Los Angeles Lakers Fans- One Generation After Another

ALTHOUGH I WOULD not consider myself an avid Los Angeles Lakers fan -- and admit to having been to only one game -- I could not help but become inundated with their successes this past week in the news of their recent win. It seems as though I couldn’t get away from the hype of the popular team -- sportscasters on the news feeding the details of who shot the most points and who saved the game and even a stranger asking me, while sitting by my apartment complex pool this past weekend, if I knew the score. Shortly after, I realized that this obvious Lakers fan had asked me because his young son had probably dragged him up from the couch while watching the game to soak up some sun at the pool on a beautiful April afternoon. What struck me most was that despite this little boy’s strong urge to be playing outside rather than on the couch, he was just as interested to know if the Lakers were winning and when he found out that they did he couldn’t have been happier.

It became clear that Los Angeles Lakers fans pass on their pride and respect from generation to generation which helps maintain such a strong loyalty for so many years. It would almost seem taboo for someone in a family of Lakers fans to stray away from the pack and adopt another favored team. Despite its location and whether the home of the Lakers resides at The Forum in Inglewood or the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, the Lakers will always have fans --both young and old. The team represents so much more than just the game. The Los Angeles Lakers represent a community, a city and generations that will last as long as Angelenos and fans allow it. The team would be nothing without its fans and the fans would be nothing without their team.
-- Jayme Dolan

photo credit: "#1 Laker Fan" by jvnuag, flickr creative commons

Abbot Kinney

The New York Times recently put up a travel posting on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, Ca. You can see the slideshow here

Abbot Kinney, a wealthy tobacco businessman, was the founder of the city of Venice, and had a vision for the coastal stretch of land as a "Venice of America." He envisioned gondolas and performers, and all sorts of other cultural attractions to allure people to the area that he loved so much. Today it has become a cultural icon for different reasons- as a trendy and hip example of the Los Angeles beach lifestyle. An eclectic group inhabits the beachy city, where a breeze always seems to be blowing, and boutiques and small cafes with barely visible names printed on the windows in minimalist fashion, line the streets. Abbot Kinney Boulevard has materialized into a street with an identity uniquely its own, and is attractive for a variety of reasons. Restaurants like the newly opened Lemonade (with its delicious variety of unusually flavored lemonade), Abbot's Pizza (a small store front with a big variety of delicious and creative pizzas), Joe's Cafe, and many others offer great food in a relaxing environment, not to mention the various "taco trucks," serving a variety of food much more than just tacos, which frequent the street. The palm trees that border the sidewalks make the orange and pink sunset in combination with the variety of shops even more picturesque on a warm summer evening. In a strange way, the magic of the street- maybe becuase of the name, or the people, or even just the vibe, make you almost want to say "my street is cooler than yours"- almost.

-- Posted from NYT story by Kimberly Dennis
photo credits: ricardodiaz11, vmiramontes, flickr creative commons)

A Day in Downtown LA

SPRING IS IN the air in LA, and what better way to celebrate the coming of the season of sun than a day in LA? Suggested by HiddenLA's founder, Lynn Garrett, this little excursion is a great way to become acquainted a little better with downtown LA, and it shows just how much you can do in a few hours in the city.

Start by going to the only running railcar in Los Angeles, Angels Flight, right off the 110 at 3rd and Hill Streets, and ride it up to the top where you will find a little park nestled in the square of a block, called Angels Knoll. It has been featured in several films, including most recently 500 Days of Summer, and it offers a beautiful view of the city. You can sit and relax on the park benches in the cool shade of the trees, and observe the lovely LA architecture for a while, working up an appetite on the meditation of the antique fire escape railings and the stone details of the apartment complexes in front of you, and then make your way to the Grand Central Market. Literally right across the street from the bottom of Angels Flight, it is a verifiable goldmine of food, from fresh and inexpensive produce, to Mexican and Chinese food that will make your mouth water just by walking/looking/smelling it. Walk through the market and out to the other side of the block, and you will be on Broadway St.; directly across the street will be the Bradbury Building, an absolute beautiful structure, with a glass ceiling (no pun intended), and wrought iron railings and open elevators that line the open atrium of the space, now used as office buildings. After this, feel free to stroll around the streets- plenty of people will probably be doing the same-oh, and don't forget to enjoy yourself.

-- Kimberly Dennis

(photo credit, Grand Central Market, Angeles Flight ricardodiaz11, flickr, creative commons)

A.O. Scott on Chinatown --

A few weeks back, the New York Times' film critic, A. O. Scott looked at Roman Polanski’s 1974 film noir “Chinatown.” Mr. Scott calls the film, which explores corruption in 1930s Los Angeles, “much more than the sum of its parts.” He says that Mr. Polanski “pushes beyond the conventions of the genre to give us a stark encounter between a powerless individual and monstrous evil.” Please share your thoughts on “Chinatown.”
-- L.G.

(photo credit: cinemaisdopedotcom.)

Survey L.A.: One Building at a Time . . .

FOR THOSE OF you interested in going even deeper, the City of Los Angeles has embarked on an expansive project to ensure that Los Angeles' built history is properly counted and cataloged.

Survey L.A., a project launched by the city's Office of Historical Resources, is an expansive, multi-layered endeavor that christens the city's first comprehensive preservation program.

Eighty-five percent of Los Angeles's structures have not been cataloged. Unlike most big cities, Los Angeles hasn't had an organized and systemized way of keeping track of what's on the ground. Survey L.A. is training and paring teams of architects, historians, students and volunteers to traverse the city and catalog each and every structure. The idea behind this effort is to begin to understand Los Angeles's history through the various structures (and the various uses of those structures over time) Ken Bernstein, head of the Office of Historical Resources told me during an interview for an L.A. Times story I was working on that one of the primary impetus of this program was the constant "11th hour fights" to save historically significant buildings from being torn down under the cover of night. Once a building is counted and cataloged in the database it will be easier to find out more about what its historical relevance is without scrambling at the last minute.

Moreover, Bernstein hopes, is that we begin to understand our city's history through its neighborhoods, subdivisions, industries and distinct melange of architecture. For those of you who might like to participate in learning about your city literally from the ground up click here .
Below is part-one of a series of three videos that will tell you a little more about the project.
-- L.G.

One Stop: Pain, Joy, Wanderlust

SINK DEEP ENOUGH into Los Angeles and uncanny vibrancy will arrest the mind with outlandish fantasy. Curiosity pulls one deeper into the unforeseen. The depths of this rabbit hole mystify and the marvel of discovery compels one further. Down the quiet Washington corridor of Culver City the stylized neon beam of a Victorian crown welcomes curiosity—the Royal/T presents its guests to the splendor of the L.A. art scene. Culver City’s manga-spliced J-pop anomaly housed “The Never Ending Story: Fairytale, Fantasy, Obsession” exhibit on the fourth. New York-based curator Laura Hoptman designed a space where the mind-altering aesthetics of surrealism, an acid-trance through “Alice in Wonderland”, and the animated silliness of Akihabara culture could legally find its way into the imagination.

Elegant hors d'oeuvres were balanced by tiny Japanese women dressed as French maids who made their precarious rounds through the evening’s frenzy of “wonderland” cos-players and art house junkies. Stylized blank smiles followed trays of unpronounceable French delicacies as they presented themselves to multi-faceted crowds of “Alice” impersonators. Each costume featured a personal Goth sensibility—pale blues, matte-black lace, and death metal eyeshadow accented curious conversations throughout. This mob of steam-punk psychedelia bridged the boundaries between the life in this L.A. art scene and the contorted displays of surrealist abominations decorating the walls.

The old-world class from steam-engine romances was celebrated in the hand-crafted collections of Jared Gold. A corner of the Royal/T was devoted to the designer’s rich composition of contrasting pastels and 19th century luxury. Gold blends history and modern ideals into a signature—his stylish sense of nostalgia seems to recreate the romantic notions of individuality and expression.


Anthropomorphic phantasms from the most primal reaches of Wangechi Mutu’s day-dreams frolic and haunt the walls of the Royal/T. The divine dreariness of a purgatory creates a space of uncomfortable self-reflection in Mutu’s “Your Story, My Curse”. This mixed media cerebral assault invites the psyche to relive past jealousy, lust, obsession, and fruitless romances. It’s a living nightmare that no one wants to leave. Mutu’s color palette is deceiving—brilliant patterns scattered across each figure recall Gustav Klimt’s charm, but their appeal undermines the menacing drama and growing tension running through the canvas.

Susan Hancock has spent the last ten years bringing together a culturally diverse cast of contemporary artists into a respectable collection of eclectic style. She has spent the last five owning and operating the Royal/T as a means of immersing herself deeper into the art world. The pieces of her collection on display at the Royal/T represent the human facets of suffering, vulnerability, wanderlust, joy, pain, and love in a vibrant dreamscape of vivid ferocity. The fortunate wandering souls that make their way into her gallery have the opportunity of traveling through unique visions—those projecting an aura she takes to, may even have their spirit cards read.

This city grows curiouser and curiouser. For those looking to appreciate the space royal-t.org has everything. The show will continue its outlandish parade through August fourth and can be followed on Twitter and Facebook at RoyalTCafe.

-- Jesse Alvarez
(photo credit: jslander, flickr creative commons)

“The Bare Necessities of (beach) Life”

IN "JUNGLE BOOK" Baloo took little Mowgli around the jungle and explained to him life lessons for survival. Baloo’s message was given in the form of a famous song, and in my opinion somewhat describes the laid back attitude Los Angeles beach dwellers are known for, “look for the bare necessities the simple bare necessities, forget about your worries and your strife…”.

Today I visited Hermosa Beach, I stood there amongst what felt like an entire different world of people. These people weren’t rushing to work, sitting in traffic on the 405, or even glued to their phones shouting as if they were the only ones on the street. They seemed so relaxed and care free with their shades on, a latte in one hand, and a purse dog attached to a leash in the other. As I watched the resident pedestrians in their element I couldn’t help but wonder, don’t these people work or better yet have anything at all to stress about? Or, has Baloo made his way from the jungle to Los Angeles to continue and spread his life motto. It became very clear that he was here, traces of him were everywhere, and these people moseying down the street, on ironically for LA a rainy day, definitely forgot about their worries and their strife.

I can’t talk about LA without mentioning the weather, so I’ll set the scene for you, and you too can understand why this place and these people seemed so abstract from certain realities. It was cloudy and raining when I left LMU, and after a 20-minute drive on south Lincoln to PCH, and despite the clouds now traveling east, looking at the beach you would have thought LA was rounding off a beautiful sunny day. The sky was crystal clear, the clouds that remained looked snuggle soft and fresh out of the dryer. The ocean water was so bright it resembled that of drifting mirrors reflecting what was left of the setting sun. While I’m observing this shift in imagery, from inland to the coast, right by me walks a young woman obviously in her element and a resident of this picturesque neighborhood: Ponytail, Bermuda shorts, and of course the signature shades, latte, and puppy in hand. It’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon and putting all these puzzle pieces together I couldn't help but ask myself, at what point did she wake up today or better yet get dressed? Is it beach resident common knowledge that no matter how a day begins it will inevitably end requiring summer attire? Or, did she wake up, dress April shower accordingly, and race home to change into her “resident uniform” in time to catch the last of the visit from the sun. What’s even more interesting about this scenario is it wasn’t’ just her, everyone that walked past me was visually screaming August. I felt over dressed and all I had on was a light sweater and jeans.

Like I said, Baloo has no doubt paid a visit to Hermosa and made very clear that a stand by set of summer play clothes is to remain on deck. So it my intention to spread his news, that no matter how an LA day begins, if you find yourself near the beach or are wanting to move there, shorts my friends are the bare necessities of life.

-- Erin Golightly
(photo credit: the toe stubber, flickr creative commons)

Defining Modern Art

THIS WEEKEND, I had the pleasure of visiting the Grand Avenue location of the Musuem of Contemporary Art downtown, which forced me to reflect on the relation of graffiti to modern art and the way space is used. Many of the paintings and sculptures that line the walls of M.O.C.A. are ones that would probably be thought of to be universally thought-provoking, but there were a few that I found to be strange additions which seemed to focus more on the process of making the art than the art itself, such as a completely black canvass that was untitled. How are these better than graffiti, and why are these things backed financially? As I walked through the museum, I found myself enamored with the descriptions and the way in which artists pitch themselves, specifically, a modern artist named Pierre Alechinsky who wrote, "When I paint, I liberate monsters. One does not chose the content, one submits to it." With each work of art, I found myself more interested in the writing and attitudes that artists hold towards their work than the work itself.

Upon leaving, I noticed a series of chalk drawings that someone had created on the sidewalk near the parking garage that looked like a series of intricate crop circles. How was this not art? It didn't have the artist's instruction manual. Maybe everything is art, but pitching yourself as an artist is half of the battle. The chalk circles didn't get a description about inner demons, and therefore, people weren't going to pay to ruminate over their meaning. This forced me to conclude the hierarchy at play: perhaps the most talented artists (specifically in graffiti) making statements are not recognized simply because they don't get the chance to pitch themselves. All of the artists in the gallery were supported by huge financial donors, but how does one even get a meeting with these donors? Knowing people.

Maybe the real artists are ones like Prime as featured in Ruben Martinez' "Going Up in L.A.," whose vision for art was not selfish, and even actively wanted to involve other people: "I want to have a big lot when I grow older," he said, leaning forward, a small gold crucifix swinging in front of his dark blue sweatshirt. "It'll have big, long, movable walls. I'll put canvasses up, and have kids and artists there, have it be like a big maze of art. Then, with the money I make in one day, I'll buy some more canvas and change the maze." For "contemporary art", few pieces in the musuem actively involved the spectator, and the descriptions definitely catered to crowds with their undergraduate degrees. The purpose of art is that it is supposed to be universal: it can mean something to anyone. Graffiti is easy to see. It is in our faces every day as we drive to school, work, the daily grind. You don't have to pay a price for it, and you definitely have an opinion on it, good or bad, without needing a paragraph written about it. It just breathes a life of its own without explanation.

Although graffiti art is rapidly gaining recognition with an upcoming documentary on British street artist Banksy, graffiti tours, and new styles popping up everywhere, why aren't these artists getting paid big bucks too?

--Thea Green

(photo: banksky, credit: cannon snapper, flickr creative commons)

Iconic L.A.: Save the Peak -- Final

WELL, WE CAN close the chapter on the fate of "the Peak." L.A. Times reporting this afternoon that Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, has come to the rescue of the Hollywood sign "anteing up $900,000 to help in the effort to preserve the land surrounding the famed landmark," says the Times. This will be pooled with $500,000 in matching grants from the Tiffany Foundation and Aileen Getty.
And so, as they say in pictures . . .
Fin

-- L.G.
(photo credit: b. rosen, flickr, creative commons)

Hidden L.A: Crime, Chandler & Clifton's

HIDDEN LOS ANGELES' Lynn Garrett, didn't forget to send along the video of crime in 1930s Los Angeles. You'll find it here on her site.

Here some little intro bits . . . "

a really great 30 minute long documentary (shown in 3 parts) about iconic author Raymond Chandler’s take on the corruption of Los Angeles in the 1930s… a paradise infiltrated by dope fiends, smut peddlers, schemers in low places and high, crooked cops and crooked politicians…

And she adds in an email to me:


The 1930s documentary I was recommending to the students about LA crime in the 30s (it features the story about Clfford Clinton’s house being firebombed too)

Enjoy!


-- L.G.