I'm out of here #2: California dreamin'

California, especially an enourmous City like Los Angeles, was always something that inspired me somehow. You'll see tons of different People every day, even just like sitting in a cafe, and I caught myself many times wondering about their stories. LA is for sure the City of dreams for most, awaiting to get lucky and be discovered. Some People will succeed, others won't. Others will Keep on trying for the rest of their lives.

Kodak Theatre

Well, I didn't come to LA to become famous, I literally wouldn't have any idea where to start. I came back for the third time, just to be here. Actually just to BE. I love the vibe, the different parts of the City, you can catapult yourself in different worlds in the same place and have a bunch of good conversations. I have a lot of friends that have been here already, and everyone tells me to get a car. Why? I mean, don't get me wrong, I could totally have needed a car if I wanted to go way out of town and see places around that are far away. But I wanted to stay in the City, I wanted the Feeling to be part of it, and I wanted to be surrounded by normal People. It's nice to get a car that brings you fast to your main Destination, but actually you could miss a lot on the journey itself.
So I went by bus (yeah, by bus!), and it really isn't bad. I didn't have big schedules or appointments, so I really enjoyed the rides that took me around one hour everytime for a very fair Price ($1.75).
All I wanted was to relax, so one of the first Thing I've done was getting a spa day, including massages, the whole mani-pedi stuff that I wouldn't do in Switzerland. I even got a shampoo at a salon because I thought it fitted to the whole day :)
My rental was in West Hollywood, well surrounded by Shops and Restaurant. And the very famous madness of the Walk of Fame was a couple of minutes walk away. After regenerating from a hard year (I know, it seems I live a golden life but it can also get a wee stressful sometimes :D), I decided to take my friend Sandra and wander around to a couple of places that really are my favourites here in LA.

Venice Beach

I love Venice. I really do. It's one of those places I would like to live. It's a colorful place right on the ocean, covered in streetart, that embraces People from every class and race. It doesen't seem to matter what you're wearing, or if you feel weird: you'll find another Person weirder than yourself a couple of seconds later. You feel accepted. And it's a beautiful place as well. I've seen the best sunsets here, and I wasn't disappointed this time too. You can see how the sky gets pinker, and the colours really Change until the sun is totally disappeared. Venice offers a couple of good places to hang out as well. Treat yourself well and have a drink during sunset on the Roof of Hotel Erwin, or get a coffee just before hitting the sometimes very busy boardwalk at Cafe Collage, or if you're hungry, just have a seat facing the ocean at one of the waterfront Restaurants. There is a mexican sugar skull store that's absolutely to die for! I already bought two handmade pieces for my Apartment.

Santa Monica

Santa Monica is reachable from Venice in an approximately 45 minutes walk along the boardwalk. You can really see how the mood changes from beachy-hippie-whatever place to a very cute, more luxurious quarter. The Pier, at the very end of route 66 is a must for every Tourist. I've been there several times already and I like it how you're able to walk out over the water, go and Play games or just have a bite. Santa Monica offers also a lot for Shopping, and they really have good (italian, sorry!) coffee on 3rd street in a place just in front of the Nike store. Thai Dishes is another good Restaurant for a bite if you find yourself in the area.

Meeting my friend Will in Santa Monica

Santee Alley

I went to Santee Alley the first time. I had no idea. Usually People told me NOT to hit downtown LA. This place is crazy! You're basically not in California anymore, you're in Mexico. But you know what? It's fun! If you're not afraid of People screaming around (because it's normal, not because their angry), then go! It's a big marketplace that includes clothing stores, 1$ places to buy the impossible, and eat some real street tacos.

Tacos :)

Useful Tips:

Where To Sleep
Hollywood: If you wanna stay in the very epicentre of the Happening, and live just behind the Kodak Theatre, then I can highly reccommend the Celebrity Hotel. You'll have huge rooms for a reasonable Price.
West Hollywood: I opted for Neda's Airbnb Apartment this time. It's a two bedroom, vintage Apartment with garden and cool neighbors, you'll feel at home instantly.
Venice Beach: Hotel Erwin is the best and fanciest choice. I loved staying here and, as I've already mentioned, nobody can beat the view over Venice from the rooftop bar.

Food & Drinks
L'Assiette on Melrose is a nice Restaurant offering different kinds of meat and portobello mushrooms plates.
Dress nicely and hit the pool bar at the Roosevelt Hotel for People watching. Watch out, it's a bit pricey, and they automatically add around 10$ tip on two Drinks.

How to get around
As I told you, buses are totally ok. Otherwise Uber is another good friend too. Just in case you'll be discovered on the street and invited to an Audition you should be punctual at :)

Shopping
Mainstream: Everywhere on Hollywood Boulevard and the streets surrounding. Same for Santa Monica (Santa Monica Place)
Alternative: Venice Beach - you'll find a bunch of good stores there selling good laid back fashion
Fun and Cheap: Santee Alley7Fashion District (see above)

Coachella 2012

Being a festival fanatic took me to book a trip oversea. Me and my friend Maria were thinking about where to go for our spring vacation of almost 3 weeks, and decided to go and see what the Coachella Festival in California is all about.

Line up: Courtesy of Coachella

Since we had a long trip in front of us, we asked ourselves which combination of places would be the best fit to make this time unforgettable. The result was the following: some big city vibe in L.A., Coachella as the musical centre and a few relaxing days on our way back in Key West, Florida.

It wasn't the first time for us visiting Los Angeles and Key West. So we made Hollywood our base first, just to enjoy a bit of shopping and having a couple of good bites in the epicentre of LA's tourism. After a few days we spent the last nights in the city of angels in Venice Beach. Maria and I are pretty laid back and not big glamour chaser, so Venice Beach was perfect for us: laid back district, bohemian feeling and seabreeze.
We booked our room at the Erwin Hotel, located directly near the boardwalk. Despite the perfect location and the amazing rooms, this modern gem has a fantastic rooftop terrace where to hang out in the evening and enjoy the best view over Venice. Another good tip is to rent a bike. There's no nicer thing to do on a sunny day than cycle all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier and have some great lunch.

Photo: Courtesy of Tripadvisor

Shrimps at Bubba Gump, Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier

Being in Los Angeles was a great start, we could recover from jetlag and get in the festival mood. I had no idea what to expect and how the dimentions would be. Well, I knew for sure that the venue would be like 20 times bigger than one single festival here in Switzerland. I mean, with a huge line up like that you can get some peace of mind for the whole year since you'll probably seen all the most important and hyped headliner in one event, unless you go to one venue that's totally different, musically speaking.
We took a three hour bus ride from LA to Indio, where Coachella takes place. If I'd be there again one day, I would rearrange some things like where to stay or by renting a car. Indio is smaller than LA, but still big enough, so forget walking distance and stuff like that (I really thought I might could walk. Yeah, Europeans walk a lot sometimes). Our hotel was too far away from the venue. Fortunately we met a girl that drove us to Coachella and back to the hotel for approx. 30 bucks a day. I guess it was the best solution since making the same thing with a cab would have been pretty tragic!

Room View at Fantasy Springs Resort

Coachella was held for the first time on two weekends in a row this year. We were there to attend weekend one. First of all, I was shocked about how big the Empire Polo fields are! Once you get there, you'll walk, and a lot, trust me! Getting in takes all the standard security procedures, so no trying to smuggle some drugs in or trying to hide it somewhere (I don't do drugs, but I saw them even controlling my boots and my cigarette pack).

The festival has a great vibe and lots of extras. You'll able to find, for example, some phone charging stations and free drinking water dispensers, since you basically are in the desert. The field is decorated amazingly and there are different stages based on the music direction. 2012 is the year where dubstep became commercial I guess. As an electronic music lover I used to spend some more time around the DJ stage and I had to notice that :) One of the best sets was in my opinion the one of Martin Solveig.

The Rock and Roll soul in my tiny little body loved the Vaccines' performance. They really are young and raw rockers. Their music wants to get you a beer, jump around and make out. Classic.
Another great act was Noel Gallagher with his band High Flying Birds. Ex Oasis member mixed his show with new songs combined with some Oasis tracks. I liked it, I almost got nostalgic :)
Besides these two, the Black Keys did a great job and Radiohead was magic.

Of course urban music lovers get their stars too: this year was the turn of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, just to mention some names.

Coachella has a big food court, so you won't spend a lot of time waiting for your food. And it's incredibly clean for it's dimentions. Maybe because you'll just allowed to drink your beer or wine in the separate gardens, only minus of the whole weekend I suppose. I'm not really used to rules like that as an European, so I like to stand by the stage with my drink and sing along the band's songs. I survived, don't worry!

The best thing about my stay at the Fantasy Spring Resort, big desert hotel, was the thought to have a big breakfast the morning after every festival day. I'm addicted to egg benedict, hard to find here in my continent, so I ate them almost every day! They also have a casino - big mistake for me going down there.

Sad but true, three days of desert loving flew like crazy and there we were again, standing next to the bus to get back to Los Angeles and take our flight to Florida.

Key West is one of my personal little paradises. I love this little island, with it's small coloroued houses and turquoise sea. Once you're there, you'll immediately feel a carribbean vibe around you. Fair enough, the island is located 90 km away from Cuba and is the southernmost point in the States.
After some packed days on a big festival like Coachella and the whole travelling around, taking it easy on Key West wasn't hard. We rented some bikes to get around and enjoyed mostly a good swim, some little breakfast in a cute coffeehouse or a peaceful dinner in town in the evenings.

Practical Infos - Los Angeles

- Where to stay: for Hollywood, the Celebrity Hotel. Big beds, good location right behind the Hollywood & Highlander Centre and fair priced. Venice Beach as stated.

- Where to eat: one of the sweetest places I've been out for dinner in LA was the Barlo Kitchen. Located just in the same building as the Erwin Hotel, this little pearl of a restaurant has lots of attention for the detail and feels very intimate. Staff is amazing!

- Getting around: we were more than happy with our few bus rides and the cabs. If you wanna move faster you should rent a car in LA. For bike rentals I was super satisfied with the Venice Boardwalk Bike Rental.

Coachella

- Tickets: Subscribe the Coachella Newsletter! Tickets go on sale for the first time one year in advance special priced, all other around 3 months before the festival. I love to risk sometimes so I booked mine one year in advance with no line up out yet. Mine was a VIP ticket, with special allowance to a separate area, different drinks and food (General Admisson gets only beer as an alcoholic beverage) and normal toilets. Price was around 150 Dollars more expensive than the General Admission Ticket. It was totally worth it, I loved my wine! :)

Coachella Goodies

- Where to stay: be early with this! Look for hotels near the Empire Polo Fields or get an apartment or a room on Airbnb in that area.

- How to get there: You can fly over LAX to Palm Springs or take a bus ride with Greyhound directly to Indio.

- Other: wear sunscreen and a hat. Being in the desert during the day can get more than hot, you shouldn't melt on the venue, you should be able to enjoy!

Key West

- Where to stay: The Ibis Bay Resort right out of town offers big rooms and provides bikes for free. They have a very good restaurant on the water called the Stoned Crab. Seafood and Key Lime Pie are just yum!

- Where to eat: Despite the Stoned Crab, Key West has a lot of restaurants to offer. Try the Hard Rock Cafe: it's totally different than the classical ones, in this cute wooden house.

Photo: Courtesy of Tripadvisor

 - Other: Key West is a gay friendly island. You can totally feel the tolerance in this place, where everybody can be however he likes, without being judged. We went to see the famous drag queen show at the 801 Bourbon Bar. It was so welcoming and entertaining that we went twice! :)
Also interesting for a visit is the Southernmost Point and Ernest Hemingway's house.