other LA snippets...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I visited LA last weekend to visit our good friend Jon Garda. I liked LA a lot more than I thought I would. It had a unique kitschy quality that I didn't expect. I imaged an image-driven, shallow place. Instead I found great food, cool vintage shops, beautiful landscape, oh and did I say great food? I can't really imagine living there for too long with all of the driving, but it's definitely worth a visit. Funny thing- it rained two of our three days there. Sunny LA- Ha!

Here are a few highlighted moments:

Here we are at the Getty, looking over LA

There was great Mid-Century furniture shops. Here is my first vintage Herman Miller sighting. A big day in my life.

Pelicans roaming the Pier.

We went to a great arcade on a Pier where we played vintage games and redeemed our tokens for a "suprise" prize box. It contained random keychains, nail polish, whistles, etc...

Jon took us to the Farmer's Market where we ate amazing doughnuts and Crepe's. I would go to this outdoor food market everyday if I lived there.

Classic Hollywood fare

Protesters for Conan

And because it rained for a day and a half, the Valley totally flooded (notice the power line down).

If you haven't yet, skeptics like me should go to LA and be pleasantly "suprised."

Soda Pop Stop

So Jessica definitely scooped me, but I still thought it was worth a post. Aaron and I visted our good friend Jon Garda in LA last weekend and he took us around to some of his favorite spots. One of them was the soda pop stop, Galco's, an old grocery store in LA that now specializes in old time and unique sodas. It was really quite an experience. The video below will tell you all about it (we saw that guy there too!).

Here are a few pics from our visit below.

And I agree with Matt... Mint Julip does tase like drinking double mint gum.

Unfortunately I'm not really a soda person, so some of the effect was lost on me. But the whole scene was pretty awesome, and I love that this one man is trying, and succeeding, at simply pursuing something he loves in his very own way. You can order by mail here, if you so wish.

Personally, I loved the cooler filled with candy.

GOOP

GOOP is awesome. I first learned of it through Jessica's blog (another shout-out) and think its a really cool idea. What is GOOP you may ask. It is a weekly newsletter put out by Gwyneth Paltrow on a variety of topics including cooking, traveling, exhibits, fashion and the soul. So okay, my instant reaction was not to like it because it makes me cringe thinking just because you're a celebrity its assumed you know what you're talking about, but its actually quite nice and unpretentious. I recommend checking it out.

On how to build a "uniform":

On where to go in LA:

From a recommended exhibit (Elizabeth Peyton, Jarvis. 1996. Oil on Board):