It’s Friday night in Westwood. You have $10 in your wallet. You ask your roommate what he wants to do, but he, absorbed in a game of “Halo,” merely shrugs his shoulders and says, “I don’t know, man. I’m broke.”
Don’t take this as an excuse any longer, for going out and exploring Los Angeles to find a meal that is not simply BJ’s on Broxton or an activity that’s not watching your roommate shooting up aliens is easy and ““ get this ““ cheap.
The recession may leave your bank account feeling a little emptier, but enjoying the city beyond Westwood does not have to ravage your savings.
The Daily Bruin’s Jenae Cohn recently spoke to Caleb Bacon, a columnist for the popular L.A.-area blog LAist.com, about his regularly featured column “Recession Obsession,” where Bacon finds cheap, fun places to visit around Los Angeles.
Daily Bruin: What sparked the idea for the “Recession Obsession” column?
Caleb Bacon: At LAist, we focus on everything that we can that has to do with L.A., and it just so happens that times are especially tough in Southern California. I have spent the last five years that I’ve lived in Los Angeles trying to find inexpensive stuff to do.
DB: Why did you decide to call the column “Recession Obsession”?
CB: One of the reasons I call it “Recession Obsession” is not just because people are broke now but because there’s stuff that’s good enough that you’d want to spend your time and money on when the economy is good. I can spend $6 and I can have a plate of amazing tacos and it just so happens that is more relevant these days. I would go to this stuff even if we weren’t in a recession.
DB: Did you have a hard time when you first moved here finding inexpensive places to go?
CB: I live pretty close to Thai Town and so I was immediately slammed with all of these places where I can spend $6 and have better Thai food than I had at 95 percent of the places I had been at places I previously lived my whole life.
You can explore these random spots and you might be out $5, $10, but even if you had a terrible meal, at least you had a cool experience, something you can share with your friends.
DB: Do you usually find places by yourself or in a group?
CB: It definitely varies. A lot of my friends consider me the ambassador of this sort of stuff and so they almost rely on me to have go-to spots. I’ll do a lot of exploring on my own and when I have friends in from out of town, I can take them to these cool places that will totally knock their socks off. Also, I’d say it’s made dating a lot easier over the years!
DB: Do you consult any Web sites to find out places to go?
CB: I would say that Jonathan Gold, who writes for L.A. Weekly, is as likely to go somewhere that costs $5 a head as he is to go somewhere that costs $22 a head, so I’ll make sure to read his stuff and I’ll look at Yelp. A lot of the times, I just talk to friends and when people find good stuff, they love to share it. It can be daunting, but I think it’s as fun as you want to make it.
DB: Are there any books you refer to when you search for places to go, or do you rely on the Internet?
CB: When I first moved here, I picked up a lot of tourist books, and I’ve kind of kept some of that same idea five years later. I try to live like a tourist.
No matter how long you’ve lived some place, those books are going to have something to offer.
There are a lot of Web sites like Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet where you don’t have to go out and buy the books.
Thanks to metromix.com or la.com or LAist, you can find a lot of stuff to do that maybe you just wouldn’t find on your own. By taking a couple of minutes every day, you can find a whole new world right where you live.
DB: Did you ever feel like it was a daunting task to hunt for these inexpensive places?
CB: I like the challenge of it all. When I’m visiting a friend who lives in Hermosa Beach and I see some Peruvian chicken shack that just totally catches my eye, I’ll stop there, so I make the most of my experience.
Another thing about L.A. is that we have such large populations of people from other countries that they bring all these different regional dishes that you wouldn’t have if you were getting Mexican food in Denver.
DB: The “Recession Obsession” stories tend to be very food-centric. What are you drawn to when it comes to finding cheap eats rather than cheap activities?
CB: First of all, there’s more cheap food than there is cheap activity. A lot of cheap activity often involves cheap food. If somebody wants to go hiking in some part of town, I’ll take a look or ask someone if they know some good food over there, so at least when I’m doing some activity, I’m going to find some food also. Part of that has to do with hating cooking. There’s a lot of fun stuff to do in Los Angeles, but I find food is always the most agreeable.
DB: Do you have any recommendations near UCLA?
CB: There’s a place called Asahi Ramen (on Sawtelle), and it’s $7-$8 for huge things of soup. Tacos Por Favor in Santa Monica has some of my favorite Mexican food on the West side, and that’s never more than $7 or $8 a person. If you just go a little bit south of the 10, there’s all kinds of stuff without going that far. If you want to drive just 20 minutes from campus, you can have these great food adventures. It still beats another meal at Chili’s.
DB: Do you have any advice for students who want to start finding new places to go?
CB: Don’t be afraid to try new stuff. Do stuff with your friends. You can’t beat the ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Riese. That’s one of the single cheapest cool things you can have in L.A. I know some people hate them.
DB: Really? How can you hate an ice cream sandwich?
CB: Maybe they’re USC students. Again, one of the good things about finding cheap food is that if you don’t like it, you’re not out of that much money.