sha in LA

dance with me, drink with me

Seattle was fun. Danced a little. Took lots of snaps. Drank loads of alcohol, especially on Saturday night. Shot some pool. Napped. Ate. Made some new friends.

I definitely believe the highlight of the weekend revolved around a bar called Vons. "Vons?" "Yes, Vons." Coming from California one naturally associates Vons with Grocery Stores however in Seattle it is a wonderful little neighborhood bar attached to the Roosevelt Hotel, approximately 6 blocks from Boren & Stewart. My new drinking friend, Christian and I scouted the area and happened upon it early in the evening. After downing a few drinks we headed back to the dance venue and gathered a few close associates to join us in our escapades. We were quite a rowdy bunch for most of the rest of the evening morning. Needless to say, Lisa and I ended up sleeping until 12:30 on Sunday morning and for the rest of the weekend our schedules were just a little bit off kilter.

Have a look at all the pics here. Enjoy.

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Camp Jitterbug

Tomorrow at the crack of dawn I'm headed off to the airport where I will spend the next 3 days in lovely Seattle. I'll be attending Camp Jitterbug. Dancing, dancing and more dancing. Classes, classes and more classes. Madness. I shall try to return safely however I cannot guarantee anything at this point. I do know this. Things will be quiet around here until next Tuesday. Sorry. Play around the site. Look through categories. Look at ALL the pictures. Leave me comments. But most of all, please return next week for more insightful thoughts and to hear all about my adventures from the weekend.

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Alexan Savoy

May25th, 2006 update. I just found the NEW website for this place and have updated this post as well as the new post for today.

September 26th, 2005 update. I've been getting lots of hits to this particular post so I thought I'd revisit the links to see if the Alexan had updated their website. Low and behold they have. Hence most of this post is not valid anymore. They got rid of the Lifestyle section that I bitched about and you can't link directly to the floor plans. I'm keeping my rant and rave for all to read. Just getting rid of the inactive linkage and converting them to bold.

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I have to admit that up until now the Alexan Savoy hasn't been on my radar in regards to the residential boom in Downtown Los Angeles. I knew of a monolithic structure being built on the Eastern edge of Little Tokyo because of all my time spent there recently however new construction is not something that gets me excited. Seeing an older building being converted...now THAT is interesting. I know, I'm odd. However this past week I read an article about the new complex in the LA Downtown News and decided to check out their website.

Two things struck me as interesting. One good and one not so good. I'll start with the not so good. The Lifestyle section touts all the wonderful stuff nearby; restaurants, sports venues, museums, tourist attractions...you get the idea. Here's what struck me as odd and a bit off-putting, of the 4 restaurants mentioned only 2 of them are located anywhere in relative close proximity. In fact one restaurant, The Bamboo House is located one very long Los Angeles block from MY apartment, which is 5.8 miles from the Alexan Savoy. Here are a few good restaurants in the more immediate area that future residents may want to consider on a regular basis. Obviously I understand the need for the powers that be to reflect a diverse interest in not only Downtown but all of Los Angeles, but isn't the whole point of all this "bringing critical mass to Downtown" to create a 24 hour city??? We should be actively encouraging new residents of Downtown to explore their new environs not run off to established haunts from their previous digs.

On a more positive note, as I was checking out the floor plans I became very interested in this circular unit. Reminds me of the Warner/Pantages a bit as every time I walk by that theatre I imagine myself living behind one of those rounded windows. Never mind the fact that the building is now a thriving Jewelry District store and it's doubtful that it will ever convert to housing but a girl can dream can't she? But I digress, it is because of that innovative unit and the fact that they claim to have Gas appliances that I will have a look when it's open and available for viewing.

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L.A. Works Day

Give a day to L.A. and join L.A. Works special one day event L.A. Works Day on June 11th.

This one-day community service event typically draws hundreds of people together to do various community improvement activities. Painting, planting, cleaning - you know, fun stuff. All the while you'll be helping local non-profit organizations who strive on a daily basis to improve the quality of life for those of us less fortunate.

Yes, you have to be at Cal Plaza in Downtown at 7:30 in the morning, but you can go home and nap afterwards. And who doesn't love a good afternoon nap?

Yes, there is a $25 sign-up fee, but the fee helps L.A. Works with funding throughout the year so they can do this on a regualr basis. HOWEVER, let me let you in on a little secret. You can sign-up to be on the Los Angeles Downtown News team and have the $25 fee waived. The LA Downtown News is my absolute favorite newspaper and if you're interested in anything and everything related to Downtown Los Angeles then this is a must read newspaper. It's free and you can pick it up at any number of locations throughout Downtown and the general Eastside area.

I'm doin' it and you should too.

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Dance Downtown

It's your last chance to do a little dancing, outside under the stars haze this coming Friday night. The Music Center in Downtown has been hosting this free dance event, Dance Downtown, for the past month and this week is the last event for the season. I've been busy so I haven't been able to attend however it looks like a nice way to spend a pre-holiday Friday evening.

The night starts off with a dance lesson at 6:30 and then there is live music from 7:15 - 10:00. This Friday is SAMBA night. Oooh la la. Other dance night themes have included Swing, Salsa and Contra Dance.

I will be in Seattle this weekend doing some dancing of my own so I will not be able to attend but everyone should go to this - dancing keeps you young and young at heart.

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The Sand Storm Closing Party

Last night was closing night for The Sand Storm. As all good theatre kids do on closing night, we had a party. I took snaps. Some in Sepia (because everyone looks good in Sepiatone) and some on various indoor settings. Have a look here.

Enjoy!

Freeways of Love

Driving on the freeways late at night, there's nothing better. Open road, open windows, the smell of the California vegetation at night, crisp, clean. That smell takes me back to my early days in Los Angeles, my formative college years. The 134 to the 2, above it all and away from it all. Five minutes later you're back in the thick of it, snapped back to reality.

I love L.A.

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Tony the Tiger

I ain't takin' 'bout no breakfast cereal cartoon folks. Yes, Los Angeles has a new Mayor and his name is Antonio Villaraigosa. With all this talk about him being the first Hispanic mayor in over a hundred years and no mention of exactly who that last person was, I decided to let my fingers do the typing. I found this website that lists all previous Mayors. Looks like this mystery man was named Cristobal Aguilar. No other information could be found in my brief stint looking online as I'm on a time crunch right now. No doubt my good friend, whom I've never met before, Eric, over at blogdowntown may do some research if he's so inclined. Plus, he has better access to information than myself.

That is all, I have satisfied my own curiosity and hopefully yours as well.

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Warren G and me

Got to watch the boys in Blue last night from a different vantage point than usual. The boys in Blue would be my beloved Dodgers, not LA's finest. The vantage point would be Outfield Field Level instead of Inner Reserve. And Warren G is not actually THE Warren G that comes to most people's mind but a friend who happens to have the same name.

I was greeted at his pad with a specially saved Newcastle which I downed in record time. We then headed off to the stadium where we were given a lovely 100% cotton Dodgers T-shirt upon entrance, which I have already altered to look much cuter than it's original form. 1 and a half beers later I was sufficiently happy, except for the fact that the Dodgers offense was noticeably absent. It was fun seeing Duuuuukieeee (LoDuca) chat with Izzy during a short stint at 2nd base and staring at Encarnacion's nice little ass...don't ask.

There was a brief moment in the 7th, I believe, when the Dodgers were on the brink of breaking things open but alas their bats came up short.

Regardless, I had much fun and can't wait for my next Dodger outing with G.

Think Blue.

ArtsDay LA at UCLA Extension

I know this may seem odd, me touting an event at UCLA, but hey it's LA too...just not the LA that I'm used to trolling on a regular basis. It's true, I do tend to focus on the Eastside however I'm all about giving up the love for certain Westside activities as well. Hence the following:

This coming Saturday May 21st from 11am - 3pm UCLA Extension will be hosting ArtsDay LA; a day of FREE mini-lectures and panels on a myriad of subjects. Areas of interest include: Visual Arts & History, Creative Writing & Screenwriting, Architecture & Interior Design and Landscape Architecture.

With topic headings that range from "Deeply Flawed: Creating Fascinatingly Unreliable Fictional Characters" to "Understanding Organic Architecture with Eric Lloyd Wright" it sounds like a very fascinating day of informative information. Plus, the first 300 attendees get a FREE goodie bag.

If I were able I'd definitely attend this however on Saturday morning I will be at UCLA's cross town rival giving a Walking Tour.

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