My Favorite Weekend: Disney Channel favorite Jennifer Stone
At just 17, actress Jennifer Stone knows her way around showbiz. The star of the new Disney Channel movie “Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars” and the hit series “Wizards of Waverly Place” says she’s been at it since she was a toddler. “I started in theater when I was 6 back in Texas,” said the Studio City resident. “I started to get work in commercials and small parts in films and then begged my mother to let me come out to L.A. She thought it would just be for one summer, but it didn’t turn out that way.” Here’s how this career girl handles her downtime.
Hitting the town
The Silent Movie Theatre is one of my favorite places. There’s such a camaraderie among the people who go there because they love movies. And that’s my life -- I love movies, everything about them. That’s how this whole industry got started, and I love paying homage to that.
But for more current movies, I also like the ArcLight, and there’s an AMC at CityWalk that’s great too.
For a Saturday night with my girlfriends, I love Jack n’ Jill’s Too on 3rd Street. It’s got the best queso. I’m from Texas, and this restaurant has the only queso that compares with the queso back there. It’s not just melted cheese; there’s spices, tomato . . . I don’t think a lot of people in California really get what queso is.
If I could convince my Mom to let me drive down there, which so far hasn’t happened, I’d like to go with friends to Venice Beach. I’m a big people-watcher, and man, that is the epicenter! It’s fantastic for observing people, and shopping on the boardwalk is so fun.
But if I’m going to actually go in the water or lay out, I’d probably go to Zuma. I love it there.
Lunch and shopping
Sunday is really my “me” day. First, I like to grab some lunch at Aroma cafe on Tujunga, which I love because it’s such a quiet little place and the bookstore is fantastic. I love their lemonade, and I always get the hummus with toast.
And just around the corner is a vintage store called Playclothes. I like anything from the ‘60s back; I’m not too much of a ‘70s or ‘80s girl.
My favorite TV show is “ Mad Men,” so it kind of plays into that whole vintage thing. And there’s another vintage store I like called The Way We Wore on La Brea.
Kicking up her heels
I’m a big art fan, and if I also want some peace and quiet, I’ll go to the Getty Center and just wander around for a couple of hours.
But if I want to have a livelier night and maybe some dinner and dancing, I’ll go to the Cicada Club downtown, an old revamped swing club from the ‘20s. Great big-band music. And, oh, I dance, honey. I don’t just go to soak in the atmosphere.