Los Angeles Travel Diary: Day One

We started off our trip on the West Coast in downtown LA whilst our nephews were at class at the Colburn School of Performing Acts. It took an architectural spin as we wandered through the magnificent Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, and then over at the beautiful, ultra-modern Cathedral of the Our Lady of the Angels:

We were aiming to eat tacos and more tacos on this trip, so we started with the sampler platter at Guisados in Boyle Heights. LOVED this place - so did LA Times' food critic Jonathan Gold, who placed it on his must-eat list at #57. I also put to the test my high tolerance for chilis with the foreground-pictured chiles toreados below. It was head-spinningly good but I definitely had to down multiple glasses of horchata to put out the proverbial fires in my mouth. 

We then drove through Olvera Street for churros and posed in front this giant cross which is right by the first settlement in LA (1781 by the Spanish, if you were curious!) 

Then we went on to experience the best of LA traffic on our way to Santa Monica beach:

It was SUCH a treat to leave the East Coast chill for the warm beaches of LA so we walked the few miles down to Venice in an attempt to digest our big lunch. Loved Santa Monica. Venice, not so much. There were only so many potheads I cared to encounter. The skate park in the middle of Venice beach though? Mesmerizing... 

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We ended the day with more tacos - this time at the Loteria Grill at Farmers Market. Which was coincidentally by the Grove. Promise I wasn't out to shop in LA but if an opportunity is presented to me, then well... 

Stay tuned for Days 2 and 3.

{Wearing: J Crew yellow lace Lucille dress, vintage Hermes belt (identical), Steven Madden Tippsy glitter sandals, Marc by Marc Jacobs Hillier hobo bag, Ray-Ban aviators, "pashmina" from a random shop in Kuala Lumpur}