Wine Bars in Los Angeles

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Jamie

As one of my last blog posts while residing in Los Angeles I wanted to focus on some of my favorite places to visit: The Wine Bars.

Over the past year I’ve been visiting a variety of different wine bars in Los Angeles , and this list are some of my favorites:

The Twisted Vine:

127 West Commonwealth Ave

Located in Downtown Fullerton this wine bar has a fun atmosphere with great food options to choose from.  From their baked brie to Panini’s to Salads to Crostinis, these bites will be the perfect pairing to your wine flights.

Twisted Vine

With tables to sit at and in the far end comfortable couches and tables in front to place your wine glasses, this is a place to come out to after work, or meet at with friends for a day of antiquing in Downtown Fullerton.  They open right at 11am.

Barsha Wine and Spirits

917 N. Sepulveda Blvd

Another fast and becoming favorite hotspot for locals in the Redondo Beach area is Barsha Wine and Spirits.  Offering a variety of fun events including their latest anniversary celebration.

The key is to definitely park behind on 10th St.  Wine flights start at 12 dollars.  It’s much more than a wine shop with gourmet foods, wine flights, and even scotch and bourbon options.

The Winery at Main Street

4861 Main Street

Another fun venue right in Yorba Linda is The Winery at Main Street.  Whenever I think about this fun little place I think of “Cheers” and the saying “Where Everybody Knows Your Name.”  The owners of this little wine bar really get to know their clientele and people even are allowed to bring food in to share with everyone.  A very welcoming experience, and a great place to hang out with friends.

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District Wine

144 Linden Avenue

The next time you’re in Long Beach be sure to stop into District Wine.  This is a favorite amongst locals and offers cheese plates and glasses of wine to choose from, or if you’d like even a bottle.

Bodega Wine Bar

Locations in Pasadena and Santa Monica

Bodega is another fun wine bar to take part in with your friends.  Although this hotspot fills up pretty fast so get their early to reserve your spot and enjoy the rest of the night.  With cheese plates, sliders and more to choose from to pair with your wine.

Wine is done by the glass or bottle here.

San Antonio Winery

San Antonio Winery

Nothing’s better to me then stopping into this gem near Downtown Los Angeles.  The winery has an adjacent restaurant that’s always fun to dine out at.  With a beautiful gift room to browse through, and free tastings (3) to choose from.  Come home with your favorite bottle of Stella Rosa or other varietals while here.

55 Degree Wine

3111 Glendale Blvd

When you first walk into this place you don’t think much of it as you see all the rows of wine lined up, but then you find the stairs and are encouraged to walk down, and the place does a complete 180 on you.

With wines from Italy, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and Australia.  Their wines are “off the beaten path.”  They also have special events happening all the time.

Off the Vine

600 S Pacific Ave.  (Entrance is off 6th street too)

Very popular amongst the locals of San Pedro lies “Off the Vine.”  This fun shop is more than just a wine shop and becoming the favorite hangout on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Closed Sunday and Mondays but open the rest of the week.  With cheese plates and fun activities happening throughout the year.

 

 

 


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Where I am headed?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Jamie

As I sit here thinking about my future I thought it’d be a fun idea to think about where I may end up in the next year or two.  The ideas in my head right now and then look back on this a year from now and see how accurate this was, or how a new path was created.

So, where am I headed?

San Francisco

On Monday, the car will be loaded up and I will start my trek from Los Angeles to Northern California.  I have been to San Francisco before, and I have been as far north as Santa Barbara, but everything in between these two areas is completely new territory to me.  As much as I wish we could take the time on the drive, it won’t happen, but it’ll be my chance to jot down places I want to see in the future.

People have already told me I need to visit the Winchester home.  Monterey and Carmel are also on my list along with wine tasting in Paso Robles and also San Luis Obispo.  There’s just new areas of California for me to explore.

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But the ending destination is none other than Sonoma, CA.  In the heart of wine country.  If you’ve been following my blog, you know it’s a GREAT destination for this girl to be in.  As I write this, I have excitement, but also am nervous because it is indeed my goal to find work within the wine industry.  Questions of, “am I capable?”  “Can I do this?”  Will I fit in?” come to mind.

But then I think about the all the wineries in the area, all the exploration that will be taking place and a sense of calm comes to me.  It is “where” I am suppose to be.

You remember those moments in life where your path is chosen for you?  Although my path has lead me to this exact moment there is a huge sense of faith in me knowing this is where I am suppose to be, and that things will work out the way they’re meant to.

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Our first month there we will be helping out at a pumpkin patch.  I’ve always loved the atmosphere at these locations especially with the smell of fall in the air.  Expect lots of pictures.

I am most excited to see how the wineries dress up around the holidays.  And how they decorate the vineyards.  I’ve heard some great stories, and now I’ll get to see this in person.  Again, expect lots of pictures.

Also, I’ll start to go on photographic journies again.  I’ve hit a lull down in Los Angeles so this is a good thing, a new passion will emerge.

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There will be trips to San Francisco.  I’ll attend my first Giants Game in the spring, and of course, explore museums down in San Francisco, but, for the most part, I honestly believe I’ll be pretty content within the area that I reside.  I’ll explore Sonoma County from Healdsburg to Santa Rosa to Petaluma and more, and then cross over to the Napa side.

Tell me, do you have any favorite vineyards up there that I should check out?

And of course, my love of festivals will continue.  I’ll take you on those adventures right there with me.  So I hope you’ll stick around the blog and join in on exploring my new adventures with me.

I’m open to hearing some of your favorite parts of Northern California to visit.  Needless to say I’m starting to make my list of places to visit and things to do, but this is completely new territory to me so recommendations are loved.

 


Categories: Life, Northern California | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

GoodBye Los Angeles!

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Jamie

Moving.

It truly brings up lots of different emotions and feelings.  Often times I am sitting here reflecting on how far I’ve come and other times I’m sitting here thinking “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

When I first moved to LA 3 years ago I got a lot of negative comments such as, “You’ll be back in a month.”  “You..LA? Hah.”  And I even had some mixed emotions about coming to the city of LA.

Los Angeles

But needless to say I even surprised myself with how fast I adapted to this city and how well I gotten to know the city, and I can say this.  This city truly has something for everyone.  If you like the feeling of suburbia there are small little towns like Sierra Madre, Arcadia, or places in the Valley or the OC to fit those needs.  If you love the city life living in places such as West Hollywood, Hollywood or even Los Feliz are your neighborhoods of choice.

I am a few days from moving out of Los Angeles and I can honestly say I’ve done Los Angeles from visiting the museums to the beaches to even interviewing a celebrity to attending art walks and festivals and movie screenings. I feel accomplished.  This was my adventure down here, and knew I had only so much time before we would be moving on.

Some of my favorite things:

Museums:

There are some great Museums in LA from the Getty to the Natural History Museum to MOCA to LACMA.  My first year was all about visiting museums and finding the ones I really enjoyed.  The thing with museums is that you tend to find things you like in all of them.  This Saturday is National Museum Free Day Admission which means if you haven’t been to a museum in a long time check out the list of museums participating and go check one out.

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The Original Farmer’s Market:

One of my favorite places to visit is the Original Farmer’s Market off of 3rd and Fairfax in LA.  Culture of foods to choose from a variety of different markets.

The Art:

I’ve mentioned before how my first year of residing here I was huge into the art walks around town.  From San Pedro’s to Downtown’s to Venice’s to the Brewery, any chance I had to visit the art galleries I was there with my camera photographing the experience.  And to this day I will recommend it to anyone.

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The Festivals:

The other area of the city I threw myself into was, of course, the festivals.  I’ve attended Wine Festivals, Lobster Festivals, Crawfish Festivals, Music Festivals, Art Festivals, and so many other different kind of festivals.  And there is seriously something happening every weekend in LA.

Crawfish Festival

The Beaches:

SoCal.  There’s no other region where there is so much beach front.  Although I didn’t take advantage of this nearly as much as I should have, I am going to miss being in such close proximity.  Those drives along the coast would always destress me.  And the amazing sunsets that took place near the ocean.  It’s going to be hard to say good bye too.

Beach Girl

And of course little small towns such as The Orange Circle, Monrovia, Old Town Pasadena, Downtown Fullerton and even Downtown San Pedro.

Going on Docent led walking tours, and just exploring little ins and outs around LA.  And of course, the food.  There are some pretty amazing chefs and restaurants in LA.. and I just really began to touch the icing on the cake with what’s listed above.

Tell me, what’s your favorite part about LA to you?

To Los Angeles, I will miss you.

 

 

 

 

 


Categories: Events in LA, Fun Stuff, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 17 Comments