sha in LA

vroom vroom

The Petersen Automotive Museum is one of the most undervalued museums that dot the landscape of this city. And by undervalued I mean that not many people that I have encountered seem to have been, much less even know about it. Often the response I get is one of disbelief. A museum of cars?!?! As if that's some horrid thought in this, the Automotive Capital of the World. The first and last time I went, I admit I had no idea what to expect. Imagine my surprise at seeing some of the most spectacular pieces of chrome and steel known to man. I was stunned and in awe of the vehicles I saw that simply took my breath away and made my heartbeat race.

Tomorrow night there is a little shindig at the Petersen in conjunction with the Los Angeles Conservancy's Curating the City month long spotlight on Wilshire Blvd. For those of you who don't like to click through and just want the details NOW then here it is:

On Friday, October 14, from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., the Conservancy and the Petersen Automotive Museum present "The Car and the City," an evening devoted to the twin passions of Angelenos: driving and shopping. The evening begins with a lecture by architectural and urban historian Richard Longstreth on the impact of the cars and shopping on the urban development of Los Angeles, particularly Wilshire Boulevard. It is followed by an after-hours visit to the Petersen Automotive Museum and a rooftop reception.

* Free for Petersen and LAC members (limit 2 tickets); non-members: $10 adults/$5 seniors and students/$3 children (free for ages five and under).
* Reservations recommended; contact the Petersen Education Department at (323) 964-6347 for details and reservations.
* Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd. (at Fairfax Ave.)
* Free parking; enter from Fairfax Ave. south of Wilshire Blvd.

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da dada da da daaaaa da

It's like a drug, you keep wanting more...more... more. I noticed an odd occurrence the other day when I was at the USC / Arizona game. The band played 2 distinctive USC fight songs on nearly every possession and the students and alum have been programmed to either pump their pom-poms or fingers held in the familiar "V" sign in unison to the beat. This phenomenon took hold of me in the few hours that I spent at the game. Like clockwork the band would start up and a sea of hands or handheld pom-poms would wave methodically. It was like watching a bunch of Stepford people at a pep rally. Very surreal. Then today, I'm in my car listening to 1540 the Ticket (Radio Home of the Trojans) and I hear one of those songs and subconSCiously I start sporting the Victory sign. Then I think to myself how wonderful it would be to go to the rest of the Trojan home football games....then I wake from my mini-mal seizure and am thrust back into the real world.

Upon further review, here is a listing of all the songs the band plays during the games and when they are played...I believe the songs I am referring to here are "Conquest" and "Tribute to Troy" however a true 'SC person would know for sure.

Fight On.

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i'm not a bad luck charm

On Saturday I went to the USC / Arizona game. My first foray into the fabled Coliseum. What a spectacular sea of cardinal and gold. After careful consideration I decided it would be easiest to simply take the Vermont Ave Rapid Metro Bus to the stadium. Negotiating with mta.net isn't as simple as it seems however once you figure out it's little quirks, like not really giving the best route option the first go around, it can be somewhat helpful.

I made it to the stadium a few minutes after kickoff and was lucky enough to be able to sit with my relatives, as there was an empty seat in the row directly in front of them. We were in the end zone but askew just enough to see some depth to the field.

Previous to going to the stadium I was full of anxiety, fearing that I would be a jinx on the team and they would finally lose. You see, 2 years back I watched the first game of the season over at some friend's house and the Trojans didn't fare so well. At that time I was deemed to be a jinx and banned from watching Trojans games for the rest of the season. Needless to say they went on somewhat of a winning streak thereafter. So prior to this past Saturday's game I was a little hesitant to actually GO to a game in person. Thankfully we won so I am no longer considered a jinx although for my blood pressure's sake I respectfully stay away from the TV on game day.

Here's a surprise. I took pictures, have a look.

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an eyelash in the sky

Midway through my drive last night to the Westside, as I was mentally bitching about the ride, I noticed the moon in the sky. Just a sliver. Some refer to it as a fingernail but I see it more like an eyelash. It's the gateway to a new begining, the waxing moon. My favorite time...

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lost files

I just received an unfortunate note from typepad stating that they had a little problem with my account and lost a number of files. Thankfully no posts were lost however a bunch of pictures have been purged from their system. Also thankfully I have most photos still on my computer here at work however it may take me some time to get everything cleaned up. If you happen upon a photo link that is bad chances are I already know and will eventually get that fixed.

On the bright side, I don't have to pay for hosting service for the next year.

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Wilshire Blvd. is the new Main Street

I forgot to post my re-cap yesterday on the Wilshire Boulevard Tour from this past weekend. Oops. I guess I was too busy bitching about other stuff.

The day started out far too early, since I had only been in bed a mere 4 hours before I was to meet Jim. Sometimes you must trudge through the exhaustion, and I did. We met Downtown and started out on the 20/21 bus towards our first destination, the Elks Club. I've seen the building before so it wasn't anything new in my eyes however this is where we happened to bump into Phil who also happened to have space in his Prius for 2 more butts, mine and Jim's, so that worked out nice. We gave Eric a ROCKSTAR kiss on the cheek and left him there to sign his new book Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles, which by the way is stunning. We then proceeded to do the rest of the tour in order of appearance: Bullocks Wilshire, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Johnie's Coffee Shop and the Wadsworth Chapel. Along the route we discovered little known facts such as there are NO coffee shops open on Wilshire Blvd. on Sundays between Downtown and some little joint in a strip mall in Koreatown and that if you drive a Prius there are a whole plethora of things that you can do that other automobile owners can't...the list of which is too long to post here. I also spotted a fellow blogger, Mike over at franklin avenue, just outside of the hottest spot of the tour, Johnie's. It's funny how major A list stars can essentially go unnoticed in my world but I can spot another blogger from a mile away.

Jim took some pictures including this fabulous one of me, post pie at Johnie's:

Later that same evening Jim and I attended the Old Bank District's 100 Year Birthday/Anniversary party that was held in the Farmers and Merchants Bank on 4th & Main. In true form and continuing the whole "I know a lot of people in LA theme" we ran into a fellow swing dancer that I hadn't seen in a few years and ended up having a grand old time sipping cocktails and nibbling on cheese and crackers. A great way to end the fun filled day.

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Grand Avenue Festival

This coming Saturday is the 2nd Annual Grand Avenue Festival. Tons of activities and performances and food from various Downtown Restaurants. I went last year and had some tasty grub. I'm hoping that I can pop by for a bit, although it starts at 11am and I have tickets to the USC-Arizona game, which starts at 12:30. This means I have to be very productive in the morning hours and I'm not quite sure that will be an easy task to undertake.

This weekend also is a big dance weekend in Los Angeles, one in which I have already purchased tickets for. Rhythym is Jumpin' is the moniker for the event and it consists of classes during the day and dances/competitions during the evening hours. Hence the difficulty in being productive on Saturday morning...

Sunday morning though, not matter how tired I will be, it is almost a certainty that my eyelids will open minutes prior to the Browns / Bears game.

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recalling a different life

Saturday night. The backstory. Some elements may have been removed and/or altered to protect the innocent.

Lindsay, Chris and I all headed down to the LBC, the home of our youth, for some drinks, theatre, socializing and reminiscing. We started out meeting some other fellow CSULB Alumni at a local Mediterranean restaurant. Their table was full of appetizers and all the 3 of us really wanted to do was drink so we decided to sit at the bar instead. Apparently you are deemed anti-social if you do that and for the rest of the night we were tagged as such. Lindsay and I could care less if someone happens to "think" we don't like them, so that one common denominator makes her one of my few good female friends.

So there we were at a Mediterranean joint, drinking various combinations of vodka drinks when Lindsay proclaimed, rather loudly, that she wanted Chips & Salsa. Chris and I had to explain to her that Pita & Hummus would be the appropriate alternate at this particular restaurant but she wasn't satisfied. One more quick vodka drink and suddenly our alter-egos had taken over: Lucinda, Sanchez and Margherita were born and ready for some action.

But first we had to sit through theatre that none of us particularly enjoyed. Since when do you greet someone with "Have you seen the reviews darling?" No "Thank you so much for coming all the way down here" or "It's great to see you." That didn't sit well with us and needless to say we were jaded from the moment we walked in.

90 minutes later it was all we could do to leave and go anywhere to get more alcohol. Sadly my brain wasn't functioning all too well and I agreed to go to the Niner. Bad choice. Never hung out there when I was a college student, why did I think things were gonna be different this time?? Margherita and I played Elvis pinball and Naked Boy Photo Hunt (they weren't really naked) until we finally couldn't take it anymore and forced Sanchez to take us to another bar, one that actually served hard alcohol.

After last call we all decided to go haunt our old stomping grounds, the Theatre Arts Dept at good old CSULB. Doors to classrooms were unlocked and we sat in various spaces recalling past memories of our youth. More distant for Sanchez and myself, not so much for Margherita but still the same feelings. And smells. It's amazing how 11 years can come back in an instant and for 45 minutes you're back in college with no cares in the world.

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a valued opinion

Margherita's Musings from Saturday night. Very well done.

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Lucinda

gorey vs. bukowski

Since I don't have a show to run on the weekends, now is the time for me to go SEE theatre. Friday night was Gorey Stories at Sacred Fools. Saturday night was Love, Bukowski at CalRep.

I guess I'm a Gorey Girl through and through because I loved every aspect of Gorey Stories. And because I'm a technician first and foremost, my gush-list starts with the designers. The Costumes by Ann Closs Farley and Set Design by the insanely talented Joel Daavid were yummy. The stories, justly Gorey-esque, were brilliantly brought to life by Pat Towne and his cast of talented actors from a myriad of LA theatre companies. I leaned over to my friend and stated, mid-show, that I'd love to come back on Halloween night. If I can find time in my busy schedule I will definitely go back and see this one again. Originally I had the opportunity to work on this production however I was already booked for a part of the run. I'm definitely jealous of the crew, as they get to watch this show 3 times a week until Halloween.

On Saturday night I traveled down to the LBC to see a production of Love, Bukowski at CalRep. CalRep is the graduate portion of the theatre department of CSULB, of which I received my BA degree. I went to the show because it was "Alumni Night" and the prospect of seeing fellow friends that I hadn't seen in a while intrigued me more than supporting CalRep. That's a long, involved story that is suitable for another post should I feel so inclined. Back to the production. The show, although nicely done, couldn't hold my attention span. I wrote my blog entry during the production and felt bitter that the show had killed my buzz. I stated afterwards that it felt like "glossy" Bukowski. The others in my party were more intimately familiar with Bukowski as well as a previous production of this show and still had similar thoughts as myself. It's been getting good reviews so what does my opinion matter really? That's just what it is, an opinion. Go see for yourself. This town has numerous live theatre productions on a nightly basis, something for everyone!

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