Los Angeles
Wine.
That one word has become synonymous with where and how the social scene
has evolved in Los Angeles recently. In the last year, it seems as if
new wine bars and opportunities to taste innovative wines by the glass
are emerging weekly. The interesting venues are as diverse as wine bars,
amphitheaters, museums, and yes, restaurants. So, go forth, and
explore. You will be richly rewarded.Upstairs 2 is a name to keep tucked into your memory bank. Hidden away in an anonymous looking roof top location, one step into the door, and you feel as if you’re in a chic and friendly night club where there’s the warm feeling that everyone wants you to have as good a time as they’re having. The cuisine and wine lists are innovative and exciting. Wines are available in 2 oz. pours, by the glass, and bottle. The chef has fashioned one of the most creative small plates menus in the city.
Upstairs 2 is fortuitously located near the intersection of I-10 and 405 freeways, and is open Thursday -Saturday from 5:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. Roof top parking allows a single person or group to comfortably walk in no matter what hour of night or wee hours of the morning. It is a fabulous destination in its own right, and an ace in the pocket for a delightful experience before or after the theatre, a concert, or a sports event.
Museums didn’t used to be considered hip. They are now. Check out Fridays off the 405 at the Getty Center in West L.A. Hot music, great wines and a full cash bar, are accompanied by fabulous views, and yes, you can tour the galleries. If you’d like to take the evening a step further, reserve a table at their fabulous restaurant and revel in fine dining and outstanding selection of wines. There is no charge for admission, except for a nominal parking fee. Fridays off the 405 are on the schedule once a month. If you can’t manage to make it to the once monthly event, peruse their schedule for other great exhibits and activities - and don’t forget to dine out at the Getty.
L.A. has a storied history, and the John Anson Ford Amphitheater provides an ambiance which transports you to the feel of the 1920’s, and then beams you right back into the new millennium with music and dance performances from emerging artists, and some of the greatest known performers of contemporary times. Imagine sipping a glass of fine wine and enjoying a leisurely gourmet picnic dinner while watching Bollywood Dance Under the Stars, Mariachi Divas and Friends, or a jazz retrospective of Live on Central Avenue. The John Anson Ford Amphitheater has put together the ingredients for a slightly funky venue and a whimsical night out.
On the way to or from the John Anson Ford or Kodak theatres, don’t forget to stop off at Lou’s wine bar which has one of the most interesting selections of appetizers and wines by the ounce, and glass in the City. It’s in the company of an incongruous group of neighbors, right next to a laundromat in a strip mall across from a Vons supermarket. Who would have thought that once you enter the doors of Lou’s, you feel as if you’re in a hip new neighborhood wine bar in Paris, Barcelona, or Buenos Aires. Hip, but friendly. It’s a place where you get the sense there a lot of regulars who have come to know each other here, and everyone shares conversations at regular intervals. Lou left the world of hi-tech to fulfill his dream of opening a wine bar just like this. He is innovative, warm, and engaging. All of these outstanding attributes are reflected in every aspect of Lou’s. So when you’re driving north on Vine street, make a quick right into the strip mall just past Melrose.
The environs of Venice reflect a frame of mind. Canals, the scent of the ocean in the distance, great little restaurants tucked away like lovely hideaways, and yes, a delightful wine bar named Primitivo. It’s a bustling place with tables close together, allowing for enough privacy in conversation, or just as comfortably being able to engage with your neighbors as you compare verbal notes on the extensive selection of Spanish and Mediterranean appetizers and dinners, along with and exceptional list of wines by the ounce, glass, and bottle. Reservations are highly recommended, although the friendly and engaging staff always goes above and beyond to try to find a spot for a party of one or two at their lively wine bar.
Los Angeles is a vibrant, innovative, and constantly evolving environment which is embracing the international wine scene, and incorporating it into the multicultural society which is L.A. Venture out, explore. You will be richly rewarded. Cheers!
“Welcome to the Hotel California”
by Jamie Reno
Exclusive for California Tour & Travel
The Rock & Roll Legacy of California’s Inns
In the film Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s wistful account of his heady days as a San Diego teen scribe for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970’s, there are several lively scenes set at the Continental Hyatt House, a Hollywood hotel that was dubbed the Riot House because it was party central for that era’s biggest rock stars and their groupies. To give you some idea, Jimmy Page and other members of Led Zeppelin used to ride their Harleys up and down the hotel’s hallways.
Of course, those Riot House days are long gone. Even the name of the hotel has been changed to the Hyatt West Hollywood. But the rock & roll spirit remains. Staying at the Hyatt West Hollywood still conjures up ghosts of California’s glorious musical past, especially if you stay in room 1015: that’s where Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards once hurled a TV out the window.
The Riot House isn’t the only California hotel with a storied rock and roll legacy. When traveling throughout this state, it’s fun to stay in hotel rooms where your favorite music legends once stayed. Like room 32 of the Alta Cienega Motel (also in Hollywood). That’s where Doors’ lead singer Jim Morrison actually lived from 1968-1970 during the band’s heyday. Since Morrison’s death in Paris in 1971 at age 27, his fans have flocked to room 32 from all over the world to write personal messages about the Lizard King on the walls. Rooms at Alta Cienega are $60, but Morrison’s Room, as they still call it, is $65.
Not far from the Alta Cienega is the more posh Beverly Hills Hotel, which has formidable rock credentials of its own. While it’s never been the kind of place where TV’s or anything else are thrown out the window, rock stars do frequent the hotel, which was immortalized as the subject of the haunting photo on the cover of the Eagles’ classic Hotel California album.
Of course, in the title song of that memorable album, when Don Henley sings Welcome to the Hotel California and insists that “you can check in, but you can never leave,” it’s an allegory; he’s singing about a fictional place, not a real California hotel. Or is he? Anyway, contrary to popular belief, the album’s inside photo of the band standing in the hotel lobby was not taken at the Beverly Hills Hotel, but at the Lido Apartments on Yucca Street in Hollywood.
Speaking of the Eagles, there’s also an interesting, if somber California hotel story involving the late Gram Parsons, who was considered by some to be the Eagles’ mentor and father of country-rock music. On Sept. 18, 1973, Parsons checked into Room 8 of the Joshua Tree Inn in the Southern California desert. He had just finished a national tour with duet partner Emmylou Harris and had returned to the inn, a charming, rustic desert getaway for which he had a special affection. Sadly, Gram died in the room that night after consuing much tequila and morphine. He was 26 years old.
Appropriately, the folks at the Joshua Tree Inn, which is still open for business and still frequented by music stars, pay homage to Parsons, one of music’s most underrated artists, in a guest journal kept on a bedside table in that very room 8 where he passed away. If it isn’t too creepy for you, you can stay in that room, which looks identical to the way it looked in 1973, with the same mirror and picture still hanging on the peach-colored walls.
Finally, if you head north to San Francisco’s Executive Hotel Mark Twain, room 203 to be exact, you’ll discover where jazz great Billie Holiday was falsely arrested for drug possession on January 22, 1949 (it was a Ramada Inn at the time). Holiday was eventually acquitted after her lawyers convinced the jury that she had been framed. Nearly 60 years later, you can still stay in room 203, which they proudly call the Billie Holiday Room. It’s the same price as other rooms. While you’re there, check out the plaque and artwork in the lobby of the hotel in salute to Holiday, the lady who sang the blues.
• Hyatt West Hollywood
323-656-1234
• Alta Cienega Motel
310-652-5797
• Beverly Hills Hotel
310-276-2251
• Joshua Tree Inn
760 366-1188
• Executive Hotel Mark Twain
877-854-4106
