HERE'S A CALL to that architecture-themed ice-cream truck-about-town, Coolhaus. How about showing some cool, sweet love to your hometown neighborhood? According to Pasadena Star-News, one of the Coolhaus co-founders is an Atwater Village native. Does this mean we might see some Frank Behry or Mintamalism ice-cream sandwiches at the next Summer Nights event? I think it's worth asking. Let's all hound them on Twitter.THE NORTHERN TIP of Atwater Village has the neighborhood's last remaining strip club, and now the whole area might be stripped from the neighborhood. Not that anyone really lives in this concrete industrial stem at the top of Atwater Village's banana, but Los Angeles City Councilman Tom Labonge has taken to renaming it River Glen. The new moniker appears on the LA River Revitalization Plan and other City documents, according to the Friends of Atwater Village blog. Labonge has also been using it in emails to describe development initiatives in the area. Never mind the name. (Not much Glen-like about it.) But splitting it from residential areas of Atwater Village seems rather arbitrary.  Are we saying industrial and residential don't mix? Or could this be a clever ploy by Labonge's office to locate a waste treatment facility in North Atwater Village without approval from our usual stakeholders, like neighborhood council?The "River Glen" area is also adjacent to the Chevy Chase Park area, where LAPD recently raided Toonerville gang compounds and promises continued cleanup of the area. I suppose neighborhood stakeholders could want continued say in how both areas are governed. I only spent time in "River Glen" once, at a furniture sale. (Didn't buy anything.) But I wouldn't be surprised if people through it was part of the City of Glendale anyway. |
| SUMMER NIGHTS on the Boulevard, tonight, Thursday July 23, 6:00pm to 10:00pm, in Atwater Village along Glendale Blvd., from Glenfeliz to Perlita. |
 TOMORROW MARKS the return of the street fest to Atwater Village. In 2008, our neighborhood enjoyed an April "Artwater" art festival, a June sidewalk festival, an October trick-or-treat event and a December holiday tree lighting festival. But this year, with anticipated budget cuts to neighborhood organizations, it looked like we'd get through all of 2009 without taking to the streets. No worries, now. Enter the Atwater Village Chamber of Commerce:Summer Nights on The Boulevard |
NOT TO MISS: Top Chef season 2 winner Ilan Hall takes over the kitchen Tuesday July 21, 5:30pm to 10:00pm, at Canele, 3219 Glendale Blvd., in Atwater Village. Hall's 3-course prix fixe (price TBD) Scottish-influenced menu is predicted to include:
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JULY 9 gang raid in North Atwater Village is being hailed, not least of all by the raiders themselves, as an unqualified success. The numbers, from Northeast LAPD:
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.
EVEN AS WE appreciate full disclosure on this morning's Atwater Village gang raid, the LA Times finds not all's illuminated inside the Los Angeles Police Department.
FROM THE LAPD: "Today, the Northeast Division of the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a focused and deliberate raid on the Toonerville Gang in the Northern part of Atwater Village including the Chevy Chase Park Areas surrounding the Community Center.
UNFORTUNATE RUMORS are pegging Silverlake Video, 3206 Glendale Blvd., as the next Atwater Village retailer to close. No official word, but in the age of Netflix and DVRs and digital downloads, it makes sense that a neighborhood video rental store might have a limited shelf life. It's a good store, with staff enthusiastic about film, so let's hope they have a happy ending after all.
| THANKFULLY THIS is not another going-out-of-business announcement. But it is a deal too good to pass up. Today you can buy a "Groupon" for $40 worth of wine, beer, cheese or whatever from 55 Degree Wine, 3111 Glendale Blvd., at the low, low price of only $20. The offer is good till midnight tonight only on the Groupon website. |
| THE FUNERAL PROCESSION for Michael Jackson passed through Atwater Village this morning, southbound on I-5 from Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills to Staples Center for the public service. Starting with the ramp from Los Feliz Blvd., police closed this section of the freeway entirely in advance of the procession. |
| Los Angeles Police Department officers led the Jackson funeral procession on motorcycle. |
| The hearse, presumably carrying Jackson's body, was the second vehicle in the procession. (A van, unassociated with the Jackson proceeding, had pulled to the right shoulder just as the freeway was closed by LAPD. Seemed like a sly paparazzi move, but was probably a legit breakdown.) |
| The procession continued south on I-5, passing under the Glendale-Hyperion bridge between Atwater Village and Silver Lake. |
| At least a dozen fans and photographers gathered on the pedestrian bridge between Griffith Park and the Los Angeles River bike trail. See all the pictures in my Jackson Procession gallery. |
| RUDE AWAKENING at about 3:20am this morning with what sounded like the methodical, rhythmic snapping of 6 to 8 gunshots in Central Atwater Village. (Not the pop-fizz of fireworks, at least to these ears.) LAPD had a patrol car in the area within 5 minutes, but apparently officers' searchlights turned up no reason to call for backup or air support. Let's hope it was merely the final revelry of this Independence Day weekend. |
AS FORESHADOWED by new street signs last month, the City of Los Angeles is installing lovely speed humps today and tomorrow in Atwater Village.
