This Ugly Beautiful City, a recap episode

In my previous post, I talked about This Ugly Beautiful City being a year old. During that year I covered a lot of ground. I zig-zagged from Hollywood to Culver City, Century City to DTLA. Now it is time for a recap. When a television show does a recap episode, it feels like a wasted episode, especially if you have been a longtime fan. I do understand now why a recap episode is a good idea. I’ve watched my readership grow, thanks to all of the shares from friends and subscribers on Bloglovin’. If you haven’t been with me since the beginning you might have missed some valuable information about Los Angeles. Here it is, a year in blogging–This Ugly Beautiful City, a recap episode.

L.A.’s frequently asked questions

My first task was to document the frequently asked questions I have received from people about Los Angeles, like, Is traffic really that bad? I also gave you the chance to ask me more questions when I had open office hours on Facebook. In the answer to the question, How do I start planning my trip?, I told you to treat each neighborhood as worthy of a day trip. That is exactly what I intended when I took you on my first neighborhood deep dive, Hollywood.

Hollywood

We did spend some time at that super touristy intersection of Hollywood & Highland. After, I invited you to walk with me a few blocks to the Egyptian, Musso & Frank, and Charlie Chaplin’s former home. I added my favorite places to eat in the area from budget-friendly to major splurges. Were you today years when you found out that there are two free places to hike in Hollywood? Nature does exist here and it’s a short distance from those terrazzo stars.

Itineraries

After Hollywood, I gave you my secrets on how I build itineraries for people when they visit me in L.A. My tried and true ways to end the “I don’t know, what do you want to do” conversations. Although the posts focused on my parents, they can be used for music lovers, car aficionados, places to get a great massage at a cheaper price, and of course all of the places to eat.

That wasn’t the only itinerary I shared. I also gave you my tips when you have guests who come to Los Angeles for celebrity and award show activities. 

Los Feliz

I was in the middle of my deep dive into Los Feliz when COVID-19 reached Los Angeles, four months ago. I did get the chance to sneak in my favorite spots in Los Feliz, like the “everything space” on top of Olive Hill before mid-March.

How to explore Los Angeles from home

I loved that Los Angeles organizations, conservancies, and museums pivoted to bring you a virtual Los Angeles. I wanted to share that with you. These posts will also help you to add places to see in-person when the city is open again. All in all, I gave you 35 ways to see this city without being here. 

Redesign

I took a break to work on a redesign of the blog. We all have short attention spans at this point with social media and other things constantly vying for your attention. I wanted to make sure that I helped to curate quick access to what you want to read, clearly go where you want to go, and experience what you want to experience. Keywords and tag clouds are quick ways to see my posts about restaurants, budget things to do, and days of the week you want to do something.

I made some mistakes in my first year of blogging. Mainly that I completely depended on social media to let you know when I had something new to say. Now you are able to subscribe to get new posts in your inbox. I promise to not be overwhelming you and get back to that twice-weekly schedule. 

Let me know if something isn’t working for you. You can reach me at: info@thisyuglybeautifulcity.com

Newsletter

I am adding a newsletter this year! Each issue will let you know what I posted in the last month, what is coming, what Los Angeles book I am currently reading, other things that I think are worthy of mentioning about L.A. You will receive it in your inbox every 18th of the month. There is a handy subscribe box to your right on your desktop or in the footer on your phone or tablet. Please subscribe!

So that is This Ugly Beautiful City, a recap episode. I will bring you more Los Angeles based content in the next posts.

NEXT UP…five L.A. things I am digging during quarantine.