There’s a story in Blogdowntown today about the new streetcar system planned for Downtown Los Angeles. With a projected opening date of 2014, Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. is currently looking for input on routes through the area.

Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. LASI. The LASI Train.

The unfortunate naming pales in comparison to other civic blunders elsewhere. The best example to date is in Seattle, where riders of the South Lake Union Trolley revel in “Riding the S.L.U.T.”

Still, I cannot imagine a better moniker for a city that whines about having to walk more than a block to get somewhere. And let’s not forget about the marketing possibilities. Ozzy on board for the inaugural ride?

“Ladies and gents, we’re now arrivvving at 7th streetddd asc aburn jsuxxk dfrr.. i cannn dff foowww… fjrdka”

I can’t wait to ride the LASI Train. I just hope there’s going to be a station next to my living room.

Not sure how long it’ll last or how compelling the posts will be, but I’m in the mood for the time being to do a variation on the “It Caught My Eye” theme and showcase some aspect of the city I see or find in the form of a photo. It could be anything: roadkill, a tree, a classic car, a metaphor. Or it could be today’s inaugural image:

(click pic to go big)

Today was one of those rare days opting to drive to work rather than bike and as such I decided to detour and make the much-easier four-wheeled, gas-powered climb up the winding steep road to the top of the brand-new Baldwin Hills State Park and its scenic overlook. Owing to the day’s haze, the ultra-panoramic vista — while still breath-taking — wasn’t at its jaw-dropping crystal-clearest so I won’t waste any bandwidth with posting those pixels. But while walking the short trail to the hill’s top from the park’s visitor center, I found two tots walking the ridgeline in the distance, the duo made even more diminutive backdropped by a big piece of clouded sky.

You should definitely go check this place out for yourself. Preferably on a weekend, the only time the visitor center is open to the public. But when the place is closed you can hear its doors whistle — or just check out the eerie surrealness I captured after the jump, along with a little 360-video pan around the top.

Where was this taken? It was taken here.

Read the rest of this entry →

Respectable men shopped at the Chicago Clothing Company. They did so at the Phillips Block, at the corner of Spring and Franklin, in Downtown Los Angeles.

The year was 1890.

Photo from USC Digital Library

I love music.  I love that it can transport you to another place, that it transcends any human differences and can invoke passion, joy, sorrow, laughter…. every emotion possible.  And I loved that it all came together last night at the Greek Theater with Chris Botti and his band.

I’ve met Chris socially several times over the past few years through our mutual friend, Sting.  He’s a super charismatic guy, very funny, charming and articulate.  But I never saw him play!  Last night changed all that.  His music, his stage persona, his improvisational rifts were simply sublime.  He… and his magnificent band blew my mind.

The magic intensified as a big fat moon rose over the trees at the Greek and looking at the grins and tears on all the faces of the people around me, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling it.  The combo of his  band: maestro piano player Billy Childs,  drummer Billy Kilson who performed beats out of this world, fabulous bassist James Genus, and his crazy talented guitar player, Mark Whitfield… whew.  Then add vocalist Sy Smith singing her sweet notes.. super pure love. Top that with Chris playing his trumpet like a God…. well, it was like lush, caramel feathered with kisses from your deepest soul mate, all in your ear.  I know, I know, I’m gushing.  But it was that good.  Seriously.

Another treat was a brilliant violinist (a beautiful woman, Caroline Campbell and the crazy part was that she was subbing for his regular violinist) playing barefoot, her  music simply made tears roll down my face… then John Mayer came out and sang a song.  Stunning.  A perfect summer night, with perfect music.  I am blessed to be living this magical life.  Thank you universe for delivering music like that on a summer night under the stars here in Hollywood!

A quick click for embiggening

First sight of the frond covered windshield I thought to myself “that will be interesting on the freeway”.   Closer inspection found the new palm owners binding the fronds and hung to the rear.  I didn’t stick around long enough to see how they were going to address the 10 foot overhang if they stayed hung to the rear.

Pic by me with the trusty cell cam at Monrovia’s Home Depot.

The Renegade Craft Fair, which started in Chicago in 2003, is holding its first ever event in Los Angeles this weekend, July 11th and 12th in downtown Los Angeles. Over 200 artists will be selling their handmade wares from the 13th penthouse floor of the California Market Center, surrounded by a 360-degree city view.

Local community crafts organizations will representing at the show. Silver Lake’s Reform School will be giving linoleum block printing workshops on both days and Santa Monica-based The Urban Craft Center will offer zine-making and needle-felting classes on Saturday. Swap-O-Rama-Rama will also participate on Saturday. Bring clothes you no longer want and transform them, or others’ discarded threads, into a recycled outfit.

A good majority of the vendors are also L.A.-based, so this is a great opportunity to support, and be inspired by, your neighbors. One I’d highly recommend checking out is my good friend’s shop justJENN Designs, for an assortment of customized stationary and notepads, as well as greeting cards, buttons, and other fun items. Her products are unique, affordable and make great gifts.

The Renegade Craft Fair runs from 11am-7pm on both Saturday and Sunday and is FREE to enter. The California Market Center is located at 110 E. Ninth St. Click here for directions and parking information.

Full disclosure: I love pizza.

More disclosure: I’m not from nor have I ever lived in New York.

So how do I know LaRocco’s Pizzeria is real New York Pizza? Because Paul and Sue LaRocco would not settle for anything less. Transplanted to LA from the Big Apple decades ago, they never lost their love for a good slice and opened their first pizzeria in the OC a few years back. Last year they got a hot tip about Culver City being a great place to be so they settled on Main Street about eight months ago and business has been very good. (It didn’t hurt that they have kids and grandkids in nearby Westchester!)

Okay, I can hear you saying, “Yeah yeah, that’s a touching story, Miss Non-New Yorker, but how would you know if it’s really authentic, really?” How about this: They import their water from New York to make their dough. Or this: When you ask about toppings Paul says, “Don’t even think about asking for pineapple or chicken, ’cause that ain’t pizza.”  They refer to them as “pies.” They only have one size: 18″. They open at 11 am and “when they run out of dough, they close…That’s it!”

And the dough is heaven in a cardboard box (or paper plate). Thin, but thick enough to support the toppings with a well practiced fold. Crispy with just enough chewiness so you can taste the flavor of the dough. The toppings are classic, with different options to keep you coming back for more. And the meats they use are the best quality pepperoni, sausage and meatballs made in traditional Italian style at Marisa Foods in Long Beach.

My friend Jenny who lives in Culver City had this to say: “We took a LaRocco’s pie to the home of one of the biggest NY pizza snobs we know- and he loved it. Loved.”

Still don’t believe me? Just go to LaRocco’s and taste for yourself.

LaRocco’s Pizzeria
3819 Main Street, Culver City
310-837-8345

Yes, they deliver!

Click past the jump for more mouthwatering photos.

Read the rest of this entry →

Saturday July 18 is Classic Eats #6 and the votes are still rolling in!

Currently Roscoe’s breakaway move put them far ahead of the peloton for a while, but El Cholo is having their own surge toward Roscoe’s. Roscoe’s has 31% of the vote, El Cholo has 28%. Lucy’s El Adobe is the front of the peloton, but still pretty far behind the leaders. (Sorry, been watching a bit too much Tour De France…)

QUICK UPDATE: As of 7/10 at 12:30 El Cholo has charged ahead!

Click here to vote. The voting ends Monday, July 13.

Click through past the jump for details on all candidates on the ballot.

Read the rest of this entry →

You probably think local politics are a joke. Mainly, because of the Jokey McJokersons that run the place. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t know who Matt Szabo is. I didn’t.

Matt Szabo is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s press secretary. His name is popping up a lot more lately, thanks to a mayor with a hectic dating life and the secretary’s brand new Twitter account. Szabo joined “twitterworld” as he called it on July 1, to “provide useful/helpful info on mayor v’s views & his administration’s positions.”

Views on what? Lu Parker?

I only discovered Szabo’s tweets after seeing his re-tweeted rebuttal of LAObserved. I was fascinated to discover how defensive he is when posting:

Read the rest of this entry →

San Francisco Mayor and California gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom will be visiting the San Fernando Valley next week for a Conversation about California’s Future.

Every day, it seems, we read about more bad news coming from Sacramento.

We read about cuts to schools, cuts to colleges and universities, cuts to health care, cuts to transportation projects, cuts and more cuts. But what we don’t see is any sustained attempt to cut out the politics and replace it with the kind of bold and honest leadership we need in Sacramento at this moment of crisis.

That’s why I am inviting you to join me on Wednesday, July 15 for a conversation about how we can all participate in the struggle to get California back on track.

Don’t you kind of wish this guy could be Governor and the Mayor of Los Angeles at the same time?

For RSVP info. and map to the Town Hall, go here.

My 20something year old neighbor never learned how to ride a bike.  Her sweet English stud muffin of a boyfriend bought her a grown-up version of a tricycle for her birthday – or maybe it was Valentine’s Day – there was some occasion for this three wheeled wonder – and one of the first things she did, of course, was take the little trike out for a ride.

We live in Santa Monica.  She decided to test her new wheels on Arizona and to head west towards the Promenade and, eventually, the ocean.  By all accounts, though, the ride was horrible: drivers honked and cursed when she was in the bike line, pedestrians and random drivers yelled when she moved to the sidewalk; drivers not quite at a full stop at the signs were angry that her three wheels were not as fast as their four; and the bike lane randomly, abruptly came to an end a few blocks before the Promenade, which is really where you would think a biker would most need a separate lane.

If you recall, Sean posted a month or so ago about the League of American Bicyclist’s bronze medal award to Santa Monica for being a “Bicycle Friendly Community.”  Per the Santa Monica Daily Press, Alex Thompson – who runs the fairly awesome Bikerowave bike clinic in Santa Monica that pretty fairly awesomely has a “Bikerobabes” night on Tuesdays that is for women and transgendered individuals only – has upped the anger about the award and is circulating a petition to get the League to either withdraw the medal or to appoint a local biking committee to re-evaluate whether Santa Monica should earn such bragging rights.  I’m fairly certain that it is difficult to strip prizes once they’re already awarded, but I suppose the take-home message about being nice to tricyclists is being well made.  For those interested, I found the petition online here.  Critical Mass, anyone?

A pretty sweet shot courtesy feaverish via the Metblogs’ Flickr pool.

It just so happens that Queen Skittles of Doo Dah Parade fame has put together a show for the Downtown LA Artwalk tonight, Thursday, July 9th! Artists included are: Julie Klima (that’s Queen Skittles), Cassandra Marquez, Kristina King, Conan Dynes, Mary Amor & Arpi Alaverdyan.

I had the chance to get a bit of a sneak preview of Julie’s images.  It will be a mix of already shown portraits of her “royal court” as well as what she calls “Documentary-ish”.   The latter got my attention.  It is a combination of documentary of the scene with placed elements that draw the viewer in to make their own interpretation of the final image.   Nice body of work.

• What: Edgar Varela Fine Arts presents ’3500 sq feet in 48 hours, Curated by Julie Klima
• Where: The Continental Gallery @ 408 South Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013
• Time: 5pm-10pm

I’m not trying to be a fear monger, but it’s not a bad thing to be informed about what’s going on in the arena of public health. Sure, the big “swine flu” scare has seemed to have died down some, but according to the Department of Public Health, there is an increasing number of novel Influenza A (H1N1) cases across L.A. County.

Maybe it’s because I work in health care and get frequent alerts (and probable exposures) that I keep up on it. While the WHO (World Health Organization) has deemed the outbreak a pandemic, the illnesses have been relatively mild and the total number of deaths worldwide are a fairly small percentage of confirmed cases. However, the public health watchdogs aren’t forgetting the 1918 (Spanish) flu pandemic, which killed millions around the world.

I’m not panicking and you shouldn’t either. Just be smart. Wash your hands, cover your cough, avoid going to work or crowded public spaces if you have any influenza-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue). You don’t have to become a full-on germaphobe, but these measures can keep you from getting other icky things too.

More recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are here. In case you’re wondering, they are not endorsing “swine flu parties,” so attend those at your own risk.

Peace Monument & US Capitol by jcolman, used under Creative Commons.

Angelenos, it’s time for you (yes, YOU) to get politically active. There is a conspiracy afoot that will effect nearly every person reading this, and it is up to you to stop it.

Have you ever purchased a ticket for a concert or other entertainment event through Ticketbastardmaster or Live Nation? If you have and you’re anything like me, that purchase was probably immediately followed by long and loud complaints of excessive costs for said tickets, paired with “convenience fees” (convenient for who, exactly?) that are commonly 30-50% of the face value of the ticket. As bad as this situation is, it could potentially get a lot worse.

In February, Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation announced plans to merge. This would make one company out of the industry’s number one ticket seller (Ticketmaster) and the second largest ticket seller (Live Nation.) These two (as of now) companies are also the industry’s largest provider of talent management services and the largest promoter of live entertainment events. See where this is going? Yahtzee! I mean, monopoly.

Follow me past the jump to find out how you can stop this monster. Read the rest of this entry →

Darby’s dead, but the Germs are not. With Shane West–the actor whose tour-de-force performance in 2007′s Germs biopic “What We Do Is Secret” brought Darby to life on the silver screen–now singing in Crash’s place, Pat Smear, Lorna Doom & Don “It’s Just Dr. Bronners” Bolles are bringing their snarling punk rodeo back to the stage.

Should be nuts (show info here).

With Agent Orange and Spider Problem opening for them, this show will be off the hook. You’ll kick yourself for not going.

I can hook you up if you leave a comment below telling me why you want to see the show. We’ll pick one lucky winner to go see these rock’n'roll survivors tear up the stage.