Okay. I admit it. I’m lazy and I really hate recycling. I occasionally yearn for that carefree time when I could just toss my trash with abandon into the garbage can and not think about it. But those days are gone forever and now I compost, sort my paper and plastic and even worry about throwing light-bulbs away. So I was happy to see the West Hollywood event for “Free Document Shredding and Electronic Waste Collection” this Saturday, November 13th.
It’s from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of West Hollywood City Hall, 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard. You can unload televisions, laptops, DVD players, fax machines, telephones, radios, monitors, cell phones, stereos, keyboards, microwaves, printers, computers, VCR players, scanners, whew! and more. And by going, you can let go of all that guilt for polluting the environment when you dump stuff like that in the trash.

Document shredding is “secure” which means that the shredding is done at the collection site. You can even watch your stuff get shredded if you like that sort of thing!

2009 Snap to Grid Show at LACDA

The Art Walk lives.  The gallery’s open their doors and host opening night receptions in conjunction with the Downtown LA Art Walks.   One of the do not miss openings is the “Snap to Grid” at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA).

What makes this show different is that it is not a “juried” show, rather it takes all submissions and gives you a wonderful snapshot of the depth and breadth of digital art and digital photography as it stands today.  I love the unstructured format.  I absolutely am amazed at how some images can just stop you in your tracks and keep you there mesmerized.  From the LACDA press release”

Every year for 50 years the L.A. Municipal Gallery has held its “Open Call” exhibit where any artist can show up with their art and an entry fee (to benefit gallery programs) and the piece is shown. The Los Angeles Center For Digital Art decided to launch an international experiment of the same nature where the artists upload images that are printed and hung by the gallery. The hundreds of works are displayed in a grid like installation (reminiscent of postcard art shows of the 1980′s) where every work submitted is exhibited.

The usual (less than democratic) selection process where only the precious few are chosen is turned on its head in a curatorial anarchy where everyone gets to participate and the viewer is literally left to be the judge. The show represents a snapshot of a current moment in art history when digital imaging has reached the hands of the many, an age where culture belongs to the “mobblogers” around the globe. From Thailand to Texas, amateur to academic, beautiful to banal and beyond the monumental quantity and variety of “Snap to Grid” becomes an aesthetic experience where each individual piece adds to an agglomerate effect that has a life of its own.

Based on the crowds at last months Art Walk I’d suggest you arrive early as parking is at a premium and pretty much disappeared by 7PM. If you are mass transit enabled that is likely your better option for getting downtown for the Art Walk and the LACDA Snap to Grid reception.

Details: November 11-December 4, 2010. Opening Reception Thursday November 11 , 7-9pm (in conjunction with the Downtown Art Walk)
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art 107 West Fifth Street Los Angeles, CA 90013

Situation, what situation?

So in the midst of last night’s episode of Survivor, an ad comes on that jumps out of the TV at me. It’s a riveting futuristic marvel featuring a transformer-like plane swooping into a disaster area to effect a dramatic last-minute rescue atop a crumbling debris-strewn bridge littered with debris, presumably deposited by a Katrina-esque hurricane.

Removing the injured and taking off literally nanoseconds before the span collapses, I’m rapt wondering if this is a spot for Skyline, Harry Potter and the I Don’t Give a Crap, or perhaps one final political ad from Meg Whitman, until the familiarity of the location breaks the spell and I grab the remote and take myself back to the bridge. Sure enough, I pause the scene and grab the cam:

(click image to maximize)

Though I’d guess the US Air Force recruitment commercial is trying to conjure up a New Orleans bridge over the Mississippi, what you’re really looking at above is a downtownward-looking angle from our very own historic 6th Street Viaduct, albeit augmented with severe storm crap (is that part of a house?) atop a heavily CGI’d river flowing below it, literally bank-to-bank.

Ironically, there’s some truth in the apocalyptic ad showing the bridge falling apart, because indeed it slowly is. The concrete made on-site when the Merrill Butler-designed landmark was completed in 1932 is slowly failing.

From the Bridge’s Wiki page:

The quality of the concrete turned out to have a high alkali content and lead to an alkali-silica reaction which creates cracks in the concrete and saps the strength of the structure. Current estimates are that the viaduct has a 70% probability of collapse due to a major earthquake within 50 years.

The “mystery missile” which appeared off the coast west of Los Angeles on Tuesday is still a mystery in the minds of many. The Department of Defense first said “we don’t know what it is but it wasn’t us” while at the same time NORAD said the flying object posed no threat to the U.S. I’m not sure how both those statements could have been true simultaneously.  The Pentagon now says that the “missile” wasn’t a missile at all, but a jet, the contrails of which sometimes appear to be traveling vertically in the sky when in fact they are traveling horizontally.  However, neither the Pentagon nor the FAA has identified the particular airplane or flight.  And, looking at the video, I have to say it looks like a missile launched from below, not an airplane streaking across the sky.  That’s what Amb. Robert Ellsworth, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, also seems to think:

The somewhat blase attitude of many people for the past couple of days regarding the Mystery Missile is interesting, and possibly refreshing. Does it mean we are all jaded? If we were in the Cold War 1950s and 60s, there probably would have been a major panic about the Russkies invading, and our Nike Missile defense system might have been activated.

However, if you are unsatisified as to the Pentagon’s somewhat vague explanation and would prefer to indulge in conspiracy other theories, let’s hear them.  I am soliciting guesses as to the true source of L.A.’s Mystery Missile. Was it:

A. A U.S. submarine-based missile test firing that the Pentagon doesn’t want to talk about;
B. A missile test-fired from a sub from China, North Korea, or another foreign country;
C. A jet;
D. Aliens escaping from Area 51;
E. Meg Whitman leaving her secret villain’s lair in her escape capsule (h/t to Mike Winder’s Facebook friend for that one); or
F. Something else?

Getting in and out of Burbank Airport is a breeze – infinitely better than Hell’s neighborhood airport, LAX – but if you’ve found yourself without a ride to hitch there, you have rather limited, expensive options.  Except now: awesomely, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is piloting a free shuttle program between the North Hollywood Red Line Metro Station and the airport.   Yes, free.  Per the Los Angeles Times, there are signs outside the NoHo station directing you to the stop.  If you’re the type of person who plans things in advance and knows exactly the minute you’ll be waiting at the stop because you looked up the train schedule and figured the exact time you’ll pull into the station, and added the few minutes it will take you to de-train and find the stop (this is me – I can over-plan things), call SuperShuttle at (800) 224-7767 to arrange a pick-up.  Those less prepared can call (818) 558-3179 for immediate service.  From the airport back to the station back to your dog waiting impatiently for you to return, catch the SuperShuttle at its stop outside the baggage area.

The service goes from now until the end of January, at which point the Authority will determine whether there was enough demand to justify the service.  Hopefully, The Powers That Be (this includes us, the general transit riding population) (we do generally ride the transit right?) will maintain the program – it’s always nice not to have to bum a ride to the airport.

Well hello Los Angeles!  Oh how I’ve missed you.  What?  You mean I’ve been away for so long you don’t remember me?  Allow me to refresh your memory.  I’m that guy who was born and raised in the Valley, Burbank/Toluca Lake to be exact, then moved down behind the Orange Curtain for 9 years.  In that time I began writing for a little blog called OC Metblogs.  Oh you remember me now?  Great!

The Lone Sailor at the end of my street, keeping watch over the harbor.

For the rest of you, my name is Dave.  I have been a huge fan of LA Metblogs Blogging.la since not long after it was started.  I remember reading it thinking “Man, I’d love to write for them.”  But alas, I lived in Orange County.  Then I discovered OC Metblogs, which I know you all read daily, right?  Right??

Cruise ships, cranes, Spruce Goose hangar and Queen Mary. Pretty much sums it up.

Recently I finished my schooling to be a Registered Nurse and landed a job at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance.  Immediately the wife and I saw this as our opportunity to move to LA.  Back for me, first time for her.  We’ve both always wanted to live in Long Beach and we found an amazing place.  So here I am!  There’s just one thing.  While I can get all around the Westside, Downtown, the Eastside, the Valley, San Gabriel Valley, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and Orange County like nobody’s business, I know NOTHING of the South Bay.  And from what I can gather, most of LA doesn’t either.  In fact, when I was with OC Metblogs, I was given permission to post about the Long Beach Grand Prix (which I will cover in full this year) because many people consider Long Beach to be practically Orange County anyway.  Which, I can tell you after having been here 2 months, couldn’t be further from the truth!

Wyland bringing some OC flavor up north.

So, if it’s OK with you, I’d like to take y’all along for the ride as I explore this amazing community South of the 405 and West of the 605.

Oh, and I’ve included a little tasting menu of what’s to come via my camera.

Thanks!  :-Dave

A unique skyline for a unique city.

photo courtesy Colin Remas Brown

While Los Angeles pines for an NFL team to come back, we should feel proud that Conan O’Brien didn’t retreat back to New York after his Tonight Show gig was abruptly cancelled.

Conan’s return to broadcast television at 11pm will be beamed from the site of his new studio on Burbank’s Warner Brothers lot, where fans waited outside in the rain as early as 7am for a chance to be part of the audience (see pic).

Does anyone have any doubts that he’ll not only beat Jay Leno in the ratings, but also Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert?

It was where men celebrated the end of a hard day’s work. Or, the beginning.

It was the New York Saloon at Third and Spring. The year was 1881.

Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library

How many old-timey men does it take to change a clock?

Hey LA, don’t forget that Saturday night is when we “fall back” into Pacific Standard Time. Maybe then it will actually feel like Fall!

Along with turning your clocks back one hour, this is also a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Enjoy that extra hour!

Here endeth the PSA.

The only thing I want to do this weekend is convince the weather that it’s November, silly, not July.

SATURDAY

• The votes were tallied, and the venue of the lucky number 13 edition of our Classic Eats event will be held at Pann’s and The Buggy Whip!  Julia Frey has all the details in her post here.
• Subliminal Projects – aka Shepard Fairey’s gallery – presents “Pattern Recognition,” a group exhibit featuring artists Nikki McClure, Richard Colman, and others.  Their homework, presuambly, was to create some visually arresting piece representing patterns and recognitions thereof.  The opening reception will be held on Saturday from 8 to 11; the exhibit itself goes until December 4, 2010.  Free.  Subliminal Projects is located 1331 W. Sunset Blvd in Echo Park.
• If art hanging on walls is, I don’t know, a little too 2D for you, head out to the enormity that will be MOCA’s Persepolis LA at the State Historic Park.  Six listening stations outfitted with 8 speakers each will take over 70,000 square feet of the park in a performance of composer Iannis Xenakis’ famed Polytope de Persepolis.  Free.  The performance begins at 6pm at the LA State Historical Park, aka the Cornfield, 1245 N. Spring Street, Downtown.
• Day of the Dead festivities live on at Mama’s Hot Tamales.  Come for the sugar skull decorating and mask making workshop; stay for the tamale-making demo and Aztec Dancer performance.  Free.  Drop in for the workshop anytime between 2pm and 4pm.  Mama’s Hot Tamales, 2122 W. 7th Street, MacArthur Park.
• Vegans who missed out on LA Beer Week, fret not: the LA Vegan Beer Fest will showcase 50 vegan-friendly beers from 20 or so craft breweries.  $35 ticket gets you unlimited pours.   From 1 to 5pm at the Roxy.

SUNDAY

• I met Suzanne Goin once.  I sheepishly asked her to sign my tattered, extra virgin olive oil-stained, thoroughly Post-It-ed copy of her Sunday Suppers at Lucques, and she did, delightfully.  The book, with her inscription – “Thanks for taking such good care of this book!” – became one of my most treasured possessions.  Besides making a little big girl’s dreams come true and running a few of the best restaurants in the city (Lucques, AOC, Tavern), she also is an enormous supporter of a variety of local causes.  Take, for example, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a great organization that raises funds to fight childhood cancer.  This weekend, she, husband Chef David Lentz (The Hungry Cat), and business partner Caroline Styne are hosting LA Loves Alex’s Lemonade; your $150 per person ticket goes towards the fight.  In exchange, you get to sample great eats from Goin, Huckleberry’s Zoe Nathan (whose donuts were part of a four-way winner’s tie in the Best Raised Donut category at our Donut Summit a few months ago); Nancy Silverton; and Grace’s Neal Fraser.  Jennifer Garner is the honorary chairperson and Jim Belushi will MC, natch.  $150/$350 VIP; children under 9 are admitted for free with a paying adult.  LA Loves Alex’s Lemonade will be held at the Culver Studios at 9336 Washington Blvd in Culver City from noon to 4pm.
• Bicyclists with vintage wheels (that is, bikes from 1985 or earlier) are invited to the Pasadena Lightweight Ride.  You’ll meet at the Pasadena Rose Bowl and pedal 25 miles through Pasadena and its environs.  Sure, if you have one of those fancy new bikes you can fold up and stick in your pocket, ride that, but don’t look at me when all the other bikes start talking about living through a recession.  Oh, wait.  Free.  Bikers meet at 10:30 at the Rose Bowl; the pack takes off at 11:00am sharp.

A brand new NFL stadium right next to L.A. Live. Los Angeles hosting the Super Bowl in 2016. The World Cup in 2022. Bigger conventions. More jobs.

AEG’s Tim Leiweke is talking about it. Exciting, no?

Already, there are fears of gridlock, declining property values, and general mayhem from some of the self-proclaimed pioneer loft-dwellers. Here are but a few comments from Curbed:

I think it would bring gridlock for days—–and make the area less pedestrian friendly.

Its not like we have a lot of available open space around here. i’m not opposed to commercial, but a stadium seems to big. nothing green around there.

I love living downtown but bringing in the sporting low life that comes with 10′s of thousands of football fans can destroy downtown.

My favorite complaint that I hear whenever something new is being developed Downtown, is about someone “losing the view” from their building. Because everyone moves to the heart of a city for sunshine and rolling meadows. Peace and quiet. Solitude.

I’m curious to know what you think. Is this a good idea? If you live Downtown, are you are for or against an NFL stadium/event center being built next to L.A. Live?

Tomorrow night is it! Classic Eats #13 at Pann’s and The Buggy Whip.

5PM at Pann’s then after some classic diner yumminess, we will have dessert or post dinner cocktails at The Buggy Whip at 6:30. As ever I’ll have my big sign out.

Please let me know if you are coming so I can save enough space. Over 35 people voted but only two people confirmed. Easier to get a table that way but not nearly as much fun!

See you tomorrow night!

Pann’s
6710 La Tijera Blvd
LA 90045
323-776-3770

The Buggy Whip
7420 La Tijera Blvd.
LA 90045
(310) 645-7131

Not a biggy, but a reminder to be ready for the big one when it comes.  Details on the little shaker HERE.  Info on how to prepare your space  HERE.

This morning these little flyers were taped on walls and telephone poles around Sunset Junction. I snapped a quick picture of one on a short walk to get coffee thinking I’d count how many I saw on the walk back, but within the hour they seem to have all been pulled down. Anyone know anything about this? The lack of contact information or anyone taking credit for the flyer seems a little suspicious.