Los Angeles

Check out the usual web sites such as www.booking.com and www.venere.com we stayed at the O Hotel, 819 S Flower Street, Downtown, www.ohotelgroup.com one of the first new boutique hotels to open in the area. It was very smart, great staff and by LA standard reasonable priced however recent reviews are mixed but it still looks like a good choice for downtown.

Restaurants

Border Grill, 445 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, is owned by two well known female chefs and it specialises in modern Latin American food. They have a lovely terrace and when we went an excellent set meal offer. They also have the Border Grill in Santa Monica and in Las Vegas.

Rock’n Fish, LA Live W. Olympic Boulevard, Downtown, is a smart restaurant specialising in as it says fish, located at LA Live an entertainment centre with quite a few other bars and restaurants.

Engine Co No. 28, 644 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, is an old fire station converted to a restaurant good range of food, always seems busy and does some good happy hour offers,

Getty Terrace Café, at the Getty Centre, is a wonderful setting and has a reasonably priced selection of sandwiches, salads and soups, a great place to relax after touring the gallery,

Hal’s Bar and Grill, 1349 Abbot Kinsey Boulevard, Venice, there are loads of places in this street but this was a good choice for brunch, a very smart place with loads of choices and reasonable priced.

Bar & Kitchen, O Hotel S Flower Street, was good when we stayed and is still getting good reports for both the food and drinks.

Bars

Chaya Downtown, 525 S. Flower Street, Downtown, very smart Japanese bar and restaurant, open Monday to Saturday with excellent happy hour offers on drinks and bar snacks which we tried and gets excellent reports on the main dishes.

Welland Brewery Underground, 505 S. Flower Street, Downtown, open Monday to Friday is underneath a big office complex where there are loads of places to eat, this bar does a huge selection of beers and other drinks as well as food.

Yard House, 800 West Olympic Boulevard, LA Live, Downtown, with 200 beers and loads of other drinks as well as serving food this place is good fun, great happy hour.

Bonaventure, 404 S.Figueroa Street, Downtown, you get an award if you find this but loads of people do, it is in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel building. Big range of drinks and food.

Seven Grand, 515 West 7th Street, 2nd Floor, Downtown, is a very smart Scottish bar with an amazing selection of whiskeys. Very popular and definitely worth a visit.

Coles, Bar & Restaurant, 118 East 6th Street, Downtown, this is a well known bar and restaurant, however hidden behind the far wall is……..The Varnish, one of the best cocktail bars that you will find in the city!

Broadway Bar, 830 Broadway, a young bar but worth visiting to see the place, loved the fact that the regulars seem to order take away meals to the bar.

Golden Gopher, 417 West 8th Street, Downtown, another young bar but a real find.

The last 4 bars above are owned by a group who opened up some of the first good bars downtown and since our visit have continued to expand so have a look at their web site www.213nightlife.com

Hanks Bar, 840 South Grand between 8th & 9th, is one of the few old fashioned original bars left downtown, it stays open late and gets the bar staff from some of the other bars that shut earlier.

Edison, 108 West 2nd Street, Downtown was recommended by the owner of a great bar in San Francisco, we did not get a chance to try it out as it opens only Wednesday to Saturday. It is reputed to have a very tight door policy. They do food and you can reserve a table.

On the Waterfront Cafe, 205 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, as you walk from Santa Monica to Venice Beach this is at the start of Venice, great to sit outside and watch the world go by,

Drink

As you would expect in LA every imaginable drink is available, good craft beer, excellent Californian wines and of course cocktails. All these come at a price unless you take advantage of the long and frequent happy hours and also weekend brunch offers that come with unlimited drinks. Depending on the place this could be mimosas, blood marys, even champagne. There are some places that as well as having an early evening happy hour also have a late night happy hour.

You should of course try some Californian wines, these account for 90% of the USA’s wine production. In the 1970’s wine from this area had changed totally from what had been produced previously and was seriously challenging French wines in competitions for both red and white. Most people know of the Napa Valley north of San Francisco but LA has wine growing areas to the north, the central coast, and to the south, southern California. Chardonnay and merlot and cabernet sauvignon are the most common varieties but there are numerous other types grown.

Go and see the Disney Concert Hall, Downtown, it was designed by Frank Gehry who designed the Guggenheim in Bilbao and it is a fabulous building.

The Getty Centre is really amazing, the setting, the buildings, the works of art, everything. It can be reached by MTA bus and then there is a tram that takes you up to the complex and it’s free.

Santa Monica pier and then along Venice Beach, ideally on a Sunday when it’s at its best. When you get to Venice try and see Abbot Kinsey Boulevard and the canals.

Hollywood, well you have to see it and you get a great view of the sign from the Highland Centre. It’s probably what you would expect very touristy and a bit tatty, it is easily reached on the Metro.

Downtown Fashion District, 90 blocks of clothes, shoes, everything and in areas, men, women, kids, although a lot is wholesale there is still a lot for the general public including Santee Alley. You can get a map from the tourist office and use the DASH to get there.

Union Station must be second to NY’s Grand Central for railway stations you should really see, what a building, try out Tracks Restaurant.