The last time I was in California, I was too young to really remember it. I only have bits and pieces: my dad had a work trip, so we tagged along as a family. We went to Universal Studios and I remember some of the rides like, Jurassic Park the Ride where both my sister and I got a t-shirt that said, “I survived Jurassic Park the Ride” and the studio tour ride with the flash flood. That’s about it. We also have a family photo of us by Santa Monica canon. Fast forward 25 years and I was back in Santa Monica, except this time not for my dad’s work trip, but to visit my sister, who’s been living there the past two years.
I’d wanted to go sooner. I had always thought I’d like to try living out there. I applied to grad schools on the west coast, hoping for Berkeley (I didn’t get in), and not even considering the idea of going to USC because one year there was going to cost almost as much as 3 years at Virginia Tech. I did not want to graduate school with debt. When I graduated, I looked for jobs there, but none came about.
The spring my sister moved; I was busy that summer at school with an intensive design program (the .5 year of the 3.5-year program: summer in Blacksburg blog post). Following that summer was my final and thesis year, which consumed my time. After graduation, I traveled for a bit and started a job in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, my mom had visited multiple times, my younger sister a couple, my dad once and my extended family had a whole Palm Springs trip. Everyone made it out there but me.
Finally, I had the time.
The Magic Castle was the impetus for the visit. The plan centered on it. My sister got invited by a magician friend (the only way you can go) and she asked my dad. My dad always did magic for us when we were younger. I also figured it was the perfect time for me to visit. My mom, not wanting to be left out, decided to join too. Ultimately, we decided it would be a perfect birthday celebration (we’re twins) and our birthday always falls during Labor Week, so I could use the Monday as a day off. Perfect timing.
My plan was to stay a week from Saturday to Sunday, while my parents joined us on Thursday to Sunday. Months of planning that included a combination of things my sister wanted to show us and architecture I wanted to see wove together into a nonstop week of moving, doing and seeing things.
This what we did:
8/30 (I flew into LA and arrived around 2:30pm)
- Passed by Sony Picture lot (by chance)
- In n Out (worst fries I’ve ever had, but the milkshake was fantastic)
- Clownerina (giant ballet clown on the side of a building)
- Chulita (dinner) with Alex and Dasha
- Only the Wild Ones (bar)
- Waymo ride! (first time in one)
- Hinano Cafe (bar) with live music
- Venice fishing pier
8/31
- Tacos Por Favor (amazing breakfast burrito)
- Santa Monica beach to play beach tennis with Alex and Dasha (stayed there from 12:00 – 16:30)
- Walked to Venice Boardwalk
- Venice Skatepark
- Veo bikes back to the car
- Taco stand in front of Whole Foods
- Aero Theater to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind (first time seeing it)
9/01
- Griffith Observatory hike (saw the Hollywood sign on the way up)
- Trails cafe for lunch
- Drove to Abalone Cove Beach
- Stop at The Corner Store Cafe in San Pedro along way
- Sunken City
- Drive to Abalone beach, couldn’t exactly find it and we didn’t want to hike down so we drove around a bit along the coast
- Torrance Beach
- Santa Monica Brew Works (Pizza, Salad, waffle Fries and Cucumber beer)
9/02
- Early wake up (6:25am) to go surfing, the waves were too messy, so we did yoga on the beach and jumped in the water
- Muscle beach workout area walk by
- Holy Grail Donuts
- Walk up and down blocks (Hollister, Wadsworth, Hart) to look at houses
- Merrihew’s Sunset Gardens
- Riot Campus: Bernardo visit, lunch, architecture office, video games at riot, rock band, Valorant (5 hours there!)
- Leftover pizza for dinner
- Walk to see sunset
- Mario Party with Dasha & Alex
9/03
- Breakfast burrito from Go Get Em Tiger (not great)
- Gehry Residence
- Schindler House
- Levitated mass, Zumthors new museum (outside), LA County Museum (outside), La Brea Tar Pits quick ground wall
- Bradbury Building
- The Westin Bonaventure Hotel
- Walt Disney Concert Hall
- Broad Museum
- Cafe Gratitude veg restaurant
- Salt and Straw for ice cream (honey lavender and chocolate gooey brownie – amazing)
- 3rd street promenade to find salsa – only on weekends so walked back to my sisters
- Mario Kart with Dasha & Alex
9/04
- Hollyhock House in the am
- Mom and Dad came, met them at the apartment after Jaclyn picked them up
- Santa Monica beach
- Santa Monica pier – rode rollercoaster
- Santa Monica promenade for sunset
- Taco truck
- Pee Wee doc part II
9/05
- La la land coffee shop
- Petigrain bakery – best scone I’ve ever had and I don’t like scones
- Venice canals
- Gjusta for lunch
- Quick walk to beach
- Magic Castle from 5pm to 12:00am
- Pee Wee Hollywood star
9/06
- Tacos Por Favor (amazing breakfast burrito)
- Neutra VDL House
- Marina Del Rey fisherman’s wharf – saw sea lions!
- Burton Chace Park
- Jersey mikes for lunch
- I went to the beach, they stayed at the pool/hotel
- Courtyard kitchen for dinner
The Highlights
It’s hard to single out any one or two highlights from the trip because the whole week was one big highlight. Spending time with my sister, finally seeing where she’s been living the past two years and just doing things with her for a week was the highlight. But, if I had to choose, I’ll pick two non-architectural related (I’ll save that for a blog post): going to the Magic Castle (not Disney’s Magic Kingdom), but an invite only magic show in LA, and visiting her workplace. I’ll write a separate post on the magic castle, so for now I’ll explain why seeing her office earned the top spot.
The reason she moved to California in the first place was for her job. She works at Riot Games, a gaming company behind one of the most popular esport games, League of Legends (LOL) and the studio behind the Emmy-winning animated series Arcane (which is based on the game). I’ve never played League of Legends, but in middle/high school I did play the game that it sprung off from: DOTA, when it was just a custom game within a game called Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. Riot took what people loved about DOTA, made the gameplay simpler and more accessible and it exploded into one of the most popular PC games in the world (especially in Korea). Meanwhile, DOTA faded into nonexistence.
Riot’s headquarters in Santa Monica is unlike any office I’ve ever seen. It’s not just a building, it’s a campus. Multiple buildings are connected by a green courtyard with pomegranate trees, and bamboo groves, shady trees and outdoor seating for people to eat lunch. Right off the courtyard is the cafeteria with breakfast, lunch and dinner, a music room with a full band setup, a coffee shop themed like a scene out of one of their games, with the same level of detail you’d expect at Disney World.
Her architect friend Bernardo, whose office is right next to her campus, joined us for lunch. It was also my first time meeting him, which was great because we had been in contact for about a year or so. I had reached out to him when they became friends and before I graduated for advice on finding a job and other things. Over the past year we had become friends too!
There are also the play spaces. A large room with 40-60 gaming PCs decked out with headphones, mechanical keyboards and gaming mouses, 4 Mario Kart arcade-style racing games, an arcade room with games like the Simpsons arcade game and Dance Dance Revolution, a lounge with 6 large flat screen TVs with every gaming console imaginable. We played Rock Band for about an hour. They have ping-pong and a pool table as well as a variety of free snacks everywhere and vending machines stocked with imported Asian drinks (like a melon milk drink) and Pocky for just 50 cents. Across the street, they even have their own esports arena and a cafe that serves smoothies at all hours. If I worked there, I don’t think I’d ever leave.
A Little Coincidence
The saying, “it’s a small world,” is tossed around a lot, but sometimes it really is. One such example is that my sister’s current Santa Monica apartment is literally next-door neighbors with the younger brother of one of my friends and former college roommates. I still can’t believe the odds around that. It is such an unbelievable coincidence.
When my sister was apartment hunting, she looked at around 20 apartments before finally settling in the one she’s in now. When she moved in, she had no idea who her neighbors were. She had met my friend plenty of times during college (we went to the same school), but never met his brother. They do look alike though; but at her new apartment she had only met the brother’s wife in passing.
The connection only came a couple of months later. While visiting my parents’ house, she had asked them if they could grab a package for her if it got delivered. It was, and later that evening she got a text from the wife: “Did your brother go to Delaware?” My sister replied, “Yes, so did I…” and then she wrote back, “I think he was my husband’s brother’s roommate.” I guess my friend’s younger brother recognized the last name on the package. I had met him a few times when we were in college and afterwards, so he must have remembered it.
It’s funny because who knows how long it would’ve taken for them to make the connection. When you meet new people, you hardly ever introduce your last name. I still can’t believe it. On my very first night in L.A., we all went out to dinner together and throughout the week we ended up playing Mario Kart and Mario Party.
Maybe it is a small world after all.