California Trip

I'll do this thematically. The basics:

Naoyuki flew out on Friday, 10/26, and I followed the next day. We spent five days in Los Angeles, five in Palm Springs. That was at the end of the week of the big fires but they were mostly contained by the time Naoyuki arrived and more so when I got there (it rained on Saturday, so that helped.)

Places

In Los Angeles we stayed at the Miyako, a hotel in Little Tokyo, about a mile east of downtown proper. Nice lobby and extremely convenient but our room was petite to say the least and not particularly up-to-date. On the other hand, the Japanese spa was nice, and, as they say:

Location! Location! Location!

The Miyako is right around the corner from Japanese Village Plaza and a block from Weller Plaza, both home to a large array of Japanese shop, eateries, and a bakery. Plus no more than 10-15 minutes (depending on traffic) from the LA Convention Center and easy access to the major freeways in and out of downtown LA.

In Palm Springs we stayed at La Dolce Vita, a relatively new gay men’s resort. This trip was the first time since I started visiting Palm Springs in 2003 (and this was at least our fifth trip since then) that I’ve stayed any place other than INNDulge. Unfortunately, because it was Pride weekend INNDulge wanted a five-night minimum and we only had four nights to spare.

A nice place, La Dolce Vita. In Deepwell, rather than Warm Sands, so in some ways a bit more convenient to restaurants and such. Plus we had a really nice room (suite, actually, with separate bedroom, bathroom, small-but-full kitchen, and living room.) Likewise, staff were very friendly. Drawbacks included the fact that there really was no central gathering area. Unlike INNDulge which has a central courtyard with a big pool and big hot tub right there, LDV has two pools and two hot tubs but they’re all separate and removed from each other. People did gather for the Happy Hour each evening but for the most part they were pretty standoffish, despite our best efforts. (Nice bar, though! They kept us well-supplied!)

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