The Search for Fall

Unless your favorite seasons are Summer or Spring, Los Angeles is an especially frustrating place to live during the holidays. With no falling leaves, no snow, and hardly any noticeable change at all, a person has to actively search out the seasons by going to themed events or decorating their own home. So, here’s your guide to finding Fall in a Summer city!

1. Coffee & Chai: If there’s one thing Los Angeles has an abundance of, it’s coffee shops. You can find one on nearly every block and certainly in every neighborhood. But where should you go to find your pumpkin spice latte or chai? First, here’s where you should not go:

- Pret À Manger: In search of a delicious fall chai, these two authors first made their way to Pret À Manger in Westwood, near UCLA. Let us just say that we can only hope their coffee and sandwiches are better than their sad attempt at chai. Their version of the drink was lacking that aromatic blend of spices, falling somewhere short of a sad milky horchata. Really, it tasted like it was solely composed of milk, sugar, and cinnamon.

- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: This was the second coffee shop we journeyed to, and here, at least, they had a few pros, not just cons. Starting off, they had adorable indoor decorations and Halloween festivity, which was wonderful to see. They were even playing the Harry Potter soundtrack! Here, we decided to break away from chai and went for coffee instead. We ordered a pumpkin spice latte and a Pumpkin Dry Iced Americano. However, do not let their aesthetic appearance deceive you. Both drinks were so sweet that it was hard to drink, or even swallow. The Americano, surprisingly, sweeter than the pumpkin spice, had to be thrown away due to the mixture of cloying sweetness and harsh coffee bean taste. The Pumpkin Spice Latte, a fall staple, disappointingly tasted of plastic pumpkin puree that was again, much too sweet. Needless to say, we were disappointed after having spent a total of $14 for both drinks that met their end in the trash.

However, dispirited as we were at finding a satisfactory fall beverage, we tested our luck one final time in a modern but cozy Italian restaurant at The Grove:

- Sogno Toscano: After a long day of disappointing chai and coffee, we were starving for something we could actually digest. The newly opened Sogno Toscano provided us with authentic Italian service and cuisine. Something we immediately noticed were the adorable mini pumpkins on each table, as well as an amazingly comfortable and cozy dark green complementary blanket that warmed us right up as the sun began to set. Besides the delectable food, we had found it. At last! A scrumptious chai latte! While not authentic, it was more than just a jumble of cinnamon and sugar (we’re looking at you, Pret), and it wasn’t so sweet that we choked after the first sip. Hooray! The warm chai soothed our tragic chai-less souls and we were glad to have been able to end the day on a satisfactory note.

2. The Grove: For it to truly feel like fall, one needs to be fully immersed. At The Grove shopping center, the efforts to raise the fall spirit were present. The Grove is another destination worth mentioning for its enthusiasm for the holidays. No matter the season, the Grove will be appropriately decorated.

As such, on our visit on October 11th, the shopping center was, of course, decorated for fall. While it wasn’t completely decked-out, it did have the right ambience. Certain individual shops were individually decorated, but nothing awe-striking. It is important to note that they had signs out saying that October 19th and 20th they would be hosting a fall festival in celebration of 90 years at 3rd and Fairfax. Over that weekend, there will be many fall activities timed throughout the day such as a petting zoo, a pumpkin patch, live music, and more.

As we made our way down, following the rails of the classic Grove Trolley, we immediately realized that the Farmer’s Market portion of that area would be the true highlight of our outing. Right outside there is a photo-op stand where you can put your head in and pose as a pumpkin, which, of course, Gwyneth partook in. When you step into the market, it’s a maze - but a scary corn one, one filled with lively fall cheer and homey vibes all around. There’s every kind of treat, including a boba shop that opened just a few weeks ago. From Little John’s English Toffee House to Hoki Sushi, most of the merchant’s shops were decorated with orange leafed garlands, webs, lights, and more.

In the shopping center portion of the Grove, we spent a considerable amount of time in the Barnes & Noble, browsing the shelves and admiring the display of gothic, horror, and spooky literature picks they had put out. The bookstore also includes a café on the top floor which we steered clear of as even just the thought of another latte was too much for us to handle. Back to the books, the bottom floor was a display of all genres set out on small tables for quick and easy browsing, from “new non-fiction for the fall” to “spooky stories;” it was apparent that the store was feeling the Rory Gilmore aesthetic. As we made our way up, we stopped by some English classics such as Frankenstein and Dracula. The genre diversity doesn’t end there, and we tried not to judge the new fall-themed romance novels that all have the same style covers. The store was also filled with the cutest miscellaneous Halloween items like skull bookends, ghost mugs, Halloween word search booklets, scented candles, and more! Overall, Barnes and Noble provided us with a very entertaining experience, filled with fall at every corner! For that, we give a 10/10!

From this article we hope you please learn from our mistakes: don’t trust just any cafe to be able to provide you with decent chai! No, no. The real lesson is not to give up. After our fair share of trials and tribulations, we were able to extract from our local areas a fun autumn day. Take this article as an incentive to go discover the city and find fall near you!

All images provided by Soraya Ladjili and Gwenyth Muir Atkinson.