Ryan and I spent a long weekend in Los Angeles with my sister and mom. We haven’t had a vacation since September, so it was nice to get out of the ice and snow and head to the beach. We stayed in the Venice Beach/Santa Monica area, which I’d definitely recommend if you’re looking for a surf-y, beachside town. Our hotel was right on the beach and waking up every morning to waves was magical.
Food
We had great food while in Los Angeles! We stuck mainly in our neighborhood, but we kicked off the trip with brunch at Neighbor where we had great food and drinks. Friday night Ryan and I really wanted seafood so we hit up The Anchor for lobster rolls and lobster bisque. It was so good and I had a fabulous Moscow Mule there as well. Before the LA Kings game, we had dinner downtown at Bottega Louie and this place was incredible. They made the most beautiful desserts you’ve ever seen and their cocktails were fabulous as well. Such a fun pasta and pizza place. Saturday night Ryan and I were on our own for dinner and we were both craving sushi, so we found Wabi. WOW. This was such a fabulous last-minute find that was only a couple of miles from our hotel. We sat at the bar and had the prettiest cocktails and the most fabulous sushi. The aesthetic of this restaurant is gorgeous as well. Before our flight we wanted to get brunch, so we walked down the block to Rose, where I had incredible pumpkin spice pancakes.
Drinks
A fun bar that was literally steps outside of our hotel door was the Venice Ale House. We stopped in here several times for drinks during our stay as they had a great array of beers and cocktails. Ryan and I went out on our own Friday night and stopped at Library Ale House. Really fun vibe and look here, plus TVs so we could watch the game. As you guys know, we usually make it a point to stop at a few breweries while we’re on vacation. The two we were able to get to in LA were The Dudes Brewing Company & All Season Brewing. If you can only get to one of these DEFINITELY make it All Season. It’s in an old Firestone tire store and it is such a neat spot to see. We hit up an amazing rooftop patio before the Kings game called Perch. Absolutely breathtaking view of downtown Los Angeles and very good craft cocktails. On Sunday we needed a place to watch both the Vikings and Packers game so we went to the sports bar Busby’s – can you say bottomless mimosas?
Fun
We spent a lot of time hanging out at the beach, but we were able to do a few fun and touristy things. We checked out the Venice Canals on our first day and this was a really pretty area. We were able to walk there easily from where we were staying and it’s a great spot to take pictures. The only thing we really planned was to go to an LA Kings game since we’re a hockey family. We love going to sporting events when we’re on vacation. We like checking out other stadiums and teams. The Kings game was affordable entertainment, and we had a great time. While we were downtown before the game, we hit up The Last Bookstore – a bookstore of ALL bookstores. It’s worth checking out even if you aren’t a reader. We also wanted to do something Christmas-y so we went to the Lighthouse Airspace to do their immersive Nutcracker experience. It was very affordable and a fun thing for adults and children.
I’ve got our whole trip saved in highlights on my Instagram under Los Angeles ’22 if you’re interested in seeing even more of what we ate, drank and did.
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