Back in September, we spent a whirlwind three days in California. Shawn turned 40 and as part of his gift I got him tickets to a double bill concert of Ben Folds and Cake, two of his favorite artists, playing at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. I wanted him to have a very special memory of his 40th year, so I booked the Los Angeles part of be bands’ tour. We took a long weekend and flew down to Southern California, a favorite destination of mine, despite the smog, traffic and general discord happening in America at the time.

Our concert didn’t start until the evening on our first full day, so we had the morning and afternoon free. As a landlocked Canadian, my priority was to get to a beach and Santa Monica seemed like a good option, if a bit touristy. I’d never been there but of course I knew of the iconic pier and carnival located there. We headed out from Glendale with our rented Kia Soul and her trusty GPS with WiFi. With traffic, it took about an hour to drive and we found parking just off the pacific coast highway. The famous Santa Monica pier was fairly far off in the distance from our parking spot, but we found bathrooms and water stations right away, which was great. As we made our way to the pier, we admired the cute beach houses and pretty landscaping and watched the bikers and joggers passing us by. The pier was busy; we’d passed some kind of street festival up on Ocean Avenue on our way down to the beach, so lots of people were filtering down over the pedestrian bridge. The day was so smoggy that for a while it was hard to tell if it was just overcast, but the smog did keep the heat down a bit and there was a nice ocean breeze to keep us comfortable.

Carousel at Santa Monica Pier

At the start of the pier, there’s a small aquarium that we didn’t go into just due to time constraints. It’s dedicated to education about the bay and how to conserve and protect it. I sort of wish I’d stopped in, as it was a very reasonable entrance fee as well, so if you have time, stop to check it out. We made our way along the pier, looking at potential spots for lunch, checked out the amusement park and some of the souvenir shops.

A smoggy morning at Santa Monica Pier

There were lots of musicians and painters busking along the pier and a number of people were fishing off the side. Below us, beach goers splashed in the waves. We found some historical markers, artifacts and information about the pier and Route 66, which I was unaware we were on, at the far end of the pier. We found a cute, three-story restaurant with a rooftop patio for lunch and people watched and just took in being by the ocean. After lunch, we headed over the pedestrian bridge up to Ocean Avenue to check out what the festival was and have a quick look around. We checked out some of the cool architecture along the ave and made our way back to the car once we’d had our fill.

With time on our side, I was itching to check out the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and Hollywood, where my husband had never been before. We headed from Santa Monica to Hollywood. We parked and just started walking Hollywood Blvd down the Walk of Fame. We passed all of the hundreds of tour operators, the Hollywood Church of Scientology, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and we investigated the stars on the sidewalks. We kept our sightseeing efficient as we got to the TCL Chinese theatre to look at all the hand and footprints of celebrities. If we’d had more time, we could have entertained ourselves for the entire day. There are private tours, group tours and self directed tours, if you enjoy ogling celebrities homes. I’m not sure how many of the tour groups are legit though, and a lot of the information we saw advertised was for celebrities that were big 20 years ago – maybe more fun for mom and dad than the kids….

Adam Levine’s star on the Walk of Fame

Mark Hamill’s star on the Walk of Fame

The Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

After a whirlwind tour of Hollywood, we saved enough time to make it to Griffith Observatory. I hadn’t really done any research on it- I only knew that it had great views, and a telescope, which unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to look through, as we had the concert to go to that evening. We drove back to LA and navigated our route to the observatory. Parking was a bit nightmarish; the only parking left was parallel parking up along the winding, desert hillsides headed up to the observatory. It is metered pay parking for $10/hr. We decided two hours was about all the time we had to look before heading back to Glendale to get ready for the concert.

We hurried hiked from the car up to the observatory. It looked a hundred miles away but was probably about a kilometre from where we parked, which I definitely felt, hiking uphill in the afternoon California heat. The smog from the morning was dissipating, so it was starting to get warm (keep your sunscreen handy and bring some bottled water).

We explored Griffith Observatory (admission is free!), which was quite remarkable with numerous space exhibits, huge planetary displays, and of course a theatre named in Leonard Nimoy’s honor. We could have spent hours learning about the Tesla Coil, tides, moon phases, seasons, spectroscopy and looking through the camera obscura that peers over the city, but we only had time for a brief walk through.

Spectrometry!

Leonard Nimoy Theatre

Siesmometer to measure earthquake activity

Camera Obscura

View from the camera obscura of LA

Tesla Coil

We headed outside to the garden and outdoor area to take in some stunning landscapes of the city before leaving to head to the concert. This is a place I could have spent a full day (and evening) at. There is so much to learn here; they have star parties, theatre presentations and educational events and the outdoor views are stunning. I can only imagine they’re also stunning at night. Griffith Observatory is a must see when in LA and I was sad to have not had enough time to take it all in.

The Greek Theatre. I’d seen it in movies and I knew it had been designed in the style of an ancient Greek theatre. This was one of the most magical nights. The sun began to set as we got to our seats but the air was still pleasant and warm. As it got darker and the opening band was playing, I was actually pretty overcome with how gorgeous the venue was; crickets were chirping, the forest and hills around us were lit beautifully. Off in the distance where the moon was rising, the city lights were twinkling in the dusk and  planes were landing and taking off at the distant airport. The whole atmosphere was just beautiful and I had a few moments of being taken aback at how perfect everything was in that moment. The bands were phenomenal and only added to how great the experience was. At the end of the concert, we did have to walk a ways down from the venue to find a taxi (I know, I know, but we don’t UBER) to get back to our little motel in Glendale…

Ben Folds at The Greek Theatre

Ben Folds at The Greek Theatre

CAKE at the Greek Theatre

On our final morning, we went for breakfast at Foxy’s in Glendale, which had a lot of greasy breakfasts to choose from (so much cheese) but a super gorgeous little patio. After breakfast we walked across the street to find The Americana at Brand, a shopping complex we’d heard was nearby, but hadn’t seen yet. We walked down a little alleyway, and a bit like walking through Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, we emerged in a gorgeous shopping plaza with stunning garden areas, cobblestone streets and adorable boutique shops. Only a few coffee places were open this early, but there were gardeners and maintenance workers cleaning the streets, stringing up lights and busying themselves with tasks. It was so quiet, peaceful and fresh.

Breakfast at Foxy’s

Secret alleyway to The Americana

Magical streets in The Americana

We’d scheduled in just enough time to head to Playa del Rey on the way to the airport before flying home. We parked and found a little lagoon, and then made our way to the beach. While we were headed through the burning sand to get to the ocean, I head distinct “borking”. I looked towards a rough concrete pier in the water where the “bork” had come from and watched a sea lion dive under the water! I was thrilled, as was my husband. He’d read that sea lions could often be spotted here, which I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me in advance, as he was afraid I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see one, so he was happy that I’d been surprised by the treat of seeing a sea lion in the wild. We continued to hear them bark as we made our way to a cute cafe, Playa Provisions, for lunch. We had a nice, healthy meal here before finally having to make our way to the airport and head home.

I found a fellow Canadian.

Three days wasn’t nearly enough time to spend in Cali, but we certainly did make the most of our time. At the time, we couldn’t have foreseen the coming pandemic events and this was our last trip, at least internationally for the time being. Even though LA is crowded and has issues with homelessness, poverty and pollution, there’s just something about it that I love. We made great memories in the City of Angels for Shawn’s milestone birthday and California will always have my heart. TTFN. ‘Til we meet again.

– L