The votes keep coming for Classic Eats #7: Hot Summer Nights Edition. It’s feeling like we are going to be Malibu bound as The Reel Inn still has 50% of the votes!

Classic Eats #7 – no matter where we end up – is Saturday, August 29. As usual, our start time will depend on where we go. Usually we start early so you can proceed to other Saturday night plans. Keep voting!

Click Here to vote.

Click on past the jump for more info on the three locations listed.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

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This Friday the 21st Los Campesinos!, who are from Wales (not Mexico) will be coming to the El Rey in Hollywood to play a show which has been re-christened as a benefit for the family of a fellow rocker, Rachel Jensen of the band Parenthetical Girls. Her family was involved in a horrible car accident and her mother was killed.

All proceeds from the show will now benefit the Kris Jensen Memorial Fund, a trust organized to assist the surviving members of the Jensen family with the mounting financial strain of their medical care, as the rest of them recover in the ICU. Yes, you’ll be winning free tickets, but buy a shirt or something.

If you’d like to attend this show, post a link in the comments to a favorite image of yours from Wales, plus info on where it was taken. I’m planning a trip to the British Isles next year & want to check out Wales for a few solid days, so I need ideas. I’m just sayin’.

Info on the show is here.

One of my stock events for visiting friends is to take them to the Glendale Forest Lawn cemetery, a short drive from where I live in Silver Lake. It’s a serene setting with towering shade trees, usually very empty, with views that look out over Glendale to the San Gabriel Mountains.

It has it’s restrained yet overwrought kitsch in the guise of a full-size replica of Michaelangelo’s statue of David (carved from Carrara marble from the same quarry as the original); a stained glass reproduction of Da Vinci’s Last Supper; and something called The World’s Largest Painting, a.k.a. The Crucifixion, that measures 195 by 45 feet and is housed in an enormous square building with a church facade. There’s also The World’s Second Largest Painting, The Resurrection, in the same building and they are both unveiled from behind a huge curtain in an auditorium  presentation with darkened lights and rumbling narration. Read the rest of this entry →

On the 19th (that’s tomorrow, folks) a fair shakin’ of Echo Park’s boutiques & shops will stay open late (11pm!) for your strolling, windowshopping, and–I presume they’re hoping–your business. My personal fave Sirens & Sailors will be open, as well as 826LA, Luxe De Ville, Stories, Warwick, Haute Olive, Lemon Frog and more.

Luxe de Ville exterior by Legendary Classic via Creative Commons

I’m hoping The Kids Are Alright will decide to join the party as well. The Echo Park Hospitality Night website is here, with new info on participating shops and maps for your perusal. Plus, at 9pm, you can check out locals Whiskey Circus (not to be confused with Wiskey Biscuit, apparently, who are also from Echo Park…whiskey must be the community’s favorite drink) at the Warwick.

Interior of Masa in EP by Sklathill via Creative Commons

Just so you remember its not always completely quiet here out in the SGV, just a quick check in on the SGV blogs yielded these bits:

• APOA’s Tuesday Tips reminds how much is too much info on social networking sites.
• Pasadena PIO continues its weekly Mystery History photo.
• Stef’s Sketches visits Samo/Venice.
• M-M-M-My Pomona celebrates the opening of an LGBT center in town.
• Crime Scene gives all the details regarding Sean’s’ money free-for-all on the freeway.
• Sierra Madre Tattler rails against the Metro Gold Line 210 Trolley and SCAG.

There’s pretty much nothing about this not to like… where to start? The folks over at Go Topless Dot Org think it’s unfair and sexist that men can walk around with no shirt on while women who try the same thing will likely be charged with indecency and fined at the very least. And they’ve got a point really, which is why it’s not illegal in most other places around the world.

Of course, for the most part dudes that walk around with no shirts on are usually the last people on earth you want to see in any state of undress. Even at the beach, trust me I live there. Most dudes are either fat and hairy or muscley and waxed but in either case they kind of make you want to vomit when you see them. As much of a dream it is to think if women could walk around topless it would be 100% hot chix all the time, we all know that really the ladies who would be all about flaunting it aren’t the ones you want to check out. But that’s just fair, if one sex of ugly people is allowed to shove their junk in your face, the other should be to.

And to gain support for their reform movement, they are going to have a topless protest right here in Venice Beach on Sunday, August 23rd. At noon protesters will gather at Navy & Ocean Front Walk, take off their tops and put on nipple shaped pasties which are apparently legal in Venice and march around causing a ruckus. It should be fun for the whole family.

That alone would be a good enough story, but wait! There’s more! Who is behind all this? One of my favorite conspiracy theorists, Rael who you might know as the founder of The Raelian Movement who believe, in short, that humanity is really just an alien science project. This is too good to be true.

Given the near endless reasons traffic can get snarled up around LA and the current rosey economic situation, a dude throwing a few grand in cash onto the freeway is actually something I’d kinda be into. Apparently that’s what happened yesterday on the 210 near Glendora. The guy responsible turned himself in and has been “hospitalized for mental evaluation” (no shit) but the cops aren’t releasing his name just yet, they are also asking that anyone picked up some of the cash would please return it. Yeah. I’m sure that’s totally going to happen.

Howdy rock fans! Wanna go check out The Cult live at Club Nokia this Saturday? We’ve got a buncha pairs of tickets to give away. Plus one grand prize winner will get 2 VIP Lounge passes, entrance to the Meet’n'Greet with The Cult at the show, and a limited edition poster. To win, tell me in the comments why you’re so damn deserving and why you’re a Cult fan.

Info on the show is here.

Did you know that there is a worldwide community of filmmakers who are creating independent 3-D movies without the backing of Hollywood studios? Well, there is. The L.A. 3-D Club‘s Movie Division has teamed up with the Downtown Film Festival-Los Angeles (DFFLA) to celebrate the current wave of do-it-yourself stereoscopic motion picture production.

The DFFLA is presenting an international program of 3-D shorts on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at the Downtown Independent, a new film and event center. I participated in a couple of the projects, including a movie that features one of my dogs, Rusty. Following the screening, a panel of talented filmmakers will convene to discuss making your own 3-D films. A rooftop wine and cheese reception will follow.

The 3-DIY event is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18th, 7:30pm at the Downtown Independent, which is located at 251 S. Main St. Click here for the complete list of films and ticket information.

LACMAs Latin Sounds music series is winding down, with next week being the last concert of the season. This past Saturday, we were engaged by the wonderfully sad vocals of Esther Segovia. She sang tangos and waltzes popular in Argentina. The perfect music for a lazy Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. Angelenos of all colors and ages danced to some of the most famous tangoes in the warm setting sun.

If you still haven’t made it to LACMA for the Latin Sounds series, you must pack up a picnic and plan to spend next Saturday on the lawn listening to Johnny Polanco y Su Conjunto Amistad.

Geysol Johana Lopez Vazquez Fitness Zone

In this post, I feel I must partially recant my complaints about lack of public communal spaces in Los Angeles.  At least on weekend days (albeit still very little at night, and notably less on week days), my local park is well occupied by families on picnics, and both children and adults engaged in semi-organized sports, especially soccer.  Of possible note is that English is not exactly a prominent language in such communal interaction, but there is no reason why it need be.  Moreover, sometimes our city government does something that is simply nice.  A recent addition to mid-town’s Pan Pacific Park is a collection of outdoor exercise equipment.  I am pretty well impressed by the design of the equipment that relies wholly on gravity mechanisms rather than separate weight stacks–that is, the resistance is against the weight of the exerciser herself, appropriately leveraged (more-or-less).

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Guerrilla Garden snapped with my craptacular phone cam, bigger with a click.

In a nearby cul-de-sac in my Silver Lake neighborhood, a neighbor with an affinity for gardening has undertaken a beautification project atop a small, neglected patch of earth.

The green-thumbed gal in question works only under cover of darkness, thus this garden popped up seemingly overnight. Up until a few weeks ago, this derelict corner was just sad, dry dirt. Now, a variety of plants and flowers have been cultivated there.

Alas, there is trouble in this guerrilla garden. Some leafy residents have gone missing! It would seem an interloper covets the life on this land and has stolen some of the plants.

I know this based upon the sign in the garden. Join me beyond the jump for a close-up of the sign and an opportunity to help…

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The Black Maria Gallery in Atwater Village is presenting a new exhibit called “Mutation,” opening tonight, Saturday, August 15th. From their website:

A hot generation of vinyl toy artists has been steadily infiltrating the art scene with their unique visions. These designers take a common “platform” toy, and through their creative and sometimes wicked sense of imagination, transform what is ordinary into the extraordinary.

Twenty-one artists participated in the show, including Rosie O’Donnell, whose custom figures will all raise money for charity. Another creator, Nathan Hamill, is a friend of mine who will be displaying and selling several  versions of his first vinyl figure, Boris, that have been customized by various people.

Boris by Nathan Hamill

We’re never too old for toys, right? So, go over to the Black Maria Gallery at 3137 Glendale Blvd tonight for the opening reception from 7-10:30 pm. The custom pieces will be be on display through September 5th.

Venice’s battle to prevent RVs from camping on its streets took a new turn this past week, when the Venice Stakeholders Association filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the California Coastal Commission for denying Venice’s bid to create overnight parking districts (“OPDs”). The OPD plan would have prohibited parking on certain Venice streets for several hours in the middle of the night.  The main goal was to prevent RVs from camping on these streets for days, weeks, and months on end.  Venice residents have complained for years that these RVs dump raw sewage and create other sanitary and safety problems in the neighborhoods.  However, the Coastal Commission, in what used to be termed a “cosmic wimpout,”  decided in June that it didn’t want to wade into the “social problem” of homelessness, but its decision voting down the Venice OPD plan had the effect of taking a side against Venice residents on the issue anyway.
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embiggen with a click

The fraz scored 3 pairs of tickets to Tuesday’s 7PM finals of the Music Moguls’ Talent Search at the House of Blues Sunset Strip.  It’s the culmination of  online talent competition, a grand finale for MusicMogul.com (world’s first online music world), where 4 top performers are being flown in to perform in front of a panel of celebrities and industry experts.  The winner will walk away with a three song demo deal with Rodney Jerkins’ Darkchild Productions.

The four finalists from around the country will be performing their winning entry before a panel of judges assembled by Music Mogul’s representing movers and shakers in the biz.  Joining them on stage will be LA’s own Spirit Animal (you can see them in a vid after the jump).

To win the tix you need to answer a quick trivia question.  “Name one of the founders of Music Moguls“.  First three with a correct answer win a pair of tickets.  Make sure you have a legit email address so I can contact you for your complete information so you can pick up your tix Tuesday night.  (Of course if any of our winners want to write up the nights results with a pic or two…I’ll post it on your behalf here so the rest of LA can see what they missed).

For those not lucky enough to win tix, you can purchase your own HERE. Read the rest of this entry →