[LA Weekly] Best of Los Angeles 2013
*PUBLISHED / BOOKS & LITERATURE / Boyle Heights / Downtown / FOOD / LA Weekly / Latin American food / Little Tokyo / Mexican food

[LA Weekly] Best of Los Angeles 2013

Looking for more reasons to love L.A.? Just head to your local newsstand (or computer) to browse the latest “Best of L.A.” issue from the always eclectic L.A. Weekly. These are a few of my favorite things… well, eight favorites, from “Best Filipino Fried Chicken” to “Best Little Tokyo Bar” to “Best Japanese Bookstore.” Keep reading… Continue reading

[LA Weekly] Downtown’s French Garden Closing Friday
Downtown / FOOD / LA Weekly

[LA Weekly] Downtown’s French Garden Closing Friday

“It’s literally an oasis in one of the most hardcore parts of the city — and no one knows about it.” So wrote Huell Howser in 2007 about The French Garden, an eatery in the industrial side of downtown’s Arts District. But plenty of people know about The French Garden; they’ve sustained this lunch-only, 150-seat bistro for 15 years. And plenty of people are now sorely disappointed. The French Garden closes on Friday. Continue reading

[Blog] Musings on Olvera St.: Whitewashed or Authentic? | Pensamientos Sobre la Calle Olvera: ¿Whitewashed o Autentico?
*BLOG / Downtown / FOOD / Latin American food / LATIN AMERICAN/LATINO / Mexican / Mexican food / Urban Issues

[Blog] Musings on Olvera St.: Whitewashed or Authentic? | Pensamientos Sobre la Calle Olvera: ¿Whitewashed o Autentico?

Olvera St.: Authentic Mexican enclave? Whitewashed tourist attraction? Olvera St. is not one or the other. It is both, and in that mix represents a fascinating model of what it means to be at the center of such a pluralistic, multi-cultural city as Los Angeles, in the exact spot where its history, present and future intersect…. [read this post in both English and Spanish] Continue reading

[LA Weekly] A Cabaret-Ballet Mash-up at the Swanky Alexandria Ballroom
Ballet / DANCE / Downtown / LA Weekly

[LA Weekly] A Cabaret-Ballet Mash-up at the Swanky Alexandria Ballroom

When the Blankenship Ballet Company performs Saturday, women will pirouette en pointeand fold their bodies into arabesques. Men will soar and spin, and lift dainty dancers onto their shoulders. But it won’t be a typical night at the ballet — far from it. The evening is being styled instead as cabaret theater. For creative producer Mark Blankenship and his wife, artistic director Bertha Suarez Blankenship, the event illustrates a commitment to time-honored classic technique in a way that is accessible and entertaining for audiences who aren’t necessarily ballet aficionados. Continue reading