Myself, wearing a purple psychedelic print long sleeve dress with a gold scarf at the neck, and a purple scarf in my hair, standing in front of the lake that sits in the middle of Hollywood Forever.

Touring the Hauntingly Beautiful Hollywood Forever Cemetery

April 18, 2022, 5 Comments

Hollywood. The home to the stars – both living and dead. While Hollywood and the surrounding areas have multiple cemeteries where Hollywood’s elite have been laid to rest, none is perhaps more notable than Hollywood Forever. Smack in the middle of Tinsel Town, and butting right up against Paramount Studios, this is the final resting…

Myself walking along the rim of the crater.

A Hike into an Ancient Volcano along Route 66

February 2, 2022, 2 Comments

The legendary Route 66 often conjures imagery of neon signs for diners, a plethora of tourist traps, and gas stations. Something that perhaps doesn’t spring to mind is a volcano. But in fact there is a volcano right off of the famed Mother Road, and you can hike into it. The town of Amboy is…

Stepping Aboard Angels Flight, the World’s Shortest Railway

January 19, 2022, 3 Comments

When it comes to Los Angeles, often times things can disappear without a trace, and never return, but thankfully that isn’t what happened to the “world’s shortest railway” known by the charming name of Angels Flight. While on railroad tracks, Angels Flight doesn’t travel in a loop or even on flat ground, but rather at…

Myself standing on the staircase, the opposite staircase visible in the background.

The Sly Bar Tucked inside the Legendary Bradbury Building

December 1, 2021, 4 Comments

To the uninitiated, the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles may not look like much, but step through its doors and you enter into one of the most fantastical buildings in LA. Standing at five stories tall, the Bradbury’s interior is an atrium with two open cage elevators, and swirling wrought iron that cascades around…

Myself, wearing a red maxi length dress with a small print of tiny leaves, standing in front of the Pantages

Inside the Pantages Theatre: Hollywood’s Art Deco Fever Dream Movie Palace

November 11, 2021, 2 Comments

Over the weekend Patrick and I finally had the pleasure of seeing Hamilton, which also meant we got to go to the iconic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The Pantages Theatre welcomed Los Angeles citizens on June 4, 1930, becoming the last movie palace built in Hollywood. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca and owned by Alexander…

Screencap reading "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" with additional text reading "Filming Locations"

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood Filming Locations

August 25, 2021, 2 Comments

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood has quickly become one of my all time favorite movies. Quinten Tanatino’s love letter to late 1960s LA is full of wonderful details and used many beloved SoCal institutions, including a number that are accessible to the film buff! While many of the locations in the film, they “play themselves”…

Myself, wearing a black cowboy hat, black tee reading "Bounty Law" and jean shorts, leaning against a large sign reading "The Red Dog" in large red letters.

The Red Dog, the Saloon that Once Served Trigger right at the Bar

June 8, 2021, 1 Comment

When I first went to Pioneertown in 2014 with my dad, we wondered through a desolate western town where the only activity was dirt blowing across the street. Completely devoid of people, we peeked through the windows here and there, windows of legitimate businesses, though closed, and faux ones with pun based names such as…

Close-up of the neon sign atop the shack's red roof reading "Tommy's Hamburgers & Hot Dogs"

Tommy’s Burgers Turns 75

May 28, 2021, 5 Comments

Before embarking on our Koreatown tour, we stopped at Tommy’s for a bite, and it just so happened to be their 75th anniversary! This small shack might not look like much, but it’s here where chili burgers first made their mark in Southern California. Born to Greek immigrants in Oklahoma City, Tom Koulax arrived in California…

A low, single story building has an overgrown front yard area, and weeds growing through the cracks of the sidewalk. Banana trees have grown as tall as the roofline.

The Ghostly Remnants of the Old LA County Poor Farm

February 25, 2020, 6 Comments

Within the small LA suburb of Downey sits what appears to be a ghost town. A mixture of overgrown, charred, and boarded up buildings sit behind chainlink fences topped with barbed wire, and gates locked with multiple padlocks. What is this ghostly place? It is what remains of the Los Angeles County Poor Farm. For those…

Bob's, a large, long flat roof building, with a jutting pointed sign reading "Bob's Big Boy Broiler"

The Bob’s Big Boy that Almost Never Was

January 8, 2020, 3 Comments

As I’ve said before, and as many of you know, I love visiting places that let you feel like you’ve stepped back in time, and one of those places is Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey. But this place wasn’t always a Bob’s Big Boy, and it almost never was… It is no secret that…