Mayo See the Light Restaurant critic Besha Rodell's review, "Little Jewel Brings Soul of New Orleans to Chinatown, Los Angeles," set off a debate among our local Louisianians. In response to Rodell's description of a proper po' boy as containing Blue Plate mayo, ashley.h.matt responded, "Actually, a properly dressed shrimp...
All-star bands are usually a hit-and-miss prospect; sometimes you get the '96 Olympic Dream Team, other times you get the '04 Lakers. This big three, however, shouldn't fail to exceed expectations. Pianist Edward Simon is at the top of his game, playing in the SF Jazz Collective (another all-star team) for the past four years. Bassist Scott Colley is one of the best in the world (and the best bassist from Eagle Rock High School). Brian Blade has toured with Seal, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, yet he remains one of the most creative and dynamic jazz drummers alive.More
Celebrate the anniversary of Repeal Day at the Del Monte Speakeasy, where Prohibition tales will be told by acclaimed spirits and cocktail speaker Richard Foss and era-specific punch bowls and cocktails will be served as a 1930's jazz quartet swings the night away. Arrive an hour early to Townhouse restaurant in front to feast from the complimentary pig roast and take advantage of 1933 pricing on all drinks.More
The Levantine Cultural Center hosts this lecture with author Reese Erlich, who discusses his new book, Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect. Erlich, an L.A. freelance reporter who’s written about Middle Eastern politics for more than 30 years, gives insight into the Syrian uprising and events of the Arab Spring that began in 2011. The book, which includes a foreword by Noam Chomsky, features interviews with rebel leaders and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and touches on the role of the Kurds, Iran, Israel and American policies.More
Ryan Hemsworth was a singer-songwriter before he started dabbling in hip-hop and R&B, and then eventually found his place as a DJ and producer. Now, he mixes his talents for songwriting, hip-hop and R&B together with synths and samples to create sultry electronic mixes. He’s known for his ambient sound and velvety melodies and transitions, with the occasional interruption for experimental vocals or dirty hip-hop-inspired bass. Hemsworth’s tunes will make his audience feel as though they’ve been transported into a dream, or another dimension — but whatever path he takes them on will be an impressive journey.More
When it comes to the life of Bruce Haack, separating truth from fiction is not easy. The groundbreaking electronic music composer and inventor is said to have taught himself to play piano by age 3. By 8, he apparently was escaping his abusive mother's wrath by sneaking off to Indian...
Visual allure often isn't a virtue we value when chasing obscure flavors in L.A.'s international neighborhoods. In fact, adventurous diners tend to appreciate the opposite: The grungier the location, the more accomplished we feel for having sought it out. Looks be damned — let the fireworks happen on the flavor...
The Los Angeles art world has been saying a collective "hallelujah" since the arrival in January of Philippe Vergne as MOCA's new director. Although some East Coast commentators condemned the appointment — citing in particular a budget crisis scandal in which Vergne resorted to selling off a number of works...
Before there was enfant terrible Robert Downey Jr., there was the much more subversive and controversial père terrible: Robert Downey Sr. The elder filmmaker made his biggest impression with the outrageous Putney Swope — a film that has never not been relevant since it first skewered race and advertising in 1969. Truth & Soul Inc: The Films of Robert Downey Sr. is a four-night celebration of Downey’s film work, hosted by the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and Louis CK. The first night will feature a pair of his films, Chafed Elbows and Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight, as well as an in-depth conversation moderated by his son. Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., Fairfax; Fri., Dec. 5, 8 p.m.; $100. (323) 655-2510, cinefamily.org.More
Baroness Else von Freytag-Loringhoven, an often overlooked German artist, acquired her title by marrying an impoverished aristocrat and had a style of painting that seems, in retrospect, far too raw, loose and comic for her 1920s era. But in “Artificial Complexion,” the group show up at Various Small Fires, the Baroness comes off as a subversive godmother. Her painting of a urinal leaking behind an unopened umbrella, with pink streaks and cursive text in the background, belongs next to Liz Craft’s ceramic lips from 2013. The lips have coins between their teeth and text bubbles on the wall beside them, including one that says “nice panties.”.More
Susanna Fogel's Life Partners starts with a vehicular meet-cute: Paige (Gillian Jacobs) cuts off Sasha (Leighton Meester), causing the latter, an aggrieved receptionist/wannabe rock star, to scream, "Watch where you're going, bitch!" Both girls park at a gay-pride rally, storm out of their cars and hug. It's a fake fight...
For reasons that are perhaps understandable, stories about women finding themselves — or their voices, or their inner courage, or any number of things that are apparently very easy to mislay — are big business. But even if Cheryl Strayed's hugely successful 2012 memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on...
Second in Japan only to Takashi Miike as an outrageously prolific and wicked genre geyser, Sion Sono is most notorious here for the four-hour teen-perv epic Love Exposure (2011).
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Sam Esmail's first film has a visual assurance that suggests the arrival of a gifted director, but the characters he has created are so off-putting that viewers aren't likely to appreciate the beauty surrounding them.
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All of 1933 Group's concept-driven cocktail bars — including Thirsty Crow, Oldfield's and Bigfoot East and West — offer outstanding happy-hour specials.
Get Editors' Picks of the best things going on each week, full restaurant listings, last night reviews of concerts, events, and nightlife, slideshows by the city's best party photographers, hundreds of local event listings every day, and much, much more.
On Dec. 6, dancers from L.A. Dance Project will slide and sway across the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s stage in resident choreographer of the New York City Ballet’s and California native Justin Peck’s premiere of Helix, a rhythmic piece based on Esa-Pekka Salonen’s 2005 musical composition with the same name. The...
On December 5, 1933, America got to drink again. The country had been dry for 12 years due to Prohibition, but FDR thought that it was time for a change. His famous comment — " I think this would be a good time for a beer" — sums it...
Angel Olsen El Rey Theatre December 4, 2014 For many people — even in L.A., where you'll find someone sipping a latte at Intelligentsia on a Tuesday afternoon and wonder what that person does for a living — Thursday night is a cause for celebration. For college students everywhere who...
Barreling down Highway 5 in a 10-passenger van wrapped with an inescapable image of hops, the team from Golden Road Brewery and Mohawk Bend are on a mission for one thing – beer kegs. The destination is San Diego, often called Beer City, U.S.A., and home to the country's most...
As if overpaid Hollywood white people, beneficiaries of a recent plan to infuse the industry with nearly $1.6 billion of your tax money, need more cash, it turns out they've found a way to supplement their incomes. Airbnb this week unveiled a study that concludes, among other things, that nearly...
Openings, closings and gratuities for cooks — here's the food news that grabbed our attention this week: In what was probably the most controversial L.A. food news of the week, Los Angeles Magazine broke the news that Alimento chef/owner Zach Pollack has decided to add an extra gratuity line on...
Former KLOS radio personality Gayl Murphy almost tossed the generic white envelope she assumed was junk mail. Then she noticed the familiar map of her street, drawn out by the little-known L.A. Central Area Planning Commission, and realized her fight wasn’t over yet. AT&T was appealing a city decision that...
Ah, millennials. We love to hate you, what with your $200 headphones, sticker-covered MacBook Airs, and entitled workplace attitudes. We should really cut you more slack, though. That overpriced technology and inflated job title might be about all you have to hold onto these days. The world has really screwed...
If you are lucky enough to have foodies — or even aspiring foodies — in your family or stable of friends, fear not the treachery of gift shopping: behold five great food (and drink!) books to place under your tree, menorah or kinara. From local haunts, like Auntie Em’s Kitchen...
If you enjoyed the drenching L.A. got this week, which included about 1-and-half inches of rain for downtown, according to the National Weather Service, you could be in for more of that much-beloved and much-needed H20. Private forecasting service AccuWeather says a "parade of storms" is marching toward California this...
These events aren't free, but how bad is giving up $10 in exchange for an amazing night? Check out this weeks list of events, from a Buzzfeed comedy show to an argument about whether we drive too much. Watch one of the best documentaries ever The UCLA Film & Television...
Spot is best known as the guy who engineered some of the grittiest and most influential punk and hardcore in America from 1979 to 1985 at Hermosa Beach's Media Art Studio. As the house producer for SST Records, he had his hands on the board for albums by Black Flag,...
When Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader created intrepid nightlife reporter Stefon, he probably attended one of legendary party diva Susanne Bartsch’s flamboyant Big Apple fetes for inspiration. If you follow our L.A. party coverage, you know that, when it comes to some clubs, we can’t make this stuff up: the...
RADIO BROADCAST #297 12–07–14 Fanatic! Here we go into December! Engineer X and I have been working for weeks on the shows for this month. Not high on concept as much as just trying to keep it interesting and excellent. Obviously, whatever Christmas means to you might have you on...
Ever feel like you should teach yourself how to cook an adult-person meal but you’d rather just chill out and watch comedy YouTube videos? Now you can do both. In their hybrid sitcom/cooking show, Eat Our Feelings, Brooklyn-based writer-actor-server Sasha Winters and writer–vegan chef Emma Jane Gonzalez serve up sassy,...
Rain or shine, the Los Angeles Police Department doesn't let up when it comes to taking drunk drivers off the road. Law requires that police vaguely inform people about upcoming DUI checkpoints, but the LAPD does you one better: They'll tell you exactly when and where they'll be. The department...
This sad news just in: Hatfield's, the ambitious fine dining restaurant from Quinn and Karen Hatfield, will be closing at the end of December. A statement from Karen Hatfield is as follows: Hatfield's will close its doors at the end of December. The restaurant has had an amazing run and we...
Five months ago, the 71-year-old Holland American Market closed its doors. Hundreds of customers mourned the loss of the last Dutch store in L.A., which was for many the sole source of the speculaas and black licorice of home. But now there's reason to celebrate, because Bellflower's famous Dutch Store...
Molotov The Regent Theater December 3, 2014 After seven years without releasing a studio album, Mexican alternative rockers Molotov returned this year with a new CD titled Agua Maldita. The band kicked off their U.S. tour with a performance right here in Los Angeles at the Regent Theater in downtown...
Southern California locations took the top two positions on Instagram's annual list of users' most-geotagged places around the world. Number one was Disneyland in Anaheim, a perennial favorite for Instagram users. Number two was Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park, also a frequent fave. Although greater L.A. represents the first- and...
Barreling down Highway 5 in a 10-passenger van wrapped with an inescapable image of hops, the team from Golden Road Brewery and Mohawk Bend are on a mission for one thing – beer kegs. The destination is San Diego, often called Beer City, U.S.A., and home to the country's most...
Beverly Hills native Pauly Shore was babysat by comedians, hung out at the Odyssey and attended the same high school as Angelina Jolie, Lenny Kravitz and Nicholas Cage. Oingo Boing used to play his swim gym. His mother Mitzi, owner of Sunset Strip institution the Comedy Store, advised and entertained...
On Dec. 6, dancers from L.A. Dance Project will slide and sway across the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s stage in resident choreographer of the New York City Ballet’s and California native Justin Peck’s premiere of Helix, a rhythmic piece based on Esa-Pekka Salonen’s 2005 musical composition with the same name. The...
On December 5, 1933, America got to drink again. The country had been dry for 12 years due to Prohibition, but FDR thought that it was time for a change. His famous comment — " I think this would be a good time for a beer" — sums it...
Ah, millennials. We love to hate you, what with your $200 headphones, sticker-covered MacBook Airs, and entitled workplace attitudes. We should really cut you more slack, though. That overpriced technology and inflated job title might be about all you have to hold onto these days. The world has really screwed...
I once made a visit to a great big house in the San Gabriel Valley. The door opened to a little Chinese girl with a large fur scarf draped around her tiny neck. The floor was marbled and cold, the ceiling high, the grand hall empty and everything lighted by...
Tourists have long been flocking to Melrose Avenue, ducking happily into the street’s many boutique shops, thrift stores, salons and theaters. There have always been restaurants to feed those crowds, of course, but most come with a touristy edge to them, set up as quick-service concepts catering to little more...
At midnight inside Exchange L.A., "Rave of Thrones" was in full swing and DJ/Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn was about to hit the stage. A digital snowfall poured down the projection screens. Over the sound system, Old Nan, a character from HBO's hit series, talks about White Walkers. Soon,...
Southern California locations took the top two positions on Instagram's annual list of users' most-geotagged places around the world. Number one was Disneyland in Anaheim, a perennial favorite for Instagram users. Number two was Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park, also a frequent fave. Although greater L.A. represents the first- and...
Openings, closings and gratuities for cooks — here's the food news that grabbed our attention this week: In what was probably the most controversial L.A. food news of the week, Los Angeles Magazine broke the news that Alimento chef/owner Zach Pollack has decided to add an extra gratuity line on...
As if overpaid Hollywood white people, beneficiaries of a recent plan to infuse the industry with nearly $1.6 billion of your tax money, need more cash, it turns out they've found a way to supplement their incomes. Airbnb this week unveiled a study that concludes, among other things, that nearly...
If you are lucky enough to have foodies — or even aspiring foodies — in your family or stable of friends, fear not the treachery of gift shopping: behold five great food (and drink!) books to place under your tree, menorah or kinara. From local haunts, like Auntie Em’s Kitchen...
Rain or shine, the Los Angeles Police Department doesn't let up when it comes to taking drunk drivers off the road. Law requires that police vaguely inform people about upcoming DUI checkpoints, but the LAPD does you one better: They'll tell you exactly when and where they'll be. The department...
Former KLOS radio personality Gayl Murphy almost tossed the generic white envelope she assumed was junk mail. Then she noticed the familiar map of her street, drawn out by the little-known L.A. Central Area Planning Commission, and realized her fight wasn’t over yet. AT&T was appealing a city decision that...
Cozz emerged from anonymity with dreams of getting rich and a pair of loaded dice. The warning shot was his first video, “Dreams,” set on the nocturnal streets of South Central, surrounded by pit bulls, liquor stores and police helicopters. In 200 seconds, the 20-year-old catapulted into the elite ranks...
For reasons that are perhaps understandable, stories about women finding themselves — or their voices, or their inner courage, or any number of things that are apparently very easy to mislay — are big business. But even if Cheryl Strayed's hugely successful 2012 memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on...
Mayo See the Light Restaurant critic Besha Rodell's review, "Little Jewel Brings Soul of New Orleans to Chinatown, Los Angeles," set off a debate among our local Louisianians. In response to Rodell's description of a proper po' boy as containing Blue Plate mayo, ashley.h.matt responded, "Actually, a properly dressed shrimp...
Susanna Fogel's Life Partners starts with a vehicular meet-cute: Paige (Gillian Jacobs) cuts off Sasha (Leighton Meester), causing the latter, an aggrieved receptionist/wannabe rock star, to scream, "Watch where you're going, bitch!" Both girls park at a gay-pride rally, storm out of their cars and hug. It's a fake fight...
The biggest laugh I heard from the audience at my screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies came from seven words in the end credits: “Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien.” Just picture that tweedy Oxford philologist nodding in pleased approval at this adaptation of his...
"Politics really isn't my specialty," shrugs Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to a naval commander (Charles Dance) in an early job-interview scene in Morten Tyldum's choppy biopic, The Imitation Game. Yet no less than Winston Churchill would credit Turing as the main cause of the Allies' victory over the Nazis. Turing...
Gay Wing's Haters and Lovers Our blockbuster cover story last week went viral, and global, as hundreds of thousands of people shared reporter Ani Ucar's "In the Gay Wing of L.A. Men's Central Jail, It's Not Shanks and Muggings but Hand-Sewn Gowns and Tears," as well as her accompanying video,...
Garfield creator Jim Davis is well aware of the Internet's cat obsession. In fact, he's got an upcoming strip about it. "But if I told you the joke, I'd have to kill you," he deadpans, before cracking his paternal composure with a chuckle. (He did tell me, and I've chosen...
The heavens dance. From the bottom of the world, where your eyes might freeze in your face, we see stars pulse against seams of luminous dust, all in slow and dizzying rotation. Then come the lights: Ribbons of green unspool and shimmer and whip across the sky, suggesting angels and...
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Get Editors' Picks of the best things going on each week, full restaurant listings, last night reviews of concerts, events, and nightlife, slideshows by the city's best party photographers, hundreds of local event listings every day, and much, much more.