Downtown is in an ever changing state. With the current economic times it seems that businesses are coming and going from downtown. Every time a local business has to close it hurts me to see it go. Sometimes I put the blame on myself. I think "I should have gone to this place." or "I should have gone to this place more often.". In some cases there's little regrets. Siptea was one of the places I regretted not going to. I loved the idea because it wasn't just another coffee shop. It was a place I have been wanting to check out, but never found myself making the trek. If I had known that business wasn't doing so well for them I would have got off my ass to check them out. Pastagina, on the other hand is a different story. I've been to the Little Tokyo branch a few times. The food was okay. It wasn't worth what you're getting. For a few dollars more(which amounts to about the same costs because I think Maria's has bigger portions) you can get an excellent italian food at Maria's Italian Kitchen or go to La Bella Cucina, which I believe is about the same price, and get some great pasta dishes. It's a shame to see another DT business gone, but at the same time I can see why.
Where did Pulley's go? No longer at the independant. It has seemed to disappeared from downtown. =(
It's been a while since I've last updated, so I've been to quite a few other places. I think I'll give a quick run-down:
Spitz- Limited menu. If you don't like doner, you're out of luck. Their pita strips and fries are great. They also have a spicy feta sauce, which is also yum.
LA Chicken- Great prices. Unfortunately no options for smaller meals(I would love a meal with only 1 peice of chicken and a side.) The chicken is pretty good. A great alternative to El Pollo Loco of KFC. The curry isn't that good.
Aoi- A great mom and pop restaurant in LT. The owners are very kind people. The food ranges from okay to great. It's definitely one of the better places in LT.
San Sui Tei- What happened to this place? I came here a year or two ago and they had a big menu. I had some ramen and it was good. I came back more recently, the menu was different or trimmed and it was the worst ramen you could have in LT. Absolutely avoid this place.
Koraku- I've avoided Koraku for about 5 years now. Koraku was the place you'd go to in LT because nothing else was opened (and 5 years ago, nothing else was open late in LT). I went back recently and the food was still bad. Apparently many Japanese people like this place though...so I must be ordering all of the wrong food.
Suehiro Cafe- This place always gives me a warm feeling when I go in. It's open late and the food is good. Sometimes there is a bit of a wait.
Oomasa- Didn't try the sushi, but the cooked food was okay. The interior of the joint is very interesting. The service wasn't too great. Two of us in our group ordered the exact same item and the waiter only brought out one. I had to ask for extra sauce numerous times to actually get it. I still kinda liked the place for some reason.
Kogi BBQ Truck- I don't really think I need to comment on this. The lines speak for themselves. I will say that after eating a spicy pork taco the chicken one tastes bland.
There's many other restaurants I've been to in LT. Most of them I've been going to for a while now, so I don't see them as new. I want to comment on all of the places I've been to. I've been going to Little Tokyo since before I moved downtown. I'm sure many people have come to downtown for various reasons before moving here. When they first started putting signs up for Hikari(before it was built) I was interested in moving into the building. I ended moving downtown before they finished the Hikari. I got to enjoy it and watch it change. Now I don't think I'd ever end up living in the Hikari, but the idea of moving downtown had been in my head for a while before I made the jump.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Eats
Just a post on different food establishments in downtown:
Liliya's China Bistro: This place is a hit or miss. Some of the dishes they have are excellent and others aren't as tasty. Sometimes the staff is great and others they aren't as attentive. I usually combat this by ordering take out. They have nice plastic take out containers, that if you really wanted to you could use again and again. The atmosphere of the place is nice too. It doesn't feel 'fancy', but doesn't feel like you're in some cheap, bad Chinese food restaurant. It has a bit of a raw loft feel to it(which I like). They used to show old samurai movies there too. The food dishes vary. It's a bit of a fusion restaurant without being 'classy'. I mean that in a good way. They have a lot of different dishes that aren't always filled with a bunch of ingredients that you need to go to a specialty store to buy. A lot of fusion restaurants offer a small menu with food that has a lot of un-ordinary ingredients. For someone like me, who is very picky about her food, it usually leaves me with limited food options, if any. When Liliya's first opened the place, the food I ordered was always consistently good. The last couple of visits the food hasn't been as good, so I've stopped going as much. I won't write this place off yet. Hopefully my next visit will bring back the great taste I'm rememeber.
Pete's Cafe- Pete's suffers from the small menu syndrome. Not a lot of choices for food. It's a little on the pricey end, but most of the food is really good. Don't expect anything spectualar..except the cheese fries. The blue cheese fries and the bacon and cheddar fries are amazing. I have friends from out of town who die to eat these. The service has always been good. The bartender's are usually great. This place gets pretty busy on Friday and Saturdays though. If you don't have to wait for a table then this is a good place to visit.
Rocket Pizza Vs. Pit Fire Pizza - Both of these places have very similar type of pizza. Personally it doesn't matter which one I go to, unless I want a specific pizza that one of them makes. They both are good pizza places. Nothing like a good slice of New York pizza or real Italian pizza though. Their pasta selections are weak. If you go to one of these places I'd go for the pizza. I had pasta at one of them and it very bland. Pit Fire does offer some really good cupcakes though. Yummy! ^_^
Nickle Diner - To be honest this place is over rated. I still can't figure out why everyone loves this place. I think it's a hype thing. I've eaten here 4 times. Twice for breakfast and twice for lunch. The owners of this place are awesomely nice and cool. Some of the staff is good, but I had one waiter who almost gave our food to someone else and didn't give me the food the way I ordered it. I will say that the bread and the deserts are amazing. If this place was just a bakery I would be here a lot more often and would praise it. It's not though and all of the meals I've ordered here has just been ok. I've had the Spicy Mac and Cheese..it's barely even spicy and not very cheesy. Anyways I'm not here to say this place sucks, because it's not that bad, but it's definitely not worth the hype(unless we're talking about the baked goods).
La Blu Cafe - Here's the problem with this place: It's a small cafe with big prices. If people want to go out and spend $20 a plate for food they will go out to a nice restaurant, not a tiny cafe. People who go to small cafes are looking for a small, usually cheaper, meal. They did lower their prices and at least it's a little better. Despite that gripe I will say that the food is excellent. I just wish they had a place more like Pete's. It's worth checking this place out. You can always order to go if the place is too full. My favorite dish is the pull pork with Mac n Cheese. Yum!
Origami Bistro - This is another fusion restaurant. They have a couple of good items on the menu, but not my favorite sushi place. I don't think a single Japanese person actually works here. On early Art Walk night they are overly busy. The wait staff and the bartenders are overworked and the service is crippled. You can barely get a drink and food, nonetheless a second drink or the bill. It's the worst service in downtown on that night. I've been there on other nights and the service isn't as bad. I think the owner made a mistake, by limiting the bar area and seperating the restaurant like it is. It seems like everyone prefers to sit by the bar area and the sushi bar area in the back is neglected. There's a lot to choose from as far as food goes, but most of it has just been ok to me. A lot of food that I thought would be great, turned out to only be so/so. There are some items that are really good. However, once Katsuya opens up in LA Live, I'm not sure I'll find any reason to come back to this place.
La Petite Cafe - I love the interior of this place. It's so cute. The bakery items of this place are very good. The staff is usually pretty friendly. When they first opened I think one of the owners was helping people or she was working with the staff and everyone was super friendly. The times she's not there, things seem a little more dreary. It's just nice to go to a place and someone is very positive and nice to the patrons. I can imagine working for *possibly* minimum wage isn't the most happiest place on earth and not being as excited about the job. The food itself is a hit or miss. There's some really good dishes and some so/so dishes. There's a decent sized menu to choose from. If something didn't suit your fancy, go back and try again, you might find something you like.
Maria's Italian Kitchen - This is my new favorite Italian restaurant. I've only ordered at the take out section of this place. I like that they offer both a sit down restaurant and a take out area. If you don't have time to sit down and eat you can take it to go or take it to eat right there, without having to wait on the waiter/waitress. They also have a small bar in the place that offers happy hour appetizer specials. The staff has always been pleasant. The food has been great. There's a big selection to choose from. This place would be in my top list of downtown restaurants.
Hoagies and Wings - I only went to check this place out last week. I finally was in the mood to try some of the boneless wings. I order some with Teriyaki sauce. The boneless wings themselves were great. The Teriyaki sauce was good, but I'll probably try a different sauce next time. It felt like a was eating real, fresh chicken (as opposed to a more process chicken). The fries were also pretty good. They were thinner than the thick fries that were shown in the photos(which I usually don't like). The place was pretty dead and seems to be pretty dead whenever I go by this place. I wasn't expecting much, but it was a lot better than it seemed.
Pulley's Pulled Pork - Mmmm...Just thinking about these small scumptious things are making me crave them. They are simple pulled pork sandwiches. Pulled Pork on a King's Hawaiian roll with (or if you're like me without) coleslaw. That's pretty much it. The owner is super friendly. The snadwiches are really good. The only sad part is that he's not open enough and seems to be on the run. Last I saw he was in the Independant Theater. I haven't seen his truck in there in a long time. The only thing I could guess is that his truck is only there now when he's there and maybe he's on the M-F 9-3 schedule. Unfortunately there's no info on the web, other than his appearance at the Independant Theater.
Showbiz Ribs - I went here a while back. The guy who was working at the place seemed really cool. The food was alright, but not the best BBQ I've had. I'll probably go check out the other BBQ places before I come back to this place. I would definitely come back though. The guy said they were working on opening up the second floor as a Sports bar(although he only mentioned having beer). I've gone by since then and the second floor still looks closed, so I'm not sure what's going on with that. It would be pretty cool if they opened up a full sports bar. That would entice me to go back sooner.
Weenez- I went on a Saturday and the place was pretty quiet. The guy working there at the time was very nice. I love the interior of the place. The options for food were pretty decent. I got a hotdog. It was okay. The hot dog itself had a rough skin. I don't like gnawing through my hot dogs. If not for the the skin the hot dog was good. I'll probably come back sometime to try something else.
That's all for my fairly useless reviews...I should be more consistent and more descriptive, but I'm lazy. I also just wanted to give a smallish run down of the different restaurants I've been to. There's still more to write about, but that's for another time.
Liliya's China Bistro: This place is a hit or miss. Some of the dishes they have are excellent and others aren't as tasty. Sometimes the staff is great and others they aren't as attentive. I usually combat this by ordering take out. They have nice plastic take out containers, that if you really wanted to you could use again and again. The atmosphere of the place is nice too. It doesn't feel 'fancy', but doesn't feel like you're in some cheap, bad Chinese food restaurant. It has a bit of a raw loft feel to it(which I like). They used to show old samurai movies there too. The food dishes vary. It's a bit of a fusion restaurant without being 'classy'. I mean that in a good way. They have a lot of different dishes that aren't always filled with a bunch of ingredients that you need to go to a specialty store to buy. A lot of fusion restaurants offer a small menu with food that has a lot of un-ordinary ingredients. For someone like me, who is very picky about her food, it usually leaves me with limited food options, if any. When Liliya's first opened the place, the food I ordered was always consistently good. The last couple of visits the food hasn't been as good, so I've stopped going as much. I won't write this place off yet. Hopefully my next visit will bring back the great taste I'm rememeber.
Pete's Cafe- Pete's suffers from the small menu syndrome. Not a lot of choices for food. It's a little on the pricey end, but most of the food is really good. Don't expect anything spectualar..except the cheese fries. The blue cheese fries and the bacon and cheddar fries are amazing. I have friends from out of town who die to eat these. The service has always been good. The bartender's are usually great. This place gets pretty busy on Friday and Saturdays though. If you don't have to wait for a table then this is a good place to visit.
Rocket Pizza Vs. Pit Fire Pizza - Both of these places have very similar type of pizza. Personally it doesn't matter which one I go to, unless I want a specific pizza that one of them makes. They both are good pizza places. Nothing like a good slice of New York pizza or real Italian pizza though. Their pasta selections are weak. If you go to one of these places I'd go for the pizza. I had pasta at one of them and it very bland. Pit Fire does offer some really good cupcakes though. Yummy! ^_^
Nickle Diner - To be honest this place is over rated. I still can't figure out why everyone loves this place. I think it's a hype thing. I've eaten here 4 times. Twice for breakfast and twice for lunch. The owners of this place are awesomely nice and cool. Some of the staff is good, but I had one waiter who almost gave our food to someone else and didn't give me the food the way I ordered it. I will say that the bread and the deserts are amazing. If this place was just a bakery I would be here a lot more often and would praise it. It's not though and all of the meals I've ordered here has just been ok. I've had the Spicy Mac and Cheese..it's barely even spicy and not very cheesy. Anyways I'm not here to say this place sucks, because it's not that bad, but it's definitely not worth the hype(unless we're talking about the baked goods).
La Blu Cafe - Here's the problem with this place: It's a small cafe with big prices. If people want to go out and spend $20 a plate for food they will go out to a nice restaurant, not a tiny cafe. People who go to small cafes are looking for a small, usually cheaper, meal. They did lower their prices and at least it's a little better. Despite that gripe I will say that the food is excellent. I just wish they had a place more like Pete's. It's worth checking this place out. You can always order to go if the place is too full. My favorite dish is the pull pork with Mac n Cheese. Yum!
Origami Bistro - This is another fusion restaurant. They have a couple of good items on the menu, but not my favorite sushi place. I don't think a single Japanese person actually works here. On early Art Walk night they are overly busy. The wait staff and the bartenders are overworked and the service is crippled. You can barely get a drink and food, nonetheless a second drink or the bill. It's the worst service in downtown on that night. I've been there on other nights and the service isn't as bad. I think the owner made a mistake, by limiting the bar area and seperating the restaurant like it is. It seems like everyone prefers to sit by the bar area and the sushi bar area in the back is neglected. There's a lot to choose from as far as food goes, but most of it has just been ok to me. A lot of food that I thought would be great, turned out to only be so/so. There are some items that are really good. However, once Katsuya opens up in LA Live, I'm not sure I'll find any reason to come back to this place.
La Petite Cafe - I love the interior of this place. It's so cute. The bakery items of this place are very good. The staff is usually pretty friendly. When they first opened I think one of the owners was helping people or she was working with the staff and everyone was super friendly. The times she's not there, things seem a little more dreary. It's just nice to go to a place and someone is very positive and nice to the patrons. I can imagine working for *possibly* minimum wage isn't the most happiest place on earth and not being as excited about the job. The food itself is a hit or miss. There's some really good dishes and some so/so dishes. There's a decent sized menu to choose from. If something didn't suit your fancy, go back and try again, you might find something you like.
Maria's Italian Kitchen - This is my new favorite Italian restaurant. I've only ordered at the take out section of this place. I like that they offer both a sit down restaurant and a take out area. If you don't have time to sit down and eat you can take it to go or take it to eat right there, without having to wait on the waiter/waitress. They also have a small bar in the place that offers happy hour appetizer specials. The staff has always been pleasant. The food has been great. There's a big selection to choose from. This place would be in my top list of downtown restaurants.
Hoagies and Wings - I only went to check this place out last week. I finally was in the mood to try some of the boneless wings. I order some with Teriyaki sauce. The boneless wings themselves were great. The Teriyaki sauce was good, but I'll probably try a different sauce next time. It felt like a was eating real, fresh chicken (as opposed to a more process chicken). The fries were also pretty good. They were thinner than the thick fries that were shown in the photos(which I usually don't like). The place was pretty dead and seems to be pretty dead whenever I go by this place. I wasn't expecting much, but it was a lot better than it seemed.
Pulley's Pulled Pork - Mmmm...Just thinking about these small scumptious things are making me crave them. They are simple pulled pork sandwiches. Pulled Pork on a King's Hawaiian roll with (or if you're like me without) coleslaw. That's pretty much it. The owner is super friendly. The snadwiches are really good. The only sad part is that he's not open enough and seems to be on the run. Last I saw he was in the Independant Theater. I haven't seen his truck in there in a long time. The only thing I could guess is that his truck is only there now when he's there and maybe he's on the M-F 9-3 schedule. Unfortunately there's no info on the web, other than his appearance at the Independant Theater.
Showbiz Ribs - I went here a while back. The guy who was working at the place seemed really cool. The food was alright, but not the best BBQ I've had. I'll probably go check out the other BBQ places before I come back to this place. I would definitely come back though. The guy said they were working on opening up the second floor as a Sports bar(although he only mentioned having beer). I've gone by since then and the second floor still looks closed, so I'm not sure what's going on with that. It would be pretty cool if they opened up a full sports bar. That would entice me to go back sooner.
Weenez- I went on a Saturday and the place was pretty quiet. The guy working there at the time was very nice. I love the interior of the place. The options for food were pretty decent. I got a hotdog. It was okay. The hot dog itself had a rough skin. I don't like gnawing through my hot dogs. If not for the the skin the hot dog was good. I'll probably come back sometime to try something else.
That's all for my fairly useless reviews...I should be more consistent and more descriptive, but I'm lazy. I also just wanted to give a smallish run down of the different restaurants I've been to. There's still more to write about, but that's for another time.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Luck of the Irish
This year I was able to stay around downtown for the St. Patrick's Day activities. It turned out to be a great time. I started out by going over to Bar 107 to get a few drinks before checking out the parade. The place wasn't as packed as I expected. There were two bartenders that I haven't seen there yet. One was cool and the other one was a little uptight. The crowd seemed to consist of mostly younger folks with a few older gentlemen. The place wasn't super crowded, but it still was busy.
After a few drinks I went to check out the parade. The most exciting part of the parade for me was probably the old cop cars. The parade itself wasn't super exciting. If I was sober I would have been very bored and disappointed. It's a good idea and hopefully in the future it will get better. I then went back to Bar 107. Now the bagpipers had shown up. There was also some crazy thing with the leprechaun over the doorway. I care not to explain as it's something you should just be in person to witness. Next I went to check out the events at Pershing Square...Non-Alcoholic beer, a long line for ordinary food, and a stage of un-entertaining people. I didn't stay long enough to check out the band. It was much more exciting to be at the bar, so back to Bar 107 I went. I soon started to feel sick, so I went home, grabbed some food, and relaxed for a while.
After I took a break I waited for a friend to join me and went off on my second trip. We decided to check out Casey's first. We got in and they hand us beads with a pin. Always cool to walk in and get free swag. We made our way through the crowd and in towards the bar. The place was pretty busy. The crowd was an older, little more mature crowd than what was at Bar 107. We got to the bar and they really didn't have any special drinks and were only accepting cash. After watching the bartender sloppily poor some small shots of Patron for a couple next to me I ordered a drink. The bartender gave me my drink, which appeared to be dripping all over the bar. She took my money and then told me to tip the bartender. She then disappeared to the other side of the bar. I then closely examined my drink and realized there was a slit down the side of the cup and half of my drink had poored onto the bar. I tried to get someone's attention, but since I had just gotten a drink they had their eyes elsewhere. After 5 minutes I just said f*** it. I figured even if I got someone's attention they might accuse me of being drunk and not address the situation. It wasn't worth waiting and possibly arguing with them over the drink. I finshed the half of my drink that was left and bolted. I regret leaving any tip. I generally like to tip and I like to tip well when I can. If someone asks for a tip though it's very rude. It's like inviting people to a party and making sure they bring presents.
My friend and I then decided to check out Riodan's. We weren't expecting much from this place because it seems like a much more upscale kind of place. In fact, the place was. We walked in and the place had some people, but we were able to get seats at the small bar. We got in and they had a special where you can buy a glass for $7(with the guiness in it) and you can get refills for $4. They were also having a free raffle and you could get your picture taken with a cardboard cutout. The bartender was awesome. He was mixing me some great drinks and even made them green. ^_^ I talked to one of the chefs briefly and he was really cool too. It makes you feel more at home when you get to talk to staff personally. It makes me want to go back to a place. It was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately their food menu was a bit on the expensive side and they didn't have much to choose from for good drinking snack food. It was mostly fancier foods that don't sound as appetizing while drinking. Although I must admit the 1-pound burger looked delish. We ended the night at Riodan's. If they offer happy hour specials, then I might have reason to come to Riodan's more often.
Overall it was an excellent St. Patty's Day. Casey's was a disappointment, but I chaulk the issues up to it being St. Patrick's Day. I wouldn 't hold it against the joint. (I'll probably think twice before going next year though.)
After a few drinks I went to check out the parade. The most exciting part of the parade for me was probably the old cop cars. The parade itself wasn't super exciting. If I was sober I would have been very bored and disappointed. It's a good idea and hopefully in the future it will get better. I then went back to Bar 107. Now the bagpipers had shown up. There was also some crazy thing with the leprechaun over the doorway. I care not to explain as it's something you should just be in person to witness. Next I went to check out the events at Pershing Square...Non-Alcoholic beer, a long line for ordinary food, and a stage of un-entertaining people. I didn't stay long enough to check out the band. It was much more exciting to be at the bar, so back to Bar 107 I went. I soon started to feel sick, so I went home, grabbed some food, and relaxed for a while.
After I took a break I waited for a friend to join me and went off on my second trip. We decided to check out Casey's first. We got in and they hand us beads with a pin. Always cool to walk in and get free swag. We made our way through the crowd and in towards the bar. The place was pretty busy. The crowd was an older, little more mature crowd than what was at Bar 107. We got to the bar and they really didn't have any special drinks and were only accepting cash. After watching the bartender sloppily poor some small shots of Patron for a couple next to me I ordered a drink. The bartender gave me my drink, which appeared to be dripping all over the bar. She took my money and then told me to tip the bartender. She then disappeared to the other side of the bar. I then closely examined my drink and realized there was a slit down the side of the cup and half of my drink had poored onto the bar. I tried to get someone's attention, but since I had just gotten a drink they had their eyes elsewhere. After 5 minutes I just said f*** it. I figured even if I got someone's attention they might accuse me of being drunk and not address the situation. It wasn't worth waiting and possibly arguing with them over the drink. I finshed the half of my drink that was left and bolted. I regret leaving any tip. I generally like to tip and I like to tip well when I can. If someone asks for a tip though it's very rude. It's like inviting people to a party and making sure they bring presents.
My friend and I then decided to check out Riodan's. We weren't expecting much from this place because it seems like a much more upscale kind of place. In fact, the place was. We walked in and the place had some people, but we were able to get seats at the small bar. We got in and they had a special where you can buy a glass for $7(with the guiness in it) and you can get refills for $4. They were also having a free raffle and you could get your picture taken with a cardboard cutout. The bartender was awesome. He was mixing me some great drinks and even made them green. ^_^ I talked to one of the chefs briefly and he was really cool too. It makes you feel more at home when you get to talk to staff personally. It makes me want to go back to a place. It was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately their food menu was a bit on the expensive side and they didn't have much to choose from for good drinking snack food. It was mostly fancier foods that don't sound as appetizing while drinking. Although I must admit the 1-pound burger looked delish. We ended the night at Riodan's. If they offer happy hour specials, then I might have reason to come to Riodan's more often.
Overall it was an excellent St. Patty's Day. Casey's was a disappointment, but I chaulk the issues up to it being St. Patrick's Day. I wouldn 't hold it against the joint. (I'll probably think twice before going next year though.)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Joys of Spending the Whole Week in Downtown
Since I've been laid off(Yea for bubble bursting!) I've been enjoying spending most of my week in downtown. It's been quite a pleasure. I have time to cook dinner now. I have been going to Marukai and Nijiya to pick up small batches of groceries. (I was going to Mitsuwa too, but since it's been replaced I have relied solely on the other two Japanese markets.) When I need a little more I'll go down to Ralph's. I've also been able to enjoy restaurants and fast food that are only open during business hours(M-F 11-3 usually).
When you work outside of downtown during the week you miss out on all of this. I wish I could work in downtown, but unfortunately there's no jobs in the area for my expertise. Of course there's currently not many jobs in my expertise period. The market is flooded and you need to battle tons of people for every position. I've been thinking about changing careers to something that would keep me in downtown, but the biggest concern is being able to make enough money to afford living in downtown. The housing in downtown is either $1300+ lofts or cheap, small, usually shady hotels. There's not much in between(unless you go with a roommate situation). Any places affordable you need to qualify for low-income housing and even those are limited. Maybe this recession will drive down the rents in downtown.
One other joy of not working is being able to stay out late at night during the week. I've been able to check out bars that I haven't been to yet. It's nice to go out on non-weeknights to fully enjoy some bars. Weekends get busy sometimes and make it hard for me to enjoy some bars. I don't like waiting more than 15 minutes to get a drink. If I have to spend 20-30 minutes trying to flag down a bartender or waitress/waiter to get another drink it kills my buzz. Sometimes the crowd itself kills your buzz. If there's a bunch of "bros" or "hos" in a joint it's annoying. If there's a couple, it's not a problem, but when the bar is full of them it's time to leave. If you're at one of the karaoke bars and there's a group of people singing bad songs like American Idol rejects it can also kill the mood. Bad songs + bad singing does not equal good times. If you get a group that sings good songs(no matter the quality of thier voice) it can turn the joint into one giant party.
I keep telling myself that I'm going to write reviews on different places in downtown...I will one of these days.
When you work outside of downtown during the week you miss out on all of this. I wish I could work in downtown, but unfortunately there's no jobs in the area for my expertise. Of course there's currently not many jobs in my expertise period. The market is flooded and you need to battle tons of people for every position. I've been thinking about changing careers to something that would keep me in downtown, but the biggest concern is being able to make enough money to afford living in downtown. The housing in downtown is either $1300+ lofts or cheap, small, usually shady hotels. There's not much in between(unless you go with a roommate situation). Any places affordable you need to qualify for low-income housing and even those are limited. Maybe this recession will drive down the rents in downtown.
One other joy of not working is being able to stay out late at night during the week. I've been able to check out bars that I haven't been to yet. It's nice to go out on non-weeknights to fully enjoy some bars. Weekends get busy sometimes and make it hard for me to enjoy some bars. I don't like waiting more than 15 minutes to get a drink. If I have to spend 20-30 minutes trying to flag down a bartender or waitress/waiter to get another drink it kills my buzz. Sometimes the crowd itself kills your buzz. If there's a bunch of "bros" or "hos" in a joint it's annoying. If there's a couple, it's not a problem, but when the bar is full of them it's time to leave. If you're at one of the karaoke bars and there's a group of people singing bad songs like American Idol rejects it can also kill the mood. Bad songs + bad singing does not equal good times. If you get a group that sings good songs(no matter the quality of thier voice) it can turn the joint into one giant party.
I keep telling myself that I'm going to write reviews on different places in downtown...I will one of these days.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Downtownees?
I have found that often when I go out the people I meet don't even live in downtown. Many people like to come and play in downtown, but then return home elsewhere afterwards. What about the many people that live downtown? Do they not want to come out and socialize? Do they only come out for the specified groups? It's a bit disappointing because I want to hang out with more people who live downtown, but there's very few people I can just hang out with. Maybe it's just me. I'm not a super friendly person, but I'm cool once you get to know me.
I went to Bar 107 to check out the Thanksgiving dinner. The bartender closely examined my ID. It was kind of amusing since I had also been in there a couple days previously. This happens every once in a while when I go to bars. I've been tempted to offer to go get my passport or birth certificate for them. I had a couple of drinks and ended up meeting up with some other people there. The food showed up late, but I was okay with that because it allowed for some more drinking time. The food itself was good and overall was completely worth going to. Most of the people I met up with that day didn't live in downtown. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's sad not to see more people from downtown show up.
On a side note, Bar 107 is good, when it's not too busy, but most nights it's too busy for my tastes. They have one really awesome bartender, but the rest have been a bit disappointing. (Although the woman working on T-Day was cool) Some don't mix drinks well or are a bit neglecting. For some odd reason Bar 107 doesn't have amaretto. It's a cheap, simple alcohol so it's weird that they don't have it. I also like the old school arcade machines at Bar 107. They are barely used (which might be a good thing). I've heard that the Golden Golpher has some too, but I haven't gone there to check it out. It's been on my list of bars to go to for a while. One of these days I'll hit up all of the joints I've been meaning to go to.
I went to Bar 107 to check out the Thanksgiving dinner. The bartender closely examined my ID. It was kind of amusing since I had also been in there a couple days previously. This happens every once in a while when I go to bars. I've been tempted to offer to go get my passport or birth certificate for them. I had a couple of drinks and ended up meeting up with some other people there. The food showed up late, but I was okay with that because it allowed for some more drinking time. The food itself was good and overall was completely worth going to. Most of the people I met up with that day didn't live in downtown. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's sad not to see more people from downtown show up.
On a side note, Bar 107 is good, when it's not too busy, but most nights it's too busy for my tastes. They have one really awesome bartender, but the rest have been a bit disappointing. (Although the woman working on T-Day was cool) Some don't mix drinks well or are a bit neglecting. For some odd reason Bar 107 doesn't have amaretto. It's a cheap, simple alcohol so it's weird that they don't have it. I also like the old school arcade machines at Bar 107. They are barely used (which might be a good thing). I've heard that the Golden Golpher has some too, but I haven't gone there to check it out. It's been on my list of bars to go to for a while. One of these days I'll hit up all of the joints I've been meaning to go to.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
DTLA Blogsssss
One of the reason I started this blog was to hopefully find other people in downtown, but I also wanted to create this to express something that I wasn't seeing being expressed in the current mainstream Downtown LA blogs. Maybe there are blogs out there like this that either choose not to be a part of the mainstream or don't get recgonized by the mainstream. Most DTLA blogs are either a source of news or focus on one aspect of downtown.
The news are a bit scattered. You have to go to a couple of different sites to find a lot of the downtown news and even then you don't get all of it. There's no definitive news source. Some of these news sources like to voice their opinions or write reviews. I have no problem with this when they are unbiased, but when they are only giving positive reviews it's horrible. When I see an ONLY positive review I set higher expectations than a realistic review. I'm not asking a place to be negative, but be more honest. You can easily say "It's not the best steak I've ever had, but it was good for the price." It's like they are holding back because they got free food or plan on getting free food or maybe to spare feelings. True friends don't back to spare feelings in this case. In the long run it can hurt business when people go and they don't think the food is that good. In the case of one blog, they are somehow connected to one of the local food joints. Not only did the news blog talk about how excellent everything was, the comments were all super positive too. Maybe the blog censored the bad comments, maybe the place was the best place EVER ::being sarcastic::, or maybe people were just being 'nice'. Censoring comments...it wasn't until yesterday when I saw this happen. I made a comment on one of these places a couple days ago. It wasn't a bad comment, but it wasn't a "OMG!!! This is SUPER amazing fantastic SPECTAAAAAAAAAAAAACULAAAAAAAR!!!" When I came to see what others had to say on the thread and I saw my comment removed. Maybe it was accident, maybe they had to delete all of the comments to get rid of the bad ones, or maybe I said something wrong. I'm a little upset if they deleted my comment without knowing why. I think a bigger realization came that these blogs could remove any negative comments if they choose. It's good for those comments that are off-topic or pointless, but what about those that are being nicely honest? Shouldn't those people be allowed to post their opinions? I guess you're forced to go to Yelp, a site that needs to be a lot more sophisticated.
The other major blogs are people who write about specific parts of downtown: homelessness, public transportation, Little Tokyo, etc. There's nothing good or bad to say about these. If you're interested in these then it's cool, but if not then you just don't read them.
Then you get the few people who post about life. Sometimes it has nothing to do with Downtown. Sometimes the post are only once a month. Sometimes they aren't that interesting. I really haven't found any of these that have captured my attention, but I would love to find some. =)
I hope my posts are entertaining enough for people to read. Maybe I'll be ranting too much or ramble on about stuff people don't care about. At least it's better than ranting it out loud to myself.
The news are a bit scattered. You have to go to a couple of different sites to find a lot of the downtown news and even then you don't get all of it. There's no definitive news source. Some of these news sources like to voice their opinions or write reviews. I have no problem with this when they are unbiased, but when they are only giving positive reviews it's horrible. When I see an ONLY positive review I set higher expectations than a realistic review. I'm not asking a place to be negative, but be more honest. You can easily say "It's not the best steak I've ever had, but it was good for the price." It's like they are holding back because they got free food or plan on getting free food or maybe to spare feelings. True friends don't back to spare feelings in this case. In the long run it can hurt business when people go and they don't think the food is that good. In the case of one blog, they are somehow connected to one of the local food joints. Not only did the news blog talk about how excellent everything was, the comments were all super positive too. Maybe the blog censored the bad comments, maybe the place was the best place EVER ::being sarcastic::, or maybe people were just being 'nice'. Censoring comments...it wasn't until yesterday when I saw this happen. I made a comment on one of these places a couple days ago. It wasn't a bad comment, but it wasn't a "OMG!!! This is SUPER amazing fantastic SPECTAAAAAAAAAAAAACULAAAAAAAR!!!" When I came to see what others had to say on the thread and I saw my comment removed. Maybe it was accident, maybe they had to delete all of the comments to get rid of the bad ones, or maybe I said something wrong. I'm a little upset if they deleted my comment without knowing why. I think a bigger realization came that these blogs could remove any negative comments if they choose. It's good for those comments that are off-topic or pointless, but what about those that are being nicely honest? Shouldn't those people be allowed to post their opinions? I guess you're forced to go to Yelp, a site that needs to be a lot more sophisticated.
The other major blogs are people who write about specific parts of downtown: homelessness, public transportation, Little Tokyo, etc. There's nothing good or bad to say about these. If you're interested in these then it's cool, but if not then you just don't read them.
Then you get the few people who post about life. Sometimes it has nothing to do with Downtown. Sometimes the post are only once a month. Sometimes they aren't that interesting. I really haven't found any of these that have captured my attention, but I would love to find some. =)
I hope my posts are entertaining enough for people to read. Maybe I'll be ranting too much or ramble on about stuff people don't care about. At least it's better than ranting it out loud to myself.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Who Allowed Prop 8 to be on the Ballot?
November 4, 2008 - I stood in the Farmers and Merchants Bank Election Party when the sudden news that Obama was victorious and would be the next President of the United States. I was excited. He was my candidate of choice and was proud of the decision my country made. My next thought was, "Now don't go and get assisinated on us." Then my second thought came in, "what about Prop 8?". One victory down, one to go.
I went home and found out Prop 8 was passing. My heart sank. Here we made progress by electing our first black president, but now California was banning gay marriage and setting us back. I was upset and angry. How could this happen? Where are all these people who voted "yes on 8"? I always thought California was a pretty liberal place and a gay friendly place. Am I mistaken? It wasn't just in the more rural ares, but even in LA. Are there hidden hardships for gays in Los Angeles? Or are people suddenly freaking out because this is marriage?
First of all, let's start with the basics. Being gay is not a choice. Who wakes up one day and decides they want to face the hardships of coming out and facing the cruel world? You would have to have some serious issues.
Now, what does marriage mean? With the government it gives them certain rights. The real meaning is either a union between a man and a woman or a union between two people who love and trust each other. I believe in the latter. I'm okay if gays want to get married, as long as they abide by love and commit to that one person for the rest of their lives. Equally, heterosexuals should be held to the same standards. Divorce is a million times more harmful to marriage than gay marriage. Polygamy is almost just as harmful as divorce. There are much worst things out there that harm marriage.
uhhgg...overall the whole thing makes me sick. I'm a perfectly straight woman, but I feel that gays should have their rights. It makes me sick to think that people are forced into marriage, even if they don't love each other, because a girl gets pregnant or arranged marriages or couples who marry too quickly and end up not working out get the right to marry, but not couples who have been together for 5/10/20 years. I'm straight so I can go run off and marry someone off of the street that I don't even know and get divorced a year later. A couple who will be together until the day they die can't get married because they are both the same sex.
I can only hope that things turn around and more people can come to understand that this won't affect their "straight" marriages or their children. By supporting this prop they have only taken away innocent people's rights.
I went home and found out Prop 8 was passing. My heart sank. Here we made progress by electing our first black president, but now California was banning gay marriage and setting us back. I was upset and angry. How could this happen? Where are all these people who voted "yes on 8"? I always thought California was a pretty liberal place and a gay friendly place. Am I mistaken? It wasn't just in the more rural ares, but even in LA. Are there hidden hardships for gays in Los Angeles? Or are people suddenly freaking out because this is marriage?
First of all, let's start with the basics. Being gay is not a choice. Who wakes up one day and decides they want to face the hardships of coming out and facing the cruel world? You would have to have some serious issues.
Now, what does marriage mean? With the government it gives them certain rights. The real meaning is either a union between a man and a woman or a union between two people who love and trust each other. I believe in the latter. I'm okay if gays want to get married, as long as they abide by love and commit to that one person for the rest of their lives. Equally, heterosexuals should be held to the same standards. Divorce is a million times more harmful to marriage than gay marriage. Polygamy is almost just as harmful as divorce. There are much worst things out there that harm marriage.
uhhgg...overall the whole thing makes me sick. I'm a perfectly straight woman, but I feel that gays should have their rights. It makes me sick to think that people are forced into marriage, even if they don't love each other, because a girl gets pregnant or arranged marriages or couples who marry too quickly and end up not working out get the right to marry, but not couples who have been together for 5/10/20 years. I'm straight so I can go run off and marry someone off of the street that I don't even know and get divorced a year later. A couple who will be together until the day they die can't get married because they are both the same sex.
I can only hope that things turn around and more people can come to understand that this won't affect their "straight" marriages or their children. By supporting this prop they have only taken away innocent people's rights.
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