LA VS SF

Time for the LA VS SF face-off.  I was lucky enough to go to both cities about a month apart and herewith compare and contrast.
(Most LA Photos by H. Darr Beiser)

LA

Downtown LA/Paradise?

I always have fun in LA. It is warm and sunny and people in retail will strike up a conversation, strangers will say hello. 

To really know you are in LA head down Sunset to the Santa Monica Pier. You'll immediately realize you aren't in [insert wherever you came from] anymore. It's the establishing shot. Look longingly up the coast at Malibu. Look at this beach and all this ocean. It's fabulous.

We are not in Bethesda anymore.

My main hunting ground on business trips is downtown LA. Not a lot of thought for beauty has gone into the planning of downtown LA . And the convention center and the Staples Center? Well they are just big blobs to hold masses of people. On the whole charmless.

Darr finds the beauty in downtown

Darr came with me on the last business trip as a tourist and found information in the hotel room (LA Hotel, nice!) describing downtown as "LA’s most walkable neighborhood." Ha! Try LA's only walkable neighborhood. 

Go hungry. Stay Full.

But the best thing downtown is The Original Pantry Café. It’s open 24/7 so you get the industrial feel, heavy coffee cups with broad brims. The place opened in 1924. The cashier sits behind bars in a cage of sorts. Grimy old black and white photos. Fork and knife wrapped in a paper-thin napkin. No menus, look at the board on the wall. But oh man, the Food! My husband ordered biscuits and gravy and sausages the first day. They brought out two enormous plates, one featuring two sausage patties which he described as the size of CDs,  and the other a heaping load of hash browns, crunchy on the outside, soft, greasy, and hot on the inside. He began to wonder where his entrée was, and sure enough, another huge third plate was put in front of him. I had the way-delish bacon and cheese omelette and sourdough bread to die for. You won't need to eat for the rest of the day. It’s perfect. Go there.

View from The Getty Museum

Towering Ads

After my toil during the work week, I invariably head for Beverly Hills, because that’s where Judy lives. On Angelo Drive, just up from the Warner manse and all of Hollywood’s riches and romance. It’s stunning in Beverly Hills. Of course it is. I can do a morning run and end up at the Beverly Hills Hotel and use the same gilt edged ladies room that Joan Crawford probably used. 

While there I’m dining in West Hollywood dense with celebrities. One night I sat between Jane Fonda and Halle Berry and walked by Jimmy Smits and Eric Idle. Last weekend Judy sat next to Al Pacino at The Palm.

Plus I have dear friends there. Pushing 40 year friendships.

These being my parameters during a visit to LA, what’s not to like? Nothing is not to like.

Beverly Hills

SF

Charm galore

But what’s not to love about SF? Nothing. Nothing.

Sunrise

The curb appeal of this city is alarming and astounding. Even the usually hideous drive from the airport drops you into beauty in no time, the sparkling bay, the hills, the mountains, the glorious architecture and layout of the city.

"Far West Fungi"

The city is teeming with youth. They enjoy sitting in outside cafes at the Ferry Building Marketplace, a renowned farmer’s market with the best of all best high end, Blue Bottle Coffee, worldly spice selections, masses of mushrooms, organic juices.

I stayed at the Hotel Griffon near the Embarcadero. What a charmer, exposed brick, underexposed pretension. I loved my room, with a fainting couch and turn down service. What a location too. For my morning run I only had to go a block and run to the right toward Giant’s Stadium and watch the sun come up behind the Bay Bridge,  or to the left and run out half a dozen piers.

People always describe San Francisco as “very European.” I was puzzled by this before I had been to Europe.  Since my last visit to SF I have been to Europe three times and I get this now. It is very European! Walkable, varied, historical, full of character. and street music and life. There's a palm tree thrown in here and there to remind you you are in California.

S is for San Francisco

But unlike Europe you can get away with wearing New Balance sneakers. And they do speak English there, usually sentences like these “Oh God, you might as well be in Oakland.” Or “I was doing social media for a small start-up.” Or simply “Start-up.” Start-Up.” Like a bird chirping.

The friends

I ate at a couple of cool places—Stem Kitchen and Garden and Keeva Indian Kitchen

And best of all I saw dear friends I have known for about 30 years. They are all still besties and live in this exquisite city. Well, one lives in Paris, another “very European” city.