When chef concierge James Little needs some fresh ideas for what to recommend to clients, he gets on his motorcycle. The concierge of the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel, Little motors all over Southern California gathering up ideas for what to do, where to eat, and how to discover the best of Los Angeles.
While he spends most of his time booking restaurant reservations and transportation for guests, he does work for a superluxe Beverly Hills hotel--and that means some client requests can get a little out of control. He reveals, "The craziest thing I have ever done for a hotel guest was fly to London where I stayed for a week. I got to know the guest's dog and then flew back to Los Angeles with the dog to deliver it to the guest."
We're not crazy-rich hotel hoppers, but we did want to know what James Little recommends for a weekend around Southern California. The locations and restaurants he recommended to us represent the best of what Little describes as "some of the very populated areas of the city juxtaposed with some great hidden natural areas." When he wants to relax, he says, "I tend to go off the beaten path and sometimes will just lose myself in a day of people watching." And while Little was born and raised in New York, he's been an Angeleno since 1989. He loves the city because, "I like the feeling that I can either be in the city or in the woods, depending on my mood."
