You are right that LA is about 1.5hrs away from San Diego (with light traffic). Umm as for type tourism... hmmm. There are typographically interesting places all over LA county. But if you focus on the downtown area of LA or San Diego you find a richer experience (typographic or otherwise)...

What kind of things do you want to see? Old signs/buildings, graphic design schools, people, museums?

Mikey Diaz

PS... If you come out here you must try Mexican food! Avoid places that have lots white clientele as this is a big indicator that the food has been watered down for the American palette. Or upscale mexican restaurants. If you want the real deal you have to go were the all the brown people are. The holes in the wall are the best- they have lots of customers. All our restaurants have health ratings on the front of the establishments- eat at places with a big A on the front!

Hrant is from LA too maybe he can chime in on this one. I've always wanted to try Armenian food but every time I'm in the Glendale area I never stay long enough to explore.

You can always get arrested trying to rekern the "HOLLYWOOD" sign. That's what I do every time I go out there.

You can always get arrested trying to rekern the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. That’s what I do every time I go out there.

This actually made me laugh out loud. Thanks! Thanks for the advice Mike!

As far as type tourism / resources are concerned I suppose I would keenest on:

- Libraries with special Type & Calligraphic collections
- Bookstores of note
- Type-people who are maybe not on Typophile who are in that area & who I might like to meet & talk with
- And any general advice for the area you might want to pass on as you ( Mike) have done.

For context I should perhaps also say I have been to the LA / San Diego area before 4-5 times before but usually for just 3-4 days.

This is how I find out you're coming down to SoCal?! ;-)

Mike, 1.5 hours? Either you drive worse/better than me, or you're talking about making it to the edge of LA county. Eben, the way I'm picturing an Alaskan driving to somewhere he'd enjoy ending up, it'll be over 2 hours, with medium traffic. With heavy traffic it could take over 4.

Mexican food: from San Diego it takes like 20 minutes to get to Tijuana! Which is not to say that they don't have the gringo problem there too... BTW Mike, an "A" rating is actually a similar problem. :-) I once filled out a complaint card at a Fatburger that it was too clean. They called me back. I'll tell you the rest one day.

Armenian food: you'll have to make it to Hollywood, Glendale or Pasadena.

> Libraries with special Type & Calligraphic collections

What you want is the Clark. But since they don't let you check anything out (they MIGHT let you take flash-less photos, maybe) bring a sleeping bag. Bookstores: are you buying or browsing?

If you can hook up with Margo Chase, do it.

General advice: bring a swimsuit and your driver's license.

hhp

If you want to go to Mexico (and get back into the US without a lot of BS) you need a passport now.

When in San Diego, pub crawl from one end of the gaslamp district to the other, then go right back down the street and hit them all again on the way back. Make sure to stop at the ice cream parlor along the way.

And make sure it's a US passport, not that Yooropeen junk. :-/

Plus make sure you don't cross back Sunday night: you'll spend a couple of hours in your car listening to a chorus of cebradita.

And if you've got cojones bring back some Cuban cigars. I did that last time, and when the border guy asked me "What's in the back?" I said "some talavera", which is what all the gringos buy. (Actually I did have some talavera too, so it was a careful lie.)

hhp

This is how I find out you’re coming down to SoCal?! ;-)
I got it sorted out late last night. I didn't want to wake you & the kids!

What you want is the Clark
Aha! http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/

Armenian food
I am profoundly interested. REALLY. More info please!

If you can hook up with Margo Chase, do it.
I certainly see why - suggestions? (Off line if you like.)

Cuban cigars
Tobacco is a vice I have yet to acquire. When it's not on fire it can smell pretty interesting

Bookstores: are you buying or browsing?
Both probably. Depends on what I find how much if I have it already etc.

Thanks for all the info you guys! Keep it comin'!

Armenian food - one place for me - Caroussel in Glendale.

Every time I go it surprises me again with it's excellence. I have tried to find better and couldn't.

Corner of Brand Boulevard and California.

Close to there is Brand Books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/StoreFrontDisplay?cid=66145
Honestly I can't tell you if there's lots of typographic resources - haven't been there in a while but it is one of the last standing used book stores. I like it a lot.

Best fast food in LA is also Armenian - Zankou Chicken. There's one of those in Glendale on Colorado near the 2 freeway. It is REALLY good!

OK - real Mexican food with a wide array of not commonly seen sauces:
La Cabañita in Monrovia (actually your could just say Glendale) - lots of different kinds of mole and other sauces you won't find just anywhere - it's excellent.

Guelaguetza - A Oaxacan restaurant in the middle of Koreatown - they specialize in mole (which the Oaxacans are known for) - try the mole negro if you've never had it - it is fantastic. You could also try some edible bugs while you're there if you are really adventurous.

There is now an area in the middle of Koreatown that is known as Little Oaxaca.

So that's my input for LA.

peace

> http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/

They STILL haven't finished the work?! :-( Well, you can go to
UCLA instead - they have gobs of goodies, like Aldine originals.

> suggestions?

I once had her email, but she never replied, so you're on your own dude.

Paul, you know Carousel! It's very nice, although a bit pricey. Zankou: that's actually where I took Norbert during his visit last hear. It's definitely delectable, especially if you like garlic. BTW, really traditional Armenian food tends to be hard to cook and sort of anachronistic, so virtually any "Armenian" restaurant will mostly have dishes of general Near-Eastern origin (mostly either Lebanese or Persian, depending on the owner). But that's not bad news at all!

And you know La Cabañita too! (You probably meant Montrose, not Monrovia, right?) It's actually 2 minutes from my house. It's a small place (recently expanded actually) that's as authentic as you can get in these neck of the woods. The last time I went they still didn't have a liquor license, so they were making their margaritas with wine, but the food is super super. Guelaguetza, I'll have to try. Then there's King Taco in East LA: the best/worst time to go is late late.

hhp

Yeah Montrose - but I'm always confused because they also say they are in Glendale.

One Friday night I was eating at Guelaguetza and got out of there about 8pm. I guess they also have a club because there were a group of people that seemed to be waiting to get in. What were they doing while waiting? Listening to Oaxacan music on a boombox and performing group folk dances in the parking lot. Really cool.

Corner of Normandie and Olympic. There's another one on 8th Street but it's full of TVs and when soccer is on - it's on and poppin' if you like that sort of thing. Not really for me.

King Taco is the real deal - carne asada tacos to die for. Lengua too if you're into it - I like it a lot.

peace

Thanks Eben, and everyone else;

I'll be in LA next weekend, with much less notice, and pointers to Armenian food and other sites of interest are nice to find here.

I'm going to CA:BOOM, the independent home/modular/prefab show in Santa Monica:

www.caboomshow.com

I'm pretty interested in that myself - somehow I thought it was at the Pacific Design Center - thanks for the link.

And Hrant, when I'm feeling hardcore I'll go into Hollywood to Zankou and get some soujouk. Wow. Enough garlic to last a lifetime… :)

peace

"This actually made me laugh out loud. Thanks! Thanks for the advice Mike!"
You're welcome George.

hahaha... I will add more shortly. As for right now, this thread has got me hungry. Off to dinner I go.

Mikey :o)

Oi Vey! I switched you & SuperUltraFabulous (mike). Glad to offer you a laugh though.

Eben - I just went to the Huntington Library in Pasadena and they have a small, very nice collection on display. They own a lot more pieces if you can wrangle your way into the research library. The grounds are outstanding.

http://www.huntington.org/LibraryDiv/LibraryHome.html

peace

Thanks! That looks pretty interesting. Have you tried to wrangle at all yet?