So, another Thursday rolls around and some of the guys at work are going out. Of course, I obliged. We headed to the Edison. Another one of their favorite spots that I had not been to, yet. The entrance is hidden in an alley and it's a speakeasy style bar. Not in that you need a secret password to enter and they have house-made moonshine like others I've been to, but this one was still very great.
The building is an old factory of some sort. They kept the interior true to its original purpose and just spruced it up a bit. There is also a stage with flappers, performers singing to a live band and everyone is dressed to the era...even some of the patrons.
We didn't dress up but kept to the dress code. I grabbed a dirty martini as the guys showed me around the joint. There were different rooms and areas all around. It is a pretty fantastic place. We finally settled at a small table in the back to get some drinks in.
Just as we were finishing our first round, an absinthe fairy came to our table. A girl dressed as a fairy was pushing around a cart with a treasure chest full of different sized bottles of absinthe for sale. Something I wasn't totally expecting, but then, I've learned to try not to expect anything in LA.
The guys were all for it - I was unsure, but down. We bought a bottle and passed it around. I only took one small drink so the others could have their fair share. Not too bad, but I don't think I really had the full experience.
 |
| I'm lucky they agreed on a small bottle. |
It ended up being a pretty great night. For some reason, there were many groups of ladies in threes. I was with three guys, so I was odd man out for many of the convos, but I just did what I do best: find some rando to talk to and see if I can get a drink out of it. I had several long conversations with guys...one was some kind of photographer, one was in town for a construction convention (they have those?)....I'm proud to say I got two drinks out of all of my efforts. A win.
The guys were deep in a conversation with some semi-attractive ladies when closing time came around. I didn't want to be a wet blanket, so I sat politely nearby checking shit on my phone until one of them was ready to walk me home. I wasn't really in the mood to be seventh wheel at La Cita for the rest of the evening. I happily snuggled with my pooch before work the next day.
Friday rolled around, and I was a bit hungover. BUT how could anyone be feeling bad when it was 80 degrees in January? Now I was really getting a feel for why people want to live here.
Not only was it a gorgeous day, but we had a fantastic day planned at work that day. We were having our first ever all staff meeting including our sales reps and etc all around the country and over seas. Pretty great but a little stressful. So, what better way to celebrate that than a BBQ at the pool in the afternoon? I don't think anything beats that.
Right when I got to work in the morning, it was time to head to Ralph's to get all the BBQ necessities. We loaded up and headed to the Watermarke to store everything in the patio fridge so it would be waiting for us at 3:00pm. The all staff meeting went swimmingly. After it ended, our day was pretty much over. No work was going to get done with the thoughts of beers and burgers on our minds.
My boss has a pretty sweet apartment in the building next to ours, but the best park is the patio on the seventh floor with a great view, bbqs, cabanas, a hot tub and pool. This was where we worked from prior to our office now, and although I was only working there for a week before the big move, I'm definitely missing it. Luckily, we still get to take advantage of the amenities from time to time.
We headed over and got to grilling right away as we cracked open some beers and changed into our swimsuits. Definitely the most perfect way to end a week.
After the pool party, I had a chill night with some of the girls. We took our dogs to one of the bars on my block to sit outside and enjoy a drink. Then, we got mexican from the best place downtown (well, in my opinion. may also be biased because it's a block from my door...) and went to one of their apartments to play some board games and chill. So relaxing.
I woke up early the next day and was ready to hike. It's become routine for John and me to wake up early on Saturdays (hungover or not) and get to Runyon before it's too busy. It's my favorite form of exercise and it really kicks my ass and John gets to be in actual nature and sniff other dogs.
This morning was especially beautiful. I even let John pick which way he wanted to go and ended up finding a really pretty spot.
After the hike, I went home to clean the apartment....my Saturdays have really become routine! Today was another gorgeous day, and I was having friends over to my pool. I started drinking beers while I got ready and then had a couple while we enjoyed the sunshine from my rooftop.
While the sun was beaming on us and we were starting to sweat, we were temped to jump in the water. However, unlike the fancy shmancy Watermarke apartments, my pool was not heated. One toe in and you were pretty frozen for a bit. We still had a good time and even hopped in the hot tub as the sun went down. Plans were made for that evening as we all headed to our apartments to get ready.
I had a few hours to kill, so I was going to chill with John and watch some old episodes of Entourage. Bad idea. Somewhere in there, I fell asleep. I awoke a few hours later to texts upon texts and my phone ringing. One of the guys calling "Are you ready? We're outside your apartment."
Groggily, I came to, "Wait. What? You're outside? I'm sleeping....what?"
"Well get up and come downstairs! We're ready to head to dinner!"
"You don't get it. I definitely need to shower. I still have pool hair from yesterday happening."
So, needless to say, I was not feeling 100%. Every 28 year old part of me was screaming "What are you doing? Go back to bed you old lady! You can't do this kind of shit anymore!"
I should have listened, but much to John's disappointment, I got up and powered through. My roommate was joining us, so we both got ready pretty quickly, picked up some sugar free red bulls and were on our way.
We walked to Wurstküche, a German food and bar place that people loved and that I still am unsure of the pronunciation. We got there after dinner, but luckily, they saved us some fries. It was packed in the dark, German-style dining hall. All of the picnic tables were filled and people were standing. Definitely a hipster-loving joint, but also definitely a good time.
We finished our round and headed nearby to Villain's Tavern. This bar was pretty small, and also very packed. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but it was also definitely a good time. There was a live band playing not-so-awesome selections, but at that point, we didn't care. I was feeling my whiskey waters, and I'm pretty sure my friends were, too.
We had a great time singing along, dancing in our seats and just being ridiculous. However, we were getting antsy and the lines at the bar were just a little too long. Onto our next location.
The Redwood is closer to my part of downtown and also happens to be a pirate bar. If someone ever asks you "You want to go to this place? It's a pirate bar." You automatically have to say yes. Why would you ever say no?
It was pretty great. More my style in the world of dive bars. Especially because they sold domestic beers. Domestic beers in cans. Domestic beers in tall boy cans. Oh lordy, I was in heaven.
There was some kind of cover band blasting as my roommate, my friend and I plowed through the bar to the bathrooms. Of course, even in a dirty, hole-in-the-wall place, the ladies room still had a three person line. That wasn't going to work. So, the ladies that we are, we took over the disgusting men's room and went for it.
After that, we were down to party. i got myself a PBR tall boy and we ended the night playing drinking games and dancing and laughing.
I was verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry hungover that Sunday. Three days in a row of drinking. I don't know if my body is meant for that anymore. But eh - my roommate, John and I headed up to Big Wangs to get some greasy food to cure me. Some kind of football game was on, so it was pretty packed. We found some nice gentlemen who let us post up at their table. They soon realized what kind of situation I was in and were quick to rub it in. Everyone else had the next day off for MLK day. I was not as fortunate.
After I scarfed down my meal, we strolled home. Out of nowhere, I got a little piece of home right in the middle of DTLA. :)
