I like an uncluttered room. Spare space=creative energy. So why is it that no matter how much stuff I throw away, there is an endless supply of miscellaneous junk lying around?
Take my house for example. It’s only occupants are me, my love-man Dan and our trusted canine. Okay, throw in a host of relatives who visit (camp out) regularly and a bevy of out of town, quite loved friends who stay for long weekends, so there is a lot of traffic. Somehow we end up with a lot of stuff.
Lately, the garage has been filling up with old cell phones, TV’s, endless cords, out of date CD players, not to mention a huge bag of batteries. My first inclination is to toss this stuff… but I know I shouldn’t, hazardous waste and all. So I was very excited to see the banner outside my local Gelson’s on Franklin in Hollywood advertising their monthly e-waste recycling on the 2nd
Saturday of each month. Next one is May 14th.
I inquired inside as to what they took and it was everything electronic, especially computers. They even take batteries inside the store at the managers station. Yippee. On further research, I found that your local Best Buy also recycles everything electronic. And the county of LA does it too. So the cleaning rampage begins once again. Much to my boyfriends chagrin.

Spotted at the Santa Monica Ralph’s – this vast array of Easter markdowns.

In case you were wondering where Peeps went to die …

And here I thought they just packed this stuff up and warehoused it ’til next Easter.

Rumors of CicLAvia‘s cancellation are flying on Twitter. Just saw this update from organizer @JoeLinton:

I’m hoping what has quickly become a very popular biking/walking/whatever event will go on as planned. I guess we’ll know more in the next week.

Salon has a great piece today about the urban lore behind the rotating Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign on Sunset in Echo Park.  For future reference, if you’re driving the street and see the happy foot side, you’re in for a great day; if you see the sad foot side, you should stay in bed.  The sign has inspired several writers, including Jonathan Lethem and David Foster Wallace, to incorporate this symbol of chance and fate into their novels:

The Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign became better known to readers outside the Los Angeles area when it appeared in Jonathan Lethem’s 2007 novel, “You Don’t Love Me Yet.” In that book, the main character, a musician named Lucinda, can see the sign from the window of her apartment: “The two images presented not so much a one-or-the-other choice as an eternal marriage of opposites, the emblem of some ancient foot-based philosophical system. This was Lucinda’s oracle: one glance to pick out the sad or happy foot, and a coin was flipped, to legislate any decision she’d delegated to the foot god.”

The article tracks down a few other pop culture references, which I found fascinating.  You probably don’t want to let a sign play footsies with your fate (ha ha), but it is a fun thing to watch out for when you’re headed down Sunset.

Photo courtesy rachelkramerbussel and used under a Creative Commons license.

Remember all those sophisticated tunnels discovered under the border with Mexico? Just good old fashioned drug cartel shenanigans. Right?

Well… Apparently, some unfriendly militants have been setting up shop just 136 miles South of Los Angeles, in Tijuana.

Meet Hezbollah, “recognized by many experts as the “A” team of Muslim terrorist organizations.”

The group is blending into Shi’a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

UniqueLA

Fretting over finding that last minute, yet oh so perfect gift for your mother?  Or perhaps you’re tired of going to the standard Mom-osa filled brunch & want to try something new…  Well you’re in luck, this weekend the wonderful Sonja Rasula is putting in another installment of the coolest independent design & shopping show in the country, Unique LA.

With over 300 designers & artists showcasing their wares over the course of two-days of fun filled shopping this is truly an event not to be missed.  I know I always come home with armfuls of amazing finds, from jewelry, to purses, to ironic t-shirts for my boyfriend & one-of-a-kind “omg where did you FIND that” outfits for me.  It’s also a great way to meet a ton of local designers, many of whom are right here in Los Angeles!  Plus there are a ton of workshops & food vendors peddling all sorts of yummy treats camped out at the event.  You can even check out a preview of some of the awesome clothes in their new catalog!

Your $10 admission includes…

• Free drinks & a hosted bar (IZZE, Honest Tea, Bear Flag wine, Hendrick’s cocktails, and Numi Tea)
• Unlimited re-entry for both days
• Your very own collectible tote bag, exclusive to each show!
• Free DIY workshops and handmade Mother’s Day cards all weekend
• Plush lounge seating area hosted by H.D. Buttercup
• Access to giveaways and door prizes all weekend long
• Souvenir copy of the Vendor Directory + Mini Magazine

Unique LA
May 7th & 8th (11am – 6pm)

California Market Center’s Penthouse
110 E 9th St # A727
Los Angeles, CA 90079-1727
http://uniquela.com/

Buy tickets HERE.

Apparently, the recent takesies-backsies of the Los Angeles Dodgers by Major League Baseball has quiet a few suits talking. Their discussions are starting to get interesting. Yahoo Sports takes a look at how the baseball power struggle may help L.A.’s bid for an NFL franchise.

In short, the Dodgers could move to a new baseball stadium downtown on the site of the currently proposed new NFL stadium. A new football facility would go up in place of Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine. Stadium swap.

It’s a fascinating idea. Football fans would now be able to tailgate outside a brand new stadium, as opposed to the downtown site. It would also provide an opportunity to correct an injustice done decades ago – a new stadium could be situated to face Downtown Los Angeles instead of turning its back on the heart of the city. The new Dodger Stadium could also boast DTLA as a dramatic backdrop. Baseball would become more a part of the urban fabric of the city.

Take the subway to a ballgame? In Los Angeles?

What do you think?

It may come as little surprise to many of you that Los Angeles is one of the ten most segregated large urban areas in the United States. With a segregation level of 67.84 (where “1″ is the most integrated and “100″ is the most segregated), LA is only marginally less segregated than the City of Brotherly Love which weighs in at 68.41 or Cincinatti at 69.42.

This particular bear is “Samson the Tourist Bear” and is done by local Artist Rick Kess. Rick is an artist that works at Disney making the floats for the parade. His bear took nearly 2 weeks to complete. Like all of the artists Rick started with a basic fiberglass bear which he embellished, a lot, before applying paint. The complete embellishment process can be found in my flickr set. All these images get bigger with a click.

The point is, it would be great if we knew where our food comes from, and how it got onto our plate.

Oh dear piggies.  Tasted quite delicious.  Cochon 555′s inaugural Los Angeles event on Sunday feasted and feted all things pork, with five heritage pigs prepared head to curly tail by five fine chefs in a friendly competition dedicated to educating the (monied) public about sustainable farming practices and the wonders of the resulting pork.  Ah, if only industrialized factory farming could fall out of favor!  In the end, Mozza’s Chad Colby won with his assorted cold and hot porky plates won, sending the other four chefs up the swiney river.  Eater LA has a nice recap of what went on in the judging room.

For those who missed the sold-out event, there will be an All-Star competition on July 24th at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, with ten chefs and four “star butchers” (because I guess that’s a thing now) who, between the 14 of them, will prepare 14 different heritage breed pigs.  Tickets are available now ($150 general admission/$200 VIP).  If there was ever a time to show a client a great time on your boss’s dime, this would be it.  Most people I talked to at the event on Sunday completely thought it was worth the price of admission, if that kind of money is a drop in the bucket for you; these are, after all, high quality ingredients prepared by pretty great chefs.  One day, young grasshopper, McDonald’s will demand that all its meat come from farms that sustainably and humanely raise its animals and, on that day, things will change and quality meat will be accessible to most.  For our sake, though, I hope events like this convince the public before McDonald’s does.

More photos from the event after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry →

Chicago’s outgoing Mayor Daley wants high speed rail from the city’s downtown to O’Hare International Airport. It would be the first of its kind in the United States – meaning that it would be fast, convenient, and far too logical for American politicians to actually build.

Your move, @villaraigosa.

A few years back, I proposed the Metro Flyline – a rail network from Union Station to every airport in the region. It was kind of a joke, in that not many people need to hop a train from Downtown Los Angeles to fly their personal jet out of Van Nuys Airport. But what about a line that did service the major transportation hubs in the region? A high speed TRIANGLE, connecting LAX, Bob Hope in Burbank and Union Station.

Put it all underground. Run the whole thing elevated. Tunnel through every living room in Beverly Hills.

I don’t know where the money would come from. I don’t know ridership numbers. I don’t know environmental impact blahbitty blah. What I do know, is that people would use it. Isn’t that what mass transit is for?

The point here is that it’s time for Los Angeles to start thinking big again. No matter how far-fetched and ridiculous it may seem. Let other cities celebrate highway widenings and Target openings. We’re better than that.

Maybe someday, we’ll have a mayor that won’t mind rolling up his sleeves and putting in a solid 8 hours of work.

I recently posted about CERT training in LA and here’s a gentle reminder that now’s the time to get started. There are a ton of classes starting up this week. Actually for some places Monday was the first class but my Google Alert got piled in a bunch of emails so hey, better late than never eh? If you missed the first class you can make it up later so no reason to not jump in. I’m going to be going to the Woodland Hills training so if anyone reading this can make it, say hello! The online calendar is a little out of date so I contacted them this morning and they sent me the up to date full class schedule.

This homemade ad appeared on the wall of my building’s mail room today. It’s for a “Small Entertainment Center : Holds a 32′ TV”. My first thought upon reading the ad was, “wow, if that’s the size of the tv that goes on a small entertainment center, I’d love to see the tv that sits on the large entertainment center.” My second thought was, “this is another Los Angeles ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ moment, only in reverse.”

1951 Ford F-1

I spotted this largely untouched survivor the other night whilst checking out a local Art Bear (post to follow).  This gem was “flamed” with a can of krylon for a blessing of the cars some 20 years ago, its been allowed to just gain a patina of age all on its own.  The owner debates whether to allow it to continue to gather patina or give it a fancy paint job.  If he does the latter he fears that he’ll be afraid to drive it and chance being in an accident.

Pic by me and it does get bigger with a click.

An adorable future hot dog. Photo by Flickr usr be_khe.

I saw one a day or so ago, in Hollywood, and was baffled, because I hadn’t yet heard the news that the famed NYC hot dog merchant was opening up a restaurant here in town. Now I wish I had snapped a picture, but alas, my phone sucks anyway. A quick tl;dr for those too lazy to click the link: There’s a Papaya King opening up in Hollywood later this year, and they’re starting the party early by tooling around town in a food truck.

As a fan of mechanically-separated beef and pork sausages this excites me; as a native Philadelphian who thinks LA kicks NYC’s ass in every possible regard while barely breaking a sweat (sorry, Travis), I’m a little dismayed. What, Pink’s extra-salty tube steaks don’t satisfy anymore? Skooby’s can’t slake your thirst for hot, glistening wieners? A thick, hot, West Hollywood-style pork dachshund slapped between two warm and willing buns at the Sunset Strip Carney’s just doesn’t do it for you anymore? Fine, LA. Turn to the New Yorkers. See if I care.

Ah, who am I kidding? I’ll try it and I’ll probably like it. Unless the casing is thick. My girlfriend is a New Jerseyan who thinks that hot dogs are best when they snap when you bite them. She is beautiful, and I love her, but she is woefully wrong. We’ll see how these Papaya people measure up.

So, anyone seen the truck? Readers with pics of the truck can post links, or give me permission and I’ll post one here.