LA Trip (April 2024)
02 December 2024Los Angeles (and Disneyland)
In April 2024, we took a week long trip to Los Angeles/California, and in the tradition of trip diaries like London and Paris before it here it is.
We managed to park the van and walk in enough places as the map below shows. The tracks we took each day are in different colours, which are mentioned in the titles for each day. The track for Disneyland is split in its own map as part of day 3 since Anaheim is so far from the rest of our walks.
Day 0 (April 5)
A few days before our trip Air Canada kindly changed the time of our connecting flight in Toronto. They gave up a longer layover but that led to them letting us rebook on a different flight if that worked better. It was great because we were able to book the direct flight the night before our original flights and avoid having any connection.
After an uneventful direct flight from Montreal to Los Angeles, we walked to our hotel (Courtyard Los Angeles LAX/Century Blvd) and went to sleep.
Day 1 (April 6, black on map)
Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at Trimana (5901 W Century Boulevard, Los Angeles) where I ate breakfast nearly every day when I was in LA for the Delta project back in 2017. It was still just as delicious and the staff were as friendly as I remembered.
After breakfast, we walked a big loop around Westchester through the residential areas near the airport. Of course, we ended up at In-N-Out (9149 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles) for burgers, shakes and fries for an early lunch.
We jumped on the Big Blue Bus to Venice using the Transit app buy our tickets, which include 2 hours of transfers to Big Blue Buses. These buses are a good option if you have a long layover at LAX because they run frequently, buying tickets is easy and they take you straight to the parts of Venice and Santa Monica that you would most want to see. We got new goodr sunglasses at their Cabana (1348 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice), walked the canals of Venice, along the beach, and to Marina del Rey before hopping back on the bus to go pick up our rental van.
We walked to the rental place from W Century Blvd, under the train construction and past the massive new rental car centre (not open yet at the time). There are bike lanes that look amazing. Next up, we found a spot for our van and walked over to LAXit to pick up Doris’s parents (abuelitos) before driving to Santa Monica where we would stay for one night.
We had dinner at Tu Madre (606 Broadway, Santa Monica) where the service was bad, the bathroom doors didn’t lock, but at least the food was good. While we were waiting to be seated we saw a bunch of Coco robots waiting outside for delivery orders to be loaded up. Robots roaming the streets would be a theme of the trip and we saw them out the windows as we drove everywhere.
We stayed at the Hyatt, which was pretty nice for the night. It was when we got to bed time that we realized bunny tutu had been left behind at the Courtyard in the morning. (Disaster!)
Day 2 (April 7, purple on map)
Sunday started with breakfast at Urth Caffé (2327 Main Street, Santa Monica) and a walk along the beach, Santa Monica pier and along shopping streets. We had lunch at Barney’s Beanery Santa Monica (1351 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica) where we may have been the only people not there to watch the NCAA women’s basketball final. The food was good and the servers were all friendly.
Luciana met up with us and we headed off to Anaheim. For dinner, Doris and I left everyone behind and ate at California Pizza Kitchen (321 W Katella Ave, Anaheim), which was about as you would expect from a chain in the resort area.
Day 3 (April 8, pink on map below)
On Monday, we went to Disneyland and it was a big day. We left the park for a nap after lunch so that we could stay until the fireworks in the evening. We all had a fun day. Especially after the child got over her fear of the characters and could take photos with them (after Mickey’s house, but thankfully before running into Minnie out in the park).
Day 4 (April 9, teal on map)
Tuesday started out with breakfast at The Brunch Cafe (3100 E Miraloma Ave, Anaheim), which was delicious and large portions. This powered us for a drive into Los Angeles.
We walked around West Hollywood most of the afternoon until our AirBNB was ready. We had a delicious greek meal at Nick the Greek (7077 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles) and I would recommend if you are looking for fast food in the area that has a lot of options.
Day 5 (April 10, blue on map)
Having stopped at Whole Foods the night before, we ate breakfast at the AirBNB before heading out on a walk to Levain Bakery (227 N Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles) for delicious baked goods. Along the way we saw plenty of wild houses (both in size and shape), but there was always a sidewalk that continued along our route. The sidewalks make LA a great walking city even though the distances can be very large.
We met back up with the abuelitos for lunch at Sushi Ajito (1302 Highland Ave, Los Angeles) where they were very friendly and the food was all delicious. [I see they are temporarily closed at time of writing and I hope they reopen so others can enjoy.] On the way back to the AirBNB, the child asked me to turn down a street and there was a playground there, so we played there for quite a while. Eventually, I convinced her to go get a popsicle on the way back to the accommodations.
In the evening, we all took a drive along Wilshire with a small walk around in Koreatown.
Day 6 (April 11, red on map)
Thursday was downtown LA day. First stop was The Broad, which had a great mix of art media and subjects. My favourite was Kehinde Wiley’s painting “Portrait of Malak Lunsford II”. Next up was the central library. This was my second visit but the first time I go to see the great children’s reading room.
For lunch, we all went our separate ways in the Grand Central Market. I had an amazing (and it better be for the price after exchange rate) sandwich from Ghost Sando and we picked up a selection from The Donut Man. The mandatory next stop was the Bradbury Building followed by an afternoon walk through Little Tokyo, the Arts District and to Union Station. We then headed back up the hill to the Walt Disney Concert Hall where we had parked.
Last up was Beverly Hills for a walk along Rodeo Drive, which for obvious reasons was too expensive for my taste. More aligned with my tastes was dinner at Shake Shack.
Day 7 (April 12, orange on map)
Our last full day, took us to Barnsdall Art Park and Griffith Observatory. We walked down from the observatory to the playground at the bottom in Griffith Park. Our delicious lunch was at Home State (4624 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles).
During nap time, Doris and I escaped for a fast walk from the accommodations to Los Angeles County Museum of Art to see the lamp posts and the boulder. Finally, for dinner we picked up Doris’s sister and cousin to join us and the abuelitos to eat at Inti Restaurant (5870 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles). This was a great Peruvian restaurant for such a large group and we all left quite full.
At bed time, it seemed the child had had enough and said “another sleep and I go back to my house”.
Day 8 (April 13)
We got up quite early to drive to the airport and drop off the van before catching our direct flight back to Montreal. The gas station was conveniently located along our path to the airport and the shuttle was fast to the terminal. All three of us have Nexus cards, so pre-check security was a breeze leaving us with plenty of time to have coffee and eat before the flight. Using the ARTM’s new (at the time) in-app OPUS card reloading, I even bought my day pass to get home from the airport in Montreal.
Bunny tutu finally got home on May 19 after a very expensive plane ride courtesy Ileftmystuff.com.