Saturday, November 6 is Classic Eats #13 and our theme is: Post Election Comfort Eating. No matter who or what you voted for on November 2, let’s all get together and celebrate with or cry into some comforting classic LA eats.

The evening will begin at approximately 5-5:30pm (depending on where we go) to give you plenty of time to come and share in the history of LA eateries then move on to more modern Saturday endeavors. But then again, you may never leave as some Classic Eats Evenings have been known to hit midnight!

You have three candidates/propositions to choose from and they are:

Downtown Delights (Classic Eats Reprise): Traxx and Philippe’s
Off The Hook: Bahooka
LAX Adjacent: Pann’s and The Buggy Whip

Scroll down to read about them all in greater detail. When you have decided, please click here to vote!

No matter where we go, I look forward to seeing you there! Vote Vote Vote!

Downtown Delights

I’m pulling up a classic night from the Classic Eats archive: Classic Eats #2 from January 2009. This was such a great combo, I want to do it again! We will start at that awesome LA Landmark: Union Station and have a lovely cocktail at Traxx Bar while admiring the fab spanish/deco train station. Many of you ride the rails in LA so you have probably been to/through Union Station a few times. It’s like stepping back in time. And Phillipe’s is over 100 years old, which is OLD for LA, so let’s go dipping!

Union Station (Traxx)
Phillipe’s

Off The Hook: Bahooka

This might be a trek for some of you, but hey, it’s going to be so worth it! This place is INSANE! Born in 1967, full of fish tanks and fish of every color and type and size, wacky giant sized tikis and even crazier flaming drinks. I’d never heard about it until recently, but dang, it looks worth the trip! I can’t do it justice. Click that link!

Bahooka
4501 N. Rosemead Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 285-1241 -or- (626) 285-7514

LAX Adjacent: Pann’s and The Buggy Whip

If you’ve raced to catch a plane, speeding along La Tijera from mid-city, you’ve seen both Pann’s and The Buggy Whip. Maybe you’ve promised yourself “One of these days I’ll leave enough time to stop in.” Now’s your chance! Pann’s has been a Googie landmark and family owned since 1958. They’ve got excellent, classic diner food, served in an excellent, classic diner. It’s so classic that movies shoot there often. You may recall Pulp Fiction’s diner scene…?? That was Pann’s. Just look at all that Googie Goodness! The Buggy Whip is a classic red velvet booth, live piano player, bar/lounge/restaurant/banquet room all in one. It’s been named one of the best steak places in LA and is a bit pricey to prove it. I thought it best to start at Pann’s then mosey over to the ‘Whip for a post dinner cocktail or dessert in the lounge. I’m hoping there is a giant brandy snifter on the piano for tips…

Pann’s
6710 La Tijera Blvd
LA 90045
323-776-3770

The Buggy Whip
7420 La Tijera Blvd.
LA 90045
(310) 645-7131

Tucked behind the Monrovia School District offices lies Julian D Fisher Park.  It is one of many pocket parks dotting Monrovia, but this one is special because of its 3 regulation size basketball courts.  Good enough that it is listed on the “Courts of the World” web as a place to go for pick up games and just enjoy the sport.

Bringing it closer to home for me, the Monrovia Mountaineers, a competitive travel basketball team for 14 and under age kids uses it for practice when local gyms aren’t available.   We (as in my youngest child who is a Mountaineer) are at this park for practices with his team several times a week.

Mountaineers practice early on a Sunday morning.

There is also a nice Picnic Pavilion and play ground area to round out the usefulness of this pocket park.  Fair warning, this park is packed in the evenings and on weekends.  Week day mornings you tend to find the odd Mom and kidlet in the play area.  Parking is limited on Almond Avenue, but not completely impossible to find a space within walking distance of the entrance to the park.

Easy access from 210 Fwy via Myrtle or Mountain Ave exits.

After some two years in the way of planning and designing, many hours of many weekends this spring were spent by volunteers digging and hauling and planting and nurturing and shaping and scaping what had long been the desolate corner of concrete at the intersection of Parkman Avenue and Silver Lake Boulevard south of Sunset Boulevard into the living “urban lounge” that is now one of Los Angeles’ newest pocket parks.

While I failed miserably and absolutely in my intentions to pitch in, thankfully there were enough of my neighbors who got involved and stayed involved and enlisted others that gave of themselves.  And it all culminated yesterday with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who spoke eloquently about the importance of projects such as this.

Pictured above in the front row flanking the giant-scissor-bearing councilman are Julie Hansen and Ara Babian to Garcetti’s right, with Leon Kaye and John Southern to his left. Southern is holding a certificate of appreciation presented by the city’s Office of Community Beautification.

To make up for my lack of volunteer participation in the park’s creation, I’ll be helping maintain it with monthly visits to remove the inevitable trash that will accumulate. In addition, I plan to utilize it as a new gathering point for any future group bike rides I may host since it’s one that’s a lot pleasant than the parking lot at Silversun Plaza, what with its liquor store’s cranky bike-hating proprietor.

More info on the nonprofit Parkman Triangle Group is here, and below is  a pic of the space:

The votes are trickling in and currently The Smokehouse is in the lead by far!

Classic Eats #12 is on August 21. The poll will stay open until Monday August 16.

Click here to get to the poll.

The three awesome options are:

Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse

The Smokehouse has been nestled in Burbank since 1946, serving the likes of  Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Milton Berle, and Jack Parr. Located right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios, you never know who you might see there. Captain and Tenille were discovered there — need I say more?? The Smokehouse is also famous for their garlic bread – okay twist my arm, I’ll orders some. BONUS: On Saturdays from 4-6pm you get 25% off any item on their regular dinner menu. I don’t have a second location for this event, so if anyone can chime in for a follow up spot, local to Burbank and in any way Classic, I’m in!

The Smokehouse
4420 West Lakeside Drive
Burbank 91505

LAX Adjacent: Pann’s and The Buggy Whip

If you’ve raced to catch a plane, speeding along La Tijera from mid-city, you’ve seen both Pann’s and The Buggy Whip. Maybe you’ve promised yourself “One of these days I’ll leave enough time to stop in.” Now’s your chance! Pann’s has been a Googie landmark and family owned since 1958. They’ve got excellent, classic diner food, served in an excellent, classic diner. It’s so classic that movies shoot there often. You may recall Pulp Fiction’s diner scene…?? That was Pann’s. Just look at all that Googie Goodness! The Buggy Whip is a classic red velvet booth, live piano player, bar/lounge/restaurant/banquet room all in one. It’s been named one of the best steak places in LA and is a bit pricey to prove it. I thought it best to start at Pann’s then mosey over to the ‘Whip for a post dinner cocktail or dessert in the lounge. I’m hoping there is a giant brandy snifter on the piano for tips…

Pann’s
6710 La Tijera Blvd
LA 90045
323-776-3770

The Buggy Whip
7420 La Tijera Blvd.
LA 90045
(310) 645-7131

Off The Hook: Bahooka

This might be a trek for some of you, but hey, it’s going to be so worth it! This place is INSANE! Born in 1967, full of fish tanks and fish of every color and type and size, wacky giant sized tikis and even crazier flaming drinks. I’d never heard about it until recently, but dang, it looks worth the trip! I can’t do it justice. Click that link!

Bahooka
4501 N. Rosemead Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 285-1241 -or- (626) 285-7514

It’s time to vote! Where will Classic Eats take place on August 21? That is entirely up to you!

As ever, the evening will commence at approximately 5pm so as to avoid crowds and so you can join in and still make it to a later event or date that night. Though if you’ve never joined in, you should know that sometimes we have so much danged fun we don’t leave until almost midnight! You just never know what will go on…

For Classic Eats #12 we have three choices, one is a previous contender, the other two are new to the Classic Eats panoply of dining options. Click here to get to the poll.

Get your votes in and please spread the word! Can’t wait to see you all there!

The three awesome options are:

Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse

The Smokehouse has been nestled in Burbank since 1946, serving the likes of  Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Milton Berle, and Jack Parr. Located right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios, you never know who you might see there. Captain and Tenille were discovered there — need I say more?? The Smokehouse is also famous for their garlic bread – okay twist my arm, I’ll orders some. BONUS: On Saturdays from 4-6pm you get 25% off any item on their regular dinner menu. I don’t have a second location for this event, so if anyone can chime in for a follow up spot, local to Burbank and in any way Classic, I’m in!

The Smokehouse
4420 West Lakeside Drive
Burbank 91505

LAX Adjacent: Pann’s and The Buggy Whip

If you’ve raced to catch a plane, speeding along La Tijera from mid-city, you’ve seen both Pann’s and The Buggy Whip. Maybe you’ve promised yourself “One of these days I’ll leave enough time to stop in.” Now’s your chance! Pann’s has been a Googie landmark and family owned since 1958. They’ve got excellent, classic diner food, served in an excellent, classic diner. It’s so classic that movies shoot there often. You may recall Pulp Fiction’s diner scene…?? That was Pann’s. Just look at all that Googie Goodness! The Buggy Whip is a classic red velvet booth, live piano player, bar/lounge/restaurant/banquet room all in one. It’s been named one of the best steak places in LA and is a bit pricey to prove it. I thought it best to start at Pann’s then mosey over to the ‘Whip for a post dinner cocktail or dessert in the lounge. I’m hoping there is a giant brandy snifter on the piano for tips…

Pann’s
6710 La Tijera Blvd
LA 90045
323-776-3770

The Buggy Whip
7420 La Tijera Blvd.
LA 90045
(310) 645-7131

Off The Hook: Bahooka

This might be a trek for some of you, but hey, it’s going to be so worth it! This place is INSANE! Born in 1967, full of fish tanks and fish of every color and type and size, wacky giant sized tikis and even crazier flaming drinks. I’d never heard about it until recently, but dang, it looks worth the trip! I can’t do it justice. Click that link!

Bahooka
4501 N. Rosemead Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 285-1241 -or- (626) 285-7514

Golly, recovering from the Very Special Classic East Blog-a-Thon at Canters, followed not long after by Donut Summit took a bit longer than I thought it would!

My waistline and cholesterol levels notwithstanding, it’s time to get back to Classic Eats!

Mark your calendars for Classic Eats #12: Saturday August 21. As usual we’ll start early in the evening (5 or 6). Look for the voting to commence in the next few days.

KCRW is having their summer pledge drive from August 9 through August 17 and they need volunteers. They specifically need to fill the following days/shifts:

Monday, August 9 from 2:30pm – 5:40pm
Monday, August 16 from 5:50am – 8:10am AND 7:45am – 9:20am

They could also use a few more people on:

Thursday, August 12 from 2pm – 3:30pm
Monday, August 16 2:30pm – 5:40pm

If you have the time, I really hope you’ll sign up as it is such a fun way to volunteer and support a terrific radio station. The station is at Santa Monica college and 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 again practicing what I preach and have signed up for four shifts. I’m a morning person so I’ll be answering phone from 6:00 am to 8:00 am, 8/9, 8/11, 8/13 and 8/17. Join me!

Go to KCRW’s Drive Volunteer page and read more, then sign up.

If you can’t volunteer this time, consider becoming a member (if you aren’t already) or make sure to renew your membership. There are always amazing give-aways and special deals for your donation.

Thank you!

More bad news on the Arts front: The Pasadena Playhouse, an L.A. landmark and institution, California’s only State Theatre, will be closing its doors, possibly for good, due to financial woes.

With 2 million owed to creditors and no way to pay, the current production of Camelot looks to be its last. Thirty seven employees will be out of work after the final curtain February 7th.

Stephen Eich, executive director of the Pasadena Playhouse, has said he is looking for ways to fulfill his obligation to current subscribers amidst massive financial restructuring and possible bankruptcy.

Attempts to find a donor to name the main auditorium after have thus far proved fruitless, as corporate donations have dwindled.

The company was founded in 1917, and the building itself built in the twenties, this is a huge loss for the arts, and a huge loss for theatre. I truly hope they find a way to re-open their doors soon.

If you’ve been on Facebook in the last couple of months, then you might have been inundated with requests to vote in Chase’s Community Giving Facebook Campaign. With financial resources drying up for many organizations, this campaign has been a rare opportunity for non-profit orgs to come by cold, hard cash by simply leveraging their social media muscles. Out of more than a half million eligible organizations, the Top 100 vote getters in Round 1 have moved on to the final round of voting, which is happening now. Top 100 orgs are already the recepients of a $25,000 grant, but the top organization gets $1 million.

Six Los Angeles area organizations are in the running for the $1M: [links go to Facebook pages]

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have been supporting the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF) in this campaign, since I feel that their “big idea” has the greatest potential for immediate impact on those who are living in Los Angeles, right now. CPAF was founded to help address domestic violence and sexual assault in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Up to 60% of Asian and Pacific American women experience domestic or sexual abuse in their lifetime, and are the least likely to report the abuse. Since the economic downturn in 2008, domestic violence has been on the rise. With cutbacks in state funding, non-profits like CPAF are forced to turn away more callers trying to flee a violent home.
Read the rest of this entry →

It’s being reported all over the place this morning that the City Council is considering a proposal by the Tom LaBonge-headed Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee to ban smoking on restaurant patios or within 10 feet of any outdoor establishment that serves food or beverages. Fortunately for you club goers, age-restricted venues such as bars and cigar bars would be exempt. Surprisingly to me, much of the anxiety over the proposal seems to revolve around who’s going to be responsible for enforcing the curb rather than whether customers have the right to smoke outside. Regardless, the easy money is on the proposal making it through the City Council easily given the success of similar measures nationwide, including in local municipalities like Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Calabasas.

I’m on a mailing list for NorthEastLA (NELA) community issues and this came across my desk: the City of Los Angeles Budget Survey. I just completed the survey myself. I think it’s a good exercise and brings up a lot of interesting questions. Why no survey questions about subway funding or routes? And why do they even have to ask about what they call “needs based budgeting,” which would divert funding to areas that appear to need them the most? Is the city actually NOT “Repaving streets based on condition of the streets and the usage of the particular street?” or NOT “Focusing gang reduction services in communities where gang crime occurs most”…? Why do they even have to ask me if this is a good idea?! It made me think of a recent report I heard on local newsradio, where a representative from the Westside was bitching about higher-crime communities diverting his crime-prevention forces. “I know we don’t have as much crime as those areas,” he admitted, then went on to whine about the whole thing.

Well, ’nuff said. Go voice your own opinion here. The letter that came with the link is behind the jump.

Info on the current budget & process is here; the fiscal year 2008/09 budget itself is here. Read the rest of this entry →

You can twitter about your experiences, concerns & ideas without creating a twitter account.

In addition to the email for your fire stories, concerns & questions (see post below this one), I’m also conducting an experiment: I’ve created a twitter account that anyone can login to and twitter about the fire, whether it’s just about your experience or whether it’s breaking news. I’m hoping no one abuses it. Let’s see what happens:

Twitter your fire story from LAfirestories at twitter.com: http://twitter.com/LAfirestories.

To login: You can login with the email metblogsfirestories (at) gmail (dot) com (of course please change the “dot” to a . and the “at” to an @, and remove any spaces). Your password is bigdumbfire.

I dunno if anyone will use it, but I’m curious to see how it’ll work.

A user of Downtown’s LA Life‘s Yahoo! Group recently shared an experience at Little Tokyo’s Weiland’s Brewery in which they claimed “Sexism is alive and well and working at Weilands Brewery:”

It’s not often that I will get on my soapbox and vent my anger and frustration to the world. I’m not a blogger or a rabble rouser and quite to the contrary, I prefer to read these types of stories rather than author them. But this incident, in my opinion, is one that I cannot keep quiet.

Recently, a very dear friend of mine walked into Weilands Brewery in Little Tokyo to apply for a job. He was looking for a bartender role or waitperson role- either one as he needed some work.

After dropping off his resume and talking with the manager, he was told that “…everyone here knows his place. The men work behind the bar and the women serve the food.” Since there weren’t any bartending positions available, and even though there were waitstaff positions available, he was told that he couldn’t be hired “because he was a man.” The manager went on to say “….this is a very macho environment and men don’t serve the food”. Umm, when did Little Tokyo become a “macho environment” and when did Weilands become a testosterone headquarters where customers are so uncomfortable with a man serving food, that they have to set up hiring rules preventing this from happening?…

More to the story and another experience after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →