#10: Wholesale Flower Market in Downtown

When my friend Hillary got engaged, she got a fairly large, good quality diamond for only $800. Say whaaa?? All thanks to the Downtown jewelry district, a place where wholesale jewelers display their diamonds and other gems for fancier retailers to pick up, mark up, and sell for 10 times (or more) the wholesale price. There are several sections of the Wholesale District, and the best part is that they are all open to the public! As long as you can wade through the foot traffic, (and successfully navigate AWAY from Skid Row) you too can buy diamonds, or clothes (from the fashion/garment district) or rugs and fabric (from the textile district), or seafood (from the warehouse district), or toys (from what else, the toy district), or, for the case of this post, FLOWERS from the flower district, all at wholesale prices!

I have always wanted to go to the flower district, but it's just one of those things you never really "get around" to doing. For one, it is only open till noon on Saturdays (and closed Sundays) so it's something you have to plan for, wake up for in time, and get there before all the "good" flowers are gone. I knew that if I didn't put this on my list, I would probably never go, for one reason or another. But quite unexpectedly, I had a VERY good reason to go last weekend.

2011 is a big year in my family, mostly because it's the year that I turn 25 (hah hah) but also because both of my parents turned 60 this year. And seeing as this was the first "milestone" birthday for them where my brother, David, and I weren't starving and selfish college students, we decided that in addition to getting them presents, we (including our significant others) would each get them 60 of something.

After a few days of having NO idea what to get my mom (my dad was easy, I got him 60 Boeing airplane paper clips) I decided to try to get my mom 60 flowers. She has always loved flowers, as every woman does, so I thought it would be neat to get her 60 different stems. And where better to get them than the wholesale flower district in downtown!?

So, on the Saturday morning in April when Ronny and I were going to drive to my parent's house, we got up at 7:00AM (the horror!) and drove into downtown. It was a lovely morning with blue skies and no traffic, and we were able to easily find metered parking for $3 for an hour.. unfortunately, in my worldview that's reasonable.

Ironically enough, it's worth noting that the flower district is on Wall Street. In New York, it's high-powered fraud machines who brought down the world economy, but in Los Angeles, it's pretty flowers! I'll take LA over NY any day for that reason alone.

After paying the $1 entrance fee, we entered the market, which is really a large warehouse filled with dozens of booths for each of the local growers. Flowers were EVERYWHERE. We decided to do a lap around all the booths, to see what our options were. I very quickly realized that I would not be able to get 60 different types of flowers for my mom, so instead decided to get her as many different bunches as I could. I hemmed and hawed a lot, and I'm sure I REALLY tried Ronny's patience, but after our first lap, I had decided on which flowers I wanted to buy my mom.

I got her:
-Irises
-White snapdragons
-Red gladiolas
-Mini sunflowers
-Pink tulips
-White calla lilies
-Peach roses
-Greens

For a total of 63 stems plus greens, we paid just over $40. That's about the price of a dozen roses with baby's breath from a florist! The most expensive bunch we bought was the 2 dozen peach roses for, wait for it... $11. All the other bunches cost between $3-$5, and I think the dozen tulips were $8.

But most importantly, my mom was absolutely THRILLED with her gift. We bought enough flowers to make her 5 arrangements, which she then spread out around the house, and even took one into work.

I was very happy with the whole flower district experience, and definitely want to go back again. I probably won't drag Ronny the next time, because even though he was such a trooper and carried all the flowers for me as I pranced around the warehouse, I could tell he just really, really wanted to go back to sleep. Next time I will bring a wagon and let Ronny sleep!

From the outside

Inside the flower market warehouse


Me with all the bunches we bought. I must say, this is not a very representative picture because Ronny carried them the WHOLE time, and I only held them for the photo-op

The finished arrangements

Oh, and just in case you guys were curious, here's what everyone else brought 60 of:
David brought them each iPods with the top 60 songs from 1969, the year they graduated high school
My brother's girlfriend Stephanie brought my dad 60 golf tees (just enough for one round, in his words) and my mom a jar of 60 different buttons for crafting
Ronny, besides putting in pretty much ALL the effort for my mom's flowers, also brought my dad 60 mini Snickers bars

#30: Thai Town

One time I was looking for an antiques shop on Hollywood Blvd, and very quickly realized that I had missed it somehow. But instead of turning around I decided to keep going, just to see what the famed street would turn into after the "walk of fame" part ended. I soon found myself driving through Little Armenia, and then a few blocks later, Thai Town. Who knew?

I've eaten Thai food a few times, but for the most part I've stayed close to the "Americanized" pad thai's and the like. But since I want to travel to Thailand in the future, I decided that I should try some real, authentic Thai food. And where else to go, besides the neighborhood with the highest concentration of Thai people in the world, outside of Thailand?

The only problem was, as any Angeleno would know, is that the further east you drive... the more sketchy it is. Thai Town was no exception. We parked in a well-lit Ralphs parking lot and walked past the "Thai Town" sign (photo op) and headed to our restaurant. On the way:

Me: Ronny, are you prepared to beat off any guys that might attack me?

Ronny: Um... no, I'm not going to beat off anyone.

Me: WHAT? You won't protect me??

Ronny: ....

Me: Hehe... oh.

Yeah, that happened.

We walked to a small shopping center that was full of different Thai restaurants, and just looked in the windows to pick which one we wanted to eat at. We weighed crowd, menu, grade in the window (no B's please!) and decided on Red Corner Asia. It looked contemporary, but authentic without being dirty, and had a good mixed crowd of people inside.

After looking over the menu for a few minutes, I realized that every single dish had a chili pepper symbol next to it. Basically meaning that every single thing on the menu was spicy. As many of you may know, I cannot eat spicy food. And it's not that I don't WANT to enjoy it, but eating spicy food literally makes me feel like I want to die. I asked the very pretty, very Thai-looking waitress if the "mild" version was still spicy. She very emphatically nodded her head yes. Great.

I decided to order giant shrimp topped with coconut curry sauce, and Ronny got the "red door special" which was a full fried fish. I also insisted on an order of crispy spring rolls and coconut sticky rice, just in case I couldn't eat my entree due to spiciness.

The rolls and the coconut rice were delicious. The coconut rice could easily have been (and probably was) a dessert, which I was happy to eat before dinner. When our food arrived, Ronny immediately dug into his fish, but was unimpressed. I struggled with the shrimp, simply because they served it to me whole and I couldn't get the meat out. So yes, I had to pass it over to my more skilled boyfriend, who cut it up for me (and stole quite a few bites for himself). The sauce was a yellow curry, with coconut milk drizzled on top, and it wasn't really all that spicy. The shrimp were cooked well and was enough food for two, and we walked away full.

After we finished dinner, we were going to walk around a bit to see if there was anything worth seeing in Thai Town. There was the "Thailand Plaza" (but with the burned out neon lights it just said "and Plaza") but most of the Thai markets inside the plaza were already closed. There wasn't really much else to see, and it is obvious that Thai Town is not a "tourist" destination. But I did learn that it isn't far from where I work in Hollywood and I wouldn't mind going back.

Even though we went to Thai Town and had "authentic" food, I question how authentic it is to actually get "mildly" spicy things when actually in Thailand. If I ever go there, I will prepare myself to eat lots of rice and vegetables, which probably wouldn't be a bad thing!

Street sign announcing Thai Town on Hollywood Blvd.

My jumbo shrimp swimming in yellow curry sauce with coconut milk drizzled on top. Yum!

#19: The Price is Right

"YOU'VE JUST WON.... A NNEEEEWWWW CAAAARRRRRR!!!!!"

Psh... I wish. But that was the hope, anyway!

For my first day off in 2011, I decided that instead of sleeping in and relaxing, I wanted to get up earlier than I do when I go to work, drive to CBS Studios and sign up to see a taping of The Price is Right. Ronny, ever the good sport, took the day off with me to participate.

I have always heard that seeing a taping of The Price is Right is something that you "must" do if you are in LA. Maybe it's just one of those things that out-of-towners think is glamorous and "cool," because I never really saw the appeal. But, I figured that I should see for myself what all the hype is about!

On the days that they tape TPIR, they have two tapings a day. One is at 12pm, the other at 4pm. In order to get into the noon show, you have to show up (no joke) no later than 6am. Since there was no way in hell we would get up that early for pretty much anything, we signed up for the 4pm show. CBS suggests you get there at noon. A few Google searches of other people's experiences recommends you show up at 8am.

Ugh.

So before we even showed up, we knew we were in store to wait a minimum of 7 hours before the taping would even start. We groggily showed up at 9am and received little pieces of paper that represented our spots in line (even at 9am we were 91 and 92. The guy who was first in line got there at 6am... crazy!!) We were then told to come back at noon. So luckily that gave us time to go to brunch. We went to Blu Jam, which I have always heard good things about but have always avoided because it's always SO crowded on weekends. I figured this sunny Monday morning was perfect. We had a lovely brunch, and Ronny gave it a 4-star Yelp review.

Our bellies full, we headed back to the Grove where we had to park. I convinced Ronny to let me go to Anthropologie for a bit, which he obliged to but I think it was only because Mario Lopez was just outside Anthro taping for that night's "Extra" episode. (Ronny's justification: "Who would pass up an opportunity to see AC Slater in person??!"). We watched him talk for a bit about how Charlie Sheen had bombed his first show on his comedy tour... ironically enough, Mario messed up a bunch of times himself and they had to keep re-doing it.

Around noon we headed back over to CBS (which is walking distance from the Grove shopping center). We then sat for about hour. Then they started lining us up, putting us in order of which we first arrived. After we were all in order, we each had to fill out a form with our names and social security numbers (to claim prizes I guess) and then wait in ANOTHER line to get our name tags. We were then shepherded to another long row of benches where we waited to get interviewed. We waited there for about an hour (it's now around 2:00 pm) before our group of about 15 people was called up to be "interviewed" by the show's producer. All this interview consists of is the producer going down the line, and saying "Hi Susan! What do you do?" and pretty much the crazier and louder you are, the more likely you are to get chosen as a contenstant. Obviously, Ronny and I weren't CRAZY enough, and neither was anyone from our group.

After that, we are herded around a corner to wait in ANOTHER line to then check our cameras, phones, all other electronic devices, and go through a metal detector. These security guards should be employed by the TSA - they caught EVERYTHING. I have never seen a more thorough bag search! I guess they have a lot to lose if someone uses their phone to look up the prices of bleach and dog biscuits.

Our only source of entertainment gone, we now had to sit on ANOTHER row of benches with nothing but a CBS magazine to entertain us. I read some of the articles (obviously, focused only on CBS shows) and I think Ronny was trying to count his eyelashes or something. Since we were in the 90s, of over 300 people, we waited for about 45 minutes before everyone filed in. THEN the TVs around us turned on, and we were able to watch a recent episode of TPIR, plus a short video about crazy contestants. That was another hour.

When we were finally herded into the actual studio, I got a kick out of how it is soooo obvious the studio hasn't been updated since the '70s. I mean... pastel rainbow curtains on either side of the stage. Flower-power flowers galore. It was fantastic. When we were directed to our seats, Ronny and I were excited to see that we were sitting 2 rows behind the "winners row" where people make their initial bids to get on stage. We thought it was cool, but soon realized how EXHAUSTING it would be, since we were constantly on camera, we had to be cheering and shouting out numbers constantly as well.

Unfortunately, my Bucket List good luck ran out and neither of us got called down. But either way, the actual taping of the show was a lot of fun. Drew Carey was really funny and personable, and told us long jokes and talked to the audience a lot when they were on commercial breaks. From the few times I've seen shows tape, the hosts usually completely ignore the audience when the cameras aren't rolling (I'm looking at you, Nick Cannon!) so it was actually quite nice . The energy in the room was crazy, though I'm sure it was mostly fueled by a lot of jealousy of people that came from all over the country hoping to get called down, and didn't.

Some of the prizes were totally ridiculous. One girl won an RV trailer, another won a dictionary set.

The girl that won the Showcase Showdown was really sweet. She had just gotten married, and they had just bought a house, so winning a new car and $10,000 plus some trips was really life changing for her. Her excitement was infectious and I was happy for her! (and laughed a little... I mean I'll take the 10k but really, who wants a Dodge Charger?).

And then, just like that... 70 minutes later it was over. Time to go wait in line to get our cell phones, and go home.

So like I said, the taping was a lot of fun, but the ridiculous amount of waiting

and waiting

and waiting

and waiting involved with getting into the taping was hardly worth it. If you were retired and had as much time in the world as you wanted, I would say HECK YES go see a taping (but try not to sit where you will be on camera a lot, or you might wear yourself out!). But if you're like me, and taking the 1 day off led to almost 100 emails in my inbox on Tuesday.. it's not the best use of time. But I'm really glad I did it! Now I can check it off and move on with my list. :)

Look Mom, I'm on TV!!

#35: The Magic Castle

Magical.

I know that's the one word I shouldn't use to describe my experience at the Magic Castle, but that's really all that comes to mind. But start to finish, the whole experience was down right, freaking MAGICAL. The fact that I even got in, magical. Participating in a show with my boyfriend, magical. Grilled salmon over lemon risotto... not quite magical, but certainly good enough!

Hopefully this means I have all my "magicals" out of my system, so now I can get on with telling you about my... AWESOME... evening at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

The Magic Castle is an exclusive magic and supper club, pledging to "encourage and promote public interest in the art of magic with particular emphasis on preserving its history as an art form, entertainment medium, and hobby." However, they aren't so keen on letting just "anyone" from the public come in and enjoy the magical arts. To even get into the building, you must have a personal invite from a "member" of the castle. And to be a member, you have to be affiliated with the Academy of Magical Arts (aka be a magician), or be able to afford a $1000-a-year membership. So for the most part, I really thought that this was the most unattainable goal on my entire list. I don't know anyone involved in "the magical arts" and I certainly can't afford the membership fees.

But luckily for me, I am blessed with a really amazing network of friends. I was at coffee one Sunday morning with my old office manager and dear friend Chanon, and was telling her enthusiastically about my list. She has lived in LA forever and knows everyone, and was delighted to tell me that one of her friends is a member at the Magic Castle. She said she would see if he could get me an invite. I had the invitation (good for me + 7 people) in my inbox Monday morning!

I first had to decide on a guest list... which was tough because I have so many friends that I wanted to share the experience with. Obviously, I invited my bf Ronny, who had never heard of the Magic Castle but was more than interested once he looked it up on Yelp and heard great things about their lamb dish. Next was my friend Kaio, who was actually the first person to ever tell me about the castle and had been wanting to go forever, and his lovely girlfriend Regina. I had to include List regulars Meaghan and Tracy, since they are always game for new stuff, and rounding out the bunch was my roommate Jannine and her good friend Erika.

When I called to make the dinner reservation (required if you want to see the shows) they had me on hold for 10 minutes. Which wouldn't have been all that bad if I could have listened to music or something, but instead I had to listen to a voice recite the dress code to me over, and over, and over, and over. So by the time they actually picked up my call, I knew the very strict dress code by heart. Formal attire, no denim, no jackets with zippers (?), men must wear a tie, but an ascot or "jeweled collar" (??) would be acceptable. Hollywood is weird sometimes.

I was so excited that I had a reservation at the Magic Castle (!!!) I called my mom to tell her all about it. I guess when she was at lunch the next day, she mentioned it to one of her coworkers, who just so HAPPENS to be a life member of the MC! So random but unbelievable! As soon as she heard that I was going, she was giving my mom lots of tips to tell me, like how to dress (she was once sent home for being dressed too casually and didn't want that to happen to me!) as well as menu options, etc. She also gave my mom a VIP pass, which would waive the $25 door fee for me and Ronny. So now I have $50 to spend on another thing from my list. Thanks Judy!!

When the date of our magical (sorry) evening arrived, we all dressed in our fancy best and carpooled up to the castle. Our dinner reservation wasn't until almost 10:00pm, but we arrived around 8:00 to catch a few shows. In order to enter the club from the lobby, we had to whisper "open sesame" to a bookcase, which then opened into a door. Pretty cool. The castle is set up in a maze-like way, with twisted hallways and steep staircases and secret doors. There are several bars, which on a busier night I can just imagine being filled with glamorous looking people whose fancy shoes are too uncomfortable to stand in for very long. We ordered a round of drinks from the main bar and got in line for our first show.

Also, it's worth noting that the week we went was the "Magic of Spain" week, and most of the performers that week were from Spain (with a few from Portugal). So all of our magicians had pretty thick accents and were very charming.

The first show we saw was in the "close-up" gallery, which is mostly sleight-of-hand card tricks. And I must preface it by saying, if this was the only show we had seen, I would still feel like it was worth my time, money, and effort to get into the castle. The things we saw in this show, were straight up, jaw-on-the-floor, your-logical-mind-is-trying-to-explain-it-but-you-just-have-to-resign-to-calling-it-magic AMAZING. The magician sat at a table, with about 20 people sitting in front of him, and proceeded to pretty much blow our minds. Mind you, we were sitting less than 10 feet away. There were tricks where someone picked a random card (a king) and then the next 3 cards the magician flipped over were the other 3 kings. Or when he waved a 7 of spades and it literally turned into a 3 of hearts in front of our eyes. WTF!!?!! But the best, the very best trick, was what he called "oil and water" where he had about 8 cards in his hand, mixed red and black, and he would snap his fingers, and when he turned over the 8 cards they were sorted into all blacks, all reds. Then he did the same thing with 4 cards. Then, he tapped the top of the rest of the deck, turned it over and the entire deck was sorted. He hadn't even touched the deck in almost 5 minutes! I just know my words aren't doing justice here, but when we walked out of that room we were all completely speechless.

The next show we saw was a bigger show, with maybe 50 people in the room, and one magician on a small stage in front. He started off the show asking for a "bill" but with his thick Spanish accent, not many people understood him. Ronny understood him and pulled out a dollar bill and waved it. The magician asked him to give it to his lady friend (he pointed to Tracy, who is Filipino, because obviously the 2 Asians would be the ones dating) but of course Ronny gave me the dollar to take down to the magician. The magician then asked me if I would participate in his next trick. HELL YEAH!

First, he handed me a scarf, which had a green border and was plain white in the middle. He then asked me to fold, fold, fold the scarf, and when it was small enough to fit in my fist, to put a rubber band around it and hold it tightly in my right fist. He then asked me to call down another participant from the audience, and was debating which of my friends to call down, when Ronny gave me a big ol' wink from the audience. It was so cheesy and cute, so of course I called him down to help. The magician then presented Ronny with a deck of cards, asked him to shuffle and then pick a card. The card was a queen of hearts. He then had Ronny wave his hands around the queen, then told me to open my fist. The green-bordered scarf was still there (I had been holding onto it the whole time) but when he asked me to unfold it, I started unfolding, and instead of being plain white in the middle, a queen of hearts was now printed on the silk. WTF?!?!! I was RIGHT THERE and I still don't know how he did it. Amazing.

For the magicians next trick, my friend Kaio got called down, and blah blah blah ended up pulling an 8 of clubs out of an orange. The card had a corner torn off of it, and that corner piece perfectly matched a scrap that had been in Kaio's hand since the beginning of the trick. Pre-tty crazy.

After that we headed to dinner, and as you can see by my below post about Matsuhisa, I'm not very good at reviewing restaurants. But I can say that I had a very enjoyable dinner. The restaurant part of the club is in the middle of the second floor, but seemed very intimate and fancy. The food was a bit expensive, but the grilled salmon over lemon risotto that I ordered was really good. Ronny loved his lamb, and Regina and Meaghan both were loving the butternut squash ravioli. We did have a very interesting appetizer called "Portabello fries" which I immediately said no thanks to, since I gave up french fries for lent. But it turns out these were actually grilled Portabello mushrooms, which were then rolled in beer batter and fried. Deelish.

Our food took quite a while to come out, so by the time we were actually eating we were already late for our scheduled show (with a dinner reservation, you are guaranteed 1 show, all the other ones are first-come-first-served). Since we were guaranteed that show, the entire show had to be delayed so we could finish our meal. Which is fine, it's what we paid for, but it was a little annoying having the wait staff breathe down our necks to finish.

The third show, which is supposed to be the "spectacle" show, is so flashy and Vegas-y, and was truly just so, so cheesy! Sleight-of-hand to me is just so much more fascinating and requires more skill. But these flashy shows are all the trick contraptions, and loud music, and the "hot" magicians assistant (but this one was pretty busted, honestly). I guess I will just never look at those kinds of magic shows the same again after seeing Gob on Arrested Development swing his hands in the air and create "illusions" with "Final Countdown" blaring in the background. This show was slightly more refined, but I still would have rather just sat in the close-up gallery instead.

After the big show, we tried to catch one more show before leaving. This show was a bit different, in that instead of a designated start and stop time, its just a room where you can take a seat, order a drink, and every couple minutes a different magician will come out, and they rotate all night. But when we went to that lounge, it was already full and the people there weren't budging. So we called it a night.

When we were waiting for valet to bring around our cars, our heads were just swimming! Kaio and I were still trying to explain how the queen of hearts showed up on my scarf, and he thinks he knows how the 8 of clubs ended up inside the fresh orange (I call BS) but it was a lot of fun to digest the whole experience.

If anyone ever has the opportunity to go to the Magic Castle, I would question why they would hesitate for even a second. Yes, it's a bit expensive with the mandatory dinner and the $25 door fee, but it was WORTH. EVERY. PENNY to be entertained and see things in a way you can't really see many other places. The Magic Castle is world-renowned in the magician community, and it is considered a crowning achievement of ones career to perform there. So these performers are truly the best of the best. I hadn't even left the place when I was already thinking how I was going to ask Judy (Mom's coworker) for another pass!! Highly, highly recommend!!!

All of us in front of the "open sesame" bookcase.

#9: Art Walk in Downtown

My fabulous friend Jacob (who also gets credit for enlightening me on Drag Queen Bingo) has been telling me for years about one of his very favorite things to do in Downtown LA - the Art Walk. I see him commenting about it on his facebook every month, and seeing as Jacob is really a Downtown Guru of sorts, I took note that this must be something to check out.

I did a bit of research into this "Art Walk" before making my plans. It turns out the Art Walk is part of an effort spear-headed by community organizers to bring art, culture and involvement back to Downtown. Just like most big cities, parts of once-vibrant Downtown LA have become run-down, dirty, and just unappealing to people in general, to visit or to live. Over the last 10 years, Downtown has had a bit of a revival, and millions and millions of dollars have gone into revamping old buildings into super-trendy lofts, cleaning up the streets (literally!) and organizing events that will bring people into Downtown. The Art Walk is one of those efforts, aiming to highlight local and independent artists, galleries, musicians, shops, restaurants and cafes, to not only Downtown residents, but to visitors (like me) as well.

So what started as a map-guided tour of the independent and unusual art galleries has since turned into a once-a-month block party. It's actually more like 7 blocks, so you can imagine how much fun it is.

The Art Walk happens the 2nd Thursday of every month. I decided to go with my good friend since middle school, Sona, in March. She has recently moved Downtown to attend med school at USC, and hasn't had much time to explore. From her apartment, it was only about a 10 minute walk to Spring and Main Streets, where the majority of the action happens. We at first weren't quite sure how much further we had to go, because we didn't see anyone around. But we turned a corner and were greeted with the smell of taco trucks, loud music in the distance, and lots and lots of people on every corner.

We walked towards one of the crowds and were kind of swept into a gallery. The gallery was actually more of a clothing store, with racks of (surprisingly) fairly affordable clothes, with some for-sale paintings on the wall. On top of this high platform, probably 20 feet up, a DJ was spinning some hipster sounding music.

The next gallery was similar, but was more art-focused instead of clothing. My favorite from this gallery was a painting of an owl with a jetpack in outer space.

Our next stop was a little out-of-the-way cafe, where their nightly special was $3 sangria, which was pretty delicious and hit the spot. We took a seat on a couch next to a group of people from Planned Parenthood (who, like many other organizations, take Art Walk as an opportunity to spread the word about their work, services, etc to young adults). It was an open-mic night so we got to hear some good, and some really bad, poetry.

While sipping our sangria we came across a pamphlet for the MONA, aka Museum of Neon Art, which was located just around the corner. I insisted we go. The museum was really really small... like smaller than some of the galleries we had visited, but the stuff inside was so unusual and interesting. Huge wall-sized installations, sculptures, signs and other random pieces, all done with neon lights. There was a back room with more art that you had to pay to see, which we skipped, but I definitely plan on going back there on my next trip.

After the MONA we walked through a few more little galleries. The best part about this is that even though people hand out maps and guides of all the galleries, they are all just next door to each other, and you can hop from one to the next. Some other highlights from the next few galleries included a pile of cookies in the corner of a room (Sona ate one, I had a bite), and very graphic and close-up photographs of different types of piercings.

We decided to hop over to another street, but on our way we passed a cupcake shop, and I have to give them credit for an awesome tagline. When I see a bake shop with the words "FRESH MOIST FANTASTIC CUPCAKES" proudly displayed in their window, I will most likely stop in. There's nothing like some effective and efficient marketing. The shop was called Big Man Bakes, and they were giving out free mini cupcakes. We got a free carrot cake cupcake and bought a large red velvet cupcake to share. I must say, the frosting was AMAZING and both cupcakes were delicious. As we were leaving the shop, a very large black man in an apron walked in and everyone started cheering. Apparently he was the "Big Man" and owned the bake shop, and all the cupcakes were his recipes.

Along the walk, there are lots of people walking around handing out fliers and free stuff. We each got free tank tops from American Apparel and lots of literature about different galleries and events in downtown. But the funniest exchange happened when a good-looking Latino guy handed Sona a brochure for an eyebrow threading shop, and she wailed out "OH NOOO!! Does this mean my eyebrows look bad?!??" and hurried to pull out her mirror to check her brow situation. The guy was just handing out fliers to everyone, but Sona thought he was trying to hint something to her. I was cracking up, but this guy genuinely felt SO bad that he had offended her. They later bonded over talking about Indian dancing, apparently he was a dance major in college and had taken particular fondness to the type of dance that Sona partakes in occasionally. This is an example that there really is every type of person at Art Walk.

After that we walked through the first floor of a very old looking building, which had been transformed from an abandoned, useless space into a mini-marketplace where people could sell their wares. It was like a more hipster version of the Venice Beach boardwalk, with a very eclectic selection of hand-made jewelry, vintage clothes, records, and even bicycles, among other nick-knacks. I bought a really awesome necklace for $10 and Sona got a shirt and pair of earrings. In one corner, a guy was free-styling, and on the other end of the room there was another DJ.

It was after this that Sona and I decided to call it a night. As we left the last gallery to head home, we passed by a person on the street that was dressed as a green furry duck-looking thing. As in, you couldn't see their face and they were completely inside this duck-platypus-bird costume. Sona was completely enamored and insisted we chase it down to get a picture. Of course the platyduckbird was running away from us and I was laughing so hard the picture actually came out pretty blurry, but I'm sure she still cherishes it.

I am finding it very difficult to explain to you here the types of people you see at the Art Walk. You are constantly working your way through crowds of people, and they seemingly come from every walk of life. Some of the more scene-ster types obviously live in downtown, but there are plenty of normal people, business men, hippies, etc all enjoying the local art and music scene. It was really so much fun and when I got home I felt like I was on a cloud. Sometimes I get stuck in my little bubble and I forget to experience things outside of it. But going to Downtown always is an exhilarating experience for me, because at heart I'm still a small-town suburbanite who wonders how she ever made it to the Big City. Being a part of the Art Walk makes you feel like you belong to this big-city scene, no matter what your interests are, where you live, what you do, where you're from, etc. It was a truly awesome experience and I can't wait to go back again!

Sona with the green furry bird creature

"Installation art"... I don't get it, but it sure was tasty!Art at the MONA

Outside the Museum of Neon Art

#20: Chinatown

The other day while driving to my closest Home Depot, I drove through Little Ethiopia, Koreatown, and Little Armenia. And that's just around Hollywood. This city has dozens of cultural neighborhoods, like Little Tokyo, Leimert Park (African), Historic Filipinotown, Fairfax (Jewish), Olvera Street (Mexican), Thai Town, Little Moscow, Little Saigon, and of course, Chinatown.

Only a few of these made my final list, but Chinatown was the first one I wanted to visit. Not to mention the fact that my boyfriend is Chinese and has been dying to show me some "authentic" Chinese food. After San Francisco's Chinatown failed us with "Americanized" food, we set our eyes on LA's main Chinese neighborhood. Ronny picked out three restaurants, one for dim sum, one for noodles, and one for seafood.

We drove through the Dragon Arch, found parking, and began our tour. I wanted to go to dim sum first... because to me it is the tamest and has the most options. I wouldn't call myself a "picky" eater per se... but when it comes to unusual things I've never seen or heard or tasted before (and when I can't even read the menu to find out what's actually in it!), I have some hesitation. We met my friend Marsha at the dim sum place, which... Well, I think it's best described by Ronny's Yelp Review:

The place is very dirty, tables cleared off with a quick swipe of a wet rag. There was a dude just sitting in there tweaking out and asking people for money. Nothing looks too sanitary.

But... unusual cleanliness standards and strange patrons aside, the dim sum was DELICIOUS and according to my Chinese boyfriend, incredibly authentic! Ronny, Marsha and I ate till we were full, for less than $15 total. We got steamed BBQ pork buns, pork shu mai, shrimp har goa, and this weird sweet crumbly pastry that was neon yellow. It was all delicious and filling. Oh, and Ronny gave it 4 stars on Yelp, and that's saying something.

After dim sum we walked around some of the obviously touristy gift shops. I wanted to get a little souvenir, and went through several shops deciding between a small Buddha statue, a paper lamp, a money tree, along with lots of other super random Asian things, before settling on a small red good luck charm keychain thingy. There were actually some pretty interesting, inexpensive things around, but I didn't want to push it.

The "strip" of Chinatown, since it's really just one street with all the shops and restaurants, seemed to be centered around Mandarin Plaza, which is a mall of sorts, filled with Asian-interest shops and vendors. Though it all seemed a bit touristy to me, there was one thing that made it feel more Chinese. A woman was playing some sort of flute instrument on the steps of the Mandarin Plaza. I don't know what the instrument was called, but I'm pretty sure it has been featured on every single Asian movie soundtrack released in Western culture. It just sounded very stereotypically Chinese. I also thought the lady looked like Wing (from South Park, and an actual Chinese celebrity) but Ronny said that was racist.

It is worth noting, also, that I saw something I've never ever seen before. You know how MOST restaurants have a big blue A posted in their windows, showcasing their Health Inspection rating? Well for the first time in my life, I actually saw a C in a window. In normal LA, a "C" would put a company out of business in a minute. But in Chinatown this stuff doesn't matter as much, because the food is so good!

One of these lovely "C" restaurants was our Noodle House. The three of us ordered 2 bowls of noodles and soup. One was egg noodles and one was rice noodles, and both had meat and seafood. By that time in the afternoon, it had gotten a bit cold and overcast outside and the noodle soup was very satisfying. Only downside is we had to order cans of Coke because the water glasses were very dirty.

After that we were so full, we didn't even go to the seafood restaurant. And honestly, noodles is one thing, but I REALLY don't want to order fish from a place that probably has rats in its kitchen. Marsha left, and Ronny and I walked the length of the street, then turned around to go back to our car.

My takeaway from Chinatown: if you want to find authentic and incredibly cheap Chinese food, this is the place to go. But if you are expecting banners and buildings that make you feel like you are in China (or even in a touristy Chinatown!) you will be let down. It was really only one street (Broadway) and I really didn't get a taste for Chinese culture. Honestly, having a meal with my boyfriend's mom teaches me more about Chinese culture. It certainly wasn't as quaint as the Chinatown in SF, and it's not NEARLY as big as expected (in my perception, it's a fraction the size of Koreatown). But I had a lovely afternoon trying new food, and was definitely a great experience! I look forward to checking out other ethnic neighborhoods in the future!

The most "Chinatown-esque" decoration in my opinion: banners on the light post reminding everyone that this is the year of the Rabbit.

I was too busy stuffing my face to take a picture of the dim sum when it first came out.

The Dragon Gate that you drive through to enter official Chinatown

#6 Lakers Game

My friend Meaghan is from Iowa, and though she complains about it constantly (all the snow, no cell service, horse-and-buggies instead of cars) according to her, the hands-down #1 worst thing is that she doesn't have a single professional Iowa sports team she can root for!! As my favorite Real Housewife from Atlanta, Dwight, would say, HOW DREADFUL!! Truly, one of the blessings of living in Los Angeles is that you can be a fan of the LA Dodgers, Lakers, Galaxy, Kings, Angels OR the Clippers!

I love being a sports fan. A good game on TV can spice up an otherwise boring day, the fan community is exhilarating, and when your team wins, you feel the win too! The only reason I had never seen a Lakers game at the Staples Center is because they are pretty expensive, but 2011 is the year that I focus on spending my money on making memories, not just filling my closet. When my BF told me he had found decent tickets to the Lakers vs. Bobcats game for an affordable price, all I had to do was customize my yellow Lakers shirt and dig out some purple Mardi Gras beads and I was set!

We decided to skip the expensive mess of parking in downtown, and instead took the subway from Hollywood to the 7th St. station in downtown. I had only taken the subway once before, and it was so easy and inexpensive... I really look forward to the day when public transportation is a viable option in this city!

Once we got downtown, it was an easy 10 minute walk to LA Live and the Staples Center. We found our seats (first row of the upper section) and eagerly watched the teams warm up. Even from high up, the players looked like beasts! Much bigger than they look on TV. We enjoyed the game, especially the Camacho Nachos that Ronny ordered. I'm sure that meal was about 2,000 calories of cheese, chips, guacamole and pure deliciousness.

The Lakers ended up winning the game (of course they won... come on). The game wasn't very eventful; both teams scored under 100 points, no one was injured, there werent even many major disputes or fouls. Honestly, one of the most exciting parts of the game (for me) was when they showed Roger Federer and Pete Sampras sitting next to each other, courtside. (Also, thanks to Facebook status updates, I found out my friend Sona was at the game, and we were able to meet up briefly in the 3rd quarter so she could meet my bf.) And, since the Bobcats scored under 100 points, we got coupons for free tacos from Jack in the Box. Towards the end of the night, the "LETS GO LAA-KERS" chants turned into the "WE WANT TAAA-COOS!" chant. (Side note: I ended up giving my tacos coupon to a homeless guy at the downtown artwalk the next week).

After the game we met up with some good friends at one of my favorite downtown bars, 7 Grand (on the corner of 7th and Grand, of course) for a celebratory drink. My friend gave us a ride back to my car, so we didn't have to brave the subway at midnight.

Overall, the Lakers game was a blast, and I really think every LA fan should go to at least one. However, I don't think I will splurge on tickets very often. Watching the games on TV is almost as exciting for me, and much, much cheaper! I will spend my next $80 on another item from my list!

View from our seats

Kobe free throw!