Lifestyle
10 gifts and experiences L.A. Times staffers are giving from the 2024 Gift Guide
What gifts might our Gift Guide pickers pick if they were guided to pick gifts from the lists of the other gift pickers to give? Asking that question aloud might be hard to do (go ahead, we’ll wait), but answering it isn’t. That’s because this year, once our collective of elfin scribes finished sourcing all manner of gifts, goodies, gadgets and gear — organized around the theme of celebrating all that Los Angeles has to offer (and the Golden State at large, too) — we asked them to take one last look at the fruits of one another’s labors and pick some newly discovered bit of holiday wonderment they’d be likely to gift or love to be gifted this year.
On our first-ever list of curated curators’ curations, you’ll find suggestions of tasty treats (think boxes of mole, bottles of maple syrup, a box of pasta fixings), wishing dolls, lucky beans (no cow trade-in required), herb seeds (to grow both mind-altering greenery and not) and even a few local places to go and browse the shelves yourselves. And that’s just for starters.
So read on to discover what other gifts these L.A. Times gift pickers (and some of their editors) picked to give.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Vanilla-tonka bean maple syrup from Destroyer
I have a friend who’s obsessed with maple syrup — “real maple syrup, no additives!” as he says. He used to carry a tiny flask of it in his man purse to dribble onto meals at restaurants. For years, I’d gift him different types of maple syrup for holidays — golden one year, dark another. But then I stopped, because: predictable. Thank you L.A. Times Food team for tipping me off about the vanilla-tonka bean maple syrup available at Destroyer. I plan to resurrect our holiday tradition this year — and might even gift him a bottle of it over the Culver City cafe’s strawberry French toast. — Deborah Vankin
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Goodies
How does a Southern California retailer survive with a price cap of $25? Especially one whose home goods (made of stone, ceramic, glass and fiber) show so much style? Even though there are five Goodies stores in L.A. and Orange counties, I’d never encountered one before this week (when Lisa Boone illuminated me with her staggeringly thorough guide to 90 local gift shops). Now, with holidays and birthdays coming up, I’m heading out to inspect mugs, spoons, dishes, bookends, coasters, vases and so on at the Goodies location in Atwater Village. — Christopher Reynolds
Mole gift boxes at Guelaguetza
For my longtime best friend Laura, a fantastic cook and former Californian who misses Mexican food, Christmas isn’t Christmas without tamales. So this year, I will send her Guelaguetza’s Mole Jar Gift Box from our Food staff’s gift picks, which includes 12-ounce jars of mole negro, Rojo and Coloradito and comes wrapped in a pretty Oaxacan tea towel. Now, she can replicate the James Beard Award winner’s much-heralded banana-leaf-wrapped mole tamales just in time for the holidays. Sadly, I won’t be there to sample them with her. — Lisa Boone
(Taylor Arthur / Los Angeles Times)
Pasta Club gift box or 3-month subscription at Bucatini
In my opinion, the best gifts are edible, so there was a wealth of temptation in this year’s Gift Guide (salsa macha, pizza, coffee beans, oh my!), and I’m not saying I’m not going back for more. But the Bucatini holiday gift box offers up pasta staples with festive flair, and I don’t even have to wrap it. My Italian mom will be over the moon … well, unless I decide to keep it for myself. (Then there’s a subscription to the Pasta Club, which grants two bags of pasta and other goodies to a lucky recipient for three straight months. It’s a holiday gift that literally keeps giving.) — Jen Doll
Knotwork LA Mini Daruma Wishing Dolls
I’m not a superstitious person. But the stresses of modern life — be it finances, work, vet visits, the news, finding time for so-called “self-care” — sometimes has me wanting to believe there are other forces at play in this universe. And I do love a good knickknack, especially one that doubles as a work of art. So I was immediately drawn to these mini good luck charms from ceramist Linda Hsiao, mainly as a $30 treat to myself. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of daruma dolls, these Altadena-crafted beauties come in an assortment of cozy colors, with their smooshed, hand-crafted faces seemingly cheering us on. And they’re interactive of sorts. Color in one eye when you make a wish. And when that wish comes true — I love that sense of optimism — color in the other eye. And if it doesn’t, just consider it a reminder to never stop dreaming. — Todd Martens
Rancho Gordo black-eyed peas
Rancho Gordo’s black-eyed peas helped save a family tradition. When we bought the “Joy of Cooking” in the 1980s, my late husband insisted we try the black-eyed peas recipe (aka Hoppin’ John) for luck on New Year’s Day. To my surprise, I learned those hard, funny-looking nuggets could cook into a creamy, delicious dish laced with lots of pork fat. The problem was that supermarket dried beans were often old and tough, so the prep time was enormous. Then my husband tried buying black-eyed peas in cans, which cut the prep to nearly nothing. His recipe was so popular that our friends started making it too, until one accidentally poisoned us and the rest of her dinner party by using a can that had gone bad. After 72 hours of horrific sickness, it was a long time before we were willing to eat anything from a can, but we did miss our New Year’s tradition, especially after my husband became a vegetarian. Enter Rancho Gordo’s dried beans! They’re so fresh, every batch cooks up succulent, even without soaking or animal fat. My husband created a meatless version with whole tomatoes, olive oil, onions, bay leaves and lots of garlic that was just as yummy as his old recipe. It’s what I cook today, and at $6.25 a bag, I can afford to give friends and family a pound of good luck from our dear departed family chef. — Jeanette Marantos
(Lisa Boone / Los Angeles Times)
Leanna Lin’s Wonderland
I am on the hunt for a unique Christmas gift for my 8-year-old niece in Oklahoma, and thanks to my colleague Lisa Boone’s list of 90 special L.A. shops, I discovered Leanna Lin’s Wonderland, where my options runneth over. Should I get my niece the stamp carving kit? She loves the little round cat Pusheen, so I could get her one of several plushies, including one that’s strawberry scented. That’s kind of magical! Or I could go with one of several surprise boxes where she could end up with any number of silly cat-themed toys. While browsing, I also spotted gifts for other folks on my list, including my butter-loving friend Bob, who will get a real kick out of socks that honor their favorite condiment. I’m so glad to have discovered a local place with high-quality gifts! — Jaclyn Cosgrove
(The Plant Good Seed Co.)
The Plant Good Seed Co.’s Culinary Basil seed collection
Does it count as a gift if I aim to be the beneficiary? I have a couple of gardeners in my family who also happen to be great cooks, and this year they’ll be getting the seed assortment from the Plant Good Seed Co. that includes six types of basil. Now, whether these folks invite me over for dinner once that basil becomes pesto or Caprese salad … that’s up to them. Here’s hoping. — Philip Gray
Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking With TwayDaBae
My best friend, Nneoma, has been in her cooking era lately. Many of our recent catch-ups have included her sharing stories about baking a rotisserie chicken for the first time or mastering some other restaurant-worthy dish. So in the spirit of experimenting with new dishes, I am strongly considering gifting her TwayDaBae’s book, “Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking With TwayDaBae,” thanks to Bethanne Patrick’s recommendation. Not only is the cookbook filled with pages and pages of delicious looking recipes, the hardcover book would look beautiful in Nneoma’s colorful kitchen. Also, I’m unashamedly looking forward to playing taste tester. — Kailyn Brown
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Try tacos and a Nutty Chi Chi at the Tonga Hut
In an era of peak materialism, there’s something about giving an experience instead of an object that really appeals to me this gifting season. That’s why I’m taking my colleague Christopher Reynolds’ advice to surprise a special someone with an evening at North Hollywood’s Tonga Hut (L.A.’s oldest tiki bar) for a food-and-grog adventure, complete with a gift card worth a couple rounds of tiki drinks and a few Durango’s tacos. And as an avowed tikiphile, that would sort of make it a win-win for me. Another experiential gift on my nice-list radar is Fig Earth Supply’s cannabis gardening bundle, which you’ll find among the offerings on Jeanette Marantos’ roundup of gifts for L.A. gardeners and plant parents. It includes a pair of classes scheduled for February, a packet of seeds and a copy of Penny Barthel’s book “The Cannabis Gardener.” I’ve taken both of those classes, grown those seeds and read that book, and it’s everything I needed to go from nervous newbie to confident ganja green thumb. And who wouldn’t want to inspire — or be gifted — that kind of confidence? And finally, if I did want to stuff something in someone’s stocking, it would probably be a pair of made-in-Vermont Darn Tough socks (stockings stuffed in stockings is so meta) like the ones recommended by my trail-hiking, wilderness-wandering, coyote-hazing colleague Jaclyn Cosgrove, who offers their full-throated endorsement of the Coolmax Hiker Boot mid-weight hiking sock. I don’t know anything about hiking, but love everything about this brand’s foot-cushioning, wears-like-iron hosiery from my home state. And that means the pals I’m gifting (and their feet) will love them too. — Adam Tschorn
Kevin Kline plays actor Richard Bean, and Laura Linney is his sister-in-law Kristen, in American Classic.
David Giesbrecht/MGM+
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David Giesbrecht/MGM+
American Classic is a hidden gem, in more ways than one. It’s hidden because it’s on MGM+, a stand-alone streaming service that, let’s face it, most people don’t have. But MGM+ is available without subscription for a seven-day free trial, on its website or through Prime Video and Roku. And you should find and watch American Classic, because it’s an absolutely charming and wonderful TV jewel.
Charming, in the way it brings small towns and ordinary people to life, as in Northern Exposure. Wonderful, in the way it reflects the joys of local theater productions, as in Slings & Arrows, and the American Playhouse production of Kurt Vonnegut’s Who Am I This Time?
The creators of American Classic are Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin. Martin co-wrote and co-created Slings & Arrows, so that comparison comes easily. And back in the early 1980s, Who Am I This Time? was about people who transformed onstage from ordinary citizens into extraordinary performers. It’s a conceit that works only if you have brilliant actors to bring it to life convincingly. That American Playhouse production had two young actors — Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon — so yes, it worked. And American Classic, with its mix of veteran and young actors, does, too.
American Classic begins with Kevin Kline, as Shakespearean actor Richard Bean, confronting a New York Times drama critic about his negative opening-night review of Richard’s King Lear. The next day, Richard’s agent, played by Tony Shalhoub, calls Richard in to tell him his tantrum was captured by cellphone and went viral, and that he has to lay low for a while.
Richard returns home to the small town of Millersburg, Pa., where his parents ran a local theater. Almost everyone we meet is a treasure. His father, who has bouts of dementia, is played by Len Cariou, who starred on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. Richard’s brother, Jon, is played by Jon Tenney of The Closer, and his wife, Kristen, is played by the great Laura Linney, from Ozark and John Adams.
Things get even more complicated because the old theater is now a dinner theater, filling its schedule with performances by touring regional companies. Its survival is at risk, so Richard decides to save the theater by mounting a new production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, casting the local small-town residents to play … local small-town residents.
Miranda, Richard’s college-bound niece, continues the family theatrical tradition — and Nell Verlaque, the young actress who plays her, has a breakout role here. She’s terrific — funny, touching, totally natural. And when she takes the stage as Emily in Our Town, she’s heart-wrenching. Playwright Wilder is served magnificently here — and so is William Shakespeare, whose works and words Kline tackles in more than one inspirational scene in this series.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the conflicts, and surprises, in American Classic, but please trust me: The more episodes you watch, the better it gets. The characters evolve, and go in unexpected directions and pairings. Kline’s Richard starts out thinking about only himself, but ends up just the opposite. And if, as Shakespeare wrote, the play’s the thing, the thing here is, the plays we see, and the soliloquies we hear, are spellbinding.
And there’s plenty of fun to be had outside the classics in American Classic. The table reads are the most delightful since the ones in Only Murders in the Building. The dinner-table arguments are the most explosive since the ones in The Bear. Some scenes are take-your-breath-away dramatic. Others are infectiously silly, as when Richard works with a cast member forced upon him by the angel of this new Our Town production.
Take the effort to find, and watch, American Classic. It’ll remind you why, when it’s this good, it’s easy to love the theater. And television.
The ritual of meeting up and hanging out at a coffee shop in L.A. is a showcase of style filled with a subtle site-specific tension. Don’t you see it? Comfort battles formality fighting to break free. Hiding out chafes against being perceived. In the end, we make ourselves at home at all costs — and pull a look while doing it.
It’s the morning after a night out. Two friends meet up at Chainsaw in Melrose Hill, the cafe with the flan lattes, crispy arepas and sorbet-colored wall everybody and their mom has been talking about.
Miraculously, the line of people that usually snakes down Melrose yearning for a slice of chef Karla Subero Pittol’s passion lime fruit icebox pie is nonexistent today. Thank God, because the party was sick last night — the DJ mixed Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” into Peaches’ “F— the Pain Away” and the walls were sweating — so making it to the cafe’s front door alone is like wading through viscous, knee-high water. Senses dull and blunt in that special way where it feels like your brain is wearing a weighted vest. The sun, an oppressor. Caffeine needed via IV drip.
The mood: “Don’t look at me,” as they look around furtively, still waking up. “But wait, do. I’m wearing the new Dries Van Noten from head to toe.”
Daniel, left, wears Dries Van Noten mac, henley, pants, oxford shoes, necklace and socks. Sirena wears Dries Van Noten blouse, micro shorts, sneakers, shell charm necklace, cuff and bag and Los Angeles Apparel socks.
If a fit is fire and no one is around to see it, does it make a sound? A certain kind of L.A. coffee shop is (blessedly) one of the few everyday runways we have, followed up by the Los Feliz post office and the Alvarado Car Wash in Echo Park. We come to a coffee shop like Chainsaw for strawberry matchas the color of emeralds and rubies and crackling papas fritas that come with a tamarind barbecue sauce so good it may as well be categorized as a Schedule 1. But we stay for something else.
There is a game we play at the L.A. coffee shop. We’re all in on it — the deniers especially. It can best be summed up by that mood: “Don’t look at me. But wait, do.” Do. Do. Do. Do. We go to a coffee shop to see each other, to be seen. And we pretend we’re not doing it. How cute. Yes, I’m peering at you from behind my hoodie and my sunglasses but the hoodie is a niche L.A. brand and the glasses are vintage designer. I wore them just for you. One time I was sitting at what is to me amazing and to some an insufferable coffee shop in the Arts District where a regular was wearing a headpiece made entirely of plastic sunglasses that covered every inch of his face — at least a foot long in all directions — jangling with every movement he made. Respect, I thought.
Dries Van Noten’s spring/summer 2026 collection feels so right in a place like this. The women’s show, titled “Wavelength,” is about “balancing hard and soft, stiff and fluid, casual and refined, simple and complex,” writes designer Julian Klausner in the show notes. While for the men’s show, titled “A Perfect Day,” Klausner contextualizes: “A man in love, on a stroll at the beach at dawn, after a party. Shirt unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, the silhouette takes on a new life. I asked myself: What is formal? What is casual? How do these feel?” What is formal or casual? How do you balance hard and soft? The L.A. coffee shop is a container for this spectrum. A dynamic that works because of the tension. A master class in this beautiful dance. There is no more fitting place to wear the SS26 Dries beige tuxedo jacket with heather gray capri sweats and pink satin boxing boots, no better audience for the floor-length striped sheer gown worn with satin sneakers — because even though no one will bat an eye, you trust that your contribution has been clocked and appreciated.
Daniel wears Dries Van Noten coat, shorts, sneakers and socks. Sirena wears Dries Van Noten jacket, micro shorts and sneakers.
Back at Chainsaw the friends drink their iced lattes, they eat their beautiful chocolate milk tres leches in a coupe. They’re revived — buzzing, even; at the glorious point in the caffeinated beverage where everything is beautiful, nothing hurts and at least one of them feels like a creative genius. The longer they stay, the more their style reveals itself. Before they were flexing in a secret way. Now they’re just flexing. Looking back at you looking at them, the contract understood. Doing it for the show. Wait, when did they change? How long have they been here? It doesn’t matter. They have all day. Time ceases to exist in a place like this.
Daniel wears Dries Van Noten tuxedo coat, pants, scarf, sneakers and necklace and Hanes tank top. Sirena wears Dries Van Noten jacket, micro shorts, sneakers and socks.
Creative direction Julissa James
Photography and video direction Alejandra Washington
Styling Keyla Marquez
Hair and makeup Jaime Diaz
Cinematographer Joshua D. Pankiw
1st AC Ruben Plascencia
Gaffer Luis Angel Herrera
Production Mere Studios
Styling assistant Ronben
Production assistant Benjamin Turner
Models Sirena Warren, Daniel Aguilera
Location Chainsaw
Special thanks Kevin Silva and Miguel Maldonado from Next Management
Lifestyle
Nature needs a little help in the inventive Pixar movie ‘Hoppers’ : Pop Culture Happy Hour
Piper Curda as Mabel in Hoppers.
Disney
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Disney
In Disney and Pixar’s delightful new film Hoppers, a young woman (Piper Curda) learns a beloved glade is under threat from the town’s slimy mayor (Jon Hamm). But luckily, she discovers that her college professor has developed technology that can let her live as one of the critters she loves – by allowing her mind to “hop” into an animatronic beaver. And it just might just allow her to help save the glade from serious risk of destruction.
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