A Walk Around Echo Park Lake

 Los Angeles, CA

We took a walk

Echo Park Entrance

Today was a day where we had no plans listed on our calendar.  We slept in, made coffee, blogged, and lounged.  We had some leftovers for lunch and then decided to walk to Echo Park.  It's about a mile from us and a mile around so we were committed to a 2 mile walk.

The view of the park on the approach

Entering Echo Park

There were quite a few more people in the park on a Tuesday at 1pm than I would have thought.  Maybe people taking late lunches, maybe people "working from home".  Francis got to meet a few nice dogs and we met a few nice dog owners as well.  When we got to the lake I saw a Black-crowned Night Heron fly into the reeds so I started a bird list.  I haven't done much birding in LA County so I figured this would be a new bird and I was right.  I picked up 3 new birds for LA County, Black-Crowned Night Heron, Brewer's Blackbird, and Barn Swallow.  

One bird that we saw that wasn't new was the Canada Goose.  It's breeding season so we saw probably 100 in different stages.  

We were carful not to get goosed

Echo Park was founded in 1892.  In addition to being here during Canada Goose Breeding Season, we are also here for the Lotus Bloom! The bloom is celebrated with a festival that is in its 41st year.  The festival celebrates the people and cultures of Asia and The Pacific Islands.  

A few different varieties of Water Plants

Water Lillies

The Bloom!

An interoperative sign

Francis isn't really in a headlock,
it just looks that way

We continued our walk around the lake looking at birds and seeing the sights.  Another thing Echo Park Lake is known for is their Swan Peddle Boats.

The boats lined up and ready to go

We are still considering if this is something
we want to pay for. Donna pointed out that it's
cheaper per person than a beer at a comedy show

The last sight for us to see was the WPA era statue.  The Queen of the Angles or Lady of the Lake as it is affectionately called stands with its back towards Downtown Los Angeles.  

The Lady, a Swan Boat, The Fountain,
and DTLA in one shot

Francis sniffing around the statue's plaque

After our walk we went home and I took a nap because I can!  Later we had Happy Hour and then made dinner.  We used up all of the ingredients we bought at Numero Uno Market the other day.  Black beans, Soyrizo, potato, and avocado make a nice bowl.

It's fun to go out to eat but making food at home
is fun and it really helps save on money.

Last night we went to a comedy show.  Check it out here.

Going Out on a Monday Night (Because we are retired)

 Los Angeles, CA

Taking it easy

Francis can teach us all something about relaxing

Today we had two things planned. I had a call with friends to talk about our investment strategies and we have a comedy show tonight at 8pm (doors open at 7pm).  This leaves most of the day for lounging and paying attention to Francis.

The call went well and I was able to answer their questions about our strategy which, at a high level, can be found here.  It's a counter intuitive approach because there isn't a lot of effort.  In fact the more effort you put in the worse things tend to go historically.  My favorite quote about this type of investing is, "Don't just do something, Sit there!"  This is my kind of work!

The rest of the afternoon we did more planning, I tried to recover from my all day heartburn (stupid jalapenos, why do I love you so much!?), and Francis got three walks!

Francis likes to follow the sun

The sun moves up the couch in the morning so Francis does too

Francis loves his walks

There are many fruit trees in the neighborhood
we are staying in

We may have sampled some of the fruit

This is what happens to those impersonal
phrases that people hang on their wall. 
The sign says, "Where you go, I'll go".
I guess we have to follow this to the dump.

Hot Tub Comedy

We have tickets to Hot Tub Comedy hosted by Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal.  They host a comedy show at The Virgil every Monday Night.  Tickets are a very reasonable $8.  I became of fan of Kurt from his Roustabout videos on Comedy Central.  He and a bunch of other comedians road jet skis from Chicago to New Orleans.  It has everything I like, Adventure, Comedy, fun facts about the Mississippi River, and Road Tripping (well river tripping at least).  He currently has a podcast called Bananas where he and a host and a guest go over crazy news stories. 

We caught the bus at 7pm and we were at the door by 7:25.  I was surprised to see how early people go there to get seats but we were able to get some barstools at the end of the bar near the stage but not in the "we will interact with you" area.  Sadly Kristen was off doing something very important, but this meant Kurt got to introduce all of the comedians and do small sets between each one.  It was fun to see him try out new stuff that doesn't quite work.  He was really honest about the process.  He would say something and the reaction he got would be less than he had expected so he would say, "well I am going to rewrite that one", or "that one needs a better finish:".  Here are the comics that performed;

Connett Croghan - He doesn't seem to have a great online presence but he was very funny

Caitlin Peluffo - We thought she was fantastic

Lili Michelle - She was really funny

Melissa Villaseñor - She was the most polished of group and she appears to preform a lot.

Ahamed Weinberg - He was funny too

Wolves Of Glendale - I can't really find anything by them either.  They were a trio that sang funny songs

The Club at Sunset on Santa Monica Blvd.

It was pretty full when we got there.  I guess it isn't cool to wait
until the last minute anymore. 
Also we were age appropriate for the crowd.

The bar that serves $12 10oz-ish beers

My beer appears to be 10oz-ish

Kurty B, the host!  Sorry for the blown out photo. 
He is very white

The Wolves of Glendale preforming

After the show we exited the side of the theater and all of the comedians were out mingling with the audience.  It's a cool thing that happens at small shows like this.  We decided to try to take the bus home so we walked back to the stop.  The bus was what we call a Ghost Bus.  It never came so we took a Lyft home.  We had a great evening.  It was a cool LA thing that we felt right at home at.  AND!  We don't have to go to work in the morning.  :)

Read all about yesterday's adventure here.

Cancelled Plans Don't Cancel The Day

 Los Angeles, CA 

Spoiler Alert, we ended up at the beach

The Change

Yesterday (well really it was the day before yesterday because I write about yesterday today) we got a call from the friend that we were planning on hanging out with today and he was feeling under the weather.  We were supposed to go to The Academy Museum.  He sent us the tickets and said to go without him and that we would meet up later in our stay.  That didn't sound very fun because we wanted to go with him so I looked into it and you can change the dates of your tickets (in the Covid time you have to pre-arrange some of the things you plan on doing because Museums and places are limiting the number of people that can attend each day).  He got back to me and said the tickets were successfully changed for a future date to be blogged about later so we had a free day!

The Pivot

We spent the morning catching up on some life stuff, going over future plans, blogging, reading two newspapers (The LA Times and The Seattle Times), and Donna contacted one of her college friends, Dana.  They had talked about getting together but never made solid plans.  It ended up that today was the day to meet up.  We would meet for lunch at The Redondo Beach Brewing Co.  Donna kept me informed of the plan while she was texting Dana so I looked up the brewery to research which beer I should have.  Turns out it is more of a tap house than a brewery.  They have a bunch of different beers on tap that they don't brew themselves.  Cool!  I saw some good beers and I decided what to eat while in my lounging attire (the future really is fantastic, you can go to places and see things before you ever go there).

Doing the thing

Today was the first day we had to use our car since getting here.  Getting it out of its tight parking spot was easier than getting it in (you can read about that here).  We plotted a course to Redondo Beach and hit the road.  Both Donna and I don't ever recall being in Redondo Beach so this will be something new we never did when we lived in the area.  The drive took us from CA110 to Interstate 110.  I never realized that the freeway changed from a State Route to an Interstate.  We also noticed other road geekery stuff like the fact that some signs say Route 91 and other signs call it 91 Freeway.  I didn't take photos because I was driving but it is this kind of stuff that got me into Roadgeekery and noticing things like this.  We got to Redondo Beach and secured metered parking. There really isn't any free parking down there.  The Brewing Co didn't have a parking lot.  It is just what you expect when living here / visiting here.  

Lunch was great.  We caught up with our friend Dana and met her partner Fernando.  I had Dingo Magic by Modern Times Brewing.  It was a solid IPA.  Everything Modern Times does except for their growth plans.  I had Nachos for lunch which were great but I am regretting as I type this the next day.  Heartburn!  After lunch Fernando treated us to a coffee from HI-Fi Espresso.  We had a nice walk along the beach talking about surfing and volleyball as I got distracted by birds.  

I don't drink coffee much in the afternoon
but when I do it's great!

I didn't take many photos because I kind of got lost in the moment.  The weather was great, the coffee was great, and the company was great.

This is the only other photo I took. 
It's a Picasso and it will be priceless one day.

They had afternoon plans and we had some real world stuff to do (buy coffee and dog food) so we said our goodbyes and vowed to get together again before we move on to the next place (Denver).  

On the way home we stopped by Trader Joes and bought coffee.  This was our first trip to Trader Joes this year and I doubt we went last year.  It is a big change from going there every week at points in our lives.  After Trader Joes we swung by PetSmart and got Francis a bad of dog food.  When we got "home" I was able to easily get the car back in its tight space and we watch some of our free TV and had a slice of pie for dinner.  It ended up being a great day and we still have the day that we originally planned to look forward to!

Yesterday we got a wonderful tour of Downtown LA from a friend.  Learn all about it here.

The DTLA Ground Tour

 Los Angeles, CA

Don't set up your rainbow umbrella cart here

We have a big day planned

This morning we got up and had our coffee.  We have to fuel up for our Downtown LA tour.  Our friend Doug is meeting us at Union Station and then we hit the city.  Later this evening we meet up with his wife and our friend Julie and we go to dinner.  We took the opportunity of possibly having visitors to straighten up the house and I took the opportunity to take some photos to share.

It's important to have good seating for both lounging
and eating / working on your computer

A kitchen is also essential to help keep costs down. 
A TV is also pretty important

We need at least a queen size bed

We also need a washer and dryer.  This place ticks all of the boxes

Taking the bus to Union Station

We started off walking to the bus stop in front of the horrible Target.  The weekend bus schedule is pretty sparse so we had 1 to choose from.  It appears the bus runs every 20 minutes on Saturday but we were seeing every 70 minutes in the app so not sure what was going on there.  Right now the bus is half off due to Covid.  We each had our $1.75 in exact change for the ride.  The plan is to buy transit Tap Cards at Union Station.  When the bus arrived we both dropped our change in the slot and chose a seat.  The ride was easy and the bus was very comfortable.

Riding in style

The reserved seats had different upholstery
which I thought was cool

It wasn't very crowded and the temperature was perfect

We got off the bus and decided to walk the rest of the way to Union Station.  We could have taken another bus but the walk was short enough and it was a nice day (Surprise!  A nice day in LA!)

Cool Public Art in Fletcher Bowron Square

A really cool pedestrian bridge 

A plaque on The Federal Building

More public art and a few tents

A Road Geekery photo

One of our checklist items was to visit Union Station.  It's a beautiful build with Art Deco elements.  It was build in 1939.  The station is a hub for Metro Busses, Metro Rail, Metrolink, and Amtrak.  We got to the station and I started snapping photos.  The goal was to make our way to the Metro area and buy a Tap Card from a vending machine there.  The card costs $2 and then you can add passes and cash value to them.  It makes riding transit easier and more affordable because it stores 2 hour transfers that you don't get if you pay cash.

The building is Art Deco, Mission Revival, and Modern

The Sign says it all

Cool sign at the entrance

Some Art Deco for you

Cool Information booth

Art Deco seating

The ceiling is awesome too

Heading back to Metro Rail

We met Doug, got our tap passes and got on the Purple D Line and headed to our first stop, sushi lunch!

Doug and Donna under the Metro Rail Sign

The Red and Purple Line Map

Stand behind the Yellow Safety Line

Rail carried the same design for the seats as the bus
but the seats weren't padded and the design wasn't cloth

Tips for staying safe on Metro Rail

Lines are now lettered and colored. 
Before they were just identified by color

An art installation at the station

Doug took us to Sugarfish, a laid-back sushi place with great food.  We all got the chefs tasting menu called Trust Me.  The food came in waves so that we could enjoy each dish at its optimal temperature.  Everything was delicious.

I don't take very good photos of food so this will have to do

My photos don't do it justice but oh well

Next we went to a patisserie to window shop.  We didn't get anything but everything looked fantastic.  

I sent this photo to my sister and brother-in-law
and they asked for one of each

Our next stop was The Millennium Biltmore Hotel.  It is a really beautiful historic hotel and they have a hallway with pictures including photos from when the hotel held The Oscars back in their early years.  

The beautiful lobby

Guests on opening day in 1923

Care for a cocktail?

Looking down into the restaurant

Our next stop was The Los Angeles Richard J. Riordan Central Library.  Libraries are fantastic.  Many of them have great rotating exhibits and tons of benefits.  A library card can get you free streaming movies, free e-books, and even free State Parks Passes and Museum Passes.  You should check out what your local library has to offer you!

The art starts at the door

Awesome murals and a really great light fixture

A closeup of the globe light fixture

More art

Who knew that there would ever be an exhibit on
street art in a public library?

Looks like a nice place to read a book

There was a small installment featuring circus images

More images from the Circus exhibit

A tangle of acrobatic women

A totally rad ceiling mural in the library

After the library we walked over to FIDM (The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) to visit their thrift store and small museum.  The museum is currently featuring movie costumes.  It was a great little free museum.  

Doug and I hamming it up

A costume from Cruella

A costume from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

A wider shot

Costumes from Black Widdow

Another costume from Cruella

Our next stop was a coffee shop to help us fuel up again.  We went to Matte Black Coffee.  The coffee was very good and the décor is just the thing for people that want to Instagram their coffees.  

More merch than coffees

Am I Instagram worthy?

Donna showing us how nice it is outside!
Good thing the coffee is cold brew.  

Our next stop was another architecture stop.  An old theater was taken over by an Apple Store.  It is an impressive space and they restored a lot of elements to help preserve the theater.  The Apple Tower Theater opened in 2021.  The theater originally opened in 1927.

The Stained Glass entry is amazing

What you get when an Apple Store and
an old theater have a baby!

Now thirst was starting to kick in so Doug took us to a hip Agave Bar called Las Perlas.  We each had a drink and enjoyed the space.  

Cool lighting

They also had a patio

I made an animation!

Well hello!

Our next stop was right across the street at Cole's.  This place claims to have invented The French Dip.  It was a cool old bar and they made a great Old Fashion.  

More stained glass

A delicious Old Fashion

Old lights hanging from the ceiling

Looking towards the bar

After taking a Lyft back to the Airbnb and feeding and walking Francis, Julie picked us up and took us to The Arts District.  We had reservations at Bestia.  It was a great place and it was great to catch up with Doug and Julie.  

An artsy unhelpful shot of the menu

The Bar at Bestia

After dinner we explored The Arts District a bit and then it was time to head back.  Doug and Julie dropped us off at our Airbnb but we agreed to meet again before we leave LA.  When we got back we greeted Francis and started watching the latest season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Good and Evil meet in The Arts District

The state of our world right now

We got a slice of pie to bring home for later

If you want to read about our chill day yesterday look no further, it's here.