Tra-la-la

Trip Start Feb 03, 2011
1
Trip End Dec 10, 2011


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Flag of United States  , California
Sunday, April 3, 2011

Not being a tourist in LA was fabulous.

Instead I had three months of seeing the city as a local. I rented an apartment in Silverlake with friends, I signed up for loyalty cards with supermarkets and pharmacies, I discovered local taco hotspots, I made some friends, I saw some sneak previews of new movies, I bought a car and had it towed three times.

LA has never appealed to me as a place to spend my precious holiday time, but when the opportunity to move there with friends came up, I jumped at the chance. Experiencing a different side of LA helped me to appreciate the vastness of the city and meant when my friend came to visit from home, I could show her a whole different scene to that of grungy Hollywood and Disneyland that seem to headline the tourist experience
Walk of Fame
Walk of Fame
.

I did do some touristy things. Of course, you can't discover a new city without doing so.
The non-touristy gems I discovered were:
  • Dollar tacos at Malo, W Sunset Boulevard on Mondays
  • Frickles (fried dill pickles) at Birds Cafe on Franklin Avenue
  • Australians in Film screenings and q&a
  • Arclight Cinemas
  • Walking to the Hollywood sign
  • Vintage shopping on Magnolia Avenue in Burbank
  • Walking around Silverlake reservoir
  • Coffee at Silverlake Coffee on Glendale Boulevard
  • Cheap laser hair removal in Glendale
  • Quesadillas and breakfast burritos at the Hollywood Farmers Market
And there are still some other things I want to see when I go back:
  • Tacky tourist bus tour
  • La Brea Tar Pits
  • Museum of Latin American Art
  • Historic Downtown
I guess that's one of the things I often do in my travels. I like to leave more reasons to go back. I'll never "tick and schnap" everything on the list.

Things I Learned
* LA is definitely a car city. I didn't once take public transport because it was harder than figuring out how to drive on the other side of the road
* Buying a car in LA is a recipe for being ripped off
* Despite the amount of American media we are subjected to, there is going to be cultureshock if you move here
* The personal check is still alive and well in America

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