Found: L.A.’s Eastside

Hello, and welcome to my first issue of Found, a brand new series here on SFGirl. As I mentioned last week, I’m changing things up around here and condensing my many emails to you into one newsletter centered around various design-related themes I’m currently inspired to share with you. Thus, I give you ‘Found.’

I also want to thank you all so much for your continued support. Your kind and generous comments put so much joy in my heart. I honestly did not expect such a supportive reaction, and it really motivated me. I’m still playing with the new format and expect it to be an ever-evolving look, but here we are today. Welcome!

Found: to unearth, discover by chance or unexpectedly; to exist or be present somewhere.

This week, I’m taking you home to my Southern California roots. It seems like a natural way to begin this series since I was born and raised here (I’m a real-life Valley Girl), and for some reason, I’ve never moved out of the state (and apparently, I’ve never changed my hairdo, either). Heaven knows I’ve considered moving to New York City or some fabulous city abroad. Instead, I visit those places as often as possible, and being on holiday does the trick, giving me some much-needed creative inspiration. But, I digress — back to Southern California.

Visiting Southern California — Specifically L.A.’s Eastside.

I know many people admire California from afar, or they disregard our sunny state as frivolous and full of tan folks foraging for fresh veggies and the fountain of youth. And yes, there’s some of that here, but there are also some really lovely and creative residents — designers, makers, writers, and talented artists of all kinds. I thought we’d get lost in that for a bit today. I’m also sharing some favorite So Cal design-centric destinations with you from some talented friends of ours — as well as a few of my own favorites, with more neighborhoods and cities on the way.

As you may know, I lived in San Francisco for 20 wonderful years (and even wrote a book about it), then back to Los Angeles, and now reside in Laguna Beach, a sleepy beach town about an hour or so from L.A. I love living here — mainly for the warm weather, the beautiful beach coves, and a slow-paced lifestyle that’s carefree and easy. If you live here, you essentially dress like you’re going to summer camp every day. Flip flops are fun, but I often get a hankering to dress up, a fix of city life, and a little more culture, so I head to Los Angeles. Having grown up there, I have too many favorite places to name in one post, and the city is humongous, so today, I’ll focus on the Eastside of town — if I had a perfect weekend there, I think it would look something like this.