Do you hear Hollywood in the voice from pretty woman? Because same. Honestly I didn’t know too much about LA before visiting, but it is HUGE.
There are so many different parts to it, Venice beach, all the other beaches, Beverly Hills, Hollywood walk of fame, the Hollywood sign, the baseball stadium, the other baseball stadium… the list goes on.
We did LA as our last segment of a road trip all the way from San Francisco (1000 miles!!) – so if you, too, are exploring the US check out my other blog posts for more inspo!
Day 1: Brewery and Ball Game
The Ball Game
We didn’t arrive until the evening on the first night. Having come from the desert the traffic was quite unwelcome (also one thing I had never heard about is the smog that exists here) but we made it to a ball game!
The LA Angles were playing so we went to their stadium but the main reason for heading here was, well firstly to buy a new hat (I haven’t been to many ball games but when I have I’ve bought a hat) but secondly, and mainly, GLUTEN FREE HOT DOGS.
Did you know some stadiums stalls offer gluten free hot dog buns?
I got mine at Hoffy 416, there were no GF advertisements there but I queued up and asked and after the server had a chat with the back kitchen staff I was assured they do indeed have GF buns but it’s take a minute for them to make it up. I was happy to wait.
Was it the best hot dog I’ve ever had? probably not. But what an experience! I feel like a ball game is about the experience and I was able to be apart of that ‘normal’ one for once. There was also gluten free beer at some stalls which I didn’t try and hot dogs available at other Classic Hits stands, so check out which one is nearest your seat when you go!
The Brewery
After the game, we went to a 100% gluten free brewery, Divine Science. This is the first time I’ve been to a brewery let alone a gluten free one. It’s a small place that serves around 10 different beers, from stouts to sours and also serves gluten free snacks like pretzels (!) and fries.
Even better, they do tastings (or flights) of each of their beers so you can get a tray and try them all.
This was such a cool experience having not tried too many different kinds of beers and finding out which ones I like (if you’re looking to buy me beer, I’ll take a sour and a chocolatey stout please). And even better, you can order beers to take away which they can fresh for you, taking about 20 minutes. Insane!
The pretzel was so good the beer was so good and I love coming to places like this because I just sit there and wonder how many other coeliacs I might be surrounded by… anyone else? This is one of my top recommendations for a gluten free trip to LA.
Day 2: Bakery, Biking and Hollywood
Barry’s & Breakfast
The next day we had quite an active day. I had never been to a Barry’s exercise class before, it’s international now but the original is in West Hollywood in LA and a couple of our friends are Barry-goers so we went! It was 34 dollars each so not the cheapest but a very good and fun workout mix between weights and spin. I think you need to be a member and pre-booking is pretty necessary.
For brunch afterwards we went to an amazing little bakery called Modern Bread & Bagel in Santa Monica, again it had no signs anywhere celebrating that it was 100% GF but it is and it is fantastic. There‘s even choices of bagel (plain, sesame, seeded etc.) but I went for the everything bagel with a tuna filling.
Sweet tooth wise, there were also tons of things to choose from but I am a sucker for a donut so got a strawberry Homer from The Simpsons kind. Both were unbelievable, my partner got the veggie sausage and egg breakfast bagel and that was glorious too. But the donut, the donut was drool worthy. It tasted fried (not baked!) and it was so damn good. So good, we went back the next day and got all 3 donuts to try. My favourite was just the glazed brioche donut, but others favourites were the strawberry and chocolate ones so you honestly can’t go wrong. You just do you.
There’s nowhere to sit in here, so I recommend stopping by on the way to somewhere else, or you can do like we did and walk around 30 mins down to the beach for a little picnic.
Cycling, Celebrities & Curry
While we were by the beach, we rented bikes and rode along the path there. You can just go to any of the bike rental shops along the beach. There’s such an abundance of quirky houses along the beaches here and so many fun activities going on to watch. There was table volleyball, skate boarding, a wheelchair basketball tournament and just generally a lot of life that you can really take in in your own time on a bike. Santa Monica beach was quieter, with families setting up camp on the beach and a few volleyball games, whereas Venice beach was more lively and bursting with character.
After this, we got an Uber to the Hollywood walk of fame. I did not realise it was so long. In 1994 there were already 2000 stars! They’re even on both sides of the street.
There‘s tons of other things to see here too just by walking, like the Chinese theatre or Madame Tussaud’s, for example, but I didn’t go into anything just appreciated it all from a distance.
That evening we went to an Indian restaurant in a strip mall called Crown of India. It’s a small restaurant with super friendly staff and no alcohol. They had good knowledge of gluten free food and were able to make most, if not all, of the curries and kebabs gluten free. Nothing that I didn’t expect to be gluten free was, so overall I’d say this was average from a gluten free wow perspective, but the food was still good. Forgive me, I forgot to take any pictures of this place.
Day 3: Hollywood Sign and Incredible Pasta
Hollywood Baby
The next day we went to Modern Bread and Bagel again to pick up donuts because we couldn’t resist, before going to Griffith Observatory for a view of the classic Hollywood sign.
The sign was very very far away. Much farther than we were expecting!
We got an Uber (again) to the Observatory as it was about a 45 minute drive from Santa Monica. Once you are there though, there are loads of great hiking trails. So unlike me, I’d recommend wearing some walking clothes and potentially packing some food depending on how far you walk if you’re into that. We walked up for better views of the sign for about 45 minutes until Dante’s view (another view point there) but could’ve done longer if we had more time to spend here! It was fairly busy being a Sunday with plenty of people walking dogs, which was a bonus for me.
Paltrow’s Pizza!?
For dinner that night, we tried a 100% GF Italian place called goop Superfina and it was truly divine. It‘s an eatery created by Gwyneth Paltrow and they pride themselves on ‘clean’ eating and have defined a standard themselves on creating certain foods without things like refined sugars, gluten, nuts, dairy etc. We got it on Uber eats, which was a treat for us as we don’t have Uber where we currently live so really we were treating ourselves this holiday.
I got a simple tomato and basil spaghetti with a side of turkey meatballs (I feel I can never order meatballs out due to them putting flour in them so took this opportunity). I think it was one of the best tomato spaghettis I’ve had. Thought admittedly I don’t order this often, I might in the future. The meatballs were ok, maybe I found out meatballs are not really my thing after all. But the pasta, the pasta. I would order that again in a heartbeat.
We also ordered a pizza which was also good, not the best thing I’ve ever tasted, but really good.
Day 4: Universal Studios and Depart
This was the end of our 3 nights in LA, a very active time with the food to fuel it too! Our flight wasn’t leaving until basically midnight the next day, so we went to Universal Studios as a final activity here.
You can buy tickets online and we got an Uber there too (shocker). I thought that we could get gluten free donuts here from looking at the map, but actually there is a Universal City where there’s all kinds of shops and restaurants, then next to this there is Universal Studios that requires having a ticket to enter. So we entered through the ticket barrier obviously, but once we entered, we ended up not finding anything really for breakfast. So top tip, though I’m sure you probably would have anyway, have breakfast before you come!
Universal Studios was FUN. It literally is a playground for children and adults alike. We ended up stumbling into the Harry Potter section as the first big thing we did which I was very happy about, butterbeer and a chocoloate frog for breakfast? Yes please. The butterbeer is completely gluten free! And so are most of the sweet things in Honeydukes, so just doube check the ingredients before you buy.
I bought 2 chocoloate frogs because the first one had a Beatrix Botham as the card and I wasn’t happy about that. So later, when we passed through again to do the rides, I got a second one which, plot twist, also had Beatrix Botham. So, don’t do that.
If there are any gluten free Potterheads, you can also eat in the Three Broomsticks there and they have some pretty good options for gluten free, you can see all the GF offerings here.
We had an early lunch at Mel’s Diner, they have GF burger buns which many others offered, but unlike the others, Mel’s listed the fries as GF, and what is a burger without fries? It was exactly as expected from a fast food burger and fries, I can’t complain!
In Springfield, Homer Simpson’s donuts and beer are not gluten free. But in Moe’s they do have a cider on tap, so I got a cider and paid the $3 for a Duff glass to feel like I immersed myself properly in The Simpsons! In the shop here, they do also have Duff in a can which is a 0 alcohol orange drink which is also gluten free!
Nintendo World was fantastic if you’re a fan of Super Mario. Everything is so colourful and things move and it all felt quite immersive. There’s a ride here which simulates a go kart which is also quite cool.
Overall, it was a really fun activity for a day and we were back by 5pm to pack for our flight!
If you’re going somewhere else in the US before or after LA, check out my other blog posts for some inspo!
Thanks for reading all the way down here, if you do any of these activities or eat at any of these places then I’d love to see you enjoying these places, share your experiences in my facebook page, tag me on Instagram or TikTok!
Round-Up!
Recommended Restaurants:
1. Divine Science Brewery – 100% GF Brewery (10/10 – A GF BREWERY!)
2. Modern Bread and Bagel – fried donuts (9/10 – loses 1 point for no seating)
3. goop Superfina – ‘clean’ Italian food (7/10 – fantastic pasta)
Recommended Activities:
1. Baseball game (either the LA Dodgers or Angels)
2. Bike ride along the beaches
3. Universal Studios
4. Hiking trails from Griffith Observatory and Hollywood sign
4. Hollywood Walk of Fame
5. Original Barry’s exercise class
Thanks for reading all the way down here, if you do any of these activities or eat at any of these places then I’d love to see you enjoying these places, share your experiences in my facebook page, tag me on Instagram or TikTok!
