Perhaps There Will Be a Wine Bar After All

At first it looked like Fergie and her bandmates would be stuck with mere lattes and taxes adjacent to their "dilapidated" studio. But pedestrian passersby and these meeting minutes from an Atwater Village Neighborhood Council seem to indicate a third, higher purpose for the former Atwater Ranch Market site:

Wine tasting business proposal for 3111 Glendale Blvd. was presented by Andy Hasroun. [Right, in photo, with LA City Council President Eric Garcetti.]

He indicated that beer consumption would be limited to twelve ounces per person at the store. Wine would be inventoried upstairs and storage would be located on the lower level. Hours of operation will be from 10:00am to 11:00pm, or less during the week days.

Another tenant in the center, H&R Block, is seasonal and will not use required spaces for most of the year.

Mr. Hasroun assured the committee that the new sound wall being built at the rear of the parking lot would prevent nearby homes from being affected.

No indication of when Atwater's answer to Eagle Rock's Colorado Wine Company might pop its first cork, but if it takes anywhere near as long as Starbucks has to get going, don't hold your breath.

Hollywood Walk of Fame Sugar Cookies

Baked and decorated by Mrs. Newbie. Television set cookies shown. Motion picture camera cookies also available. Happy holidays.

Canele Love: December 2006 Edition

Darn you Los Angeles Times. Make me look bad for my procrastination. Another glowing review of the new-ish bistro I have yet to try, Atwater Village's own media darling, Canele, at 3219 Glendale Blvd. To the top of the pile it goes:

• "More a great neighborhood restaurant than the kind of scene that gets mentioned in the trades or gossipy blogs ... Canele is the best of the class in the Atwater-Los Feliz-Silver Lake neighborhood." [LA Times]
• "Very appealing start in a neighborhood starved for places that get it right." [Eating LA]
• "If this were your dinner party, and your kitchen guru of choice is Julia rather than Marcella or Madhur, this is the kind of food worthy of the good china." [LA Weekly]
• "Very encouraging and tasty start." [Miles Think]

[Photo from LA Times; another here]

Glendale Freeway Loses Fake I-2 Sign

Before. And after. Same location. Same freeway. Two different designations. Three months ago I noticed an odd sign. The "before" sign on the left - along southbound Riverside Drive near Atwater Village - pointed to California state highway 2 (Glendale Freeway). But it used the red, white and blue shield of a federal highway, Interstate 2. One problem: Interstate 2 doesn't exist. The federal highway system has no I-2. So I contacted City Council. They seemed to think the Glendale Freeway was, in fact, I-2, but added, "It is also the jurisdiction of Caltrans, so any questions you have about the 2 can be directed to them." Caltrans replied, essentially, WTF? "The 2 is SR-2. If possible, can you please email us a picture and the location of the sign that says I-2." I did. Three months go by. This morning I drive down Riverside. There's a new sign, the "after" sign on the right. It probably went up within the last week, because I drive that way every couple of days and check it. Obsessively, one might say. Now the sign includes the correct green and white hut designating a state highway, California SR-2. So it's fixed. But not explained. How did the Glendale Freeway get promoted - then demoted? Was it a Richard Ankrom stunt? A bureaucratic snafu? Or just wishful thinking tied to federal highway funds?

Same 20 Songs, More Tinny Sound

Songwriter rep speaks out against long drives without satellite radio:

"Big radio is bad radio," Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America, told FCC commissioners in the second of six public meetings nationwide. "You can drive I-40 from Knoxville to Barstow, California, and hear the same 20 songs on every country radio station."

And then you have to switch to AM.

Never Mind That Wii for Christmas

Google Earth + Wikipedia = Happy Newbie

(Via Lifehacker)

Update: Woman, Not Nicole Richie, Rescued from LA River

Not to get all Nikki Finke self-congratulatory, but my blog seems to be the first (and only) media outlet to report the dramatic midnight river rescue in Atwater Village this weekend. Now, official details emerge from the Los Angeles Fire Department, which responded with 27 personnel: A Firefighter was lowered to the [21-year-old] woman, who remained trapped by the cold, churning and debris-laden water... Following her brief medical assessment and donning of a flotation vest and helmet, she was hoisted with the Firefighter aboard the hovering Fire Department helicopter... Though the area near the rescue is known to be a popular homeless encampment, the residential status of the woman, as well as her reason for being in the river, was not determined by Fire Department officials. I guess it will be up to Los Angeles Police Department to determine her "reason," if any, for being on an "island of silt" in the Los Angeles River past midnight. I've changed my previous post to give credit to LAFD for the dual helicopters and Night Suns. As for other LA media outlets, they seemed pre-occupied by wee-hour emergencies like the buzzed man tumbling down a hill. And now that Nicole Richie has been accused of endangering the entire city of Burbank, by driving under the influence - backwards - on highway 134, I doubt any LA news organizations will go out of their way to learn about this day-old river rescue. Besides, how are the city's homeless population and its century-old battle to control water more important than misbehaving drunks?

How to Tell When a Movie Is Too Expensive

Is ArcLight Cinemas priced out of the league with its $25 "Dreamgirls" tickets?

Some say being first in the US to witness the big-screen musical combo of Beyonce, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy is worth the price of admission.

Or perhaps it's the "exclusive collector's souvenir program and a special edition commemorative Dreamgirls' lithograph."

(Though it's not clear if a $25 seat includes all that schwag or just gives you the opportunity to spend more money on it.)

But I say it makes no economic sense when you can get essentially the same Eddie Murphy performance right here for free.

In the 1980s he played this Godfather of Soul-like character for laughs. Now he plays it for Oscars.

James brown celebrity hottub
Uploaded by codordog

Daring Midnight River Rescue?

First we heard sirens, and noticed police and fire lights along the west bank of the Los Angeles River. Then the first police fire department helicopter arrived. Then the second. At about 12:45am this morning, the first chopper descended to an altitude lower and louder than usual, just above power lines north of Glendale Blvd. The chopper slowly dropped a lone figure to the middle of the river. Moments later, two figures were drawn back up. Was it a river dweller caught in rising tide from tonight's rain? Someone else, perhaps, falling off the pedestrian bridge? Most likely it was a rescue of a live victim, not a recovery of a dead one. Technically, the coroner's office owns a deceased body and the LAPD can't touch it. (Trivia courtesy of LAPD Community Academy.) We didn't see any TV choppers around, so this may be the first public report. But even in my blurry camera-phone shot you can see the helicopter lights below the palm trees. Now it's 1:15am. The lights and curious neighbors have scattered. We'll see if this makes the news. Or maybe the LAPD blog and LAFD blog. UPDATE: Woman, Not Nicole Richie, Rescued from LA River

Every Village Needs a Drunk - Or Four

And thanks to LA Date Maven, everyone has a shot at it in Atwater Village:

In addition to the plentiful parking and adorable bungalows, Atwater is home to what we like to call the cocktail quadrant: four different bars each offering their own unique brand of debauchery. Each walking distance from the other - a rarity in LA proper.

The cocktail quadrant is made up of neighborhood favorites Tam O'Shanter (2980 Los Feliz Blvd.), Club Tee Gee (3210 Glendale Blvd.), The Big Foot Lodge (3172 Los Feliz) and The Roost (3100 Los Feliz).

Though "walking distance" is awfully subjective among Angelenos, I recommend the straight-shot Brunswick Avenue for the 0.8-mile stroll between Los Feliz Blvd. and Glendale Blvd., if for no other reason than to marvel at that row of brightly colored fantasy bungalows. Especially while you're tipsy.

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Artwater Village Weekend

J Ferrari Gallery, 3015 Glendale Blvd., cranks through another exhibition, Plural Expression 2006, with an opening reception this Saturday, December 9, 6:00pm.

Black Maria Gallery, up the block at 3137 Glendale Blvd., continues its Skip the Mall "black market" exhibit. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 6:00pm.

Pounder Kone Art Space, 3407 Glendale Blvd., is showing Francois Cauvin through January 11.

And I'm pressing coffee cup rings onto neon green Post-it notes for an as-yet-untitled exhibition in my new kitchen-based, IKEA-furnished work space.

Anyone I'm forgetting?