Hi friends, as promised in my last article I wanted to share some martini and other adventures during my trip to LA in February post my Palm Springs trip.

I went all in, got a driver from Palm Springs, and stayed on Sunset at the wonderful PaliHotel West Hollywood, a very comfortable oasis and a good location for what I wanted to do.  After so much fun in PSP I wanted to chill a little and have some promising meets, which I’ll get to shortly.

The hotel has a cute little bar, and the staff are just lovely, very personable and when I commented on the bar set up they asked if I knew much about cocktails….. well the next thing you I’m doing a free impromptu Martini masterclass for some of the team.

As you do.

So I retreated to my room on a rare rainy LA afternoon with a good book (the Bosch series if you know those) and a dry martini, a very agreeable way to check in I’m sure you’ll agree.  I also made a pilgrimage to the LAPD Hollywood Division station where they filming the original series.

“Everyone matters, or no one matters” as Harry Bosch says in the series.

I also swung past the Hotel Roosevelt which was around the corner from my own hotel, but found the experience very underwhelming just as an aside despite a spectacular room.

Besides some visits to the Getty museums, my main business was to meet for the first time the fabulous Max of @BarMaxLA and @BarMaxExtra of Instagram fame.

He picked me up from my hotel and we went to a relatively new bar, Bar Next Door on the border of Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills known for it’s on point Martinis, in fact they’d be nominated as one of the best in the USA recently by Esquire magazine with it’s pre-mix riff on the Vesper crossed with a Dirty Martini, not too shabby.  Max knows the LA scene better than anyone.

Then off to the iconic Musso and Frank Grill, a real bucket list experience for me, and it didn’t disappoint.  The place oozed atmosphere, old school hospitality and practically everyone drank Martinis. My happy place, again.  Food was actually very good, and the staff warm, had seen everyone celeb wise, so were very chilled and professional.

The Martinis came fast, very dry, and served with a sidecar of more Martini which you really see these days. Just fabulous.

Then a bit of Instagram mischief and an early night as I had a long trip home the next.

One final piece of news.

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know I made a recent announcement regarding a TV/ Streaming project I’ve been working on for a few years now, often close, but no banana , to be green lit on a couple of occasions.

Anyways, I had the good news recently that LA based creative incubator, Voyage Media – their office was just down the road from my hotel as it turned out – are picking my project up. I’ll be working with an experienced US based producer to create a pilot and total series structure based on my research on craft spirits and cocktail culture, with a view to shoot a sizzle segment we can shop in the the next few months!

Super exciting and more news to come as I can share it, wish me luck.