This place is so cute! We were trying to find a nice place to get some breakfast in Santa Monica and both the places in my guidebook were a bust. We knew there were lots of places on the Promenade but weren’t sure about breakfast. This place appeared to be open and was still serving breakfast (~11am) so we jumped on it. It was a beautiful morning so we opted to sit outside on the patio (see picture below). It was really quiet and laid back. Just the right place to start out a hectic day of siteseeing if you ask me.

The food was one of the best breakfasts we had on our trip and very inexpensive as well. I had the “3×1 Breakfast” with some great pancakes, meat, and FRENCH FRIES for $6.75. I mean, where else can you get fries for breakfast??? Mom claimed the coffee was really excellent as well. It was windy outside and the birds made friends with you, but it was worth it. Our spot was coveted as well since it was so sunny.
If you prefer, there is ample seating inside and it looked very cute in there. I think there is a “Route 66″ ambiance to the place.

A good place for a relaxing breakfast in Santa Monica if you ask me.

Website: Barney’s Beanery

I’ve been to Gladstone’s a couple of times in my travels and I think it’s an enjoyable place to eat, especially for a tourist. The location right on the Pacific can’t be beat and there is a beach right out back. You can even dip your feet in the ocean. I think that is what boosts it up to two smileys. The place is fairly busy and I wouldn’t call it “upscale” at all. Very typical seafood place. But the seafood was fresh and very good. We were seated in under 30 minutes on a weeknight and they put us in a big booth right with an ocean view. To look out the window and see the Pacific Ocean is worth a few bucks in itself for me!

On my first trip I had the most amazing strawberry dessert. I still want to go back to try that again!! It was possibly the best dessert I’ve ever had! Sadly, at 8pm in the evening, they were all out this time. So that is something to consider for next time. I think the fish itself was very good, if not great. On the downside, you have to pay for valet parking, although the fee wasn’t terrible. But when you spend $30+ for dinner, it does seem like it could be included. It’s valet-only as well. Coming from Michigan, that isn’t something I am used to.

All in all, I think it is a pretty decent choice for the area although I would like to sample some of the other seafood places along the PCH as there were many.

Website: Gladstone’s

This was our last meal in San Diego and it was a great one! The location is right on San Diego bay, right next to the USS Midway. It’s a very busy place, however, so you might want to get there early. We waited in line 20 minutes just to get our name on the list!! However, we really lucked out — people were being quoted 2 hour wait times but when we got up there they said they had a table outside for immediate seating. Yeah, it was cold (~60F) but we are hearty Michiganders so we took it! They had heaters and the ambiance could not be topped. We couldn’t have been more pleased!!

This is a seafood place, through and through. I love good, fresh seafood though and that is what we came to sample. The food was excellent. I had the snapper and it was very fresh and grilled to perfection. The prices were VERY reasonable for a seafood place on the water in southern california. Under $15 for most entrees. The service was very good as well. Like I said, it was a busy place so if you do sit inside, you need to be prepared for that. Parking is a challenge but we did find some empty spots in the parking lot on a Sunday night (before Memorial Day).

If you like fish, it’s hard to go wrong here if you are in San Diego.

Website: The Fish Market

While researching my trip to San Diego, I came across a few mentions of this place as an excellent place for breakfast so we thought we’d try it out. I have to say that it was probably the best breakfast we had for the whole trip! They had great food and the place is really cute. Perfect place to spend a foggy morning in San Diego.

When we arrived there was quite a wait to get a table, but I figured that was actually not such a bad thing. Busy places are usually good!! I think we may have waited almost an hour. It was cool outside but they had tables both inside and out, as seems to be common in most of southern California. Anyhow, we ended up at a tiny place inside (everything inside is tiny — I think that explains the wait). Anyway, the place was really cute with some very funky decorations on the walls and such. The menu was very complete and innovative, including lots of fruit items. I had some really awesome french toast! I think the pancakes sounded good as well. Mom had an omelette that looked to die for. Everything seemed very fresh. Most items on the menu were under $10. I totally think this is worth a wait if you want a good breakfast at a reasonable price! Highly recommended!!

Website: Cafe 222

Since the “Little Italy” section of San Diego was so close to our hotel (only a few blocks), we thought we should check out the most famous restaurant there, Filippis Pizza Grotto. The area around the place is very quaint with lots of little Italian places. But this clearly has been there for much longer than the other establishments. It is a cool looking place and I must say it’s almost worth a trip just for the atmosphere.

Having said that, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the pizza. We got a pizza with cheese and pepperoni. Nothing fancy. The sauce was what I would call “too sweet” and there was too much of it for my taste. It’s a bit different from what I’m used to. Maybe some people would like it because of that, though. The place was VERY busy — long line to get in. However, I think that is all part of the charm. It’s like an old Italian grocery store where you wait to go in. And the place itself is very cute. Prices are rather reasonable as I think the pizza was maybe $15 or so. Service was good, although I think our waiter was serving the whole place!

Overall, I think it’s worth a trip to Little Italy just to check the place out, as long as you don’t have too high expectations for the food.

After reading all the negative reviews of this place, I was concerned! We arrived late on Friday night for check-in. They are obviously doing a lot of renovations to the lobby area, especially. But they gave me a room with two double beds with no issue whatsoever. The room itself was fine. It looked to have been recently renovated and was relatively clean. Free wi-fi was included with the room as an added benefit. But the best part was the view! We had a nice little balcony was a view of the San Diego skyline. And yes, you could actually see the harbor and the ships. All in all, I was very satisfied. The location was maybe not perfect as the Gaslamp quarter was a long walk away, but Little Italy was easily within walking distance. And it was central to anything you might want to do in San Diego.

The parking situation is the only real negative about the place. It is TOO small!!! It was next to impossible to get into a spot on the first try. But with a little care, you can avoid any major catastrophes. I managed to park the Mustang in there every time. Some folks with larger vehicles might want to try another hotel, however. Parking was $18/day but they don’t seem to check in the evenings so I only go charged for two nights.

If you can get the deal I did ($85 compared with the standard $169), I think this is a good value place. It was clean and comfortable and well-located for all the sites in San Diego.

The first hotel we stayed at during our trip to LA and San Diego was the Westin at LAX airport. I felt this was a good value hotel. The location around the hotel was not great and there weren’t many places to eat but that was probably the biggest downside of this place. The hotel itself was quite nice. We got a room with two queen beds that overlooked Century Blvd. No problems there. And they heavenly beds were as advertised (VERY heavenly)!

Check-in proceeded very smoothly an they gave me no problems over my request for a room with two beds even though I booked the hotel on priceline. The room probably has seen better days but it was certainly clean enough and the bathroom looked to be remodeled at some point not too long ago. The lobby and general areas were very nice. Parking was $15/day, which is probably not bad for the LA area. And internet was $10/day, although I opted out of that option.

The location wasn’t bad if you wanted to be between the beaches and Hollywood/Beverly Hills. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Farmers Market in off-peak traffic. And Santa Monica was an easy 15 minutes or so away. We ate at a place in Manhattan Beach, which was just south of the airport so that seemed to be a good location for shopping and eating.

Overall, I would say that it’s a fine base in the LA area if you want to be somewhat centrally located and save a few bucks in the process. Just keep in mind that it is only a place to sleep – you won’t want to spend much more time there than that.

Saturday – May 26
Well, we actually arrived in San Diego late Friday night. It only took about 2 hours from the west side of LA. I think the key was that we didn’t leave until almost 9pm. If we had left earlier, I can only imagine what the traffic might have been like. We checked into our hotel, the Radisson Harbor View which was really great. The view was especially spectacular and it included a balcony. I will be writing a more detailed review of that experience as well. We did have breakfast at the cafe here (buffet-style) which was satisfying if not a bit expensive for what we got.

The one thing we always knew we wanted to see in San Diego was the world famous San Diego Zoo, so I thought we would start there. It was a very quick drive from our hotel out to the zoo. Amazing how different the weather could be in such a short distance! It was cloudy and overcast at the hotel but was sunny and already starting to get hot at the zoo. The zoo is simply amazing! I have never seen so many active animal — they clearly are very well taken care of. They had just about every animal you can think of, with the highlights being the gorillas, panda bears, and the elephants. Usually elephants just sit around but these ones were really moving and playful. We did the ‘best value’ ticket for $33 each, which included the skyride and tourbus. I’d recommend it as the zoo is really huge. It was busy but because of the size, also manageable. I think you could spend two days there and not see everything!! I think my pictures will say it all about this place.

The zoo is located within Balboa Park. This is the one area of San Diego I would really like to return to and check out in more detail. The buildings and architecture are really interesting. They have many, many museums. Unfortunately, we were pretty beat by the time we got done at the zoo and the park was absolutely bustling with people anyway so we decided to save it for another trip.

Originally, we were going to have dinner this night in the gaslamp district which is located downtown. But this was Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend. There was a Padres game *and* some sort of Jazz festival going on. We ended up driving out to Point Loma instead. It was really beautiful out there! And since it was cool and overcast, it wasn’t busy at all. So it was nice to just take in the scenery on our own.

Then we returned to our hotel for a bit of a rest before walking over to Little Italy. The Radisson is fairly well located to get to this cute little area. The most famous place there is Filippi’s Pizza Grotto and we arrived to find a fairly long line. Figuring this was actually a good sign, we added ourselves to the queue! I actually think the line was the most interesting part of the experience although I will say the place was really cute inside. The pizza wasn’t great in my opinion but I think there are people who would like it. I’m glad we went there and hung out in Little Italy. I’d like to return there someday as well.

Sunday – May 27
Gosh, this trip sure is going by fast! The one thing I know is that you really need more time than we had in both of these wonderful cities. People who say there isn’t anything to do in Southern California are crazy! Anyway, on this lazy Sunday morning, we headed downtown to a place called Cafe 222. Again, we found a long line!! Figuring we might as well stick it out, we decided to just wait. It was the cutest little spot and the place was tiny! This could have explained the wait. I think food-wise it was the best breakfast of the trip. And the hostess girl reminded me of Evangeline Lilly, which didn’t hurt either.

After breakfast, we headed for Old Town, which is just north of the city. It turns out this would have been a great place to eat as well, especially if you like mexican! There are little cafes everywhere here. We had a pay a bit to park but it was not nearly as expensive as LA. There are also shops galore here so I think mom really enjoyed it more than me. I did take lots of pictures though and enjoyed the slight bit of culture and history that was to be found. It was really very colorful as can be seen from the pictures. And, as everywhere in southern Cal, the flowers were absolutely amazing!

Our next stop was Coronado so we headed across the Coronado Bay bridge. This is a cute little town with more little shops. Since our time was relatively limited we didn’t spend much time there, however. The Hotel Del Coronado is located here as well, so we drove by. I wasn’t too impressed but maybe you have to go inside to really get the full benefit of it? We drove past the hotel where the peninsula gets very narrow. There are many beaches along the way so we decided to stop for a bit. You can’t go to CA and not go to the beach! It was crowded but nice and warm. A great day to hang out on the beach (for an hour in our case).

Next we headed inland to one of the Casinos. I guess we thought it would be a lot warmer there but it really cools off quickly as you approach the evening. This particular place was rather nice anyway and included an outlet mall. I believe it was called the Viejas Casino. Mom did really well there so she got to pay for dinner later!!

Speaking of dinner, it was time to head back to the city and get cleaned up before dinner. We had decided we wanted to get some seafood so we headed for the Fish Market right on the waterfront, next to the USS Midway. This is great place and it was clear by the (yep) long line inside just to put your name on the list! We figured the other places would be busy too and we were just too excited about getting a free parking spot to complain. But when we got up there, the lady said they had a table for two OUTSIDE that we could have right away!! Since people were being quoted 2+ hours for a table inside, we took it!! The food and atmosphere were great and we only mildly froze our butts off! We are from Michigan, right?? (I apologize for the bad picture but I didn’t take many)

From there, we didn’t want to end the night so early so we headed for the Gaslamp quarter to check it out. I found some relatively cheap ($3) parking right near there so that seemed to be a good omen. The place was absolutely jam packed! If you are into nightlife, this was definitely the place to be!! It was wall-to-wall beautiful people! I *had* to make a stop at the Ghiradelli place even though both me and mom were still stuffed from the great food we had just had. Then we went to see Shrek at this cool old theater there. So, all in all, a pretty full day!
Did I mention the view from our room?

Monday – May 28
I think we saved the best for last!!
After checking out of the hotel, we headed out towards the beach. I do think that morning is probably the time to do this as it was very quiet and not many people out and about. My guess is that they were out having a good time the night before! Anyway, we stopped at this Pub in Pacific Beach that served breakfast. It was surprisingly good. We were able to park right next to the ocean, where there was yet another lovely beach. I love the beach!

From there, we continued along the coast to La Jolla. Wow! What more can I say about it? Wow! The coastline is really amazing there. And the water was soooo clear! I don’t know how they keep the water looking like that but they were doing something right, I’ll tell you that. And the rocky coast is really spectacular as well. There was a tiny little beach we went down to just to dip our feet near the cold water. Just up from that spot, was the Children’s Pool, where the seals seem to like to hang out. They all were having a grand time, I believe! Just resting and enjoying yet another sunny day in California. We spent quite a while there just watching the seals, surf, and coast. Then we went up and sampled the town of La Jolla which is very nice as well. There were lots of upscale shops. I stopped at the Hard Rock for a t-shirt and mom went in a few stores. But it was getting late and we still had more to see!

Although I’m not sure this goes in the San Diego section, our last major stop of the trip was at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, about midway between San Diego and LA. I didn’t think there would be much to this but the grounds were rather extensive. We could have spent much, much longer here. Very beautiful gardens once again. I think flowers must like all the sunshine or something. Anyway, this was one of the first missions in California and really does deserve a visit. There was a small admission fee.

We capped off our trip by driving from here up along the coast to LAX. This is a really nice drive if you have more time than we did but we couldn’t really stop and enjoy it, especially since we lost a lot of time in Laguna Beach. That was the one place I most wished I had another hour. It would have been nice to check out some of the shops and maybe go to the beach. But it was still cool just driving through there with the top down. Traffic was terrible but it was nice and warm and I was on my last few hours of vacation so I was gonna enjoy it!!

We ate at a little mall in Manhattan Beach just south of the airport just before boarding our plane for the nasty redeye and returning home.

It was a great trip and we saw just about everything we could see in the time we had. I like to take small trips like this so I know what places I’d like to return to later. And both LA and San Diego certainly fit the bill there. Next time, I think we will try going to Mexico.

Reviews:
Radisson Harbor View

More pictures:

[View with PicLens]

12345►

Filippis Pizza Grotto

Cafe 222

The Fish Market

Wednesday – May 23
We started out the trip with an evening flight from Detroit to LAX (on Northwest). The flight was uneventful and we arrived in LA on time, around 9:30PM. There were no problems retrieving the rental car from Budget, which I purchased on priceline. Then it was onto the hotel, the Westin at Los Angeles Airport. I will try to write reviews of the hotel and rental car at a later date but let me say that I was very satisfied with each. After a quick McDonald’s, it was off to bed.

Thursday – May 24
We woke to some low clouds but a generally nice day. This was the trend for just about every morning we were there. We had a busy day ahead of us so we took off right away! First stop was the Farmer’s Market in LA. Traffic getting there was no problem and I wanted to show it to mom. It was really lovely by the time we got there and we tried to get some late breakfast. The place we ate wasn’t great but the atmosphere of eating outside with all the little booths is really unique and a lot of fun. It’s interesting just to walk around and check out all the different offerings the vendors have. I’m glad I took mom there. We also spent some time shopping at the adjacent shopping center, The Grove. That is reallly nice too and by this time the weather was next to perfect. Mid-70s probably and just about the warmest day we had!

In the afternoon, we headed to the Warner Brothers Studio for the VIP tour. This is really interesting if you are into TV (or movies) at all. They give you a pretty detailed 2-hour tour of their facility in Burbank. We even toured a sound stage this time, for Three and a Half Men. It was really interesting to see how small that was. Everything is on hiatus so there wasn’t really any filming going on. They do a lot of TV shows and few movies there. The upcoming “Oceans 13″ was filmed there. Gilmore Girls and ER are a couple current TV shows that we also saw sets from. It gives a good overview into the behind the scenes of movies. It’s $42 but worth it I think.

From there, we took a quick tour of the Hollywood area, near the Grauman’s Theater. There is also a newish shopping mall attached to the Kodak Theater. This area was *very* busy and frankly not all that impressive. We could have taken a tour of Hollywood but I’ve done it before and it’s not great. And there are too many people here pushing whatever it is they want to sell. I think it’s something everybody should see but after an hour, we were ready to go.

We drove down the Sunset strip from Hollywood all the way down to the ocean. That is really cool drive and it really spans a lot of the LA area. Very pretty as you get closer to the Pacific. Once there, you can choose to take the Pacific Coast Highway, north or south. Right there is Gladstone’s, where we ate dinner. We got lucky and snagged a good table with a nice ocean view. There is just something special about eating with a view of the ocean!!

After a quick tour of Santa Monica, we were ready to call it a night! That was a long day!

Friday – May 25
Well, since we clearly didn’t get enough time there the night before, we had breakfast in Santa Monica. People in CA apparently don’t like eating inside. We sat outside on right on the promonade at a place called Barney’s Beanery. It was great and a really good breakfast on top of that. For whatever reason I really like having a nice breakfast when I’m on vacation.

Anyway, from there we drove up the coast, past Malibu. That section of coastline is really breathtaking and I wanted mom to see it. I wish we had more time to spend a little time at the beach. It was pretty quiet but the northbound traffic was really picking up. So we headed back south and towards Beverly Hills. We made a quick stop on Rodeo drive for some window shopping. Nothing there was even remotely in our price range!! Well, except parking spots — they were actually free!

Our next stop was the Getty museum. This is really a beautiful spot on the top of the mountains (Santa Monica mtns I guess). You can really see a long ways and they have it landscaped just beautifully. I really enjoy that you have to take this tram thingy to the top. They have various art exhibits as well which are pretty interesting. A lot of their exhibits are exhibitions so you will probably see different things when you are there. I think the highlight is the gardens though — they really are lovely with all the flowers. The architecture of the place is worth a trip. I really don’t think my words can do it justice so just look at the pictures!

From here, we made a quick stop in Sherman Oaks to have dinner with my friend, and then it was on to San Diego!! I must say that I wish we had more time in LA. I think it has to be one of the most underrated cities in this country and deserved more than 2 days!!

Reviews posted about this trip:
Westin LAX

Gladstone’s in Malibu

Barney’s Beanery – Santa Monica

To continue reading about San Diego, click here: San Diego Blog.