Welcome to This Ugly Beautiful Newsletter!
A companion to This Ugly Beautiful City on Substack.
What is This Ugly Beautiful City?
This Ugly Beautiful City is a local’s guide to Los Angeles.
It is an itinerary-focused travel blog that features travel tips and guides for anyone exploring Los Angeles from a local Angeleno to a first-time tourist who is passionate about food, art, and culture.
What is This Ugly Beautiful Newsletter?
This newsletter is a companion to the blog This Ugly Beautiful City. The blog deep dives into LosAngeles’ neighborhoods one by one, giving readers a comprehensive list of recommendations for things to do, see, and eat.
However, that limitation makes it harder to talk about all of the Los Angeles neighborhoods at once–there are 400 of them. Substack is my place to talk about the places I am exploring and want to explore. (Paid-tier folks can explore with me in person. More on that later.)
Why is it Ugly and Beautiful?
I love Los Angeles, and I want you to love it too. Sometimes Los Angeles gets a bad rap. There are many preconceived notions about this city that I hope to dispel. We aren’t all Real Housewives or starring on reality shows where people behave badly. There are millions of people here who make Los Angeles great—small business owners, artists, and people sharing their talents with the community. I talk about them on my blog.
People think traffic and Los Angeles are synonymous, but sometimes you have to wade through ugly traffic to get to beautiful places. I will also talk about nature, one-of-a-kind museums, and other places I think you should know about that are beyond the well-known.
There are two posts on my blog where I explore why I am writing this and how I came up with the name This Ugly Beautiful City; read them below!
What will you find here?
It will include a note from me, what was published on This Ugly Beautiful City over the past month, and a monthly bucket list of places I want to explore for future posts.
The paid tier ($5 a month)
You will get all of that free stuff, as well as access to the community of Los Angeles explorers, curated events lists, free itineraries, and substack member-only events. This tier is geared toward local Angelenos or a way to support my project if you live outside of Southern California.
What won’t you find here?
Ads and algorithms.
Coming soon
The first newsletter will come to you on November 13th.
The first round-up of Los Angeles events–Los Angeles Curated–will go out to paid subscribers on November 14th. (Save that 7-day free trial for then.)
Don’t forget to add thisuglybeautifulcity@substack.com to your safe senders list.
I am so happy you are here, and I can’t wait to explore with you!