Lulu in Palm Springs

What a great place to sit, drink, and enjoy people watching. Lulu's is located right on Palm Canyon Dr, the main street of downtown PS.
Great for people watching. If its nice weather they open one whole side of the restaurant to the street.
Hint: happy hour lasts all day at the large bar and surrounding bar tables. There is also a reduced price bar menu too.
Note: I don't prefer sitting on the upper level. It's just not conducive to people watching up there.
Let me know what you think.

Yay, Happy Hour is basically all day at the bar. And, what a generous bar it is.

Yup, that 's me!

Notice the Happy Hour time!

Did I mention Happy Hour?!

Pretty lights. PS: don't let them sit you upstairs. The ceiling is low and it just feels down right weird up there. Though, you can look down on other diners.

It's fun to look at the huge windows at the passersby on Palm Canyon Drive.

There always seems to be people in Lulu.

What a great place to meet people!

The Penguin Cafe, Laguna Beach, CA

The Penguin Cafe

981 S Coast Hwy

Laguna Beach, CA

Welcome to the Penguin Cafe in Laguna Beach. After a great walk on the beach early in the morning we were dying for a cup of coffee and some BACON! We stumbled upon the Penguin Cafe. I love its no-nonsense esthetic. If you want blue Formica and swivel stools, you found the place!

Must have coffee!

The portions of the food were terrific and the waitresses were super nice. The place seemed to get very busy as the morning progressed, so get there early.

It was fun to see so many locals arriving for their morning routine of coffee and breakfast at the counter. You can tell this is a real neighborhood place.

I love blue Formica counter tops! Really

Stop in and try it out. It is a nice alternative to the tony eateries of Laguna Beach. Try their pancakes and anything with bacon. You won't be disappointed. After eating, walk on down to the beach and enjoy the waves and all the people walking their dogs early in the mornings. Enjoy everyone!

So much food. Did you see the size of Geoff's plate?

Cafe Crush #1. Over six feet tall. Cute!

Where can you find a good diner with a counter these days?

I love the silly penguins painted everywhere.

Full!

The Deck, Laguna Beach, CA
627 Sleepy Hollow Lane
Laguna Beach, CA 92651 

While visiting Laguna Beach recently we stayed at the Pacific Edge Hotel. The hotel was written up in Sunset Magazine a couple of times, so what the heck, we checked it out.

The hotel itself is fine. I would most definitely ask for a room with an ocean view and one that is on an upper floor. As it was, our room, with a slight ocean view, was fine.  But enough about the rooms.

My favorite part of this quick visit was the extremely convenient eatery right next door. The Deck is, as you would guess, a deck right on the beach. If you enter from the street just walk down the stairs and you'll run into the hostess station. If you enter from the beach you'll have to walk through the deck and up to the hostess station, up one flight of stairs.

The happy hour is great after a very relaxing day at the beach watching countless families. 3:00 starts the happy hour, and if you get their early enough (at 3) you can snag a great table right on the deck's edge.

We leisurely enjoyed our happy hour drinks and ordered happy hour items off their menu and easily passed two hours. The wait staff if fun. They all look alike. They wear black shirts and sunglasses. I'm not sure how planned all this is, but in a way it is stepford chic!

We visited in late December, right after the Christmas holiday. I imagine that this whole area can get extremely busy in the spring and summer months. Having said that, we had an amazing day sitting at the beach, getting full sun and totally relaxing.

If you stay at the Pacific Edge Hotel, as a guest you'll usually get a small discount on your Deck bill (it seemed to depend on our waitress).

Food: Each item we had from the happy hour menu was great. The portions were enjoyable, not too big or too small. We went through each food item, all accept the hamburger and the salad.

View from our table overlooking the beach and setting sun.

Was that one or two glasses of wine?

Gotta love oysters on the half shell. While at the beach!

The Grand Deli
595 Grand Ave
Carlsbad, CA 92008

I love the decor. I want to go!

Thank you Joe P. for finding this gem! If you happen to be in Carlsbad, CA stop by and check it out. 

Send me more photos. Joe reports that the deli is a complete throw-back to sandwich shops of the past.

I like the photo he sent.

Check it out and post your comments here. 

Thanks a million Joe.

 

Beach Grass Cafe, Solana Beach, CA
Plaza 101
159 South Highway 101
Solana Beach, CA 92075

People watching score: 8 out of 10
(some cute surfing dudes to see)

Thank you to Christoper S. for this recommendation. We spent a great night in Carlsbad and on our way down the coast to sky dive south of San Diego we wanted to have a blog worthy breakfast. Boy were we surprised by this cafe.

To start things off, the cafe looked relatively normal. The outside of the cafe didn't have that funky, fun feel that I usually seek when looking for a cafe. I quickly changed my mind when I took a look at the menu! Seriously, you have to check out the menu.

There were so many great things to try I am sure we'll be back again on our next trip to the beaches of southern California.

Stop by and try out their menu. You won't be disappointed.

I had the veggie has breakfast with egg whites. So very good.

Geoff had the turkey hash breakfast.

Influx Cafe
750  West Fir Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Located in Little Italy

People Watching Score: 9 out of 10

While visiting San Diego recently I was looking for a quick cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee and a muffin before going skydiving. Little Italy is one of my favorite neighborhoods in SD so of course I took a stroll.

Many of the eateries in Little Italy are a little too touristy for me; so I was happy to find Influx Cafe. It is just what you'd expect: a simple, clean, hopping cafe! And the muffins were great too!

The cafe is relatively small, but it has outdoor seating right on the sidewalk, and additional seating in a covered nook.

Its interior is spartan and bright, with a hint toward the mod.

Check it out.

Name: Claire de Lune Coffee Lounge
Address: 2906 University Avenue San Diego, CA 92104
Telephone: (619) 688.9845
Website: http://www.clairdelune.com
Guest Contributor: Larry E.

San Diego, North Park area. Check it out!

Thank you Larry for this contribution.
Larry mentions that this is a fun place to hang out in the North Park area of San Diego. They even have live music too.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Please email me picts of yourself enjoying a myfavoritecafes.com favorite.

Enjoy

Koffi
Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262

Enjoying a coffee at Koffi with friends.

Guest Contributor, Huck, enjoys his daily tea! Oh how British!

Check out Koffi, a wonderful place to enjoy coffee, tea, frozen drinks or even food. I enjoy their salads. They also have great pastries. Try their low fat raspberry muffins......so good.


They are located in the Corridor plaza. Once inside the plaza there is an amazing courtyard to sit and enjoy the unobstructed views of Mt. San Jacinto, a 10,000 foot tall mountain right in the heart of Palm Springs.

A very gay friendly spot for a drink. Also, it is gay owned. Stop by. I'll see you there.

I really enjoyed this PS book. Check it out!

Espresso Cielo, Palm Springs, CA

Espresso Cielo
Address: 245 South Palm Canyon #A-1
Palm Springs, CA 92262



Tele: 760-327-9050


Owner: Micheal and Michael


Hello There, I just returned from a wonderful visit to Palm Springs' newest cafe/coffee shop; Espresso Cielo. How wonderful on so many different levels. First of all, and most importantly...the owner and employees are great and so very inviting. We met the owner, named Michael . In addition to wonderful people, the coffee was terrific, served in, yes, too cute for words, blue cups and saucers...very oh so French...in my opinion. 

We sat outside with a dear friend and talked for nearly an hour or so. We ran in to so many interesting people too. The patio overlooks Palm Canyon (the main street in town). So it was fun to watch people walk by. 

Check it out. It has a wonderful atmosphere and like I said, the staff/employees are fabulous. 

Enjoy

Champagne French Bakery

8917 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA

tele:  310-657-4051

OK, so it's not amazing, or great or fantastic...but it is located in West Hollywood right on Santa Monica Blvd. This cafe is worth writing about just for the people watching.

While there, sitting outside in the generous seating area, I saw one person I recognized from television....and we were only there for about 15 minutes.

The coffee is good and the pastries are great.
I don't think they serve an alcohol....just in case you were wondering. 

But clean, kind and again, great people watching!


Enjoy

Crossroads Cafe and Tavern 

61715 29 Palms Highway
Joshua Tree, CA 92252 



Notes: I love ALL the food here. It is really amazing...especially after a hike in the nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

Check it out, fun atmosphere, fun artwork, fun employees....enjoy the body art..tattoos...sooo cute.


Warning: watch out for annoying city folk who talk way too loudly and take so much of the wait staff's time, just find a table far away from them.


also, so gay friendly


check it out, it is a must for people visiting Joshua Tree National Park.