Many moons ago I convinced Ben to fly to Los Angeles with me to see Seventeen for a quick weekend getaway. We left the kids alone, gasp! It’s so great that they are mature enough for these short trips. It turned out to be a snow day that Friday, so they got to stay at home despite from school and relax too! We got out of Denver before any flight delays and basked in the California sun.

Seventeen’s colors in the sky the night before our trip
Jack and Sam built this guy on their day off!
Passing the venue on the way to the hotel.
Seventeen sightings all over town.

Our hotel in Downtown LA was a curious 1970s design with round rooms arranged in separate towers. We dropped off our luggage and took a car to Santa Monica, arriving just as the sun set on the beach.

Room with a view of the Hollywood sign

I wanted to visit the pier because there was supposed to be a Seventeen event. Some fans had won a lottery to see a performance. We didn’t know the schedule when we tried peeking over the fence. Later when the video came out, it seems we had just missed the performance. Never mind though – Ben got a strange Japanese hot dog, we admired the Seventeen lights on the ferris wheel, and even got up close to the mascot Bongbongee! It was a thick frenzy of fans, so we quickly left after snapping a few pics. Then I took Ben to that great bibimbap restaurant I found the last time I was in LA with Amanda and Andy. Oh man, so delicious!! If only they would franchise in Colorado!! It turned out to be colder than expected in California, so I grabbed a couple sweaters from Uniqlo. Then we tested out the lightrail to get back to the hotel. Before bed I had one more destination – Salt & Straw for the most delectable vegan ice cream! The last time I ate it was in Seattle, walking back to the hotel in the rain at night. This time I insisted we sit inside so I could savor this rare treat!

Cirque was in town too.
You can watch the performance behind that fence in the link above.
Bonito on dog
Mmm, wish I was eating this tonight!
Bongbongee the mascot
Cute robot delivery dudes everywhere in this town.
Ice cream!!!!!

Saturday we stepped out into the shiny sun to try explore some Korean/Japanese neighborhoods. The bus ditched us on the curb 10 minutes short of our destination, but we didn’t mind walking the rest. One of the restaurants we missed on our Japan trip was CoCo Ichibanya, a popular curry chain. Ben was pleased to hear we could fill that void here. Koichi later confirmed from our pictures that it was exactly the same (except, I’m sure, for the unlimited soda fountain refills and inflated California prices). We walked to the main section of Koreatown to browse some K-pop music shops and get special Seventeen promotional bingsoo. I was absolutely stuffed, but we did our best to eat some of this mountain! Next we wanted to see the “Japantown” and Japanses temple gardens, but they were both kinda of bust. Our driver was wary of letting us off in the temple because it was right next to skid row and he didn’t think we knew where we were going. The temple garden was very small and completely gated. The other garden marked on the map was a small museum patio, and it was locked for reserved event. We continued walking to Japantown and it was terrible! The crowds were the worst so far, shoulder-to-shoulder. Every shop was packed and mostly had chinese knock-offs of Japanese products. There was a Book-Off, that used goods store I enjoyed in Kyoto. This one was, logically, mostly goods common in the US. We tried to enjoy shopping but gave up. After a short rest at the hotel we popped out to Grand Central Market food hall that wasn’t too far away. We both picked out some tasties to take back to our rooms. I tried another vegan ice cream place and it was disappointing and in a super sketchy neighborhood. LA is so WEIRD!!

I slept in, took this pic from our room
Ben went exploring early and road the Angels Flight
The bus stop by our hotel
We found the curry, with New Jeans on top!
Ahh! Not in snowy Colorado!
Another group I watch, Riize, on the corner.
Bingsoo + swag + lactaid

Rested and fed, we dressed for the main event. I cosplayed as S.Coups in their Monster stage . Ben had a Hoshi shirt. We looked good 😀

We took the train to USC and walked to the stadium. Now the trouble began. To make a long story short, the concert was already delayed, then delayed again. The security line was crazy long and disorganized and probably a third of the audience was still in it when the show eventually started. Plus there was a stupid loud rave at the arena next to us, so I had to wear earplugs during our hours of waiting, and you could hear the thumping from inside after our show started too!! Fans were stressed and everyone was mad, so the vibes were off. That, plus our nosebleed seats, made this one of the less experiences I’ve had going to K-pop concerts. I’m definitely chasing arenas and splurging on better seats next time.

Queuing queuing, queuing….I thought we were close, we were only halfway there at this point.
Finally inside, settled.
About to start, look at all those empty seats!
Gifts from fans I met

Despite all that, we settled in and the group put on a great show. They had their back-up dancers (I recognized a lot of them, ha!) and there were fireworks. They performed Monster and I was so happy (lots of fans recognized and complimented my outfit – and I wasn’t the craziest costume by far). Incoming picture dump:

My camera mis-focused but I swear coups saw my costume here (jk 😉

And one video:

All the delays made it a very late night. I grabbed Ben’s hand and we sprinted to the last train of the night, sliding into our seat moments before it left. A good night’s sleep, an uneventful flight home, and we came back to our kids safe and sound, their kind aunt having just delivered them with food.

Despite stadiums being terrible, I had a marvelous weekend with Ben. Looking back on these photos makes me want to go all over again!