Los Angeles is perhaps best known for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but the city’s thriving downtown district is currently undergoing a major revival. Here’s a look at some of DTLA’s best bars, restaurants and other hot spots.

Drink 

The House of Machines

Motorcycles, music and barrel-aged craft cocktails are what you’ll find at this high-octane watering hole with rebellious attitude. Sip a caffeinated take on a Negroni infused with Evil Twin Campari, Dolin Rouge vermouth and lemon oils as you peruse a collection of badass custom BMW bikes like a gold-accented RnineT and a murdered-out 1000 RR, along with multiple Fender guitars. At night, a modest stage in the back of The House of Machines provides a space for intimate concerts that has recently hosted Eagles of Death Metal and Slipknot’s Jay Weinberg. 

The Wolves 

The Wolves, located in DTLA’s historic Alexandria Building, switches things up by making all of its cocktail ingredients and mixers in-house using seasonal products with the goal of moving mixology down a a new path. This progressive approach yields adventurous cocktails like the sweet, hot and acidic “Spicy Pineapple,” as well as inventive takes on classics like the Old-Fashioned, all of which are enjoyed in a vaudevillian setting with authentic period-correct decor. 

Bar Alta

The Hotel Figueroa’s 28-seat, reservations-only Bar Alta provides patrons with 700 square-feet of Art Deco-style space that goes far above and beyond what one typically expects from a hotel bar. It’s considered one of the best “hidden” bars in the DTLA area thanks to a “Casbah” private room— accessible via a sliding wooden bookcase off the Casablanca suit—and a vast selection of custom cocktails that rivals any drink menu in the city. 

Broken Shaker 

You’d be hard-pressed to find a hotspot with better views of the Los Angeles cityscape than the Intercontinental’s rooftop pool bar. Perched 16 stories up, the bustling Broken Shaker, which also has locations in Miami and New York, offers nightclub vibes and inventive libations like the “Carrot Colada,” Chex-Mix infused “Rye & Shine,” and a mezcal Old Fashioned.

Pacific Seas 

Craving a totally legit tiki cocktail experience? Pacific Seas fits the bill to an almost excessive degree. You’ll walk through four or five other bars to find this tropical getaway on the fourth floor of the Clifton’s Republic, where you’ll find a live DJ spinning tunes behind the shell of a motorboat and and plenty of tasty tiki creations.

Eat

Poppy + Rose

If nothing else, a 30-person waiting line that stretches down the street demonstrates why comfort food connoisseurs need to carve out time for a trip to Poppy +Rose, nestled amid DTLA’s SoCal Flower market. The homey spot serves up classic diner fare like buttermilk-soaked fried chicken and waffles and pulled pork hash with eggs and creme fraiche. Don’t sleep on the Bloody Mary—also served with a sizable piece of chicken—or the freshly-muddled blackberry limeade.

Lasa

Lasa was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as having perfectly “captured the spirit of modern [Filipino] cooking]” and made the newspaper’s list of the city’s 101 best restaurants. Standouts include the Bistec burger,  which features a beef patty marinated in soy sauce and topped with onions stewed in calamansi juice, and the twice-cooked crispy chicken with gingery brown rice porridge. 

Guerilla Tacos 

Guerilla Tacos is the first brick-and-mortar location by renowned chef and food trucker Wes Avila. The eatery’s streetwise attitude is evident in the graffiti-inspired decor, and customers can see their order being made thanks to an open kitchen. The fried pork terrine taco with chicken liver mousse, Fresno and serrano chiles, mint and cilantro is a must-try, as are the butterscotch donuts. 

Bavel

This middle eastern restaurant located in the city’s Arts District offers a mix of Israeli, Moroccan, Turkish and Egyptian cuisine and a party-hearty atmosphere. Start with Bavel’s fried bread and baba ganoush, then get a glass or two of fine red wine to accompany a seriously decadent lamb neck schwarma served with tahini and pickled vegetables. Round out the meal with a palate-cleansing coconut tapioca treated with passion fruit, basil syrup and lime zest. 

The Lobby at the NoMad Hotel

Plush parlor furniture, wild decor by a local taxidermist, and a wide-open interior that once served as that of the former Bank of Italy building all make the NoMad Lobby restaurant a true dining destination. A frequently changing, two-course menu highlights fresh ingredients sourced from local farmer’s markets.

Stay

Level Furnished Living 

Level Furnished Living is home to DTLA’s largest and most luxurious penthouse, a sprawling 18,000-square-foot space that’s available to rent  for $75,000 a month. But the property also offers much more affordable one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments that are fully furnished with clean modern decor, as well as unbeatable amenities you won’t find at any hotel, including a rooftop pool and basketball court, BBQ area, and a stacked fitness center. 

Play 

OUE Skyspace 

As the tallest open-air observation deck in the entire state of California, the US Bank Tower’s OUE Skyspace is essentially LA’s equivalent of New York City’s Empire State Building. Staggering 360-degree views of the entire metro and beyond are made even more enjoyable with a newly opened full-service bar and a plethora of uncrowded patio space. If you want to release your inner kid, take a ride on 45-foot long glass “Skyslide” that connects the 69th and 70th floors. 

The Broad 

The honeycomb-like exterior shell of the Broad is just as uniquely recognizable as the interior’s vast 2,000-piece collection of iconic modern art. Guests are immediately greeted by 20th- and 21st- century pieces upon exiting the main escalator on their way to viewing work by contemporary legends like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons. 

Commonwealth 

Fashionistas would do well to stop by Commonwealth. Though originally a Virginia Beach establishment, this West Coast location serves as the men’s boutique’s current flagship, with stylish options that include everything from collaborative Adidas sneakers offered exclusively through consortium accounts to underground labels you won’t find anywhere else in California. 

Two Bit Circus 

Billed as the “world’s first micro-amusement park,” Two Bit Circus is really a modern-day arcade on steroids. There are the expected classic games Street Fighter, Pac Man, and air hockey, but the virtual reality arena’s high-tech titles take game immersion to another level allowing patrons to lay down prone and digitally fly over dinosaurs, shoot up robots and zombies, or blow up tanks from the future. Meanwhile, six different “Story Rooms” designed for groups of friends offer equally captivating experiences, including an escape from a werewolf-infested village and a wild journey on a Star Trek-style spaceship.

The holidays are over, and we are officially immersed in chilly January. Even though we’ve said goodbye to peppermint mochas (sigh), there are still so many things to look forward to. I’m talking award season, snow days, and my personal favorite, Sundance Film Festival. 

Though I’m not attending the star-studded event this year, I’m still dressing the part for my own city’s cold weather—and I’m headed straight to Free People to do so. Its collection of cozy winter pieces makes me feel like I’m out in the mountains enjoying the festivities without actually booking a flight. Keep scrolling to see what’s putting me in the snowy mood. 

In Utah for Sundance? Free People is traveling to Park City from January 23 to 27 to showcase its newest Movement, Ski, and Outdoor products. The weekend itinerary includes snowshoeing, yoga, live music, and spa appointments, with beautiful meals weaved throughout. If you’re in the area, go check out its newest store located at 638 Park Ave in Park City.

Up next: And Now, a Roundup of the Best Free People Items I Bought This Year

A dramatic haircut is legendary for changing your mood, but who knew it could change the way you feel about your body? In this month’s “Life with the Girls,” Suzan Colón had to let go of her hair to regain the sense of control she had been missing.

Suzan Colón, post-pixie

I have a friend who used to patiently listen to me complain about one thing after another. When I was finally done, she’d say, “But the important thing is, your hair looks great.”

My hair has always been one of my most noticeable features. When I was little, that mass of dark waves almost overwhelmed my face, and certainly overwhelmed my Mom when she tried to detangle me every night. As I got older, I grew to like my big, wild hair; it was boho, it had personality, and it equalized my figure, evening out my full hips and small breasts.

This past summer, my feelings about my hair, and myself, changed drastically. A work project ran into problems I could not fix. A family member had a health crisis, and I began making trips, two hours each way, to visit. The weather got hotter, and as the heat index rose, so did my hair’s frizz index. I was somewhere in between a chic spring bob and my usual shoulder-length hair, so I couldn’t tie it back. Heaps of waves sat on my head like an overheated sheepdog, getting in my eyes, refusing to be styled and generally driving me crazy. Each morning, after trying and failing to make my hair look presentable, I’d sigh and slouch in defeat, my breasts almost hidden in the posture of despair.

My husband was the one who suggested I cut my hair off. He’d found an old photo of me with a pixie cut, which I had gotten after a poorly done bob. In the picture, taken during a far calmer summer years ago, I was sitting tall and smiling widely. I looked balanced. I looked happy. I looked like me.

Two days later, I left a salon minus seven inches of hair and, it seemed, seven layers of angst. This new pixie cut was cool, neat, feminine. The longer part on top swayed with the breeze, but otherwise it maintained its composure. It acted the way I wanted to be. I felt myself standing taller, my chest out, my heart light.

The boost in my spirits from my new haircut spread into a renewed sense of joy about all the rest of me. I’d thought my small-on-top, wide-on-bottom shape would resemble a bowling pin without my big hair. I was gleefully wrong. When I put on a push-up bra, I suddenly had a 1950s-era hourglass silhouette. A barely-there bralette imparted a French gamine vibe. I had far more options than I’d thought. And interestingly, while I looked very different, I felt more at home than I had in a long time.

Most people assumed I’d cut my hair off because short hair is just easier to deal with during a difficult time. I can’t deny that part; with a pixie, bedhead is a memory to laugh about. Each morning, I woke up with pretty much the same perfect hair I’d gone to sleep with. But I could’ve achieved the same ease with a military buzz cut. It wasn’t about simplicity (though that was a great byproduct). This cut was very flattering and pretty, which gave me a much-needed lift. More important, it was something I had done for myself during a time when I felt I had no control over my own self, let alone my own life.

Turns out my new confidence wasn’t about changing my hair, or the magical effects of a new bra, or my looks at all. The real meaning was in taking a step to find equilibrium in a time that had shaken me out of what I knew and found comfortable. It was taking that step, not my perception of the results, that made me feel stronger. Steadier.

Sometimes, the world around us is going to rock and roll; we may wake up and not recognize the landscape we’re in. We can’t rely on external conditions to give us our sense of self. At times like these, doing anything that brings you back home to yourself is how to create calm in the eye of a storm. You actually can stand tall there.

The post Short Change appeared first on Bare it All.

An expensive-looking wardrobe doesn’t mean a closet stocked full of actually expensive items. In fact, it’s actually quite simple to create high-end-feeling looks on a budget if you incorporate affordable (but elevated) pieces into your ensembles. To highlight further, I’m showcasing 46 of the cheapest and chicest staples that can be mixed and matched with other items in your arsenal to create top-notch outfits.

So without further ado, shop the coolest under-$75 pieces out there below, separated by category from tops to dresses to shoes. But you better act fast, the must-haves in question are already starting to sell out—and could easily be gone by next month. So enough talking and more shopping.

Next, check out the under-$100 items celebs are loving right now.