Food in New York. I used to know it so well. When I lived there
during the ’80s and ’90s, and worked in the food business I knew every
place there was to know, and I went to most all of them. It’s been a
very long spell since I lived there, and too long since I’ve been able
to really visit. A big void has been left in my New York
City food knowledge. So when I first heard about Magnolia Bakery and
how everyone was raving about it, I had no frame of reference. It was
just food-iverse white noise. (I apparently missed its appearance in
both ‘Sex and the City’ and in an SNL sketch.) I quickly got up to
speed when they announced they were opening a shop in Los Angeles on
one of the busiest streets in L.A.: West 3rd Street. With everything
that had been written I understood that this was a very popular place.
I wanted to go check it out. Some of the stories (in the L.A. Times
and on the Internet) were about how owner, Steve Abrams, was met with
complaints from the neighborhood and other businesses about how his
business would impact parking. The area was already saturated.
Parking places were impossible to find. I knew this to be very true.
So instead of driving, and battling parking: let’s take the bus!
I’ve always loved a good field trip. Like most Angelenos I live in my car. This is not a good thing. Planning and taking the bus was fun, educational and in a small way helped the environment. We jumped onto the #201 at Brunswick and Los Feliz Blvd., changed to the #316 at 3rd St. and Vermont, and arrived at Magnolia a little over an hour later.