We've happily arrived home to NY after a long and winding visit to my technicolor hometown of Los Angeles, with many a tale to tell. It was quite a whirlwind "vacation", as the mister & I had both been sick prior to the trip, so we were forced to bring our design studio along for the ride (though it's pretty hard to complain about working on your laptop, while you're lounging on a chaise in Palm Springs, which i'll post about later). We knew right from the flight that it was going to be a surreal trip . . . as after my Klonopin kicked in (neurotic flyer, to say the least), I noticed Twister Sister's Dee Snyder seated across the isle. And to make matters even wackier, not 20 min. later, we were watching him in the video for I Wanna Rock on our petit TV . . . a totally meta experience.
Immediately upon touchdown, we headed straight for In-N-Out and indulged "animal-style" (not exactly part of my usual grass-fed/farm-fresh diet, but mind-blowingly awesome anyway). And after waking up the next morning in my parent's beautifully preserved Art Deco apartment (as seen above), my mom (Moira), my sister (Lizzie) & I, headed to Paper or Plastik for potent lattes and a peek at their lovely little loft-boutique, Anyash, where I swooned over silk dresses handmade by the cafe's owner, my sweet mum bought us a little succulent-filled terrarium, and Lizzie purchased vintage paperbacks (seen below).
Lizzie & I then hit a jam-packed estate sale, where I picked up a classic Freedom Rock LP ($1) and a great novel with a fabulous '70s pop cover ($1), and Lizzie scored a green leather disco belt/necktie ($3) with stamped leaves (reminding us of these shoes).
In the afternoon we visited the historic Farmers Market to sip fresh carrot-apple juice, and shop at its adjoining mall, The Grove, where we bought Audrey Horne-esque sweaters at Anthropologie, perfect boho sandals at J. Crew, and I was elated to see my book, Vintage LA, in the front window of Barnes & Noble. Later on, we were joined by our friend Yego and our spiritual sister, Kimme at Silver Lake's Intelligentsia, and after getting crazy caffeinated, we crossed over to Pazzo for gelato.
Day three consisted of us watching Lizzie totally Tina Weymouth-ing out on her disco bass in preparation for her weekly lesson, followed by brunch at Downtown's insanely hoppin' Bottega Louie. After some work back at the ranch, and a play-date with the Pugs (Ali Baba, was in tow for the trip, and my parents are also blessed with one, aptly named Groucho), we devoured long dreamed-of tacos and hot cinnamon tea, at my all-time favorite Mexican cafe, Alegria. Then after catching up with friends at El Cid's Saturday night party, Goodie Tu-Shoes, we headed for tea at Swinger's.
Along with visiting our old haunts, we also discovered some new joints, like Wonderland Emporium, which is filled to the rafters with LPs, 8tracks, rare books, men's vintage clothing, and wacky collectible music memorabilia (it's also open 'till 2am, perfect for coffee addicts like us). To view photos of Wonderland, along with a gallery of snaps from our L.A. adventure, venture HERE.
We're already planning our next trip, to visit all the vintage haunts we didn't have time to pay homage to, spend the day in Ojai (to visit Beatrice Wood's studio, who is one of my ultimate idols), and see friends we missed this time around.
Photos: "California" animation found on Silk-Rayon's Tumblr, all others = °The Vintager.
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