Many of you may have been the victim of unspeakable cruelty yesterday. For two whole hours, right when most of you would have been finishing your work day, Starbucks was closed. Cityzine was on hand at a couple of locations to document the effect of this “slap in the face”. Some of you wandered around slack jawed, staring blankly and holding empty paper cups - you were even going to recycle them! Some of you became angry, making obscene gestures at uncaring Starbucks employees through the locked glass doors. What else could you do? Some of you needed support, gathering in groups to exclaim to each other….why!?!?
Have no fear dear readers. As you all probably realized, your favorite bean slinging station was back in service today - and all of the employees retrained!

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Inspired this week by the people I keep meeting downtown near the fashion district with great alternative fashion sense. I’m really interested in alternative clothes and people with their own styles. Tokyo is the one place to see such people, but LA has it’s fair share too!

Illustration and Photography by Klara Piechocki

The New Americans, Chapter 1Los Angeles as a city is a place as rich in history as any across the United States. What sets our history apart from the rest is the “Wild West” mentality that pervaded. Life west of the Mississippi has always been known for it’s rough and tumble attitude and that goes for the gunslingers in the streets and the tycoons in the boardroom. Many know the name Doheny, if you’re familiar with the area. Doheny Avenue, Doheny State Beach etc. What most don’t know is the story behind their namesake, Edward Laurence Doheny. His story has everything you could ask for, a meteoric rise to the top, extravagant living, corruption, tragedy and scandal. It’s truly an L.A. story.Born in Wisconsin, Doheny’s family emigrated during Ireland’s dreaded Great Famine. He came out West in his late thirties, seeking his fortune. The era bred the lust for success as the Gold Rush had whetted the nation’s appetite for gold. What wasn’t so well known is the other type of gold, of the black variety that was sitting right underneath our city streets to this day – oil. After trying to make a go of it all over the Western U.S. for two decades, panning for gold, driving mule teams, driving mule teams and even gaining notoriety as a gunslinger for a time he arrived in 1892, penniless. [ Read The Full Story -> ]

Illustration by Klara Piechocki

“I’m not sure why they named it Hyperion.”-Nancy Carr, Public Relations. I had made it a point to actually look up the word earlier that day for my own satisfaction.

Greek Mythology A Titan, the son of Gaea and Uranus and the father of Helios.

Here is a place you might not think to visit, but people do visit this place, so much in fact, that the plant has a full time tour guide and public relations department. (tours are given daily). Constructed in the late 1800’s and completely restructured in 1998, Hyperion pulls in 350 million gallons of sewage a day via 6500 miles of sewer line from the Los Angeles area. it is one of the largest plants of its kind in the United States. Even Hollywood came calling. Aside from housing the “Sewage of the Stars”, The plant has been in several movies and TV shows: Spider man I, Logan’s Run, The X files, Starship Enterprise, even the latest Energizer Bunny commercial to name a few.

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The other week, a friend was visiting the area for a day and wanted to know where she should go to experience what she termed “Trendy LA.” Considering she was from New York, I was not sure if this comment was said in all seriousness or condescendingly comparing New York to LA as the Trendy Mecca of the US. Her question though definitely made me think about where to send my oh so hip friend. Sure, I enjoy certain LA secrets, but it was not the secrets that she wanted; she wanted to see Lindsay Lohan at The Ivy or Britney Spears at Kitson. Damn foreigners.

Since she had a business meeting that took her through lunch, I was not required to supply the morning activities. Thus, for the truly Trendy LA lunch experience, I told her to check out The Ivy, the place where celebrities like to go because they “like the food” and not the attention they get when 20 billion paparazzi flash their cameras. She agreed, feeling it was the perfect lunch spot. Though, part of me thinks she wanted to scour US Weekly hoping she might end up in the background in one of those shots. Nevertheless, it was a boring and simple lunch. No celebrities. But, hey, she was going for Trendy LA, not celeb hounding.

[ Read The Full Story -> ]

The other week, a friend was visiting the area for a day and wanted to know where she should go to experience what she termed “Trendy LA.” Considering she was from New York, I was not sure if this comment was said in all seriousness or condescendingly comparing New York to LA as the Trendy Mecca of the US. Her question though definitely made me think about where to send my oh so hip friend. Sure, I enjoy certain LA secrets, but it was not the secrets that she wanted; she wanted to see Lindsay Lohan at The Ivy or Britney Spears at Kitson. Damn foreigners.

Since she had a business meeting that took her through lunch, I was not required to supply the morning activities. Thus, for the truly Trendy LA lunch experience, I told her to check out The Ivy, the place where celebrities like to go because they “like the food” and not the attention they get when 20 billion paparazzi flash their cameras. She agreed, feeling it was the perfect lunch spot. Though, part of me thinks she wanted to scour US Weekly hoping she might end up in the background in one of those shots. Nevertheless, it was a boring and simple lunch. No celebrities. But, hey, she was going for Trendy LA, not celeb hounding.

[ Read The Full Story -> ]

In Los Angeles, Chinese history spans a time longer than the time captured by 150 calendars. It is in the part of our city called Chinatown that its historic heart beats. However, though a modern glimpse of this community may appear as though it enjoys halcyon times, its history has been one interrupted by displacement, immigration laws, and various other forms of discriminatory practices. And yet, it serves today still, as it did more than a century ago, as an entry-point, a gateway, to the Chinese populations of East and Southeast Asia seeking a foothold in American society.

Although the first Chinese arrived in 1850, it would be several decades before the city would witness a bonafide Chinese community. Between 1850 and 1860, French and French-Canadian immigration to L.A. exceeded that of all other nations. In fact, during the mid 19^th century, L.A. witnessed two French mayors, both of which combined for three terms. Today, while historic French influence is somewhat limited to the french-dip sandwich and street names such as Beaudry, Bernard and Vignes (named after a native of Bordeaux who planted the pueblo’s first vineyards), it is seldom mentioned that French, at this time, was the second most widely spoken language in Los Angeles, after Spanish and before English. Interestingly enough, as a result of this French presence, when General Irvin McDowell came to Los Angeles, on an official visit, at the conclusion of the Civil War, he was interviewed in French.

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With a name that promises the impossible made possible, the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles already has a lot to live up to. Bordered by the avenues of Fairfax and La Brea, a stroll along Wilshire, contains multitudes in the span of a few highly walkable city blocks.

1. La Brea Bakery

Located at 624 South La Brea Avenue, as the little sister to “industry” eatery Campanile, The La Brea Bakery offers breads and pastries, cooked on premises. Highlights include grilled panini sandwiches like the Reuben and Turkey and Italian Nut cookies. The bakery uses only organic ingredients, which might prove a suitable antidote to last night’s triple Kingburger. [ Read The Full Story -> ]

It is often difficult to fathom the collective identity of Los Angeles. Comprised of the variegated voices that represent each of its communities, our attempt to make sense of this multi-faceted identity, is almost as though attempting to isolate a single voice within the cacophony of many voices, the echoes of which, often conflict with one another, as they are projected variably across the halls of time. Nevertheless, it is by listening to one single voice precisely that we sometimes gain invaluable insight into a more collective one. In Los Angeles, just east of downtown, within an area that is roughly the size of four large city blocks, in a corner of the city known as Little Tokyo, such a voice can fortunately still be heard. And, such is the degree of what is captured by this voice, with its remaining infrastructure and long-time residents, that the experience here, of Japanese America, offers us a unique window to understanding what has ultimately defined, or still defines, the complete character of Los Angeles, or better yet, America itself.

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I moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Prior to the move, my only experience with eccentric neighbors had been loud frat boys in college and the guy down the alley in West Texas who used to hang dead deer in his garage. (Still makes me shudder.) Since there are some serious weirdos in our fair city, chances are you’re going to end up living next to one or two of them eventually. Here’s a spattering of my neighborly experiences to better prepare you for the crazy that is sure to come:

Rabbit Walkerman ~ This dude loved him some rabbits. So much so that he walked his big ole’ floppy eared bunny. On a leash. Like a dog. I thought that was pretty strange but things got creepier when he asked me to rabbit-sit for a weekend. That thing ate better than I did. And, then, there was the litter box. Rabbit turds…delightful!

[ Read The Full Story -> ]

I moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Prior to the move, my only experience with eccentric neighbors had been loud frat boys in college and the guy down the alley in West Texas who used to hang dead deer in his garage. (Still makes me shudder.) Since there are some serious weirdos in our fair city, chances are you’re going to end up living next to one or two of them eventually. Here’s a spattering of my neighborly experiences to better prepare you for the crazy that is sure to come:

Rabbit Walkerman ~ This dude loved him some rabbits. So much so that he walked his big ole’ floppy eared bunny. On a leash. Like a dog. I thought that was pretty strange but things got creepier when he asked me to rabbit-sit for a weekend. That thing ate better than I did. And, then, there was the litter box. Rabbit turds…delightful!

[ Read The Full Story -> ]