LFL in 90 Seconds

Inspired by "LAT in 90 Seconds" over at Fishbowl LA, the Newbie covers the coverage in one of our local newspapers, the Los Feliz Ledger, which includes exactly one-third of Atwater Village. From the July 2006 issue:

Terse phone call of the month: In corrections and amplifications, "we were remiss in not mentioning the many volunteers from the Silver Lake Improvement Association that originally started the event [Beautification Day]."

It's the cops or the dumpster, kid: In this month's safety tip from Officer Chovan, "I recently overheard parents telling their child that if she didn't stop crying, the police would take her away... I had to stop that parent from making a terrible mistake."

Ice cream for restaurant reviews: Cold Stone Creamery: Not "on par" but "fun for the kids." Palazzo Gelato: "Translates to 'darn good ice cream'." Zanzabelle: "Eight foot giraffe." Svelte: "Good news for you Atkinians."

Sunday Morning Shootout Drinking Game

Even before I moved to Los Angeles, I rarely missed an episode of Sunday Morning Shootout on AMC. Unlike most entertainment-industry gabfests, Shootout entices guests into discussing the real nitty gritty of showbiz, like a dugout confab during rain delay. (The show's caption writers keep busy clarifying obscure references across the bottom of the screen.) Also unlike any other talk show, Shootout is co-hosted by a gloriously awkward pairing: pie-in-the-sky Variety philosopher Peter Bart and money-takes-all studio honcho Peter Guber. Play this drinking game with mimosas, screwdrivers and Bloody Marys. It's Sunday morning, after all. Take one drink when: Peter Guber says "derring-do" Peter Guber says "lighting in a bottle" or any variation thereof ("They're looking for the lightning, but they can't find the bottle") Peter Guber reminisces about the 70s Peter Bart sounds like he's quoting one of his own columns Peter Bart does a half-stand half-sit thing when greeting a guest Peter Bart reminisces about the 70s One of the Peters sports a blue button-down shirt One of the Peters' chairs suddenly appears on the other side of the table A guest pretends to pick up a coffee order A guest reminisces about the 70s Take two drinks when: The episode is shot on location (Sundance, Cannes, anything other than the "coffee shop") A guest is in a movie shown on one of the posters in the background A coffee-shop patron breaks the "extras" wall by reacting to something on the show A Peter and a guest sport blue button-down shirts on the same episode In the two-guest format, the guests cross arms during handshake time with Peter and Peter A guest hasn't been seen on American television since the 70s

Now What Can We Do About I-5 South

I owe you, Richard Ankrom. Thanks to you, I made it to Atwater Village. Here's the story. This February I came to Los Angeles to help scope out the move. I landed at LAX and immediately hopped on the freeways toward AV. I had never driven in LA. I was understandably distracted by the size of the city, the speed of the traffic, the smell of the rental car. Navigating highway 110, my brain seized on one primary objective: Exit I-5 North. Exiting from the 110 to I-5 North is much easier than it used to be, isn't it Richard? Thanks to your frustrations with California freeway signs - and your generous, elaborate fix involving aluminum, button reflectors and an orange safety vest - that downtown tangle of ramps and tunnels is a little more navigable for Newbies like me. Before: After: So thank you, Richard Ankrom. I'm glad, nearly five years later, your fix remains. And I'm glad you're not in jail. See the LA Weekly article here See the LA Times installation video here

Walking the Walk

This 18-minute video documents a rather indirect 15-mile stroll from Hollywood, through Griffith Park, to Glendale. (Looks like they circumvent Atwater Village by crossing the LA River at Colorado Blvd.)

From what I can tell it's part of a walk across America - Venice (CA) to Manhattan (NY) - now underway. Or maybe it was underway at some time in the past. I'm not entirely sure. And the guys in the video sometimes lapse into British and/or redneck accents. This might be for comedic effect. Luckily the music drowns them out.

Wake Me for All Things Considered

Just after high school I worked part-time at a Top 40 radio station. I worked behind the scenes, doing "market research," never getting a shift on air. I wanted to DJ, of course, but the station required experience.

What about public radio, like at community college? No, said the boss. Public radio permanently ruins talent. It teaches them to erase their on-air energy. DJs spend one semester on public radio and they may as well stay forever.

Harsh! But not as hopeless as it sounds. Radio will always have room for narcoleptic mumblers. There will always be KCRW's Bookworm.

So Cute Your Head Will Spin

Of all the possible headlines, I choose that one. For this:

Meet Linda Blair! -- Linda Blair, actress and animal activist, will be joining the Directors of Animal Welfare at our next adoption event! Come meet her, her beautiful rescue dogs and learn more about her WorldHeart Foundation. There will lots of kittens, cats and dogs to adopt!

• Sunday, July 2, 10 am - 2 pm
• Atwater Village Farmers Market
• 3250 Glendale Blvd., 90039

Hairdresser Rumor Alert

Hairdressers have access unlike the rest of us. Something about pointing sharp objects at our heads. They learn things. Half-baked things, sometimes. But often they're fully baked. (The rumors. Not the hairdressers.) From Eating LA:

Is there a gentrifying cranny of the city that doesn't have its own wine bar in the works? My hairdresser tells me that a new wine bar is coming to the former Ranch market space in Atwater where Starbucks is also supposedly going in.

This could arrest the reports and rumors bouncing around Atwater Village for months. Congrats, wine sippers. Sorry, SBUX haters.

Maybe this new joint can class up the neighborhood the way Asia Los Feliz does, with a giant TV aiming out floor-to-ceiling windows so neighbors (and drivers waiting at Los Feliz and Glenfeliz Blvds.) will never miss another sports highlight.

The Hardest Trash to Trash

Tell me this spot along the Los Angeles River didn't make it into the top five areas of opportunity.

Or tell me that it isn't monitored due to priorities with the city's allocation of resources.

But if I send $18 to the cops, will someone come empty this overflowing barrel every week?

It was full a week ago. Now the trash is lining up outside, like cigarette smokers in West Hollywood.

Here's a crude diagram of where to find it:

I Tend to Forget About Condensation

You know, the kind you get all over your drinking glass? Must. Remember. Coasters.

Atwater Chatter - Baja Glendale Edition

A roundup of news new and old concerning things in and around Atwater Village:

• If you hold a community meeting about the future of the LA River, they will come
• "We lived in Atwater Village (before it was cool) in a pink house."
• New York Times discovers horses in Griffith Park
• "I moved to Atwater Village, across the river from Silverlake, a vague place which is also described as Baja Glendale. I lived over on the less-bougie side of Glendale Blvd., in an ethnically diverse working class neighborhood that was visually bald and a little bleak, though convenient and not expensive. I walked up and down the concrete banks of the LA River for exercise." (LAist archive)
• Black Maria Gallery's first anniversary exhibition
• Oh, it's on, librarians: Atwater Village vs. Silver Lake in the battle for who loans out more books
• I just moved to Los Angeles and, guess what, I'm not the only one
• Monday night = Crazy ass karaoke

Helping Out a Neighbor

This sweet rental is back on the market. It's been barely four months and the rent's already a couple hundred bucks higher (just like those soaring corporate rentals), but the home is no less lovely, the block no less desirable. Over there they call it the Beverly Hills of Atwater Village.

$2,095 / 2br - Prime Atwater Village House for Rent
2 Bedroom / 1 Bath House
Hardwood floors throughout
Refrigerator and stove included
Washer/dryer hookups
Landscaped front yard and back garden area
Large garage space can be used for storage, studio or workshop
Plenty of street parking
Walking distance to Atwater Village shops & restaurants
5 minute drive to Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Glendale
1 year lease / Avail July 8 / No smoking / Will consider pets

Should the price and/or your credit rating not work out or, as 100% of the local real-estate analysts in this room expect, the rental is already snatched up, try other hot AV listings like 3134 Madera ($1,875 2bed 1.5bath), 4040 Brunswick ($1,200 2bed 1bath), 3371 Tyburn ($1,695 1bed 1bath), 4028 Perlita ($1,395 2bed 1bath).

Pain in the Asphalt

Yesterday Curbed LA pointed to yet another diss of Los Angeles as a "roadway hierarchy." When I moved here this spring, I heard some of the same complaints. Even the old pop song moans, "LA is a great big freeway."

I personally don't get it. Do people really see LA as a concrete city? Try Kansas City, Chicago, Denver or Las Vegas. Ever go to Brooklyn? Or Texas? Each of them would flunk art school for hogging all the brown and gray.

At least in LA you can see green. Even in winter. Even on the freeways. So you might think LA is "hopeless," Jim Kunstler, but dig a little deeper and you'll find there's plenty more to mock:

Los Angeles has
... more high-income households ...
... more museums ...
... more murals ...
... more screwy looking fifties-style ranch shacks ...
... more private schools ...
... more rock 'n' roll landmarks ...
... more direct-broadcast satellite penetration ...
... more gangs ...
... more children in foster care ...
... more homeless people ...
... more homeless veterans ...
... more talent among women- and minority-owned businesses ...
... more franchises ...
... more coffee shops ...
... more TV stations airing live car chases ...
... more city-collected recycling ...
... more Armenians, Mexicans and Canadians ...
... more happy workers ...
... more high-tech establishments ...
... more billboards ...
... and more airports ...
than any other US city!

The Other Cat Got Away

The LAPD northeast division's June 2006 Commendable Caper Award sounds like it would go to something light and fluffy. Like a kitten rescue. But then you read it:

On April 14, 2006, a gang murder occurred in the North Atwater Village area.

During the early hours of the morning, two victims on their way to work were struck from behind by a vehicle. As they pulled over to exchange information, gang members pulled out their guns and struck one victim in the back of the head killing him instantly. The driver, victim two, was able to get away.

Due to outstanding leads, the CAT, Footbeat and Homicide Unit were able to apprehend the suspects within six days. These units worked around the clock so that justice could be served to the fallen victim and the family. Thank you for your hard work.

Gulp. I assume by "North" Atwater Village they are referring to those trouble-makers in the 43rd Assembly District.

P.S. - Does anyone else's phone bill list calls to the non-emergency 311 city government line as calls to police?

Folly on Wheels

Baum Bridge over Los Feliz Blvd.

Join Will and the International Association of Armed Librarians - Mobile Assault Force (IAAL-MAF) as they bike up, down and across the LA River trying their damnedest to avoid a pit stop at Foster's Freeze on Fletcher.

Silver Lake Finally Swallows Atwater Village

Though its chamber of commerce once spared Atwater Village from an attempted takeover of northeast Los Angeles, a celebrated Silver Lake architect and author has no such qualms. From a book review in this morning's LA Times:

Bohemian Modern:
Living in Silver Lake
by Barbara Bestor

"This worthy book is as difficult to define as the neighborhood it documents ... Even geographic boundaries are a bit fuzzy, with Echo Park, Atwater Village and Mt. Washington thrown in - perhaps an argument that Silver Lake has evolved to become not just a place but a state of mind."

While our own state of mind is open to this public display of affection from a designer who cut her teeth on Beastie Boys offices in Atwater Village, we have to wonder how many Silver Lake hipsters will start calling their real-estate agents when they hear half their neighborhood now lies east of I-5.

Another Excuse to Mention Famima!!

And I thought my blog would peak with the June 6 post about Bruce Willis running into Ving Rhames at the corner of Fletcher and Atwater. It's nice to play a small part in this little Fa-meme-a (ha! get it?) among LA blogs (Curbed, Eating, FranklinAve).

The Home Depot Recency Effect

My new theory - formed by visits to three Home Depot stores along San Fernando Rd. adjacent to Atwater Village - is this:

Newer Home Depot = Nicer Home Depot

Test my theory by visiting the oldest Home Depot along the corridor - Glendale #649 at 5040 San Fernando Rd. Navigate the cramped parking lot, hunt vainly for assistance, watch a mumbly lumber cutter nearly lose a finger, joust for a cashier, and eventually leave empty-handed in disgust, failing to contribute to the economy.

(My favorite feature of older Home Depots: Bring Your Own Prices. Apparently cashiers have no way of looking them up.)

Then visit the newest Home Depot - Burbank #6654 at 1200 Flower St. - opened January 2006. Let your vehicle revel in vast asphalt. Shield your eyes from gleaming signage. Ward off enthusiastic customer service. And exit dancing with your correctly-priced power tools.

By no means earth-shattering science, my theory flies in the face of the anti-development web site, No Home Depot Coalition. Surmounting obvious grammar issues (I keep seeing flyers for "No Home Depot Coalition Meeting" - hey, just tell us when there actually is one!) the coalition opposes development of the old Kmart at 3150 San Fernando Rd.

They say, "Four Home Depots within eight miles are too many!" I say, "Build 12 as long as they're nicer than #649!" Here's what the coalition wants instead:

"Instead we would have a book store, coffee and juice bars, a CPK or other nice restaurant, an Apple store or other computer retailer, and a fitness club - services that are sorely lacking in our immediate area."

To this one-chain-is-better-than-another snobbery, I strongly reply, "Seven California Pizza Kitchens within seven miles are too many!" Besides, one CPK is as nice as any other.

Eat and Run

Two recent write-ups of Atwater Village food joints:

• Indochine Vien - 3110 Glendale Blvd. - "Light and healthy food, priced right, in a smartly designed space"
• Tacos Villa Corona - 3185 Glendale Blvd. - "A little hole-in-the-wall in Atwater Village ... a cute and obscure little 'yuppie-grunge' nook of LA that has been dodging trendiness for the last 30 years ... I'll surely be going back again"

A Location Vinny Chase Might Like

If our dear reader is right about the new downtown Glendale location of Famima!! - the upscale Asian deli spreading all over LA County - here's a bit more about its new home at 134 N. Brand Blvd., courtesy CB Richard Ellis (site and flyer):

• Formerly a Java City location
• 2,894 sf, asking $3/sf/month ($8,700-ish rent?)
• Part of Mann 10 Theatres shopping & dining complex
• Validated free two-hour parking
• Population 602,245 within 5-mile radius
• Average household income $62,182 within 5-mile radius
• One block north of Glendale Galleria
• Two blocks north of Grove East Americana at Brand development

Sounds like it meets Famima's site criteria for what could be the parent company's 11,004th store. And it's not even West Hollywood! What's next, HBO's Entourage on Verdugo Road?

Famima!! May Open Next in Glendale

Described as 7-Eleven meets Pacific Design Center by the droolers over at Curbed LA (also here and here) upscale Asian deli Famima!! has thousands of locations in Korea and Japan but just five in the US, all within Los Angeles County. Good news for us Atwater Villagers, the next location in this chain's ambitious roll-out might be over the tracks in Glendale.

Clue #1 - June 2006 press release - "Famima will open additional stores over the next few months in Hollywood, downtown L.A., Glendale, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, and a second Pasadena store."

Clue #2 - Now Hiring for ST-GLEN - Looks like they're trying to fill a store from the ground up with manager, assistant manager and associate. All three list LOCATION: Glendale.

Anyone know the exact address?

UPDATE! Clue #3 - Extra-smart reader Mike from Franklin Ave. had the idea to actually call Famima. He says (in comments) the store is planned for 134 N. Brand Blvd. in beautiful downtown Glendale.

Two Lovely Atwater Village Photosets

From MJS's Blog:

• A Few Pics Of And On Hyperion Bridge
• A Rainy Day in May in L.A.

Playing Dirty in the 43rd

California's 43rd Assembly District - including Atwater Village north of Los Feliz Blvd. - housed some ugly pre-election bickering between Armenians and Latinos. This Nouvelles d'Arménie article breaks it down:

"...The California Latino Leadership Fund (CLLF) sent an ugly mailer last week that tarnished the image of the entire Armenian American community.

"...Tens of thousands of non-Armenian voters received postcards as well as phone calls warning them against voting for Paul Krekorian, a Burbank Board of Education Member, because he was endorsed by the Armenian National Committee (ANC).

"The postcards and the phone calls were clearly meant to scare off the voters by linking Krekorian and the ANC to 'a suspected terrorist.'"

LA Weekly has an MP3 recording of the anti-Krekorian phone call. Did anyone else hear it? I'm south of Los Feliz Blvd., in the 45th District. We're less concerned with terrorism rhetoric than we are with candidates emancipating our pets.

You May Need Scissors for This Post

As a public service to Atwater Village residents - and our good-looking neighbors in Glassel Park - I offer these 50-cent coupons from the new Super King Market. Click on 'em, print 'em, clip 'em, and bring 'em to 2716 N. San Fernando Rd., site of the old Ralphs Market. Store owners Mary, Vache, and Peter Fermanian - who also have a location behind the Orange Curtain - plan grand opening festivities June 30, 11am. Till then, try chocolate chip Eggos for half a buck less.

New Newbie LA Links

Posted permalink style right there on the right side of this blog:

• Reinvigorated neighboring neighborhood blog Echo Park, CA
• For LA people who are too fat, too skinny, too old, too young, or too closely following the memo about wearing colorful undergarments under translucent clothing, there Malingering's Photos
• Atwater Village's 23 restaurant menus and counting on Menupix AV
• Wonderful 8763 Wonderland

A Merry Old Time Is Assured

Hot enough to be summer? Time for a block party. No word if the people on this flyer indicate some sort of anachronistic dress code or if they merely demonstrate Atwater Village's predilection for street-dancing. Find out tomorrow.

• Glenmanor Place Block Party
• Saturday June 17, 3:00-7:00pm
• Glenmanor & Valleybrink (behind J. Ferrari Gallery)
• Food, fun, magic & music, games & activities for kids
• Surely there will also be something for adults

Price of Admission in Atwater Village

A new housing-price comparison show, National Open House, debuted this month on HGTV with an episode comparing prices in Los Angeles, Ann Arbor (MI) and Austin (TX). Guess how it turned out:

$250,000


• Ann Arbor: 15 minutes from campus; two-story colonial; 2,100 sq ft; 4 bedroom; 2.5 bathroom; $625/month interest-only mortgage payment


• Austin: 10 minutes north in Round Rock; 3,000 sq ft; 4 bed; 2.5 bath


• Los Angeles: "not very much" in Canoga Park "45 minutes from Hollywood;" 840 sq ft condo; 2 bed; 2 bath

$500,000


• Ann Arbor: apparently a very cold house in Ann Arbor Hills with $300/month heat bills; they didn't say much else


• Austin: Hyde Park; built in 1938; 1,708 sq ft; 2 bed; 2 bath; plus garage apartment with additional 600 sq ft, 1 bed, 1 bath


• Los Angeles: "admission price into the Los Angeles real-estate market to get anything half decent;" Spanish cottage in Atwater Village; 747 sq ft; 2 bed; 1 bath; "big backyard"

$750,000


• Ann Arbor: "modified Mission" in wooded community of Dexter; 3,460 sq ft; 4 bed; 3.5 bath; 1.5 acres


• Austin: a Texas "super Tuscan" mansion; 3,900 sq ft; 4 bed; walk-out basement


• Los Angeles: Culver City; built in 1951; 954 sq ft; 2 bed; 1 bath; plus one-room guest house/studio

$1,000,000


• Ann Arbor: 6,200 sq ft; 4 bed; 3.5 bath; half acre; $3,750/month mortgage payment


• Austin: "a lot for your money" in West Lake Hills; 4,500 s ft; 3 bed; 3 bath; glass walls; pool


• Los Angeles: "not get what you expect; there will not be a gate; it will not be a mansion;" west LA home with 1,450 sq ft; 3 bed; 2 bath; purchased 10 years ago; $1,900/month mortgage payment

One final factoid from LA Realtor Brock Harris: 20 percent of all LA listings are $1 million or higher.

There's another nearly identical HGTV show, What You Get For the Money, but it compares across only one price range per episode. It often includes LA, but I haven't seen Atwater Village on it yet.

(Watch the last half of this promo video to see an Eagle Rock house, 810 sq ft, 2 bed, 1.5 bath, purchased four years ago for $180,000, now worth $500,000. )

Where to Take Mom in Los Angeles

That MSNBC article and subsequent discussion about what to do for 24 hours in LA was interesting, but ultimately not too useful. After all, we transplants usually attract heartland visitors for more than just a day.

Here's where Mrs. Newbie and I - after a mere three months to prepare - took Mom when she visited Los Angeles for the first time since 1988. She was here five days. We tried to stay in LA when possible. And we tried to respect red-state sensibilities. But we certainly ventured beyond city limits:

• Food Spots: Edendale Grill, There's No Place Like Home, Mimis Cafe, The Farm of Beverly Hills at The Grove, Islands of Burbank, Manny's Pizzeria of Pasadena, Marie Callenders of Carlsbad, Daily News Cafe at the Carlsbad Inn Resort
• Tourist Traps: Sea World, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Atwater Village Street Festival, Rodeo Drive, The Grove, Santa Monica Pier, The Getty Center, Mulholland Drive, Hollywood & Highland, IKEA Burbank, Old Town Pasadena, Griffith Park, Bob Hope Airport
• Places We Tried to Avoid: Downtown LA, anywhere in Hollywood other than Hollywood & Highland, the San Fernando Valley above Venture Blvd., Orange County
• Traffic Jams We Couldn't Avoid: I-5 & I-10, Wilshire & I-405, I-5 where they found the dead body in Norwalk, half the cross-streets along Sunset Blvd.

Councilman Slurries Atwater Village

Spotlight on streets: Fellow villager Miles wants the pale concrete avenues re-done as often as the darker asphalt roads. Curbed LA gets graciously involved, and LA Council President Eric Garcetti's office - which made a good showing at the AV street fest this weekend - responds, suggesting some of it comes down to aesthetics:

"Existing streets got a thin layer of petroleum 'slurry.' This extends the life of the street by an average of 7 additional years, delaying the need for a full, expensive repaving.

"Concrete streets are more difficult. Since it's pretty much cost-prohibitive to repair them to their original state, the Bureau of Street Services (BOSS) prefers to fix them by paving them over with asphalt - which many residents, fond of the concrete streets, object to."

Fondness for concrete? I see what Miles sees. Compare two areas of Atwater Village - like north and south of Glendale Blvd. - and it's like day (smooth streets, manicured yards) and night (concrete cracks, lawn jalopies).

Might there be a connection between public property caretaking and private propety pride?

It extends to graffiti, too. What's the incentive for a business to repaint walls when it's next to a riverbed or bridge that's perenially tagged?

Lesson for Los Angeles Bakers

If you have designs on winning the prestigious cooke bakeoff at the annual Atwater Village street festival, make it fresh, make it tasty, but please don't make it with sauerkraut. Save that avant-garde stuff for the west side. This year's yummy - yet traditional - winner: peanut butter thumbprints.

Back Atcha Franklin Avenue

The generous neighbors at FranklinAvenue.net, in an interesting post about blog-squatting, are sending all sorts of readers to us. Thanks for the props! And right back atcha: Your story about a decade's worth of migrating east in LA made me proud to live anywhere east of Vermont:

"I slowly became obsessed with Los Angeles history, with preserving L.A.'s fragile landmarks, with discovering new restaurants (hole-in-the-wall and famed alike), with trying to get the message across that Hollywood is just one tiny aspect of the nation's second-largest city. Ten years later, I'm not searching in vain for the city's center anymore. I find it everywhere I go."

P.S. - I tried to sign up for atwatervillage.blogspot.com, found it claimed but vacant, and had to settle for this hyphenated version. At least I come up higher in searches.

Atwater Chatter

Here's what's up 'round the 'hood:

• Despite emancipated dogs and unsolicited email, state assembly candidate Kevin De Leon - shown here sitting over Chavez Ravine - wins primary over Chavez relative
• Call it Artwater: J. Ferrari Gallery preview Friday, 7pm; grand opening Saturday, 6pm (3015 Glendale Blvd.)
• Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!! Street festival, noon-ish (3100-ish Glendale Blvd.)
• Menupix dishes 23 menus for AV restaurants, while Menupages mashes us into Silver Lake/Echo Park list
• Smartypants' 59-page neighborhood analysis notes "deterioration in a radial pattern away from the center" including, yes, our streets
• Council Prez Garcetti recommends riding "a horse to the top of Mount Hollywood from a stable in Atwater Village"
• Bikini-clad bicyclists on Hyperion Bridge

I Heart June Gloom

For someone struggling to acclimatize from a semi-arid mile-high locale, I sure do like these cool, gray days in LA.

Haves and Have-Nots

Lest history record this year as the beginning of the Great Atwater Village Pavement War, let's hope city leadership can satisfy a Curbed LA rumbler who wants repairs on South AV's concrete streets (item #2) - before he finds out the city just overhauled some of North AV's concrete sidewalks.

Where Bruce Willis Runs Into Ving Rhames

From a refreshing post about the nostalgic power of ice cream, here's a tidbit about the intersection near Foster's Freeze in AV:

"Susan and I made a special hot-afternoon trip over to the Foster's on Fletcher at the south end of Atwater Village... That intersection where the Foster's is served as the location for the scene in 'Pulp Fiction' after Bruce Willis' character ... runs into Ving Rhames' … literally."

Even if all the LA oldbies already knew it, what a cool factoid for a newbie like me. Even cooler is that when I was planning a move to Los Angeles this spring, I considered renting one of those apartments behind Ving Rhames.

I hope this post won't spoil the movie for anyone.

LA's Summer of Green

Google has a supercool environmentally-conscious mash-up of its mapping and video services dubbed Summer of Green. The Los Angeles "tour" shows locations and clips of the Tree People and the Audubon Center. One sub-section I dig: This Hiking Trail. (Screenshot below.)

• Go to Summer of Green LA

Brighten Up LA With a Simple Stencil

This one's from Denver, but Los Angeles sure could use it.

Five Ways the De Leon Campaign Is Going to the Dogs

My inbox says Kevin De Leon, candidate for California State Assembly's District 45, "supports Atwater Village."

Really.

So why would he ... or someone from his campaign ... or someone from another entity that isn't allowed to coordinate with his campaign ... (thanks a lot, California campaign reform!) ... do any of the following:

1. Send email I didn't register for
2. Email me blind in a BCC
3. Send email from Cesar Portillo, with no explanation of his connection to De Leon, and no mention that Portillo's firm contributed $100 to De Leon's campaign
4. Email an empty message with a 292KB image attached (re-published to the right; awfully generous of me, eh?)
5. Let someone's dogs out

If Kevin De Leon wants to support AV, he should know some of us - hell, let's go on a limb and say most of us - support anti-spam email practices. And we support our four-legged friends.

Next Time Try the Fibonacci Sequence

Last night I hoofed over to the Indochine Vien Vietnamese cafe on Glendale Blvd., and ordered Banh Xeo (#4), Pho Tai Bo Vien (#8) and Suon Nuong (#15) to go.

That's 4, 8 and 15.

Halfway home I realized that a Ga Nuong (#16) and a Crispy Vietnamese Apple Fritter (#23) would've nearly completed The Numbers on "Lost."

Indochine's menu, alas, skips 42.

P.S. - To continue the "Lost" theme, here's a food review in four words: Fresh, inexpensive, almost bland.

The City That Never Sleeps In

Sidewalk repair at 6:30am? Ladies dashing out in robes to chase garbage trucks at 6:05am? Surely the 7:00am noise ordinance covers some of these things.

Maybe trash collectors are bitter because their 150% raise will go to the cops.