sha in LA

walkin' down the street

I just received my Walking Tour assignment for the next Quarter. Here's the skinny.

All of the tours are great. Historic Core is good for those not familiar with Downtown or the history of Los Angeles as it gives a nice overview of the City. USC is a similar overview however we look at the growth of the city and the University together and how they are deeply intertwined with each other. City Hall is beautiful...plus, the highlight is being able to go to the top floor where there's an observation deck and 360º view of the city!!!

As usual, if you are interested in going on any of the tours you can sign-up and get more detailed information by either calling (213) 623-CITY or going to the Los Angeles Conservancy website.

July 2nd / 10am – Historic Core
July 9th / 10 am – USC
September 3rd / 11 am – City Hall
September 24th / 10 am – USC

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Dance Downtown

It's happening again! The Music Center is currently promoting their Dance Downtown series. On selected Friday evenings you can participate in a free dance lesson at 6:30 in the selected dance of choice for that particular evening, then either sit back and relax while listening to live music or attempt some of those dance steps you just learned.

July 1 - SALSA / Sono-Lux
July 15 - SWING / The Lucky Stars
July 29 - BHANGRA / DJ Rekha with live dhol drumming by Ravi Jakhotia
August 12 - NORTEÑO/TEJANO / Conjunto Los Pochos

I've been unable to attend any of these from their previous incarnations however considering I'm "show-free" until August I guess this would be the prime time to check it out.

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Never Tell Closing Night Party

Pics are up from the closing night party for NEVER TELL.

My assistant picture taker, Patty, took over for part of the night and has some nice Sepia shots in the bunch whereas my pics are most of the "art shots" (with aid from photohsop).

We had a great closing weekend and now I get to take a few weeks off and have a normal weekend life! YAY!!! Of course I'm already starting to book up activities because I can't have nothing to do...I'd go stir crazy.

F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh tonight at the Ford. I can't wait.

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walk like an egyptian

It's all the rage in Los Angeles these days. King Tutankhamun, or just Tut to most folks, is back.

Like all good children of the 70's I was fortunate enough to see the exhibit the first time around. Granted I was 6 at the time and it was The Smithsonian but I really do have a vivid recollection of that day. You see the lines were long, real long, and my parents had a friend who knew just about every scam in the book. So taking a cue from him, my dad took me along on a scouting expedition through the halls of the Smithsonian until we happened upon a freight elevator that deposited us where else but directly in the middle of the exhibit. My dad gave me explicit instructions to wait there for him and he said would be back. Thankfully that was a time when you could just leave a kid hanging around a busy museum and not fear their abduction and I did what I was told...waited for his return...with the rest of our clan in tow. Sneaky bastards. With today's security and restrictions you could never get away with that type of trickery...or could you???

Not like a lot of other people, I've been lucky enough to travel to Egypt. The year was 1997 and I went on a Mediterranean cruise with my grandmother. One of our stops along the way was the fabled Egyptian Museum where once again I was able to view the King Tut exhibit. It was a bit crowded so intimacy was lacking. Also during my visit to the Egyptian Museum I had the chance to visit the "Mummy Room" which I believe was "on loan" - possibly from the British Museum. The room was dark and cold and there were about 8 mummies displayed in various stages of wrap and un-wrap. THAT was interesting.

And now, finally, Tut and I shall have our 3rd such rendezvous. 3rd time's the charm huh? I'm thinking the middle of September, on a Wednesday.

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hammers, nails and cocktails

As I have reported in the recent past and currently being reported in this weeks issue of LA Downtown News, there is a flurry of activity going on in the nightlife scene these days.

Marc Smith and Cedd Moses, the team that produced the new and improved Golden Gopher, have parted ways and are (practically) single handedly responsible for a whole host of new drinking establishments that will dot the Downtown landscape in the months to come.

Next week is the opening of Moses' Broadway Bar, which will sit very conveniently next to the Orpheum. If I can't procure an invite to the festivities then I will definitely stop by after the final Last Remaining Seats installment on June 29th to get a first hand account of the joint.

Bills, which is just one of Smith's ventures, is set to open late summer in the basement of an old bank building on 6th and Spring. Back in April I went on the "Spring on Spring" tour and reported that the rock walls of said basement were actually the foundation of Spring Street. I'm very eager to toast the success of this new venture. And I like the name, Bills. It's fun to say. I could say it all day long. Bills.

However last night I heard some troubling information that may be old news to some of you Cole's regulars but new news to me....Marc Smith is buying Cole's and getting rid of the Buffet!!! WHAT!! That's a travesty that must be stopped. I sincerely hope the information I received was wrong but secretly fear it to be true. I'm all for cool drinkin' haunts but please Marc, keep the French Dip. It's history.

One wonders if this revitalization of Downtown will ever rival the Cahuenga/Wilcox anomaly that has evolved over the past few years. Last night, if you didn't know better, you never would have guessed it was a Wednesday.

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dodger blue, shannon blue

Let's revisit the Dodgers topic as I have no other fun news to report for now.

First, what has Hee Sop Choi been eating for breakfast these days? All of a sudden he's Mr. Home Run man. I hope it keeps up however I must admit at having not much confidence in his ability to sustain such hitting prowess.

Second, I like Jeff Weaver. I really do. And I would really like to see him win more. If he could just get out of his head and out of the 5th maybe he'd have a chance at a winning record. Only time will tell.

And last but not least....my boy Gagne. Grrr. I love him. REALLY love him, and now I'm hearing reports that he's going back on the DL for his elbow. Not good. Then again, it's not like he's been needed as often as he was a year ago and Brazoban seems to be able to handle the duties bequeathed to him in these instances. I just hope to see Monsieur Gagne back to his old self sometime soon, real soon.

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Top Ten List

Top Ten reasons why should you sign-up for my Historic Core Walking Tour on Saturday July 2nd:

10. You've lived here how long and have never been to Grand Central Market?

9. You want to see exactly what $10 million dollars created in 1923.

8. All the cool kids are doin' it.

7. I tell the best story ever, about a parking lot.

6. Hugo Ballin murals.

5. You really don't like sleeping in on Saturday mornings and want to start the weekend out in a productive maner.

4. Marble, travertine, terracotta and gold leaf....oh my!!!

3. It's fun watching me try to say the word "Churrigueresque."

2. Learning something new and exciting keeps your brain healthy.

And finally the #1 reason why you should go on my Historic Core Walking Tour.

Two words: Bradbury Building.

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gardening goddess

On Saturday I volunteered for LA Works Day 2005. The overall impression from the few people that I spoke to and what I witnessed was that it could have been a bit more organized. I was part of a large group that went to Hollenbeck Middle School. Our job was to paint the exterior of a ton of buildings and do major landscaping/re-planting. I decided to go to the gardening section. Why? I have no idea. Note to self: Next time try the painting crew instead. I ended up volunteering to haul huge bags of fertilizer/manure/dirt, whatever you want to call it from one end of the campus to the other. First there was a truck, then there wasn't a truck, then there might be a truck so this rockin' chick named Gabby and I just said "Fuck it, we'll start taking bags over one at a time..." and we did, until they finally found a truck for all that shit. Literally. Then we had to bring over ALL the plants and groundcover. Once that was finished I decided to tackle some monstrous root action. Finally I finished up my stint planting groundcover. That all took place from roughly 9am - noon.

On Sunday morning I woke up with intense amounts of pain in my entire upper body region. Who knew gardening was such a great workout!!??!! I decided against the whole horseyback riding stint because I value being able to walk and thought it best not to put my body through such a shock in one weekend.

Last night I spent the evening knitting and watching basketball as any good girl would do.

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various updates

The day has slipped away from me. Busy, busy, busy. I wanted to do a whole write up on why you should go on my next Historic Core Tour on July 2nd however that will have to wait for Monday when I will have much more time on my hands. For now I will just update information from a previous post titled Bad Angeleno. This coming Sunday I will attempt to do one of those adventures listed and I'm leaning heavily towards #2, a horseback ride at Sunset Ranch. It's actually a toss-up between that and/or a trip to the Watts Towers.

Anyone wanna join me in some fun LA adventures? Anyone??

In other fun news, I just received my volunteer assignment for the LA Works Day event on Saturday:

Assignment: Hollenbeck Middle School
Description: Volunteers will perform a complete campus makeover, painting buildings, and completely landscaping the school under the direction of the UCLA School of Landscaping.

That should be fun. Getting up at 6am tomorrow, not so much fun.

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p.s. previous to posting this i kept misspelling horseback as horeback....now THAT would definitely be an interesting adventure!!!

NavigateLA Lite

Interested in all of the Adaptive Reuse projects happening in and around Los Angeles? Well the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Engineering Department and Department of Public Works has a website specifically designed to give out such information. Check out NavigateLA Lite. It's been specially re-designed recently however if you're on a MAC there still is some funkiness to it. All I really care about is the pop-up information that gives project updates and that feature works fine for me. I could spend all day researching and analyzing this type info. Now the key is to find a good consulting job where my knowledge of Downtown will be put to good use.

The name intrigues me though, NavigateLA Lite. Why the reference to reduced calorie? Those crazy kids that work for the City of LA...

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