My First Time in Los Angeles :: Part 2

Ciaoo!

I’m missing the beautiful sunshine and palm trees of L.A. so much as I’m sitting here getting reaalll sick of this Chicago winter.  Anywho, coming at you today with part two of my recent trip to Los Angeles!  Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn’t want to overwhelm you with all the photos/info in one post so here’s the second half of my vaca for you all.

Day Four

My boyfriend has a small business selling men’s accessories (find him on the gram ) and took this opportunity to find some cool fabrics in the Fashion District of downtown LA.  Definitely not a glam part of town, but we had fun spending the morning picking through fabrics.  Then we headed to a super cute restaurant, Republique, for lunch.  We both had a pretty good meal here, and the restaurant itself was very nice and had a European feel to it.

This next place I found on Insta, actually.  I wasn’t even looking for it, but I saw these amazing cappuccinos that had different prints on them and needed to have one.  I actually found a place that does the same thing in Chicago a few months ago, but Carrera Cafe on Melrose was way cuter inside (you can see the photos on my insta as well) and you could even choose the design you wanted, which was fun!  Naturally, I went for the Mickey and Minnie because I’m five.

This night, we decided to check out the Santa Monica pier and catch the sunset there.  Sunsets on the west coast are really something to see.  It was stunning and the sun was so big in the sky as it set and it was very relaxing to watch.  A little dolphin even popped up to say hi as we were watching from the end of the pier.  We walked around the pier, played a couple little games and then took a barefoot walk in the sand.  One of the things I loved most about the trip (and about Florida whenever I’m there) is spending so much time with my bare feet in the sand.  I really think it’s important to connect with the Earth like that, and after a few months of winter, it feels amazing to go barefoot on the ground.

Day Five

I was told by a friend that I had to see this super cool bookstore downtown called The Last Bookstore.  It was a really artsy place, and the whole upstairs was decorated with amazing artistic elements incorporating the books like this Harry Potter-esque shelf, a book tunnel, and a cute spot to snap a photo in an all-book frame.  Just something different and funky to check out.  There were also some art galleries and shops up there.

We grabbed lunch at a Persian restaurant downtown and then decided we were curious to check out Calabasas.  After seeing and hearing about Calabasas on Keeping Up With The Kardashians so many times, I wanted to take a peek at it (slightly embarrassing to admit, but when in LA!).  We went to the Calabasas Commons, a high end, outdoor shopping mall that apparently sees celeb shoppers often.  Calabasas was undeniably a wealthy town, but had a cute small town feel too.  We say many a Tesla that day.  We took a little walk around some shops and then set off for a drive toward Malibu.  (I didn’t find myself in any super photographable moments here, just a fun visit.)

This drive turned out the be absolutely incredible.  It was on roads that cut through several canyons and the sights were breathtaking.  We didn’t even know it was going to be that cool, we just decided to check out Malibu because it was close by and we were so glad we did.  Sidenote: every single car that passed us (again) was a luxury car. *sigh* I spotted this incredible home from the drive that really made me feel like we were driving through Tuscany.

In Malibu, we headed toward El Matador Beach.  This beach looked like an Italian beach off of the Amalfi Coast.  (Sorry for all the Italian references, but I was overwhelmed in the best way with all the similarities.)  The natural rock formations on the sand were so so cool and it just had this totally different vibe than the other beaches we saw.  We stayed there a while and decided to watch the sunset again.

Day Six

We were flying back to Chicago in the evening, and could spend the first part of the day however we wanted.  The day before when we were driving through Malibu, we had seen a couple little seafood restaurants on the beaches and my boyfriend wanted to have our last meal here.  We went to Malibu Seafood and this turned out to be his favorite meal of the whole trip.  It hit the spot for me too, but I maybe preferred that first Italian restaurant that we went to on night one!  We were both becoming slightly depressed at this point, sitting in the sunshine, looking at the water with our fresh fried fish in hand dreading that we’d be freezing our butts off in a few hours.  We went for a little walk and relaxed on the beach for a while before deciding to head to the airport.  I grabbed one last cappuccino for the road (of course) at a cute cafe in Malibu and we headed off.

How amazing is the way that ray of sunshine was captured coming down over the water? A little surprise when I looked back through my photos. 😊

That’s it for my very first time in this beautiful place.  If you’re planning a trip out to L.A. soon, I hope you liked some of my suggestions and I’d definitely recommend hitting some of those amazing restaurants.  I have a feeling this was the first of many trips to the west coast, as I’ve fallen in love with the nature and energy out there.  Please let me know what you think in the comments and I’ll see you soon back here.

A presto,
Amanda ❤️