Party Like a Rock Star

Man oh MAN!!! what can I say about LA except that I was blown away!!! Although I wanted to go into this whole trip without preconceptions of stigmas about these cities, it really wasnt what I expected. My stay was broken into two parts and I got to experience so much of the city because of that. The first few days I stayed with my buddy Brooks down on Marina del Rey(Venice Beach area) and I seriously fell in love with everything about life out in the beach. Its soooo peaceful, sooooo fun and calm. After exploring a ring of mostly mexican neighborhoods that surround the downtown of the city for my thesis research, Brooks(who is apparently a mexican herself) and I felt right at home. On our quest to find all and anything mexican including Topichico, we were told of this illusive "market" which is this incredible whole sale warehouse for any mexican product you can possibly want. I WAS IN HEAVEN! we pigged out on candy, chips, drinks, etc.
On the second half of my stay, I had to leave the beach and move over to hipsterville, also know as Echo Park and the current home of Mr. Andrew Bell. Little did we know that this was going to become a super UT architecture reunion . By total coincidence it was Andrew's birthday and we all happened to be in town: Jake George, Mike Lama, Kevin Johnson, Andy Hall, and myself (although we'd like to make him think we all came in just for his birthday). We partied, alot, and one of those nights at the Standard Hotel. Seriously, it was like living in an episode of Entourage, partying on the rooftop, the weird red waterbed that Andrew, Jake, and I are enjoying epitomized the ridiculousness of the setting but it was AWESOME.
LA was LA, people love their cars, their highways, but I loved it too! Their public transit system was impressive, people were genuinely nice, helpful, and never did I feel unsafe. Oh and of course, there was the was architecture too, which didn't hurt to make it the best.