Uadd

Several years ago, I found myself in Los Angeles with a few friends for the first time.  We had grown up loving American popular culture, were massive film buffs and wannabe Celebrity spotters. This was the city where everyone who made it in film, music and business wanted to live!

The first day we walked around aimlessly down Rodeo drive and did a bit of shopping while at night we went to a very average restaurant and ended up in a bar that was so dead, we decided to head back to the hotel for a night cap and an early night.

Surely this was not the ‘City of Angels’ I had heard so much about?! Where were the famous film stars, so many you were guaranteed to bump into them on every corner.

The next night everything changed. We met a young trader called Tom who lived in LA at the hotel bar. He like us was in the financial industry so we began chatting but soon started talking about our other interests and found them closely aligned. He directed us to a bar down the road from the hotel.

Apart from Wesley Snipes, Rampage Jackson and apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas, we met and talked to Manny Pacquiao (our personal hero)! An absolutely amazing night that I will always remember.

Me and two friends with the legendary Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao in LA

The next day he directed us to go and check out the Beverly Centre - one of the biggest shopping malls and in the evening we dined at the restaurant owned by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. We then spent another night in a seemingly ordinary bar where we met Dr Dre, Colby O’Donis, Eve and Quinton Tarantino. Tom, who knew several Party promoters had known Eve was going to do a private gig at this club and so knew it would be full of stars.

We keep in touch with Tom and everytime we go always consult him on what to do in LA. We have yet to repay the favour but when he comes to London we would be happy to point him in the right direction.

Uadd is the platform for you to find your own ‘Tom’.

Uadd divides itself into Cities (locations) and Interests. ‘Nightlife in Los Angeles’ would be where younger versions of ourselves would go to find people like Tom to tell us where to go or what to do.