Friday Night: Goonies at the Golf Course

THIS FRIDAY at dusk our fellow Atwater Villagers gather under stars at the Los Feliz Municipal Golf Course to watch young stars like Sean Astin and Corey Feldman in 1985's The Goonies. The movie's free, the parking's free, the neighborly blanket-snuggling is free. Keep your eyes peeled (on the screen, not the green) for a 13-year-old Josh Brolin.

Atwater Village: 'Flat, Friendly, a Little Dull'

REAL-ESTATE BLOG Curbed LA takes a shot at Atwater Village in yesterday's post about an apparently overpriced $775,000 home on Glenhurst Avenue: If there's one neighborhood that causes people to go ballistic over prices, it's Atwater Village. Maybe it's the geography of the neighborhood: Real estate agents sneakily try and list the homes under "Los Feliz," perhaps thinking that Atwater is the next Los Feliz, the next upscale hood. No, Atwater is just Atwater: Flat, friendly, a little dull. There's a certain harsh truth to this, despite a spate of recent undull events. But maybe flat (wider streets, easier access, more parking), friendly (neighborly, hospitable, easy-going) and dull (stable, established, predictable) are just what couples and families want on our side of I-5. I guess when the crazy kids of Los Feliz get real jobs and real relationships and grow weary of waiting for Adrien Grenier to notice how cleverly they ask for Splenda at The Alcove, they might seek something flatter, friendlier and duller. Till then they should know that Curbed LA is hiring bloggers. I think they pay like $10 per post. Write about 77,500 posts and then maybe rethink that house on Glenhurst.

Coyotes in Los Feliz: Not Bold, Got It?

Griffith Park Coyote, originally uploaded by patrick_cates.

HERE'S A CURIOUS retort to a quote from former Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham. In July, Lauren told the LA Times, "I haven't been to Griffith Park since the fire, but it's been scary around here since then. The coyotes are getting really bold." Five months later, the follow-up email to me: "As a resident of Los Feliz, please don't spread crap like 'the coyotes are really bold'.... Nothings new with the wildlife except they are misplaced because of the fires and what does bold mean....really stupid comment. "They are the same as they have always been and will always be, trying to exist and survive in there unique family structures like you and I...what do would you think they would say about people if they had a blog.....would it be truthful and accurate....Perhaps they would tell you this is there home too, that people try to poison, shoot, and harm them....maybe they really should be more bold and fearless ...... I still say she's full of crap." I, for one, am looking forward to the Coyotes of Los Feliz blog!

Atwater Village Chokes In It

6:38pm, originally uploaded by Atwater Village Newbie.

FOR MORE COMPREHENSIVE UPDATES and analysis on this tragic Griffith Park fire visit the LA Times breaking news blog. Also: My Photo Timeline of Griffith Park Fire [Flickr] - As seen from Sunnynook footbridge, Los Angeles River trail and Baum Bicycle Bridge over Los Feliz Blvd. Fire Brings Us Closer Together [LAist] - "It was an interesting night in Los Angeles. A community generally lost to each other in the confines of Bluetooth headsets and commuter traffic united in a somewhat macabre spectacle: watching Griffith Park burn." [LAist] LA City Council President Eric Garcetti [CD13] - "Griffith Park is not lost, of course, but it is damaged. We'll rebuild it, where we can, and it will grow back lush and green. It's the single largest urban park in the country; few other parks compare to it in its size and wildness." Four Hour Time Lapse Video [via Curbed LA] - Smoke from the Griffith Park fire. Griffith Park Fire Update [LAFD] - From the detailed Los Angeles Fire Department blog

East Coast Finds LA's East Side

THE NEW YORK TIMES continues to discover the Los Angeles we live in east of Hollywood. Last month the paper profiled our fellow neighborhoods in Northeast Los Angeles, or NELA. New Yorkers, it seems, are learning that some California homes are priced under $600,000 and have views of Mount Washington - "which could be mistaken for Tuscany." This Sunday our neighbors in Los Feliz Village, "below the sylvan hills" of Griffith Park Observatory, are fit to print with an overview of their pedestrian friendliness. The lesson here? New Yorkers aren't the only ones who walk a block for calamata olives! Just in the nick of time, too, as more Los Feliz residents look to further restrict neighborhood parking. Surfacing: Los Feliz, Los Angeles [New York Times] Northeast Los Angeles: Set for a Close-Up [New York Times]

Theme Song for Friday in LA

When the hills of Los Angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burnin'

(Bad Religion - Los Angeles is Burning)

MORE: 5-Acre Brush Fire Breaks Out In Griffith Park

Atwater Village Loses One to Los Feliz

Sad news of this week's deadly car crash in the 4800 block of Los Feliz Blvd. hits home in Atwater Village. From LA Daily News: Matthew Merrill of Atwater Village [pictured], riding in the front passenger seat, and Matthew Hernandez of Fontana, a student at California State University, Los Angeles, who was driving, died at the scene. Sean Paul Balaney of Glendale, riding in the back seat, died a short while later. All three were 18 and had been friends since Holy Trinity School. Kyle Merrill remained hospitalized Thursday in critical condition. Stephen Castillo, 14, was also hospitalized, although his condition was unknown. The five teenage boys were in a car owned by the Hernandez family as they headed toward the Merrill home in Atwater Village. Thoughts and best wishes go out to the Merrill family from your neighbors in the Newbie family. [Image of baseball cross at accident site from Bill German]

All Holiday Evils Found in Atwater Village

Experience the worst of holiday shopping at the Toys R Us store on Los Feliz Blvd. in Atwater Village. (Which is, in case you were confused, FOX11's Rick Lozano, in the city of Los Angeles.) More from LA Voice's Mack Reed:

You're moseying up Los Feliz Boulevard toward Toys R Us ... amazed at the number of times a couple of cars ahead zip from the right lane to the left and the back again...

The density of cars trying to find parking increases in direct disproportion to the likelihood of a parking space... In other words, parking at Toys R Us sucks...

Toys R Us - in addition to being a no-holds-barred cage match among burly, panicked-looking dads and grim-jawed abuelitas jockeying for position in 20-minute-long lines with armloads of immense toys - is not the perfect spot to find the Star Wars Clone Turbo Tank...

When the hell did LEGO kits start costing almost $100? Why is there nothing cool and fun related to Star Wars under $80 in this store? WTF???

Previously at the Toys R Us in Atwater Village: Employees would rather go home than search for a barfing child.