fit in.

There are four times more hamburgers eaten in Los Angeles County than in the rest of California. Is that because we have more In and Out Burgers?

Fly Safe,

JAZ

How to Avoid The Paparazzi Or How To See Celebrities In Los Angeles

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How To Avoid the Paparazzi   or How To See Celebrities In Los Angeles

“Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else.”  ~Will Rogers

Since many  of you who read this blog don’t live in Los Angeles, you may be planning a trip.   Most people in LA do not use their feet as a method of transportation. We  jog or walk our dogs.  Streets are never crowded. Paparazzi in LA are very noticeable. They don’t blend in like they do on the crowded streets of New York or Rome.

It is one thing for paparazzi  to stand outside a trendy restaurant  or club. We anticipate that. We expect to see them on Robertson Blvd looking for Kim or Paris ( Do we still care about Paris?). On a Saturday afternoon, we know that they will be outside Barneys, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive.    But it is another thing to encounter them all day long.  So I thought I would tell you how to avoid the paparazzi  or places to see celebrities in LA,  which ever you prefer.

1. I was  eating my lunch ( tuna salad and green juice – it is LA after all) in a beauty salon.   The door was open. I looked out and saw three paparazzi aiming their cameras at the open front door.  I was about to be the background shot for whoever walked out that door. I was going to be unknown woman with a mouthful of tuna. Luckily it was my turn. (Anastasia, BH)

2.Lately,  they hang  out  at the parks.  You can see them hiding behind trees like pedophiles with cameras.  They need to get that photo of a child on a swing who happens to  have a famous parent. My dog peed on their camera  cases.  To distract them, I said “Doesn’t that look like  JLo and the kids?.” They ran.  (Santa Monica Park)

3.There is always the market.    Am I the only person who doesn’t care that Jennifer Garner’s daughter can push the shopping cart? Is there something I am missing?  Is she a grocery cart pushing prodigy?  Is it really necessary for me to be woman who ran into the market to get ice cream because she was depressed, in the background of this shot?  (Vicente Foods, Brentwood)

4. The traffic is stalled on Ventura Blvd.  I am in the right lane.  I edge up and notice that  at least eight cars in front of me have no one in them. As I slowly maneuver into the left lane, I see all the paparazzi at the newsstand –  It must be for the Stars Are Like Us section – yes, some stars still buy  their own magazines. It probably isn’t  someone as famous as Beyonce or anyone who thinks they are like Bravo’s Real Housewives. It might be someone who grew up in the valley and knows this newsstand – like the Kardashians or the Jacksons. Unlike us, they don’t have to explain why they are late for work because the paparazzi stalled traffic. (Newsstand on Van Nuys and Ventura, Sherman Oaks)

5. Paparazzi Heaven is Malibu – so many celebrities in such a small area. .  Malibu shopping center  used to be charming. It felt like a small town.  It has been redone with  many expensive stores and trendy restaurants.  I was having breakfast with a friend  at an outside table when she said ,”Turn around”. I did and faced the camera lenses of twenty paparazzi, aimed for the door  right behind our table.  “How can you eat like this?,” I asked.   She replied, “No problem, I used to be a model.“  (Malibu Kitchen, Malibu)

6. There were two homeless people sleeping on Carbon Beach. .  This is a  stretch of beach with multimillion dollar beach houses.  I had never seen that before. When I got closer, I could see the cameras under the layers of clothing. Really guys? Did you think they wouldn’t notice? You are the only  people sleeping on an empty beach in winter clothes.   (Carbon Beach, Malibu)

7. I had a  bad cold and ran out to the pharmacy wearing pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt.  The paparazzi is standing at the front door. “Don’t shoot,“ I yell as I run through  the door. I do not want to be mystery woman in pajamas behind reality TV star in sweats running to the pharmacy. (Longs Drugs, now a CVS – and you can tell the difference, Brentwood.)

8. The woman who walks my dog when I can’t  get home during the day,  told me that my dog has a girlfriend.  It is the dyed pink poodle of a famous celebrity and she cannot tell me who it is. She said that my dog  ended up in paparazzi shots the other day. If you want to see a celebrity that owns a dyed pink poodle, follow them home from Barrington Dog Park in Brentwood. They go on Wednesdays.

9. The famous ex-governor/ movie star/ cheater and father of housekeeper’s child lives in a gated community on my street. I live in a canyon. It is a small road that you can’t park a car on.  During all the commotion , you would drive down the quiet  road to a circus of paparazzi and tv vans everywhere. I’m glad no one cares about him anymore.

10. One day, I walked out of a frozen yogurt store and there were thirty paparazzi  across the street. Their cameras were aimed at the entrance to the spray tanning store next door. It’s true. Your favorite celebrity has a fake tan. A bus load of Japanese tourists pulled up. They all jumped  out and stood next to the paparazzi with their cameras poised ready to have their LA paparazzi moment . Now that was funny. (Portofino, BH)

Im sure  the LA people have  more stories.

Say cheese and fly safe,

JAZ

Leap Of Faith

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“Sometimes  your only available transportation is a leap of  faith “

Margaret Shepherd

I am  the first one to get on a plane to go anywhere I have never been. But sometimes you can travel without ever leaving your hometown.  Every big city has its ethnic neighborhoods with interesting restaurants,  markets, specialty shops, massages, acupuncture, threading,  henna ,fortune tellers , museums, theatres, music and dance programs,  herbalists, houses of worship etc.  There is always an opportunity to learn something new.

That was the experience I had  with the New Grounds Muslim Jewish Fellowship put together by Temple Emanuel and King Fahad Mosque.  In our first meeting a group of women walked in wearing hijabs  (head coverings) and traditional blouses in beautiful colors. The men came in with somber faces . ( I probably had one as well) We stopped to have a break  for them to pray .  It felt strange to stop a meeting to pray. Prayer isn’t so easy for me anyway.

We got to know each other through special exercises. We had to really break down our own barriers to talk about issues.  Slowly, we became friends. Our last meeting was in the mosque. All the women wore the hijabs and everyone had to leave our shoes at the door.   I was inspired to put together a beautifully colored outfit with matching head covering as well. (not my usual black) .

I had seen the blue dome of the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City many times.  As I pulled into the parking lot, a man approached me. He was wearing a black skull cap  and  a long-sleeved white cotton shirt  that came below his knees.  He said,” Are you  one of our guests today?”  He directed me to the women’s entrance.  I watched the men greet each other as they prepared to pray.   It didn’t look strange at all .  It wasn’t  a scary place filled with terrorists.  It was beautiful and welcoming and peaceful.   The blue and white tiles reminded me of the Alhambra in Spain.   I remember learning that blue is a protective color and I look forward to seeing the Blue Mosque in  Istanbul .  I understand more about praying now. Praying five times a day doesn’t seem weird to me anymore. . It is about taking time during your day to think about  something bigger than yourself – to step back and remember what is important.  I am trying to find the time to meditate everyday – also to step back.

I know that we are all Americans. If we had met in a mall, a museum or at a UCLA class, we would have been brought together by similar interests.  This time, we were brought together by our differences.  This is what happens when you travel. The differences are obvious. The similarities are later revealed.

I have learned that a complete stranger in a country so different from yours can become your friend.  If you spend five minutes getting to know someone from another culture, chances are you will find much more in common than you thought.

Leaving the mosque felt exactly like leaving a foreign country.  It feels strange when I arrive and it feels comfortable when I leave.  I ‘m always leaving new friends, and I always want to return.

Fly Safe,

JAZ