You See LA: June 2023
Five things to see and do in LA, handpicked by Kristina Wong
Kristina Wong is an award-winning actor, playwright, performance artist, and activist. Ahead of her keynote address at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s 2023 commencement on June 17th, Wong handpicked "five seemingly underwhelming but TRULY THE BEST places in Los Angeles."
If you think you’ve seen all the sites of Los Angeles, you now need my baffling list of favorites.
Look, I’m not going to pretend that I hike every other day and know all of L.A.’s secret architectural gems or hot new restaurants.
I have what they call BROKEASS, CHEAPASS TASTE honed from 12 hardscrabble years of paying a mortgage in Koreatown on a freelance performance artist’s income. As such, my list reads like the WHY THE HELL WOULD I CLAIM THAT PLACE AS THE BEST OF LOS ANGELES list.
1. World Harvest Food Bank in Los Angeles
3100 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
Call for hours
The model is offbeat for a food bank. Make a $75 donation or volunteer for four hours and you’ll leave with an overflowing cart of groceries worth several times the amount. Pro-tip: I usually show up with two others, and for a split of $25 each, we still leave with enough food to feed our households for three weeks. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, all are welcome here. The owner and founder is my best friend Glen Curado, who will likely become your best friend as well.
Sometimes there’s an Instant Pot or twenty pounds of sashimi-grade fish thrown in your cart. It's not guaranteed that you’ll get any particular item, but you will leave with so much stuff for your $75 donation that you’ll become your own mini food distribution site the days after you leave. Coming here is also one of the more human experiences I’ve had in a big city—a rare Los Angeles grocery store/food bank where I actually know every employee by name.
2. Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant
1036 1/2 S Fairfax Avenue, 1036 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90019
This place is legendary, but it’s been around so long, people might forget its awesomeness. Located on a one block stretch called “Little Ethiopia” which, in the spirit of a true Los Angeles neighborhood, has neighbors in Hansen’s Bakery (which has a whole binder of genital shaped “adult cakes”) and a few non-Ethiopian owned thrift stores.
When I’m completely depressed, nothing makes life better than shoving some Assa Tibbs (fried fish) into my mouth with my bare hands (because forks aren’t Ethiopian). There’s also a little market attached to the restaurant where you can buy spices, cheap tubs of shea butter, and African knick-knacks.
This restaurant has special significance to me because I got married here in 2008—to myself! I almost divorced myself five years later, but this is another essay.
3a. Blue Boutique Thrift Store
992 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006
Hours of Operation– unknown and random
This family run boutique isn’t even on Yelp as of this writing. Most items are priced at $15 or less. Sales tax inexplicably does not exist here. My most infamous score from here was a brand new Johnny Was jacket that retailed for over $500 sold to me for $15. I got a vintage fur hat here for $5 once. This is why I call it my “honey hole.” The only con is it's packed with inventory and difficult to really see what’s in there, so sometimes it's a hunt, and sometimes it's a bust.
3b. The Permanent Yard Sales of the Eastside
Address: Various Fences of the Eastside
These might require a bit of driving to find. Consistently, you can find some early weekday mornings on the walking route to schools in Koreatown. On weekends, you can find them in Koreatown along the fences of 8th St. between Irolo and Hoover. Some are set up by enterprising Latine families and Ajummas near schools on weekday mornings so that parents can do some shopping en route to dropping off their kids.
I kid you not, I found two Gucci shirts on a fence for $1 each once. I thought they were knock-offs, but the Real Real took them and gave me a 50% commission of $100 when they sold. I also got a Victor Costa red carpet dress for $3 off one of these. It’s usually more hit than miss, but the low overhead means the savings get passed to you.
The point is: if you see a fence that’s doubling as a clothing rack, stop and look.
4. The Street Eats of “Little Oaxaca”
The south side of 8th St between Irolo and Normandie, Koreatown
Usually more vendors on weekends and non-rainy days
It took over a year of living in Koreatown for me to realize those weren’t encampments but incredibly affordable food cooked on shopping carts rigged with propane tanks and cooking surfaces!
The first time I ate in the street I had an entire fried tilapia with all the fixings for $5. Note: I’ve never never seen this offering since. But the discovery of local foods on these carts can be magic. The prices are crawling up with inflation, but you can usually eat filling hot food cooked off a shopping cart for as little as $5. My favorite is anything using that Oaxacan string cheese often served on memelas or tlayudas. Little stools along the sidewalk mean you can eat on the spot and people watch. 
5. The only Lao food (I know of) in Los Angeles. Yum Sະlut | ຍໍາສະລັດ
Inside the Lokels Only Community Kitchen in Chinatown.
635 N Broadway Los Angeles CA 90012
Keep up with their hours and locations here.
This is actually NOT underwhelming. But because it’s Lao food and people might not even know where/what Laos is, and because Yum Sະlut shares a community kitchen inside Lokels Only with several other restaurants, it's really easy to miss Tharathip Soulisak’s culinary pop-up which serves “Authentic Lao Refugee Cuisine.” My recommendations are anything wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf, like the Mok Pa (steamed fish with herbs). And definitely get a dessert.
The priciest entree is Laap Seem at $18.88, but most are less, making this a great casual place to meet with friends while supporting Thip’s passion for sharing his Lao culture.
For those new to Lao cuisine, you may have actually had Lao food before identified by restaurants as “Northern Thai cuisine.” Perhaps you missed that you were having a secret Lao meal the whole time.
They cook to order, so don’t expect your meal to be fast. But do expect it to be made with a hell of a lot of love.
All images courtesy of Kristina Wong
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