How Was Your Valentine's Day?
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Ask Downtown is an occasional series in which we put a reader's Downtown question to you, the real Downtown experts. Help a reader out and share your knowledge.
How's this for planning ahead? We're looking for your Downtown Valentine's Day tips now, while you've got a fresh memory of what worked and what didn't, so that we can share them with readers a year from now, when we're all trying to figure out what to do for 2011.
So how about it? What tip would you pass on to the Downtowner of tomorrow?
Have your own Downtown question? Send it our way via Twitter (@blogdowntown). We'll either answer it ourselves or, if we think it's particularly relevant, make it the subject of an Ask Downtown.
Rich Alossi on February 15, 2010, at 11:59AM – #1
It was great to see all the couples walking around Downtown yesterday evening. Perfect weather, too.
I procrastinated, mostly because I was going to cook at home and then decided against it. Tip for next year: Get reservations early.
Robyn on February 15, 2010, at 12:54PM – #2
Our Valentine's Day was perfectly simple. We had a nice weekend. We got a big laugh when we were at the grocery store: in the greeting cards section, the Valentines were in a state of a Tazmanian Devil whirlwind - hanging from the ceiling display, thrown upon the floor, found like a poker hand in the cookies section, etc. Clearly last-minute shopping is tough on the merchandise.
Kari Song on February 15, 2010, at 01:54PM – #3
Every Valentines day we like to go down to the Flower District and grab fresh flowers. We rode our bikes down there on Saturday and I picked out some pretty flowers. It's really nice and affordable!
Guest on February 15, 2010, at 06:23PM – #4
Cliffs Edge in Silverlake was great alternative to booked up downtown hot spots.
Sara Van Der Voort on February 15, 2010, at 09:25PM – #5
We went to dinner at Cicada. The fixed menu was great, the place was full but not too packed, and the live band got people onto the dance floor. Cicada is definitely a gem downtown. I'm not usually one for dinner out on Valentine's Day as restaurants can be a disaster, but this was lovely.
DawnC on February 16, 2010, at 08:02AM – #6
We had a wonderful brunch at Bodega Louis. Apparently they were taking reservations for V-day but even though we didn't have one we only had to wait about 20 min. for a table. I think getting there before 11am helped. We hit the deli counter on the way out and picked stuff for a romantic dinner later that night.
It was a great no-stress way to celebrate, much better than fighting crowds and expensive pre fixe menus for dinner. It'd be nice if Valentine's day always fell on Sunday!
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on February 16, 2010, at 09:33AM – #7
I have to echo the recommendation for the Flower District. Unless you've been, you really can't understand how good the deals are, even last-minute and during a huge holiday.
The flowers pictured above are actually a few from what I picked up Sunday mid-afternoon. I'd share how good the deal was, but Kathy might read this and I don't want to seem cheap...
Jamie DeFrisco on February 17, 2010, at 12:17AM – #8
A sudden change in plans landed us at Cole's. Afterwards we had some drinks at The Varnish. Luckily both places seemed pretty quiet. There was a good crowd in both, but there were little to no waiting lines.
I dislike going to restaurants with set menus. If I'm going to have a nice dinner I really want it to be food that I want and not limited to a few items. If you're not picky and really want what's on the set menu, then I guess it's not a problem.
Crowded restaurants can also kill the mood for romance.
It would be nice to know which places offer to go options. I would have been happy to go down to one of the many restaurants to pick up an order of food.