Rebecca Pardess

Credit: Rebecca Pardess

Best Last-Minute Gift Shop

Los Feliz's Soap Plant Wacko is an extraordinary emporium of odds and ends (mostly odds). Its stock is so fascinating and diverse, it can be perused for hours or burst into like a bat out of hell when you're desperate to find the perfect last-minute gift. Between its selection of......
Credit: Wagville

Best Doggy Daycare

Glassell Park's WagVille sets itself apart from L.A.'s myriad doggy daycares by checking off every item on the enthusiastic dog parent's list. Will Fluffy get to play out in the sunshine? Yup, it has got indoor/outdoor playgrounds. Is there proper air conditioning for sweltering summer temperatures? Sure thing, with outdoor......
Dinner party at Zach Pollack's Alimento; Credit: Alimento

The Story of Italian Food in Los Angeles, From Chianti to Burrata

What enters your mind when twirling fennel pollen-dusted spaghetti around your fork? Probably not much more than “just how quickly can I get this into my mouth?” And that’s fair, because L.A.’s emerging renditions of Italian cuisine are incredible. But there’s a story behind all that beautiful bread and cheese. Italian food wasn’t always......
Master pizzaiolo Marco Aromatario presents a fresh pie at the lanes.; Credit: Danielle Bernabe

Is L.A.'s Best Pizza at This Highland Park Bowling Alley?

Sometimes the greatest meals are had in the most unexpected places, and one of those places is Northeast L.A.’s Highland Park Bowl. The recently opened bowling alley has seen a great deal of coverage for its gorgeous restoration of Mr. T’s, a bowling and live music bar first established in 1929. While......
Maynard's Special; Credit: Rebecca Pardess

The 90-Year-Old Coffee Shop for People Who Love Brunch but Hate Trends

Breakfast—or brunch as it’s known on the weekends—has become a cultural movement of picturesque avocado toasts and bloody Mary one-uppery. But despite the growing competition, one particular coffee shop has managed to maintain a classic brunch menu sans trendy dishes and boozy cocktails since 1926—in one of L.A.’s “brunchiest” districts, no......