This Ugly Beautiful City is a reader and client-supported site dedicated to exploring Los Angeles and beyond. I couldn’t do this labor of love without your support. All the money I earn from this site goes back into the Los Angeles small business community. It keeps me exploring and developing my neighborhood guides that feature the great businesses and institutions that make L.A. a unique place to live.
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Note from me
All reviews are 100% sponsored by me. My mission is to point you toward small businesses, local products, and people in Los Angeles.
How you can support This Ugly Beautiful City for FREE
Making more people aware of This Ugly Beautiful City
Sharing, boosting, commenting, and liking a post means more than you think in reaching a wider audience. If you know someone who is traveling to Los Angeles or is new to Los Angeles, share my posts with them. If I helped you to find a great restaurant, small business to support, or I have helped in your travel to Los Angeles, share my accounts.
- Instagram: @thisuglybeautifulcity
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- Facebook: /thisuglybeautifulcity
- Substack: https://thisuglybeautifulcity.substack.com/
Sign up for my FREE Substack newsletter
It includes a monthly note about what I am up to in Los Angeles, the best things I ate over the last month, what is new on This Ugly Beautiful City, and other Los Angeles randomness. You get a free map of things to do in Los Angeles on a Budget, just for signing up.
There is a free option of my Substack newsletter and a paid one. If you sign up for free, you do not need to enter credit card information and can just enjoy reading.
You can get points towards a paid subscription by referring your friends. See how.
Low-Cost ways to support This Ugly Beautiful City
Donate a coffee
When I used to give travel advice to people at work, people would offer to pay for my coffee. It was a nice thank you, as I love coffee, and preparing maps, lists of recommendations, and tips I have learned takes time. I am very detailed.
If I have helped you in your Los Angeles trip planning, helped you discover a great date spot, or given you ideas for finding your favorite Los Angeles neighborhood, consider buying me a coffee. I will always buy my coffee at a local-owned and operated coffee shop.
Pictured Alana’s Coffee Roasters, Mar Vista, @thisuglybeautifulcity
Monthly subscriptions
I give tons of Los Angeles advice in my free newsletter, but paid subscribers receive additional perks. Those supporters get a weekly Los Angeles AMA (Ask Me Anything), a curated list of events for the week, Los Angeles itineraries, and free tickets to all of the in-person tours that I give. The paid subscription is $5 a month or $55 for the year.
Buying Self-guided itineraries
I offer printable/downloadable itineraries and self-guided audio tours of Los Angeles. You can buy printed/digital download tours through me or audio tours via Around.Tours.
In my shop
I am currently reworking the products in my shop. If you want printable/downloadable self-guided itineraries, don’t hesitate to contact me. My Shop will relaunch very soon.
Through Around.Tours
I offer two audio tours of Los Angeles through Around.Tours. These are web-based tours featuring 7+ stops in Los Angeles. Each tour is approximately $10.70, or you can buy a pass to take both tours.
Movie History in Downtown Los Angeles
This two-hour tour, brought to you by Around and narrated by me, gives you an insight into Downtown Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s when Broadway was the entertainment district of L.A. If you thought that the movie industry was born in Hollywood, I try to change your mind in eight stops.
Learn what places were the sets for popular movies and discover my favorite DTLA spots.
Los Feliz Like A Local
If you are coming to Los Feliz just for the Griffith Observatory, you are doing it wrong. There are so many great things about this neighborhood nestled at the foot of Griffith Park.
Galleries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the best vintage shopping in the city. If you want to experience Los Angeles like a local or are a local who wants to get to know the city better, this is the tour for you.
Buy things that give me a perk
Peace Coffee
This is my favorite coffee brand. It is from my home state of Minnesota. Peace Coffee supports small, organic, and ethical farmers around the world. They offer a wide range of blends and roasts. If you buy from them using the link, it will help me buy coffee to fuel my writing of new neighborhood guides and work.
Affiliate/Partnerships
I am a member of two affiliate programs.
Bookshop.org
I believe in their mission of supporting local bookstores. I have put together three lists of books about or taking place in Los Angeles that I love, deep-dive into this city’s amazing architecture, or from Los Angeles restaurants or chefs.
Reading Los Angeles
These are my favorite books about or set in Los Angeles. From an oral history of punk to the detailed history of Los Angeles through the library.
There is something for everyone on this list. I hope it helps you get to know this city through different perspectives.
All of your money goes towards supporting a small business, whether it be your local bookstore, a bookstore in Los Angeles, and my small business.
Los Angeles Architecture
Although Los Angeles is a younger city and you won’t see grand basilicas of the Renaissance here, you will see the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, the Case Study houses that began our love affair with Mid-century modern, and more wonders of architecture throughout Los Angeles county.
The books on this list details the movements and the architects who left their mark on this city.
All of your money goes towards supporting a small business, whether it be your local bookstore, a bookstore in Los Angeles, and my small business.
Eating Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the land of celebrity chefs–Top Chef and Chef’s Table alums. Here is the list of cookbooks putting Los Angeles on the map.
All of your money goes towards supporting a small business, whether it be your local bookstore, a bookstore in Los Angeles, and my small business.
Around.tours
Around.Tours is a web-based audio tour platform brought to you by Bending Spoons. I have two tours of Los Angeles, but also make some money promoting their other tours. These are the tours I am excited to take.
Why I am not an affiliate for big companies like Amazon
You do not know how many people ask me this.
Bloggers and websites make a lot of money with affiliate marketing. I am sure you have seen all website ads or clickbait listicles that send you directly to Amazon. Personally, I’m not too fond of the way that Amazon treats its warehouse workers. I also find quality issues in the products that are recommended. I would rather you support small businesses in the things you buy.
Pop-up ads–so annoying right?
Pop-ups and videos playing in the background are horrible for neurodivergent readers. Most people have installed pop-up blockers on their browsers, and those ads never get seen. So why should I do it?
Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading how to support This Ugly Beautiful City. Any support you give me is appreciated, from sharing my posts, to subscribing to my free newsletter to booking services. I hope this gives you ideas on how to support businesses like mine.