Pandora Boxx has been one of the stars to emerge from the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race. A frequent flyer who jets around the world to perform, we recently caught up with Pandora to swap travel stories and talk wedding plans.
What would your travel tips be for someone visiting LA?
There’s so much to do in LA! Just plan enough time because traffic can be a bitch. Choose someplace either right near the places you want to visit, or someplace centrally located so it’s easier to get around.
If you love the gay scene, then the strip in West Hollywood has a bunch of gay bars all within walking distance. Downtown LA also has a great gay scene now. People should definitely check out my favourite bar in LA which is Precinct DTLA.
There’s so many choices for food here too, some of my favourites are Hugo’s, Rosa Mexicano – the fresh guacamole is the best, Quarters for Korean BBQ, and Tatsu Ramen.
There’s also so many brunches to choose from, but I’m a queen so I have to recommend checking out a drag queen brunch. A lot of my LA gal pals host a drag queen brunch, so make sure to check out where Jasmine Masters, Ongina, Mayhem Miller, Wendy Ho, Allusia Alusia, Misty Violet, and Vicky Vox will be. They know where the party is at!
By Gareth Johnson – Full Story at Gay Star News
Los Angeles Gay Travel Resources
This week I finally made it up to the famous Hollywood sign – a hike that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. After two failed attempts (traffic, cloudy skies), I found myself scrambling up the rocks to a small hill above and behind the actual sign, which me and my hiking buddy reached after about an hour’s walk, just in time for a brilliant sunset. You can’t get to the sign by car, the only way to get up, close and personal with these giant white letters that have become an American icon, is on foot or by horse, and you can’t get in front of the letters, only above them.
Funnily enough, the sign didn’t have any association with the movie industry when it was put up in 1923. Instead, it was supposed to promote local real estate during a time when the Hollywood Hills weren’t the prime real estate location that they are today. Back then it still read Hollywoodland. After years of deterioration, Hugh Hefner started a fundraiser to save the sign, and $250,000 were raised to restore the sign that had fallen into disrepair.
It used to be a bit tricky to get up to the sign until a few years ago, unless you were a local and knew your way around. The Trust For Public Land, that is in charge of protecting the sign and the surrounding lands, has made it much easier now to find the right paths and not get lost in the relatively remote and rugged southern side of Mount Lee, on which the sign is located.
Many Chicagoans choose to move to Los Angeles in California and it is easy to see why. There is plenty of sunshine and a moderate climate to enjoy in gay L.A. The grid layout of the city makes it easy to navigate but traffic needs to always be taken into consideration. Public transportation is continually in the works and ride sharing with Uber has turned into a popular option.
People tend to be LGBT-friendly, thanks to a long history of political figures and activists. One National Gay & Lesbian Archives houses more than 2 million items in its archives celebrating that history. Early editions of Outlines, published by Windy City Times’ Tracy Baim, were found along with a multitude of others.
The country’s first gay church, the Metropolitan Community Church, and first gay synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim, both began in gay L.A. Out & About Tours provides a walking tour to see many LGBT historical landmarks and learn about the pioneers of the gay community.
While I admittedly didn’t get around to doing everything I had on my Los Angeles To-Do-List due to my tight work schedule this month, I managed to return to some of my favorite neighborhoods like Santa Monica Venice and West Hollywood,, but there was one neighborhood I really wanted to see before leaving LA: Silver Lake.
This neighborhood had been described to me as the Brooklyn of LA or the Williamsburg of LA, to be more precise And not only that Forbes Magazine even went as far as giving Silver Lake the top spot on its inaugural list of America’s Best Hipster Neighborhoods and CNN Money followed by putting it in the Top Ten of its list of best big city neighborhoods in the U.S.
So of course I had to check this uber hip neighborhood for myself to see what all the fuss was about.
