Place to PT @ 8:30am in Los Angeles?

bjphillips5

No libraries in LA are open Saturday or during the week at 8:30 (even university due to summer schedules), though a few coffee shops are. So far I've been going to a library at 9:30a. Any recommendations for where to PT at 8:30 in LA?

BruiserWoods

paging @LARamsNation

Nicole Hopkins

@bjphillips5 said:
So far I've been going to a library at 9:30a. Any recommendations for where to PT at 8:30 in LA?

9:30 is a fine time to start PT's IMO!

LARamsNation

Rams Nation reporting. UCLA Classrooms. Always open, no one cares if you're in there. I go there on Saturdays and Sundays myself... lmk if you're up for a PT together @bjphillips5

Sprinkles

I would try PT'ing in the location you're taking the LSAT if possible? I know some people have difficulty either going to their location easily (due to it being too far) or it being restricted. My testing center is open so I just do PTs there.

Sprinkles

Plus if that's possible, it gives you a feel of the location so come test day you won't be panicked by an unknown place.

bjphillips5

Awesome! Thanks so much everyone. I'm stoked that I can keep doing some at 9:30 guilt-free. I'd love to @LARamsNation -- I'll DM you.

I don't think it's possible to get into Southwestern Law School (my Test Center) before hand, but maybe I'm wrong! Perhaps, I'll adventure there someday.

Cant Get Right

9:30 is much closer to actual start time than 8:30. If you really want to mimic conditions, show up at 8:30 and sit around for an hour, lol.

Cant Get Right

But if you're just looking for a coffee shop..

I'm pretty sure Intelligentsia over on Abbot-Kinney (Santa Monica?) is open, or any of the others for that matter. Always overrun with people in there so would really test your focus if you're in to that kind of thing. Abbot's Habit across the way has a little more seating where you might could find you a little nook away from the hustle and bustle. Handsome Coffee downtown should be open as well but I'm not really sure about them. Only been there once and it was relatively quiet. Anyway, if you want good coffee Intelligentsia and Handsome are both top 10 in the country.

bjphillips5

Josh, aren't you in the middle of nowhere Mississippi?! I'm taking your recommendations, but slightly ashamed that you know more about Los Angeles coffee than me. I love it the waiting idea. Sit in the parking lot for an hour, managing nerves. No half-measures.

twssmith

Please excuse the sidebar - @"Cant Get Right" how the heck do you have so much intel on LA when you currently live - seriously in the backwoods of the South, heehee:)

(I live in somewhat backwoods in the South, so this is not meant to be derogatory in any way:)

Cant Get Right

I may be in the boondocks, but that doesn’t mean I drink peasant coffee!

So LA coffee, haha. It’s more coffee knowledge than LA knowledge, so you can hold your LA local pride intact @bjphillips5 ! Intelligentsia is big time. They only have maybe five stores but they’re internationally recognized as among the very best. They really were leaders in making coffee not suck, and the modern specialty coffee industry is kind of built on the model which they pioneered. They’ve since been surpassed by a couple of roasters in my opinion but they remain indisputably among the very best of the elites. Handsome was founded by Michael Phillips (formerly of Intelligentsia Chicago, actually) who was the first American to win the World Barista Championship. So it’s a must visit for any coffee enthusiast visiting LA.

Although in looking up how to spell Phillips, I just saw that Bluebottle bought up Handsome. So it’s a Bluebottle now. They’re out of Oakland and are as good as anyone. It’s not that they’re not worth a trip, it’s just there’s a lot of them. Glad I had the opportunity to go to Handsome while it was Handsome. This is happening a lot actually. The industry is conglomerating.

So it goes.

bjphillips5

I will check out Intelligentsia and BlueBottle, sad that Handsome doesn't exist anymore. Thanks for the tips though. I did a brief search to see if I was related to Michael Phillips. I'm not. So it goes.

Cant Get Right

Yeah, I noticed you both spelled it the same and I kind of wondered about that. And if you know where “So it goes” comes from, mad respect.

bjphillips5

Kurt Vonnegut is my all-time hero. Darn best human being I've had the pleasure of knowing (through writing and interviews at least). I teach him to all my 9th graders!

Cant Get Right

Right on @bjphillips5 ! What do you teach your kids? I had Cat's Cradle in 11th grade with a teacher that looked exactly like Vonnegut. That class was a big part of the reason I majored in English lit.

bjphillips5

Vonnegut was my reason for majoring in English too! I hope your teacher smoked Pall Mall's too. "The only honorable form of suicide."

I've tried sections of Slaughterhouse-Five, but it's a bit too challenging for them on their own. So, we read parts of it all together. I use a number of his short-stories. Harrison Bergeron, EPICAC, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, All the King's Horses. Fun fact: Short stories are great teaching tools. I've found it much easier to teach complex lit when it's contained within 5 pages rather than 200-300.

But it's so much fun to share my favorite with students. And they usually become most of students' favorite stories because they're so funny and subtle and intelligent all at the same time.

Cant Get Right

Very cool. I may have to pause my Harry Potter binge and pick up something. I've had "Galapagos" on the shelf for a while now.

Definitely among the cleverest American writers of all time. I might put him second behind Twain, but even that's debatable which is saying a lot. I think he is frequently under valued because the Modernists demand so much respect. But in my estimation, KV belongs right at the top of the greatest 20th century American writers with figures like Faulkner and Hemingway.

bjphillips5

I haven't read some of his lesser known works, though I think I own them all. "Sirens of Titan" is one of my favorites. Also, hilarious coincidence: I'm also Harry Potter binging. It's such good just-before-bed reading.

I completely agree that KV is underrated. I think, for some (mostly critics) his humor undermines the seriousness of his message. It also seems like the large quantity of work of perhaps varying quality might hurt him a bit too. He might be a bit too curmudgeon for literary critics. I'm with you though. I think one of his greatest attributes is the ability to combine literary and popular fiction into one thing. I love that man.

Cant Get Right

I totally agree with your analysis. And yeah, HP has been wonderful LSAT reading. I just hope I don't burn the whole series down too fast. I'd love for it to last me until September. Very little chance of that though, lol.

stepharizona

Ok for a totally out there place and sounds silly but the three broomsticks at the Wizarding World of Harry Porter (on the patio) has made an awesome place to PT. If you have an annual pass, grab breakfast and the table at the far end and the staff will leave you alone. Its not any more distracting than Starbucks and for some reason put me in a really great mood. They have early entry so its open. I know weird... but its been great ha. My Pass is dark now, but I might pick it back up in Sept. The top of the patio at the Jurassic Park restaurant is also really great, but I still prefer the Three broom sticks.

bjphillips5

@stepharizona best PT location recommendation ever. I very much would like to try that

Skywalker

I recommend UCLA campus (the best university in the universe). You will always find a classroom empty and open on the weekend, year round.

Cant Get Right

I think you win the thread @stepharizona .

stepharizona

@"Cant Get Right" said:
I think you win the thread @stepharizona .

stepharizona

@bjphillips5 said:
very much would like to try that

I also recommend taking it in a house robe... haha See my 7Sage contest photo would have been epic... le sigh... last Wednesday was my first time not doing a PT there on a visit.

dreamville

Is anyone in the LA/OC area open to meeting periodically – could be either for PTing, BRing or general review? Was thinking it could be helpful to bounce concepts off one another. Just a thought.

hazelnut13

I'm in the USC/DTLA area @dreamville

hazelnut13

Philz coffee is a must if you're in DTLA, btw.

dreamville

@hazelnut13 Philz is the best, I haven't been to that one yet. I love coffee shops for drilling and BR and usually a library for PTs. LMU and UCLA are both pretty good for that. Maybe we could get a small group together and have a review session.

corro949

@dreamville @hazelnut13 I'd be down as well! I went to Dinosaur Coffee the other day on sunset in Silverlake and it's pretty nice. Also Verve. Let's try to link up for BR / review.