The Grand Plan Begins

Our in-and-out home for the next two-and-a-half months

Sun sets over the clouds - an obscenely amber, molton lollipop melting slowly into fluffy white cotton candy poufs. We're flying over Californian skies, with promises of beach cottage vacation weather all year round. This is the start of our journey through the United States of America. We've picked the well trodden paths of travellers before us not least because we're greenhorns in the continent, but heck we really want to see the touristy things in the most untouristy frame of mind.

At 79-days, just a hair shy of the proverbial round-the-world-in-80-days journey, we begin our Americana experience in Los Angeles.
 
Dinner at ELF Cafe with a couple who are close to our hearts. At 1.5 years, they're relatively new to the city of Angels. But their adventuring spirits would lead us the next day, after a night of comatose sleeping, to Square One Dining for a hot breakfast, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Hollyhock House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, no less), Griffith Observatory, Glendale Galleria and Americana Mall. It was a packed day for a transition day, no doubt. 

It was freezing cold too, for anywhere, but especially for usually-sunny Los Angeles. Driving up Griffith Park, we were given a running narration of the park's unofficial status as Hollywood's favourite shooting spot. "Over there...that's where they filmed CSI Los Angeles. And if you look at those trees on your right, you might recognise that grisly crime scene from CSI New York," explained Morgan, our unofficial guide. Yes, most of the CSI's are shot in LA. It was a Saturday afternoon, so there was a fairly big crowd, pushing us as far as mid-way down the hill for a park.

A cloudy, rainy Saturday afternoon at the Griffith Observatory

Hunched over in our hoodies, and wrapped up in woolly scarves, we walked at a laboured but brisk pace – it was after all about 7 degrees celcius and drizzling relentlessly – up to the peak of Griffith Park, where the Griffith Observatory stood.

"This is really unusual for California," says Claudia. "In fact, it rains so infrequently the car accident rate really shoots up when it does. LA is so blessed with clear, sunny weather all year round that the people are not sure how to drive in the rain." She herself had left her favourite umbrella in London when they moved here almost 2 years ago.

Elf Café: The de rigueur Los Angeles vegetarian café – a little bit Bohemian, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, and so chilled out that it took half an hour for a party of three chatty women to vacate their table after paying their bill. This shoe-box sized café is vegetarian, with no mock meats and a with a slight Middle Eastern twist. We had the Moroccan Vegetable Tagine served over red quinoa and spicy harissa (tasty but a little on the wet side), Roasted Beet and Braised Fennel with wild rice and port wine reduction (with its meaty, sweet beets, the vegetarian’s answer to a hearty steak), mac and cheese, and their build-you-own Baked Tart with Thyme and Garlic (pick two fillings from a list. Ours had caramelized onions and blue cheese, and it was divine.). Wash it all down with Rosewater Lemonade. We did.                                                        
2135 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026 
Tel: (213) 484 6829      
www.elfcafe.com

Square One Dining: Try one of the three baked egg dishes, which are fritata-like dishes, served in its sizzling hot skillet. We had the chorizo, gruyere cheese, tomato, onions, tortilla, roasted bell peppers and salsa roja ($10.75) variety. We also had eggs benedict with smoked canadian bacon & baby spinach on a tuscan roll with hollandaise ($13.25). Their pressed egg sandwich, constructed from two scrambled eggs, tomato, arugula and aiol, looked delicious. They do a great mocha latte that even non-coffee drinkers would be happy to sip.
4854 Fountain Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90029
Open everyday from 8am-3pm
Tel: (323) 661 1109

www.squareonedining.com

Griffith Observatory: Astronomy nerds will go ape shit here, what with its interactive exhibits of the planets and space. Measure one’s relative weight on Venus, the moon and the other planets; or gawk at the 150-foot timeline of the universe, made up of celestial-themed jewellery donated by one fanatical individual. A small room is dedicated to the camera obscura, while the Foucault Pendulum, which appears to swing in relation to the Earth’s rotation (in reality, the plane is fixed while the earth rotates under it), is the main crowd drawer.

2800 East Observatory Road

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Tel: (213) 473 0800

Admission: Free

Hours: Wed to Fri 12nn to 10pm; Sat to Sun 10am to 10pm. Closed Mon to Tues

www.griffithobservatory.org

The Americana at Brand: Most every American chain store is here, from Urban Outfitters to Anthropologie, Sephora to J. Crew. If you had to do the quintessential American shopping, you might as well do it here. It’s gorgeous.

889 Americana Way, Glendale, CA 91210

Tel: (818) 637 8982
www.americanaatbrand.com