Adventures in Downtown LA

We had an awesome Saturday. It began with a great little tour of some of the Broadway theaters, hosted by the LA Conservancy. What an amazing way to see LA, explore LA and get to know the history intimately. We started here at the Million Dollar Theater, one of the first movie palaces in LA. It's a single screen theater, which was used for vaudeville and silent films when it was built in 1918. (Mary Pickford was there on opening night!) In the forties it hosted live acts like Billy Holiday and Cab Calloway. We've done the tour before, but love exploring it when we can. Our guide was OK, she kept referring to herself and stating the obvious, several times... My favorite line was, "... people like myself who saw the raw potential in downtown." Blech.

Anyway, we ducked out of the tour early and walked over to the Nickel Diner for lunch. Somehow I have never been to this amazing little gem. Their tagline is, "I've been in more laps than a napkin." It's hip and cool, but absolutely warm and friendly. The wait staff were such pros, removing and replacing iced coffee with such ease that I didn't see it going or coming. As you sit down they serve these cute little donut holes. They are known for their maple bacon donuts. Now, I have a confession to make. I HATE donuts. I will cross the street and walk three blocks out of the way to avoid the smell and suggestion of a Winchells. I have never had a Dunkin' Donut or anything vaguely similar. But I tried the maple, bacon donut hole and it was good... except that it was a donut. I'm sure if YOU like donuts, you'll love it. I didn't see that they make homemade poptarts until I was completely stuffed with a BLTA, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Arugula sandwich on sourdough with a spicy aioli. It rocked. I can't wait to go back.

THEN... we hit the Modernica Warehouse sale. We didn't buy a thing, but ate awesome ice cream sandwiches outside courtesy of the CoolHaus ice cream truck. If you are anywhere near these girls, you should run and get in line, to pony up and buy yourself an ice cream sandwich. You might have read about them here or here.Enjoy!