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I remembered to take a pic of my pristine and oh so trendy room before my belongings got dumped all over the place.

The view from my balcony - blue astro-turf?? Not sure its 100% successful- don’t love craziness just for its own sake.

The basin in my simple bathroom was perfect nectarine - funny!

The hotel is constantly reminding you that you are in a very hip spot. I didn’t mind it, kind of loved the irreverence. Mini bar goodies just plonked right on top of the refrigerator in the closet - and why not?

If you are so inclined, you can email the hotel a pic of yourself looking disheveled in your room and it might be chosen to go on the wall in the foyer.

The 24 hour restaurant’s breakfast was amazingly good - totally delish granola made in their kitchen. The service is uber-casual; cute aspiring actor/musician waiters and no-one around me looking a day over 25! Loved the pink lightbulbs in the artichoke hanging lamps.

I took the stairs up to my room and was confronted by the most hilarious burlesque cat graffiti in the stairwell - the hipness is unrelenting! But I did love the atmosphere in the lounge - really good vibe!!

Enough of the accommodations - off to find Nicky’s showroom and deliver the last of my wings. The showroom did not disappoint!

My ‘showroom-mates’ in Nicky’s space are a very impressive bunch - Tulu fabrics from Istanbul, de Gourney and Carlton V to name some of them

Nicky has created a charming and inviting atmosphere, its almost like being in a very stylish friend’s well equipped living room.

At the opening party I discovered through talking to her friends and colleagues that she is a well loved member of the LA design scene, I could not have asked for a nicer home there!

She upholstered the back’s of the chairs in her front room in my Samode.

Last minute preparations before the big  event.....

The opening party was fun - actually the crowd was a very normal ‘interior designy’ type bunch - not la la at all.

Nicky introduced me to this lovely South African interior designer - we played the ‘do you know?’ game for about one minute and found out there was less than one degree of separation!! This is always how it is with South Africans - Gill and I have gazillions of mutual acquaintances - fun to go down memory lane in LA!

Before taking off on my explorations of the LA Design district - (here’s the link http://lcdqla.com/ - the area is a must if you are ever in LA) - I had the most sumptuous lunch at the Urth Caffe- http://www.urthcaffe.com/, just up the road from Nicky’s showroom on Melrose.

I could tell that the food had to be good by the line that went out the door. The place was a zoo for good reason! I love the way that the LA food scene has fully embraced the eat local and organic movement.

I loved sitting on the sidewalk, enjoying my beautiful salad and watching the passing parade. It slowly occurred to me that for the young and beautiful LA types it is de rigeur to look as if you have slept in a ditch! The service was slow, so I had plenty of time to observe these slouchy creatures pour themselves out of super-shiny luxury cars looking like they slept in their clothes for a week - fashion is a fascinating phenomenon!!

Across the road a new Elisabeth Eakins shop had just opened http://www.elizabetheakins.com/whatsnew/- picked up some samples from her new collection.

Next stop Nathan Turner, loved his showroom vibe - very manly and organic.

Further down Melrose is the impressive Michael S Smith showroom - Jasper http://www.michaelsmithinc.com/showroom-collections/.

Drooled over the fabric on this chair, found out it is Robert Kime, of course, I know how to pick ‘em!!

Don’t think there is an X-bench in the world that I don’t love!!

I recognized the name on this Tile showroom round the corner Filmore Clark - http://filmoreclark.com/?page_id=35 - I’d heard that name before - OH YES - we are Twitter buddies had to drop in!

Lee the owner and I bonded instantly - she has the most wonderful eye for colour and pattern - her passion for tile is obvious. Isn’t social media just amazing???

It was getting late, but I just had to check in and see the new Hollywood at Home set up. http://hollywoodathome.com/

I love Peter Dunham’s eclectic style. He has expanded and moved his furniture up La Cienaga to a large new showroom. Things are cooking for him in LA, that’s for sure!

There are these wonderful little alley’s off La Ceniaga that that are worth exploring - though I was way too intimidated to go into Oscar de la Renta - yikes it looks smart!!

But this shop doggie - all dolled up with sparkly hair bows and a floral frock was singularly unimpressed by it all!!

On my last day I left myself some time to go down to Santa Monica to get a bit of sunshine and exercise!

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning and I lest I forget that I was in California, there was a lovely woo woo moment going on on the beach....

.....and yes, that man is strolling across Santa Monica peer with a giant orange Iguana on his shoulder, though only the kid seems the slightest bit intrigued - the daily special is far more interesting.... don’t you just love LA????

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