Welcome to Happy Hours & Hikes #005

For any new subscribers, Los Angeles is home to over 10,000 restaurants and over 600 marked miles of hiking trails. My wife and I are embarking on a passion project to document a range of each, but with a simple caveat for restaurants, they must have a happy hour menu. For any returning subscribers, our apologies for being a couple days late. We were out enjoying a wedding in Florida this past week.

Happy Hours

Prima Cantina

Santa Monica’s tranquil Montana Avenue is filled with quaint, upscale restaurants frequented by locals. Prima Cantina, a Baja Californian restaurant, is nestled between two high end boutiques on Northern Montana Ave. The ambiance is inviting; the wooden bar is charming; and the light blue walls are adorned with aztec decor. The Happy Hour is a great deal for Santa Monica. Starters, salads/ bowls, and tacos are half off. The guacamole ($5) is delicious, and we also enjoyed the Shrimp ($11.50) and Carne Asada ($11) tacos, and of course the spicy margaritas ($7).

HH&H Recommendation: Guacamole

Sushi Roku Santa Monica

The tourist-filled Santa Monica Pier isn’t our first choice for restaurants (especially on weekends). However, one recent Sunday afternoon, an impromptu extended walk down Ocean Avenue led us to stumble upon Sushi Roku across the street from the Pier. Despite being a national chain, the staff is attentive and the fish is surprisingly fresh. The cut sushi rolls are a great value at $8. We tried the eel and spicy tuna. The happy hour portions are quite large — also includes wine ($7), beer ($5) and a cocktail list.

HH&H Recommendations: Spicy Tuna Cut Roll

Hikes

Runyon Canyon

This past January marked our 4 year anniversary in L.A. and surprisingly, we had never made it to the popular Runyon Canyon. We had friends from New York visiting a couple weeks ago and decided it would only be apropos to take them on one of LA’s most iconic hikes. The West Trail was closed due to Sunset Fire Damage, but Runyon did not disappoint. Per AllTrails, Runyon Canyon is a Moderate 2.7 miles hike with 757 ft of elevation. With the West Trail closed and a bit of a walk from where we parked, Garmin Connect ended with 4.05 miles, 814 ft ascent, and 2:00:00 total time. Parking was tough, but there was a good amount of street parking on Hollywood Blvd.

Finally, we sincerely hope that you’ll consider giving directly to GoFundMe initiatives that we shared in our previous newsletters: Moonshadows Malibu and The Little Red Hen Coffee Shop. You can also donate directly to the LAFD Foundation here.

As this is our first attempt curating a newsletter, we’ll be aiming to publish twice a month on Thursdays in 2025, and we are always open to comments, feedback, and questions!

We love L.A.

J + L