The SATIATED Guide to Los Angeles

My un-extensive list of my favorite bites, shops, and places to explore in LA

It’s funny how certain dreams die as you get older. When I was a senior in high school, I was convinced that I was meant to move to Los Angeles. At the time, my older sister was living in LA, and when I visited for the first time, I felt more at home than I had my entire life. I had no doubt in my mind that west coast life would solve all of my problems and despite ending up at a college on the east coast, I knew I’d find one day live out my teenage dream.

Years passed and that dream has since been buried in the back of my mind, along with my childhood dream of becoming an A-list celebrity but I still find myself with a tether to a life in LA. My best friend moved to Pasadena three years ago, so I now have a perfect excuse to test out LA life as often as I’d like. When I visit, I settle in nicely to my best friend’s life – I get up and go to yoga, sip coffee and do work at coffee shops just as I do in New York, we go to dinner parties with her friends, and cross off LA bucket list items just as we do when she visits me in Greenpoint. As I do whenever I visit a place, I try to imagine what my life would be like. I insert myself into a set of actions that indicate the type of life I would be living and then I decide if this is somewhere for me, or not. Some places, like Maine, I am immediately taken by. But aside from my rose colored view of the city when I was a teenage, it has taken time for me to warm up to Los Angeles.

No hate on LA, or the west coast – I see the appeal – I just don’t think it’s for me. I love a walkable city and four distinct seasons. Plus, as I get older, the more important it has become to be close to my family. While living alongside my best friend would be a dream, I’ve come to accept that I am an east coast girl at heart. While there are plenty of things about LA that I tend to complain about, there are still some places scattered throughout that I cannot stop thinking about, even when I am home in New York.

Venice, CA

If you stick around for long enough, you’ll realize that I am a creature of habit. In every place that I visit, I tend to frequent similar types of places – cozy bookstores, hip cafe that turn into wine bars at night, curated thrift stores and eclectic vintage shops, hikes that feel more like walks, and always always always speciality grocery stores. I like what I like and I like to see how different cities do the types of places I love most.

Los Angeles has some great spots, there’s no disagreeing with that. And, like New York, has an experience waiting for every craving. What are your go-to spots in LA?

A delicious breakfast from Cafe Tropical in Silverlake