Tipping etiquette in America

[Crusoe]

Tipping etiquette in America

Blimey. Three or four trips to the US and I had no idea I was supposed to tip the cleaner. Now I just feel guilty. Plus, I think I left a load of shrapnel coins I'd accumulated before I flew back, and someone's going to have found that and assumed it's an insulting tip.

I knew about the eating/drinking tipping (after seeing a mate of mine get into a blazing row with a bar manager on my first trip; it was a "free drink" happy hour but a dollar tip was still expected on each free drink, and he over-forcefully pointed out that it wasn't a free drink then, was it?

Went to a bar in New York once that was famous for a certain barmaid who swore like a sailor at anyone who didn't tip, and reserved particular bile for tourists pleading ignorance. It had almost become a show on a Saturday night; watch her abuse non-tippers in language I'd never heard in the US before.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Tipping etiquette in America

Thanks for all that, Beachcroft. Amazing stuff. I've been to the Amoeba in San Francisco before (and bought some amazing rare Cramps vinyl) but had no idea there was one in LA too.

What's the difference between the various beaches? Where are you most likely to see colourful homosexuals on rollerskates?

[Incandenza]

Tipping etiquette in America

Venice Beach is your best bet for people watching. It has the boardwalk, and there's an excellent Italian restaurant right there called C&O Trattoria. Well, Italian-American, and excellent to me, at least. They have awesome garlic rolls, and vegetarian friendly.

The Amoeba in Hollywood is bigger than either one in SF or Berkeley.

In Hollywood, I would recommend Musso & Frank's bar and restaurant. It's where Faulkner and Fitzgerald drank their movie industry-inspired sorrows away (or just made them worse). Very old school.

I would also suggest that you go to the Farmer's Market. It's next door to the Grove, the mall that is designed to look like a quaint Italian plaza, and is weird in a Truman Show way. That might be worth a visit just to mess with your mind. But Farmer's Market (note: not an actual farmer's market, with people setting up and selling fruits and vegetables) has a lot of different food stands. There's a taco stand, Loteria, that has some really good tacos and other Mexican food options, and they have a lot of options for vegetarians: nopales (cactus salad), zucchini, mushrooms, potatoes. They aren't afterthoughts to the meat options, either...I really like the zucchini.

The Farmer's Market is on Fairfax, a few blocks up from Fairfax and Wilshire, which is where the LA County Museum of Art is. LACMA is in Hancock Park, which also has the Page Museum (the Tar Pits). You don't have to go into the Page Museum to see the tar pits--there are some outside, with mammoth models sinking into them. Also, Fairfax and Wilshire is the intersection where the Notorious BIG was murdered at, and at one of the corners is Johnnie's Coffee Shop, which is no longer open, but is only used for film shoots...the scene where Walter tells the Dude that he could get him a pinky toe and yells at the waitress in The Big Lebowski was shot there.

Another thing I would recommend is just walking around Downtown LA. Not necessarily on Bunker Hill (though Bunker Hill does have the truly impressive Disney Hall, by Frank Gehry), which is where most of the skyscrapers are. But more along the Historic Core area, particularly Broadway. Broadway has Grand Central Market (with Angel's Flight, recently reopened, behind that going up to Bunker Hill, the Bradbury Building (don't know if you've seen Blade Runner, but it's been in that and lots of other films), and lots of old movie palaces that are now Mexican churches and stores. It's all great architecture from the early 1900s with stores on the groundfloor all with signs in Spanish. I love just walking down the street and looking around.

Near Broadway is LA City Hall. Besides being a cool building, you can also go to the observation deck at the top, which almost no one knows about. Here are some photos I took from up there. City Hall is near Little Tokyo, which has a stop for the Gold Line Eastside extension light rail, which goes to Boyle Heights and East LA. Boyle Heights is a great area to walk around in, particularly 1st Street, the commercial heart, a place tourists (or people that live other places in LA) hardly ever go to.

Sorry about the suggestions overload, but it's not like you had your own ideas, right? (winky)

[DCI Harry Batt]

Tipping etiquette in America

What exactly is a boardwalk?

[West End Zuma]

Tipping etiquette in America

A boardwalk is where you stroll along the sea front and it's literally made of boards, the most famous is in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Now the term is applied to any area where you walk by the sea. The Venice boardwalk is not made of boards, it's just a regular walkway, albeit a very colorful one.

[Bruno]

Tipping etiquette in America

It's a thing to have sex under, and it's $2000 if there's a hotel.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Tipping etiquette in America

Like a promenade?

[Wyatt Earp]

Tipping etiquette in America

A cross between a wooden prom and a pleasure pier turned through 90 degrees.

[danielmak]

Tipping etiquette in America

As Inca noted, Venice Beach is the most interesting in terms of characters. If you go there, I would also recommend El Terasco for burritos (either on Venice Blvd or Washington Blvd--can't remember which). This is somewhere between a fast food place and a restaurant.

A little north of Venice is Santa Monica Beach, which can also be interesting for people watching (although not on par with Venice) and tends to be slightly less crowded if you actually want to swim or just hang out and have some space to yourself.

I might have missed if you are vegetarian but if you end up eating fast food (either because you are truly in a hurry or because you're looking to save some money here and there), you've got to check out Del Taco. It is not the same as Taco Bell, which sucks. Del Taco's red burritos and cheddar quesadillas are amazing. Also In & Out burger is a famous Southern California fast food place, and they make a grilled cheese that is incredible. Although it's not listed on the menu, they will make it.

@TonTon yeah I tip the karaoke DJ; it seems to be a standard practice according to folks who sing regularly (I wouldn't fall into that category). But you don't tip every song.

[Reed John]

Tipping etiquette in America

Picture of a Boardwalk, this one in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, about 10 miles from where my parents live.



The beach and the Atlantic Ocean is to the right, and junk shops and food stalls to the left. There's also a little amusement park thing (small, like in Adventureland)

[Incandenza]

Tipping etiquette in America

Good god, you like Del Taco?

Yes, I would recommend In-N-Out, even for vegetarians. The grilled cheese is really good.

[danielmak]

Tipping etiquette in America

Incandenza wrote:

Good god, you like Del Taco?

Yes, I would recommend In-N-Out, even for vegetarians. The grilled cheese is really good.

Del Taco is amazing. The best fast food there is. Apparently there is one in Chicago (way south or in a southern suburb) but friends from California say it isn't good so I haven't messed with it.

One other restaurant tip. If you are in or around Los Feliz (just east of East Hollywood), check out a pizza place on Vermont called Palermos. The cheese pizza is really good. They also do a pizza called Neno's special with feta and grilled vegetables that is good (but doesn't really seem like pizza).

[West End Zuma]

Tipping etiquette in America

Musso & Franks is indeed old Hollywood and worth a visit. The waiters are actually real waiters, not actors waiting for their big break. It's a steakhouse, though, but that shouldn't stop you from swilling a martini or two at the bar. Keith Richards dines there when he's in town, so I'm told.

The Rooseveldt hotel is another bit of old Hollywood, complete with ghosts of movie stars past. It's been hipstered up for the bright young things but you might want to drop in to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. It's right across the street from Grauman's Chinese.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Tipping etiquette in America

Ah, what a shame the "I can get you a toe" cafe has closed. I was looking forward to some Lebowski tourism. Last time I was in LA, the film hadn't even been made. I hear the bowling alley has been demolished and turned into a high school now. Sacrilege...

I'm gonna try some Swingers tourism anyway (the Dresden Room and the Derby).

[Spearmint Rhino]

Tipping etiquette in America

This site is great.

[West End Zuma]

Tipping etiquette in America

Marty and Elaine at the Dresden Room are an LA fixture. They take requests too. The drinks and atmosphere are great but the food's dire. If you're in the area there's some great restaurants over on Hillhurst. I haven't been to the Derby in years. I thought it had closed.

[Wyatt Earp]

Tipping etiquette in America

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Ah, what a shame the "I can get you a toe" cafe has closed. I was looking forward to some Lebowski tourism. Last time I was in LA, the film hadn't even been made. I hear the bowling alley has been demolished and turned into a high school now. Sacrilege...

That's a profoundly different attitude to, you know, buildings and that, isn't it? From the British attitude, I mean?

[Spearmint Rhino]

Tipping etiquette in America

Why on Earth... wrote:

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Ah, what a shame the "I can get you a toe" cafe has closed. I was looking forward to some Lebowski tourism. Last time I was in LA, the film hadn't even been made. I hear the bowling alley has been demolished and turned into a high school now. Sacrilege...

That's a profoundly different attitude to, you know, buildings and that, isn't it? From the British attitude, I mean?

Yeah. You mean in this country the building would have been left standing but, er, repurposed? That would be the British way, rather than razing it to the ground and starting again. Although that didn't save the Wigan Casino.

[Wyatt Earp]

Tipping etiquette in America

It's the rapidity of the process, really, that struck me as very Californian. LA seems to reinvent itself continually.

[Incandenza]

Tipping etiquette in America

Spearmint Rhino wrote:

Ah, what a shame the "I can get you a toe" cafe has closed. I was looking forward to some Lebowski tourism. Last time I was in LA, the film hadn't even been made. I hear the bowling alley has been demolished and turned into a high school now. Sacrilege...

Elementary school, but yes. I had bowled there about 5 times. When people found out it was closing, the crowds really started showing up, and on my last visit there, they had run out of bowling shoes because people were stealing them, so they gave us booties to pull over our shoes. And when I was in line at the bar, Vince Vaughan cut in front of me and was a big a-hole. Too bad you couldn't see it--there was literally nothing different on the inside of the bowling alley versus what you saw in the film.

And to talk about the rapidity of change, the Ambassador hotel, where RFK was assassinated, was demolished in 2006 and is going to be a high school.

[West End Zuma]

Tipping etiquette in America

For Lebowski tourism there's still Point Dume where they shot the ashes scene. It's hard to get to without a car but there's a Metro bus that runs up Pacific Coast Highway which is a pleasant drive in itself. The bus circles round the Malibu Riviera for the maids that work in all the big mansions. So you could take that and walk over to the top of Point Dume. Nearby Westward Beach is my favorite beach. They've shot a lot of movies at that location and you'd recognize it immediately. It's a long way out, but if you have a spare day it's doable.

[West End Zuma]

Tipping etiquette in America

Correction on my last post. Point Dume is where they had Jackie's Bonfire party. The ashes scene was shot in Palos Verdes apparently.

The Dude's house is in Venice, it's quite reachable from Venice Beach if you take a #2 Blue bus to Abbot Kinney & California. Abbot Kinney is where old Venice, bohemia, hood and surfer town meets the new money. It's worth a look in its own write, there's some interesting shops specialializing in 50s 60s 70s furniture and surfer tiki stuff, then you could walk up Venice Blvd for a bit and Venezia Ave is off of Venice Blvd. Then either catch a Venice Metro bus back to the Beach/Santa Monica or back to LA for connecting buses to your hotel.

edit: movie location link

[Amor de Cosmos]

Tipping etiquette in America

Why on Earth... wrote:

It's the rapidity of the process, really, that struck me as very Californian. LA seems to reinvent itself continually.

It's a West Coast thing I think. It's quite disorienting too. You'll be walking down a street you walk down regularly and there'll be a massive crater where something used to be, and, often, you just can't for the life of you remember what it was. There are lots in this town that three different buildings have occupied in the time I've lived here.

[WOM]

Tipping etiquette in America

I've only one instance of that: the theatre where I saw Star Wars in '77 was bulldozed for a mall where I played Pac Man in the '80s, which has been razed for a collection of shops, including a liquor store and a Starbucks.

[Reed John]

Tipping etiquette in America

This discussion reminds me of this:
http://www.notfoolinganybody.com/