what day is it?

time seems to have escaped me this week -- three nights in la, good eats in some santa monica and westwood restaurants, and trips to a handful of thrift shops, but no pictures to show for it. i have a hard time documenting my trips because i get wrapped up in the moment - which is something i really need to work on since i am supposed to be sharing my adventures here! the travelogue might be kinda boring....but here's some highlights.

we stayed in the creepiest holiday inn i've ever seen. i think it's the most i've ever paid for such a terrible place to stay. security glass on the windows, no lounge area inside or out, and they locked the front doors from 6pm! i'm glad that it was 'secure,' but it didn't really give me any warm fuzzies about the place. the room ended up being pretty comfortable - and it did have hbo - so we spent the first night in, recuperating from the drive and watching the new grey gardens. oh my god, it is magnificent. i konked out after about a half an hour of the movie, but in that time i fell in love with the young big edie's coats and hair, and little edie's hooded evening gown. for a while, i thought hoods belonged on everything. i think it might be time for more of that.

the vintage shops i had scouted out were spread out along sunset blvd and in silver lake and echo park, but the hassle of traffic just getting from santa monica to westwood (where we visited my uncle) was enough to scare me out of trying to get all the way across town. lame, i know, but better for my psyche.

luckily, we were staying in a bad enough part of town that there were thrift stores abound. by the way, 'thrift' has a different meaning there. la 'trash' comes to the stores in huge yves saint laurent bags, and antique furniture is delivered all day long like beat-up baseball caps would be here. even though i couldn't afford most of the finds in those thrift stores, i would love to spend more time digging for designer treasure.

on a vintage-related note, we got to eat at a couple of institution restaurants that don't seem to have changed much since the 60s. i think our waitress at dolores restaurant (a super cute all-hours diner) has probably worked there since 1975. and it looks like the only thing that's changed about the beanery in santa monica is the addition of about twenty-five lcd screen televisions. i could have spent at least an hour in the 'powder room' looking at the magazine ads they've pasted to the walls for the last 40 years.

i'm going to spend this weekend recovering from my little vacation, and on monday get back to work. there's a little surprise i'm working on and lots more vintage finds to share.