24 HOURS IN WEST HOLLYWOOD—Sunday Funday Edition

Alfred Coffee Melrose Place, West Hollywood, Los Angeles

Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend a weekend kicking around Los Angeles. Despite growing up along the West Coast and spending a lot of vacation time as an adult in California, my time in LA proper has been fairly limited, so I was really excited to have an opportunity to spend a day just experiencing the city. I couldn't have picked a better neighborhood or day to hang out. While I spent my entire Saturday working over in Beverly Hills, I had a lazy Sunday in West Hollywood. I had the pleasure of staying at The Jeremy Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. In addition to having beautiful city views, it happens to be very centrally located, particularly if you're trying to not travel through traffic too far and make the most of your 24 hours.

Deciding to forgo the normal Hollywood tourist hot spots (Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, etc), I decided to give myself a "Sunday Funday" of sorts and headed down to Melrose to start my day off at Alfred Coffee Melrose Place.  Fueled on matcha and chia seed pudding, I then headed off to the popup Sunday Farmer's Market on Melrose. A super cute area to walk through and a fantastic little place to grab local produce and eggs if you're local to the area (or perhaps staying a bit longer and in an Airbnb). I then headed down the road to Fairfax to check out the Melrose Trading Post, an amazing little vintage and artist market held Sundays in the Fairfax High School parking lot. This place is huge and a goldmine for vintage clothing or unique home goods, but best of all, it's absolutely superb for people watching and worth the $5 cover fee even if you're not looking to do much in the way of shopping. The place also features loads of food cart options and live music. (I ended up picking up a candle from Lit Candle Supply.—it smells amazing!— and a cute shirt from Bag O'Bones.)

It's not "Sunday Funday" without brunch somewhere, so I headed to The Hart and the Hunter on Melrose for a late brunch. This is an adorable little restaurant on the bottom floor of the Palihotel (check out the tiny bar by the front while you're there). The rustic-chic vibe felt like the perfect combination of LA and Portland for me. While I tried to resist my urge to completely fall into a millennial stereotype, I definitely ended up getting the avocado toast while I was there (making avocado toast the meal I've had the most in LA, as I also had it the day before at The Jeremy). No regrets, this was one of the best slices of avocado toast I've had from a restaurant—guess I won't be buying a house anytime soon (sarcastic winking emoji).

Since I had an evening flight back to Portland, I decided to not cram too much into my Sunday Funday and took a little walk through West Hollywood. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to walk around the neighborhoods to get a sense of what it's like to actually live there. I feel particularly drawn to the colorful houses and Southern California architecture. While I considered visiting the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (the one they play the movies at), I ended up spending too much time walking through the neighborhood to be able to fit in a cemetery visit on this trip. I ended my day in true vacation-mode, cooling off from a day of walking while sipping wine poolside back at The Jeremy Hotel. Situated higher up on the hill, the pool has a fantastic view of the city and was the perfect way to end my lazy day in West Hollywood before flying back to Portland.

There are a few other places I would have tried to squeeze into my trip if time had allowed (I definitely would have grabbed some Pressed Juicery if I was staying longer and wasn't facing the practicality issues of only have my carryon bag—I love their products and have it shipped to me in Portland when I'm on one of my juice kicks). I also didn't get a chance to enjoy a full dinner before my flight but highly recommend hitting up a Pink Dot market if you need a quick meal. The spicy mac & cheese there saved me Saturday night after my long workday. My time in Los Angeles was short and sweet but it was just the slightly indulgent Sunday mini-vacation my summer needed. I can't wait to come back and explore even more of LaLaLand.