Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Andrew Bird
For Andrew Bird, Sundays hold special meaning. Those were the days when jazz would be etched into his subconscious before sunrise — as a 20-something living in Chicago, he’d doze off to late-night music broadcasts on local radio, listening to greats like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.
Now, two decades later, Bird’s latest album “Sunday Morning Put-On” (with Ted Poor on drums and Alan Hampton on bass) pays homage to those early influences.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
These days, Sundays look a bit different for the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and whistler, but they’re still a time for decompressing. “I don’t really have a typical 9-to-5, ‘Thank-God-it’s-Friday’ lifestyle, but Sunday is the closest thing to that,” said Bird, who has released 16 studio albums since his debut in 1996. “It’s the one day I can carve out time for non-work, creative things.”
Bird and his wife, Katherine Tsina, along with their 13-year-old son, have set down roots in Northeastern L.A., which they’ve called home for the last 11 years. Bird is currently on tour and will play two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in August, with Pink Martini.
For Bird, an avid mountain biker, being able to be outside any day of the year is one of the best things about living in L.A. “I love mountains,” he says. “I’m just a lot healthier here than I was anywhere else.”
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
8:30 a.m.: Wake up with pancakes and jazz
We’ll make breakfast, coffee, put on a jazz record and take it pretty easy. Sometimes we’ll make pancakes, like Dutch baby pancakes with lots of fruit on top. That’s kind of a special Sunday treat. Other than that, eggs and bacon, and lots of stone fruit berries.
9 a.m.: Grab my bike and hit the trails
If I’ve got a mountain biking ride scheduled with some other folks, we’ll either meet up at Dirt Mulholland or JPL (I just say JPL for all of the trails that are in Altadena via the Arroyo Seco River). That’s my ideal spot, it’s about 15 minutes away. I’ll ride up the Gabrielino Trail where there’s horses, hikers, bikers, but it all depends on the temperature. If the weather report says 75 to 80 degrees, it’s borderline too hot. Up above when it’s exposed, it’s really more like 90 degrees. I’ve come close to having heatstroke up there.
If it’s too hot, you stay down on the river bed, which right now has a lot of water in it so you get wet going across six or seven river crossings on your bike. It’s really an almost jungle-like environment. It’s really like another world. If you’re used to Griffith Park, which is just scrub and piles of loose sand and quartz, this feels much more tropical and remote.
11 a.m.: Refuel with fresh pasta or sandwiches
After that, not too far away is this deli that I’ve just been really into lately called Ferrazzani’s. It’s part of Semolina Artisanal Pastas company and they make fresh pasta right there. Next door, there’s an Italian market that has cheese and guanciale and fresh pasta and they make like five different sandwiches. They’re all just delicious. It’s a nice spot.
1 p.m.: Have a family sketch session
There was one day when [my family and I] went to the Norton Simon Museum and sketched modern art and that was a pretty awesome day, I have to say. The scale of it reminds me of a Chicago museum in a lot of ways, like a mini Art Institute. And I like the building itself, with all the heath piles on the outside.
My mom was an artist and she used to take me and a bunch of my friends down to the Art Institute and we’d bring sketch pads and sketch whatever we found interesting. I started doing that with my family and I don’t know why more people don’t do it. It makes it a whole different experience and you get to compare your sketches with everyone else that’s sketching the same thing. I’m really not a visual artist, but that one little tradition from childhood is something I really enjoy.
4 p.m.: Stroll through Atwater Village
We spend a lot of time in Atwater Village on Sundays. They have a farmers market and my wife has a shop there, Avion Clothier. That’s been kind of a hub for us for the last nine, 10 years it’s been open. It’s just a cool spot.
In Atwater there’s Alias Books, Proof Bakery and wide sidewalks with cafes. It has street life, which is a rare thing in L.A. and it’s designed like an old western town with a super wide boulevard that you could have a parade on, wide sidewalks, and then normal commerce as opposed to the beige corner strip mall stuff that’s all over Hollywood. If you build it, they will come. It’s pretty hoppin’ these days.
6 p.m.: Sunday family dinner
Afterward we have Sunday family dinner with my wife and son and my sister-in-law who lives down the street. We tend to make homemade bolognese. It’s a joint effort but most of the credit goes to my wife. I’m a line cook.
7:15 p.m.: Watch a movie or jam with my son
And then the extended family comes over and hangs out and we maybe watch a movie all together. Sometimes we kind of split off and my son and I will watch “Rick and Morty” while my wife watches something that’s more her speed. Or my son and I will play ping-pong or tennis or something like that. He just turned 13 and he’s a really good guitarist and singer, but he hasn’t shown any desire to make that his life’s work at the moment. He got really good at the guitar during the pandemic — he plays finger-picking style guitar.
It’s kind of a tricky dynamic because as a professional musician, every time he says he wants to jam, I’m like, “Oh great, OK,” and it lasts about 10 or 15 minutes. Then he goes into a passive resistance mode. So still trying to figure that out. The key is to just kind of be very hands off but it’s hard to repress your pride [as a parent]. He has a good ear and he’s a good musician. But then you say like, “Hey, are you gonna go for a solo in the choir?” And that’s met with like, “Back off.”
9:30 p.m.: Wind down — in bed or on a tour bus
[Bedtime] depends on what phase of the year I’m in with touring or what have you. But when I’m at home, I generally start reading at like 9:30 or 10 p.m. and I’m asleep by 11, maybe. I read a lot at night. Right now I’m reading Don Carpenter’s “Hard Rain Falling.” It’s a ‘50s noir, prison, tough guy sort of novel.
If I’m on a bus tour, I’m in the bunk as soon as the bus starts rolling, by 12:30 or 1 a.m. It’s hard to describe sleeping with 10 other people in like 400 square feet as “luxurious,” but you have a day sheet that tells you what your obligations are for that day, where you have to be, what time. And otherwise you’re kind of off the hook. Life is very simple. So I sleep much better on tour.
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Earlier this year, my partner, two kids and I got stuck in Los Angeles for three days. We were on a layover, trying to get to Hawaii for a family reunion. But the airline kept canceling our next flights. It was a nightmare — we had no idea when we’d ever get to leave L.A.
After we finally got to Hawaii and back, and spent weeks fighting credit card charges for all those canceled flights, I wondered: What’s the best way to handle a sudden flight delay or cancellation? How do I avoid this situation in the future?
Air travel is getting notably worse. Data from the Department of Transportation shows an increase in canceled flights throughout 2024, when compared with the previous two years.
Travel experts explain how to make rebooking flights less painful — and what you can do to ensure your next trip goes smoothly.
Multitask! While standing in line, rebook your flight online
While standing in line, open up the airline app and rebook yourself, says travel reporter Chris Dong.
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EschCollection/Getty Images
Most people react to a cancellation by heading straight to the nearest customer service desk and queuing up to rebook their flight. The problem with that approach? Everyone else on your flight is doing that too.
“You have 300 people getting off the plane. There’s maybe one, two people trying to help everyone. That clearly is the least efficient way,” says travel reporter Chris Dong.
While standing in line, open up the airline app and rebook yourself, he says. There’s often a seamless way to get it done, no customer service conversation necessary. And online booking will likely solve your problem much quicker than waiting to get help from an agent.
Try calling the customer service hotline in another language.
If you can’t rebook online and need to speak to an agent, think outside the box. Do you speak another language? If so, try calling the number for the airline in that language, Dong says. It can save you time because it’s likely less flooded than the English-language line.
See if an agent can help you at the airport lounge.
If you have a travel credit card that gives you lounge access, head there to get one-on-one customer service. “Lounge agents are much more inclined to help you and are usually not as short-staffed,” Dong says. “That can get you help quickly.”
If you don’t already have lounge access, see if you can purchase a day pass on-site. It may be well worth it depending on your flight cost and timeline.
Know what you’re entitled to from the airline.
Many major airlines have committed to giving passengers cost-free rebooking, meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, hotel transportation and more.
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Most airlines in the U.S. aren’t required to compensate you for delays or cancellations unless it’s the airline’s fault (think maintenance issues or staffing problems).
To find out what you’re entitled to, check the Department of Transportation’s Airline Cancellation and Delay Dashboard. Many major airlines have committed to giving passengers cost-free rebooking, meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, hotel transportation and more.
Once you know what your airline offers, say, a hotel, you can rest easy about what to do that night — and focus on rebooking for the next day.
Check what your travel insurance covers.
Once you know what your airline will cover, check what your travel insurance will cover. Many credit cards include some travel insurance coverage, which can provide everything from trip cancellation to luggage insurance to any medical needs that might arise en route.
Pro-tip from Eulanda Osagiede, director of operations at Black Travel Alliance and chief operations officer at Black Travel Summit: The next time you buy your travel insurance, pick a plan through an independent company. She recommends Cover For You or Faye, rather than opting into the generic insurance offered by your airline. You’ll get better deals, she says.
Choose a flight earlier in the day.
Early morning flights are your best bet to avoid delays or cancellations, Dong says.
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Industrial Donut Picks/Getty Images/iStockphoto
If you have flight time options when rebooking or flexibility in your travel schedule, choose the early-morning flight. They’re your best bet to avoid delays or cancellations, Dong says.
If you’re on the first flight out, there’s little chance you’ll have to wait for that aircraft coming in from another city because it’s likely been sitting at the airport overnight.
Don’t let yourself get stranded. Keep moving.
If your airline can’t quickly rebook you, look for creative ways to get to your final destination. Buy a one-way ticket on another airline (ask for reimbursement later), skip the flight altogether and take a train or bus, or fly into a nearby city and drive the rest of the way.
“Don’t just be stuck,” Dong says. “As long as you get to a destination that’s closer to you, you’re better off. Figure it out when you get there.”
Book direct.
Beware of using a third party to book your flights. I bought my family’s Hawaii tickets on a third-party site, and when my rebooked Hawaii flight was re-canceled, the third-party site wouldn’t help me. What’s more, the airline didn’t even know the third-party site had told me I was rebooked (because apparently I never was).
“Book direct, always,” Dong says, to set yourself up for success and assistance in case of delays or cancellations. “In terms of pricing, there usually shouldn’t be a difference.”
If you want refunds or flight credits, be nice to your customer service rep.
Your best bet to get a refund from the airline is to do some serious sweet talking, says Eulanda Osagiede, director of operations at Black Travel Alliance and chief operations officer at Black Travel Summit.
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If you originally booked a refundable ticket directly with your airline, getting your money back should be no problem. But if, like me, you didn’t (oops), your best bet to get that refund is some serious sweet-talking, Osagiede says.
Osagiede says she’s gotten flight credits on canceled, non-refundable, zero-flight-credit trips just by being “very nice, very friendly” with the customer service representative on the phone. So don’t start yelling at them. Treating reps like the human beings they are can make all the difference.
Avoid non-refundable tickets.
And speaking of non-refundable tickets, avoid them if you can, Osagiede says. Yes, they are cheaper, but they are a risk. They do “not offer refunds or rescheduling, so you’re rolling the dice.”
As for me, I did eventually get my money back — but not without weeks of emails, phone calls and frustration. Next time, I’ll book directly with the airline, get travel insurance and have a backup plan in mind. If nothing else, getting stranded taught me that what’s worse than a canceled flight is not knowing what to do next.
This story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We’d love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.
Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit.
Dakota Johnson in Materialists.
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Dakota Johnson in Materialists.
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Should you date for love or financial security? That’s the central premise of the new movie Materialists. It stars Dakota Johnson at the center of a love triangle with Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and is directed by Celine Song (Past Lives).
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