All stories about "Joe Fahs"

Hollywood is a tough town. Your typical night out involves waiting in lines, bribing self-important bouncers and dodging paparazzi, which means you'll wake up the next morning, or mid-afternoon, famished. We've already discussed some of the best places to get your morning-ish food in West Hollywood, but should your plans (or one night stand) find you a little farther east, it does help to arm yourself with lots of options.

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Although not always apparent to the Los Angeles newcomer, there are plenty of nightlife options available around town in places other than Hollywood or West Hollywood. East you'll find downtown, west gets you to Santa Monica, and North gets you to the Valley. But what about South? You may think the only real reasons to head in that directions is an airport run or road trip to San Diego, and you'd be correct. However, if you do find yourself on the wrong side of the 10 in search of some nightlife, you will find some pretty good options in Culver City. I've come up with a list to get you started, but add your own notables in the comments.

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The end of the writer's strike means things are getting back to normal for Los Angeles. It's awards season -- the time when the acronym soup of organizations decide to honor the best in the business. Hollywood gets together for a few months of self-congratulation culminating in the Academy Awards. We'll see the Oscars passed around this Sunday, and while the ceremony takes place at the Kodak Theater, there are a lot of other important events and landmarks surrounding the awards. We've augmented some of the work done in last year's post on the subject to bring you the map, but if we missed anything, please let us know in via tips or the comments.

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Los Angeles is full of athletes and has plenty of successful sports franchises, but it has a bad reputation as a sports town. LA loves a winner, but it seems like our population is more interested in seeing local residents grace the cover of US Weekly than Sports Illustrated -- not that it isn't possible to do both. This sort of attitude could give one the impression that we care more about celebrity than competition, but that is not entirely true. There are plenty of sports teams around Los Angeles playing not for fame and fortune, but for the love of the game and anybody doing an Annie Savoy impersonation. They may not have anybody named Kobe or Vlad, but you can still afford to watch them play (even if you're a TV writer impoverished by the strike).

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In most of the country, you must travel towards the ocean to find the best seafood. This being Los Angeles, we don't do things like the rest of the country, which is why we have two streets named Santa Monica Boulevard and why people looking for great seafood will actually travel inland to a magical place called the 626. It has places like San Gabriel and Monterey Park, where you'll find some of the best seafood in town (plus a wide range of Asian influences). Many people avoid this area east of Los Angeles because you must battle the 10 to get there, but the reward is worth it. Follow this list, and I promise you'll never regret seeing the words "market price" on a menu. If we've missed some of your favorites, feel free to let us know in the comments or tips.

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As much as I hate to admit it, I have been completely sucked into The Hills. Yes, I know it's not real, and I'm pretty sure nobody on it actually lives in the Hills, but each year lovely Lauren and the rest of her crew bring me back. It also does a good job of spotlighting plenty of Los Angeles hotspots and institutions, much like Entourage. As a way to tide you over as you wait breathlessly for the new season, I've listed a few of the places featured as the boys and girls attempt to bring some romance into their semi-manufactured lives. If I missed one of your favorite places, please add it to the comments or tips.

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Within the city of Beverly Hills lies the Golden Triangle, the heart of it all -- designer stores, fancy cars, and breast implants as far as the eye can see. It's known mostly for being a tourist destination, but there are a lot of great restaurants that even mere mortals are allowed to enter. Should you find yourself shopping, celeb-stalking, or simply taking some time away from your boss, I've listed some of the best places to grab lunch, and we're always interested in hearing further recommendations via comments or tips.

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When people think of West Hollywood, images of people who flock to Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards in the evenings to drink, dance, and plot revenge against parking enforcement come to mind. We've already discussed where in WeHo you can find a cheap drink, but there are only so many martinis you can guzzle before you have to find some nourishment. Once you wake up, breakfast serves as great way to get some sustenance and the perfect excuse to get rid of any strangers that you found using your toothbrush in the morning.

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The successful club or bar in Los Angeles knows that the right kind of buzz is a license to print money, while the wrong kind of buzz means you may be forced to let unattractive people inside in order to stay afloat. In the quest to enhance (or fabricate) the demand to get inside a venue, a club will institute the velvet rope. I admit there's a nice sense of satisfaction after being granted entrance, and if you really must see the inside of bathroom where your favorite starlet was enjoying a usable amount of cocaine, or the booth where your favorite action hero was getting a lap dance, sometimes you must suffer through a wait. Yet there are limits to everything, even in this town, especially when you throw in asshole bouncers and stupid cover charges. I've listed some of the worst door policies in Los Angeles, but feel free to add your own horror stories as well.

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If you own a dog, you know that it's really important to give your pet some exercise -- hence the urban dog park. As much fun as it is watching your pet piss on the same bushes and sniff the butts of the same dogs on your block every day, sometimes you need to give your hound some variety. At the dog park, man's (and woman's) best friend can run around as much as they want without being attached to a leash, and depending on how friendly you are, there are plenty of opportunities for you to chase some tail as well.

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Though thousands of out-of-towners are descending upon downtown for the Los Angeles Auto Show, Southern California is a place where people appreciate their cars year-round. This is largely because our hellish commutes put us behind the wheel for a couple of hours each day. The latest and the greatest will be on display at the Convention Center, but there are numerous places in and around Los Angeles County where you can take in a little bit of automotive history. In full, street-legal cooperation with Jalopnik's coverage of the 2007 LA Auto Show, we'll help you get started on your journey through time with this list of car museums and classic car collections.

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Like everybody else out there, I am part of an airline rewards program, having joined thinking that I can spend money and earn copious extra miles, just by swiping my card at places I already frequent. It doesn't get any easier -- at least until you realize that while there may be "hundreds of restaurants in your area to earn double and triple points," none of them happen to be restaurants you know. This list of favorites around the westside of Los Angeles is culled from Rewardsnetwork.com, the dining services partner for most of the popular airlines in the US (notable exception: those cleavage haters at Southwest).

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In a recent post, we discussed the places to get the best traditional macaroni and cheese -- but this dish is more than just a comfort food. There are lots of places that offer new interpretations of this staple dish. Today we're talking artisanal cheeses and high-quality ingredients attempting novel spins on the traditional mac. While purists may insist that the best mac & cheese is simple, there's no doubt that the gourmet variations add a whole new level to the experience.

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When I first sat down to do my picks for the best macaroni and cheese in Los Angeles, I was a little torn. My favorite macaroni and cheese leans toward the traditional. There's nothing broken about macaroni and cheese, so why try and fix it by adding a bunch of extra ingredients? The other side of the argument says that adding a little flair can only make things better. Adding drunk and crazy didn't seem to hurt Mel Gibson, so why not try and experiment a little bit? To that end, I decided to offer up a little bit of both with a two-part map. Today we stick to places to find good no-frills mac and cheese for the sorts of people who hate it when modern-day wannabes fuck up the classics. As always, suggestions are more than welcome in the comments or tips. And make sure to come back for part two, where we list all of the places where you can get your comfort food without having to sacrifice valet parking.

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Welcome to the exciting finale of our two-part LA pho breakdown, and rest assured, I'm writing about restaurants that I would actually recommend. I hadn't anticipated that the first part of my write-up would turn into such a Debbie Downer, but once the reviews came in, I realized that it's much better to pick out the quality establishments instead of dissing the pretenders. Getting good pho will involve a little traveling out of our cultured Los Angeles zip codes, but in the end, it's well worth it.

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It's been a few years since the pho (rhymes with "duh") craze swept Los Angeles. Trends come and go so quickly around here that this Vietnamese comfort food might not be on the radar for some people. We're here to say that you should put pho back on the top of your list. Pho tastes good, it doesn't cost a lot, and it only gets better the more you drink. Here's a list of some LA pho places to get you started. More pho advice? Reveal your acumen in the comments or via the tipline.

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Los Angeles may be the second largest sports market in the country, but we don't have our own professional football team. And really, so many people here are from other parts of the country that a lot of us would be rooting for the other team anyway. People may joke about our apathy, but being a football fan provides some unique challenges, such as waking up at 9:30 AM Sunday and telling yourself it's OK to be drunk before 10 because it's a really good game. And even if you have the motivation, it's no fun cheering on your team and drinking alone. The answer, of course, is a sports bar. Therefore, we offer you a partial list of the best places to ease your NFL cravings come game day. Feel free to note any egregious omissions or provide your own additions.

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