Downtown Weekend
Some people go to the mountains on Labor Day weekend, others go to the sea. kuaptic goes back to where it all began -- downtown.Though often semi-abandoned, dirty and scary, downtown is undeniably a place where the heartbeat of old LA can be felt. Through a number of circumstances, various kuaptic peeps spent time in the area this week and have come away with come cool places to go.
Aardvark Letterpress 2500 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA
Super nice and artistic, the Aardvark Letterpress is a purveyor of that age old discemination of the word, the printing press. Located on a tiny corner near MacArthur Park, the Letterpress does custom invitations, business cards and stationary, at no small price. Its walls have a few pictures of old stars and old jazz is played while this family owned business does what it's done since 1968. Certainly, the Aardvark Letterpress is (as they used to say) a Lollapalooza of its dwindling kind.
Roger Stuart Clothes 729 Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA No frills suits. This place is Old School (capitalization ours) with grumpy old men who have terrible taste in ties, thousands of high quality suits at 60-70% off. They don't cotton to that new fangled business of selling mens suits to women though, so take note.
Ciudad 445 South Figueroa #100, Los Angeles, CA
On Sundays, Ciudad is all tapas all the time. Pretty decent too; highlights include grilled artichokes, lemony and well spiced, cheese and olives and the goat cheese fritters served with raisins and honey. Surprising and tasty.
The Golden Gopher 417 West 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA Stepping into the Gopher is a little like going back in time. Its slick black and crystal decor, replete with cozy boothed corners, the required golden gopher lamps and excellent urban smoking patio is perfect for ordering up anything from a sidecar to a cosmopolitan, enjoying the good jukebox and waiting for that woman with trouble in her eyes to click through the door.
The Broadway Bar 830 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA
Having just opened recently, the Broadway Bar feels like it hasn't quite grown into itself. It needs a better house red, and though it has all the ingredients -- a huge blue sign that turns traffic outside the same hue, modern lighting created with what looks almost like desk lamps and a splashy central bar, along with a menu of champagne cocktails, the place has yet to accumulate an atmosphere. We look forward to returning to see how it does.
posted by kuaptic. @ 3:45 PM
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