About a month ago I made the great migration from the frozen midwestern plains of Iowa to the sunny skies of southern California (greater LA area). While I have done my share of travelling, I must admit that in my adult life I have never lived outside of the midwest so this whole “west coast” thing is pretty new to me… very exciting!
I’m doing a pretty good job of investigating the scene here, but I thought I’d open up a thread to see if any of my fellow design compadres had any suggestions on things to do/see/check out. Anybody have any favorite places to eat, drink, play, work, etc in the SoCal area that they’d like to suggest? This fish out of water would certainly be grateful!
In terms of general events, http://laist.com/ posts what’s happening daily, weekly, etc. in terms of concerts, festivals, food, and other gatherings. That’s usually my go to source for things to do (i’m sure there’s more “underground” places, but that site covers most of the big stuff and some of the smaller events too. Other than that, just explore! LA is gigantic, and on any given weekend there’s a parade somewhere, a protest somewhere else, a bunch of great concerts, among other things.
Hey
I am not sure were you are in LA. But if you are pretty south you should join the linked in group SDID. I am part of it. The group is great there are about 10 to 13 designers that come regularly to a once month happy hour at different bars all over the area. But the group can be anywhere from 10 to 25 people you kind of never know who you will meet. Outside of that I would recommend you check out Cleveland Nation Forest to the south it is really an amazing place even just for a drive.
When I lived in Southern Cal one of my favorite places to go was the montage in Laguna Beach and Dana Point. I miss saturday morning drives down the PCH, grabbing a coffee and walking on the beach. Because sometimes you just have to get out of L.A.
I am located in Ontario, very close to Upland so I’m about an hour’s drive from the heart of the action in downtown LA. I guess technically I’m in what is called the “Inland Empire”, but I figure I’m still close enough to consider it still part of the greater, greater LA Metro area.
So far I have made trip down to San Diego for a concert, didn’t do any real sightseeing so I definitely need to go back and spend some time. I have stopped in and checked out Dana Point and it was very cool! Last weekend I drove in to see Santa Monica and I walked the 3rd St Promenade. There have been a few other driving tours through Hollywood, “The Valley” and a few other areas, but so far it’s all been just quick little stops. I haven’t really had much chance to sink my teeth into any one area yet, but I’m sure that will happen in due time.
Yo that website is fantastic! Thanks for passing that along
I’m going to also look into those design groups – that looks like a great way to meet some like-minded people as well as to see some things that I may not normally see.