Day 46: Abbott Kinney

Named for the conservationist and developer who developed "Venice of America" complete with a pier, canals and gondoliers, Abbott Kinney was quite a character, and the street Abbott Kinney is now an eccentric, charming part of Venice.  It is far and away my favorite street in Los Angeles.  There are galleries, restaurants, junk shops, chic boutiques.  But the quirkiness and the charm of the artsy/grungy side of Venice hasn't been lost - as chic and groovy as it has become, it still has a lot of flavor.  I love the run-down house next to Lilly and Primitivo with various kids and cats in the yard. This is not the white-washed stroller-pushing crowd of Montana Avenue, it's a little artsier and funkier.

Lauren is in town visiting from Brooklyn, and now that the airports are closed down on the east coast due to a huge blizzard, she is staying at least another 3 days.  We strolled around Abbott Kinney, getting a coffee at Abbott's Habit.  We walked South to E Cookie, a great boutique for lingerie, jewelry, and pretty blouses.  Across the street to Surfing Cowboys, an unusual vintage shop with old skateboards, surfboards, stools made of driftwood, mid-century modern funky furniture that you would picture in some cool couple's house in Laurel Canyon in their sunk-in living room in 1965.  Lauren bought a couple of cute tee shirts and considered a Farrah Fawcett collage that ultimately she realized might not be the most practical item to transport home.  We strolled around some more and wound up at Gjelina with my friend Nnogo.  Ahh, Gjelina - the smell of cheese, the cute young waiters, the funky lighting fixtures, the crowded uber-trendy (not easy to get a reservation these days, but I managed to get an 8:00 table).  We shared burrata, lentils, squid -(Lauren got the last order - it made her night) sublime mushroom pizza, a bottle of cab, a sick butterscotch dessert that could put you into renal failure -- just the saltiest, sweetest, most buttery bowl of perfection...I'm still salivating just thinking about it.