I've always loved California. Coming from a colder climate, I, like many people, tend to love anywhere that's warm. But with California, it's not just the weather. It's everything about it. You literally feel like you're in a different country.
As much as I love California, my article is more about Los Angeles, the City of Angels as it is also referred to as. While LA may not be my #1 favorite city, it's not far from it (New York City will always be #1 in my heart and I'm not even from there).
LA seems to have a lot to offer and I still haven't seen it all. So I'll talk about what I have seen. If you love shopping and are quite the frugal shopper at that, you'll love one of my favorite places to shop - Santee Alley. Located near Santee and Olympic, Santee Alley is a long 4 mile strip of just pure shopping. This time around was just as exhilarating as the first time. Is it the cleanest place on earth? Not really. I suggest you leave the flip flops or sandals at home or in the car and opt for full foot coverage. Santee Alley offers everything: clothes, accessories, DVDS (of the illegal variety unfortunately), luggage, food, jewelry, household items and more. If you love to bargain, then this is the place for you. You need a whole day to do the alley as everything shuts down around 6pm (and it shuts down pretty promptly). It's funny that the majority of people there were of Latino background and yet, if they yelled a bargain in Spanish, I spoke the same language all of a sudden.
But maybe you love designer things. While Santee Alley will offer you knock offs of the designer bags, shoes and clothes, the Beverly Center is there to serve the real deal. While I did not spend a penny there, I did marvel at all the designer stores. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, just to name a few. Great to marvel at but not in my budget.
It's quite obvious that my love of LA is more associated with shopping. Well, we did do other things. We had to do some people watching on Rodeo Drive. While I didn't see any celebrities this time around, I did see my first group of paparazzi. Wish I took a picture of them! To see upper class Mercedes, Maybachs, Phantoms and Rolls Royces seemed to be a common thing for this neck of the woods. It sure did hurt my neck twisting and turning to see them.
While I've heard a lot about Venice Beach, it seemed to be a bore to me. Maybe because that day just happened to be dreary one, but don't let my negative view of it stop you from going. I heard that you can get some good entertainment up and down the boardwalk. The only thing we got was a few dogs and some crazy surfers ready to hit the waves.
This article is short and didn't do LA much justice but you need to visit the City of Angels at least once in your life to say that you've been there!
By Gilda Pittmon
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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