From indie shops to coffee stops, the best locations for people-watching and bringing your dog, eight Sunday Times writers choose their favourite activities and places to visit in the capital
When I was 20 years old, I crossed America by train. A couple of friends and I had gone interrailing around Europe the previous summer and decided to do the same across the continental United States, hopping off to spend time in Philadelphia, Chicago and even Albuquerque, New Mexico along the way. It was peak Celtic Tiger era and I was armed with a zero interest student credit card and an Amtrak pass. The trip culminated in Los Angeles, somewhere I’d always wanted to visit as a keen Hollywood enthusiast. But it wasn’t the homes of the A-list or the glamorous studios that excited me most, in the end. It was the Playboy Mansion.