A Local's Guide to L.A. and My Weekend Recap
Issue #116: Plus every single item I packed.
Though it’s been years since I lived there, L.A. will always feel like home. I was born and grew up in Laurel Canyon, rented an apartment in Santa Monica during a summer in college, and spent most of my twenties in Echo Park. In sum, I’ve spent over half my life in the sprawling, smoggy, sunny city. Yet, when people ask me where I’m from, I often respond with the city I attended high school in: Reno, Nevada.
There’s something about Los Angeles that feels unclaimable, at least as a hometown. Even conceptualizing L.A. feels slippery. I’ve noticed that people who have never spent time there gravitate toward its shiny exterior when trying to make sense of it: Instagram, Hollywood, Melrose Place, Erewohn. The decades-long joke is that when New Yorkers head to Los Angeles, they stop eating gluten, swap black coffee for pistachio matcha, and claim enlightenment after dropping acid in Joshua Tree.
The truth is that Los Angeles is more wild and interesting than outsiders give it credit for. It’s constantly changing, with neighborhoods so varied you can walk one block and feel like you’re in a different country, thanks to its thousands of micro-cultures where Scientologists, Beverly Hills housewives, Frogtown baristas, Boyle Heights taco chefs, and Hollywood celebrities coexist. It’s my favorite city I can’t imagine living in again (lack of water and an abundance of traffic are real concerns), but love to visit. Read on for highlights from my recent trip, a local’s guide to L.A., every single item I packed, and photos from our Morning Person event!
I met Jess Kane, a born-and-raised Angeleno, when we both worked at an L.A.-based lifestyle brand together. A friend and trusted work wife, she also quickly became my go-to for dinner recommendations, which makes sense: I’ve never met anyone so generous, engaged, and curious about other people or genuinely delighted by a perfectly chewy sourdough pizza crust. Jess turned her innate love of gathering with people over meals and experiences into a website of meticulously curated travel guides on her site, à la carte. Before heading on my trip, I asked Jess for her top L.A. food recs, and she delivered with 37 (!) unmissable spots across the city…