california

Redondo Beach on the day of our arrival.

By some miracle of modern medicine (a combination of Tamiflu and painkillers) we both managed to make it to America alive. I got through immigration and customs in record time–about three minutes. My foreign national boyfriend? Not so much. He got through in just shy of two hours.

Whenever I travel to LA, I make a terrible tourist. We don’t really do that many touristy things–I think the best we managed last time was a drive through all the crazy old houses in the hills and one Dodger game–and it’s more about catching up with friends, which I am glad to say we’ve done a lot of so far! In fact, it’s basically all we’ve done, not that I mind that.

My awesome friend Max was kind enough to put us up at his place in Glendale for half a week while we get our bearings and cram as much hangout time in as possible. Another miracle: everybody I really wanted to see has been available for at least a day. Nothing’s worse than flying literally halfway around the world only to find out your handful of friends who live in a given city are going to be out of town when you’re there. (Other than maybe being forced to fly out the day of your friend’s wedding, so sorry Paris and Liz!)

We did actually make it to a popular spot for tourists and locals alike right when our friend picked us up at the airport. He had wedding-related preparations for the afternoon, so after collecting us, we swung by Old Tony’s on the pier at Redondo Beach.

Tony’s is the blue octagon in the middle there.

Tony’s comes highly recommended by friends and is well known for its vintage charm and utterly laid back atmosphere. Normally I’m not quite so desperate as to pour margaritas down my throat two hours after a 16-hour flight, but the temptation was too strong. And the margarita was a damn good one.

I am also not the type of person to write lengthy, boring restaurant reviews in detail on a personal blog, so I’ll spare you that. And I didn’t eat any food at Tony’s anyway. However, I will say that if you’re in the area, it’s got a fantastic atmosphere for a drink or three with friends and I’ll definitely be back next time I’m in the area/city/country.

The next two days we spent trying to avoid walking too much in the sun, grabbing a few beers at the Red Lion in Echo Park with friends, trying out a bar-arcade in Koreatown, learning humility in the face of a pinball machine, and relaxing in a burger bar until 3:00AM watching Jaws with the sound off. Like I said, more about catching up with old friends than engaging in truly blog-worthy pursuits.

Next up, we will actually be doing something worth blogging about–we’re headed to the James Ensor exhibit at the Getty Centre, then possibly hitting the Getty Villa the next day. If you are unaware what those are, I’ll explain it next entry.