Marissa just graduated from UCLA and she's trying to start a career as a writer. She loves books, mustard, and really good keyboards.
It’s a bar and grill slash art gallery and jazz club. Hal’s, located in the trendy 1300-block of Abbot Kinney, brings together the best of Venice’s funk and L.A.’s chic. Outside, it’s simple: wood-framing, lots of windows. Inside, it’s dim and sleek: bar on the right, dining on the left, original artwork on all walls.
The pieces are interesting—nothing quite the same, no established theme or artist, all just effortlessly cool. Hal’s trademark? A multi-dimensional portrait of a man leaning on a bar (or table?), hand posed around a wine (or water?) glass. Take a look and decide for yourself.
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Tags: Restaurants · Reviews
Shaking up the crowd of 400 at the Nissan Live stage on Monday evening, The Pretenders reminded us to pay no heed to the old myth about stars having 15 minutes of fame. No sir. No ma’am. Not Chrissie Hynde (featured right).
The Pretenders, who originated in 1977 and are led by the insatiable US-UK transplant, are still going strong and are the “Talk of the Town†(to throwback to a 1987 favorite) even in 2008.
In fact, though the median age of the crowd probably hovered in the mid-fifties, the group of five—original members plus and minus a few—exuded a stage presence and inventive sound that was pure lyrical energy, and the crowd was feeling it.
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Tags: Reviews · shows
Lolita. Lo-lee-tah. (“Fire of my loins?â€Â).
Fifty-three years after the original publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, the scandalous work maintains its aura of notoriety and, for many readers (or abstaining readers), even just the title—Lolita—still represents the illicit in modern literature. In this controversial work, Nabokov writes beautifully—decorously, decadently, repulsively?—about, in an admittedly cursory interpretation, a middle-aged pedophile’s sexual obsession with his twelve year-old stepdaughter and the specie of nymphets in general.
Since the novel’s original publication in 1955 by the French Olympia Press, Nabokov’s work has continued to surface in and inspire other artistic productions. For example, Azir Nasifi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran was published in 2003, Nabokov’s Lolita serving as the memoir’s namesake. Likewise, in 1958, Stanley Kubrick produced the first Lolita movie, advertising with the pertinent question: “How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?,†and, in 1997, Adrian Lyne’s cinematic version starring Hollywood stars, such as Melanie Griffith and Jeremy Irons.
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Tags: General · Literature
(Check out Part 1 and Part 2)
NUMBER THREE: SKYLIGHT
Maybe it’s the tree in the center of the bookshop that really does it for me. Or the fun — nay, funky (in a purely positive light) — staff? The assortment of books and magazines that ranges from wild to classic? Things that you don’t find just anywhere—and are just so artsy I haven’t heard of most?
Whatever it is, Skylight’s got it all. Situated in the adorable, quirky Los Feliz neighborhood, the appropriately named bookstore — absolutely love the lighting! — brings together an interesting and stimulating combination to provide one of the most ideal settings for springtime skimming.
The sunshine streaming through the high ceiling glass, the warm wooden shelves — low to provide an open feeling — and one of the vastest reading collections in Los Angeles. I sincerely appreciate the clear signage of this extensive almost warehouse-like locale. It’s a friendly, comfortable setting both inside and out.
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Tags: Literature · Reviews
Fresh-filled black bean wowshi
Bella Pita, the small, blossoming family business that’s won the stomachs of the heart of Westwood, offers an affordable and satiating menu of freshly baked Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. With an informal order-at-the-counter set-up and a salad bar that makes mouths water with taste and sheer aesthetics, this newcomer to L.A.’s spread of international cuisine beckons Bruins, business-folk, and every diner with a taste for delicious hommos, authentic falafel, and—Bella’s most unique creation—the irresistible wowshi.
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Tags: Food and Drink · Restaurants
Book Soup, Sunset Blvd.
(Continued from Reading L.A., Part 1)
With a glowing review of Brand Bookstore in Glendale, one might wonder why even come back for more? We know the number one place in the greater Los Angeles area for delicious reading, beautiful organization, and a friendly, elderly, quintessential bookie-esque owner. But, it’s summertime and there are a lot of books to be read. Tucked away as they seem to be, there are also more than one worthwhile bookstore in L.A.–and one infamously Los Angelean characteristic that detracts from the trek to the illustrious Brand: traffic. So, here are a few summer reading options that keep you out of the hot, traffic-filled Los Angeles thoroughfares and in the presence of a calm, contemplation-inducing independent bookstore.
NUMBER TWO: BOOK SOUP
It seems quite fitting that, upon my arrival at Book Soup, I promptly walk straight into an authorial reading. At first, I think there is something strange about the store’s quiet and then, there it is—the voice over the microphone!
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Tags: Literature · Uncategorized
Veteran’s Garden at the VA
Sepulveda at Wilshire, just east of the 405
It’s the peak of summer and the nectarines are delicious. The Westwood Farmers Market, located in the picturesque Veteran’s Garden just off Wilshire, provides a succulent, seasonal respite from L.A.’s muggy city heat and incessant traffic hubaloo. In fact, despite its proximity to many of the West-side’s main thoroughfares, this Thursday afternoon market is surprisingly slow-paced and serene with the ultimate spread of in-season and organic edibles.
Showcasing a range of vendors, spreading from fresh berry-sellers (a 3-pack for $10!) to preservative-free tamales, the Westwood Farmers Market is the perfect place to enjoy an afternoon lunch—get out of the office!—and stock up your kitchen for the coming week. The winding marketplace proffers a festive atmosphere, welcoming visitors with grilled corn on a stick ($3), samples of juicy Valencia oranges, and an open area bright with both cut and blossoming flowers. Local artisans and craft-makers also contribute to the market the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
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Tags: Food and Drink · Local Happenings
Summer is well underway and it’s time for beach reading that more merits page-turning than any ‘ole grocery store romance. Plus, what better place to spend a Sunday evening or the muggy, but overcast weekday afternoon than the very best of LA’s off-the-beaten path bookstores?
What I’m looking for in a bookshop? Comfort: the physical aesthetics of the place (reading nooks equal a major plus), the staff and atmosphere (no haggling, please), and the collection (books we know and want to read—and more).
So here are the top five perfect settings for those rare afternoons of reading respite. And [note to us] maybe we should make them more common?
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Tags: Literature · Reviews
All readers of Sloane Crosley’s new collection of essays beware: this young author-publisher is a writer that makes you want to forget your own voice and adopt hers. It’s witty; it’s sharp; and it’s damn funny. Ms. Crosley is a New Yorker with a cutting comedic tongue and a keen eye for self-depreciating, yet thoroughly humanizing, analogies. Thus, through the lens of her own life experiences, this author-publisher’s debut collection accomplishes exactly that, bringing humor—in the form of seemingly meaningless minutia—to the sometimes not so easy to laugh at, but ultimately, hilarious, moments of everyday life.
In fifteen short non-fiction pieces, Crosley covers a variety of topics ranging from plastic ponies and Christian camps to her first job and the afternoon of September 11th. She talks about sugar cookies, admittedly frosted with the face of her horrid (ex-) boss, and locksmiths—well, one who let her into her apartment twice in the same day. Crosley discusses one-night stands, certainly not in a romance novel sense—nay, they involve taupe-colored stockings, flannel socks, and vomit—and afternoons spent volunteering in the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Ultimately, Sloane Crosley talks about herself. And we love it. Why?
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Tags: Literature · Reviews
All readers of Sloane Crosley’s new collection of essays beware: this young author-publisher is a writer that makes you want to forget your own voice and adopt hers. It’s witty; it’s sharp; and it’s damn funny. Ms. Crosley is a New Yorker with a cutting comedic tongue and a keen eye for self-depreciating, yet thoroughly humanizing, analogies. Thus, through the lens of her own life experiences, this author-publisher’s debut collection accomplishes exactly that, bringing humor—in the form of seemingly meaningless minutia—to the sometimes not so easy to laugh at, but ultimately, hilarious, moments of everyday life.
In fifteen short non-fiction pieces, Crosley covers a variety of topics ranging from plastic ponies and Christian camps to her first job and the afternoon of September 11th. She talks about sugar cookies, admittedly frosted with the face of her horrid (ex-) boss, and locksmiths—well, one who let her into her apartment twice in the same day. Crosley discusses one-night stands, certainly not in a romance novel sense—nay, they involve taupe-colored stockings, flannel socks, and vomit—and afternoons spent volunteering in the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Ultimately, Sloane Crosley talks about herself. And we love it. Why?
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Tags: Literature · Reviews
