I LOVE and HATE Los Angeles. Off to Thailand. Hello Dreamworks. Koi Swimwear.

Earlier this week – right after Comic Con – I jumped into my gas guzzling Jeep and headed north to San Diego’s bigger sister, Los Angeles. I have a love and hate relationship with Los Angeles. There are many good things about it and other things I dislike, but we won’t get into that. I went up north to see a friend of mine before he was leaving to his extraordinary life in Thailand.

We headed out to the the Chateau Marmont bar hotel across from The Standard Hotel. On a Monday night, that place was still packed. I can’t help but notice the girl to guy ratio there, lots of women…by themselves…perhaps sitting and waiting for men? All you single men, go here. During that time, a business proposal between the Syravong brothers and the Tiraratanakul’s in a joint venture perhaps in the near future for a clothing company. More info on that later. But while just relaxing with my Tom Collins, a lovely young lady sits next to us. She was alone from what I remember – much like most women there – and carefully enjoyed a cancer stick from my brother. We got into a conversation about textiles, marketing, and perceived plans on expanding a new brand. Turns out, she was from Koi Swimwear. I could not recall asking for her name, but it looked like it was Jennifer Bharti (it was dark there). She was awesome, very nice and composed young professional. We chatted a bit more about her business and logistics of her business of high end swim wear based out of Toronto. Here is a video of a test case of her and the brand. I wish you success!

Next to that, we headed to Thai Town, to another bar. I immediately noticed the place having more than the norm amount of people on Monday nights at a bar. They had a live duo there on the mic, singing in Thai (which I barely understand). That place was pretty fun and the night ended pretty late. I actually went to sleep at 3:30 AM on a Monday night.

The next day, I decided to meet with Kristine who worked at Dreamworks. We met for lunch and I met some of the most wonderful young professionals ever. The place is situated right on Flower street, off the 5 freeway. It resembles a kind of campus – think Yahoo! and Google – in which buildings and departments were separated throughout the landscape. We quickly grabbed free lunch they served for their employees, chatted briskly with her co workers. We then too helped ourselves to the dessert section, I enjoyed chocolate yogurt with white chocolate chips and marshmallows. She then gave me a quick tour of the place, section to section, department by department. A lot of young and talented people worked there, including one I just met that day who started 2 months ago. How awesome is that eh? Right after college, working at Dreamworks. The place had a lot of original and prototype artwork from their features, but I couldn’t really take pictures. All I have is the picture below. Thanks LA. I love you. I hate you.