Attention: The original post only included one photo from the day. Here in November 2022, I’m updating things with an extra 16 images of the day that better represent just what we did.

We started our day in southern California with breakfast at Mother’s Market & Kitchen in Huntington Beach, California.

Little Saigon, as it’s known, is home to the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. We are here to check out some of the 300 or so Asian stores nestled between 100s of other shops surrounding the mall, all with signs in various Asian languages. Protest signs critical of Vietnam’s government and voting signs for Asian candidates abound.

But inside the mall, it was time for shopping and eating.

Statues of Chinese figures and Thai elephants, menus without a word of English – it is easy to get lost amongst the noise of Little Saigon and wonder for a moment if you are still in the Los Angeles area.

Next door in Costa Mesa, we visit The Lab, which claims to be an Anti-Mall. The Lab is a small collection of eclectic shops offering new and used clothing, a small newsstand, shoes, hats, and sunglasses in a setting wrapped with art, a few small restaurants, a cafe, and not one major chain store.

Afterward, we meander along city streets, making our way to Watts, where we hoped to stop at the Watts Towers to take in a Drumming Festival that is taking place today, but the neighborhood is rougher than we anticipated. Prostitutes and burned-out cars dot the landscape; nearly every house has iron-barred windows and doors. Parking is at your own risk within those neighborhoods; with an out-of-state license plate on our car, we opt to keep on moving and hope for a visit in the future – using the metro.

Continuing via city streets towards central LA, we come upon the Coca-Cola building modeled after an ocean liner – amazing.

Caroline will likely never hug a bigger bottle of Coke.

We end up in North Hollywood at the Wat Thai Temple, where on weekends, small food stands offering an assortment of various Thai dishes are set up, quite affordably, as a matter of fact.

We had a terrific papaya salad, the best Thai Iced Tea we have ever had, some great coconut ice cream, and I tried durian for the first time. Durian is considered by some “the king of fruits,” but when overripe, it has the tendency to smell like soiled baby diapers. I have attempted to taste durian before but could not get past the smell. Today’s sampling of durian, however, was served on a bed of sticky rice with a lightly sweet coconut dipping sauce and, while pungent, luckily tasted quite ok.

After stuffing our bellies, we wind our way over Beverly Glen Boulevard through Beverly Hills before joining Sunset Boulevard for the drive through Brentwood into Santa Monica.

Beachside hotels were a little too pricey for us that day.

But we found refuge at a small cottage motel called the Wilshire Motel just a few miles from the beach for a reasonable price of $80, including tax.

Note from 2022: I’m glad I wrote this in the original post, or our first-ever visit would have been lost forever. 

Strolling up 3rd Street Promenade for some entertainment, window shopping, and some actual clothes shopping for Caroline at one of our favorite shops, Shiva Imports.

Sunset was spent on Santa Monica Beach and the pier

What a great way to spend a day.

Made even better with little rainbow bubbles, maybe we’re at a love rave?

How can Sunday possibly compare? Just watch.