#258: Sweet!

Urinals that dispense candy, a Ferrari that shoots gumballs out of its exhaust pipe, a chocolate lab where you can put everything from Hot Cheetos to Bacon Bits in your custom chocolate bar... You can experience all this and much more at Sweet! located in the Hollywood and Highland complex. 

Urinals that dispense candy at Yucky

The Stay Puft marshmallow boutique

Sweet! is the Disneyland of candy shops. This over the top store contains a dozen boutiques including Peace of Candy (candies from around the world), Stay Puft (everything marshmallow), the Wonka Room (creative truffles and chocolate bars designed by Willy Wonka), and Sticky (traditional handmade hard candies with customizable messages).  I am pretty sure this place has every candy imaginable!

The Sticky Boutique

The good ship lollypop at the Lollywood boutique

Sweet! took me down memory lane. Seeing the Nerds, Airheads, and Chupa Chups made me nostalgic for simpler times. (That nostalgia must have carried through when I chose the song for the video--can you name who sings it?)

The main candy counter

Taking Candy from a Baby candy dispenser

Another awesome thing about Sweet! is the free samples. At the main candy counter they let you try any of the sweet and sour gummy candies in the case. I chose the gummy watermelon, which I used to inhale as a kid. Also at the Sticky boutique we got to watch them make sour apple candies from start to finish, and we got a taste at the end! 

Making sour apple candies at the Sticky boutique

Wonka's "Square Sweets That Look Round" (haha!)

Here are some tips for your visit:

• There is an underground paid parking garage for the Hollywood and Highland complex. The garage entrance is off of Highland. 
• Sweet! is located on the second floor.
• We went early to avoid the crowd on the weekend which was a good move--we had the place mostly to ourselves.
• Some of the boutiques (Peace of Candy, As If and Stay Puft) are located across from the main Sweet! shop. These boutiques open later than the main store (on Sunday they opened at noon).

We loved our time at Sweet! and highly recommend it. It just might be in my top ten places to visit in L.A.!

Giant cupcake pillow at the As If boutique

The largest gummy bear in the world!

Does this seem wrong to you?

Choose your jelly bean

Make your own chocolate bar at the Chocolate Lab

This snozzleberry tastes like snozzleberry! 

Wonka's Travel Trunk Truffles

Wonka's Hot & Cold Bar (cayenne and cinnamon for the hot and mint for the cold)

Farts in a Can in the Yucky boutique

Pat the Zombie in the Yucky boutique

Hazardous candies at Yucky

Mustache lollypop

Have you been to Sweet? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

Sweet! at Hollywood and Highland

#257: Peace Awareness Labrynth and Gardens

If the X-Men lived in L.A., I'd imagine the Peace Awareness Labrynth and Gardens in Mid-City is where they'd live. The place is an old mansion, complete with a front gate where you're buzzed in, twin lion statues guarding the entrance, beautiful gardens and fountains, and... oh yes... that labrynth.  

Rawr! 

Searching online for past issues of Los Angeles Magazine, I found a Hidden Labrynths page. Labrynths are already mysterious, so add the word "hidden" to them, and it's doubly awesome. We immediately called up two of our favorite atheists and headed out to the gardens.  

I mention the fact that my companions are not spiritual because it just so happens that this is a pretty spiritual touchy-feely place. Thank goodness the only complaint from the peanut gallery was "oh, I thought it was gonna be one of those labrynths with the high garden walls." Our guide didn't pressure us at all to change our beliefs, and although they do ask for your email address when you sign in, you can easily leave it off. So I guess what I'm getting at is, atheists, don't be afraid! 

The Peace Awareness Labrynth website describes the place as "a day retreat where people can relax in nature without leaving the city of Los Angeles".  Entry is free, and on Sundays they offer free garden tours. They also serve lunch and dinner here, for pretty cheap ($6 or $7 I think? Call for details). 

Our tour started inside, where our guide talked about the history of the mansion. The house was built in 1910 in the Italian Renaissance Revival Style and declared Historic Cultural Landmark No. 478 in 1990. Back in the early 1900's, this was where all the rich people lived; the Italian actor Rudolph Valentino even lived next door.  

you rang?

We then headed outside where our guide gave us some quick directions on how to walk the labrynth. Brad decided to try it while carrying our little girl, but stopped and turned around after about a minute because he was feeling dizzy and was afraid of dropping our baby. Who knew labrynths could be so perilous?

By the way, I found it amusing that there's a basketball hoop right next to the labrynth. After you walk your way to inner peace, you can enjoy a game of one on one!

We really enjoyed our time at the gardens, and I'd love to return and check out their lunch or dinner.

Have you been to the Peace Awareness Gardens and Labrynth? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below! 

Peace Awareness Labrynth and Garden

#256: L.A. City Hall Observation Deck

Downtown's City Hall is not just a place to sue someone. The Observation Deck on the 27th floor is the perfect place to take in a 360 degree view of the city and some cool architecture too. Best part: it's free!

I brought my family here on their recent trip out to LA. After having lunch in Little Tokyo, we drove over to City Hall looking for parking. Note to Self: Next time just park in Little Tokyo and walk over because street parking around City Hall is hard to find! 

The ceiling

On the observation deck

When you first enter the building (the entrance on Main Street is the only one open to the public), there's an X Ray machine that you have to put your bags through. Then you sign in (one person in your group shows their ID) and get visitor stickers. The guard gives you directions to take two sets of elevators to the 27th floor. Along the way, you get to walk around and admire the building's architecture and art. 

The view from the top on a clear day is outstanding. See if you can spot familiar Downtown landmarks in these pictures:

I spy the Disney Concert Hall!

I spy Union Station!

The brand new Grand Park is right across the street from City Hall

A bell on the observation deck

The Observation Deck is open on weekdays during regular business hours. 

Have you been to City Hall's Observation Deck? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

Los Angeles City Hall

#255: Little Tokyo

Did anyone else check out Los Angeles Magazine's February "Hidden L.A." issue? Love it! The O'Neill house, Encino Velodrome and Serra Retreat are just some of the places I've bookmarked from the article.

I was excited to see so many places I have already been to on the list: Vanalden Cave, Corral Canyon, Bronson Caves, L.A. Police Academy Rock Garden, The Nethercutt Collection, Forest Lawn Memorial, Malibu Hindu Temple, Self Realization Fellowship, Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, and Gardens of the World. 

Among the magazine's recommended hidden L.A. eateries is Fugetsu-do Sweetshop in Little Tokyo. The glossy picture of the delicately arranged Japanese confectionaries made my mouth water and inspired me to pay Little Tokyo my first visit in what has probably been a couple years.  

Fugetsu-do has been selling mochi and manju for 109 years. As the plaque says in front of the shop, Seiichi Kito opened the original Fugetsu-do candy store on Weller in 1903 and in 1930, Fugetsu-do moved to its current location.

From left to right: ogura, manju, ohagi

During our visit they had special mochis made for Valentine's Day and Girl's Day. I got a simple ohagi dessert, which is mashed sweetened azuki beans covering a rice center. Brad got a manju (cake surrounding sweet azuki beans) and a special ogura Valentine's dessert (sweet azuki beans around a sticky mochi rice center). We agreed that the ohagi was the best of the three. 

After grabbing lunch at Suehiro Cafe, we took a walking tour of Little Tokyo. First we made a stop at Weller Court where the Friendship Knot and the Challenger Memorial honoring Colonel Ellison Shoji Onizuka are on display. Onizuka was the first Japanese American astronaut selected to participate in America's Space Program. The Challenger flight was his second mission into space.

Challenger Memorial

Friendship Knot

Then we headed to the Japanese Village Plaza. On the outskirts is a neat gift shop called Bun-ka Do:

Near the Plaza's red tower is Foot Land, home of these awesome Spam shoes: 

And across from Foot Land is the macaron shop 'Lette. I couldn't resist getting a salted caramel from here:

On the corner of Central Avenue and 1st Street is the colorful "Home is Little Tokyo" mural:

Across the street from the Plaza is the Japanese American National Museum  (#57) and MOCA (#200):

Walk a little past MOCA to see the Go For Broke Memorial honoring the Japanese American soldiers who fought in WWII.

There's no place quite like L.A.'s Little Tokyo. It is a mix of old and new, built on a foundation of Japanese spirit and strength. As the Los Angeles Magazine article says, "As time collapses, you'll ask yourself what took you so long to come here."



Planning on taking a walking tour of Little Tokyo? I used this site to plan our own walking tour.