"Tidbits on the Westside" (Westside Today September 2005)

The Coral Tree Café features the cutest girls on the Westside and the best salads (which is probably why the girls are there). Salads are served in a large dog-like bowl, big enough to feed a family of three or two great danes. There are also yummy pasta dishes and toasted sandwiches. For dessert, a good way to send your glucose level skyrocketing is with the heavenly chocolate pudding bread; served hot or cold. Everything is downside pricey ($10-15), the sodas are more than two bucks, but you can get free refills (they don't tell you this). You can sit inside, or outside on the comfy patio, which features cushions and miniature fires. This casual cafe offers free Wi-Fi, but the signal is turned off (without warning, thank you very much!) during peak hours to discourage cyber squatters.

Coral Tree Café
11645 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles , CA 90049
310-442-3503

Off Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air sits an ancient secret surrounded by a 17th century-styled bamboo fence. The UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden boasts an amazing waterfall and an 18,000 gallon pond filled with rare (and expensive) koi fish, so be sure to bring your fishing pole! A perfect place for a first date, the garden is so serene that you'll forget you're in the middle of the city, and feel as if you're on "Lost." You can go on an adventure, explore the dense foilage and a discover a 1000-year-old stone carving of Buddha; don't tell your date, but this is a cheap outing, in fact, its free! Keep in mind, though, you have to make reservations. If you do happen to show up on a day when the garden is not open, you may find the door cracked open (as I did), be able to sneak in and snap some pictures before being chased off the property by an angry overweight middle-aged gardener.

UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden
10619 Bellagio Rd.
Bel Air
310-825-4574
Open: Tue, Wed, Fri and the first Sunday of each month
10am-3pm
No Charge
Reservations Required

Located on busy Second Street in Santa Monica, the Exhale Mind Body Spa features various types of treatments, from facials to massages. Once inside the segregated-by-sex changing area, you'll find free lockers to store your clothes, and garish robes to change into. Warning, these tacky lounge threads appear to have come from Hugh Hefner's closet, circa 1975. Adorned like “Hef,” you loiter in a communal waiting area until your date, errr, attractive staff member finds you. The employees whisper and walk on eggshells, giving you that “Pope for an hour” feeling. (Are they afraid of eternal damnation or not getting a tip?) You are then led into a private room for a myriad of choices: facial, peels, manicure, pedicure, eyelash curling, acupuncture, waxing, or one of the many massages, from pre-natal to couples. The couples massage features two masseuses and two rooms, which turn into one, via a partition that slides back. The soothing deep tissue massage lasts for an hour, feels like 15 minutes and will set you back a day's pay, but it's worth it.

Exhale Mind Body Spa
1422 Second St .
Santa Monica , CA
310-899-6222