Mara Hobel and Fay Dunaway in Mommie Dearest

Yes, this Sunday is Mother’s Day, or as some of us like to think of it, Avoid Brunch Restaurants As If Your Life Depended On It Day. My fellow bloggers have helped you figure out where to shop for your momma and where to take her out. I’m here to let the dysfunctional family set know the Egyptian Theater has planned a Sunday evening just for us. In the programming equivalent of scheduling My Bloody Valentine on February 14th, the Egyptian is screening Mommie Dearest at 7:30 Sunday night. You’ll never look at a wire hanger the same again. See you there.

Seriously, if you don’t have plans tonight already, this is an epic evening for LA, cinematically speaking. One of the best things about our city is that you can pretty much catch anything on the big screen, and today is testimony to that. 

First, it’s the kick off night for the Egyptian’s 13th annual Noir City festival. As in the past, most of the stuff in the series isn’t available on DVD. There are 13 double features running tonight through 20 April. Tonight’s double bill, new prints of High Wall and Strangers in the Night, focuses on WWII vets who return home to a world plenty sinister and dangerous in its own right. It’s a lot easier to figure out who the enemy is when he’s wearing a scary uniform, you know?  Read the rest of this entry →

This weekend: Baja Night 2.0, post-St. Patrick’s Day beer-ing, and a little running.  Or not.

SATURDAY

• The last time Ricky (of Ricky’s Fish Tacos) and Mexicali Taco Company teamed up at a parking lot downtown for Baja Night, everyone from families to foodies came together to nosh on giant lobster tacos (courtesy Ricky) and generous cachetadas (courtesy Mexicali).  The second edition of Baja Night (Baja Night 2.0) is on Saturday night, and Ricky promises more lobster tacos and a secret dish that he told me about here.  Eating Ensenada-style fish and meat tacos in a parking lot under the warm glow of the downtown skyline and the biggest, brightest moon since 1983.  If that’s not eating in LA, I don’t know what is.  $Pay as you go.  The night starts at 6pm at the parking lot on 1st and Beaudry.
• My dog is not the only one celebrating a birthday on Saturday – The Egyptian Theater also is celebrating what would have been Sid Grauman’s 132nd birfday. Grauman found a few of the most iconic theaters in LA, including The Egyptian and the Chinese Theater.  There will be a lecture about his life and career, a birthday cake, and a screening of Forever Hollywood, a documentary about – guess! – Hollywood.  $9-11.  The party starts at 2pm at The Egyptian in Hollywood.
• Beer is the new wine.  Finally.  Cases in point: not one, but three, events focused on the suds are scheduled for Saturday.  First, Angel City Brewery officially opens its doors downtown.  There will be beer, of course, and food trucks, of course.  Second, Bakelab and The Surly Goat will host a Beer & Pretzels Lab in which you will learn how to bake pretzels and how to pair said pretzels with beer.  And third, City Sip hosts a How to Home Brew class in which you will learn how to make an IPA.  Gives new meaning to BYOB.  Angel City Brewery’s party starts at noon at its new digs at 216 S. Alameda in the Arts District Downtown. $75 for Bakelab + Surly Goat’s class, which goes from noon to 3pm at Bakelab’s kitchen at 705 Vesta St., Inglewood. $50 for City Sip’s class, which starts at 1 at City Sip, 2150 Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park.
• Descanso Gardens hosts the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  There will be Japanese tea ceremonies, cherry trees on sale, and guided walks through the beautiful grounds.  Given everything that’s happened, this event will likely take a somewhat somber tone.  :(  $3 children, $6 seniors/students, $8 adults.  From 10am to 5pm both Saturday and Sunday at the Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.
• Snow in LA?  No, I’m not talking about a few weeks ago.  Long Beach is having a Snow Day, hauling in 10 tons of fresh snow to a park for you and the kids.  Make snow art, go sledding, and pretend you won the lotto.  Free.  11am to 3pm at Whaley Park, 5620 Atherton Street in Long Beach.
• MEN.  Make music.  Genderfucking.  $12.  8:30pm at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

SUNDAY

• Runners will be taking their mark around 6am; the rest of us slackers will be sleeping and wake up to this interactive Google Mapped version to see what the runners have been doing all morning.  The LA Marathon runs (heh) from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica; check out the road closures and plan to sleep in accordingly.  Running from one side of town to another?  I guess that’s one way to save gas.
• Non-runners, forget your guilt about being not being able to run one mile, much less 26.2, and just head over to Domaine LA’s Anti-Marathon tasting.  The wine shop will have a tasting, and the Get Your Lardon truck will be on hand with the bacon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if a few unexpected guests with their own bibs happened to show up on their way to the ocean.  1pm to 4pm at Domaine LA, 6801 Melrose Ave.
• As it is the first day of spring, Griffith Observatory will hold two “Spring Equinox” events, one at precisely 1:01pm and another at 7:05pm.  I’m not sure what exactly these events will entail, but does it really matter?  A day at the observatory for any reason is a great day.  Free at the Griffith Observatory.
• Sammy Hagar, the Van Halen frontman who defined rock for the ages, wrote a memoir.  It’s only fitting, then, that Hagar shows up on the Sunset Strip at Book Soup to sign copies of his rock odyssey, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.  Note that this book is the only thing he’ll sign, so leave the pieces to your smashed axe at home.  5pm at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.
• The Museum of Latin American Art celebrates the contributions of women in art with its annual Women’s Day Festival.  There will be workshops, food, music, poetry readings, and a spotlight on artisan female jewelry designers from Brazil and Mexico.  Best of all, the event is part of Target Free Sundays, meaning you get admission to the museum on Target’s dime.  Free.  1 to 4pm at the Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Avenue in Long Beach.

“Early Morning, Santa Monica” by Renee Rendler-Kaplan via the Blogging LA Flickr pool.

Fans of film noir have two great series opportunities coming up–the first at the Egyptian and the second at the Academy.

Starting Friday 2 April and running through Sunday the 18th, the Egyptian is collaborating with the Film Noir Foundation on the 12th Noir City festival. There are 25 films in the festival and none is available on DVD. Highlights include the noir classic New York Confidential (with Anne Bancroft–how is this not on DVD?!) and, for sheer novelty, the 2009 Eve’s Necklace, shot with a cast comprised entirely of mannequins. Daniel Erickson, the director (not a mannequin), will be present for a q&a after the screening of Eve’s Necklace.

For those who favor the genre’s classics, beginning 10 May, the Academy will be screening fifteen noir staples, all nominated for an Oscar in the writing category, most Monday nights running through 30 August. Because you can’t see Mildred Pierce or The Killers too many times can you? A “noir cartoon” and, beginning 24 May, an episode of the 1941 serial Adventures of Captain Marvel will precede each movie. And get this, you can get a pass for all fifteen screenings for $30. That’s some cheap culture people. I’ve got my pass.

Noirs-a-poppin’.

Rick Castro’s second monthly Fetish Film Nights is this Friday evening at the Egyptian Theater– but this time, due to the overflow crowd last month for the first FFN in the small Spielberg Theater, he’s moving into the 616-seat Rigler Theater for a screening of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s raunchy classic, Salo, 120 Days of Sodom.

Be prepared, Salo is not for the squeamish or the weak of heart as it tours with cold, in-your-face precision through a deluge  of sexual and psychological atrocities rained upon a group of young men and women held hostage in a stunning villa by a group of depraved nobles at the end of WWII. Think sumptuous locales, haute couture costume design and complete sexual madness and kinky abandon.

Castro, owner and curator of Antebellum Gallery, the fetish art emporium on Las Palmas around the corner from the Egyptian, will lead a discussion after the film.

Last month’s Fetish Film Nights screening of Maitresse saw a spirited talk about BDSM culture. This Friday will probably play along the same lines, like another titillating night out at the movies. Bring a date– or even find one there.

Salo, 120 Days of Sodom;  Friday Oct. 17th, 7:30 PM; at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. at Las Palmas, Los Angeles 90028