Maps of Fun

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M and I took a nice post-breakfast walk because he didn’t have any events until the afternoon, and we started by making our way down Broadway to go to The Last Bookstore, another spot we went to on our first trip here and had to revisit. First, though, I wanted to get a good shot of this cutlery store sign that I just loved for its unique design, and then check out these pirate skeletons! This picture doesn’t really tell the whole story of the weirdness of this building, but this comment from a Reddit post (with links!) does, and naturally it’s a battle between a city making questionable choices and a building owner letting said building rot out of spite. Though apparently there was a giant squid that peeked out of the windows and whatnot at one point, which would have been cool to see.

Onward to The Last Bookstore!

Well, we had to wait a few minutes for the store to open, so we walked around to check out some of the buildings we had seen three years prior, including the Alexandria Hotel. Once a luxury hotel, it has since been converted into apartments, and has been a filming location for a number of projects, perhaps most notably the movie Se7en. 

The Last Bookstore opened promptly at 11, and I cannot praise this store enough. There are so many treasures to find--the last time we were here, M found a nice, compact edition of The Joy of Cooking for $10--and while we didn’t find any good books to buy this time around, we had fun exploring the store a little more than the last time.

There’s a vaulted room where they keep their very rare books, and it’s more magical than it looks here and smells delicious inside. I didn’t touch anything as I did not want to accidentally cash any checks my ass couldn’t cover, but it was fun poking around and looking at what treasures they had on hand.

Perhaps the most charming thing about this store is their staircase to the second floor that lists out all of the genres contained therein, including a downright charming version for Mystery. For anyone spending any time in downtown LA, this is a must-visit if you’re a book lover, and absolutely worth visiting if you’re a vinyl collector as they have a sizable collection of those as well.

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Much like the last time I was in downtown LA, I had to spend my Sunday morning back at Grand Central Market to get one of the strawberry doughnuts at The Donut Man stall.

Much like the last time I was in downtown LA, I had to spend my Sunday morning back at Grand Central Market to get one of the strawberry doughnuts at The Donut Man stall. 

I never explained why I was so stoked to try these doughnuts in my original post, but I learned about the existence of The Donut Man in an episode of season nine of Food Network Star (formerly known as The Next Food Network Star). The main challenge in question was to go to some notable spots in the LA area and do field pieces, and the ladies who went to The Donut Man--including eventual winner Damaris Phillips--did a really fucking good job of making those strawberry glazed doughnuts look amazing. If you want to watch it, it’s streaming on HBO Max.

The doughnuts are positively stuffed with the strawberries--to the point that a fork is necessary, and ideally a few wet naps--and absolutely worth getting because they aren’t too sweet. Paired with a nice coffee, and it’s a great breakfast treat that I would put to good use taking some walks around downtown.

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The Hilton Checkers in downtown LA has a lovely rooftop patio, and we took advantage of the last of the golden hour to take some gorgeous photos of the immediate vicinity. 

The building with the tower topped with the mosaic pyramid is the main branch of the LA public library, and I went there a few days later.

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Much like our last time in downtown LA three years ago, we spent the first 24 hours of our trip having every meal at Grand Central Market. We even went with the same stalls for dinner as we did back then: pasta (with some chicken and a nice Caesar salad) from Knead Noods for me, and carnitas tacos from Villa Moreliana for M. 

I had the malfadine with their pesto, and while I loved the pesto, I found the pasta to be a bit on the overly-thick side (especially for what I consider to be malfadine, which is usually thinner), but it was still pretty tasty over all and the addition of the crispy chicken and adding a side Caesar to split with my husband was a good call.

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Right down the street from our hotel is Casey’s Irish Pub and Grill, and I honestly don’t know what is going on with it because whenever I walk past it, it always seems closed in that there’s no way to go in there despite lights being on in the lower level. If you live in/near LA and know what the deal is, please tell me! They rarely update their IG, and yet all of the normal websites (Yelp, TimeOut, etc.) report it as still being open. If you live in/near LA and know what the deal is, please message me!

In any case, at least it seems like it was closed in early May for a good reason as they were going to do some filming for The Morning Show in the coming days, which I thought was pretty neat! I watch that show! It turns out I’d be able to see a whole lot more in a day or two, but that deserves its own post.

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Grand Central Market neon (with one exception), May 2026.

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The jacarandas in downtown LA are different from those in Mexico City in that the latter make you feel like you’re on a different planet when they are in bloom, while when you see them in LA, it feels like a pretty little treat for looking up for a second. 

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Walking up 8th Street from Hill Street, I found a gold mine of gorgeous and intriguing signs that I will come back to photograph again, but here’s my first go at it!

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When I was looking up interesting buildings/signs to photograph downtown (and there are a lot), I realized a lot were in the Jewelry District, and they did not disappoint!

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After lunch, I headed out to take a walk around the neighborhood and also walk over to the nearby Whole Foods to pick up snacks and drinks for the hotel room. I always like seeing Angels Flight because yes, it’s a tourist destination, but it’s also practical as you don’t really appreciate how hilly that part of LA is. The last time I was here back in 2023, I was dealing with a strained piriformis and even walking up even a bit of the hill from the Hilton Checkers to get over to the Grand Central Market wasn’t fun if it was acting up, so it was nice to not have to worry about that this time around.

Ever since I first laid eyes on the Hotel Clark sign, it has been a favorite subject of mine when I visit downtown LA, and I finally decided to look up the story about this place. The Wikipedia article, short as it is, is a fucking trip as this building has vacillated between being a hotel to a low-rent apartment and back again, along with a stint being owned by the People’s Republic of China in the late 80s when they wanted to turn it into a Chinese cultural and business center. It is currently a hotel, though it clearly took some time to get there as progress was followed with a touch of skepticism on the local blogs back in the day. Even browsing the hotel’s website gives me a little pause, as the page on the dining options doesn’t seem like it was updated from when it opened, but maybe they’re in a bit of transition again.

One really nice thing about staying in downtown LA is that you’re not far from some LA Metro stations, and this was the trip I was determined to finally start using them to see more of the city outside of this neighborhood.

Near the Pershing Square metro station is Angelus, a mural by Robert Vargas that covers more than 60,000 square feet and twelve stories, and is on track as of earlier this year to be the largest mural ever made by a single artist. Pershing Square Park itself was closed for an event, but I at least was able to enjoy the flowers as I walked past. 

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Back in early May, I got to go back to LA and for the first time ever, I was going to get a few days to spend downtown rather than just a quick, in-and-out stay before heading elsewhere. 

Since we landed right before lunchtime local time and made it into the city from LAX with relative ease, we were able to get into our room and then head right back out to get some lunch at the Grand Central Market. M and his colleague needed to head to the convention center to set up their booth, so we figured a quick lunch at Golden Road Brewery would work well for us. They got their food pretty quickly, while I had to wait for my breakfast burrito (yes, it was the second one I had enjoyed that day and no, I don’t feel bad about that) for a spell, but it all worked out as they could head out to get their stuff done while I finished my meal and then headed off myself to do some walking around the neighborhood.

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As I write this, I’m currently in the exurbs of Charlotte, NC after flying out the afternoon before, and since we weren’t going to be in the airport in time for breakfast and our gate was in the Cs, I was OK with not getting our regular pre-flight meal and beers at Flying Dog Tap House. Instead, we were going to go to Harbor Grille which was right by our gate (and has a decent food and drink selection), but they lost power for reasons unknown and understandably were not taking on any more customers at that time. We ended up going to the English pub-themed spot that was at the beginning of the C-gates, and while M loved his salad, my fish tacos were, uh, not great.

This is what I get for not going to Flying Dog, to be honest. We have a flight to Milwaukee next week, and it is early enough to justify getting there for breakfast, so I’m looking forward to enjoying one of these #WakeAndSnake breakfast burritos.

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The final stop of this trip brought us to The Roosevelt and specifically, the Sazerac Bar. The last time my husband and I came here was in 2015 as part of a fancy afternoon out, and we basically had the bar to ourselves as it was 3 PM on like a Tuesday. This time around, however, things were much busier but I’m glad we were able to take his colleagues to such an iconic spot.

The bar was packed, but we managed to get a couple of rounds in, and then we walked back to our hotel as we all could use the stroll.

I had never had a proper Sazerac at the Sazerac Bar, and this felt like a good way to try it as I figured they could make it quickly. (They did!) I then went with a goofy-fucking drink called Midnight in St. Louis No. 1 that had reposado, mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, cachaca, grenadine, cinnamon, lime, grapefruit, and Angostura bitters. It fucking worked because of course it did, but it was still goofy as fuck.

And that’s a wrap on our first trip to New Orleans in 2026, but it would not be our last…

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For our last meal on this trip to New Orleans, we went to Peêche (a Donald Link joint) and it’s been on my list of would-like-to-visit places forever, because that’s the case with every Link Restaurant Group joint. The meal was amazing, and I would absolutely recommend this place as a spot where you’re open to spending some money but want great value for it. 

We obviously started with some oysters and they were fabulous, but the breadth of food was so memorable: 

Smoked tuna dip (left), tuna crudo with tamarind, cucumber, and sesame along with snapper kinilaw with coconut, sweet potato, and chile oil (right).

Little Red Corvette: a mezcalita with hibiscus and jalapaneo

Crawfish capellini with chili butter and basil, and grilled spring onions with black garlic and chives. 

I seldom get dessert, but I paired some mezcal with mango sorbet, which was as fantastic as you might think.

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I love the interior so much, as it’s flooded with natural light which highlights the gorgeous floor tile and deep blue paint on the big trim.

The oysters themselves were delicious, especially doused with a good amount of hot sauce as these oysters can take it. They have a solid happy hour menu as well: from 4-6 PM daily, Gulf oysters are $1.50 each, and they have a smoked tuna dip, pimento croquettes, and poached Gulf shrimp on the menu. The only complaint I had about this place was that they didn’t have any beers on draft (I love a good draft beer with oysters), but they do have a solid wine and cocktail list and their wines fit the bill nicely.

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I went back to the Pearl Oyster House, home of the Oyster Sidewalk, to take another crack at photographing not only the terrazzo but also the two signs: the blue one that’s close to the street and the red one that’s on the second story.

I mean look how beautiful it is!!!

For a space that has been closed since 2015, the sidewalk is in pretty good shape, and it wouldn’t be until I came back here a few months later that I found a true gem along this little stretch of pretty terrazzo. 

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This sign for A. Shwartz and Sons Dry Goods is one of the oldest in the city according to the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, as they estimate it was painted around 1890. You can find it on Canal right before the big CVS, though you can’t find the original store as it closed in 1892 following a catastrophic fire.