These Trap Draws where I have 0 connection whatsoever to the city always make me want to travel out there and experience it. I enjoyed this episode a lot, and felt like I learned a good bit, but still sorta feel like I would be overwhelmed on where I should go, what’s actually LA, and if I was there a short time I worry I would miss eating at a key place haha
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I hear you. If you want to know what heroin withdrawal looks like up close and personal, pre-7am walk in Santa Monica will open your eyes. And Skid Row is terrifying. I can’t even fathom how that exists amid such opulence and wealth.
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I think if you had a 3-day summer weekend, I’d do a Dodger game and have dinner downtown (sit on the 3rd base line for Sunday 1:30pm game or fry.) I would then do a beach day. Malibu is great. Finally, I’d dig into the city. Larchmont Village, maybe the Grove (which is pretty Joe Bloggs) and then take the trian to Santa Monica and get your pocket picked.
Fun fact: The first Refugee I met in the wild was @Gdasilva11 who DMed me that he was in town for work and we met at the Comedy Store off Sunset for a few drinks.
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LA is like 20 different cities. If you’re a tourist with a few days, I say get a hotel room in West LA, check the boxes of Santa Monica Pier / Promenade, Getty, Beverly Hills / Rodeo Drive, maybe Malibu. Silver Lake / Los Feliz / Venice / Hermosa Beach / Downtown / Long Beach / The Valley (not to mention Orange County) all have attractive pockets but are completely separate communities that take forever to get to and from.
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Was eating a Benny’s cali burrito as I read this. Solid spot
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My first LA experience was thru work back in pre-9/11, on the cusp of the dot com bubble bursting. Big Tobacco client flies whole team out, working on speculative “digital experience” in case federal govt allows them to peddle coffin nails to kids online. Insists we stay at the Mondrian, despite focus group location being what felt like 9 hours away in traffic. (Anyone remember those specialty flavored Camels?)
After C Suite gravy train is over, a couple co-workers stay the weekend and book a room at the Travelodge Santa Monica. They gave them the adjoining room half for what was obviously supposed to be for “the kids.” Everything in the room was covered in the Travelodge Sleepy Bear. Quite the venue shift. 
Biggest regret form the Trap Draw: wish I could have painted a picture of who makes the city really go. Obviously the east side is Mexican culturally, and you’d do well to learn about the different regions of Mexico, because you can feel the difference when you’re here. For example, Sinaloans are wild as fuq. I dated a Sinoloan woman (briefly) a few weeks ago and she had the most pimped out Silverado I’ve ever seen. I took that as a a clue. People from the DF are very much like people from NY or another major city. People from Guadalajara are very different from Oxacans, etc. etc. etc.
Korean culture is strong here, worth visiting. Armenian, Persian, Jewish pockets- of course we have a Chinatown and Little Ethiopia. You name it, we have it. But I’d say Mexican, Korean, Armenian, Persian and Jewish ethnic groups are the strongest.
And I was ready for some movie talk. I even made a list of the three movies that I think best define life in LA:
Chinatown, important for it’s historical reference.
Magnolia, because we are all broken on some level, no matter what you might deduct from appearances.
Collateral because it shows the mandala that makes Los Angeles Los Angeles, and is beautifully shot when amber lights still danced on the dark streets.
LA is cool. Really cool. But 48 hours don’t go by that I don’t stop and think “why, of all places, do I live here” because it’s a fairly illogical place to live.
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My in-laws are Korean. The food there is amazing. Attended one of their weddings one year, reception was at Armenian event hall, which it seems the Armenians have that on lock? Food was unbelievable.
I lived on the east side of Monterey Park my first year in LA. Monterey Park is where the first Chinese immigrants settled in LA and it borders East LA. Having authentic dim sum or posole at a moments notice did wonders for me on Sunday mornings.
Had a buddy who lived in k-town and it’s like an entirely different world. Like lines out the door of restaurants and bars at 1 am on a Wednesday different. People living entirely different lives than you. For my money Dan Sung Sa is one of the best restaurant experiences in the city. Supposed to close at 2 am but as long as you have a credit card you can eat all the small plates and drink as much hite and cloud you can fit in your body.
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A million percent. LA after midnight can be magical, terrifying, exhilarating- all of the above. Years ago I went to a party at a restaurant off La Brea and when I walked in all I smelled was weed and cigarettes and all I saw was cleavage and Russian dudes with Affliction shirts and it was on until like 5am. Crazy.
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Figured my man Laz for the occasional Chez Jay or Dan Tana’s appearance.
I was surprised at your opinion ranking Manhattan and Redondo ahead of Hermosa. I lived out there for a summer in the mid 90s when I was in undergrad as a summer employee at one of the aerospace companies when I was in college (actually lived in Torrence) but spent all of my free time in the South Bay. I thought that Hermosa was the best. I decided to not take a full time job out there after undergrad and often wondered what might have been if I had moved out there.
Also, would like to give a plug for the Hermosa Beach House Hotel. Great place for a long weekend beach vacation - took the kids there a few summers ago and the four of us loved it.
First off, without sounding like a total bootlicker, @Lazstradamus was a tremendous guest. Such an easy voice to listen to.
I’ve got family in the valley and have traveled a lot to LA and the surrounding area for work and vacation. It still feels exotic to me. I’m realistic about the gross disparities in wealth, but that’s true of all big cities in America.
A few takes:
Santa Monica is wonderful in my opinion. It would be ideal for my wife and I to retire to. Not sure about the finances, but people seemed really healthy there, for the most part. The Fairmont Santa Monica is phenomenal.
Wendy’s chili is the bomb. When I started fellowship in Ann Arbor the hospital had the busiest Wendy’s in the country. So many nights spent eating two bowls for dinner. Also Wendy’s fries are the best and I won’t entertain other opinions. Props to those who dip them in a frosty. The burgers are meh. Taste like sausage to me. Five Guys all day for fast food burgers.
I wasn’t blown away by Malibu aside from its natural beauty. That said, drive up to Malibu Seafood fish market and patio cafe. Seriously one of my favorite meals ever. Great food and great scene.
I would have loved a discussion about the donut scene in LA. There was an amazing long form piece in the Atlantic a few months back on how the freeways and commuting culture led to the development of many donut shops that were owned by immigrant families and gave them a pathway to prosperity. Highly recommend.
Sounds like Laz is super connected in the high end golf scene in LA. DM me if you want to think about a possible quid pro quo round at a club here in the Midwest that you might be interested in playing if you’re in the area.
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Good times
Actually been meaning to get back to LA, haven’t been since - that city is incredibly intriguing to me.
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It’s this line of thinking that ended up with Elisa Lam in a water tank at the Cecil Hotel. Be careful.
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Pedro was also a tuff scene @Lazstradamus. You can’t shit on Pedro (all warranted though I’ll say) and then pronounce it incorrectly!
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San Peeeeedro, home of Mike Watt and The Minutemen. Fucking legends.
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All mispronunciations considered great pod @Lazstradamus. I’m originally from the Monterey area and my wife is from RPV (Pedro adjacent), and we’re currently living in Ohio so we typically swing through the Peninsula and LA at least once a year to visit our parents. This pod left me wanting to get back to LA and explore… the Monterey pod on the other hand left me wanting to avoid Carmel and surrounding areas at all costs haha
That was one weird tragedy
Dear @BrysonsLats please return to our fair hamlet sometime soon. As a former Petros & Money Show listener, I clearly know how The Ole P says “San Peeedro” so to hell with him and the longshoremen’s union (who are selfishly the cause of the bottleneck we are all struggling with.)
You want the feel-good story about how a handful of southeast Asian families used donut shops to give newly arriving relatives a chance to build their own American dream selling one old fashioned at a time? Or do you want the the darker, they all take “cash only” because they are laundering fronts for some of the biggest Asian crime syndicates in Southern California? Both are true.
There are two donuts you must try. Sidecar (Orange, CA and Santa Monica) and the cronut (half croissant, half donut) at DK’s donuts (Santa Monica- you guessed it- cash only.)
I’m from the Midwest! Really hope to see you at Maxmania. Fun story…I was dating a woman not long ago and made mention of “yeah, so I don’t really live a quid pro quo kind of life. Do things because they are right, just, or just plain feel good. Not because you want something out of it.” Soon after making my Marcus Aurelius-like stance, she stopped calling me, which turned out to be a good thing because the next person I dated was great on a million levels.
Also, please use italics when using Latin or any other dead language (ducks) in the Refuge. @Sarah makes the rules, we all just live by them.
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