Fourteen art instituitions open their doors for free tonight in Pasadena for the Spring ArtNight, an event put on by the Cultural Affairs Division of the City of Pasadena. Between 6pm and 10pm, you can enjoy artwork, literature and music all for free. There are shuttle buses and an organized bike tour to get you to and from each venue.

The Pasadena Jazz Institute will celebrate John Coltrane, The Pacific Asia Museum will exhibit how today’s manga and anime has it’s roots in ancient Samurai traditions and the Armory Center is display and selling artwork from local artists. Other venues and their exhibits are:

Alliance Francaise
Armory Center for the Arts
Art Center College of Design
Norton Simon Museum
One Colorado
Pacific Asia Museum
Pasadena City College
Pasadena Jazz Institute
Pasadena Museum of California Art
Pasadena Museum of History
Pasadena Public Library
Pasadena Symphony
Side Street Projects
Shumei Arts Council

For more information on parking, public transit or self-guided tours please visit the ArtNight website.

The Hollywood-base convenience store, locali, is having it’s Grand Opening tomorrow evening.  I wrote about locali last week and have heard nothing but raves from people who’ve gone over for a visit.  From the evite page:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Please join us Friday February 27th from 5pm – 8pm to celebrate the opening of Locali and the launch of our deli. We will have a ribbon cutting with The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at 5pm and samples from local food artisans as well as tastings of our organic, biodynamic, sustainable and local wines and beers afterwards. Feel free to bring along friends, family, kids, colleagues, distant acquaintances…The more the merrier!

We look forward to seeing you then!

Following locali on Twitter is sounds like there will be a lot of great food from local food artisans such as Carmela, La Guera Tamalera, The Sensitive Baker, Yummy Bites, Dee’s Vegan Bakery and others. If you’re in the area, I highly suggest you drop on by.

At FriendFeed many of us West Coasters smug with our proximity to In-N-Out were getting intrigued by comments from East Coasters who kept touting Five Guys Burger and Fries.  There’s not many burger chains out there that can compete with the freshness of INO burgers, so we took their banter with a grain of salt. When one FriendFeed user mentioned there was a Five Guys in Torrance, I went straight to Google to make sure. Lo and behold, after entering my zip code on the site two locations in Southern California popped up. A FriendFeed meetup was quickly hatched.

Inside Five Guys

Last Saturday a group of us descended on Cerritos to see if Five Guys could hold a candle to In-N-Out. Now keep in mind, this is purely subjective and unscientific. To make sure, I’ll have to eat at the places back-to-back. But one thing stood out. Five Guys decor looks a lot like In-N-Out. A. Lot. But I wasn’t going to let that bother me. Why? Because Five Guys smells better than In-N-Out.

Once we got settled and more people showed up, we ordered. Now everyone had warned us that the small fries are enough for two people, so I ordered two small; on regular and one Cajun. There was no difference in taste between the two, except for the Cajun fries sometimes tasted dustier. My husband got a small cheeseburger; that’s a burger with one patty, with onions, lettuce, tomato, relish (YUCK!), mustard and ketchup. When he opened it, it looked utterly disgusting. There was like half a jar of relish on that thing. I can’t believe he ate it. I got a large cheeseburger (two patties) with grilled onions and mushrooms, lettuce, mayo and ketchup. In other words, I got the burger exactly like I usually make my burgers at home. Read the rest of this entry →

Inside locali

Have you checked out locali on Franklin Ave. in Hollywood?  I only recently found out about this store and had to visit.  Reading on the website, it read like a green 7 – 11.  Funny thing, that’s exactly what it is and then some.   Want a slushie? They have yummy ginger tonic slushies in a couple of flavors.  There are vegan and vegetarian burritos available along with salads, soups and other ready-to-eat items.  Fresh organic coffee is for sale and quite delicious.

locali has pretty much everything you, but with a green twist.  There are environmentally sound household & hygiene items and a rather large selection of beers and wines that are Certified Organic, biodynamic and/or come from sustainable farms, including gluten-free beers!  Toward the rear of the store is a well stocked frozen section along with healthy snacks for kids and a deli section.  The big draw of this area is the emphasis on vegan and gluten-free foods, making it easy for those who follow these diets to grab a quick bite on the go.  Read the rest of this entry →

Volunteerism

After sharing my experiences decorating floats with my daughter, I figured it would only make sense to actually show her.  The entire family packed into the car for a quick trip to the float near us in the City of South Pasadena, the oldest self-built float in the parade.

Located behind the War Memorial on Fair Oaks, the group of long-time volunteers and South Pasadena High School students pitched in on their entry into the 2009 Tournament of Roses. Since the entire float is raised up through volunteer efforts, the committee has several ways for locals to donate money.  Last night was their Crunch Time Dinner, a sort of last minute shove to get bills from this year paid off and ramp up for next year’s float.  Another little way to raise money was to give us the opportunity to get our name on the float, so to speak. For $1, we signed a vial that will hold flowers that will be placed on the float.

Walking in, we came upon a group of women who were deveining luminaria.  I spoke to one who has been volunteering for 15 years and another, Wendy Snow, who has volunteered for the last 27 years and is now on the float’s committeee. My daughter, fascinated by the project, quickly jumped in to help them and you can too.  There is still a few more hours to decorate before the float gets towed to Orange Grove Blvd.  If you’re in the area and want to experience the fun or just drop by to make a donation, they’d love to have you.

Read the rest of this entry →

One of my favorite LA volunteer efforts is decorating the floats for the Rose Parade.  It started back in High School, when we received extra credit for doing so over the school break.  The tradition continued in college as my university enters a float into The Tournament of Roses every year. The experience ended after I met my husband who detests everything about parades due to his growing up in Communist-era Romania.

Still, once my kids get a little older, I plan on taking them to decorate floats.  Everyone loves that feeling of watching a project go from the drawing table to the finished product and float decorating provides that to hundreds of people at once.  Walking into the warehouse to see a bare bones structure, looking at the plans and getting assigned an organic matter is simply thrilling.  Once the seeds and dried flowers and leaves are glued on, then comes the hard part of placing the petals.  That is also when the various groups and random volunteers come in.  While making it a little more difficult (there’s so many people!), it also makes it a little easier, provided everyone works as a team and you don’t get that one lady who yells at everyone for the sake of yelling.

There is something about showing up on the parade route at 3am, to put the finishing touches on a float.  One year, our float was nowhere near done by the time it was slowly towed west on the 210 Freeway, to Orange Grove Ave.  We were still gluing orange petals and poppy seeds on our floats when the judges were a float away.

I highly suggest that everyone have this experience at least once.  Watching the parade later and seeing “your” float go down Colorado Blvd. is such a wonderful emotion.  If you’re interested in spending a few hours in these closing days of 2008 decorating floats, please contact the local float makers for details:

Self-built float organizations:

• Burbank Tournament of Roses Association
• Cal Poly Universities Pomona & San Luis Obispo
• Downey Rose Float Association
• La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association
• Sierra Madre Rose Float Association
• South Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association P.O. Box 3662, So. Pasadena, CA 91031

Float Companies

• Phoenix Decorating Company
• Studio Concepts
• Fiesta Parade Company (One of the more popular companies, they’ve already filled all volunteer positions, so try again next year.)

Okay, in at least 15 years.  Tonight is the night that the moon will appear it’s biggest and fullest to those of us lucky enough to witness it without cloud cover.

According to NASA’s website:

It’s no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and this Friday’s is a whopper. Why? The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other: diagram. In the language of astronomy, the two extremes are called “apogee” (far away) and “perigee” (nearby). On Dec. 12th, the Moon becomes full a scant 4 hours after reaching perigee, making it 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we’ve seen earlier in 2008.

I’ll translate that:  Oooh. Pretty. WOW.

Also of note, the Geminids will be at their brightest this weekend, but the overly full moon just may overpower all by the brightest of these.

A great weekend for skywatchers, it seems. I have the perfect perch to watch the moon from my backyard or my front porch.  Where are your favorite places in LA to watch the skies?

Are you gift shopping and are looking for a way to avoid the mall, help the local economy, support local artists AND find unique gifts?  This weekend, the California Market Center will be host to Uniqe Los Angeles, a large sale with over 200 vendors representing some of the best of LAs designers & merchants.  Items on sale include jewelry, stationery, books, art and housewares.

The vendor list is impressive, featuring a Who’s Who of local artists & shops such as Earthlust, Tracy Tanner and MissKK. You can read more on the Unique LA blog.

December 13th & 14th, 11 am – 7 pm
California Market Center (Penthouse), Downtown Los Angeles (Map It)
110 East 9th Street, Los Angeles, CA

$5 per ticket
(children 10 and under are free)
50% of ticket sales benefiting CREATE NOW, a local arts-based charity for high-risk youth

SPECIAL RATE!! $6 ALL DAY Underground Parking(with Unique LA Validation)

A last minute meetup occured last night at the ice rink in Pershing Square.  It’s always great meeting new friends from the online world, but what made last night even better was that no one had any idea that the LA Parks Department offers this gem to Angelenos annually. 

In it’s 11th year, the LA Kings’ Downtown on Ice at Pershing Square is one of LA’s best community events.  Under the twinkling skyscrapers and amid the bedecked trees, you can join in or watch your fellow Angelenos, hug the side wall of the ice rink, one hour at a time. 

You can see free concerts every day of the week, with Friday’s being the only evening events. There’s even a little food stand set up selling hot cocoa, clam chower and yummy BBQ tri-tip sandwiches.  The Parks Dept. has made it really nice, with tables set up on 3 sides of the rink, but be aware that the only facilities are portable toilets near the corner of 5th & Hill.

This weekend is the Winter Wonderland Festival, but even if you’re pressed for time with holiday parties, the rink will be open until January 19th. Admission fees are $6/per person, $2 for skate rental, there are family rates (4) people and discount for Metro users.  See the website for more details.

Pershing Square
532 South Olive Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

For more info and a detailed session schedule go to www.laparks.org or call (213) 847-4970

What is known as the country’s oldest and largest miniature train garden, the Fairplex Garden Railroad will have it’s Holiday Open House on December 14th from 11am to 5pm.

The railroad began as a special static exhibit for the third Los Angeles Fair in 1924. It soon became a small, hand built, operating miniature train, in true 1/2 inch scale. The small railroad continued to grow and in 1935, moved out of the Fair’s tent to its present 100X300-foot outdoor location where it remains today.

I wrote about my first visit to the Railroad, last year. It made such an impression on the entire family that we’re eagerly looking forward to visiting again this year. Why don’t you join us?

Photos

Video

Can the streets of LA handle more automobile hipness?. Quite a few new razzle-dazzle cars were introduced at the LA Auto Show, but my eye picked out two that will possibly be big hits in my North East Los Angeles neighborhood.

First we have the 2008 Nissan Cube. Already available in Japan, the Cube is about the same size as a Honda Element, but infinitely cooler looking. They say it was inspired by a raindrop and they’ve carried that theme throughout the vehicle from the roof lining to the speakers, cup holders and even the asymmetrical rear window.

2008 Nissan Cube

This vehicle, which Nissan calls “A mobile device”, is touted as a lounging pad, with reclineable passenger seats, way too many speakers and…mood lighting. Highly customizable with several of Nissan’s awesome colors, the car is very much geared to the Web 2.0 crowd. There’s the almost standard Bluetooth integration, but the car also features mp3/ipod integration. You can see more photos here or at Nissan’s website.

Read the rest of this entry →

Evergreen Cemetery

I first heard of Evergreen at the beginning of the year.  It was listed in the LA Times as one of Angeleno’s top open spaces.  After asking around both native and transplants, I found exactly 2 people who had ever of it, neither had visited. Yesterday, I finally went to the cemetery.

Located in Boyle Heights Evergreen Cemetery is Los Angeles’ oldest graveyard.  There are over 300,000 people interred there, including the movers and shakers of the city’s past.  You can find a list of famous Angelenos buried there on Wikipedia & Find a Grave. What’s fascinating is how segregated the park is.  There is a Chinese section, a well-kept Japanese section, blacks were buried high on a hill in the corner of the park, and there’s large Armenian area too.

Yet still in another part of this Cemetery, you will find the Pacific Coast Showmen’s Association and the Women’s Auxiliary. This section was founded and dedicated by the Circus and Carnival troupe in 1922, for their members and spouses. (Evergreen Cemetery) Read the rest of this entry →

Happy Halloween El Sereno

Happy Halloween from El Sereno.  Tonight, Councilman Jose Huizar, the LA-32 Neighborhood Council and Collis Ave. residents bring you The Legend of Creepy Collis.  From what I hear, this is the coolest thing around.  There’s haunted houses, trick-or-treating and a carnival experience.  No parking anywhere near there, so be ready to hoof it through El Sereno.  The free event, on Collis Ave. between Huntington Dr. and Kendall Ave., runs from 5pm – 8pm.

BarCampLA 6 is this weekend.  Last minute notice, I know.  I had planned on posting this yesterday, but life & work got in the way.  So here’s some tidbits and hopefully, I can make it out there to meet you!

What is BarCampLA?

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

All attendees should be prepared to give a demo, run a session, or help with one. All presentations are scheduled the day they happen. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the wall.

Presenters are responsible for making sure that notes/slides/audio/video of their presentations are published on the web for the benefit of all and those who can’t be present.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

BarCampLA will be held in Santa Monica and begins at 11am.

Malaho/Causecast HQ
902 Colorado Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90401 [Google Maps]

From the BCLA blog:

Slots for sessions (45 minute talks with a 15 minute passing period) will be open to fill then, and we want you to get to know where everything is laid out in the space. Also, we have a crazy delicious (and totally free) lunch planned for Saturday. We’re planning to eat and do intros (no talking with your mouth full, please) as people finish getting their grub on then roll promptly into sessions. So please get there early, enjoy the food and the company and help us get started on time.

The schedule is as follows:

Saturday October 25, 2008

• 11:00am – Show up, drink coffee (5 Gallons o’ Peets coming), meet your fellow campers, and get your session on the wall.
• 12:00 pm – Lunch is served. Grab some food and head into the main hall for quick intros and opening remarks. get your session on the wall if you haven’t yet.
• 1:00 pm to 1:45 pm – Sessions
• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm – Sessions
• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm – Sessions
• Snack
• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm – Sessions
• 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm – Sessions
• 6:00 pm to 6:45 pm – Sessions
• 7:00 pm – Dinner and Drinks (we have a keg and some other refreshments donated, you are welcome to bring more)
• 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm BarCamp After-Hours
• 8:30 pm Acoustic Music Jam – Douglas E. Welch

Sunday October 26, 2008

• 10:00 am – Roll in and have coffee and breakfast with us
• 11:00 am to 11:45 am – Sessions
• 12:00 pm to 12:45 pm – Sessions
• 1:00 pm – Lunch
• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm – Sessions
• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm – Sessions
• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm – Sessions
• 5:00 pm – Closing Remarks
• 5:30 pm – Clean up and Tear Down (This goes really fast if we have lots of help, so please stay for 15-20 mins, makes a huge difference for us)

Hope to see you there!

This past weekend, I had to go buy a new tennis racquet for Sunday.  We packed the family in the car and headed over to Westfield Shoppingtown Mall (not a generic name at all) to shop at Sports Chalet.  Now, I’m not a fan of shopping in general and malls, specifically, but it was such a nice day, the last thing I expected was to spend 15 minutes driving around looking for parking.  We eventually found a space close to Baldwin Ave. and hiked over to & through the mall to get my racquet.

After spending 20 minutes there, I had to get out.  The lightbulb went off.  The Arboretum is just down the street from the mall.  Imagine my chagrin when I pulled into the parking lot and immediately found parking.  While there were many people there, we kept seeing the same 20 or so people and the other people were there for a wedding.  Read the rest of this entry →