Isn’t Genghez Cohen a chain? I could’a sworn I saw one down near LAX/El Segundo.
And The Grove is a fun place to just window-shop, IMO. I’ve taken out-of-town visitors there to kill a few hours just like any other tourist trap. 
They appear to have only the one location. I haven’t tried it, so I think I’ll have to now. Just the mention of Cantor’s is making my mouth water.
The only mention about Venice beach has been its proximity – let me add that it’s a must see, at least once, just so you can say you have. Seeing all the street performers and vendors is a blast. While you’re there, have lunch at the The Sidewalk Cafe. Great selection and the entertainment on the boardwalk right in front is hilarious! Also, if you walk down South Venice Blvd. from the boardwalk, you’ll get to Canal Street. Take a right and you’ll be in the area the city’s named for, where all the houses sit on the canals and the only way to get around is to walk or canoe or paddleboat. There are some exquisite homes and the duckies all over the place are adorable.
If you like book stores, perhaps you’d also like the Central Library downtown. It’s pretty incredible as a library, but they also have exhibits there that can be fascinating and fun.
Welcome to La La Land!
Oh, and the La Brea Tar Pits. Don’t miss the tar pits!
I’ll add that The Getty is free admission, and my husband and I like to go there just for the gardens and the views sometimes, never even entering a building. You can bring a picnic lunch and eat on the hillside overlooking the central gardens. Fabulous. The Metro Bus 761 stops at the main gate on Sepulveda.
Hey sorry! Been busy at work. Koreatown was once a really crappy area to live but in the past 5 years it has been getting sooooooo much better. I moved to this area because I wanted to live in a vintage high-rise building w/ cheap rent. (I now live on the 6th floor of my building, which was built in 1924, with a beautiful view of downtown). Koreantown is slowly getting gentrified, but as of now, it is still VERY Korean. There aren’t many non-Korean restaurants and many of the businesses are Korean owned and they don’t speak English well. On the plus side, I love my neighborhood! I am surrounded by high-rises and I feel like I actually do live in a big city. Everyone is very friendly and I live close to Wilshire and Western which helps since I like to take the bus/subway. Hurry and move to Koreatown before the rents get outrageous! (This building down the street is charging $875 for a studio!!!) From a newcomer point-of-view however, K-town doesn’t really offer much. Chinatown and Little Tokyo are far more interesting to explore.
laconservancy.org offer tours of Little Tokyo, which I’m sure would be interesting. I am taking the Art Deco tour this weekend and I’ll tell you if it was worth the $10!
Whoops! Wanted to mention some restaurants.
Pho Cafe: great Vietnamese food. Can get dinner and a drink for under $10. 2864 Sunset Blvd. (It’s in Silverlake). There is another cheap & good Vietnamese place called Lemongrass, but I haven’t been there yet.
Pink’s: Actually, to me, not good. Definitely not worth the 30 min wait for it. The food is really greasy and I always feel sick afterwards.
Canter’s: Great food, but expensive. Expect to spend at least $10 for a sandwich. The pastrami here is one of a kind.
Joan’s on 3rd: The sandwiches are to die for! They are soooo yummy! Expensive ($10 a sandwich), but sometimes worth it to treat yourself. 8350 3rd St.
Sushi It’s: Best all you can eat sushi in town. It’s very hidden so it’s never really crowded. It’s on the 2nd floor of a mini-mall, but don’t let it’s location scare you! $25 for great sushi and service. 4339 Sunset.
hot-dog vendor carts: You will see these scattered about various areas- especially around clubs/bars. They are bacon-wrapped hotdogs and the sanitation of these carts definetely raise eyebrows, but when you are drunk and hungry they are so freaking good! Usually it’s $4 a hotdog.
Samalung Cafe: Not sure if I’m spelling this right but it’s in Thai town, a few blocks east of Hollywood. It’s at a corner with bright yellow and pink neon lights on Hollywood Blvd. The decor isn’t worth mentioning but the food is the best Thai food in town and it’s super cheap! I can easily get dinner for 2, drinks, and an appetizer for under $20. Avoid the restaurant called Toi. It’s a trendy, “rock n’ roll” Thai restaurant that sucks! The food is terrible! Don’t go, ever!!
Cafe 101: Great for late night/drunk eating. It’s in the lobby area of the Best Western. 6145 Franklin Ave.
IANAAngeleno, just a High Desert Dweller that goes there a lot. But I’ll add a few things anyways.
The Getty is free, but it costs $5 to park. They are closed on Mondays.
For restaurants, go to Phillipe’s. It’s a LA standard and the birthplace of the french dip sandwich. The mustard, kept in a dish at every table or countertop, is excellent but quite piquant, and the lemonade is to die for.
Up in Pasadena is the Huntington Library, if you’re into gardens, old documents (think Shakespeare folios, old Bibles) and American art along with bunches of other stuff.
Two other recommendations if you’re into old movies-
the Egyptian Theatre has LOTS of revivals,
Hollywood Forever Memorial Park- where Cecil B., Jayne Mansfield, Rudolf Valentino, Alfalfa & many more are buried. It was a neglected dump & now it’s glitzed up, kinda schmaltzy but …well, fabulous L.
Also- two churches that have historical significance to the area
in downtown L.A., the Los Angeles University Cathedral, which was the original United Artists Theatre, and is pastored by Melissa Scott (aka Barbie Bridges), widow of the late lamented Dr. Gene Scott;
the Angelus Temple- founded by the renown Aimee Semple MacPherson.
Actually, it’s gone up to $7. But she doesn’t have a car, remember, so it’ll only be the cost of bus fare.
Basically, we loved living there. Apt.302, one of the 5 two story lofts in the building. The good thing about the complex is location, aslo they take good care of the building and the washers/dryers are kept up, but best to do your laundry at off-peak hours otherwise there is a wait. The pool is heated year round, but it gets pretty busy out there and I would not reccommend a pool side apt (like we had) as the happy little drunks love to dive in at 3AM on a weeknight and swim, even though it is agains the rules, but you know how that goes.
When we moved in in 1991 the apt cost $850 month, when we moved out in 1999, it was $1,200 month and the guys who took it over were paying $1300 and who knows what it costs today.
All in all, a great complex and when the Northridge earthquake hit, not only was there very little damage, but that was the only building for many blocks where the electricity did not go out.
One quick story: Some friends in Germany (who had visited us) called us one day and after some hesitation, asked if we were shooting porn in our apartment. Much as we would have liked to have said yes, we told them the truth - no. They sent us a copy of a documentary on porn that was shown on German television. The people who filmed the documentary showed our building and then, they did a close up of OUR FRONT DOOR, APT 302, and then cut into some other apartment where they were filming porn. We got a good chuckle out of it, and I bet they never in a million years thought we would ever know they used our door in a film to be shown half way around the world.
Oh, I forgot to mention the history of the location of the building. In the film, Star Is Born with Judy Garland, her little apartment was an actual apartment on the site where this building now stands.
:smack: Sorry that “no car in Los Angeles” thing usually glides right over my brain.
Well, a lot of things do, usually. But this especially.
That is awesome. Regarding, the 3am drunks…my roomate-to-be is among the types that participate in this behavior. She called me last week at 7am, my time, to tell me she forgot her keys and didn’t want to wake her 9-5 roommate to let her in. She ended up sleeping by the pool and awoke to dog licking her face. On a more sober occassion, she met and started dating a fellow resident who is starring in a new show scheduled on the fall line-up. Although I’m a bit more reserved then she, I’m sure this complex will be a fun, young place to find some new adventures. I also feel more assured, knowing that a doper resided there, that the place isn’t chock-full of crazies.
Thank you to all the wonderful dopers who took time to participate in this thread. Moving to L.A. excites me to no end, and you guys are fueling my exhiliration.
I cautiously never said that…there certainly are a share of those, as it is a HUGE complex that goes from Crescent Heights all the way over to Laurel Avenue. However, most are “nice” crazy, and tons of actors/wannabe actors, live there.
Met soap opera stars in the garage, and you will see lots of people reading scripts by the pool. Brad Pitt lived a few blocks away when he was just starting, Bette Davis lived and died in an apartment a block away, Mae West owned the building down the street, Billy Idol had his motorcycle accident at the corner, as well as Paula Abdul’s famous hit and run at the same intersection. Lots going on in that area. You will be anything but bored. So when ya movin’ there?