The votes keep coming in and currently Downtown Deli Smackdown is winning with 64% of the votes. If you were hankering for the Hollywood Resolution Buster, then you better get voting and get your friends to join in too! No matter what, vote if you haven’t already. Survey will be up until Monday morning, January 18.

Click here to vote!

Classic Eats #8 = Saturday January 23rd
The start times will be determined by the locations chosen. We usually start around 5pm to A) beat the crowds and B) give you time to head out to other Saturday night activities afterward. If Langer’s V. Cole’s wins, we will start even earlier because Langer’s closes at 4pm.

Another incentive for the Downtown Deli Smack Down to win is that it could end in time for you to see the opening night of The Derby Dolls. And if you want to work out a bit before hitting the pastrami, check out Down and Derby on Thursday, Jan. 21!

Click past the jump to read all about our candidates.

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Someone living on Riverside & Ethel in Sherman Oaks cannot be bothered to recycle. However, this presents you with a rare January opportunity to decorate. Merry Wednesday!

#valleypride

Pic by the amazing Shadowscene.

Next Thursday comes a whole new opportunity to injure yourself having fun on wheels! Down & Derby is a roller-skating party for grown-ups only (21+, sorry kids) so you can get plastered at the bar & then attempt to not fall down, which I can tell you from firsthand experience is hard even if you’re sober.

But it’ll be fun! It’s at the Echoplex in Echo Park. You can rent skates there, or bring your own. Of course, you’re encouraged to dress appropriately: as in, guys in tube socks & headbands, chicks in short shorts (ummm…I won’t be in short shorts, but it’s nice of them to suggest).

It’s $10 at the door but if you RSVP on their website it’s only $5, which is super cheap for one off-the-hook party. And judging by the enthusiasm on the Derby Dolls list there’ll be hot Derby Doll action on the floor–plus they passed on a tip that you should arrive early…before beer gets spilled all over the rink.

Arcadia PD has a great little blog.  They have “Tuesday Tips” as well as other information tossed out almost daily.  This week’s tip is a good one, be wary of fake “Census Takers” tells you what to look for to ID a real census taker.  They even warn about those who ask for more info than they are entitled to…identity theft type stuff.  Full blog post HERE.

While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, YOU DON’T HAVE TO ANSWER ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION. The Census Bureau will not ask for Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers, nor will employees solicit donations. Any one asking for that information is NOT with the Census Bureau.

While the focus is currently on the devastation in Haiti, we could be next.

Time Magazine makes its predictions for the next big one, and Los Angeles tops the list.

Los Angeles has done a lot to beef up its building codes and emergency response in the 15 years since the Northridge quake and may be better prepared than any other major American city, but the city’s sheer size ensures the next Big One will be bloody.

Be prepared.

As for Haiti, the social media site Mashable has come up with 9 ways you can help.

UPDATE (1:49PM) – Before giving to any organization, protect yourself from possible scams by checking Charity Navigator.

Sorry for the short notice, but this is still worth mentioning:  Tonight, the Egyptian Theatre will be hosting the West Coast premiere of Girls on the Wall, a new documentary that promises to be, well, pretty awesome – it follows three teenage girls in a juvenile detention center who are offered the opportunity to make a musical about their lives.   I’ve got a soft spot for stories about tough girl musicians, so this sounds like a pretty good way to spend a rainy evening. 

Director Heather Ross and Producer Julie Janata (who also produced Mayor of the Sunset Strip) will be there for a Q&A, and there will be a live performance before the screening by local hip hop artists and b-girl crew Antics, who appear to have the kind of dance moves I could only aspire to in my wildest dreams.

Music starts at 7:00, the film starts at 7:30, and tickets are available at the Egyptian’s box office, or online at Fandango.

If there’s any film that deserves to be screened in 3D IMAX, it’s The Young Victoria, a beautiful drama by director Jean-Marc Vallée that showcases the even more beautiful Emily Blunt, star of My Summer of Love, The Devil Wears Prada and Sunshine Cleaning.

But since it’s not possible to see Ms. Blunt gloriously projected on a 60-foot-tall screen (at least not for a few more weeks), we’ll have to settle for seeing her at the Grove.

Yes, the actor will be making an in-the-flesh appearance this Thursday after the 7:15 p.m. screening of The Young Victoria for some hot Q&A action. Purchase tickets here.

What’s the film about, you ask? The official description from Her Majesty’s Facebook page puts it rather succinctly: “The Young Victoria chronicles Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne, focusing on the early turbulent years of her reign and her legendary romance and marriage to Prince Albert.”

Blunt is so alluring as the Queen, that it makes this humble blogger think perhaps a monarchy isn’t really such a bad idea. In fact, a recent story on NPR pretty much confirmed my fear that The Great Experiment has failed.

Think England would take her naughty colonies back?

Image: Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria.

I'm going for the dogs.

Inspired by Obama – this really should become a clothing line or food product – City Labs is organizing a giant one-day non-profit fair fest.  A week from Saturday, organizations (that apparently are not teeming with unemployed folks) will be in one enormous, somewhat overwhelming room, giving out information on how you can spend your excess time helping them help others, and taking volunteers on the spot.  Why search fruitlessly online for organizations when the information can be brought to you?  It’ll be like an employment fair, except you’re guaranteed a position.

826LA will be there, as will be Food Forward, Los Angeles Guerilla Gardening, LA’s SPCA, WriteGirl, and more than 45 other nonprofits.  In addition, there will be workshops held throughout the day (i.e., the “Lazy Person’s Guide to Going Green,” which applies equally, and without judgment, to us all).  Consistent with the whole volunteering theme, there will be an area where you can sit down and pack some food boxes while you sip on your beer.  Finally, community designers fresh from Unique LA will raffle away their one-of-a-kind wares, which is pretty nifty by itself.

The fair takes place on Saturday, January 23rd from 11am to 4pm at the California Market Center downtown.  There is no entrance fee, but a $5 donation is requested (that includes a beer ticket, so just give up the Lincoln, people).   Afterward, head out to our very own Classic Eats event, location of which will be announced as soon as the people have spoken within the allotted amount of time in which they are permitted to speak (i.e., voting for the next Classic Eats event ends Monday, so vote now!).  Obama, you inspire us all.

The picture of this adorable little guy courtesy puck90 via the Metblogs Flickr pool.

Cities like Pasadena, Culver City, Inglewood as well as LA stand to benefit if the Governors proposal to include photo radar based speeding tickets at intersections makes it into law.  The state would get 85% of the proposed fines to help balance the budget the rest goes to the cities.  Folks, this isn’t about an attempt to improve traffic safety but rather an effort to generate income by setting up speed based radar that is currently illegal as a matter of prior legislation in CA.   Join me in bunching up our collective panties and contact your local State Representative and Senators and tell them now that using photo based radar and associated fines is not a way to balance the budget.  Complete article at Newspaper.com. and at HighwayRobbery.net.

The fines in the proposed budget are steep too.  $225 for up to 15 mph over the limit, $325 if you are more than 15 over the limit.  I’m not advocating speeding but I do have a problem with posted limit vs prevailing traffic speed.

Now that I have your attention, go back to work after you make your calls and draft your letters.

Yes, the City Council is STILL (I won’t say “hashing out”) working on the Medical Marijuana ordinance, and there’s an important vote tomorrow.

If you care about making a good law that supports the good dispensaries and gets rid of the creepy drug fronts, how about checking out the sample letter you can send, and the list of all the Council contact info? It’s right here after the jump.

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We need to talk about Spudnuts for a second, folks.  As part of my ongoing quest to locate the best donut in the city of Los Angeles, I dragged my indulgent and unsuspecting Gentleman Caller (bless his heart – and after a Spudnut or two, his heart probably needs all the blessings it can get) to the Spudnuts location at Venice and Sawtelle.  So, Spudnuts, as the name suggests, are donuts that are somehow made out of potatoes.  The process by which this is accomplished is unclear, although there is a sign up in the store claiming that it is Scientific, so I imagine it involves a madman in a lab coat cackling maniacally at a stormy sky as a lightning bolt hits a potato, transforming it into an old-fashioned glazed.  Actually, though, I think really they just use potato flour.

Spudtastic.

Spudnuts were apparently a bit of a thing, once upon a time in the not-terribly-distant past.  The Spudnut was invented by two brothers in Salt Lake City back in 1939, and at one point the franchise had about 350 locations, but now the parent company seems to be no more, although there are still a few surviving stores around – there are four in LA and a few more in Southern California (the truly obsessed can find a comprehensive list of where to get a Spudnut here).

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Harold at the Château de Vincennes on the east side of Paris.

Over the holidays I left the warmth of sunny LA to visit mon homme, Harold in Paris and decided to reveal my comparative observations between these two great cities. Also, I can’t think of anything else to blog about this week.

Weather – I don’t even know why I am bothering to comment on this, as LA is the obvious winner. Visiting France in the winter didn’t help Paris here, but come on, no matter what the season, not many cities are going to beat LA when it comes to our average weather year round, which is quite spectacular.

Public Transportation – As a frequent rider of LA’s Metro system, I feel qualified to declare Paris the winner here. The City of Lights boasts many more trains per hour (like one train every 5 minutes) and is much more accessible than LA’s Metro system. You can get within a few blocks of just about anywhere you need to go. The one drawback is that it can be quite crowded, even during off peak hours.

Cost of Living – LA may not be the cheapest big city, but it sure beats Paris when it comes to housing and food values. Harold’s apartment is a good example. His place is smaller than mine, in a more suburban Read the rest of this entry →

Everyone knows that the New York Times has its chardonnay-and-ink-stained finger directly on the pulse of what’s hot in the upper-middle-class TriBeCa and Park Slope social scenes. Seriously: How would the world where to get the best organic honey in Manhattan if not for the Grey Lady? This is important journalism.

And as Travis pointed out yesterday, the Times does love to take its shots at LA, which its writers (and much of the east coast) seem to believe is populated entirely by Latin Kings, the supporting cast of Beverly Hills Cop, and Angelyne (“Hollywood types?” Really, Times? Really?).

But the Times redeemed its harsh words recently when it named Los Angeles #11 in the 31 places to go in 2010. Sure, it focused a bit much on our many art galleries, and utterly ignored the incredible diversity of neighborhoods, restaurants, night spots and shopping districts. And to the comment that LA has a “lack of an old-fashioned cultural neighborhood,” I’d point our friends at the Times to Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Armenia, Little Ethiopia, Boyle Heights, Los Feliz, Thai Town… well, you get the idea. Sure, we may have absolutely no culture or history whatsoever when you compare us to The City That Never Sleeps Because It’s Too Busy Constantly Reminding Us How Totally Totally Awesome It Is, but we make do.

But we’ll take it as a compliment that our turtleneck-wearing friends to the east seem to think that our hopeful little hamlet is worth a visit. Here’s to ya, New York Times!

Red Curb – check

3 Feet from curb to intrude into street – check

Do so in front of 12 metbloggers – priceless!

Pic by me with the trusty cellphone cam.  Gets bigger with a click.