I’m an artist and illustrator from Los Angeles. My clients include: Converse, Cinespia, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, LA Record, Little White Lies, Refinery29, Rihanna, Stance Socks, and The Los Angeles Times.
By day, it's a barber shop. By night, it's a speakeasy with tasty grilled cheese sandwiches, a nice interior, and great music. Weekends are wild, so you'll find me hanging out every first Monday of the month spinning records.
Robert Irwin spent 4 years designing what he called "a sculpture in the form of a garden, which aims to be art". More than 500 varieties of plant material are used, and the selection is always changing, as testaments of what Irwin itself said: "art doesn't reside in the object but in the moment."
This place is really popular, and for good reason. Their cuts of meat are on point, and who doesn't love troughs of cheesy corn and steamed eggs? Definitely order a lunch box, and if you want to avoid the long wait, go either super early around or really late. They're open from 11:30a to 1:30a.
Street art at it's best. This area shows some of the best graffiti art I've seen. Entire buildings cover with intricate imagery. that gain new depth through the layering of different artists.
If you love karaoke like I do, there's a ton of spots to check out in LA, but none quite as charming (or David Lynch-y) as Melody Lounge. Be forewarned, this spot is intermittently open. You'll know they're ready for business if they plant a sandwich board outside offering cold sandwiches and cheap beer. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to meet the owner Willie, whose (possibly embellished) life stories rival Hemingway. As for the song selection, the campy MIDI versions and painfully less than accurate lyric translations can suddenly turn your favorite tunes into high-wire acts (i.e. "Leaving On A Jet Plane" magically transforms into "Libyan on A Jet Plane"). Hell, they even have a song called "Schindler's List" on the menu! Even if you don't sing, Willie or his wife will gleefully take the stage. Special tip: for a true Chinatown boner, request Willie sing Enrique Iglesias' "Bailamos."