Across the street from Ivy Station is the next Culver City Everything Space: The Platform. It is a higher-end shopping area with a curated collection of restaurants, clothing, and design stores. If you have been following the blog for a while, you may remember this…
Los Angeles
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Goodbye, 2022! Hello, 2023!
We made it! Goodbye, 2022! Hello, 2023! Happy New Year from This Ugly Beautiful City! 2022 was such a rollercoaster ride! And not in a cheesy fun way like at Santa Monica Pier’s Pacific Park. There are dozens of year-in-review recaps that you can watch…
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Things to do in Downtown Culver City
If you read my last post about where to eat in downtown Culver City, you may wonder how you can stay in the area to eat all the recommendations I mentioned. These next few hundred words include my recommendations for things to do in downtown…
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Day Trip to Catalina Island
From the beach towns lining the Pacific Coast Highway, like Santa Monica, Venice, and Palos Verdes, you can see Catalina Island looming in the distance. For people like me, boat-less and helicopter-less Angelenos, it seems like an unreachable place. Unlike Seattle and other cities with…
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Things to do in Mar Vista
Just east of Venice is a neighborhood called Mar Vista. It is a mix of mom-and-pop shops and local chains concentrated on the busy Venice Blvd. and Washington Blvd. between rows of apartment buildings. In recent years the area has exploded with great places to…
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Where to shop on Abbot Kinney
There are sections of city streets that draw people from all over the world. Sections of boulevards and avenues that become micro-attractions within a neighborhood. There is Las Ramblas in Barcelona and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Los Angeles seems like it is abundant in…
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That 2020 episode
2020 definitely felt like we were lost in a dystopian future novel. And now 2021 is “hey 2020, hold my beer.” Working on This Ugly Beautiful City has given me solace over the past ten months. Being able to concentrate on this really kept me…
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My experience with a psychic in L.A.
Sometimes finding your place in Los Angeles is a long and arduous journey. Finding your “people” can take a lot of patience and a really good social sherpa. There was a time in my life when I didn’t feel so certain about being in Los…
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Leo Carrillo State Beach’s Tide Pools
It is nice sometimes to take a break from the city. Take a break from the noise and the visual stimulation of billboards blocking out the sky. A break from feeling so small in a world that is so large and out of control. This…