From the Weather Service email:

Red Flag “RESTRICTED PARKING – LIFTED” as of 01/12/2009, 08:49 PM.

I have to say my weather widget IS still predicting high winds through Wednesday, but at least for now the Red Flag parking restrictions are lifted.

Rick Castro, owner/curator of Antebellum Gallery in Hollywood, continues his monthly movie series, Fetish Film Fridays, at the Egyptian Theater this week. This Friday’s feature, Inserts, is a local tale– a story of Los Angeles in a state of flux as the movie industry ditched silent films and moved onto making talkies, while the city was condemning and demolishing properties to make way for the Hollywood Freeway.

Inserts, which, by the way, was rated X, stars a young (pre-Jaws) Richard Dreyfuss as Boy Wonder, a washed-up silent movie director who, unable to make the transition to talkies in the 1930s, turns to making cheap, silent sex films with a desperate actress named Miss Cake (Jessica Harper.)

Veronica Cartwright, who also stars in the movie, will appear with Castro at the screening.

Says Castro, “It’s like an X-rated version of Sunset Boulevard.”

Inserts, Friday, Jan. 16th at 7:30 PM; Egyptian Theater 6712 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles 90028 Reservations recommended, 323-466-3456. Trailer here.

You’ve made it through the holidays and the inevitable mayhem of the first week back at work after the new year.  You’ve settled back into your routine, but now you’re looking for some fun (and you need a drink.)  Something to get you out of the house, maybe even involve a little social interaction.  I’ve got just the thing for you.

On Tuesday, 13 January, Booze Clues returns to Cuba Libre in Los Feliz.  Booze Clues is a monthly pub trivia night that has built a dedicated following.  The evening’s hosts, Dave & Pauline and Dan, do a great job not only creating a fun quiz, but also keeping the event organized and moving, engaging the crowd, and making the whole thing feel like you’re hanging out with 50 or 60 friends.

There are more details and a bonus, so make with the clicky and follow me past the jump…

Read the rest of this entry →

HI.

HI!

HI!!

I’m yet another newbie in this influx of new writers.  You very likely don’t know me from that annoying 2009 Hummer with license plate MRY XMAS hogging the road next to you (or me, this morning, as Yaris and I barely escaped being eaten by that silver monstrosity of a car) but I run a foodie blog over on What You See is What You Eat.  I know, another one of those. Oh well. Other random things: I have a dog that everyone thinks is a fox, but really, is just a shiba inu. I say this at least 5 times a day, so if you’re in Santa Monica and there’s a girl explaining that No I did not steal this “fox” from Runyon Canyon, and, anyway, who would steal a fox and domesticate it? That makes no sense., that is me. My day-and-often-night-time job is to be a lawyer; having to write pleadings that are variations on a you-owe-me-money theme, I am eternally grateful to Lucinda and the rest of the LA Metblogs team for entrusting me with the space to write in English a few times a week.

So, this is my hi post.  The substantive post will be forthcoming.

Got yet another call from the Weatherbot this morning: Red Flag conditions are still holding. So don’t park on the streets unless you want to get towed–

Happy 2009!

We are going to kick the new year off right with another Classic Eats Event. The first event (last Novmeber) was a great success. We ate an early dinner at Clifton’s Cafeteria (The decor, the jello salads!) then moseyed over to the Bonaventure Hotel for cocktails high above Los Angeles (The view, the 80′s vibe!). 

Classic Eats #2 is scheduled for Saturday January 24. The voting results will determine a gathering time/place. Voting? Yes! This time YOU get to decide where we will go. Please take a moment and vote below. The poll will remain open until Tuesday January 20. (Don’t worry if your choice doesn’t win this time, all options will remain for future Classic Eats.)

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For info and links on all the choices, skip past the jump.

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It seems a lot of people have been taking to the streets lately.  This past week it was Israelis and Palestinians, gathering on Wilsire Blvd. to protest the situation in Gaza.  Continuing since before November’s election both sides of Prop 8 have demonstrated to express their point of view.  What do these and other demonstrations have in common?  Anger, strife, and feelings of injustice, to name a few.  Wouldn’t it be nice to join a large group of people on the streets of L.A. all on the same side of an issue, not decrying an injustice, but engaging in pure joy, sharing that joy with everyone around them?  The day for that demonstration has come, and it is Saturday, January 10.

Tomorrow is Global No Pants Day 2009.  Created in New York City eight years ago by Improv Everywhere’s Charlie Todd, No Pants Day has spread to 25 cities in nine countries around the world.  Los Angeles will join in the fun beginning at 2:00pm on Metro’s Red Line (okay, not the “streets” of L.A., but close.)  More complete details can be found on the Los Angeles No Pants 2k9 Facebook event page, but the basic idea should be pretty self-evident.

So, come out and join me for a pantsless subway ride. If you do, please remember this important point from the Facebook page: “…this obviously means no pants, but DEFINITELY (wear) underpants!”

(I know it’s late and this is short notice.  Hey, it’s my first day.  More notice for upcoming events, I promise.)

Hello LA MetBlogs readers and authors. My name is Mykal Burns, but most of the time I just go by “Burns!” (No relation to Jason Burns, but it is true that we’ve never been seen in the same place at the same time. Hmm…) I’m one of the other new writers here, and I’m pretty darned excited about it. While Mark/panasonicyouth may be unknown to 98% of you, I would guess that I may actually go a point or two higher than that on the unknown scale, so a brief introduction is in order.

I am also a Los Angeles native, having grown up in the far east corner of the San Gabriel Valley, and I’ve slowly been migrating west ever since. Although I’m new to writing here, you may have seen me dropping in to the comments from time to time. I’ve been a reader since back in the day when this was just a little blog affectionately known as “b.LA.” (I wasn’t the only who called it that, was I?) In fact, even when I moved out of town for two years, I still came back to LA MetBlogs everyday. Los Angeles has always been my home, so even when I lived thousands of miles away I was able to stay in touch through the magic of the interwebs. I will forever be grateful to the LA MetBlogs authors who kept me grounded in my true home, and I’m very happy to be a part of that team now.

I usually like to be the one holding the camera, but occasionally I’ll turn it around and hold it at arm’s length. Here’s a rare image of Burns! in the wild: Read the rest of this entry →

Casa, a brand-new upscale Mexican restaurant, opened on the 6th. A little birdie told me that this Saturday is the opening party, including such items as “cheap or free drinks, some fancy Mexican hors d’ouevres…and my charming personality.” So if you’d like to mooch some cheap/free eats a la myopenbar.com and enjoy my friend’s charming personality, this may be a destination to add in on your nightly cruise in search of Two-Buck-Chuck and Gelson’s cheese plates. The restaurant looks pretty cool too. Tip: friend arrives after 8pm. I’m just sayin’.

Twitter Bird on Phoenix Lander

The gang at the Jet Propulsion Lab who tweet for the MarsPhoenix (and other awesome space objects) are arranging a Tweetup at JPL in Pasadena on Wednesday January 21 from 5:00 to 7:30pm.  You must register starting at 10am tomorrow morning (January 9) be able to go. To register you need to click on this page. (OMG I am so excited about this that I can barely type this post!)

There will only be room for 150 people so have your link open and ready to sign up! From the main information page:

This Tweetup is an opportunity to meet and speak with the JPL staff, scientists, and engineers behind the tweets of 

@CassiniSaturn, @MarsPhoenix, @MarsRovers, @MarsScienceLab, @EarthVitalSigns,@PlanetQuest and more. Plus, you’ll meet and mingle with other space-exploration-minded tweeps. 

The evening will include a one-hour “meet and greet” from 5 to 6 p.m., followed by a tour of JPL. On the tour, you’ll visit the Spacecraft Assembly Facility (where @MarsScienceLab is under construction) and the mission control area of NASA’s Deep Space Network. You’ll also see full-scale models of @MarsPhoenix and @MarsRovers and the 11-foot-tall half-scale model of @CassiniSaturn . 

What an amazing opportunity for any and all science and space geeks like me. See you there!

The readers of LA Metblogs have voted and overwhelmingly chose to tug their ears in the direction of Sam Zell, the 2008 Grinch of the Year! If you need one, two, or a couple dozen reasons as to why Zell is deserving of this honor, check out LA Observed’s recap Signs of Our (L.A.) Times.

Congratulations, Sam! Ebenezer Scrooge and William Mulholland will be delivering your certificate you personally.

Based on numbers of registered Metblogs readers, the faceless masses of Proposition 8 backers came in 2nd, although unregistered voters placed them in first place (as previously mentioned, these numbers don’t count due to the ability to digitally stuff the ballot box).

There’s a hundred-and-one snarks I can toss in on why we don’t need another celebretard in town, but Jackooo is back in town. Hide your (insert snark here). The AP story for Mail.com ran just moments ago: he has signed off on a 1 year lease (not purchase but with his foreclosure record who’d make a mortgage for him now) in Bel Air.

His dentist in Weho should be happy to have his patient and entourage back in his office. (Not quite 6 degrees of separation – the dentist is a friends’ ex-significant other so I do know the guy).

Now can’t we all sleep better knowing he is back?

The photo is from the mail.com news brief done by AP.

Sad news is rippling through Santa Monica today, as residents hear that City Council member, former Mayor, architect, and popular local figure Herb Katz has died after a long illness.   Herb was involved in public service in Santa Monica for decades, serving twice as Mayor Pro Tempore, once as Mayor, and twice as a member of the Santa Monica City Council, a post he held until his death.  He was also the president of RTK Architects, which was responsible for numerous projects around the Los Angeles area, including Playa Vista Studios, Granada Hills Elementary School, and various office buildings, car dealerships, and retail establishments.  He never let illness slow him down.

Herb could just as likely be seen at Santa Monica’s Joslyn Park with his dogs as at a public event.  I have fond memories of spending the day with him in June 2007 at the Eames Case Study House in Pacific Palisades, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Charles Eames.

I don’t know any details yet about a memorial service, but I know the outpouring will be huge for this beloved man.  Condolences to his wife Brenda and to his family.

Ok kids, it’s the 21st and no more metblogs author submissions will be accepted. I thought about extending the deadline since I got a rush of last-minute applications, but I figure if you can’t even apply on deadline, what makes me think you’d blog on a regular basis? Ha! Silly me.

So, I was looking for an image of a club bouncer standing menacingly in front of a door, as if to say, “Sorry, it’s a private party tonight” but googling “door bouncer” brought up so many images of babies in bouncers (that’s what those boingy thingies that hang in doorways are called, yes?) I figured I’d just use one of those. Hence our charming photo, left.

If you sent your email in, and you didn’t get a bounceback, well then I got it, and you’ll be hearing from me shortly if you haven’t already. We’ve now got about two dozen folks who applied, which is flippin’ sweet, and frankly you’re all just fabulous little winners in my book already.

No decisions will be made until after New Year’s, but once that ball drops, baby, you may be blogging with our team of illustrious blogging rockstars before you can say “Now where’s my press pass?”

Just look at all those horrified exclamation points there in the subject line! Yes, it breaks my heart to say that Regeneration is being forced into closing its brick-and-mortar shop, by these foul economic times that have befallen us all. [shakes fist impotently at sky.] I doubt there’s much we can do to keep ‘em open (and its Etsy site will remain open), but we sure as hell can send ‘em out with a bang. Regeneration, I’m broke, and I swore all anyone was getting from me this year were cards, but you’ve made me recant. I’ll be there. With the paltry sum I have left before payday, I shall arrive, and buy as much as possible, and then in the grand tradition of any quality holiday shopping spree, I shall keep it all for myself, and everyone will still be getting just cards.

I saw Cracker open for the New York Dolls tonight, and their lyric here properly sums up my holiday shopping behavior:

” Well I was gonna bring you flowers, but I didn’t.
It’s the thought that counts and I think I’m a bit too broke.”