The Fake Angeleno

Bukowski Bobblehead at Williams Bookstore in San Pedro

For the most part, San Pedro still fits its ancient reputation as a hardscrabble, blue-collar port city.  We took a spin through San Pedro early last month and really enjoyed the place.  A particular highlight was the window display at Williams Book Store.  Any establishment that gives the patron saint of late-blooming problem drinkers with literary talent a place of honor is alright by the Fake Angeleno. 

 

This likeness bears an unfortunate overtone of Dennis Miller after an all-night bout of red lobster endless shrimp...

Arts & Letters - San Pedro style at Williams Book Store. 

File Under: I'm Glad These L.A. Cultural Oddities Exist

1. Who knew?  There's a thriving C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles -- complete with continuing education courses, lecture series, and library. [LINK]


2. There's also an "Electric Railway Historical Society of California." [LINK]


3. This is not even to mention a burgeoning scene of street food vendors using Twitter. (At last a hipster trend flows West to Williamsburg instead of vice versa...) [Serous Eats]

The Top 100 Places to Visit in L.A.?

Here's one for you Del.icio.us bookmarks, folks.  I just stumbled across this very useful list of all the heavy-hitter attractions around town, as compiled by webmaster Gary Isse, of "Los Angeles Without a Car" fame. 

[LINK: Top 100 Places to Visit While in Los Angeles]

Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs Next Weekend (5/28- 5/31)

I hadn't heard of this one before, but it seems the ninth annual Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival will be taking place next weekend at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

According the festival site:

Founded back in 2000 by the late mystery author and Palm Springs community leader, the popular Film Noir festival includes an eclectic mixture of prestigious and obscure black and white “B” movies from the classic film noir period. The former Palm Springs Film Noir Festival is well known for a scintillating array of personal appearances by the stars that appeared in the movies being screened.

I'm half tempted to point my car East on Friday and make a weekend of it.  (Inspired, of course, by the spirit of Raymond Chandler, who liked to motor aimlessly up and down the coast -- to Oxnard and back -- and through the desert, out to Palm Springs and beyond, casting about for material and novel settings.)

Here are a couple of highlights from the schedule, which is filled with a bunch of rare gems and pretty much entirely avoids all the usual noir suspects.  Kudos to the curators.

7:30 PM (5/28) Opening Night – BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956) - A forgotten, noir-stained classic directed by the great Nicholas Ray (Rebel without a Cause, In a Lonely Place, They Live by Night). An ill schoolteacher (James Mason) experiences relief via a “miracle drug” but ends up getting hooked and descending into a psychotic nightmare. This compelling nightmare tale wrapped in Eisenhower era social commentary is a stunner! Also starring Barbara Rush and Walter Matthau.

***BARBARA RUSH is scheduled to be the SPECIAL SCREENING GUEST!!***

7:30 PM (5/29) THE GARMENT JUNGLE (1957) 88 min. Based on the true story of a muckraking New York journalist who was blinded by acid for trying to expose the evils of garment industry bosses, this film is one of the toughest "exposé" pictures of the 1950’s. The fierce script by Harry KleinerRobert Aldrich (the project’s original director) and Vincent Sherman (who replaced Aldrich during filming). The result is seamless, and the performances are uniformly first-rate, from a cast that includes Lee J. Cobb, Kerwin Matthews Gia Scala, Richard Boone, Joseph Wiseman, and a youthfully fiery Robert Loggia.

****ROBERT LOGGIA is scheduled to be the SPECIAL SCREENING GUEST!!***

Just the live Robert Loggia appearance alone is, I think, enough to make me drive out and take a look.  I love the idea of a bunch of aging star types gathered out in Palm Springs to screen lost triumphs from their heydays.  And can you imagine the brand of similarly aged hangers-on this thing will attract?  Totally worth the gas, food and lodging to take a gander. 

Also, I bet Carver's Dog knows all about this festival... And if he doesn't, well he should. 

LINK: [Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival]

Mini Golf Elevated to Art Tonight (3/5) at MOCA!

  Lo these many years I've been trash talking to anyone who'll listen about the virtues of my dominance and artistry in the realm of mini golf ... Tonight I'll get a chance to prove my skillz in a legitimate, highbrow venue -- The L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art. 

That's right ... an art museum converted into mini golf course ... with donuts. This I have to experience.  (It's true, back in Brooklyn they have bars that double as putt putt tracks, but this is taking things to a whole other level.)

The popular game of miniature golf is recast as a community social event as Knifeandfork installs a custom course that appropriates the museum’s unique architecture, utilizing both interior and exterior spaces and following multiple paths through MOCA’s Grand Avenue campus. Visitors are encouraged to team up and utilize balls outfitted with RFID tags to show off their skills. Other interactive surprises are also planned for the evening.

Voice interventions by Nathan Phillips
Donuts by Deanna Moody of Dee’s Bakery and Donuts
DJ set by Wendy Yao
Blogging by Guthrie Lonergan
Cash bar

LINK: [Emptiness is Form - Golf and Donuts - MOCA's Engagement Party Series]

100.3 The Sound's Christmas Mix: Thanks For Improving Our Holiday Experience

Dear 100.3 "The Sound,"

We'd never heard of you before landing on your slice of the FM radio dial while driving to Christmas Eve dinner last night.  Amidst a sea of crap, your program of commercial-free Christmas music really stood out.  We really appreciated the mix of lesser-known rock covers and interesting novelty songs.  You kept it easy on the Andy Williams and heavy on the "palatable-year-round" type of listenability.  We particularly enjoyed the stripped-down Johnny Cash "Silent Night," the outrageous "Soul Christmas" song and the year-old Brett Dennen protest ditty "The Holidays are Here (And We're Still at War)."

We listened to your station all morning today and were delighted several times to hear great songs or covers we'd never heard before.  While Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby, Eddy Arnold, Burl Ives, Kenny G., The Mannheim Steamroller and friends certainly have a place of honor on the holiday soundscape, it's really nice to get a breath of fresh sound every now and then.  

Thanks again for providing us this important service and rest assured you've earned a place on our car stereo pre-sets in 2009.

Merry Christmas,

- The Fake Angeleno and JW

Getting Pretty Real

Check out the number one google ranking for city of los angeles superfical fake.

It took less than a year!

Haunted Hospital in Boyle Heights

Not much time for blogging today.  Still, I thought I'd share a link to an entertaining series of photographs from the abandoned, possibly haunted, Linda Vista Hospital in Boyle Heights.

For more history on the hospital, which ceased operation in the 1980s, here's a link to its Wikipedia entry.

 

LINK: Abandoned But Not Forgotten: Linda Vista Hostpital

Reading Material 11/19: Carver's Cafe, New Subway Delay; L.A. Street Names

1. In these troubled economic times, many of us are surely tempted to cut costs and eat pre-processed garbage from the big fast food chains.  My friends ... that would be a mistake.  I commend to you "Carver's Cafe: Stories and Recipes for a Ravaged Economy."  Head over and see what Rodger has cooking... [Carver's Dog] 


2. Measure R passes!  The subway to the sea will be here soon!  (Don't get your hopes up...) [LAT]


3. I just discovered an index page for all KPCC's reporting on the stories behind L.A. street names.  It's pretty comprehensive too.  [KPCC]

The Yuval Ron Ensemble with Dervish Aziz

Last Thursday evening, we headed up the pass to the Skirball Center for an evening of Sufi music from Pakistan and Turkey performed by the Yuval Ron Ensemble. 

The music was fantastic (guest singer Najwa Gibran's pure-and-highly-trained voice was a auditory vision) and the setting was a really pleasant surprise.  I hadn't realized how nice the Skirball is.  We watched the concert in a modern, outdoor space that felt warm and inviting as opposed to cold and Lincoln Centeresque. 

Our favorite part of the concert was Dervish Aziz (pictured).  We both had never actually seen a whirling dervish -- and Aziz's performance turned out to be stupefying and moving by equal measures.  If you've never seen a whirling dervish in action, this is definitely something to add to your to-do list. 

I'd also recommend the Ron Ensemble to any and all local music lovers.  I believe the group's next performance is Nov. 2 in Brentwood. 

LINK: [Yuval Ron Ensemble Calendar]