'Hood #24: Wilshire Vista for a Famed Cake Shop & Irish Pub

St. Patty's Day is Monday, but I'm all about avoiding the rush, so today I set out to visit Tom Bergin's Irish Pub on Fairfax Ave., one of LA's oldest pubs (since 1936), the first in the US to serve Irish Coffee and rumored to be the inspiration for the TV show Cheers.  Unfortunately, I realized I couldn't count this toward my 'hood challenge because Tom Bergin's is in the Miracle Mile district, which I've already checked off the list.

Hence, the plan was amended to make a stop along the way for a cupcake at Hansen's Cake shop, which is also on Fairfax in the tiny neighborhood of Wilshire Vista.  Oh the sacrifices I make for this 'hood challenge.

Back when I got married in 1990, Hansens was the place to get a wedding cake, and they were often featured in the bridal magazines I read like porn.  Alas, one of their cakes would have (pardon the pun) eaten up too much of my budget, so I went with one from a local bakery.  It was fine, but it was no Hansens.  As a side note, about six months into my marriage, I came home to find my then-husband John eating the cake top that the couple brings home to share on their first anniversary... by himself.  Yeah, that was probably a sign.

Anyway, my friend MJ and I got to the Hansens cake showroom just before it closed. There were dozens of cakes on display and...um, er, ah... I had to wonder if some of them were the same cakes that were on display back in 1990.  Seriously, the cake shop was fairly tired and worn looking, and—while some cakes were pretty—some were downright tacky.  It was, however, fun playing "which cake would you choose if you were to get married again."

The actual bakery was a few doors down, past an erotic cake shop (which, unfortunately, had already closed for the day).  We each had mini cupcakes—I did not choose wisely (it was basically a lemon rock) but MJ enjoyed hers.

After checking Wilshire Vista off my list, we headed a block up the road to Tom Bergin Public House.  Technically it's not worth a mention because it's a different 'hood, but it's a landmark and this is my blog so I'm mentioning it anyway.

Other than being surprisingly small inside, it was everything you'd want & expect from an Irish pub.  Alas, because they had a special St. Patrick's Day event happening, they'd cleared out their usual full bar and were only serving beer and whiskey drinks & lots of 'em—but I don't like beer or whiskey.  (I may be excited about the idea of Irish coffee, but not so much with the actual drink.)  With his only prompting being, "Do you perchance have any wine?" the absolutely adorable bartender hunted around until he found the very last half-empty bottle of Chardonnay and proclaimed it mine.  With service like that, needless to say, 5 stars for Tom Bergin's pub!