When you see this sign posted on the street. Happens every year. Very efficient.

Makes me wonder, why is Silly String so threatening? Surely the cost of cleaning up silly string doesn’t rival the Halloween revelers street mess. Does anyone even use silly string anymore? This just makes me want to go out and buy a couple of cans to blast someone with tonight!

Halloween. Celebrated with free carnivals for kids at all Los Angeles City Recreations and Parks Department Playgrounds.

The year was 1961.

Photo from the USC Digital Library

CuriousJosh pic, Halloween 2008

Big ups yet again to Mr. Curious for the info. I’m so lazy I hadn’t planned anything for tomorrow yet–not even a costume. Josh, this is my cheat sheet for tomorrow! You’ve made my social life SO much easier.  -Lucinda.

Hello Los Angeles! Looking for something different?

I’m CuriousJosh, once again happily here courtesy of LA Weekly, to let you in on everything from partying in an old church to burlesque queens to costumes amidst the hallowed halls of world-class LA museums. There’s also one post-ghost highlight where House music legend John Tejada plays the intimate Zanzibar next Wednesday. After the weekend, I’ll return with photos from the events, plus some secret happenings I habituate throughout LA’s underground nightlife.

Danse Macabre (Friday)
Visit Danse Macabre for hip haunts in an off-beat venue. An old church provides perfect haunting grounds for the hip and energetic crowd brought together by Shits & Giggles and Jelly Roll. Special performance by host The Lady Tigra. The werewolves will be howling along with DJs Christine Renee, Travis TK Disco (Hot Biscuit), Aaron Castle (A Club Called), Chris Bowen, and Victor Rodriguez. 10p-5a. The Church, 606 E. 6th Street. Limited pre-sale tix for $10. $15 at the door. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/86732

Miss Kitty’s Parlor (Friday and Saturday)
Miss Kitty’s Parlor presents dual debauchery for Friday and Saturday. Expect an alternative crowd enjoying go-go dancers of all genders, combined with provocative burlesque… Read the rest of this entry →

Virgina Masen's custom customization.

One of the most awkward things about being part of a minority is that you are at once the local spokesperson for the Minority, and the first person the Majority goes to for comfort.  For example, the day after Prop. 8 passed, I was sitting in my office, my little fit of depression tempered by a little relief that the American electorate actually went out of its way to make sure Mr. Obama won.  Someone walked into my office, and the first thing she said to me was: “No one should sit on the back of the bus!  No one.  Can we talk about this at lunch?  I’m really upset” and walked out.  I felt like I had been hit by a bus. And this is the response I had over a course of several days, from all sorts of people.  Well, better late than never.

The gay rights movement, like many minority groups, learned that in order to get things done, you really have to swallow your pride (that’s pride with a little p) and enlist the help of the majority group who sits in the positions of power and finally – finally – is sympathetic to your cause, is willing to gamble its political currency, and take the credit for it all once the goal is realized.  Enter FAIR (Freedom Action Inclusion Rights), an organization quickly organized after the passage of Prop. 8.  At FAIR’s request, Shepard Fairey created a poster intended to galvanize the movement as well as his Hope poster did for the MoveOn set.  The result is slightly more affecting than American Apparel’s retro, almost whimsically passive “Legalize Gay” tshirts:  his is a gnarled fist with the words “Defend Equality/Love Unites” above and below [insert snarky comment about his source material for the fist here].  You can buy shirts and the poster on FAIR’s website here (the politics of inclusion necessitates the politics of fundraising), but if you want to show all your gay friends that you really care, come out to Andaz in West Hollywood on November 12th.

Read about the Love Unites Shepard Fairey Equality Project after the jump

A: James Ellroy calls him
“the visual deus ex machina of what has become the most over-scrutinized city on earth.”

Q: Who is Ed Ruscha. Check out the Times Online for more on Ruscha and LA (and David Lynch!)

If you’ve seen the comment thread of my follow-up post Tuesday on the matter of the two swastikas scratched into the concrete roadbed of 4th Street in Hancock Park, you’ll know that Councilman Tom LaBonge responded proactively, wasting little time getting Public Works personnel out to destroy the long-lurking symbols of hate that had been etched there so moronically however many years ago.

Indeed, biking by this morning I was relieved and pleased to find both swastikas (located between Las Palmas and Hudson)had been excised:

Sure, the end results might not be as cosmetically appealing as one might have wished for, but the patched pavement is certainly a great improvement over what was there before, thanks to Councilman LaBonge and the Department of Public Works.

The third week of the audacious WTF?! Festival is under way.  If you weren’t paying attention, you missed out on a couple of movie screenings.

Tonight at the Festival, you can check out Get Lit! – a group of teen poets bringing you classic literature along with their own unruly compositions.  It’s at 8 pm tonight at The Actor’s Gang.  Pay what you can!

Tomorrow evening Jewell Rae brings her cooking show live to the prison for her Johnny Cash tribute show All Cake, No File.  She’s a regular culinary political columnist with the Huffington Post!  Backing her up for the night is the tribute band With A Bible And A Gun as well as special guests The Broken Numbers Band.  The curtain goes up at 9 pm and it’s $15.

On Halloween night, WTF?! Festival invites you to take a peek into the damn scary world of Christian Halloween horror houses with a screening of Hell House. Stay afterward for a costume party!  The movie starts at 8 pm and tickets are $10.  Costumes are highly encouraged if not compulsory.

For more information or to see what else is going on with the WTF?! Festival visit the website here.

I could compile a whole “what to do on Dia de los Muertos” thing, but LA Eastside has done such a good job I figured I’d just give them props for a list well compiled. Mosey on over there for an exhaustive list of stuff to do when you’re really hung over from partying all night dressed as Lady Gaga or Balloon Boy. They’ve listed everything from the Calavera Fashion Show at Tropico de Nopal to an electro-en-español-noche at The Little Cave to art shows, an Esotouric tour involving a gigantic house-sized tamal, toy drives and celebrations held at community gardens.

I actually really like Chevelle, which had me surprised since they’re kinda pop-punk-rock-produced stuff. But what can I say? They do it well.  Pair them with locals Nico Vega, and you’ve got a bitchin’ show.

You can see ‘em all, plus openers After Midnight Project and New Medicine, this Saturday (YES, that would be Halloween night) at Club Nokia. Swing by Party #1 early in the evening, then beg off & make your escape by saying you have a show to go to, then go see the show and afterwards head to your Party #2 raging on into the wee hours. Yes, this Halloween will rock.

Wanna go? Tell me your best idea, or the best idea you’ve ever seen, for a Halloween costume. We’ll pick a few lucky winners to go see the show. Info on the show is here.

Well, I guess that happened months ago, perhaps when people started Fairey-ing their Facebook photos. But  I wonder if this  image of a dog with the word “ADOPT,” which I snapped in Marina del Rey, adds to the universal iconography idea that might help Fairey in his lawsuit with the Associated Press.

Have a super awesome Halloween costume that you plan to keep forever? Then skip this post, it’s not for you. Our friends at NeighborGoods are having a Halloween Costume Party on Friday that is a little different – you have to bring a costume (don’t wear it) and throw it in a pile with a bunch of other costumes other people brought and then dig through it and find a new one for yourself. It’s crazy for sure, but it’s the NeighborGoods way – and besides it’s a much better use than just throwing that old costume away. There is only limited space and it’s for members of the site only so go sign up if you want in!

laffy4k's photo used through Creative Commons

With the possibility of downed power lines causing local power outages, drivers should use extreme caution when approaching darkened traffic signals. Whether driving on a main thoroughfare or a side street, motorists should treat all non-functioning traffic signals as a four way stop.

Pretty simple right? Sadly no. What would be a minor inconvenience in most cities is a mini-death-race-2000 in the Valley. If only anyone here knew how to treat a four-way stop, but they don’t. There are two possible approaches in the San Fernando Valley: 1.Muscle your way through with speed and aggression, or 2.Sit timidly at the light for far too long until the people behind you honk at you.

Seriously, at all five of the intersections with blackened traffic signals that I passed through tonight, anarchy reigned. The nearest thing I could figure is that Valley drivers only know how to deal with a traffic signal that is out when there is a white-gloved cop to wave cars through. Barring that, they just pretend there is a cop there and somewhat randomly drive through in spurts under the safety-in-numbers theory of traffic. So, in the interests of my own personal well being as well as the safety of all of my fellow Angelenos, I offer you the rules of the road. Please read if you are uncertain. This has been a public service announcement.

So last week we introduced you to our intrepid photographic correspondent, CuriousJosh, and he gave you his list of destinations for the weekend…here’s the recap, in photos!

I myself was at the “Thrill the World” event at LA Live (the video I shot is here), where a zombie army over 6000 strong assembled to dance the “Thriller” dance–all in unison, all at once. It was epic. Great seeing you there, Josh! (His pics are here at the Weekly.)

Also, he swung by Dia de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever Cemetery…the full gallery is at the LA Weekly in all its gory glory! All photos shared with LA Metblogs courtesy of CuriousJosh & the LA Weekly.

So back on October 8th I wrote about my surprise in finding a second seemingly long-standing swastika scratched into the concrete roadbed on 4th Street in Hancock Park and dutifully harumphed both at the symbols of hate and myself for my failure to act in getting the first one removed when discovered a couple blocks further west more than a year ago. In closing that post I vowed to report it to the appropriate civic agency in hopes they could be erased.

First up I contacted the Bureau of Street Services (BOSS) and filed an online service request, which included an offer to meet personnel at the scene to point out the swastikas’ locations, as they are easily missed. Five days later when my request had not surprisingly been summarily ignored, I followed-up only to be politely told by a BOSS representative that regardless of the reprehensible symbols being in the actual street, such requests were not under their jurisdiction and that as a courtesy they had forwarded it on to the Department of Public Works’ Office of Community Beautification (OCB). How nice of them.

Not willing to believe that, On October 13 I went to the OCB website and filled out a removal request form, again detailing the nature and location of the two swastikas, and offering to meet workers on-site to show them where they were.

Yesterday, I got the following automated e-mail from OCB:

Read the rest of this entry →

Oh, man.  I had all these plans to leave the Westside to meet a few folks and try out CorkBar’s Test Kitchen Tuesdays special (tonight’s $2 test kitchen plate: braised oxtail with parsley risotto) and then I came across this.  The LA Times helpfully warns us that the convergence of normal rush hour traffic, the Lakers’ season opener at Staples Center, and the premiere of the Michael Jackson movie This Is It at LA Live likely will result in a nightmare for anyone headed in the general vicinity of downtown tonight.  Shucks.  To CorkBar, I’ll have to say what I’ve been saying to people more and more often lately: maybe next week.  Maybe.