There used to be a little place on Hollywood Blvd. near Wilton that I liked. And when I say ‘little’, I mean little. I counted the seats once. There were 24. It was a Czech place called Little Prague. I tried the goulash once, and it was good (and certainly unly my mom’s ‘goulash’ that she made when I was little – it was basically paprika beef’n’macaroni). But I ended up getting the half roast-duck whenever I went back, with all of the dumplings you wanted. Ooh, that was good! The skin was nice and crispy, and the meat was tasty and juicy. Cheap, too. $10 in the late-'80s/early-'90s. It’s got to be gone by now.
I went to Warszawa in Santa Monica once. I wish I’d gone back. Very good Polish food. I can’t remember what I had, other than the herring appetiser in some sort of cream sauce. Tasty!
Oh yes, I’d say it’s definitely pretty weird. Worth a stop if you’re in the 'hood, though. You’ll either find it fascinating or walk out saying “WTF?!”. They have exhibits like a portrait gallery of Russian Space Dogs, a bat that flies through walls, and a collection of minature sculptures. Many of the displays are accompanied by very dense written explanations that would take hours to read (if you were so inclined).
Cut an old lady some slack. Is K-Town not a dive anymore? Are there Korean BBQ places sprouting all over the Midwest that are worth eating at? Is Hop Louie no longer a shithole? Because that’s why I liked it. Twas a place you could drink on a Monday afternoon, and not have to be bothered with friendly conversation. Not even by the staff.
When a locale attains kitsch value–and the incumbent popularity–it by definition no longer is a “shithole.”
As for Koreatown, how you can lump together a 5-square-mile district (one of the most dense in the U.S.) with hundreds of thousands of residents, thousands of nightclubs (many with valet parking, strict dress codes, and ten-dollar drink minimums), karaoke houses, boba cafes and generally the center of nightlife for Korea’s cultural, political and economic elite when visiting the U.S. into the single term “dive” is beyond me.
Who cares about kitsch? I care about drinking in silence… unless it’s become popular due to kitsch value, which would mean the silence is gone.
Now back to K-Town and what makes it a dive. Oh, I dunno, the van-sized cockroaches abound past 8:00pm, the drunks sleeping on the street, the swaths of trash collecting along the sidewalk and street. Some places in K-Town are nicer than others, of course, but K-Town gets quite divey. Killing roaches with your coaster at the bar… key. This was, naturally, at the HMS Bounty, but still.
My trip to LA was years ago, before the Getty Center was built. We visited the Getty Villa, a stunning marble building on a hill overlooking the Pacific. Much of the collection destined for the Getty Center was shoe-horned into the Villa, crowding the antiquities. It’s apparently been renovated & is even better. And I’d love to check out Getty Center; after having my butt kicked by the Metropolitan, a stroll through a fine museum with a pretty good collection sounds like a great vacation diversion.
I guess the big city was a shock for you. I understand. But the OP wanted to see the actual city he was visiting–not Main Street Disneyland–and obviously isn’t so easily upset as you, and he enjoyed Soot Bull Jeep.
The Bounty is a “dive,” you say? Maybe you should just keep to the Sizzler and Hamburger Hamlet, and you won’t get so upset.
And maybe you should try venturing off of Wilshire, which everyone knows is a bubble of non-Koreatown in the middle of Koreatown.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, dear. Los Angeles proper, at that. Not the Valley, not Orange county. Are you offended that my definition of seedy and your definition differ? I actually grew up in a neighborhood that was shittier than K-Town and was fine with that, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a shitty neighborhood.
No, the HMS Bounty is not a dive, but the K-Town neighborhood in general gets most divey. Your recommendations on where to eat and venture are hilarious, though. Everyone who has lived in K-Town has had the pleasure of being the only non-Korean at a given bar or restaurant at some point. Big whoop, it’s called living in LA. Your suggestion that I came out of the suburbs and was surprised by all the bright lights and the ethnics is A+ comedy.
Edit: $10 says you’re from the burbs. Oh yeah, and I’ve eaten at Soot Bull Jeep, and those little places across the street in the strip mall.
Heh, I’m perfectly settled. Whatshisbucket over there was the one whose knickers were in disarray because I said K-Town was a dive (which it is). But in any event, I’m glad Just Some Guy had fun in my hometown.