THIS WEEK sees the debut of the Brits in LA column, brought to you by two very enterprising young British expats, Craig Young and Eileen Lee. You may already know them from their popular Facebook pages. But we’ll let them introduce themselves…
Greetings Breeps!
Firstly, thank you to Neil Fletcher for inviting us to have our own column in this great publication. We are very honored. So I thought I’d start with a bit of “Who are we?” Eileen and I are both Brits with a combined living in LA age of 31 – I won’t say who’s been here longer because she looks younger than me and has less of a mid atlantic twang! We started Brits in LA almost 7 years ago. An online social community for ex-pats – from anywhere with our slogan being “You don’t have to be British, You just have to like us.”
Starting organically through a couple of get togethers – and perhaps 10 people, we started to meet regularly to have breakfast, consisting of American omelets, percolated coffee and lots of loud voices around us. When Soho House in West Hollywood decided to open up their anchor restaurant Cecconis (Italian, I know!) and had this beautiful patio space it seemed like a no-brainer – we just had to convince the chef to make an english breakfast. Luckily he was from the UK and welcomed the challenge. Three years later we now meet every Tuesday for Cumberland Sausages, fried eggs and British Heinz baked beans. What started with about ten people has grown from anywhere from 40 to 120 people. It’s a real great place to have a natter, a moan or ask the regulars for advice. Extra bonuses of bottomless tea and coffee and free valet parking $15 or $18 for the Full English (tax and tip included).
Among our other events are a Sunday roast dinner once a month and “a very British pub-crawl” exploring different parts of the city. Most recently was Silver Lake, coming up next will be Downtown, then Santa Monica, just in time for the peak good weather to hit. We are also planning a celebration for the birth of the new royal baby at West Hollywood’s ultra-chic Palihouse boutique hotel. With our relationships we also have free screenings of movies before they hit the cinema and theatre outings.
And because sifting through Craigslist can be quite a minefield (and also a breeding ground for scammers), we started Brits in LA Selling Pages and Brits in LA Housing both on Facebook. It’s great place to put a face to a name and ask as many questions as you like. The community has grown to over 5100 members and really is a great place for people to ask advice from setting up a bank account to where get a good curry. There is usually a flurry of activity from members willing to help and give recommendations.
So whether you are new to LA or have been here for 40-odd years, get involved in the community and start enjoying like-minded people.
Cheers Craig and Eileen.
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