Reduce, reuse, recycle … restraint? Not exactly buzzwords associated with Los Angeles. Leslie Garrett, The Virtuous Traveler, reports on the suprisingly eco-friendly elements she discovered in the City of Angels.
Contrary to popular belief, Los Angeles locals will tell you their city is not an eco-sinners’ mecca. Rather, they say, it’s surprisingly green.
And not the kind of green that comes adorned with a president’s face, though there’s plenty of that, too.
The city’s eco-cred has been hard-won, owing in large part to the “if you can’t beat ’em …” philosophy. Those who’ve lured Angelenos to the dark green side have done so by tapping into L.A.’s love of trendy and new.
In other words, while the city hasn’t necessarily embraced the holy trinity of eco-consumption (reduce, reuse, recycle), it has wholeheartedly endorsed rethinking. Not to consume less, of course, but to consume a little greener.
Case in Point: Eco-Stiletto
If ever a single item represented L.A.’s luxury and excess, it could indeed be the stiletto, emblematic of sky-high hopes and heels. Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff of EcoStiletto has created a wildly popular online magazine that takes the notion of stiletto … and makes it green. As in beauty products, fashion and travel choices that cater to those seeking not just green, but gorgeous.
Sarnoff’s advice to visitors to L.A? Head to Venice Beach, where you can rent bikes or roller-blades and take to the beachside boardwalk. Shoppers (and who isn’t there to shop?!) should check out Abbot-Kinney Blvd., named for the conservationist who gave Venice Beach its name, and featuring great eco-options and tons of vintage, says Sarnoff.
Don’t miss nearby hotspots: One Tank Trips: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara
If you’re still wearing your winter, ummm, woolies, you can be eco-waxed at Get Waxed Venice. What makes it eco? Chemical-free wax, promises Rachel, though she can’t promise it’s pain-free.
Soothe yourself afterward with an organic beer or wine at Venice Beach Wines at Rose and 5th. Sit outdoors and enjoy a meal of local, sustainable goodies, suggests Sarnoff, including farm-to-table cheeses.
Food for Eco-Thought
I confess my own experience with an eco-LA offered pleasant surprises.
I never expected, for example, to stumble across Westwood’s Napa Valley Grille. Local and seasonal barely does the menu justice, with Chef Joseph Gillard turning out plates abundant with his passion (he grew up on a family farm in Michigan) for fresh, fair and fabulous.
Chef Joseph even offers Community Supported Agriculture out of his kitchen for locals – to provide monthly baskets of local and organic produce and products to those lucky enough to live in the area.
More great restaurants: Three Days, Nine Meals: Los Angeles.
Though I’ve had the distinct pleasure of visiting New York’s Habana Outpost, which takes green to the extreme with a local beekeeper, kids’ gardening programs, solar panel, and a postal-truck-turned kitchen, the West Coast sister, Cafe Habana in Malibu, is a relative newcomer to Los Angeles-area eco-eateries.
From what I’ve heard (full disclosure: co-owner Leslie Meenan is an acquaintance), the city’s first solar-powered eatery is eco from head (the mint for your mojito will come from the restaurant’s roof-top garden) to foot (human-powered bike blenders). Like its East Coast counterpart, it offers Latin-American cuisine with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, and California-produced beers and wine.
Sole Sister
Jamie Stringfellow, a transplanted East Coaster, has made it her mission to get travelers walking. Forget everything you’ve heard about the city’s auto-love. Her adopted city, she insists, is a walker’s paradise.
Jamie Stringfellow is also a contributor to PeterGreenberg.com. Check out Off Season Travel: Spring Flower Festivals in Nantucket and Beyond. She also wrote Western Australia’s Rottnest Island Travel Guide.
Stringfellow should know. As co-creator of www.weekendwalk.com, a new Web site whose tag line is “please step away from your car,” Stringfellow spends her days mapping out routes to move travelers from A to B to C with restaurants, B&Bs, funky little shops, and attractions along the way.
Not only does the city offer miles of boardwalk, wide sidewalks and green paths, hidden away are staircases (“great shortcuts when you want to traverse the switchback roads around the canyons,” confides Stringfellow) that are made only for pedestrians. Each June, these staircases are showcased and celebrated with The Big Parade by inviting people to walk around the city for two days, up and down these historic staircases.
To those nay-sayers, Stringfellow points out that Los Angeles county offers roughly 363 days of year of walkable weather, the Santa Monica mountains (“ahem, the largest national park area with in a U.S. city and laced with walking and hiking trails”) and plenty of cities that routinely score in the 90s on the national “walk score” database, which can be found at www.Walkscore.com.
Explore more LA neighborhoods with America’s Gypsy: Koreatown, Los Angeles.
Solar Circles
You can’t visit L.A. without making a trip to Santa Monica Pier. Kitschy, sure, but it’s also home to the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel. It’ll light up your 2.5 revolutions with more than 160,000 LED lights. And it gives you a view of the California coastline from 130 feet skyward.
If all that turning gets you longing for a place to simply lie horizontal and snooze, check out …
Places to Lay Your Weary Green Head
There are, of course, the biggies that have eco-fied their acts to various shades of green. Near the pier is the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows. The Fairmont brand is renowned for its eco-friendliness, from composting to packaging reduction to local conservation.
Kimpton Hotels has good green cred, and the Hotel Palomar Los Angeles – Westwood is no exception.
The newly opened Miyako Hybrid Hotel in Torrance features a solar-powered electrical system and enough green construction materials to earn it a silver under the LEED certification program.
Lastly, Westsiders can take a stroll over to Santa Monica’s Ambrose Hotel, an award-winning “sustainable” hotel with a long list of eco-certifications, including Silver LEED designation.
Leslie Garrett is a journalist and author of The Virtuous Consumer: Your Essential Shopping Guide for a Better, Kinder, Healthier World (with foreword by Peter Greenberg). Visit her at www.thevirtuoustraveler.com.
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