Hey Westsiders:  tomorrow (Tuesday, February 23) The Open Daily is celebrating its launch by giving you free coffee and pastries!  The Open Daily is a new daily newsletter and blog informing you about all things Westside: Restaurants, politics, family fun, events, history, art, you name it! They want to get to know you so come by Venice Grind tomorrow morning from 8:30 to 9:00 am.

To get your free cuppa joe, go to their Facebook event page and RSVP then come by for your morning rev-up. There will also be gluten-free pastries to nosh provided by Yvonne’s Gluten Free Goodies.

If you can’t make the launch party, sign up for their free newsletter and start getting your daily helping of Westside action. You can also submit your event listing to be included in their newsletter.

See you tomorrow at Venice Grind to celebrate The Open Daily!

Venice Grind
12224 Venice Blvd.
Mar Vista
310-397-2227

The Polls are still open for Classic Eats #9. Click here to vote! The voting will remain open until Monday, February 22 when all will be decided. Classic Eats is scheduled for Saturday, February 27.

The current leader is: Hot Hollywood Night with 48% of the vote.

The options are:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s
Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse
Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Clicky past the jump to read more about each.

Read the rest of this entry →

I suppose it was inevitable.  This past year, social networking shot through the roof, with everyone and her grandmother (literally) on Facebook.  That is in addition to the explosive popularity of Twitter, as well as websites pumping out up-to-the-minute news 24/7.  At the same time, the old media NBC television network decided to tape delay its Winter Olympics broadcast on the West Coast, apparently three hours behind the East Coast, even though the events are taking place in our time zone.  And finally, as do many others I’m sure, I multitask when watching television, laptop in front of me, news headlines and social networks (and Vancouver Metblogs) never more than a click away.  All of these phenomena have come crashing together this month like a perfect storm, threatening to spoil my Olympics.

The problem is, I keep learning the results from these Internet sources hours before seeing them for myself.  I learned of Hannah Kearney’s mogul skiing gold medal, Apolo Ohno’s record-tying silver medal in speed skating, and the generous figure skating judges doling out high scores to skaters who fell during their short program, all before seeing it on tv.  I tried appealing to my Twitter peeps who aren’t located on the West Coast not to post Olympics results, but they seem to need to do so, as if their reactions won’t count unless shared electronically and immediately.

I’m sure some of you are more computer-advanced than I, and can tell us how to get a great webcast of the Games on our computer in real time, even on our big-screen hdtv.  If so, I would love to hear the solutions.  I investigated this briefly, and did not find a satisfactory solution — for example, the online ads I saw were even more annoying than those on NBC.

I’m afraid the only solution I have found to watch the Winter Games unspoiled by spoilers is the most radical solution of staying off the Internet altogether.

Classic Eats #9 is Saturday, February 27 and the polls are still open. Click here to vote!

The options are:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s
Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse
Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

Currently Hot Hollywood Night is in the lead with 40% of the vote. Clearly people want their Roscoe’s!

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Clicky past the jump to read more about each.

Read the rest of this entry →

Gentlemen! Are you looking for a fab Valentine Day gift for that special zaftig someone in your life? Always wanted to buy her sexy lingerie that you know SHE (and you) would like? Ever feel kinda creepy walking into Victoria’s Secret – alone?

Jenette Bras is here for you.

This Thursday, Friday and Saturday Jenette Bras is hosting Men-Only evening events from 6pm to 8pm. From their invite:

We’ll pour you a drink, then get to work helping you select the perfect gift: beautiful brassiere and pantie sets, slips, corsets and gift certificates for a custom bra fitting. And if your honey is already a Jennette Bras gal, then we’ve got her stats and you’ve got it made. Painless.

If your special someone a gorgeous, curvy gal, this is the shop for her. And you.

At Jenette Bras, the Alphabet Starts at D — ask your woman, she’ll know what that means.

(Full disclosure, I’m a very satisfied customer of Jenette Bras so I know what I’m talking about.)

Jenette Bras
4308 Melrose Ave.
323-665-7490
Right around the corner from Scoops!

Classic Eats #9 is scheduled for Saturday, February 27. Where shall it be?

Our three options:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s

Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse

Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Click here to vote!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Read the rest of this entry →

click to embiggen

Artists and Art can bring about cultural revolution. Manifest Equality has a call out to artists to submit work for a juried contest.   Entries must fit one of the theme’s Equality, Justice, Respect, Unity, Civil Rights and Love.  Entries must be submitted no later than 11:59AM February 19, 2010.

The Five first place winners will have their pieces shown at the Manifest Equality Gallery along side nationally known contemporary artists such as Barry McGee, Clare Rojas, Shepard Fairey among others in a show that will open to the public on March 3, 2010.

Additionally there will be 10 second place winners. Their work will be seen at an online gallery set up by Manifest Equality. The 5 first place winners will also have their work displayed in the online gallery.

Information regarding the art contest HERE.  Information on submitting your art HERE.

DETAILS: Manifest Equality will be open to the public, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 through Sunday, March 7th, 2010 between the hours of 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM with extended hours Friday – Sunday. 1341 Vine, LA CA 90028.

Thanks to everyone who made Classic Eats #8 a smashing success! What a great way to start the Classic Eats New Year!

We started at Langers at 2:30, Metblogs signage in hand. We waited for a few minutes until Mr. Langer himself came out to greet us, then we were bumped ahead of the line (sorry!) to a table that expanded to hold 16 of us!  We gorged on delicious sandwiches then some of us moved on to Cole’s at 6th and Main.

It was a great time, great stories, lots of history and delicious food!

Save the date for Classic Eats #9: February  27.

Click past the jump to see more photos and hear more about the afternoon/evening.

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KCRW is starting its pledge drive this Friday, January 29 and they need volunteers. They have volunteer shifts through the day and evening that run two to three hours each. There is free parking, lots of delicious snacks and drinks and a lot of fun people to work with, all while helping the station meet its financial goals.

I’m practicing what I preach and have signed up for two shifts. I’m a morning person so I’ll be answering phones the next two Fridays (1/29 and 1/4) from 6:00 am to 8:00 am. I’ve done it once before and really had a good time. In fact, I found when I was volunteering last time, I never changed stations during the drive as I was so invested in the outcome.

Go to KCRW’s Drive Volunteer page and read more, then sign up. They especially need people for early morning shifts. The pledge drive lasts from January 29 through February 8. Plenty of shifts to cover! KCRW is located on the campus of Santa Monica College.

If you can’t volunteer this time, consider becoming a member (if you aren’t already) or make sure to renew your membership. Call before 8 this Friday morning and it might be me taking your pledge!

Quick reminder that we’ll (hopefully) see a lot of you tomorrow, Saturday, January 23rd at 2:30pm at Langer’s. They know we are coming and are very excited about it. LA Metblogs Classic Eats is at the top of their news page!

When close down Langer’s at 4pm (when they close), we’ll proceed to Cole’s around 4:30 – 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!

Can’t wait!

Langer’s
Cole’s

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!

Saturday January 23rd is Classic Eats #8 and the polls have been open for almost a week now. So far Downtown Deli Smack Down is ahead  with the Hollywood Resolution Buster coming in second. Voting will remain open until Monday, January 18th! If you haven’t voted yet, please do so. If you have, tell your friends to come along and vote!

Click here to vote!

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.

Click past the jump to read all about our candidates.

Read the rest of this entry →

There are vanity plates (recently seen here and here) and there there is THE Vanity Plate! It’s silly and smug and I love it.

(I took this last summer on Pico in West LA before I left town and forgot about it. Found it after a year end review and had to post!)

Happy New Year!  Classic Eats is back and it’s time to vote! You have already marked your calendar for Saturday January 23rd and here are the choices:

1) Hollywood Resolution Buster: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles & Boardner’s
2) Downtown Deli Smack Down: Langer’s & Cole’s (2.0)
3) Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos & Johnnie’s Pastrami.

Click here to vote!

As you may recall, 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.

Click past the jump to read all about our candidates, then vote! Can’t wait to see you all there, wherever “there” is!

Read the rest of this entry →

I know, it’s only three days after Christmas, but it’s the most wonderful time to discuss Christmas Tree Recycling in the City of Los Angeles. Let’s prepare for 2010 by doing the right thing with your tree.

First of all, if you live in a house with a green bin, the best thing to do is saw the tree into pieces that fit easily into your green bin. Remove all lights, tinsel, decorations and the stand before hand. Then the tree gets collected, composted and mulched as your normal yard trimmings would. Think of the sawing portion of the recycling as a jump on your New Year’s Workout resolution. The key thing is: don’t leave the tree standing next to your green bin on pick up day — it won’t get picked up and we may take pictures and post them here.

If you live in an apartment building, you are encouraged to place your spent tree curbside on collection day. Again, take all lights, tinsel and decorations off first. Visit the City website: www.lacity.org or call 311 for collection day information in your area.

If you prefer to take your tree to a drop off location, there will be only one weekend only of LA City tree collection this year and that is this weekend:
Saturday January 2 from 9:00 to 4:00
Sunday January 3 from 9:00 to 4:00

Click here for a full listing of drop off sites. Please note some sites from last year are closed and there will be no tree or light bulb give-aways this year.

If none of those things sound appealing and you have a minimum of $25 to spend, click here for a tree removal service. They donate part of their fee to Tree People.

Get those trees recycled and all the best in 2010!