Saks ad

Shepard Fairey’s new ad campaign for Saks Fifth Avenue ushers in a new age of prosperity… for him, anyway. The New York Times reports today on his design company’s recent work for the New York-based retailer.

To be fair, according to the Times, the designs were “largely realized by Cleon Peterson of Studio Number One, Mr. Fairey’s design company in Los Angeles.” But it was Fairey’s name that became internationally known via his Obama posters, so it’s nice to see him cashing in, as well as making sure proper credit is given.

For my taste, he could distinguish himself a lot more with his Obey clothing line, so maybe the Saks gig will lead to better things in the fashion world. (Disclosure: I’m available for style consulting. Trust me, I’m an expert. You should see my credit card bills.)

While the article mentions a Rodchenko vibe and Fairey says he mixed in a swirl of WPA agitprop art, I also sense a whiff of El Lizzitsky. Whatever; it all looks pretty great and right for the time to me– and if all of that Soviet-inspired imagery makes conservatives a little jumpy about the growing wave of socialism sweeping into power, all the better.

I lost the coin toss to see who got to take the kids to walmart to use their freaking gift cards.  Despite requests she not give them cards from walmart ,my sister still does it.  Anyway..imagine my horror when I see Valentines Day up.  Sheesh Christmas isn’t even cold, NYE is still days away and they want us to flash forward nearly 2 months?  As if maybe the world will look better in 2 months?  I don’t think so.

pic by me with the trusty phone cam.

When I grow up I wanna go back in time and be a Broguiere’s milk man!

Following up on my rant last week about going everywhere my favorite egg nog ain’t, I’m happy to report that our Saturday morning trip out to Broguiere’s Farm Fresh Dairy in the flats of Montebello was a resounding success. But talk about an unassuming establishment. Hell, upon arrival we drove right by it because instead of signage trumpeting Broguiere’s, the marquee read Montebello Sanitary Dairy and stood over what was little more than a  drive-through store in the midst of vast tracts of an agridustrial landscape.

There was no gift shop with Brog’s merch a-plenty. No fancy people in throwback uniforms. No tours offered every hour on the hour. No happy cows talking to each other.  Just a darkened portal behind stacks of crated empty bottles from which workers would emerge wheeling loaded-up handtrucks to restock supplies in the refrigerated cases lined up behind a register that was manned by a guy who probably operates carnival rides on his days off and who I’m pretty sure would’ve asked me if I really thought he gave a hoot had I dared vocalize any first-visit glee.

Read the rest of this entry →

American Apparel is too goddamn expensive.

I remember when American Apparel first started up and they were all up in that “fair wages, fair day’s work” thang. Then the whole thing transitioned into cracked-out seemingly-underage models posing with that pouty, poufy “I just got hit in the face by a brick” look, and seems like people forgot a lot of the labor issues. I hear a lot about how AA is no longer such an industry leader in terms of fair labor practices, and now that I’m looking for reasonably priced tees, I’m quite stymied.

You see, inspired by recent crafty things like Felt Club & Unique LA, I decided to get back to handpainting tees like I did a long-ass time ago. But I need shirts. Shirts I can AFFORD. American Apparel is not affordable–not in any volume, at least. There are these shirts from No Sweat, but they’re still too pricy for me, unless I plan on selling these shirts for a fricken’ mint.

Now, I used to hear about there being one day a week when you could go down to the AA plant on Alameda and root through their slightly-wonky seconds: you know, the color was a little off, or a seam wasn’t perfectly straight. And these were discounted. Dear lazyweb, does that day still exist?

Or are there, somewhere out there, low-cost sweat-free shirts, just waiting for me to discover them?

Halp, Los Angeles! Halp! I ask here because I know there are a lot of other crafty ladies out there who’ve asked the same question, and also because I want sweat-free operations to have a chance to sound off in a public forum if they can offer me a good solution.

The NY Times’ The Moment blog posted this morning about a few new shops in Venice. NYT continues to ramp up their LA coverage for the SoCal print edition, so it’s nice to see that happening on their website too.

Businesses mentioned are Big Red Sun, Venice Beach Wines, C.A.V.E. and Parker Pettit.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond Budget in Culver City today to play the 20% coupon game (where you’re supposed to feel like you got a deal by using their 20% off coupons to offset their marked-up prices), and found the place surprisingly empty.  Was this a sign of the Next Great Depression?

Granted, it was mid-afternoon, likely an off hour between lunch time and after work.  And perhaps BBBB is not a Christmas shopping destination, except for practical people like me.

vacuum cleaner bags?  you shouldn’t have!  really, you shouldn’t have.

Indeed, the parking lot was pretty full, so maybe hordes of Christmas shoppers were next door at Target, where you can buy toys and iPods with your household cleaning fluids.

I did my part, picking up a fancy photo album covered in nice dead cow for one of “my people.”  But I have to wonder what Christmas is going to be like this year, in Culver City and elsewhere.

The second annual Eco Gift Festival, held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium over the past three days, demonstrated how the “green” products industry has matured.  Last year’s inaugural Festival drew a good-sized crowd, and many of the mom-and-pop vendors reported brisk sales.  However, this year’s Festival was marked by the addition of some of the heavy hitters in the eco-friendly products field.  Linda Loudermilk brought her “Luxury Eco” line of couture clothing made from seaweed, bamboo, and other sustainable materials.  Former actor turned television director Melanie Mayron was on hand with her Mayron’s Good Baby line of baby products.  And green granddaddy Pangea, makers of eco-friendly personal care products for the past decade or so, was selling out its inventory.  

Go eco-shopping, after the jump

This caught my eye at Surfas in Culver City (best little cookery supply store in my not so humble opinion located at National and Washington).  The area above the cash registers was full of “spoonflakes” made from the slotted spoons back in the kitchen supply area.  I’m noticing a lot of homemade decorations this year and its just fine with me.

Pic taken with the trusty phone cam…on the sly and you can see the reason why after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →

Black Maria Gallery in Atwater Village has Skip the Mall on view, their fourth annual holiday exhibit that seeks to woo  shoppers away from the usual consumer stomping grounds by offering affordable original art by young and emerging artists.

As always, the exhibition will have a bazaar theme with some of the accoutrements of the shopping experience: paintings suspended on clothing hangers, displayed in shoe boxes and on display stands holding a variety of artworks.

Owner Zara Zeitousian conceived the show as a reaction to the rampant consumerism typical during the Christmas holidays.

I live across the street from the Glendale Galleria. It’s crazy all the time but during the holidays it’s depressing– such madness. To observe it everyday made me realize Black Maria could offer an alternative to mass-produced products.

Art makes a wonderful gift. We have pieces by several artists that are under $100. Some of them are right out of art school and the young energy in their work is great to see.

Zeitousian may be poking fun, or maybe in the current economy she’s poking a stick in the eye of the shopping experience, but she is serious about the spiritual rewards of appreciating and owning great art.

A painting can be as satisfying as wearing a sexy dress or owning a feature-laden barbecue, except there is an actual, sometimes life-changing meaning waiting to be derived from a work of art.

Skip the Mall at Black Maria Gallery, 3137 Glendale Blvd. LA 90039; through January 3rd.

Jon Measures “Ben”  2008, acrylic on canvas, 4″ x 4″ $45

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)

This just can’t be right: Was I seriously 16 months less old when Hot Knives’ Alex Brown and Evan George staged their inaugural LA Grand Crew Beer Ride? Maybe it seems like it couldn’t have been two summers ago because it was so epically epic and awesomely unique biking between strategic beer buys (such as the landmark Galco’s, pictured at right) that began in Highland Park and ended all the way out to the 405 Freeway near Pico before heading back to Hot Knives’ HQ in Echo Park for an informal 99-bottle beer tasting — with homemade snacks! — at sunset with so many fun-loving hops-heads.

Just thinking about that wonderful day is enough to get me suitably weepy for a sequel, so gawd bless Evan for dropping a teaser in my inbox that No. 2 is being incubated and to stay tuned. Then on Sunday he and Alex announced that Grand Crew II is gonna be even better than the first time and happen Saturday, December 20.

Details are here on the Hot Knives blog, and my pix are on Flickr from the 2007 beer ride.

spotted at Target, how before seen on the streets?

Oh crap when I saw this I just had to stand back and laugh.  Then the reality hit, oh the uses I could have for this.  My little driver will soon be used by my oldest when she gets her license in February.  Imagine programming it to scroll “Driving bad?  Call my Dad…then my number” .  Of course “thanks for the wave“,”thanks for letting me in” or “stressed leave me alone” would work too and give my kids one less reason to be on the couch at 20.

It can be programmed with up to 5 messages.  What else could I put?  Your ideas?

What is funny is that in the time it took me to get through the line at Target and home to do this Post, Burns! saw the pic on my flickr and made a comment.  I’ll save him a keystroke or two, here is what he wrote:

Oh my god, yes! Can it create messages on the fly? Maybe I could modify it with some voice-to-text software so as to give some very specific messages to other drivers? 

I can’t answer his questions as I didn’t open the box.  I don’t know why I found it and most of what I saw at Target today so funny, but this one was the funniest and scariest at the same time.  Will it play in LA?  One never knows, but I think it will do well in Bumfuque, MO.  For gawds sake if you find one in the wild please send me the pic.

*fot =fresh outta the trailer park.  Similar to fob or fobby, only for folks with roots in a trailer park.

The Mar Vista Farmers’ Market is gearing up for the Holidays with their Winter Festival for the next three Sundays. Along with the freshest veggies and fruits, there will be craft booths from the Mar Vista Arts and Crafts Collective, cooking demos with Amanda Cushman and music by Klezmer Juice to get you juiced up to shop. There are plenty of food booths to keep you going too, crepes, omeletes, BBQ, Peruvian delights, pastries, and much more.

Have you been naughty or nice? Rumor has it that Santa Claus will make an appearance.

Mar Vista Farmers’ Market
Grand View Blvd at Venice Blvd.
Sundays from 9am to 2pm

(click on image to make it larger.)

I just got word that La Mano Press is closing up shop after five years, and that their annual holiday sale scheduled for December 5-7 will actually be their last event.

Writes La Mano’s creator and master printer Artemio Rodriguez:

After five great years at La Mano Press we have decided to say goodbye to LA.

For me it has been about 14 years of learning experiences, accomplishments, many good moments and many great friends. We, Silvia, myself and all the friends who have collaborated with us, have done all our best to try to promote the arts in our communities. I hope we have at least left some mark along our way.

This is sad news. I discovered La Mano just last year from the “Puro Muerto” exhibit at the Central Library and I’ll definitely be making some time to get over there this weekend to say goodbye and get some of their unique handmade offerings.

La Mano Press, 1749 N. Main Street, 90031 (map). Sale hours: Friday, 6 -11 p.m.; Saturday, 12 – 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 – 5 p.m.

I’ve been enviously following the progress of Patrick Ecclesine’s Faces of Sunset Boulevard project since I first heard about it a couple years ago, in large part because he was living what I’d only once dreamed of doing with the help of a high school classmate and a Super-8 movie camera waaaaay back in the day: document one of the city’s most iconic and diverse/disparate thoroughfares from one end to the other.

My pal Hovik and I didn’t get very far. With a working title of “Sunrise To Sunset” we got downtown one early Saturday dawn to start the journey — driven by his dad. But the opening shot we wanted of day breaking from behind Union Station was thwarted by overcast skies and after several minutes of standing around bummed that we’d have to get up way too early and come back on another hopefully clearer-skied Saturday, we adjourned to breakfast and the realization that we’d vastly underestimated the scope of the project. There was just no way a couple punks like us had all that was needed to do the boulevard justice.

Ecclesine had what was needed — and it took him four years to paint a portrait of Los Angeles via one of its longest and windingest roads that my buddy and I foolishly figured we’d be able to do in a day. Beginning with small street-corner shoots involving willing passersby, Ecclesine’s projects evolved into full-scale productions with elaborate lighting, street closures, and the occasional celebrity.

The result is awesome and can be found in a new 208-page 9″ x 12″ hardbound volume ($39.95) from Santa Monica Press that to me perfectly captures what Los Angeles is all about and would make a perfect gift this holiday season for the angeleno who has everything or the non-native who wants greater insight into what this place is all about. I got mine at Amazon for $26, and it’s also available online at Barnes & Noble and Borders. PS. Ecclesine states that his personal profit from the book will benefit the Surfrider Foundation.