Five things I have been doing during Los Angeles, Safer at home: The Palms neighborhood

I never really intended to write about the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles on this blog. It is a hard neighborhood to write about in regards to it being a “happening” destination. It is pretty residential. Blocks and blocks of dingbat apartments, peppered with restaurants, and private businesses not open to the public. Throughout L.A., Safer at Home, I have gotten to know Palms better out of necessity. I have escaped my apartment for exercise and have found nature lining its sidewalks. Life in quarantine has forced me to look at my neighborhood differently. Not a place for merely living and commuting, but a destination. Here is my typical day in Palms.

But first….

Where is Palms?

Palms = Los Angeles

It might be good for you to know where the Palms neighborhood is. As a resident, even I struggle with its borders. It is an odd-shaped neighborhood nestled between Culver City, Mar Vista, Cheviot Hills, and Rancho Park. It juts into and away from Culver City so much so that the city’s boundaries are blurry. For example, the Museum of Jurassic Technology is in Palms, even though you can see it from the farmers’ market on Culver City’s Main Street. There are a lot of instances like this, where places can be across the street from each other and be in another city.

During quarantine, the way I know I am in Culver City or in Palms is because in Culver, you do not have to push the crosswalk buttons as a COVID-19 health precaution; in Palms, you do. Maybe that says something about Los Angeles?

Palms in the morning

Since leaving the apartment and facing the world is hard to motivate yourself to do during this time, I head to Commissary on Motor for a strong cup of coffee-to-go. I walk with my coffee past the little shops on Motor and Rose. I wonder how they are surviving. A clothing store just closed this past week. The tabletop game place is no longer hosting game nights. D.L. Rhein is open by appointment. I peek inside its windows for new things to decorate my apartment–we are all feeling a change of scenery aren’t we?

I head to Overland, passing the wild gardens in the front yards of people’s apartment buildings. I long for a massage at Chiva, but I am too afraid to let strangers touch me right now. An hour-long Thai massage for $42 sounds so good after hours of sitting at my dinner table, which has become my desk. Dining room chairs are definitely built for dinner eating only.

Even though it is out of my way, I pass by the Crapi Apartments–pictured above– because it makes me laugh. It never gets old. It is good to find a little silliness during this time. Since my walking always needs to have a destination in mind even still, I usually decide to go to Pac 8 Orchids to wander through the rows and rows of beautiful orchids. I usually take one home. 

Palms in the afternoon

A quick stop at home to drop off that beautiful but ill-fated plant usually leaves me hungry for lunch. There are a lot of options here. I have mentioned before that in my neighborhood, I could eat food from several states in Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil, several states in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Italy, as well as get a lobster roll and grab some vegan food without getting into a car. This is a dilemma in the Palms neighborhood, where to eat. 

Sometimes I head up the street to grab a couple of slices of pizza from the Coop. This small corner storefront is across from the Expo Line and is a good place to people-watch if you decide to eat your slice at the counter facing the street. The slices are New York-style thin. Perfect for folding and eating. It isn’t a saucy pizza, but cheese and topping heavy instead. The Coop is run by a couple who seem so different from each other. The wife always calls me sweetie and is genuinely sweet herself. The husband, whom I also love, is grumpier. He seems to always be in a bad mood when I am there, which is more often than my waistline would like. They are both always so thankful that you came, which is also another reason I support them. I want them to survive this.

• Website: The Coop does not have one
• Location: 10006 National Blvd
• Cost: It is $11 for a medium with two toppings
• Order: I love their meatballs. They are homemade
• Note: It is cash only

The Palms neighborhood during Los Angeles, Safer at Home

I didn’t know that there were such things as neighborhood councils before I moved to Palms. The Palms Neighborhood Council is very active in connecting people to resources and making Palms a better place to live. During my walks, I have been picking up the Slow Streets signs. This initiative closes area streets to non-local traffic giving residents more space to social distance. Drivers are supposed to drive slowly and watch for people walking their dogs or using the streets to put six feet between themselves and their neighbors. There is a woman who roller skates down a street by my house. I didn’t see her today.

If you are an Angeleno, I suggest you follow them on Facebook. This is how I find out about all of the benefits available during COVID-19 for people who have lost their jobs, can’t afford rent, and need to be connected to food resources.

Palms in the evening

If we aren’t cooking at home, which doesn’t happen a lot (see my take-out guides part one and part two) we tend to crave things we can’t make ourselves. We tend to choose vegetable-heavy options instead of burgers and fries. Since relocating to Palms six years ago, my husband has turned me on to Thai Boom. We probably get food from them twice a month. This restaurant sits on Venice Blvd close to Sepulveda but is still in the Palms neighborhood. Although walkable for a dine-in experience, during COVID-19, it is now a pick-up and eat-at-home meal. This is our favorite, and I am not sure why people are sleeping on it. They have the best mango sticky rice.

• Website: http://www.thaiboomonvenice.com/
• Location: 10863 Venice Blvd. on delivery apps
• Cost: $12ish a dish
• Order: Chinese broccoli w/ Crispy pork, stir-fried eggplant with fried tofu, and mango sticky rice

Best happy hour in Palms

Both Bigfoot West and Oldfield’s Liquor Room have great happy hours, which I think are the best drinks-only happy hour in town. From 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., they serve several of their signature drinks for $7 and $9, respectively. Not just vodka and cranberry, but drinks with many of the fresh herbs that line their bar, layers of citruses, or syrups, with quality spirits.

Since there isn’t a kitchen at either bar and limited snacks, they allow you to eat take-out while you drink-in.

• Website: Oldfields and Bigfoot West
• Location: Oldfields is at 10899 Venice Blvd, and Bigfoot is a block west
• Cost: Cocktails are $9  during Happy Hour and $14-ish normally 
• Order: The Hemingway 
• Note: Both Oldfields and Bigfoot West are part of the 1933 group. This group owns themed cocktail bars across the city. 

I am happy that I got to talk about my Los Angeles neighborhood, Palms, on this blog. I hadn’t really planned on it. It was only after spending so much time here that I had the chance to think again about home. Have you been exploring your neighborhood more during these past five months? Have you discovered anything new?

Palms in books

One of my favorite books about Los Angeles, The White Album by Joan Didion describes Palms like this:

“Palms, California, is a part of Los Angeles through which many people drive on their way from 20th Century-Fox to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and vice versa. It is an area largely unnoticed by those who drive through it, an invisible prairie of stucco bungalows and two-story “units, …..”

[Disclaimer: I am an affiliate with Book Shop. Some of the links in this post include an affiliate link which, if you click and buy, I may get a little money from your purchase.

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