Baldwin Hills

There's a new park in Los Angeles with a panoramic view of the city. You can climb about a hundred steps to the top, where you can see downtown, Hollywood, the airport, the beach - everything. The park is now being restored to make a safe place for local plants, like wild sunflowers, and local wildlife, like birds and jackrabbits, to thrive. Check it out. From UCLA, take Culver City bus #6 and then transfer to #4 (about 45 minutes total).

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22790

Palm Springs

You can drive or take a train to Palm Springs for a relaxing day or two. At the south end of town, you can find Palm Canyon, which is a very nice place to go hiking. Ask a hotel for a map.

Palm Springs hotels sometimes offer discounts for rooms (when business is slow). You can ask at the hotels.

You can also take an aerial tram ride up to the top of the snowy mountain. Buy tram tickets at a hotel for a small discount.

There are some okay Indian restaurants with lunch buffet specials in Palm Springs.

palm canyon:

http://www.indian-canyons.com/Palm.html

aerial tramway:

http://www.pstramway.com/

Catalina Island

If it's a nice sunny day, why not go to Catalina Island?

On Catalina Island, you can swim, snorkel, kayak, ride bikes, ride horses, go parasailing, or take a bus or boat tour. You can see bright orange fish called Garabaldi, the California State fish.

You can eat buffalo burgers because buffalo have lived on Catalina Island ever since they were filmed in a cowboy movie there.

Public Transportation:

1)Metro bus#720 to 7th/Figueroa (about 45 min.)

2)Blue Line train to Long Beach Transit Mall - last stop (about 1 hour)

3)Walk or take shuttle bus to Catalina Express (about 10 min.)

IMPORANT: Make a reservation before - some trips get sold out.

Go early, so you can enjoy all day on the island.

Take some motion sickness pills, so you don't get sick on the boat.

Metro day pass: $5

Catalina Express round trip: $66.50

http://www.catalinaexpress.com/index.php

Motorcycle Class

A few weeks ago I took a motorcycle class for the first time. The class is only three days, so it goes really fast. For the first class , we met at Westside Pavilion at the corner of Westwood and Pico and quickly learned from lectures and videos how to operate a motorcycle safely and took a test after just three hours. It helped me that I had downloaded and studied the DMV motorcycle handbook before the class. Then Saturday and Sunday we practiced riding a motocycle at the Veteran's Hospital parking lot on Wilshire. The teachers were really good. They explained step by step and were very strict. I got pretty nervous about making mistakes. At the end of Sunday's lesson, we took a riding test, including starting, shifting, turning, and stopping quickly. I passed! I'm not sure if I will buy a motorcycle, but I'm glad I learned how to be a safe rider.

Westside Motorcycle Academy:

http://www.westsidemotorcycleacademy.com/

DMV Motorcycle handbook:

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl655/dl665mcycle.pdf

Griffith Park Observatory

You can do about a 30-minute hike from the parking lot below to the Griffith Observatory on top of the hill (or you can just drive all the way up there). There’s a good view of Los Angeles during the day and a planetarium show at night.

From the Hollywood Freeway, drive north on Western until it goes right. Then turn left on Fern Dell and park and hike (or drive) to the top.

Or take the Red Line subway north to Sunset/Vermont then take the LADOT bus to the Observatory.

Art Deco

Art Deco architecture thrived in the late 1920s and 1930s - the heydey of Los Angeles. Some of the best examples are (from east to west) Union Station, City Hall, the L.A. Times Building, the Central Library, the Park Plaza Hotel, Bullocks Wilshire, the Wiltern Theater, the Farmer's Insurance Building, the Sunset Tower, and the Crest Theater in Westwood. I usually don't think that Los Angeles has any architectural history, but these buildings are pretty cool-looking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullocks_Wilshire

banana leaf wrap

My new favorite restaurant is Simpang Asia. It's located inside a small Indonesian market, and they feature delicious meals for reasonable prices, like nasigoreng and other rice dishes wrapped in a big banana leaf. If you have a taste for the exotic, check it out.

10433 National Blvd #2Los Angeles, CA 90034

You can take Big Blue Bus #12.

http://www.simpangasia.com/