A Modern Wayfarer

Unique Travel

24 Hours in Koreatown Los Angeles

commissary the line hotel korealtown

It’s official, the writing’s on the wall – K-Town is the new mecca. The infamous Los Angeles neighborhood just west of Downtown is littered with world-class Korean BBQ joints, edgy street-art and design hotels. It’s hard to imagine only two decades ago this low-rent area was ground zero for the LA riots and basically engulfed in flames! These days it’s home to more hipsters than hell-raisers and boasts some really cool rejuvenated buildings that house them. The great thing about KoreaTown Los ... Read More

Boutique Beach Lodge: Palihouse Santa Monica Review

The first thing you'll notice when walking into Palihouse Santa Monica - apart from the vintage-chic décor in the lobby and the perfectly manicured gardens out the front - is the scent. The smell of fresh linen and lavender lingers in every nook and cranny, as if to signify a kind of welcoming warmth a lot of the larger and to-cool-for-school boutique hotels tend to lack. And let me tell you, it works a charm... Combining comfort and livability with a chic design is no mean feat these days. ... Read More

Los Angeles Cool: Road Trip, Top Things To Do In Palm Springs

Top Things To Do In Palm Springs I'm in a minivan (I'm actually pretending it's a 1950's Cadillac with the roof well down, wind in my hair etcetera etcetera), I've strategically put Fly Me To The Moon on my iPhone to set the scene while I gaze out the window, impossibly transfixed on the dusty desert landscape melting into the horizon. Not much else is happening outside the glass, save for a heap of cacti jostling in the crisp, light breeze and a few lonely power-lines standing to attention. ... Read More

Los Angeles Cool: AMW Top 4 LA Restaurants

For a city spanning 469 square miles, the Los Angeles food scene is overwhelming at best. Granted, a lot of that distance is serviced by a series of never-ending highways and intersections, but as the saying goes, every road leads to somewhere. And judging by the sheer scale of bitumen frantically darting from one edge of the horizon to the other from a Hollywood Hills vantage point, there's a lot of somewheres to be found. Unfortunately it's absolutely  impossible to try every single ... Read More

The Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles

Books should be treasured. At least that’s what The Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles would have you believe… Normally old banks and factories are converted into condos. Such is the sign of our times. So it’s surprising when you stumble inside an abandoned bank only to be engulfed in an endless wave of books. No Kindles, iPads, office desks or retail space to be found between the building’s towering marble walls; just books, glorious books of all shapes and sizes - and a hell of a lot of ... Read More

Los Angeles Cool: Explore Silverlake and Sunset Junction

Incase you were wondering, there’s more to Los Angeles than the Kardashians. Somewhere between the seediness of the strip and the sparkle of West Hollywood you’ll find a thriving metropolis of creative, chilled-out cool. If you want to see a little soul in the city of angels, step away from the vegan juice bars of Sunset Boulevard, ride east in an Uber and stop when you see the sign above. All this quirkiness I speak of culminates over in the semi-gentrified Silverlake neighborhood around ... Read More