SF & LA Redux
How many times can I possibly write about traveling to SF and LA? The limit does not exist!! I'll admit that these American-focused blog posts are becoming a bit repetitive before we get to fun international locations, but such was the state of post-COVID travel. I remain dedicated to writing about these adventures to commemorate the memories shared with my friends. In this case, I was able to squeeze in a BUNCH of time with friends from both high school and university.
SF shenanigans
Cora and Alex graciously hosted us in SF, which allowed us to see so many things. They planned five steps ahead to make us comfortable, and for that, I'm grateful. They even bought orange creamsicles and popcorn knowing those are my favs. Their 1br in SF is so clean, bright, and cozy. It's in a great location (Hayes Valley) at a remarkable price ($2800/month, which is less than I pay for my Brooklyn studio).
When I landed, the weather was a perfect 20-ish degrees celsius. The beautifully sunny weather made SF feel downright idyllic. We also didn't venture into the Mission or any sketchy areas this time around, which gave a nice, well-manicured vibe to the city. Upon landing, I joined the crew (me, Cora, Alex, Tiffany, Richard, and Jeff Gong) at Dim Sum Club. It was good value, as evidenced by the largely Chinese clientele.
We spent the afternoon biking in Golden Gate Park, which is actually NOT beside the bridge! It was a nice ride that brought us to Ocean Beach, although I didn't realize we were going downhill until we had to turn around and make our way back up. Richard isn't much of a biker, so he and Jeff Gong rented a tandem bike. Gong, Tiff, and I tried biking altogether. While I found it hard since I don't like losing control (lol), it was definitely hardest on Gong who actually had to drag the two of us on his back.
Next, we went to Land's End! I'd never been before, and I was surprised how pretty it was. They got rid of the famed labyrinth stones and replaced them with a heart, which wasn't as cool. We were a bit too early for sunset and it was super windy, but still cool to see.
For dinner, we went to Henry's pick of Grand Hot Pot Lounge alongside the "other" Richard Chen and Sam. Henry was supposed to join this trip too, but he unfortunately had COVID. I can understand why he was such a fan of this place though — it's a ridiculous place that serves all-you-can-eat hot pot (with tons of meat), drinks (sake, beer, soy milk, grass jelly, milk tea, chrysanthemum tea), ice cream, and karaoke in a private room. ...All for $28! I literally have no idea how they make money.
To cap off the night, Jeff Gong surprised us with a super cute throwback game where we had to guess who made different Facebook posts back in the day. One thing I appreciated about this trip was how much effort each person put in to help make it special.
The next day, Cora, Tiff, and I did a bit of planning for our upcoming Europe trip before driving to Japantown. We were able to parallel park on our own, but needed to get some advice remotely from Steph on how to use the parking brake. Somehow we ambitiously intended to take the Vrsic Pass in Italy with these skills...
We went to Daeho for lunch, which was really good at unlike anything I'd tasted before. It lives up to the hype (from Cora and Kenny)! I liked the galbi jjim with cheese, which was a little sweet and caramelized. Coincidentally, the Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival was going on that day. There were stalls with cute bags, paper crafts, jewellery, cartoon drawings, and some big drum performance going on. They gave us extra free drinks and pocari sweat for Tiff's birthday. It was super lively, and I'm glad we stumbled upon it.
Smol girl, big redwood.
In the afternoon, we headed to Muir Woods. Note, there's no signal there. Gong was driving, and I found his music taste impeccable. There were so many songs that I didn't know but enjoyed greatly. As we walked through the woods, I realized that I had been there before as a child on a much rainier day. The wheelchair accessibility of the park is good, but it made me feel like we didn't "work for the views" as much.
Afterwards, we visited the Palace of Fine Arts. I'd never even heard of this place before, but it was such a nice place to chill (or like, take quinceañera and grad photos, judging on how others were dressed in the vicinity). From there, we walked to Crissy Field, which was surprisingly more of a beach! There was some strange electric surfboard event going on (unless this just happened to be some giant fad in SF at the time).
From there, we drove to Ghirardelli Square. There were cute instagrammable murals nearby with a "Greetings from SF" sign and an umbrella alleyway. It felt a bit like a rip-off of the culture of other places, or maybe gentrified zones are just the same all over the world (from Switzerland, to Taiwan, to SF).
We were planning to take the cable car in the city, but the line was over 60 minutes long! We gave up and walked around the square a bit instead. There were so many cute shops with stationery, jewellery, and Pusheen cats. The level of development reminded me of the Distillery District in Toronto a bit.
From there, I persuaded the group to visit Boba Guys. I got my fix of strawberry rice milk with almond jelly and boba, yum. For dinner, we went to Kevin's Pho — Cora's local favourite. The portions were huge and the prices were reasonable.
To cap off the visit, we went back to Cora's and decided to spontaneously video chat a bunch of our high school friends. Since we weren't all the closest friends back in high school, we had good coverage among us. We ended up chatting with David Park, Jeffrey Wu, Alfred, Luke, Michelle Yuan, Eva, and Steven Su. We were so committed to a 10-year Woodlands reunion in 2024, but it never ended up happening.
The road trip
After our jaunt across SF, it was time to hit the road! After bidding farewell to Cora, we took highway 1 down to LA with plenty of stops along the way. The first stop was none other than Target for groceries and toiletries, and I was reminded how Target in the US is exponentially better than it ever was in Canada. We stopped at a pie ranch at 11:30 am, but they didn't open until 12. Instead of waiting, we headed to Santa Cruz for lunch. Someone recommended Cafe Brasil to us, but it wasn't very good. My açai bowl was watery, and the stroganoff tasted like it was doused in Big Mac sauce. I enjoyed walking around the Santa Cruz board walk through — it felt like a cute amusement park. We tried the milk can and pitching games, although we didn't win anything.
Mirroring my 2019 visit, we stopped at the Big Sur bridge. Somehow, the day escaped us and it was already 4pm by the time we arrived here. That didn't stop us from taking a ton of pictures though.
By "dinnertime" (aka 9pm, yikes), we made it to Santa Barbara. We visited Boathouse at Hendry's Beach for dinner, and it was a great choice. We got a huge seafood tower, calamari, and ahi tuna. It was super fresh and huuuuuge! The ambiance reminded me of Survivor somehow.
We didn't arrive at the Airbnb until 11:30 pm, only to discover that it was super gross and uncleaned. We scrambled in a "war room"-type of setting where we called a bunch of hotels trying to find one that could accommodate us that night. I ended up blowing almost all of my Bonvoy points on a hotel in downtown LA.
The next day was our first full day in LA. It was HOT in the sun, and I enjoyed exploring new places. It amazes me how I'm able to see and do different touristy things every time I visit SF and LA. We took it a bit easier after our crazy drive and explored the area near our hotel. DTLA is kinda smelly. Interestingly, there were a bunch of round patches of artificial grass for dogs to poop... but no one seemed to PICK UP their dog poop! Hence the stench, perhaps?
We browsed around the fashion district, which seemed to be the source for all those quinceañera and prom dresses we'd seen all spring. From there, we visited The Last Bookstore. A great thing about the Woodlands gifted crew is that we all like to read. We spent a looong time poking around every nook and cranny and taking pictures. We jokingly found a Japanese guidebook, which came with a romance section that translated how to proposition people to visit a love hotel. "Dozo!" ended up being a common refrain for the rest of the trip.
For lunch, we visited Grand Central food market. I had a tasty strawberry donut, but thought the juices and smoothie bowls were awful. What does it take for a gal to get a decent smoothie bowl in LA?! Mine was way too sour, Tiff's was the strangest brown colour, and no one could stomach the green juice. We ended up sharing our food potluck-style: Eggslut, Korean food, Japanese roll and takoyaki, and Filipino arroz caldo. Ultimately, I concluded that we can get better versions of each outside a food hall setting.
Next, we checked out Little Tokyo. It was smaller than SF's Japantown, but still cute! I bought a fan (which has already died on me) and stumbled upon a Japanese celebrity. I had no idea who she was, but Gong and Richard said she was Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, famed for her "Pon Pon Pon" song. She had a whole entourage of people following her. Who knows, maybe we'll be featured on Japanese TV. Nearby, we went to Honeymee. I thought the milk soft serve was DELICIOUS, and we also got cute pics.
We drove to Beverly Canon Gardens, where we saw David Choi entering a restaurant!! Apparently it's totally commonplace to see Wong Fu-types in LA, but I was still excited. Gong showed us ASRV, one of his favourite stores (cool dude streetwear fashion). We also browsed a store with a bunch of coffee table books and large prints. It was super cool. For a similar vibe, we also went to shop at The Grove. This area of LA feels like such a bubble, and feels starkly different from DTLA. I checked out Athleta and Madewell (which felt exotic at the time, since they weren't present in Toronto).
For dinner, we went to Genwa for kbbq based on a recommendation from my coworker Katelyn. It was delicious (especially the LA galbi), but not at the calibre of kbbq in Korea. A high bar, I know.
To cap off the evening, we visited the LACMA lights and took a bunch of photos! This group had a lot of fun posing with all the different permutations of the group.
The next day, we did the iconic Hollywood Hike! The hardest part was surprisingly walking 20 minutes uphill to the start of the trailhead. From there, it was easy to get to a nice lookout point. We decided to try making one of those Magic in the Hamptons Tiktok videos. Throughout the hike, we got up to all sorts of young fun like Naruto-style running, singing songs (Party in the USA, Harry Potter, bottle pops, fish and chips and vinegar, etc.). On the way down, we found ourselves dodging large bicycle crews and waving to drones.
We then grabbed lunch at Sugarfish and visited San Marino for Half and Half. Not sure I get the Half and Half boba hype — it tasted like regular strawberry milk to me.
From there, we drove quite a ways to... the PINK WALL!! We quickly learned that the pink wall was in the process of being painted into white (so not the same vibe). We were lucky to get the last of the pink goodness.
I don't remember why we didn't keep the cute pink dog.
Our next stop was the Santa Monica Pier, where we played and finally won(!!) a balloon pop game. We ended up each getting a plushie — an owl, avocado (mine), a big dog, and a little dog. We then frolicked around the beach at sunset and took more clips for our TikTok video. It felt like the definition of "youth." We capped off the night eating mazemen at Mogumogu (my first time trying it!).
For the last day with this road trip crew, we visited Griffith Observatory in the morning (for a second time in a matter of months for me). This time, it was much brighter though! We also checked out ROW DTLA, which was newly gentrified from a previously dangerous area. It was uncanny to walk through pristine shopping streets and pricey boutiques in the middle of Skid Row, especially since it was super empty.
Alongside the fun graffiti, we somehow stumbled upon a Shopify office that we were able to just... enter.
Continuing our Sugarfish enjoyment, we stopped at Kazunori for lunch and Trader Joe's to stock me up with groceries for the next couple of weeks before my next set of friends arrived. Again: I was so grateful for quality time with such enduring friends. There's nothing quite like the comfort of people who grew up the same way as you, with long shared history and lore.
LA catch-ups
After my high school friends left, I crashed at Kenny and Joseph's place while Kenny was away in India for a wedding. Their place at the time was near The Grove, and it had the nice, luxe vibes to match. I ended up grabbing dinner at a place called Conservatory with Brandon (again with the tiki torches!), plus some Korean skewers at a pocha called Dan Sung Sa.
The next day, I visited Culver City with Alex's friend Jonathan (JHo). We grabbed Salt and Straw and Latea. The area kind of reminded me of Mississauga's Celebration Square, which was manicured in a suburban way. From there, we headed to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and Culver City Park for nice views. It was pretty, although be aware that the steps are quite uneven! From there, we headed to Sawtelle Japantown. Apparently, this is where all the Asians hang out. People were crawling EVERYWHERE, so we pivoted to Westfield Century City for Ramen Nagi. There was a long line and it was a little cold, but the ramen was customizable.
The next day, we headed to Brodards for Vietnamese food in Garden Grove. This area kind of reminded me of Heartland, but with a fountain in the middle of the parking lot. It had more unique dishes beyond typical pho, like spring rolls with crispy chunks and deluxe broken rice. It was way too much food for me. We drove through Little Saigon and visited Sunright bubble tea. This was sooo good — the orange yakult was super refreshing.
In the afternoon, we headed to Huntington Beach. Apparently, this is where the locals go to hang out! I could smell the ocean air and walked along a super-long pier. There were lots of people milling about and enjoying the weekend, but in a pleasant way (unlike Coney Island in New York, which felt packed and overrun). The surf shops had great vibes.
To cap off the evening, JHo graciously drove me to Citadel Outlets, where I bought a TON of stuff! This included four items from Loft, a cherry Kate Spade bag and sandals (both of which I continue to use VERY regularly), quilted Lulu pants (a staple for planes), and a swimsuit top from Superdry. I somehow managed to grab dinner one minute before the fast food store was due to close. Workers hate her!!
That Sunday, I met up with Will (from exchange!) in Little Tokyo. His favourite spot (Sushi Gen) was closed, so we went to a place called Oomasa instead. It was quite standard. Will really threw it back to exchange after that by taking us to Bulgarini gelato (his long-time favourite spot). I had chocolate orange and almond. It was fun driving around San Marino, blasting "Sunshine" by OneRepublic. According to Will, some of the nice houses in the area are regulated to put up Christmas lights each year. We then stopped at his parents' place where I met Will's dogs, then toured around his own place. That's where Karen came to pick me up.
It was so nice to see Karen again (another high school friend)! We did a little walk by the coast in Palos Verdes, then ate dinner at Quality Seafood in Redondo Beach. I LOVED this place — we had a ton of delicious, fresh seafood for $40 each. Our spread included freshly steamed crab, oysters, fried squid, and grilled fish. Yum.
It was back to reality (i.e., work) after that, although I tried to make the most of my evenings. When Kenny returned, I was relegated to an air mattress in the living room (still spacious and comfy!), and we checked out the La Brea Tar Pits after work. "La Brea" means "tar pit," so it literally translates to "tar pit tar pit." Seems to be an LA habit, what with "the Los Angeles Angels" too (haha). The tar pits were surprisingly small, although there was pretty lavender in bloom. We also took snazzy pics by the LACMA rock. Who knew this was a thing? I thought LACMA was only popular for its lights outside. For dinner, we grabbed pho... which was quite standard, except it was somehow $30 USD!! Inflation is REAL. It was also nice to spend time hanging out with Joseph before he went home to Florida for a bit.
My Atlas moment, Runyon Canyon by my lonesome, and an extremely flattering pic of me trying gopchang.
On Wednesday, I walked an hour to Runyon Canyon after work. Turns out that walking to a hiking trail is simply not done in LA, which I only realized after I hit some sketchy patches. I was woefully oblivious though, chattering away on an expert call during the walk. ...Efficiency? I've become more safety-conscious as I've aged.
On Thursday, we went to... Aghassi Gopchang! This is BTS's favourite kbbq spot in LA, and I agree with them. It was my favourite too, and I thought it could rival the kbbq spots in Korea. It was worth the 45-minute wait. We went for some gopchang (intestines), which reminded me of Chinese sausage often found in fried rice (not my fav).
On Friday, Steph and Shauna arrived! The four of us went to a random park called the Kenneth Hahn recreation area around sunset. It had a cute view of downtown LA, plus some exceedingly small hummingbird and Japanese gardens. For dinner, we got kalguksu and bossam in Ktown. It felt very clean, but the kalguksu wasn't my favourite. The chicken was better than the seafood.
Our big Saturday adventure was... Disneyland!! We got up bright and early to rush to the new Star Wars-themed Resistance ride upon opening. It was cool in the sense that the theming had incredible attention to detail (even in the washrooms). Many people dressed up in matching outfits all over Disney, like this one SUPER cool couple in matching Turning Red hypebeast apparel. We put in (minimal) effort with some Minnie ears.
Disney is definitely more about the theme than the thrill. I enjoyed canoeing and Splash Mountain because they were SLIGHTLY more intense. Otherwise, most of the rides felt like slow-moving, leisurely circular routes with Disney characters. They weren't particularly high adrenaline or high octane. I guess that's what makes it the most ✨magical place in the world✨... for kids.
To cap off the evening, the four of us ate Korean fried chicken and watched Modern Family! I flew back the next day, although Steph, Shauna, and Kenny continued to hang out a bit more after I left.
Overall, the trip was a great way to spend quality time with so many friends across different periods in my life!
Trip dates: April 16 - May 1, 2022