- I'm Wil Fulton and welcome to "Ride With Me".
The show where we talk to people we love--
- I had a meeting, so I was like, I gotta go.
- About the places they love.
Do you think Guillermo would shop at Sunday's Best?
- Absolutely, Guillermo would definitely
shop at Sunday's Best.
- [Wil] Today we're catching up with actor, Harvey Guillén
from the hit FX series, "What We Do In The Shadows".
Woo!
We're gonna get his recommendations for LA's Echo Park.
Man, this is great.
And of course,
I'll be heading there myself to check them out.
So come along and ride with me.
Hey, Harvey how's it going today?
How are you? - Good, how are you?
- I am doing well.
What did you have for breakfast today?
- Umm, I just skipped breakfast this morning, actually.
(both laughing) - Me too.
All right, so where are you taking us today?
- So, Echo Park is one of my favorite
neighborhoods to hang out.
I was actually baptized there.
It has so much culture.
It has so much history.
Being an Angeleno, born and raised myself,
it just makes me feel good
just to walk around the neighborhood
and know it has such rich history.
And a lot of people don't know that it's there.
But if you know that it's there
and you discover it, it's a real gem.
I almost don't wanna tell everyone how great it is
because then it'll just get full.
(Harvey laughs)
The view from Echo Park is so wonderful.
You've seen it in every film.
You've always seen like the lake and you see the swan boats
and then the background, it's downtown LA.
And most people don't even know that that's there.
They're like, "Where is that shot?"
- You're doing great.
Keep on pedaling even though it's tough.
Well, I can't wait for you to show us around.
Where is the first stop we wanna go because,
I'm pretty hungry.
- Hmm, if we wanted to go get something
really yummy and delicious we have great options.
You can go to Los Burritos.
- [Wil] I love the vintage, like orange and black sign.
- That's the original sign like from 1962 or something.
(both laugh)
- [Wil] Hello, how's it going?
- I love soft shell tacos
but they make a really good hard shell chicken taco,
which is really good with salsa verde,
you gotta try that.
- Yeah, it doesn't break, look at that.
- They have a choice of red or green.
I go with the green, always.
- That's a big debate, right?
The red or green salsa.
- Yeah, it's a huge debate and I think that the green wins.
So, I don't think this is a debate.
(both laugh)
- I know in Los Angeles
there are just a ton of great Mexican restaurants.
Why is Los Burritos your number one pick?
- You don't see a lot of hard-shell taco places
just because authentically
it's done with the soft-shell flour or corn tortilla.
But I do like a crunch.
For me it's a combination of both,
it's like been like traditional and Americanized,
which is kinda like me, you know?
It's like, oh, I'm Mexican-American,
so I've always been like
on the threshold with one foot in the American culture
and one foot with the Mexican culture.
So I like when they're both kind of combined together.
- [Wil] You like this place? It's great, right?
- [Harvey] You want a little crunchy,
you want a little bit different, I would say Los Burritos.
- [Wil] All right Harvey, so what is the next stop?
- I think we wanna step by a little shopping,
walk off some of the food,
so let's head over to Sunday's Best.
- Sunday's Best is a great vintage shop
that's owned by my wonderful friend, Denise
and her partner, Adriana.
The best part of the shop
is it's named after Sunday, the cat.
So Sunday the cat lives at Sunday's Best.
So, you actually can meet Sunday
if Sunday allows you to meet them.
- Hi, I'm in your store.
- [Harvey] Sunday will be your stylist,
and if you pick something
and they don't like it they'll give you a look.
- Let's try on clothes together.
What do you think Sunday?
(Sunday meows) (Wil laughs)
- Yeah, I know.
What was the best find
that you've ever picked up at Sunday's Best?
- I think the best thing I found
was actually like this Dior cardigan from like 1960s,
that you're just like,
whoa, this is like, you know, classic couture.
It's a big LatinX community that lives in Echo Park
and so it's become a staple
to those families who kind of depend on it
to clothe their whole family for the year.
- So speaking of clothes,
your character Guillermo from "What We Do in the Shadows"
is kind of a low key fashion icon.
Do you think Guillermo would shop at Sunday's Best
if he was in LA?
- Absolutely Guillermo would definitely shop at Sunday's Best.
Weirdly enough when I auditioned for the show,
I went to Sunday's Best to pick out something
to kind of help me land the role,
because I was trying to envision
what this character would look like.
Eventually I did put pieces together
that it ended up being the platelet
or the palette for Guillermo,
I remember Taika was in the trailer after I booked it
and he was like, "What did you wear for the audition?"
And I was like, oh, I wore this sweater vest
with the long orange-like sleeve shirt
and these glasses that I popped out,
these Harry Potter glasses.
"Like, yeah, we'll do that."
And I was like, ow.
(Harvey laughs)
- [Wil] Wow, thank you so much.
Okay, where are we going to next?
- Yum yum, coming up next is Sticky Rice.
It's a quick place to go
and get like, you know, food and a drink.
They have great cocktails.
It's just delicious and wonderful.
And now they open the back into like an open-air bar.
- [Wil] Awesome, what should we be getting there?
What's your favorite thing?
- Ooh, that's tough 'cause that always changes.
I mean, you can't go wrong with any of their curries,
which is delicious,
and their spring rolls are amazing.
I also like their Tom Yum soup.
On a cold day that's like the perfect thing
to like, you know, have for dinner.
- Cheers, to Harvey!
- Harvey.
- Do you have an appetizer that you love at Sticky Rice
that you'll make everyone else pay for
just because you like it so much?
(Harvey giggles)
- They do have this like tamarin, like beef strips
but also like for dessert,
a great go-to is the mango and sticky rice.
Which is a classic which I really love.
So, that one's a great way to finish everything.
It's a nice like button piece
- Man, this is great.
Okay, so what is our next stop?
- Next step we have the swan boats.
- Hi
- [Harvey] It's just so classic just to get on the lake
and like pedal with the swan, giant swan boat
and then look at downtown.
- Heading right for the waterfall.
- We are, sorry, sorry, sorry.
- No, that was perfect.
- It's like bumper cars.
Any road rage out there on the lake with the swan boats?
- No, I don't think that any of the boats are,
unless you're pedaling to the,
you know, putting metal to the, or yeah.
(Harvey giggling) Metal to the pedal.
Pedal to the metal?
Pedal to the metal,
you're not going that fast I think at the swan boats
because they're pretty heavy
and it takes a lot of energy to kind of move them along.
It just like by the time you're done
it's kind like you got a work out.
(Wil groans) - [Wil] This is so hard
- [Harvey] So I don't think anyone's getting into accidents
and exchanging insurance info on the lake.
(Wil laughs)
- Yeah, and you know what, I was even thinking,
that would be a great like first date activity
but now how would you describe it, like.
- [Harvey] Yeah, maybe not, maybe not.
Maybe like second or third where like,
you know, you're okay with sweating in front of the person.
- Thank you.
(Wind blowing)
They look kind of scary.
I don't like that look in their eyes.
Woo. (hands clapping)
All right, so I think I need a little hit of caffeine.
- Yes.
One of my real, real, real, real favorites, Tierra Mia.
They have this Mexican hot chocolate frappe.
So it's cold, it's not hot anymore,
but I grew up drinking Abuelita hot chocolate
and they have it there as a frappe.
And it's so good.
Also the Horchata one is to die for.
They're really great.
So it's really nostalgic
and I don't really drink a lot of coffee,
so if I'm gonna drink something
it's really nice to have that like nostalgia
that I have like growing up and drinking
like Abuelita hot chocolate
made into a really cool, frosty ice drink,
'cause it's always warm in LA.
It has that really great actual booth by the window,
and I always like when it's available
'cause it has, you can do great people watching there,
you know or you bring your laptop
and it'll do some writing and I'll sit there.
Everyone who goes and tries the frappe for the first time
literally becomes hooked.
They're like, oh my gosh, what is this?
People who would've never thought to like stop by
and try that.
It's always a first, someone's first experience
when I take them there
and it's always a pleasant one.
- Hi, just wanted this too please.
Thank you.
- Thank you, come again. - Bye.
- Ooh, ah!
All right, where are we headed to now?
- Coming up, The Black Cat.
Black Cat's a great, you know, spot.
Historically, it was the first place
that actually had LGBTQIA riots,
but it wasn't really publicized
so it was actually before Stonewall.
And so it actually is a historical landmark in Los Angeles.
And so going there, you can go get a good drink.
They have great, you know, tapas,
they have great food.
Just being in that room
it's just so invigorating,
just to know what has gone down
and the people who've gone through those doors
and have paved the way for people like me,
you know, and other queer activists and queer actors.
And so I'm just happy
that The Black Cat is still there and you can visit it.
It's such a landmark and get a great cocktail, you know.
- When you're at The Black Cat,
what's your go to order?
What's your go to cocktail?
- For The Black Cat it's a Moscow Mule.
They serve in the traditional cups,
that they do the copper cups, which I love.
So it's always good, it's always wonderful,
and it's always refreshing.
- So, you know, we've been talking about cats
kind of a lot, it's come up a few times.
I have some insider information
that you might have an upcoming role
in an animated feature featuring a famous cat.
(Harvey laughs) - Yeah, so I will be joining
a very famous cat in boots.
You might call him the Puss in Boots,
and I'm really excited to be joining that cast
of already existing amazing talent
with Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas.
So, really excited.
- I wanna ask you,
if you could describe Echo Park in one sentence.
You're sending a postcard from Echo Park
and it's right on the front, What would you say?
- Hmm, this is a good one.
Yeah, I would say "Welcome to Echo Park.
"You didn't know it was this good, did you?"
- That's my motto as well, personally.