Grand Central Market in Los Angeles, California

With a variety of cuisine, coffee, produce, and general novelty on offer, the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles, California is a bustling hub of activity. It's a great place to be a culinary tourist and sample foods from around the world under one roof. Grab breakfast here, as I did, and then head out to explore downtown L.A. landmarks such as the Bradbury Building just across the street. Your taste buds will thank you. Grand Central Market doesn't disappoint. 

Shiku Homestyle Korean & Lucky Bird DTLA

Grand Central Market in Los Angeles, California has a charm that's both vintage and futuristic at the same time. Maybe it's all the neon or all the smells, but mostly, I'm just happy there's always something new to try anytime I'm back in DTLA. On the menu this visit: Shiku Homestyle Korean and chicken & waffles from Lucky Bird.

I Funko'd Myself In Hollywood

Yes, you read that correctly. The Funko Hollywood store on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California has customization kiosks where you select your body, hair, outfit, etc. and then they build your custom Funko character (branded as Pop! Yourself) in about 20 minutes.

The thing is, a blond guy in a hoodie isn't much of a character when I can't plaster my logo all over it so the accessories I chose had to do the heavy lifting. Of course, I had to have my custom Funko holding a camera and a little magazine / travel guide. I also included the lens-less "ie. fake" film school glasses I used to wear when I wanted to stereotypically look the part.

As for the outfit, the options all felt a bit too plain, so I opted for the superhero spandex - I felt it was the closest thing to underwear / pajamas which has kind of become the unofficial Editing Luke uniform over the last 6 months of documentary post-production. All and all, the custom Funko Pop is a fun souvenir that admittedly is probably one of the least tacky things that I've bought on Hollywood Blvd. in the last decade, which is really saying something.