Staying Four Days in Los Angeles, California

Where we stayed…

1. Hilton LAX

On the first night when we arrived back to Los Angeles from San Antonio, we stayed once more at the Hilton at the airport. This time we managed to get a room with a runway view. Everything else about the room was the same as our previous stay.

2. AirBnB, Malibu

After this first night back in Los Angeles we moved on to stay in an AirBnB in Malibu. It was located on the Pacific Coast Highway over looking the ocean.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here. The location in Malibu was excellent.  For us it meant that we could get to Malibu and Los Angeles relatively easily. No matter where you stay in LA there will always be some commute.

We did have a small hiccup when arriving at the property as the automated email had failed so we didn’t receive the instructions to enter the property until after arrival.  However, our host quickly resolved this.

The Pros of this AirBnB

We had great views of the ocean over the Pacific Coast Highway, we even saw dolphin’s swim by one day.

The apartment was spacious, well designed and nicely decorated.  The kitchen was well kitted out in terms of the appliances and workspace.

It was good to have secure allocated parking.

The Cons of this AirBnB

Staying in Los Angeles you do need a car to get to the property and area around. This AirBnB was on the Pacific Coast Highway, which most of the time is a fast moving and busy road.  Therefore, you can’t be an inexperienced driver getting in and out of this property.  It is also a fairly steep driveway.

When we stay in an AirBnB we like to sample local food and cook where we stay. The apartment could have done with a few more essential utensils in the kitchen, which we needed and bought (e.g. potato peeler, baking tins, bottle opener). 

We didn’t have things like dishwasher tablets or cloths to clean down after food preparation/cooking.

Also having manuals on how to use appliances would be useful. Although you can work things out which we did, other places have provided house manuals which has helped.

What we drove

After almost 2 hours at Hertz Los Angeles airport we finally managed to get a car that we were happy with. It does pay to be patient. We are part of the Hertz Presidents circle (a perk of our Barclaycard). This means you can go and select any car you like in this section regardless of the car you had booked. However, if you arrive just after a shuttle bus has dropped off a load of people then it’s likely that all the good cars will have gone.

If you hang around though gradually they replenish with better cars. We almost paid extra for a car that we didn’t want but was the best of the bunch at the time. In the end we didn’t need too and we drove away in the magnificent Ford Mustang below.

What we ate and drank (and shopped)

1. Landings Bar, Hilton LAX

After our first experience of the Landings Bar at the Hilton LAX a few days prior, we hadn’t expected what we encountered on our return. The guy waiting on us really could not have been any less pleased to be working there or serving us! First up we asked for a beer and a Margarita, same as our last visit. I was expecting the same delicious limey Margarita that I had tasted during our first stay. It was nothing like and very disappointing. Probably not helped by it almost being thrown down on the table.

We also ordered food. This comprised of chicken pot stickers, chicken quesadilla and a turkey sandwich.

None of the food was great. The pastry on the pot stickers was thick. The bread on the turkey sandwich was stale. The best bit was the sour cream that came with chicken quesadilla. This was thick and creamy.

2. The Cafe, Hilton LAX

The next morning we went to The Cafe for breakfast. With us being Hilton Honors Gold members through my husbands AMEX Platinum we had credits of $18 that we needed to spend. I had forgotten to charge the previous nights meal to the room (doh!).

We ordered two poached eggs and toast. The server questioned our choice and seemed confused that we hadn’t order protein (eggs?). We were given the choice of how we would like the eggs cooked.

The poached eggs arrived in a small serving bowl and the toast was delivered on an equally small plate. Neither of which had room to combine the two so we had to request some bigger plates. The server then brought one plate so we had to request another. Finally we were in a position to eat.

By this point the toast was cold. Personally I’m not sure it was ever particularly warm. When we spread the butter, it lay on top of the toast refusing to melt.

The eggs were borderline lukewarm at this point. Luckily they were runny, I had chosen the runny option and my husband had gone for soft. By the time we ate, we couldn’t really tell the difference between our choices. We did however, enjoy the final result. It set us up for the rest of the day.

3. Whole Foods, Malibu

On our first night in the AirBnB, we went to Whole Foods in Malibu. We bought a rotisserie chicken, some pita breads (which looked like almost as good as the ones we had in San Antonio), salad and hummus.

3. Eataly, Los Angeles

Before we travelled to America, we’d found out there was an Eataly in LA. So far in our travels around the world this year, we have visited Eataly in New York, London and Toronto. I was (stupidly) very excited at the prospect of our 4th one this year!

The format across Eataly in every location is pretty much the same. If you have read any of my other journal posts you may end up with a sense of deja vu. Located at Westfield Century City, Los Angeles, it was reasonably easy to get to from our AirBnB in Malibu. Here is what we found when we arrived….

Cinnamon bread – which we took on our hike at Mische Mokwa Trail.

The fruit and veg department.

The cheese section at Eataly.

The deli section.

The pasta counter.

The meat counter.

Our selection of food for our evening meal.

Finally here was our evening meal.

Overall Eataly in Los Angeles was good and we enjoyed the food. But the one in Toronto is still our firm favourite.

4. The Original Farmers Market, Los Angeles

For our second day, we started the food part of our day with a trip to The original Farmers Market. We had a slight detour to Williams and Sonoma to get a potato peeler. This ended up with several other purchases, which didn’t include a potato peeler. It did include a stainless steel pasta fork – as this was missing from our lives. Seven inch tongs which have a locking mechanism. Epicurean chopping boards. Plus the best purchase of all – a lime and lemon juice squeezer.

We then went into the Original Farmers Market. This is less of a farmers market and more of a food hall. It did have a couple of decent butchers and fruit and veg grocers. There was also a very well stocked French Deli.

Mandatory for us we purchased some USDA Prime Steaks, russet potatoes and beefy tomatoes for cooking on Day 3.

The USDA Prime Steaks were from Huntingtons Butchers – nice but not the best we have ever had.

The butchers did have Wagyu on sale for nearly a grand!

Here was the fruit and veg stall.

We didn’t try this bakery but it did look good.

Here was the meal we had with the steaks and veg from the market.

5. Grand Central Market

Grand Central Market is located in central Downtown Los Angeles at 317 S Broadway. It’s a good sized food hall with a varied selection of vendors.

We tried a few things on our visit.

First up we tried Shiku Homestyle Korean. From here we had the Korean Fried Chicken and Mandu Dumplings. We enjoyed the dumplings. They had a nice thin crispy pastry with juicy lamb filling. The chicken was badged as a snack and was very crispy but because it was in small chunks was not as succulent as one might like.

Along side this we some Fried Chicken Pot Stickers from the China Cafe. The pastry was thicker than on the Korean dumplings and was a little too crispy around ages. The filling of pot sticker was fairly nice. I appreciated the sweet and sour sachets we received with them.

Our final snack, whilst at the food hall was from Bastion.

This was the lovely cronut with generous “apple pie” filling. It was a bit pricey at $9 but also delicious.

Other things that caught our eye…

Nate’ n Als

Our final food choice in LA was Nate’ n Als. This has a prime location on Beverly Hills right by Rodeo Drive.

The decor was 1970’s with a very brown vibe going on. This is a Jewish deli with a casual atmosphere second only in my experience to Katz deli in New York.

The guy at the front desk taking take out orders was excellent and attentive. He kept us informed of the progress of our order and chased before we needed too.

There were lots of choices on the menu but we focused on the Signature Sandwiches. These were served on double-baked bread, with pickle spears. Along with this you also get a side of either potato salad, macaroni salad or coleslaw.

I went for “The Westwood”. This was roasted turkey, coleslaw and Russian dressing. I made the mistake of choosing more coleslaw on the side. Forgetting that american coleslaw is not the creamy mayonnaise luxury which we are accustomed to in the UK.

My husband had the “The Canon”. The filling in this was corned beef, pastrami, swiss cheese, coleslaw and russian dressing. He opted to pay extra for the steak fries, which was a wiser choice than the coleslaw.

We absolutely did not need two sandwiches, When we ate them later that evening we managed to finish one half each. They were massive! The Canon was more flavoursome than The Westwood. The coleslaw wasn’t for us.

What we did (not related to food)…

1. Temescal Canyon

On our first full day in Los Angeles, we broke ourselves gently into hiking. We decided to go to Temescal Canyon. We did the trail up to Temescal Waterfall and back down again. It was a lovely sunny day and a pleasant little hike. The waterfall was only a small trickle but the plants growing around it were beautiful.

2. Mische Mokwa Trail

Come the second day we were ready for a more strenuous hike and chose the Mische Mokwa Trail. There is so many options for hikes in Los Angeles that it was a tough decision to make. Up in the mountains above Malibu Springs, the roads leading to this trail are full of hair pin bends and steep drops. My advice is take it slow. We were lucky in that we were visiting out of season and during the week. Therefore, we barely encountered other vehicles on the roads. It took us about 45 minutes to get there from our AirBnB in Eastern Malibu.

When we arrived, we parked in the Sandstone Peak Trailhead Parking Lot. It was fairly empty with only a couple of other cars.

The trail has a few options. Two of them are either trek to the Sandstone Peak or you can do the full loop of the Mische Mowka Trail. The full trail requires a commitment of approximately 3-4 hours. It covers a distance of approximately 9 kilometres. We found the trial on the AllTrails App and used this as a guide whilst we were doing the hike.

Quite a lot of the trail is up and down hill. Some areas start to become a slight rock climb. When we visited in November until we reached Sandstone Peak we only saw two other couples doing the walk. There are some spectacular views of the Santa Monica Mountains and Lake Sherwood.

This is the route we took:

3. A Banksy in LA

On the way back to Malibu from the Grand Central Market, I managed to squeeze seeing a Banksy.

I found this thanks to California Through My Lens entitled “Girl On A Swing” it can be found at 201 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles. Apparently the wall used to face a large parking lot on S Broadway and W 9th St, but an apartment building has now been built there. It is down an alley which is now gated so you can only take pictures from the street.

On the way back to the AirBnB, also got this one whilst driving past.

Spending four days in LA you don’t even scratch the surface of all the wonderful possibilities the city has to offer. We did get to sample some of the best. I can’t wait to return again in June 2024. Next up San Diego.