Alex Sagalchik is an independent film producer and the founder of Mott Street Pictures. This is his take on four places he likes, and one place he doesn't.

Variety is key when you are testing the waters of love and lust. To some, love is motivated by how fat one's pocketbook is. To others, it's based on where one is able to get a reservation at peak time on a Friday night. Whether your leading lady is a tastemaker with a tiny appetite, or your gent is a sucker for the sauce, there’s a hotspot that’s all the bang for your buck, and a watering hole that may just lead to a bang.

Norman Ollestad Jr. would be living a singular life even without the early tragedy. Growing up on Topanga Beach before the government stripped the shack houses from the surfers and the locals, Ollestad was the son of a former child actor turned FBI agent turned whistleblower, who was also a fan of extreme sports. Ollestad Sr. would push little Norman to the limits, teaching him to surf the roughest waters and ski the hardiest terrain. The latter experience led to Jr. becoming a skiing champion; on their way to a race, he, his father, his father's girlfriend, and pilot all crashed in the San Gabriel mountains. The crash killed his father and the pilot instantly, and the girlfriend perished soon after, leaving 11-year-old Norman to fend for himself in the wilderness. He writes about his experience in his just-released memoir Crazy for the Storm. Now a father himself, Ollestad has resurfaced in Venice Beach, where he lives in the Canals, surfs and skis, and takes in the local scene.

Like a West Coast subcontinental Le Cirque, Beverly Hills’ most legendary Indian restaurant, Gaylord, has shuttered its doors, only to pass the keys to the temple down to its cooler progeny. The result is Tanzore, Los Angeles’ most stylish paean to Bollywood chic and gourmet curried eats. The menu samples and mixes classic Indian flavors like a culinary Talvin Singh, blending with international styles and techniques to reinvent the concept of Indian plates. Nikki Sood, mastermind behind Tanzore’s gorgeous design and reinvention, waxes on the struggle to stake a claim in the LA food game, the courage to try something new, getting your eyebrows threaded and your hair did in Artesia, and the happiness (and sadness) of living life like a Hindi movie.

The 'Devil' Actress Wears Blue Velvet.