Notes from LA

Photo by Don Garza

Downtown blogger Don Garza was denied entry to the new Lucky Strike bowling alley last night. The bouncer said Don looked “scruffy,” and yet he was allowing other people in with torn jeans and shirts untucked. Don is very upset and he’s leveling some hefty charges, but it was the following statement that really grabbed my attention:

I had put forth much effort fighting those who did not want our LA LIVE to open. Now I am told that I am not good enough to go bowling.

So, in other words, until last night, Don was living with the illusion that LA Live was conceived in the interests of him and his neighborhood? Bouncers at a bowling alley would’ve been my first clue.

By all means, push for supermarkets, rehabs, galleries, clubs—but another soulless Hollywood/Highland for Orange County’s culture-starved? Another vehicle for the stronger yen, yon, and yuan? Another status symbol for Austria-born governors and British soccer players?

It’s too bad that Don had to learn about City Hall’s mad science the hard way. On the other hand, might a few more of these incidents finally push residents to beat back government and allow neighborhoods to develop organically?

Last month, the Urban Land Institute assembled an “expert” real estate panel to discuss development trends and other real estate issues. According to notes obtained by Curbed, the panelists concluded that a) the economic slump we’re possibly halfway through will spur a permanent shift in the way cities are planned, and b) accordingly, a new, improved type of Angeleno is coming soon.

In a nutshell, this paradigm shift in urban planning will challenge architects to design the smaller, denser livable spaces that ULI has long promoted, while the Angeleno of tomorrow is youthful, brown-skinned, and—by sheer coincidence—a big fan of ULI’s vision for the city.

Call her Angeleno 2.0. She lives in a sterile, transit-oriented ecosphere and works retail in another one. After work, she plays in a landscape of mixed-use tenements, chain stores, and lifeless plazas. She demands a lifestyle of half the square footage, mobility, and culture that her parents enjoyed.

Last Night

I regret that I missed the third annual Great LA Walk from Union Station to Santa Monica. Unfortunately, a nasty stomach bug kept me indoors most of the weekend, but last night we finally ventured out to see the Witch’s House in Beverly Hills, consume kapa maki and House music on Sawtelle, and, incidentally, arrived at the beach around the same time the Great LA Walkers did a day earlier.

I’ve never met Mike of the Franklin Avenue blog, but I sense that, like me, he loves Los Angeles for what it is. Yes, that’s normal in San Francisco and New York, but not here. In Los Angeles, civic pride is measured by the extent to which you wish your city erased and replaced by something other. The examples of this are endless: City Hall’s great neighborhood bulldoze/density bonus, the renaming of South Central, the damnation of the palm trees, the insidious Hollywood Freeway Central Park, our disinvestment in roads and obsession with transit cosmetic procedures.

Funny how New Yorkers have no time for utopia.

Los Angeles must be studied in macro and micro. It’s equally drivable and walkable, and that’s why Mike’s LA Walks inspire me (beyond the simple fact that I’m a walker); they complement my own tradition of driving LA’s boulevards end-to-end; Sunset until it spins out into the Pacific Palisades, Ventura until it loses lanes and stops trying to sell you stuff. Valley Boulevard is other-worldly.

Why, you ask? I’ll quote Mike: “Why not? There’s no special reason, no charity, no protest, no issue we’re promoting — other than a passion for Los Angeles.”

Well stated, Mike. We’ll see you next year.

I will not be rushing to support Urth Caffe’s new downtown location. Sure, Urth serves the best vegan chocolate cake in LA, but a piece in this morning’s LA Downtown News indicates founder Shallom Berkman has selective use for his new neighbors. Says Berkman:

“Community is one of the important things to Urth Caffe. We want to be part of communities, and that’s what brought us here. We saw this as a new, thriving and artistic community we wanted to be part of…”

So how does he plan to celebrate Urth Caffe’s grand opening in its new, thriving, and artistic community?

The grand opening on Nov. 16 could well bring the paparazzi to Downtown. The invitation-only event is slated to include celebrities such as comedian Will Ferrell, rapper and actress Queen Latifah, actor Jon Voight and the cast of “Entourage.”

The community can stay home and refresh TMZ.

Hooks, beats, and bass lines made for sunny boulevards. Songs that make you stand up and march. Not a liberal, conservative, Hip Hop Republican, or even libertarian. Ice Cube loves his city better than any city councilmember. His work is fiercely independent; never politically correct, consistently relevant and thought-provoking.

Why Me? (featuring the family of Jamiel Shaw, II)

This morning I argue in favor of Proposition 2 over at Mayor Sam:

…Prop 2 is a question of ethics; a referendum on our progress as a society. It’s a modest measure that says animals destined for slaughter ought not be tortured in the process; egg-laying hens ought not be denied basic leg movement; pigs and veal calves ought not be confined to crates so small they can’t turn around, lie down, or extend their limbs…

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You still can’t find vegan Kung Pao in Chinatown, but Doomie’s menu of “classic American diner fare” is, ironically, a better welcomed addition to the neighborhood. After all, vegan Chinese options abound just a short drive east on the 10, while the nearest restaurant offering good chicken fried seitan is way out in the west Valley.

With menu options ranging from burgers to chicken alfredo; French onion soup to country fried steak with gravy, Doomie’s offers what I view as a coming trend in the evolution of vegan dining; no-compromise, cruelty-free food, sans the promises of divine health and spiritual enlightenment. This is, put simply, delicious food that’ll leave you ready for a nap.

Thanks to El Chavo at LA Eastside for the tip. Doomie’s is located upstairs at Roberto’s Club — 686 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Resting peacefully

It’s hard to believe that the City of Los Angeles has designated 900 places for preservation as cultural-historical monuments and it’s taken this long and this much effort from so many to get the city’s greatest asset, Griffith Park, within reach of that status.

In a hearing room packed with 150 or so community activists, the Cultural Heritage Commission voted 4-1 to approve monument status for the park, setting the stage for the City Council to act on their decision.

The key moment came at the outset when Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents the park area and is it’s No. 1 cheerleader, ended doubts about where he stands with unequivocal support for the commission staff report which found nearly all of the park contributed to its cultural-historical significance.

Ron Kaye’s full report here.

A new book is out detailing the “inner workings, secret meetings, and elaborate murder plots” that make up the Mexican Mafia’s daily routine, written in cooperation with Rene Enriquez, an Eme boss-turned-informant.

The Black Hand, by Chris Blatchford

Wally Fay—editor of In The Hat, and author of his own book on the subject—says this one is required reading for policymakers:

The people who should be forced to read this book, or have it read to them while jetting around the country or riding in the back of chaufered limos are the politicians and policy makers. Policy decisions and laws cannot and should not be made based on information filtered through staff panels, social scientists, mis-informed or biased “advocates, ” or groups who have a financial interest in the outcome of policies.

Enriquez holds “prisoner rights” advocates directly responsible for the organization’s growing muscle and warns that while the feds have made steady progress in the streets, local pols and law enforcers are out to lunch. For a major eye-opener, listen to the interview below in its entirety.

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This two-year election cycle is ending predictably, with each side seeking (and drawing out) the worst in the other—common sense and reason were buried weeks ago. With any luck, it’ll all be over in seven days, but until then, the election will continue inducing fantastic cognitive aberrations.

I was station-surfing on the drive in this morning and flipped to KPWR just in time to catch Marconi-winning host, Big Boy repeat as truth (on his nationally syndicated radio show) the discredited claim that someone shouted “he’s a nigger” at a Sarah Palin rally in Iowa.

Big Boy used the word on air for maximum impact and then spent several minutes along with a co-host bemoaning the ignorant stink of our rotten society, before ending the segment asserting that opposition to Senator Obama’s candidacy “isn’t about taxes,” but rather, “skin color.”