Month: March 2016

NO NEED TO GO TO CHICAGO FOR PIZZA ANYMORE!

Want to feel at Chicago without even going there?

First, remember you can find almost all the stores from ‘The Magnificent Mile’ in LA and second you can get the same food too. Also you get the special privilege of eating authentic deep dish pizza in a GREAT place.

Although many of us haven’t been to Chicago -for example me-it is possible to eat great Chicago style deep dish pizza in Mid-city! Everybody knows that LA is not famous for pizza, as opposed to New York being the Mecca of Pizza. However, recently there are a number of up and coming pizza spots which are competitively good! This legendary Hollywood Pies pizza is one of the rare Chicago style Deep dish pizzas in LA.

*Deep dish pizza is famous with its high edged pie-like crust so that it is stuffed with large amounts of cheese and usually topped with juicy tomato sauce.

Famous with Chicago style deep dish pizza, Hollywood Pies has been around for almost 6 years now. However they were operating in different locations and their business models were different in each spot. Recently they reopened at Mid-city offering take-out and dine in services. All their fans were really happy after their closure in Downtown, including me. This location is pretty small and simple with 10 tables in total. If it’s your first time, try my personal favorite the ‘Hollywood Pie’. It is stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with house made Italian meatballs with a rich & juicy tomato sauce. It has very thick and crispy crust which feels like a biscuit in your mouth- and I think Chicagoans would give their thumbs up and approval!-but my favorite part is the juicy tomatoes on top of the pie.

With Hollywood Pies, you don’t have to worry about not being able to go to Chicago and trying their Deep Dish Pizza. It is also very centrally located in LA. They are open Thursday through Sunday if you want to try it on a tired night after work or on a party night with friends! Just remember to order in advanced as these deep dish pizza’s tend to take 30-40 minutes prep time.

Favorite Ice Cream Spots of the Month

1-Mashti Malone Ice Cream , Hollywood

2-Sweet Rose Creamery, Beverly Grove

3-Salt and Straw , Abbot Kinney

4-McConnell’s, Studio City

5-Carmela Ice Cream, Beverly Grove

Can’t Wait For The Summer!

Even though-with the rainy weather surrounding Los Angeles-it doesn’t look like summer is around the corner, it is always pleasurable to explore new beaches on the ‘West Coast’. Many Californians are already familiar with the fight between property owners by the beach and the public use of beaches. Since, the legal rights of Californians are being revealing recently, many LA natives have already started to discover ‘private’ coves. Particularly Malibu has been the biggest discussion since it hosts famous and rich people mostly and it contributes to 30% of the Los Angeles beaches. So recently, I made my way to Malibu as well and found my secret ‘private’ spot. It looked like it is a well discovered stretch of beach by many Malibu residents only.

Since I discovered there is no ‘all-private’ beaches in LA, I have been driving around Malibu and actually ended up finding the public access for Broad beach. It is located right after ‘Point Dume’ and right before ‘El Matador’ beach. Its entrance is a little hidden in compare to the other beach entrances right by the PCH. The entrance is on the private street, after a turn from the lights (Starbucks on the right side of PCH). Drive a bit on the street and you will see the gated entrance stating public beach access. The entrance leads to a long and amazing Malibu cove covered with million dollar homes. Even though some homeowners were annoying and not happy with the public’s existence there, it was still an enjoyable day at Malibu!

It is very important that all Californians are aware of their rights about this issue and they can enjoy all beaches without any disturbance. For that matter Jenny Price, an environmental writer, created an app called ‘Our Malibu Beaches‘ that you can access through app store and find out where are the public accesses on the map. Currently as far as state standards, there must be at least five access points for every mile. Even though this rule is not followed well, through this application and map you can easily find out where the secret hidden access points are and enjoy YOUR local beaches!

Can’t wait for the summer! I hope everyone gets to discover this amazing Broad beach and another special beach for themselves this summer!

A HIDDEN HIKE IN CALABASAS!

They usually say cloudy weather is perfect for watching movies and eating popcorn. However, as the weekend comes closer, Los Angeles is a city which usually gets motivated by rainy days. I think hiking is another excellent choice for cloudy days as opposed to melting under the sun in hot days. I will share my latest discovery for the ones who like to spend their weekends outdoors. Even though I do not love hiking, I want to take you on a little adventure in Calabasas since it was really pretty on a partially cloudy day, when I first discovered this place.

It is located on top of the hills shortly after the Woodland Hills area-which is also referred to as ‘Hidden Hills’- , located on the right side of the 101 freeway going northbound. I recognized a little roadway which reminded me of the path where the Prince’s take with their horses in the fairy tales. It looks like a mystical Disney cartoon movie location. It is really easy to recognize the hiking trail from the freeway with it’s charming view. Later, I figured it is also called ‘Modelo Trail Nag Loop’. However I still suggest that you should exit the freeway as soon as you recognize the amazing trail on the hills.

The hiking trail is pretty easy and not very long-3.9 miles/6.3 km-. Even for a person like me who doesn’t like hiking, it was pretty entertaining with interesting nature, huge trees and little pumpkins laid out in the nature. I guess that’s where the name ‘Calabasas’ comes from too. According to one legend, in 1824 a rancher passing by the area with a wagon-load of pumpkins, spills the pumpkins on the road. The next spring locals recognize hundreds of pumpkins along side the road (“City History”). Then they named the area ‘Las Calabasas’ which means pumpkin in Spanish. Just like in the story, there are little pumpkins laid along the little trail.

The trail is pretty clean and not crowded at all! You should only watch out for mountain bikers with high speed going down the hill.

As a result, this hiking is one of my favorite spots to be in rainy or cloudy days. Since the weekend looks like it’s going to be one of those cold ones, you should check out the hiking spot and get some fresh air out from the city pollution.

Calabasas History