Again About Transit

My old apartment was half a mile from the Hollywood/Western station. My new house is over one and a half miles from the Vermont/Beverly station. Too far to walk for a typical commute, but I will not be unfazed.  For my commute to Culver City, I have my husband drive me to the station, or I take a Metro Rapid bus down Western avenue to connect with the Expo Line.

The Vermont/Beverly station is landscaped with drought-resistant desert plants along a walkway that runs behind the escalators that descend to the subway. It's got steps and levels and foot traffic flows easily through.

1993 Artist's rendering depicting the entrance of the Red Line station at Vermont and Beverly

Vermont/Beverly entrance 2013. The landscaping is very close to the artist rendering above.

Now, let's look at Hollywood/Western:

1993 artist's rendering depicting the entrance of the Red Line station at Hollywood and Western.

Hollywood/Western 2013

Comparing the artist's renderings for Hollywood/Western to how it turned out, it is hard to imagine how things went so wrong. Tiles and stone beneath a terribly dated low-income housing project. Despite the attempt at color and design, the corner is bleak as compared to the life (as in, plants, actual, breathing life) at Vermont/Beverly. Of course, the artist's rendering shows no housing unit, which is a necessity for the area, but how on earth did the actual development turn out to be so, so ugly?

Back to the bus, Metro Rapid 757 stops at the south-west corner of Melrose and Western, in front of a gas station. It is not a pretty corner. It is trash littered and hot. The bus is always crowded, standing room only, but it's a core-strengthening, balance-challenging kind of standing. I can count it as part of my exercise routine.

Nearly five years ago, when I used to take the train downtown to my job at The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company on Olive Street, I was often the only business-class person on the train, and it was never crowded. The majority of riders were families (lots of non-car-owning moms with their babies) or workers of the non-office sort, judging by apparel. No suits and ties, I mean. Sprinkled lightly within the crowd would be one or two FIDM students in their artsy, stylist get-ups.

Today, the ridership has greatly increased, and there are often no available seats on the red line (the expo line is still gaining riders, and finding a seat is never a problem).  The most marked difference between now and five years ago are the number of suits on the train. Professionals are commuting downtown by Metro.

Five years ago, there were fewer companies operating out of downtown.  Many companies didn't think it was a desirable place to be. With the revitalization of Downtown, came a shifted perception, and it became a cool place to be. "You work Downtown? Bleh," became "Wow, you work Downtown? How hip."

Gas prices have driven people out of their cars and onto their feet, and has also driven them into neighborhoods near metro stations.  This shift was fairly predictable.  After a few decades of people wanting space and isolation as well as city salaries, rising gas prices and recessions turned their desires from the suburbs to city centers  - where to get groceries or go to the movies or get drinks with a friend, all you have to do is walk out your front door.

The Metro Rapid ridership is still comprised of the demographic on the train five years ago. I don't know why the business class isn't on the bus. I wonder if it's because the street atmosphere of my particular nook of East Hollywood (Western Avenue) just isn't pretty.  Urban design and aesthetics go a long way to get people of all sorts onto transit - those who need it because they don't have a car, as well as those who have the privilege to choose to not get in their cars. Maybe it's the jostling. A crowded bus does cause a person to jostle, especially when it's charging down Western Avenue.

I know I write about public transit a lot.  That's because I'm on it a lot. And I'm on it a lot because it's a far better way to get around a city, to plan a city, to design a city, than by car.

The City Prolific: Weekend Events March 9th - March 10th

It's been a quiet winter. There's always something going on around town, but it certainly isn't like summer. We stumbled upon another Space 15 Twenty event last weekend, sipped some free Pabst, posed with some giant hearts.

Here are a few events we might check out this weekend:

SATURDAY, MARCH 9TH 

"What's Up?" An Artist Co-op 7 Exhibition

Everyone loves an art opening. And I always love a reason to go to Bergamot.  In this exhibition, five artists from Co-op 7 present a group art show of new work that uniquely demonstrates each artist’s individuality in various media including monotype, oil, and watercolor. Exhibiting Artist Co-op 7 members are: Adria Becker, Abira Breskal, Selina Cheng, Susan Gesundheit, and Eileen Hecht.

Free

3:00pm - 7:00pm

Schomburg Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Ave, Unit E3A
Santa Monica

Red Sky Journal Reading & Issue 3 Launch Party

Red Sky Journal celebrates the launch of its third issue with work by Henry Hoke, Jeremy High, Jamora Crawford, Lan Pham, Lisa Locascio, Ronald Metellus, and Jackson Burgess. There'll be snacks and other fun stuff, plus just the wonderful atmosphere of literary Echo Park.

Free

7:00pm

Stories Books and Cafe
1716 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles 90026

ART+SOUL Party

If you haven't yet been to the Mezz, go. It's a very strange, in-between kind of space, one of the many such spaces in the Alexandria Hotel.  Rare groove vocalist and emcee Stacy Epps will appear on stage. In the last decade she’s established a reputation for sonic excellence in the underground hip hop community. The event will also feature live art, artist exhibitions, vendors + visuals.

$10 Cover; Limited $6 Presale Tickets via http://aurareleaseparty.eventbrite.com

9:00pm - 2:00am; 21+ w/ ID

The Mezz @ the Alexandria Hotel
501 S. Spring Street – 2nd Floor
Los Angeles 90013

Lenny Kravitz "Looking Back on Love:  Making Black and White America"

I'd go just to see something at the Arena. I've always been curious about that place.  A Q&A with Director Mathieu Bitton moderated by KFWB's Leo Quinones will take place after the screenings. From the press release: "'Looking Back on Love (Making Black and White America)' brings viewers face to face with legendary rock musician Lenny Kravitz. The documentary features exclusive interviews recorded over two years.  The film also features an in-depth examination of the album's title song; Lenny's personal history about his upbringing in a mixed family; appearances by Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz; and the message of love that Lenny has been preaching for over 20 years."

$10

Advanced Tickets available at http://arenascreen.com

Two Showings: 7:30PM, 9:20PM

Arena Cinema in Hollywood
1625 N. Las Palmas Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028.

SUNDAY, MARCH 10

39th Annual Festival of the Kite

The sky will crawl with magic in the form on kites!  Anyone can enter the festival of the kite at Redondo Pier.  Prizes will include Highest Flying Kite, Best Handmade Kite and Youngest Kiteflyer. Come help launch a 25 foot wide kite. 7th Annual Hot Dog On A Stick Eating Contest. $200 prize-3pm. 10th Annual Redondo Throw Down Yo-Yo Competition. So much fun! All Ages Welcome and live music by Tucker Booth.

Free

12:00pm -5:00pm

Redondo Beach Pier
W Torrance Blvd
Redondo Beach 90277

ALL WEEKEND

Old Pasadena Happy Hour

Old Pasadena's finest restaurants, bars, and lounges offer extended food and drink specials all week long! Happy Hour Week runs March 1-15, 2013. From $1 martinis at Equator, $2 beers at Pita Jungle, and $3 gourmet sushi at Sushi Roku and Kabuki, among a whole bunch of other delicious deals. Check out the website for the full list: http://www.oldpasadena.org/happyhourweek/

Follow @LAhappenings for daily event updates.

Ya Voté por Los Angeles

Voting day is tomorrow! It's the primary nominating election, in which we'll choose who will be the next candidates for Mayor (I've never known LA without Villaraigosa, so that'll be weird), decide on a few new city council candidates, and sift through some ballot measures.

To get informed, check out the Arts & Culture Candidate Surveys for LA and Pasadena: http://www.artsforla.org/campaigns

And take a look at the SmartVoter site from the League of Women Voters: http://www.smartvoter.org/

This city is yours if you want it!

Who or what are you voting for? And if you're not voting, how come?

The Millennium Hollywood

There are stretches of parking lot in Hollywood.

(If you know Hollywood at all, you just rolled your eyes as you read that. Duh, a lot of Hollywood is parking lot.)

The stretches of which I speak surround the Capitol Records building.

Imagine turning these bleak parking lots (are there any other kind) into development.  A landscape upon which life can happen. Shopping! Dining! Or, my personal favorite (and the least mentioned): a park!

A proposal is currently circulating City Hall to develop these lots into a mixed-use project comprising apartments, shopping, dining, and public areas. It sounds wonderful, in theory, but when further details, including architecture renders, emerged, a loud voice of dissent arose from the community, mine among them.

The renders show two 50-story towers stretching to the clouds, dwarfing all the other buildings at Hollywood and Vine - indeed every building in Downtown Hollywood.  The towers look unfinished, with the balconies carved into columns on either side resembling the crossbars of construction scaffolding. According to plans, the towers could be as tall as 485 and 585 feet — more than twice the tallest building in Hollywood (the CNN tower).

However, the final architectural plans for the Millennium Hollywood (by developers Millenium Partners and Argent Ventures) have not yet been approved.  The latest progress in the Millennium Hollywood project is its recent approval by the city's planning department.  Just a, "okay, we're interested, let's talk seriously about this."

The Millennium Hollywood project will be split between two parcels across the street from each other, along Vine between Yucca and Hollywood (almost 5 acres of land).

The two towers will be designed by Handel Architects, and the neighboring Capitol Records Tower and the Gogerty Building will be preserved with the expertise of architect Bill Roschen of Roschen Van Cleve Architects.  The towers will "frame" the views of the Capitol Records tower.  Millennium Partners insists that the project’s primary design objectives will be to "preserve, complement and highlight the Capitol Records Building by creating extensive and inviting open spaces that will greatly enhance the pedestrian experience of the area and forever preserve the critical views of one of the 20th century’s most recognized and beloved structures."

A more pedestrian-friendly experience in central Hollywood would be a much-needed improvement to not just the immediate area, but, with the Hollywood and Vine metro station just a few blocks away, to the progress of a more transit-oriented city at large. I love living in central Hollywood because I can walk to restaurants, bars, and shopping, and there are other people on the street doing the same thing. And then I can get to other parts of town without having to drive.  Hollywood feels like a city, but just a hint, a feeling, a potential of a better, more metropolitan one, if only there were more people, more restaurants, more bars, more transit options, and more public space with benches upon which to sit.

“The goal of all of our projects is to attract people who embrace an urban lifestyle. They want to be able to walk out their door, walk down the street, go to a restaurant, go to the movies, come home, ride the elevator, look at the Hollywood Sign from their apartment, go to sleep,” says Philip Aarons, the Founding Partner of Millennium Partners.

Roschen and Handel Architects are collaborating with James Corner Field Operations, landscape architects of New York’s High Line (a bastion of successful urban public development), on the design of the Millenium's open space, comprised of street-level plazas enhanced with retail and shopping.

Again, all of this sounds wonderful, aside from the hideous tower renders.  I will hope that project can be kept to scale with the current Hollywood skyline, so as to provide housing without adding significant congestion. (50 stories and nearly a thousand apartments and hotel rooms means twice as many thousands of cars - let's not forget, that even with a nearby metro station, this is still LA, and people need cars. You still can't get to Santa Monica from Hollywood without one, or without at least incurring a suicidal headache.)  I will also hope that the Millennium Partners are sincere in and capable of providing the pedestrian-friendly experience to which they allude.  Other developments have promised this, but have failed at delivering. Take, for example, California Plaza. It is nice when you're inside it, but it's above sidewalk level, so if you're walking down Grand or Olive Avenues, you have no idea that there's a large open space just up these stairs here or down these ones here or behind this building or this hotel. The same goes for the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Lovely on the inside, but from sidewalk level, it's a big secret. By contrast, Lincoln Center in New York City can't be missed by a passer-by. You see the plaza from Broadway, you see the lights inside the Metropolitan Opera house and the intermission audiences gathering outside, you see the fountain dancing, and the New York ballet students lounging around it and you want to go in and discover it for yourself.

Due to an unchecked scale, and previous LA mishaps in providing a pedestrian-friendly experience (my eyes ache from the rolling they've been doing each time I hear a proponent mention Hollywood/Highland as an example of good mixed-use development) , I am skeptical of the Millennium Hollywood.

I would love to hear your thoughts. What do you think of the plans? What would you like to see developed on these parcels of parking lot? What do you think would best help usher Hollywood into being a more urban center? Do you care for it to be such?

Sound off, please.

We're Home!

This is our home. We own it. And it's in Hollywood, where we've said we'd like to stay forever. We're so happy to be home.  Now, let's take a walk down memory lane: our house hunting experience that lasted three years and caused our hearts to ache and our eyes to swell with tears. I'm not exaggerating.  We looked at hundreds of homes, and bid on about a dozen. Here are the ones that stand out.

This was the first house we bid on. It was in a neighborhood we'd never heard of before: Glassell Park. It was up in the hills, with a gorgeous view of Mt. Washington. The house was tiny. But the yard! And the finished back house/studio/office!  And the jacuzzi!  It was an oasis. In East LA.  It sold for $60,000 over listing price.

Next, we bid on this house just off of Beverly. Two stories. A real home. Little yard, but big enough. I loved this house; my husband not so much.  But he didn't have to worry. It also sold for $60,000 more than listing price.

This was our dream house. In the heart of Hollywood, in walking distance to Hollywood and Vine, to our gym, to the farmer's market. Sure, the house needed serious work: new floors, a new kitchen, a new bathroom. But we were willing to slum it over time, to create our dream home with our bare hands.  Although we were the top bidder, we were passed up for a cash buyer.

We really thought we were going to get this one. We wrote a cover letter to the owners, they seemed to really like us - they were like the forty-something versions of us. But, they went with a cash buyer. This is when Joseph coined the term "cash holes".

This was almost our dream house. It wasn't in Hollywood, but it was in a super cute neighborhood (Baldwin Hills), walking distance to the Expo line, and was BIG. Two bedroom/two bath, big front yard, huge back yard, huge back house. We were the top bidder. We went into escrow. The house appraised low. The selling bank wanted us to pay the difference in cash. We said no. They canceled our contract.  Our hearts broke and we became angry at the whole damn system.

State of the art, this was. Gorgeous. Like Tuscany. It was in Highland Park, LA's hottest 'hood for young home buyers. We didn't have a chance in hell.

In Frogtown, almost my favorite neighborhood outside of Hollywood. Tiny, but super cute. A million bidders entered the game. We had a little bit of a chance on this one, but not enough.

Also in Frogtown, on the same street as the one above. At this point, we were desperate to find a home in Frogtown. Near Echo Park! Right off of the LA River bike path! So quiet! So cute! Yeah, us and everyone else.

Again, in Frogtown, right off of the river. With a gorgeous, landscaped backyard. Oh, it was beautiful. Again, like Tuscany. Again, we didn't have a chance.











This is not all of them. Just the ones that we really, really wanted. After three years, hundreds of viewing, dozens of bids, we wound up staying in Hollywood, which is what we wanted all along.

Hollywood forever.

Parklets Come to Los Angeles

Highland Park parklet rendering, courtesy of Office of José Huiza

Parklets!

What's a parklet? It's a mini public park in an urban area.  Essentially, it's a great idea.

Last Friday, the L.A. City Council approved the construction of four parklets in Downtown L.A., El Sereno and Highland Park.

This is great news for our city, as it signals a move toward prioritizing open space.

What is open space? Open space is any open piece of land that is undeveloped (has no buildings or other built structures) and is intended solely for public leisure. (That's my own definition - feel free to provide your own.)

Los Angeles has a severe lack of open space.  We need more. Much more.

So, yay for parklets!  If ever the city council approves more, where would you like to see one?

I would love for there to be a parklet on Melrose, somewhere east of Fairfax, west of La Brea. You know, where all the (affordable) shopping is.  Los Angeles lacks good, urban shopping districts. Melrose is a good one, but there's nowhere to grab a bench!  Think of good shopping districts in other cities: Union Square in San Francisco, Herald Square in NYC, SoHo NYC, L.E.S. NYC. All have lots of little parks with benches. You know, to sit on. To rest on.  To survey your city on.  What a novel idea. Except that it's an idea as old as civilization, and has been proven, over and over again: parks (or parklets) are essential to a city's quality of life.

The City Prolific: Weekend Events Jan 18 - 20

The weather is back to normal, and some people are rejoicing. Others, like me, are reluctant to turn their backs on winter. Having to re-adapt my wardrobe to 80 degree weather is a project.

I went for a walk today, along Santa Monica between Gower and Cahuenga. When I returned to my office, I was dripping sweat under my jeans, tall boots, and long sleeve blouse.  Someday I'll have to begin dressing like an angeleno, in flowy skirts and dresses, short shorts, and battered tshirts. When I do, I'll look to StreetGeist for inspiration. Although, lately, because our weather was cool, almost like a proper winter, their subjects were fairly bundled up.

It's weird, this whole nice weather all the time thing. Not that I'm complaining. But I wonder if it will ever be in my blood. A major part of me doesn't want it to - I like that my blood has seasons. That's how I understand life, transition, change, age. Seasons.

What is in my blood, though, is the city. This city, that city - doesn't matter, as long as there is stuff to do, culture to experience, food to taste, things to see.  That said, not a whole lot going on this weekend that's worth writing about.  Here are a few selects:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18

John C. Reilly and Friends at the Bootleg

I heard John C. Reilly on KPCC this morning, talking about his blue grass band. He is the sweetest, most salt-of-the-earth guy, I just want to hang out with him. I was smiling ear to ear listening to his teddy bear voice.  He ended the interview by saying, "I love KPCC! I'm a KPCC listener!"

John C. Reilly and Friends appear at the Bootleg tonight.

$10:00

Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm

Bootleg Bar
2220 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90057

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19

Bootie LA

Go get wild with a bunch of twenty-somethings in Echo Park at this notorious and messy dance party.  Midnight Mashup Show and go-go eye candy from resident dance crew: R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance). Get your oh-so-slick facebook pic taken in the photo boot by scenesnaps.com

$6 before 10 PM, $12 after (21+ only)

9pm–late

Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd. (Back Entrance)
Echo Park, Los Angeles

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20

Kiera Hated Improv (A Very Special Catsby)

Catsby is one of the most fun indie improv shows around, organized by one of my favorite people ever, screenwriter and funny guy Chad Damiani.  On January 21st, 2012, one of CAT BATH's original members and Chad's longtime girlfriend Kiera Goodman passed away after an 18-month battle with cancer.   In honor of her memory, all of the proceeds of Sunday's show will be donated to one of her favorite charities, Karma Rescue.

Follow @LAhappenings for daily event updates.

RIP Huell Howser, I'll Miss You

I had lived in California for two days when, unemployed, I turned on the tv at 2:00 in the afternoon and landed on an episode of California's Gold.

"Oh my gosh! Isn't that WONDERFUL?!" I heard Huell Howser exclaim over the fact that beneath Old Sacramento lies a system of underground tunnels. His enthusiasm was addicting, his folksy, full-mouthed accent giggle-inducing.  I felt that, in discovering Huell Howser, I'd personally discovered a cache of gold.

Huell passed away today, at the age of 67.  A deeply private man, we may never know what ailed him. I wrote the other day about a few personal goals for the new year.  Here's another.  Marvel at every day wonders with the passion and enthusiasm of Huell Howser.

Here are just a few moments of Huell Howser's glory:

"The big deal about In-n-Out was that it was a DRIVE THRU!"



"The wind is pushing the flies . . . I've never seen anything like this . . . these are all flies . . . look out there, OH!"



Addendum: Tonight, when reading my friend Joe Cedillo's memories of Huell Howser, I was reminded of how he helped me through one of the most trying times of my life. When I was in radiation for thyroid cancer, I lay on my couch, too exhausted to do anything but watch TV. Episodes of California's Gold and Road Trip with Huell Howser tapped right into my own cache of hope. My husband called to check on me one day (he was staying with a friend as our apartment was under radioactive quarantine), and I was laugh-crying about the Hot Dog on a Stick episode. He lifted my spirits, he increased my sense of appreciation, and he made me hopeful for the future.  He was really something.

The City Prolific: First Weekend of the Year Events Jan. 4 - 6

I'm not much one for making New Year's resolutions, although I am one for reflection, and goal-making.  I've also recently, say, in the last three years, become one for planning.  I've found that making a plan is far more effective for me than making goals, and certainly more so than making resolutions.

One could argue that this is just semantics, but there is a difference. A plan is comprised of actual, actionable steps, whereas a goal is, to me, just an image, a picture.  It's something you might want to realize, but how? The how is the plan. A resolution, on the other hand, is a mere abstraction. Meaningless.

That said, this year, I plan to soften the edges of my life by minimizing the number of activities to which I am committed.  This will entail saying 'no' more often (currently, the word 'yes' drops from my mouth far too often, weighing down my potential to succeed at any of the activities to which I've agreed). Whittling down will allow me to be generally more present and focused.

In addition, I plan (hope, rather) to maintain the feeling I experienced in this moment:

I was at the top of Alta Ski Resort, and transfixed by the sky.  Tiny flurries of snow glistened under the sun.  It was like being inside a snow globe.  I would like to maintain the sense of wonder and tranquility that I felt just then, as I stared up at the heavens.

I also plan to see more theatre. I saw almost no theatre last year, which is shameful. I'm an actor, for chrissakes.  So, my plans this weekend include:

"Their Eyes Saw Rain" at Company of Angels

I auditioned for this show, and gave what I can easily say is the worst audition of my life.  It was terrible.  Shit happens, especially to actors.  But, I loved the script, and am very glad the run was extended.  I know the sound designer. And I love that the company performs in the historic Alexandria Hotel. It's like stepping into Downtown LA circa 1931, in it's most gilded, glamorous age.

"Gravid Water" at UCB

Actors and improvisors perform together, the actors speaking their lines from established plays, and the improvisors improvising opposite them, with no prior knowledge of the scenes.  It's much fun.

Here are some more events for you to choose, for your first weekend of 2013:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 4TH

Horrible Movie Night

Everybody loves a good bad movie. Especially with an audience.  Horrible Movie Night at NerdMelt Comics schedules stand-up comedy based on the film to spice things up, and they welcome your heckling (during the movie, not the standup sets), and the wittiest heckles win a prize. Make sure you get your tickets in advance (they're cheaper that way).  

$8 in advance ($10 at the door) 

8:00pm (Doors 7:30)

NerdMelt Theater

7522 Sunset Blvd.

Hollywood, Calif., 90046

2013 Wishful Predictions

Happy New Year, Everybody!

I had a long, and much needed holiday vacation.  A thing about me: when I go on vacation, I really go on vacation.  I disconnect completely and cease all productivity.  Hence, the long delay in my posting here.

But I'm back! And I'm rested! Re-energized! Onward.

Here are my wishful predictions for LA's upcoming year.  I'll jump for joy to see any of the following take place:

• Plans to develop a cross-town trainline from Union Station along the entire distance of Sunset Boulevard.  Yes, I know the city is still working on the Subway to the Sea, and that's great, but it runs along Wilshire, which is not within walking distance of my home.


• Malibu Wine Country laws to change to allow tasting rooms to operate at the actual wineries.


• Good Hangs, Cheap Drinks: Let's please see a trend away from cocktail revival bars and their $12 drinks toward neighborhood dives and $6 drinks.


• A revamp of the Macy's plaza downtown.  Macy's Plaza is bleak and depressing, but it sits on prime real estate in the heart of downtown.  With a revamp, it could be a great shopping and entertainment destination.  LA needs a better, more accessible shopping district that is in the actual city, rather than a pre-fab mall like The Grove or The Americana, or inaccessible, bougie Beverly Hills.  I mean, there's a subway station directly across the street!! Where better to develop LA's Rockefeller Plaza or the like?  Oooh! Turns out it's already in the works! Score!


• Better stores at Hollywood and Highland.  There's a huge outdoor mall there on prime real estate, but the only decent stores are Zara, a tiny H&M, and a Sephora. BCBG and Bebe? Blech.  Let's see a J Crew, Banana Repbulic, Urban Outfitters! Please! And how about a book store? Barnes and Noble, if nothing else?  I mean, there's a subway station directly below! Where better for good shopping? C'mon.

Okay, get at it, LA!  Here's to a prosperous, adventurous, less car-dependent, more metropolitan 2013!

A Food Tour of New York

After my too-brief weekend in NYC, I have compiled a list of a few of my favorite city eats. Despite common belief, New York ought not be experienced solely inside the Michelin rated restaurants of Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali. No, the real New York lives in the holes in the wall, where the floors crumble under their age, and the aromas of authentic cuisines from around the world mingle in the street.

Go to these places, and you will have experienced New York at its best.

Soup Dumplings at Shanghai Cafe

Dumplings with soup inside. Delectable dim sum and delicious tea.  In the heart of my favorite NYC neighborhood.  Chinatown is a world of wonder.

Pierogis and Borscht at B & H Dairy

A hole of all holes in the wall, this place makes the best pierogis in Manhattan. Greenpoint, well, that's a different matter.  This place has been around forever, and I hope it remains forever. I don't know why it has 'dairy' in the name. Maybe because they serve sour cream with everything.

Cafe con Leche and Chicken Soup at El Castillo De Jagua

This chicken soup embodies comfort food. Hearty, salty, thick. The cafe con leche is perfect, a better day in a cup.

Halva and Turkish Delight from Economy Candy

Directly across the street from El Castillo de Jagua. It's an overwhelmingly well-stocked candy store, like the kind you envision from the 1940's. In fact, this place has been in business since 1937, and it's like stepping into a sweet, sweet time warp. I like to order freshly cut halvah and turkish delight by the pound.

Pelmeni at Uncle Vanya Cafe

Can you tell that I like dumplings? Chinese dumplings, Polish dumplings, Russian dumplings, I love them all.  I also love Russia, and being at Uncle Vanya Cafe feels like being in Russia. It's authentic; it's yummy.


An Egg and Cheese Sandwich at any Deli

No one in California knows how to make a decent egg and cheese sandwich, and those who try, charge way too much and are skimpy with the cheese. In NYC, an egg and cheese on a roll with salt and pepper costs between $2.50 and $3.50, and is huge and oozes with American cheese.  The more hole-in-the-wall the deli, the better the sandwich. It's a thing about NY that I miss very much.

These are all things that I miss about New York. Inexpensive foods from around the world, available in such quantities that you can grab a bite of heaven-on-earth as you go about your every day.

Don't Go, Huell Howser.

The LA Times reports that Huell Howser is retiring.  If don't believe I've ever heard sadder news for local California television.

Huell Howser, with his exuberant, Southern, every-man accent, easily wondered over California's unique natural, historical, and entertainment/tourism sites.  He traveled all over the state with a small film crew, exclaiming in his odd way over every thing imaginable.  His enthusiasm for otherwise fairly ordinary things, "A HOT DOG on a STICK!" always caused me to smile so big my cheeks would hurt.

There are rumors that he is ill, and as he is only 67 years old, I certainly hope the rumors are false.  Huell Howser goes hand in hand with California's sunny skies, bright horizons, and colorful characters. Please never stop doing the work you're doing Huell. And if you're ill, please, I beg you, get better.

Holiday Travelers

Back in August, my husband and I missed a flight from LAX to SLC, due to no fault of our own. The fault laid squarely on the airport and it's Soviet-era security lines. Just last week, L.A. Business Journal reported that LAX is the second-most stressful airport in the country.  The emotional meltdown I experienced after the Delta Airlines gate attendants refused to let us on the flight would be a perfect illustration of the truth behind this report.

I am headed to the airport tonight, to catch the red-eye to Boston. I will be taking the 6:01pm metro red line to the Union Station Flyaway shuttle. When I touch ground in Boston just before 6:00am eastern time, I will have been traveling for nine hours.  My in-laws will pick me up, and when we arrive in New Hampshire, my travel time will have expanded to eleven hours.

I am anxious about the flight, anxious about how uncomfortable and tired I will be early tomorrow morning.  Each year, I wonder why - why do we put ourselves through such stress? Wouldn't it be nice to stay local, relax, keep our clothes in our closet, the luggage in storage, and cook our own turkey dinner? Well, the answer is family. We moved to Los Angeles for career pursuits. Our family does not live here. We so often feel isolated from the comfort and security that comes with being close to family. Throwing a party? Need some extra chairs or tables? Call your dad, he might have some you can borrow. Cooking a large casserole, need a bigger pan? Call your mom, you can borrow hers. Husband out of town? Tire blown on the freeway? Call your sister, she'll pick you up.  This is a network of security, of love, of I'll do anything for you.  Friends can help, but their support will never match the strength of that which comes from family.

We are and always will be the travelers, coming from the city where no one else lives, entering into the world of our parents, our siblings. We travel to bridge the distance. Yet, with each return to our current city, it seems that the distance grows, inches with each journey.  L.A. now seems further away than it did in the beginning.