Soaking It In

FROM A VALIANT ATTEMPT to define an awkwardly worded new trend, "social spa-ing," in the May 6 LA Times: "With bare feet soaking in a sudsy pedicure tub, Lanzi, an executive with Junior Achievement, is surrounded by his employees, who seemed to be having a good time making fun of the boss's calloused feet. Lanzi, for better or worse, invited the office to Happy Hour Friday at Dtox, a new place to socialize in Atwater Village near Griffith Park. Despite the name, Dtox isn't a bar, or a rehab joint, but a day spa that once a month throws open its treatment room doors to add a social element to massages, facials and pedicures... "Dtox, the eight-month-old spa in Atwater Village, is built around a tropical-feeling central lounge, where men and women flock to the monthly happy hour, pay $39 to $99 to hang out, sip wine and get mini treatments such as pedicures and massages. Together but, thankfully, clothed." For nearly a year our neighborhood spa has been working out east-sider kinks. Let's hope Dtox also worked out some early customer service kinks. Social spa-ing is the new golf [latimes.com] Happy Hour Fridays [dtoxdayspa.com] Dtox Day Spa Reviews [yelp.com]

New in the Blog-LA-Sphere

THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES maintains a helpful Griffith Park Recovery blog, with updates every few days. Sad to see our favorite godson destination, Shane's Inspiration - a.k.a. heroin for toddlers - still closed after the fire. Does anyone know if the playground sustained any damage? Griffith Park Recovery ALSO ADDED: See a great new take on the neighborhood as a New Yorker declares Atwater Village is for Lovers.

Oh You Funny Little Flat Neighbors

THANKS TO BOOSTED capabilities in Google Book Search, we can all enjoy the heavily forward-slashed wit and wisdom of Barbara Bestor's Bohemian Modern: Living in Silver Lake without ponying up full retail. From page 193 in the book's Atwater Village section: "Atwater Village is a funny little flat neighborhood just across from Silver Lake on the other side of the LA River. In the mid-nineties, the Beastie Boys built a recording studio there where they recorded most of Check Your Head. Actually, it was more accurately a recording studio/basketball court/indoor skate park/Mulberry Street style 'private social club...'" And in another nod to our lack of topographic interestingness, page 194 describes Atwater as "a great place to build, with plenty of flat sites and great old buildings set against the concrete-lined, industrial-romantic landscape of the LA River."

All Aboard! Last Day of Red Car to Atwater

THIS BIT OF HISTORY comes from photographer Alan Weeks, snapped more than 50 years ago during the waning moments of Red Car rail service at the Subway Terminal Building (now the fancy Metro 417 apartments), 4th and Hill Streets in downtown Los Angeles. Note the sign on the right pointing to boarding lanes for Edendale (now Echo Park, Silver Lake), Atwater (now Atwater Village), Glendale, North Glendale and Burbank. Also note the sign at left announcing the final day, June 19, 1955, of the Los Angeles-Glendale-Burbank Red Car: "Service will be operated with buses. Rail service will be discontinued. Subway Terminal will be discontinued as a passenger station." And the people rejoiced. Thanks to the Metro Transportation Library and Archive Collection for sending another gem. More historic Red Car maps and photos here.

Neighborhood Photographer Stops Time

ANDREW HALL GETS SHORT - 1/8,000th of a second short - with his subjects. From today's LA Times West magazine: "After moving from London to Los Angeles in 2005, Hall, 44, set up his studio in a former cosmetics factory in Atwater Village. He takes his pictures in total darkness, controlling what he can, including the method and speed of the pour, as well as when to activate the flash." More of Hall's photography of water, fire, smoke and gas at andrewhalleditions.com.

One Year Ago on the Newbie Blog

HERE'S WHAT WAS WORTH typing (or pasting) one year ago on the Atwater Village Newbie blog. Which begs the question: When do I stop being a newbie? (See item #2.) Inappropriate Celebrity Fawning - Just the thing for this post-Gilmore Girls world we live in When My Newbie Status Wears Off 'Lost' Near Atwater Village Who Lays Claim? - Wherein we discover "Frogtown" is really Elysian Valley Los Angeles, That Pedestrian Nirvana Los Angeles, That Pedestrian Nirvana #2 Then and Now - Sweet aerials from above Silver Lake Putting the E in Atwater Village Where.In.AV? - Beltway bumpkin dubs thee "dilapidated"

Pedaling Paradise Lost

EXHAUSTED FROM PEDALING along the LA River for Bike to Work Week? You probably didn't do much of it south of Atwater Village. Blog-LA-sphere friend Will Campbell scores an op-ed commentary in this morning's LA Times: "To experience the full dysfunction of Los Angeles cycling, there's no better place than the Los Angeles River Bikeway. Its northernmost four miles, from Griffith Park to Atwater Village, are a pedaling paradise: smooth pavement, lighting, a dedicated bridge over Los Feliz Boulevard. But cross Fletcher Avenue and the riding gets rough..." Will argues that the "Fletcher Divide," the vanishing bike lane on Santa Monica Boulevard and other planning missteps continue to show that LA cyclists are a "transportation afterthought." Or as this handwritten Fletcher Divide warning sign so eloquently puts it, "dangerous slippy slide slime."

The 'Best Bars in America' in LA are in Downtown LA

GILLETTE, WYOMING, HAS ONE. Lawrence, Kansas, has another. Here in Los Angeles we score eight of the "Best Bars in America," according to the June Esquire, and all of them are downtown. Take that, west-siders. East-side-o-phobes. AFTRA-SAG Credit Union members. Whatever you're called. Here are The Eight, linked to Yelp reviews, with quotes from the printed Esquire, since Esquire.com doesn't have this article posted: J Lounge - "For a city with such predictably good weather, LA has surprisingly few patio bars..." Golden Gopher - "Stylishly dim..." The Edison - "Seventy-foot ceilings... old power plant..." Broadway Bar - "Liberace-esque..." La Cita - "Lifted from a Robert Rodriguez movie (or the other way around)..." Bordello - "Weekend burlesque shows..." Redwood - "Divey..." Bar 107 - "Postcollege crowd..."

A Cat for People Who Aren't Yet Cat People

WE MET THIS GENTLE GIANT at the Atwater Village Farmers Market. She is Francesca, a "senior" at age 10, up for adoption at a neighborhood no-kill shelter, Casitas Cat Hotel. Part Maine Coon, she is, as Mrs. Newbie puts it, the cutest cat not currently in our house. And if we weren't already at our max pet per square foot ratio, Francesca would have already sized up the competition. Maybe someone else will see this and help the old gal. Casitas Cat Hotel [kittenrescue.org] Maine Coon Cats, the 'Gentle Giants' [Wikipedia]

The Monster of Atwater

A TIMELY RECAP OF EVENTS, four years in the making, as opening statements begin today in the trial of Timothy Joseph McGhee.

From the LA Daily News:

"A Latino homie with an Irish name, he goes by the street handles 'Huero' and 'Eskimo.' His tattoos include an eagle eating a snake - symbolic of the Mexican flag - emblazoned on the back of his shaved head, a place that skin artists say is the most painful spot to be tattooed.

"His spiral notebook of rap lyrics depicts McGhee as a 21st century American psychopath, devoid of conscience, who used the Atwater Village area as an urban killing field...

"McGhee, after all, is believed to have killed one young man - 16-year-old Ryan 'Huero' Gonzales in 2000 - simply because he thought Atwater Village wasn't big enough for two people with the same nickname.

"It is the kind of violent rampage for which McGhee came to be called in his neighborhood 'the Monster of Atwater.' Some cops even compared his murderous nature to that of Charles Manson..."

A 50-Year-Old Game of Guess Where LA

LONG BEFORE THIS WHOLE Internet thing took off, and way before people guessed the locations of mysterious photos posted to Flickr pools, the Los Angeles Times printed "Know Your City." Here's the photo and clue from April 6, 1956: KNOW YOUR CITY, NO. 140 - "These things keep getting easier and easier. Surely you recognize this scene. It isn't a Answer, even if it does have the same name. See? Even if it is easy, we keep giving it away. What is it? See Page 28, Part ll." And if you don't happen to have Page 28 of the 50-year-old paper around, see the answer below in the comments section. See 121 more editions of Know Your City [UCLA Library] Photo copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library. Licensed under Creative Commons. Tip from David Markland at Metroblogging LA.