Living in the Valley for the first 14 years of my life, I was both excited/worried about shooting a handful of the 'best' places to hit up while there. Excited because I never go there anymore, and worried because I didn't know if the list was 'perfect'. R29 readers are a bit crazy when it comes to "the best of" lists and they don't understand that a lot of hard work goes into making these articles. If we don't include YOUR favorite restaurant or bar, don't be so hard on us. We've done our research, we took the time to go to these places to photograph them - please don't say we didn't put any "effort" into it. It's really not fair.
Moving on. I shot 10 of the 26 places, but I am more stoked on the fact that I told Brenna to include Handmade (#1 in the slideshow). That shop was my favorite favorite favorite when I lived there and I miss it so much. So I'm glad I got to add something to the list, even if it was only one place.
Here's the article!
