A first stop might well be the Thailand Plaza, the self titled "center
of Thai Town". Parking is in a garage - you pay for parking unless you
purchase items from any of the vendors that surround this plaza or eat
at the restaurant. Be sure
to get the receipt from the store so that you can show the parking
attendant on your way out. Parking in general is very tight in Thai town
- many businesses have only a few parking spots - and often cars will
double park in an area. One small one-story shopping complex even has a
parking attendant collecting $1 for parking in the small lot, just to go
to market or small restaurants. Parking can also be found in residential
areas both north and south of Hollywood Blvd however these streets are
already usually filled with residents' cars.
Thailand Plaza is located 5321 Hollywood Blvd on the north side of the
street. You can't miss it; there is a tall orange sign in the front that
says "Thailand Plaza". There is good sized Thai grocery store located
here - be sure to buy some of the Salacca Drink - you can NOT find this
anywhere else. Dokya Bookstore is also located here which is a very good Thai
bookstore where you can pick up current editions of the Bangkok Post,
National Geographic and
many other Thai books and magazines. They charge an annual fee for
membership which affords you discounts on purchases; if you are not a
member, the items are priced higher. Phone: 323 464-7178
Upstairs in Thailand Plaza is the appropriately named,
Thailand Plaza
Restaurant. An older well-known Thai actor sometimes works here as the
host. The food here is mostly authentic - live entertainment from a
stage plays every night. If you are not sitting close to the stage,
choose from any number of TV's that broadcast the show. For more
information about this restaurant and Thailand Plaza in general please
visit their website:
www.thailandplazala.com
Sapp Coffee Shop is located in the small shopping center
on the corner of Kingsley and Hollywood Blvd (north side of the street - 5183
Hollywood Blvd) - next to a video store. The soups here are extremely
authentic - they taste just like what you would order on the streets of
Bangkok. Our favorite is the Sen Mee Nua, Nam Tok. This is our number one restaurant in Thai town for eating soup.
They are closed Wednesdays. Take out ok. Phone: 323 665-1035 |
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Thai Desert House is located next to the old Palm Thai Restaurant in
a small shopping center at 5273 Hollywood Blvd. During weekends and
weekday evening this
shopping center typically only allows you to park in the small parking
lot via a Valet Parking service, however if you tell them you are only
going to the Thai dessert shop and there are some extra spaces in the
small lot in the back, they may let you pull in yourself and park for
free. The Durian chips in the square hard plastic containers are
expensive but quite good. There are several other restaurants in this
shopping center all serving very authentic Thai food. The restaurant in
the north west corner which contains a small dessert shop is also very
good.
Hollywood Hair Designs is located in this same shopping plaza and
has been in business for over 30 years, run by the same owner Tony... as
he says, "before Thai town was even here". He is a great guy who knows
all the local history and can really tell a good story and provide a
good haircut. He is located at 5255 Hollywood Blvd. (323) 462-9504.
Palms Thai Restaurant is without a doubt is one of the top Thai
restaurants in the entire state of California. Please visit our
detailed description of this restaurant
here and or their website:
www.palmsthai.com
Consider having a Thai massage while you are in Thai Town. Our choice is
the R4U Massage Spa & Salon located on the south side of the street at
5300 Hollywood Blvd. Choose from short to rather lengthy massages. We
have had the foot and full body Thai massage. Very relaxing and
affordable. For more information call 323 465-2755
Another Thai massage place we recommend which has affordable pricing is
Thai-Sabai Massage located at 5261 Hollywood Blvd. Visit:
www.thaisabai.com
or Phone: 323 485-2800
Want some authentic Thai dessert and candy? Bhan Kanon Thai has three
locations - our favorite is at 5271 Hollywood Blvd. Great selection of
dried candies and fruits including Durian and Jakfruit chips. Visit:
www.bhankanomthai.com or Phone: 323 871-8025
The Thai New Year (Songkran Festival)
in Thailand is always celebrated on April 15th, but the Thai New Years
Festival in Thai town is always held the first Sunday of every April. Because 5 major blocks of Hollywood Blvd are completely closed to
traffic and the large crowds that hit this event, it is highly
recommended you take the Metro or use the Park-and-Ride lot. If you take
the metro jump on the Red Line and get off on the Hollywood/Western
stop. This is Thai cultural at its best (outside of Thailand that is).
The center of the street is filled with food, vendor, fruit carvings and
other educational booths. A boxing ring is setup for ongoing Muay Thai
(Thai Boxing events) including even little kids who fight each other.
The fights always draw huge crowds. Famous Thai VIPS and celebrities
including actors and musicians are flown in from Bangkok to participate
in this new year's celebration. IPtv which is the main Thai TV station
for Thai's abroad, broadcasts live and interviews famous people. There
are several stages including a culture stage and musical stage - we saw
the famous Swedish duo Jonas and Christy perform live - always a treat
to see two Farang (foreigners) singing old Thai country music to the
great appreciation of the mostly Thai crowd.
This is heart of Thai Town and the shops and restaurants do triple time
to accommodate the crowds that frequent their establishments during this
one busiest day of the year. We've seen police and firemen trying to
block crowds from going into some of the stores b/c it was wall to wall
people inside! Even the Mayor of Los Angeles typically attends this event
and participates in the Parade - which usually takes place on the
eastern part of Hollywood Blvd that is closed to through traffic.
Another highlight is the Thai beauty pageant where the women walk down
the catwalk strutting their stuff to what we can only describe as
rhythmic house music. Ages of the contestants in past years have ranged
from 16 to 25. View our photos below and also visit:
www.thainewyear.com
Wat Thai although not a part of the Thai town itself serves as a
central meeting point for Thai's and others. Wat Thai is located at
8225
Coldwater Canyon Ave right near the Hollywood Freeway (the 170).
From Thai Town in the south, jump on the 101 freeway north to the 170
North and get off at Roscoe Blvd West and Wat Thai is located about a
block or two in from the freeway. This is
one of the largest Wats in the USA. You can also get to Wat Thai from
the 101 by exiting at Woodmanse or Coldwater Canyon and driving on
surface streets.
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Without a doubt the best times to be here are during two annual major
Thai National Holidays such as the Songkran Festival in mid April (Thai
New Years water festival), or Loy Kratong in mid October. If you
cannot make it during these or other Thai holidays, try to make it at
least during the mid-day on Sundays. Part of the parking lot is turned
into food vendors - you can get very authentic Thai food here. In order
to buy food you must pay for plastic colored chips at the main booth.
Each colored chip corresponds to a certain dollar value. Thai baht is
not accepted. More
information is here:
www.watthaiusa.org
If you enter the main Wat you must leave your shoes at the entrance.
Shorts worn inside is ok, just be sure not to sit down with your feet
pointed towards the Altar/Buddha in the front. You can try shaking the
wooden Sium Si - in which you want to shake it so that only one of the
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many sticks inside falls out.
When you have only one stick on the floor - pick it up and look at the
number on it. Then walk over to the wall on the left and choose the
paper corresponding to the number on your stick. If it is good luck you
can stop shaking the Sium Si; if it mentions bad
luck in your life shake the sticks until you get a positive one.
Songkran Festival (Wat Thai)
- is a celebration of the Thai New Year is always held in
Thailand on April 15th. Because the weather this time of year is so hot
and humid in Thailand water is always a big part of this festival - i.e.
people throw lots of water on each other! However these water fights
during Songkran at Wat Thai are typically usually just between children.
The Songkran Festival at Wat Thai is always held the 2nd weekend in
April on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday has additional events that
do not appear on Sundays schedule including the ever popular Thai beauty
contest, however if the weather is good, both days see large crowds.
During Songkran Wat Thai fills up with visitors, the parking
lot on the
east side is completely turned into food vendors selling great authentic
Thai food as well as Thai craft vendors. In addition there is music and
dancing and other cultural events on the central stage. Tickets
are also sold for prize items - you fish out plastic eggs from a
pond and the numbers in each egg correspond to various prizes.
In the afternoons dancing takes place with a large group of
dancers circling several times through the temple playing music
and beating drums. It is a very festive atmosphere. The weather
in mid April is typically typical LAish, warm, sunny and mostly
clear. We've been to this event 6x now and have always
experienced decent weather.
For parking, it is best to arrive early - in any case you most
likely will have to park on either side of Coldwater Canyon in
the residential neighborhoods and walk several blocks at minimum
to the temple. |
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In and around the temple can be insanely crowded on all streets
during this event. There is always shuttle parking provided from the
nearby Kaiser Hospital (address -
11668 Sherman Way).
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