I am finally getting around to doing a recap on my trip to Los Angeles last month. It was my first time in LA despite being in California multiple times. As I have talked about before, Adam and I love the San Jose Sharks so we planned our annual trip to California to see them. This time it worked out really well because in a matter of a week, the Sharks were playing away in Anaheim and LA and also at home in San Jose. We started our trip in LA and saw both games then drove to San Jose to see a game there as well before flying back home.
We spent our first day in the area at Disneyland and the following two days involved the hockey games at night. We spent our days touring the city and seeing different sights. We stayed at the BLVD Hotel & Suites on North Highland which is in a convenient location. From there, the Hollywood Bowl Overlook is a 5 minute drive and is a viewpoint to see downtown as well as the Hollywood Sign (photo above.) The view of downtown is nice but the Hollywood sign is pretty far away, so we decided to find a better vantage point. After a quick Google search, we found that Lake Hollywood Park has a great view of the sign so we drove there and it didn’t disappoint. The park is so close to the sign and features plenty of nice greenery. There is free parking on the street so you have time to hang out for a bit.
After visiting the Hollywood sign, we drove to Beverly Hills which was an absolute must for me on this trip. As someone who loves the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and loved the movie Troop Beverly Hills growing up, how could I not visit the area? Also, any fashion lover must experience Rodeo Drive! Beverly Hills is exactly as I expected it to be – clean, fancy, upscale and beautiful. We saw the infamous Beverly Hills sign at Beverly Gardens Park and also walked up and down Rodeo Drive.
Later that night, we went to see the Sharks play the Kings at Staples Center. The Staples Center is a decent hockey arena and I really have nothing bad to say about it. Almost half of the arena was Sharks fans which made it really fun, and Will Ferrell was there announcing as Ron Burgundy. At one point he was standing right next to my aisle seat but I never have been a huge fan of him and I’m not at all outgoing so I have no selfie to show for it! The Sharks ended up losing the game which was a bummer, but it checked another arena off our bucket list.
Prior to leaving for our trip, Adam and I decided we had to make a visit to Sur and/or Tom Tom. We watch Vanderpump Rules religiously and honestly, it’s the one Bravo show I can get him into because he is also amused by it. After the game we got dressed out of our Sharks gear and headed to Tom Tom. The bar surprisingly wasn’t too crowded (although it was a weekday) and we got lucky and scored two bar seats after 5 minutes of being there. The bar is nice but definitely has the Lisa Vanderpump “extra” touch to it. Our bartender was super friendly and chatted with us and even gave us free shots at one point. For drinks, I had the Alchemy Rose and Nut Case and Adam had Tom Fashioneds. The drinks were tasty but were on par with many drinks we get at cocktail bars here in Pittsburgh. We are still unsure but we may have seen Tom Schwartz, but other than that there were no cast member sightings.
The following day we had the afternoon to do a few touristy things, so we decided to walk 5 minutes down to Hollywood Blvd to see the Walk of Fame and to grab lunch at Shake Shack. Hollywood Blvd is over the top and honestly a bit too much for me. Every corner has people soliciting you for celebrity house tours and there are random superheroes and other people in costumes walking up and down the street. The area isn’t all that clean either. The next time I am in LA I will have no problem skipping over this, although since it was walking distance from our hotel it was worth checking out once. The Sharks were playing another game that night against the Ducks in Anaheim, so we had to allow plenty of time to drive to the game. And good thing we did because it is true what they say – LA traffic is NO JOKE. A 30 mile trip took us 2 hours and 40 minutes and it truly is torturous. We eventually arrived to Honda Center and got a photo in front of the Mighty Duck statue which is the best statue of any NHL arena. The game had just as many Sharks fans as the Kings game had, but it still resulted in another Sharks loss. Sometimes we think we are the bad luck!
This was our last night in LA so the one last place we wanted to go to was the bar Tiki Ti. Adam and I are fans of tiki bars and tiki drinks and
Tiki Ti is famous among tiki bars in the country . The bar is much smaller than I expected and honestly a bit run down. It was opened in 1961 though so they get a pass for being a bit on the older side. The menu is very extensive and has tons of drinks to choose from. The prices were on par with any other tiki bar I have been to but the place is very “no frills.” The drinks tasted good but lack fun mugs and fancy tropical garnishes, which is the fun part of a tiki bar experience. I still prefer Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and also my home tiki bar, Hidden Harbor, in Pittsburgh, but I would go back to Tiki Ti.
The following day we were up early to drive the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Jose, so this finished out our LA experience. I would like to go back for hockey games and to do more things in the city and will definitely be looking for recommendations before I go. Until next time!
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