Growing up in the East Coast, visiting Los Angeles has always been one of the more popular travel destinations (in the USA) I wanted to go to. To me, the West Coast always had that allure of beautiful beaches, warm weather, and good vibes year round. So, I was inevitably excited when I was able to visit my buddy Emilio in LA.
As someone who grew up there, Emilio is someone who I entrusted with coming up with a wide variety of activities within our limited time frame...of a single day. The list below encompasses that “take action” mindset, and is meant to serve as a starting point for your adventures. What we recommend is reading through our events, researching nearby areas, and planning your own itinerary.
Let’s dive right in.
Huntington State Beach (21601 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92646, United States)
This beach is located a bit south from downtown LA, further away than Santa Monica and Long Beach. If you’re looking for a quieter beach with a long pathway, this is your beach. A protected beach in Southern California, the beach extends 2 miles from Newport Beach to Beach Boulevard. Daily parking is $15 so we recommend coming with a group to split costs.
Dave’s Hot Chicken (970 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029, United States)
What originated as a small stand in 2017 is now one of LA’s hottest (pun intended) chicken joints. With successful locations in North Hollywood and East Hollywood, Dave’s is now in the process of expanding to Koreatown and Fairfax. Even with a relatively simple menu (https://www.daveshotchicken.com/menu) consisting of a chicken tender, slider, and a few sides, this restaurant has a line going out the door anytime of the day. The key to its success is quality chicken, a proprietary brine, and seven signature spice blends.
After witnessing the demand in the North Hollywood location and tasting its signature slider at the medium hot spice level, I can say the food lives up to the hype. The chicken was juicy and super tasty. Their signature sauce along with the fries and slaw helped ease the spice (I only got medium hot which was decently spicy) while complementing the flavors of the chicken. If you’re a fan of chicken and/or hot food, you should definitely check out this place.
Overwatch Arena (3000 W Alameda Ave, Burbank, CA 91505, United States)
Overwatch is a massively successful video game created by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that brought us World of Warcraft and . It’s a team-based multiplayer where you and five other teammates each fill different roles, complete different objectives to win matches and rank up. At the highest level of competitive play, there exists the Overwatch League, much like the NFL for American football, or Wimbledon in tennis, for example. In this case, 36 teams compete in a regular season and postseason, where a team’s regular season record is used to determine a team’s seed in playoffs. Similar to March Madness, there exists a bracket where winners advance, and loser’s are dropped from the bracket. We were here today to watch the two final teams play, the Vancouver Titans and the New York Excelsior, in the Winner’s final. Regular admission tickets are $10 a piece and well worth the hour and a half of entertainment. The stadium itself is very new, and it’s unclear if it will be used for more than OW in the future, but definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the game.
Rodini Park (11049 W Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood CA 91601)
Situated in a quiet street in North Hollywood (Noho), Rodini Park was a much needed recharge to continue the night. Offering an abundant healthy mediterranean food selection in a modern environment, Rodini Park combined the fast casual aspect of Chipotle, while still serving unique entrees that can stand on there. Lucky for us, we were able to try one of those specials that night. The slow-roasted lamb, although costing $18 (not on the cheap side for a quick dinner), was some of the best lamb I’ve ever tasted. It was tender, juicy, flavorful, fall-off-the-bone, and any other positive adjective to describe a piece of meat. The lamb was so good I don’t remember what the other sides I chose that came with the dish. However, I do know that whatever I got was good as well, because my plate was spotless at the end. Furthermore, seating is available inside and out. We recommend sitting outside where you will sometimes hear local music being played by up-and-coming musicians.
Fuck i'm hungry again
The Basement - Escape Room (12909 Foothill Blvd, Sylmar, CA 91342, United States)
To get inside itself was something we had to figure out
An escape room is a unique experience in itself and the first one can always be a little nerve-racking, which was the case for me here. In case you’re unfamiliar, escape rooms are (taken straight from wikipedia):
also known as an escape game, is a game in which a team of players cooperatively discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to progress and accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time. The goal is often to escape from the site of the game.
With five different “rooms” to try, The Basement did not disappoint. The only escape room with live actors, it’s no wonder they’re considered the number one escape room in the country. It’s important that you make reservations beforehand which you can do on their website.
We ended up completing Chapter 4: The Courtyard in a pretty decent time of 30 some minutes after struggling towards the end. A tip is to come in with an open mind, team attitude, and a sense of adventure. Escape Rooms can be great team building exercises as well for companies. I felt a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie with a group of people I've barely met just 30 minutes ago.
Night Hike - Stough Canyon (2300 E Walnut Ave, Burbank, CA 91504, United States)
That black mound on the right side is Griffith
Some of you may be surprised I didn’t include Griffith which is the most popular hiking trail in Los Angeles. I can say from personal experience that hike does end with a great view of the city and the famous Hollywood sign. However, stough canyon when done at night, offers a more low-key and slightly better perspective of the city. Although technically not allowed to hike after 6pm, locals will say it is rarely enforced and punishable (hike at your own discretion). A group of 3 friends were the only other hikers we saw that night when we started our hike around 10pm.
Hazy but gaze-y
With so much to do in LA, we couldn't fit all the activities into one day, or one post for that matter. Stay tuned for part two coming soon...
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