The voting is now closed and the winner, showing a clear mandate for pastrami, is the Downtown Deli Smack Down! 67% of the 61 votes went to the Langer’s and Cole’s event. Let’s go to the details:

What day: (this) Saturday, January 23rd

What time: 2:30pm start at Langer’s for what Jonathan Gold calls the best pastrami in the country and Langer’s themselves call best in the world.  When we get kicked out of Langer’s at 4pm (when they close), we’ll proceed to Cole’s around 5pm where you can either eat more deli meats or have an early cocktail or two. We’re not fussy.

What then: Some people may be off to the Derby Dolls, some people may stick around. It’s entirely up to you!

Langer’s has been family owned since 1947 and serves what many people say is the best pastrami in the country. Let’s find out! (Langer’s is old school and closes at 4pm so we’d need to get there early.) Cole’s has been around since 1908 and recently went through a refurbish and kind of rebirth. Some of you think it’s a great thing, some of you don’t. Put your vote where you opinion is and let’s see how well that $1.6million was spent.

Langer’s
Cole’s

Looking forward to the first Classic Eats of 2010!

My friend Jimmy and I headed out early to Universal City today (we are the last two people in America who haven’t seen Avatar, and we wanted to hit up the IMAX at City Walk), but it wasn’t just to beat the rain-induced traffic headaches. I also wanted to check out the scene where supporters of embattled late-night TV host Conan O’Brien are rallying against NBC (organized through the “I’m With Coco” Facebook group).

Despite the rain, and despite widespread reports that even after all the negative fan and media reaction to NBC’s late-night time slot shuffle O’Brien’s show will still be ending this week, people still showed up, many clad in orange ponchos to show their support for their ginger-haired hero. As of about 1:30, I estimated there were about 150 people on the curb at the studio entrance across the street from the Red Line station, hollering, waving signs and encouraging drivers to honk. Quite a bit shy of the 1,500 signed up on the Facebook event, but still a pretty good turnout considering the harsh weather. And of course there was a media presence – roving TV cameras interviewing those in the crowd, as well as a sight I cannot wait to see played out on The Tonight Show: a car towing Tonight Show band member La Bamba out to the crowd, inside a giant glass box (to protect him from the rain? Jimmy said it looked like a Popemobile).

L.A. Rainy

So, yes, it’s raining. Those of you who may have spent, oh, any time at all anywhere with normal weather patterns may wonder what the big deal is. Why do Angelenos freak out so much when it rains?

You are absolutely right to wonder so. As much as I love this city, it’s one of the things I feel is legitimately embarrassing.

First of all, and this is important, all the admonishments to “Drive Safe” when so much as a light sprinkle hits the city aren’t because the roads themselves are any more treacherous than any other city, or that there’s any lack of facility or any drainage problem in a city that doesn’t get much rain, or anything of that nature, at all.

Those warnings, silly as they seem, are because a lot of people in this city have no idea how to drive in the rain. Even those who should know better seem to suddenly forget. Seriously, be careful. People don’t know what the hell they’re doing and there are wrecks. Lots of them. We’re too used to driving on perpetually dry pavement. I’m not saying creep along like a grandma, that just makes things worse, just be aware.

I know Angelenos are world champions at multi-tasking behind the wheel, but now is not the time. Please.

That being said, I Love this weather. If you get the chance, go try out my absolute favorite thing to do in Los Angeles; take a walk on the Venice Boardwalk in the rain. Put on a good jacket, a good hat that’ll keep your head dry and some shoes that’ll keep you from soaking your socks in a puddle and go. (I, personally, have no use for umbrellas, and I grew up in Oregon, but whatever.)

There’ll be almost no one there; just some street kids and the hard core store owners. A neighbor or two, maybe, with their dogs. It’ll be peaceful, yet still urban. The sky will be almost the same color as the ocean. The air will be clean and crisp. Get a coffee or a tea from one of the die hard merchants and stroll. Zen for days. Enjoy.

Not a traffic stop; the officers were inside enjoying their lunch. Bigger with a click.

For months I’ve been meaning to write something about Eastside Market & Deli (careful with that link, it’s got obnoxious auto-play music and no mute button.) If I recall correctly, I first heard about Eastside Market here at MetBlogs a few years ago. I’ve been a fan ever since, and thought it worth posting again to spread the word about the great sandwiches and other menu items.  This is not that post. I’ll just recommend the Number 7 (pastrami & roast beef) and lots of napkins. It’s a heart attack on a roll, but at least you’ll die happy. Very happy. I also recommend that you go for lunch, as Eastside Market closes at 3:30pm.

Same red curb, different day. Click to embiginate.

Though I don’t go to Eastside Market often, it seems that every time I’m there I find a LADWP truck or (usually) a LAPD patrol car parked at this red curb right on the corner of Alpine & Centennial. Sure, it’s the most convenient spot to park; it’s only a few steps away from Eastside Market’s front door. The curb is red for a reason, though. This is a bit of a blind corner to begin with, and having a vehicle (especially a big truck) parked there makes going around that corner downright dangerous.

This is a ringing endorsement for Eastside Market. In case you didn’t know, if you find a place that a lot of police frequent you know the food is going to be good. On the other hand, what makes city employees (particularly the ones charged with enforcing the law) think that parking laws do not apply to them?

Get yourself over to Eastside Market sometime soon for a great lunch. Don’t park next to the red curb, though. Apparently, that spot is reserved for Los Angeles city employees.

So, are you mystified about the state of same-sex marriage in California? At first glance it looks easy. On one side, you’ve got your proponents of same-sex marriage: Advocacy groups like the ACLU; big corporations like Google; and Americans everywhere who think that other people’s romantic lives are none of their business. And on the other side you’ve got rich Mormons, Carrie Prejean, and people who think that marriage is a totally sacred institution that’s always been treated with the utmost respect throughout all of human history and nobody ever gets divorced and Ted Haggard was FRAMED dammit.

But look a little closer, and you’ll find that California has a weird and complex relationship with same-sex marriage, and that proponents of “opposite marriage,” as the eminent Ms. Prejean has termed it, have had quite a fight on their hands when it comes to preserving their way of life, which by the way is honorable and traditional and totally without any problems. Also whenever gay people get married God gives a kitten pancreatic cancer.

Sorry. My point is that the recent history of marriage in California is a bit of a labyrinth, and if you’re going to try to understand the case that began in court last week — Perry v. Schwarzenegger –  you’re going to have to learn a little history.

So here it is.

Read the rest of this entry →

Sure. I had aaaaaall weekend to get over to my nearest Coinstar kiosk, but of course I held off until after it started raining this afternoon to do the deed and finally get that answer we’ve all been waiting for since Thursday’s post, in which I invited all readers to take a stab at the dollar amount of the 14 pounds of leftover change long accumulated in a half-gallon glass jug and whose time had finally come to be put back into circulation.

And that answer, which totally exceeded my paltry expectations of being in the mid-$20s, is… Eighty-Seven Dollars and Eighty-Four Cents! Dude!!

And the top three guessers who got the closest without going over are:

• Third Place (nice!): Shannon -  $75
• Second Place (whoa!) Jamie – $84.13
• First Place (holy fucking shit!): isawacoyote – $87.31

Honorable mentions go to LA Metblogs Capt. Lucinda Michele with $67.52, and fellow Armed Librarian, my man Bromike with an ominous $66.6.

As promised, I’ve dipped into my semi-eclectic collection of stickers and posted a variety available for review here on Flickr. If the glory of being so triumphantly and clairvoyantly in the top three is not enough, and you see one or several that you like email me at wildbell at gmail dot com with a mailing address and I’ll get them right over to ya.

Thanks to everyone who played!

Natural Mind's Vertical Garden in Silver Lake

An update on Natural Mind, the new salon that is moving into the former Video Market space at 3607 Sunset Blvd in Silver Lake. As you can see in the photos here, a vertical garden has begun to sprout all over the walls of the building. This project has been in the works for months and months and months. Living nearly on top of this building, my neighbors and I have been watching and waiting patiently for this perpetual mess to transform into the oasis that owner, Arnaud Ozharun claims it will be. Now that the garden is beginning to take shape, I am hopeful.

Slated to open in September last year, the salon finally appears to be coming together. When I walked by yesterday, I could see product on the shelves and furniture in place. However, the salon still looks to be at least a few weeks from opening. I for one am very much looking forward to living next to a lush, vertical garden rather than the piles of construction waste and dust filled air that we’ve had to tolerate for so many months.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted as the project progresses. More pictures after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →

Below is a copy of the storm alert that was distributed by U.S. Geological Survey/Pacific Science Center. You gotta love a guy who closes a lengthy memo like this with, “In short,” (thanks to Karineh for the attachment):

“Currently, the strong El Nino is reaching its peak in the Eastern Pacific, and now finally appears to be exerting an influence on our weather.

The strong jet has been apparent for quite some time out over the open water, but the persistent block had prevented it from reaching the coast.  Now that the block has dissolved completely, a 200+ kt jet is barreling towards us.

Multiple large and powerful storm systems are expected to slam into CA from the west and northwest over the coming two weeks, all riding this extremely powerful jet stream directly into the state.

The jet will itself provide tremendous dynamic lift, in addition to directing numerous disturbances right at the state and supplying them with an ample oceanic moisture source. The jet will be at quite a low latitude over much of the Pacific, so these storms will be quite cold, at least initially. Read the rest of this entry →

Hey you! Step away from the 3D glasses. Sure, I liked Avatar as much as the next guy (but maybe not as much as the next guy after him), but does James Cameron really need any more of your money?

Look, I know habits can be hard to break, and that Avatar is very new and very exciting, but if you’re jonesing for some cinematic Sci-Fi, might I recommend instead John Carpenter’s Starman (1984) at the Aero Theatre this Sunday night? The film, which also stars Karen Allen, tells the story of a blue (uh oh!) ball of energy (whew!) who crash-lands on Earth and enlists the help of a grieving widow by taking on the appearance of her deceased husband. Alternatively, if you’d prefer just a sprinkling of Sci-Fi, across town at the Egyptian Theatre the Cinematheque is screening 8 1/2, Federico Fellini’s masterpiece that stars Marcello Mastroianni as a filmmaker whose personal life interferes with his ability to direct a science fiction film. Sigh, imagine if that had happened in real life, say eleven years ago.

And remember, this all takes place Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Images: Stills from Starman (left) and 8 1/2, courtesy of the American Cinematheque.

Alongside the headlines of the horrific devastation of the Haitian earthquake are the headlines about how “digital fundraising” is providing a rapid flow of dollars, showing the importance of technology in providing new avenues for relief efforts.

For anyone who is technologically-minded, and even those who are not, if you want to lend your hand to a good cause, you should check out CrisisCamp Haiti in LA tomorrow at USC. CrisisCamps are hosted in a barcamp style where great minds come together to share their knowledge and expertise for social good.

This Saturday, the USC Annenberg School will be hosting CrisisCampHaiti Los Angeles to bring together volunteers to collaborate on technology projects which aim to assist in Haiti’s relief efforts by providing data, information, maps and technical assistance to NGOs, relief agencies and the public. Chad Catacchio will be leading up a team.

Project Proposals for CrisisCamp Haiti
1. Base layer map for Port Au Prince: This project would create a new collection of imagery and a new base map for NGOs and relief agencies. Post available imagery to share with the public for open source applications.
2. Family locator systems: Uniting efforts of interested technologists, developers and communications experts to provide technical assistance.
3. Tech Volunteer Skill Matrix/Volunteers: Create a role of volunteer as well as
4. Managing News Aggregator: Provide content channel management to coordinate data feeds
5. Defining the Collective: Create what we are and why we are doing this. Coordinate and post historical timeline/archive for the CrisisCamp efforts.

This will also been happening in London, Washington D.C., Denver, and Northern California.

h/t: Browyn on the BarCampLA list

I want to invite y’all to click over & check out all the winners of the LA Weekly’s “Web Awards.” No, we didn’t win anything this year, but we’re a little hard to define as LA weblogs go. Congrats to the eminently deserving LAist, Caroline on Crack, LA Taco, Top of the Ticket & all the other great LA blogs & bloggers, plus our very own Queequeg for her hernameisjanelynch.com fansite and Metblogs alum Wil Wheaton. If you don’t know them already, you should.

From Vine Street, you couldn’t miss the year-old sign for the new real estate in the hills. Especially at night, when thirteen 50-foot letters and four thousand 20 watt light bulbs would pronounce “HOLLY”… “WOOD”… “LAND.”

The year was 1925.

Photo from the USC Digital Library

I always want what doesn’t exist.  In this case, it was an old, and possibly discontinued, model of a small electronic appliance that customers seem to prefer over the newer models.  However, after some online searching, I found that the item indeed exists, only at Fry’s Electronics.   I didn’t know anything about Fry’s, except that I pass by the one on Route 1 in Manhattan Beach every so often, and one time a passenger in my car cheered when she saw the place.

So I made it to Fry’s yesterday, and was quite pleasantly surprised.  Fly the friendly Fry’s after the jump

Red Snapper

I can say from experience that it takes a certain kind of guts (and a few shots of Cazadores) to get up in front of everyone in a room (mercifully dimmed as it may be) and deliberately remove most of your clothing, even if you do so wielding a large dangerous weapon (I had a two-month career as a sword-twirling burlesque dancer…and no, you’ll never find pics). I can’t fathom the kind of brass balls it must take to do it without a prop (there was something about holding it that made me feel safer up there–weird, I know), but God bless the women who manage it, because they make the retro stages of Los Angeles that much more aesthetic to gaze upon.

If you’ve always been intrigued by burlesque, you can dip your toe in the hot, sexy water with this 6-week class (scroll down to “Beginner Burlesque”) offered by the illustrious Red Snapper herself, who’s run with the icons of burlesque and absorbed all their tricks and tips. Mention “Snapper sent me” when you enroll for a discount. She’ll cover “glove removal,” “boa play,” various striptease techniques and how to tie it all together with simple choreography. She’s instructing through the Striptease Symposium, and I’ve taken a class through them before with Princess Farhana, LA’s own punk poet angel of burlesque (the infamous Pleasant Gehman, for those who know her that way). I can vouch for Striptease Symposium. Great classes, great instructors, great prices. You’ll be among great company, too: the first class I took there, I found myself seated next to Margaret Cho.

Try it out even if you never plan to grace a stage. ‘Cause I can also tell you–from experience–that few things are more empowering than learning to appreciate your own body.

In better times, this filled-to-the-brim jug of coins  collected oh so slowly over the years would just sit there in its place on the shelf in the living room, its out-of-circulation contents hoarded be it for the hell of it, a rainy day or perhaps a deathlessly lingering recession.

And then there are times like these when you look skeptically upon such a cache of cash because you find yourself looking twice at the price of that pint of Cherry Garcia or that free-range tofu macchiato gigante, or that $37 it’s going to cost for you and your significant other to go see Avatar at the nearest IMAX.

And so the time has come for me to drop my last cents into this senseless stash and lug the jug to my local Coinstar kiosk this weekend. In deciding to do so, I figured we’d have some simple fun with the task in that I invite you to guess to the nearest penny — without going over — how much money is contained within the  half-gallon glass container, with the whole thing weighing in at 14 pounds (according to the scale in my bathroom).

No, the prize isn’t the amount. That goes to temporarily curing any of my upcoming cravings for Ben & Jerry’s or maybe a rack of ribs at Spring Street BBQ, but there will be winners. The top three guessers in the comments will be able to chose a sticker from a selection (to be selected later) out of my personal collection, hoarded in an envelope in a desk drawer.

Deadline will be whenever I come back from doing the coin dump deed this weekend.  Make cents? Then gimme a guess! Image is slightly biggifiable with a click.