So my roomie, R, is pretty cool for several reasons, one of them being her love of Art Deco buildings, and another her generosity with her time and her willingness to take me exploring. She grew up in LA, so she's got the insider's scoop on the coolest spots to visit. Yesterday, she took me to East LA and then Downtown.
East LA has a strong Hispanic presence, so it's a great place to go for real Mexican food. R is Mexican, so she was able to tell me a couple of things about real Mexican food (RMF). Firstly, all that cheese? That's not a thing. RMF only has one type of cheese, a moderately strong white hard cheese, that they don't use nearly as liberally as their TexMex counterparts. Also, they serve tortilla with everything. We went to Guisados on St Louis, a bonafide RMF place.
R started off by ordering us something cool and refreshing to drink: horchata (rice, cinnamon, sugar, and cream, served with ice) and jamaica (hibiscus flowers soaked in water with added sugar). Sublime.
Then she rattled off an order for tortillas with various toppings:
There was also rajas con crema (grilled peppers in a cream sauce), which is utterly divine.
After lunch, we visited her sister's first grade classroom at a school in LA, which she's busy setting up - the school year starts on Monday. It's her sister's first year as a teacher, so it's pretty exciting!
After that, the three of us headed off to Downtown LA ('...linger on the sidewalks, where the neon lights are pretty') so that I could see some of the beautiful old Art Deco and other buildings, some of which are dilapidated and crumbling, and others that are being restored and preserved. We stopped off at the Blue Bottle Coffee Co in the Arts District, an up and coming neighbourhood close to Downtown. I had a cappucino, in spite of the heat, and I was so glad I did. It was possibly the best coffee I've ever had: spicy, smooth, aromatic. If you ever find yourself there, have one. Apparently their iced coffee is pretty excellent too, but I like my coffee hot. They roast and grind the coffee beans on site. GM, this is a place after your own heart.
Once we'd had our caffeine fix, we drove up and down and all around Downtown, my head out the window, snapping away with my phone (I'm always so paranoid that I'll drop it!). Some of those buildings are simply exquisite and not only the Art Deco ones. Apparently, there's a drive to restore them so that they don't disappear. I don't know why I like Art Deco so much. I know I couldn't understand the appeal when I was younger, but now I adore them. I think it's the lines, and windows, and their quirk. There were also a whole bunch of old theatres - too exquisite. They always make me think of Howard Roark, which I suppose might not be too far off, as the Fountainhead was published in the 1940s. Right timeframe, no?
(Disclaimer, I don't have a lot of pics of Art Deco here, but there were many, and they were beautiful.)
The Wiltern is actually in Korea Town; we saw it on the way home from Downtown. It might be my favourite.
They're apparently in the process of restoring Clifton's Cafeteria. Crossing fingers that it reopens while I'm still here!
I love fire escapes.
