Nikki.

This is where people go for a drink to wait for the lineup at Short Stop to die down, only to leave the bar, walk a block and see that the lineup has grown.

Not bad drink specials though, and the music is pumpin but no dance floor and cash only.

As a Canadian ex-pat, I constantly yearn for the food of my mother country: poutine. To the uninitiated, it is fries, cheese and gravy. But to those in the know, it's hand cut fries, cheese curds, and brown (beef/mushroom) gravy.
And so, I wandered around LA looking for these squeaky nuggets of cheese. And my journey ended at the Cheese Store. And then we made poutine and we lived happily ever after. The end.

They also have some other random/rare imports too.

I have never experienced 116 degree heat, and I was able to avoid it somewhat thanks to Ace Hotel's fully function A/C. The pools were more like hot tubs, but the showers too also provided a quick cool down.

Kitschy decor, commitment to local businesses and food sources, and a photobooth that accepts credit card!

A hip refuge in the gay-, retiree-populated springs.

For a dingy bar on Sunset, the restrooms are remarkable. Bright and clean, with an automatic paper towel dispenser.

The Gold Room special (house beer and shot for only $4) and endless tacos for free make this a perfect place to spite the recession.

So my roommate won't be too pleased that I'm sharing this, but whatever. We went to Barragan's one Wednesday and after chugging down a couple whilst we sang him Happy Birthday. Before midnight we stumbled a few doors down to Gold Room to down a few more.
We are all very hazy on the details but reviewing the photographs the next day told an interesting story. My roommie had a messily devoured a street dog, getting condiments all on the front of his shirt. He then urinated on the Bank of America walls, lost his balance and fell in his piss, leaving a pee stripe on the back of his shirt. Then he got into a fight with one of his best buds as we all laughed and watched.
Thanks for the [lost] memories, Barragan's!

Errrr, imitation meat market I guess, for the vegetarians/vegans out there.

I don't smoke but I think it could use a back patio for smokers and people who want to take their PBRs outside.

It's pretty amusing. But the lineups can get ridiculous and they totally milk them when there's only a half-full bar inside.

But whenever I walk past, typically on a weekday afternoon, it is packed with hip yuppies. I don't get it, don't people have jobs? Guess not.
Oh well, the coffee's probably good.

It's a chill cafe, not overly populated likely because of the lack of wi-fi. The baristas are very friendly :)
Closes early though.

(My friends call Macarthur Park the ghetto Echo Park...hence the headline).

Anyway, I've seen some cool things at the lake. My friend Tomatoes swam across it to commemorate the anniversary of the Echo Park Cribbage club (which runs every Tues night 7 to 10 by the lighthouse thing). We placed bets on whether he would die or get attacked or grow a mutation. He survived, but smelled pretty gnarly coming out.

Also, there's this gnarly duck (or goose, I can't tell what) who thinks it's people. It hung out with us one time, and he's in the new OK Go music vid. He' probably forgotten all about us now :`(

Great place to use wi-fi, it kinda looks like a Mac user exhibit when you walk past the store.
I would appreciate a bigger selection of used/cheaper books.

I've only been there on Wednesdays when the margs are dangerously cheap. I expected them to be watered down and double-fisted appropriately.
Big mistake. Each of my roommates and I blacked out for a good chunk of the evening.
They stop serving booze at midnight, so you're in good fighting form way early.
Awesome!

I tried to be clever with a baseball pun... Forget it.

I've been there a handful of times. Some great for dancing. Most of the time for group hangouts. The line outside rather unpredictable.

It'll probably happen before I know it-- organic vegan brunch bars and hemp baby clothing shops and fair trade cafes popping up everywhere, but for now it is my grungy little oasis of taco trucks and dive bars.

If you can overlook the lingering smell of vomit (I have no idea what that's about), it's a pretty chill place to drink some cheap pitchers and shoot the shit.

It's also rare that they ID here, so I'm pretty sure 83% of the clientele are jailbait.
:D

So Hollywood lies again, and I have no idea how the movie represents LA's Chinatown.

Oh well.

I live a few blocks away and I'm pretty stoked that I can walk down the street and hit up some real dimsum where they don't speak any English or even Engrish. There's this janky non-Chinese store along Broadway where chicks dance on tables to sell used clothing. No joke. My friend threw a dollar bill at them and pranced away.
http://www.facebook.com/v/637304301631"

Because Heath Ledger is dead, and I think it's in real poor taste that you walk around poorly impersonating him/his interpretation of Joker to entertain idiot tourists.

I am totally not into celeb culture, and even less so into celeb impersonators. Unfortunately the concentration of both is quite high here.

My cousin lives in a nice loft right beside the Row.
With my urban instincts, I thought it'd be alright to walk to his place from the subway station.

I was wrong.
The row of tents and excrement were signs that I probably wasn't in a typical Downtown anymore. So I just walked faster, a little jankier and started talking to myself so I would fit in.

I didn't get raped, assaulted, or peed on for drugs so all in all it was a successful walk!

When I think of downtown anywhere, I think of a central business district and yuppies in cafes with their designer drinks and MacBooks.
With this in mind, I used to HATE coming to DTLA because the abundance of hobos and lack of life during the weekend days was quite eerie.

I have now grown to enjoy it (mainly because my knife-wielding friend took me on what he called the Nitty Gritty City tour) and saw some realness to it. The gentrification actually turned me off a little.

I love the whole frozen yogurt thing that seems to have only picked up in SoCal. This is the place to try it. As long as you can navigate your way through sketchville to this 3-block section of Asian joy.

Also a high concentration of sushi bars per capita. Not necessarily the best quality, but it's kinda fun trying to see which ones are worth it.

We spent a good few hours exploring this park, walking toward the ocean. There was a little amusement park (which we avoided cuz we do not like children), some waterfalls and ponds, and elk!

I do wish we had rented bikes because that would have been a more efficient way of seeing it. But we had an alright time getting lost in the woods.

The Quebecois don't pronounce h's, so if it wasn't clear, the plateau is pretty hip in a way that couldn't even give a shit. Lots of boutiques, cafes and vintage shopping to be done within this laissez-faire environment.

Even though you will often find lotsa annoying kids running around here, they're pretty easy to avoid or push out of your way for a prime Harbourfront experience.

There are lots of free cultural events during the weekends in the summer. Local bands play the stage. And there are ethnic food vendors depending on the event.

The winter is kind of a different story - very bleak and dreary. But the skating rink is decent. Although, I have heard rumours that one time the ice cracked, and someone sunk into the connecting lake. I don't even know if that's possible, but be careful.

I feel like Queen West started out with an alternative feel, but is continuously getting more saturated with the mainstream. Meh. A decent selection of boutiques both grungy and high(ish) end. Restaurants are kinda whatever.

There's a pretty evident art vibe, which turns to starving artist, to just starving the more west you go.

The Financial District is just another place to see suits go between buildings from meeting to meeting, being boring.

Toronto has no distinct architectural style... except for an affinity towards using glass. Of whatever colour. So I guess it's cool if you like reflective surfaces.

A new condo pops up ever 3.57 seconds, so just be wary if you're high up in one of these towers- your stunning view of the city will quickly be replaced by one of your building (at least, the reflection of it in the new building's exterior).

I used to come here a lot as a child and even swam in Lake Ontario (probably why my growth is stunted... pollution joke thanks to US industries that dump waste in our Great Lake... you'll hear them a lot in these parts, though people will talk about third eyes or extra fingers).

But it's still a good time, especially when you bring a cooler of booze to discretely drink as you chase Canadian geese whilst avoiding their droppings. There are a few BBQ pits around, and bike rentals. And a clothing optional beach!

Some people have the misfortune of actually living here... Be glad you can take the ferry back to the mainland.