Korean food

I love trying all kinds of food around the world, but my favorite might be Korean food. Here's a cheap (and good) Korean restaurant in Los Angeles. It's a small, plain place called "Hal-Mae Jip," which means "Grandmother's house." The menu includes lots of traditional Korean dishes for $6-$10, but they also have some specials for $4-$5, including shigumchi-guk (miso seaweed soup), dongtae-chigae (spicy fish soup), chungguk-jang (fermented bean soup), and sulung-tang (beef stock soup). Soup comes with rice, kim-chi and other typical Korean side dishes. The amazing thing in a Korean restaurant is that if you eat all the side dishes, they bring more for free! It's located at 8th and Catalina in Koreatown and open 24 hours. The sign is not in English -"Hal-Mae Jip" is next to the bakery.

http://www.fotosearch.com/tongro-image-stock/korean-soup/TGR141/

bike the beach

One of my favorite things to do in L.A. is bike the beach from Santa Monica to Venice. You can take the Rapid bus to Santa Monica and get off at Broadway, just after the bus turns. Then walk down the pier, turn left at the carosel, and you will see a bike rental shop called "Sea Mist." You can rent a bike there for about $8 an hour and ride down the beach. But be careful about the people walking across the path. Once a bike suddenly stopped in front of me for some people crossing- and I crashed and had to go to the hospital! So you might consider a helmet, but you should be okay if you just don't ride too fast like I did. Even after my accident, I still love it.

http://www.skylightweb.com/losangeles/venice.html

The Apple Pan

People love to eat a hickory burger or a slice of pie at the Apple Pan, but my favorite is the tuna sandwich. It's really big with lots of fresh lettuce and the tuna falls out onto the little paper plate. A great place to eat late or any time. Near the corner of Westwood and Pico across from the Westside Pavillion Mall.
Address: 10801 W Pico BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90064

Zuma and El Matador

Two great beaches are just past Malibu. Zuma Beach is a good place to play volleyball. The beach is wide and sandy. Sometimes you can see dolphins in the waves. El Matador Beach is farther up PCH. It has great rock formations that you can explore. You can go swimming at both beaches; before swimming you can check the water quality on the beach report card at www.healthebay.org.