Eve Babitz, Erewhon, Aviator Nation

Good morning and welcome back to spring break at American Style. This week, you’ll be hearing from three college students as they document 48 hours of their spring break trips.

Today’s spring breaker is Sophie, a Claremont McKenna freshman who returns to the newsletter after participating in the American Style College Questionnaire last fall.

Sophie spent her spring break in Laguna Beach, LA and Malibu, hoping to “Eve Babitz larp.” Her 48 hours include: Michael Pitt and Bassvictim at the Hollywood Roosevelt pool, eyelash extensions by a woman named Veronika, Roller Rabbit, Trace being targeted for towing because he’s driving a brand new Audi, smoothies, dried fruit, cut kiwis and strawberries, cheese, coconut water, “kefir soda,” “third eye chakra functional beverage,” sushi, mints, caramels, and gummy bears.

Name: Sophie

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Hometown/where you live now: Born & raised in NYC, but currently living in Claremont, CA for college.

How did you decide what to do for spring break? My friend Sarah and I decided that we would spend spring break together a couple months ago. At first we wanted to go to Cabo, but our parents were worried about cartel stuff, so we pivoted to just staying close to school. I love California and LA so I was more than happy about that. My friend Olive ended up joining us for the second half of our trip. [Editorial note: you can read Olive’s spring break diary about her time in Palm Springs before meeting up with Sophie here.]

When did you start planning? How long is your trip? We were super last minute about the whole trip. I was excited to see that the Hollywood Roosevelt was a lot cheaper than usual, so we booked four nights there and then figured the rest out. I’m a big Eve Babitz fan and am really fascinated by the whole milieu she writes about, so staying at the Roosevelt or Chateau Marmont has been high on my list of priorities since moving to SoCal. I went to the Roosevelt pool a couple months ago for an outdoor screening of Pulp Fiction, which was so fun and made me want to stay there even more. From there we just looked for beachfront hotels that still had availability. We ended up staying in a hotel in Laguna for four nights before heading to Hollywood.

Did you do any shopping? What did you buy? I got an Aviator Nation hoodie from their store in Laguna, which was a 20 minute walk from our hotel. Sarah got a hoodie also. I liked the hoodie so much that we went back the next day and I bought hot pink sweatpants. I got three postcards in Laguna too, one to hang in my dorm and one each to send to my mom and dad. I went to two separate Brandy Melvilles, also — the one at The Grove and one in Brentwood. At The Grove I bought a really tiny red plaid mini skirt (I plan to wear it with a black turtleneck and tights for going out), a black short sleeved knit dress, a striped sweater, and pink shorts; in Brentwood I got this cute white blouse and cargo shorts.

I did a ton of grocery shopping at Erewhon. I literally went like 5 times to several different locations. Some things I got: smoothies, dried fruit, cut kiwis and strawberries, cheese, coconut water, “kefir soda,” “third eye chakra functional beverage,” sushi, mints, caramels, gummy bears.

On the last day of my trip I got a t-shirt and luggage tag from the diner we ate at, Bob’s Big Boy, because I loved it so much. I’d been meaning to go forever because David Lynch used to go there every day, and I’d seen pictures of vigils fans set up there after he died. The luggage tag is so random but my previous luggage tag broke as I was packing for this trip, and Bob’s had like 10 different colors of luggage tag so it felt like fate.

How did you get to your destination? Was it stressful? My dad drove Sarah and I from our college in Claremont to Laguna. He was visiting me right before break started. We drove from Claremont to the Getty Museum, which we went to all together, and then from there to Laguna. Not stressful. Our Uber from Laguna to Hollywood was equally chill; I listened to Lana and slept the whole time.

What do you hope to achieve this spring break? I hope to Eve Babitz larp because that’s kind of my overarching personal thesis and constant aspiration for living in California. But I lowkey don’t plan on going out and partying at all whatsoever, because I want to be lazy and relax, so I’m not sure how that will work out. I’m trying to reconcile my glamorous and wild notions of LA with a competing desire to lean into the kind of spiritual, juice shot, Goop-esque wellness vibe of California. Some concrete things I can achieve are getting a great tan, eating good food, getting room service, and soaking up the Old Hollywood vibes by the Roosevelt pool, which is really pretty. The cherry on top would be to get good pictures of myself for Instagram.

Hours 0-24

What time you woke up: 11 AM

What you slept in: Blue Roller Rabbit pajamas

The weather: 97 degrees and sunny!!! UV 8.

Breakfast: Caesar salad and iced coffee by the pool. I missed the breakfast menu because I slept in and it ended at 11 :(

We had checked in the night before, so this was day 1 at the Hollywood Roosevelt. I was happy and tan, fresh off a restful four days in Laguna Beach with my friend Sarah, so I was in good spirits heading into the LA portion of the trip. We met up with my friend Olive, who’d be staying with us, and some other college friends the night before for dinner; I had gotten pizza and a whole artichoke, which I was really psyched about because I feel like it’s a rare menu item.

Despite having gone to sleep early, we woke up around 11: Sarah and I in the main giant king bed and Olive on a roll away in the other room (we’d splurged on a fancy suite with multiple rooms, and did not realize there was only one bed). I probably averaged 10 hours of sleep a night over break.

Your goal for the day: Make progress on my tan and read a few chapters of Moby Dick for school.

Your outfit: Poolside = bikini from Eterne, Chloe sunglasses, flip flops.

Lash appointment and Erewhon = Aviator Nation pink sweats and grey hoodie.

Hydration of choice: Iced coffee and chakra drink thing I got at Erewhon the day before.

The vibe in the air: Languid, sleepy.

Lunch: Entire family size bag of cheese puffs and some dried apples.

The UV was 8, so we went straight to the pool to lie out on loungers and tan. It’s 95 degrees; the pool is busy. I recognize a middle-aged man swimming, and wrack my brain before I realize it’s Michael Pitt, who I know only from Bertolucci’s The Dreamers. Louis Garrel, his co-star, has been my celebrity crush forever, so I didn’t pay that much attention to Pitt’s character when I watched it. I’m laughing to myself as I watch him try to sit in a pool tube with a young woman on his lap, and they keep capsizing.

I try to read some Moby Dick for school; Olive reads Pericles, Prince of Tyre, a Shakespeare play which becomes a kind of joke between us because we’d never heard of it, she thinks it’s very bad, and the title sounds funny.

I can’t focus because it’s so sunny and the people-watching is so good. We recognize an elderly Broadway character actress, who stands right in front of me and puts on flippers, a swim cap, and a snorkel. I look to Olive and Sarah like no she won’t, but she does, gingerly going down the ladder into the pool and proceeding to swim laps for half an hour.

One final funny sighting of the day: Maria and Ike from the band Bassvictim come ambling into the pool area with some friends. Literally two days before, Sarah and I had planned to go to their LA show, so it’s kind of funny seeing them here. We had gotten guest listed through a friend but realized the venue was an hour and a half drive from Laguna, so bailed at the last minute. Maria drunkenly screams a Madonna song and loudly discusses conspiracies with some older women who have been there since we got there in the morning.

At 4:30 pm I depart for my lash appointment, which I walk to. Being a New Yorker committed to walking places is weird in LA, which has no pedestrians despite honestly being pretty walkable.

My lash extensions take an hour and a half; I walk back to the hotel; Olive, Sarah, and I Uber to Erewhon to get dinner and stock up on snacks. Back in our room, we consult the Notes app watchlist we made for the trip; we settle on Terrence Malick’s Badlands, which we watch in bed. Post-Badlands, we order room service and binge Broad City to end the day. This was such a perfect day but very tame, so I guess I’m doing more of a Didion larp/hungover Babitz day except I didn’t go out the night before and was not hungover.

High point: Random celebrity sightings at the hotel pool.

Low point: The iced coffee I got at the pool bar was really watery :(

Meet anyone interesting? I got my lash extensions done by a woman named Veronika. She was very beautiful and kind, and had really intense full-glam makeup, which I always think is impressive.

Most spring break moment of the day: Smoking a joint in the hotel parking lot while wearing the new hoodies we got in Laguna. I really feel like a teenage girl when I’m twinning with my friends.

Dinner: My first dinner was a matcha avocado smoothie, spicy tuna sushi, and cut-up kiwis and strawberries from Erewhon. My second dinner was room service butter pasta from the kids menu.

What time you went to bed: 12:30 AM

Good day? Great day!

Hours 25-48

What time you woke up: 11 AM

What you slept in: Same blue Roller Rabbit pajamas.

The weather: 90 degrees.

Olive, Sarah, and I made plans to meet up with our friend Trace for bagels in Santa Monica. We were too impatient to wait until then for coffee, so we Ubered to Community Goods, this viral LA coffee place that was closer to our hotel. As our Uber rounded the corner, a really formidable line became visible: maybe 40 feet long and partially in the sun. We bitched and moaned to each other before taking a deep breath and getting out of the car. I don’t know what we expected because we knew Community Goods was TikTok famous, but it’s quite uniquely humiliating to wait in a long line for something stupid. As New Yorkers, Olive and I especially like to fancy ourselves as being above trendy overpriced drinks that only tourists and transplants would line up for. But after all, we are both LA tourists and California transplants. Anyways, we were really embarrassed to wait in the line. To pass the time, I wrote a MASH on Olive’s copy of Pericles, which predicted that she will reside in Sri Lanka and marry Jacob Elordi, among other things.

Once we finally made it into the store, I marveled at the random non-food items for sale on wooden shelves. I took a photo of a particularly incoherent section of the display: K-beauty pimple patches on a rack beside bundles of sage and palo santo.

Because we had waited in line for so long, I decided I was going to get two different drinks to make this venture feel more worthwhile. This young guy with a buzz cut in head to toe Supreme (including his socks) takes my order. I get an iced latte and iced “matcha einspanner,” their specialty drink which is matcha with salty cold foam. It’s honestly the best matcha I’ve ever had in my life, but I think very few things are worth waiting in a long outdoor line and this is not one of them. I eat some of Sarah’s banana bread, and a sip of her espresso tonic, which I don’t really like but think seems very chic and mature.

Breakfast: Iced coffee, iced matcha, and banana bread.

Your goal for the day: See Malibu for the first time!

Your outfit: Isabel Marant dress over a bikini, flip flops, tote bag.

Hydration of choice: “Pink Goddess” juice from Sunlife.

The vibe in the air: Chill, beachy, canonically Brandy Melville.

From Community Goods, we Uber about 30 minutes to Santa Monica for bagels with Trace and Luana, who both go to college with us. Since leaving NYC I’m constantly fiending for a passable bagel; this one was really yummy. A friend of Trace’s that he met at his hotel in Hawaii over winter break stops by briefly with a kind-of girlfriend, maybe. He is really confusingly flirty with Trace, which we discuss at length once he’s left. Luana drives back to her house in Santa Barbara; Trace, Olive, Sarah and I drive to the Brentwood Country Mart, an outdoor mall, where we meet up with Hino, another college friend.

Lunch: Bagel with cream cheese, tomato, capers, cucumbers, pickled onions.

There’s a Brandy Melville right next to a Sunlife Organics; it feels like a #2016 wet dream. We buy clothes and smoothies and juices, and then drive up the PCH to Malibu. We roll the windows down and play Paper Planes by MIA. It’s a very beautiful moment. In Malibu, a sign for oysters catches Sarah’s eye and we stop for food. I get a lobster roll and we head to the beach just in time to watch the sunset. Olive and Hino play frisbee; I dip my feet in the ocean; Trace narrowly avoids getting his car towed from the parking lot — he’s convinced the towing people targeted him because the car is a brand new Audi. I write a MASH for Sarah, and then we leave. Trace drops off Olive, Sarah, and I at the Santa Monica Erewhon, where we stock up on a ton of snacks for later that night and the next day.

High point: The cheese I bought at Erewhon was really delicious. Every time I buy cheese it’s a blind buy because I forget the names of the cheeses I like.

Low point: Not swimming because by the time we got to the beach it was too chilly.

Meet anyone interesting? My friend Trace’s new friend, who really seemed to be hitting on him, but was there with his sort-of girlfriend and is apparently not gay. Really threw me off.

Most spring break moment of the day: Blasting music in Trace’s car driving down the Pacific Coast Highway with the windows down.

Dinner: Lobster roll, Olive’s leftover fish taco and fries.

What time you went to bed: 12:30 AM

Good day? Really awesome day!

We Uber back to our hotel, where we smoke in the parking lot and then eat my Erewhon cheese and watch more Broad City. It’s been a very peaceful spring break.

Editorial note: Sophie will be back in her hometown of New York City this summer and is looking for a summer internship/assistant position in the creative industries. You can email her if you know of something: smgoldensohn@gmail.com.

I can personally attest that Sophie is a wonderful young person to work with.