4 things: the LA edition

i've been tagged by the lovely maria from franklin avenue for the 4 LA things meme, a variation on the '4 things' meme which i secretly wanted to be tagged but haven't; anyway, this is better!



Four Jobs I’ve Had In My Life in LA:

• clerk at texas records in santa monica
• deejay at KXLU (listen to the molotov cocktail hour, it's still on!)
• door person/bitch with the VIP guestlist at neely o'hara's (a '70s-inspired club in the mid-'80s--seriously waaaaaay before its time)
• intern at enigma records in (gaaah) el segundo

Four Movies About LA I Could Watch Over And Over:

• swingers
• clueless
• the big tease
• anywhere but here

Four Places I’ve Lived All Over L.A. (With Food Memories From Each):

• mckay residence hall at loyola marymount university in westchester (that's near the airport); i managed to get out of buying the mandatory meal card, but i still ended up eating a lot of burritos at the lair, in the student union. and burritos from campo's. mmmm, that chile relleno burrito was freaking awesome.
• random apartment building behind the travelodge/denny's on century blvd, LAX. basically an off-campus dorm, everyone was from LMU. my roommate, tricia, introduced me to the wonder that is trader joe's. our weekly shopping list was pretty much the same: applesauce, granola, cheap cheese, tortillas, juice, peanut butter filled pretzels. college life! at that time, tj still was a clearing house for test products and one-off production runs; the best thing that came out those odd products was definitely the dark chocolate covered strawberry ice cream dove bar. deeeeelish.
• condo on 8th street, behind the mutual benefit life building, mid-wilshire. i have no idea what that building is called now, but it was where the offices of dirt, boy version of sassy! magazine, were. food was fantastic then, that whole '80s emergence of great california chefs: mary sue and susan at border grill on melrose, then the late, great city restaurant (chicken mousse stuffed canneloni, fried sage), evan kleinman at angeli (the best panzanellain the world,tonno verde-like an italian niçoise ), michel richard, wolfgang puck, joachim splichal....can't think of the rest, but that's a pretty good list. loved mandarette on beverly (lion's head soup, tofu with century egg), but also ate at the beverly center a lot: mon kee west, kisho-an (sesame chicken karaage), irvine ranch market (forerunner to bristol farms, surely), viktor benes bakery....hey it was the '80s! conspicuous consumption!
• current flat, kabbalah heights, beverly hills adjacent. everything farmer's market: soft shell crab po'boy at the gumbo pot, early morning cappuccinos, pecan and butter slathered belgian waffles at that waffle place that used to be in the middle, kitty doughnuts at bob's. oh, great thai food at thai house on pico and of course, cuban food from versailles.

Four LA-Themed Shows I Love(d) To Watch:

• gidget
• robbery homicide division-the most realistic looking la show, imo.
• mv3-okay, it wasn't so much la-themed but la-based--it was one of the first video shows on, with crazy pogo'ing la teenagers. heavy emphasis on british new wave. i swear, it's one of the reasons i moved to la. sad.
• it's like, you know...-i loved everything about this, especially that they shared their fascination with high-speed chases with me.

i'm starting to get into the closer more and more....and i'm probably the only person who's looking forward to watching heist. which means it will get cancelled after four episodes.



Four Places I Would Vacation At In LA:

• winter weekend in downtown la: i'd stay at the biltmore, have the buckwheat pancakes and cheese omelette at the original pantry, take a stroll down olvera street, spend a few hours at MOCA or the library, then lunch at grand central market. back to the downtown standard rooftop bar for sunset drinks, dinner at ciudad, ice skating at that downtown on ice (no, it has nothing to do with meth!), and maybe back to the standard for a late night movie projected on one of the neighbouring buildings. end the night with a bowl of ramen at daikokuya. sunday i'd go the mass at the cathedral of angels, then dimsum brunch in chinatown, and spend the rest of the afternoon taking photographs of the old theatres, the fantastic mexican accordian shops, the bustle over at santee alley. i'd end the day by buying a couple of french dip sandwiches at philippe's, some tapioca pudding, and hopping on a train out of union station :)
• spring in hollywood: i'd stay at chateau marmont, in bungalow #1. i'd had breakfast at the 101 coffee shop, then go to the hollywood farmer's market and pick up stuff for a picnic later at griffith park, above the observatory, at dante's view, or if i'm totally out of shape, just at the berlin forest. or ferndell. i'd then go to a movie at the arclight, go to grauman's and look at all the footprints in the cement and hang with the tourists who are just discovering how grimy hollywood boulevard really is, maybe have a fast game at lucky strike. i'd then have the garlic clam pizza at miceli's, head to mashti malone's for some persian ice cream for dessert, buy a couple dozen cds from virgin or tower to play while i indulge in some moonlight swimming back at the chateau.
• summer in santa monica: i'd stay at the casa del mar, just because i've been curious about that building for forever. i used to walk by it almost everyday and just imagine what it must have been like when it was a beach club in the 1930s. i'd walk to figtree's café on the venice boardwalk, where my favourite waiter in the entire world works--he's casual but professional, he's helpful but doesn't hover, and best of all, he totally coordinates my coffee cup to my outfit. they have a great tofu reuben, too. i'd do some window shopping on abbott kinney, then walk down the boardwalk back to samo, to the pier, where i'd spend most of the day just taking photos and people watching. i'd have dinner at ocean avenue seafood, or maybe the lobster. the next day i'd go to the getty, and take a long drive up the coast to ventura.
• autumn in the south bay: oh what the heck. why not. i've never been to catalina, it's been a long time since i've been to belmont shores in long beach, disneyland, or the aquarium at san pedro. and when was the last time you shopped at south coast plaza?

Four LA-Based Websites I Visit Daily:

• defamer
• franklin avenue
• los anjealous
• curbed la

Four Of My Favorite Foods Found In LA:

• lamb french dip at philippe's
• apple sushi at hirozen gourmet
• tamales at gallego's
• the chocolate chip danish at J & T bread bin in the farmer's market. honestly, i don't know how they do it--everything tastes a little stale even though it's fresh out of the oven. call me crazy, but i love the stuff from here, from the raspberry hamentaschen to the lurid green pistachio bundt cake.

Four Places In LA I Would Rather Be Right Now:

• hanging out mid-city with cyrano
• hanging out in burbank with bekki and dave
• hanging out in the hills with my cousin, normal
• hanging out in my flat that i haven't been in in over a year!!!!

sniff. i miss la.

Tagged:

• tokyoastrogirl
• yoony
• bramble
• any and all la food bloggers!

thanks maria, that was fun!