Retro Friday: Stephanie Edwards and "Monty Python"
Before "Good Morning America," there was "A.M. America," ABC's short-lived morning show hosted by Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards. In this 1975 clip, Beutel is out, but the cast of "Monty Python" joins Edwards to co-host on the set. If that's not surreal enough for you (and trust me, it's surreal), the mayhem is contrasted by a somber Peter Jennings, who anchors the morning show's newscast -- and reports the impending collapse of Saigon.
As you may know, I love unusual candy flavors -- and I especially love bizarro Kit-Kat flavors from overseas. The Japanese market close to my hotel in New York sold two varieties of Kit-Kat I'd never had: Vanilla Bean and Green Tea. The Vanilla Bean flavor was fantastic: No chocolate, just pure vanilla-flavored goodness. The Green Tea flavor was chocolate, with a green tea middle. Good, but hard to make out the Green Tea flavor.
Also at the store, I spotted something I KNEW I had to bring back for the Kid Formerly Known As Blogger Toddler:
The L.A. Times pulls a "Gossip Girl" quote out of thin air:
'Gossip Girl': In Sunday's Calendar section, the Monitor column about 'Gossip Girl' misquoted two lines of dialogue between characters discussing one's relationship. It read: "Jenny: 'Is that why we went dessert?' Elise: 'You went dessert?!?!?!'" The correct lines on the show were: "'Jenny: 'Is that why we went to third?' Friend: 'You went to third?'"
I personally like the "We went dessert" line better. It's slang so new, it actually doesn't exist!
I can't remember a time when two major, nationally televised events were taking place across the street from one another. But Wednesday night, "American Idol" fans mixed with Lakers fans, as the "Idol" finale went live at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live, across the street from Staples Center -- where the Lakers met the Spurs for Game 1 of the Western Conference championships.
I managed to find $10 parking (not an easy feat, but there it was, not to far from $30 and $25 lots), and parked mostly among Lakers fans. Hiking to the Nokia, guys selling Lakers caps were standing near others passing out free T-shirts touting "Idol" finalist David Cook (still not sure why, or who those people were).
Inside, I got my first taste of the Nokia. Damn, it's huge. And lacking in much character. Two Kodak Theatres could fit in there, and that's not necessarily a good thing. The theatre may have been built to be acoustically perfect, but it's quite plain inside.
I got there late, but still caught the Idols as they performed with Bryan Adams, Graham Nash, One Republic and George Michael. I swear the screaming was loudest for the Jonas Brothers, and clearly I'm now old, because I have no patience for them.
In the end, the right contestant won -- David Cook, the "rocker" who provided much of the season's more interesting performances. Oh, and across the street, the right team won as well. Traffic heading home was a breeze as well, as both the Lakers playoff and Dodgers game were still going on.
(Above, the L.A. Times home page looks a lot like downtown did Wednesday night, with "Idol" and the Lakers side-by-side.)
The Atwater Village Newbie wrote last month that Hugo's Tacos is opening an outpost in the 'hood... and as of today, the "coming soon" signs are up.
The new Hugo's Tacos is located on Glendale Blvd. in the tiny store that formerly housed Long's Realty. Not sure how Long's stayed in business; the only property they ever touted was some 400 sq. foot office space on Broadway in Glendale. Guess it finally caught up to them.
Maria and I were actually thinking the space would be perfect for a small wine bar or other mini food spot. But I gotta imagine Hugo's has some work ahead of it, as there isn't any sort of kitchen in the tiny space, as far as I can tell.
We reviewed the original Hugo's Tacos -- itself an off-shoot of the popular Hugo's brunch chain -- in 2006. Here's our review from then. A highlight:
It still seems weird that brunch staple Hugo's now also operates a taco stand. But because it's fairly new, the stand is clean, operates well, and is a gourmet alternative to your typical greasy taco shack. It also offers up vegetarian options, like a soy chorizo and potato taco, as well as a zucchini/corn/string bean one.
Always nice to have yet another dining option in Atwater Village. And since I pass by that old Long's Realty shack every day on the way home from work, I can imagine plenty of nights in the future where I'm bringing home tacos to the Franklin Avenue 3.
They stipulated: You're not getting a seat until your entire party is there, no matter how many empty tables the restaurant has. Plus, Crispo is deceiving: It looks like a tiny hole-in-the-wall, but a pathway in the back leads to a large, brighter dining room.
We stipulated: A bunch of us decided at the last minute to get together for dinner. Not an easy task, finding a table on a Sunday night so late, but Crispo was there for us.
What we ordered: For starters, the calamari, risotto balls and Mozzarella Fritta. For main course, I got the red snapper special (above). Among other table mates, Joe got spaghetti and meatballs (below).
Overall impression: Solid, solid Italian food, and not a bad place to end up on short notice on a Sunday night.
For a complete list of our more than 170 restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.
At the NBC "Experience" event: NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman... and COOLIO! That's right -- Mr. Gangsta's Paradise, now the star of an Internet cooking show, in da house!
Also at the NBC event: Last season's "Top Chef" winner, Hung.
With gas prices what they are and the cost of a plane ticket continuing to rise, the L.A. Times is smartly paying more attention to local trips and sightseeing in its Travel section.
This past Sunday, that included a brief primer on survivng Googie architecture in Los Angeles:
This whimsical, Space Age look grew out of the Midcentury Modern style -- think LAX's flying-saucer-like Theme Building -- and became synonymous with Southern California's fun-loving lifestyle.
Even the story of how Googie got its name is fanciful. Yale professor Douglas Haskell spotted the Googie coffee shop, the eponymous building that once sat at Crescent Heights and Sunset boulevards. He declared the style "Googie" in a 1952 House and Home magazine article.
Among the paper's Googie examples:
BAHOOKA (4501 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead): " Polynesian-style design, plant life." BEACH-LIN CAR WASH (126 S. Beach Blvd., Anaheim): "Free-form design, steel beams and wires." BOB'S BIG BOY (4211 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank): "Streamline Moderne architecture, large glass windows, plant life." BRUNSWICK COVINA BOWL (1060 W. San Bernardino Road, Covina): "Free-form design, A-frame roof, large palm trees, angled marquee sign." CASA DE CADILLAC (14401 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks): "Large pane windows, neon roadside signage." CBS TELEVISION CITY (7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles): "Modern entranceway, lightweight-looking materials." CHIPS (11908 Hawthorne Blvd., Hawthorne): "Concrete walls, glass windows, jutting roof, plant life, steel-beam pylon sign." JACK COLKER UNION 76 (427 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills): ""Space Age-style sloped roof." LA HABRA 300 BOWL (70 E. Whittier Blvd., La Habra): " A-frame roof, pylon beams, neon starburst sign." ORIGINAL McDONALD'S (10207 Lakewood Blvd., Downey): "Iconic golden arches." NORMS (470 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles): "Concrete walls, glass windows, jutting roof, neon marquee." PANN'S RESTAURANT & COFFEE SHOP (6710 La Tijera Blvd., Los Angeles): "Tilted roof and sign, plants and exposed stone walls indoors and out, glass windows wrapping around the restaurant. Pann's celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Watch for party information this fall." SIMPLY WHOLESOME (FORMERLY THE WICH STAND) (4508 W. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles): "Sloped concrete roof, stone walls, indoor-outdoor seating, Space Age-style antenna sign." STARBUCKS (FORMERLY SHIPS CULVER CITY) (9718 Washington Blvd., Culver City): "Glass window panes surrounding the restaurant, concrete siding."
Driving through Highland Park on a burning hot weekend afternoon, we passed by one of our local faves, Galco's Soda Pop Stop on York. The idea of a cold, obscure soda brought us inside. A few of our selections:
Mr. Q. Cumber: I wanted to like this soda. The idea of a cucumber soda sounded pretty refreshing, especially on a 100 degree day. But Mr. Q. Cumber is hampered by too much sugar. The sweetness may make it more like a real soda than not, but I'm not sure it worked.
Diet Cricket Cola: This one grew on me. I loved the idea of Cricket Cola, which is made with kola nut extract, green tea concentrate and other ingredients. The taste was kind of disappointing -- but I blame that on it being diet. I kept chugging it, and it grew on me. Not too sweet, but just right.
Any of you have favorite obscure sodas or Galco's picks?
To promote HBO Films' telepic "Recount," the pay channel has set up 12 actual Votomatic Florida voting machines -- the ones used in the 2000 Presidential election -- at the Grove today, starting at 10 a.m. According to the network, people can "re-enact the actual voting process and determine if they would have voted for their intended candidate and if their vote would have counted."
I'm guessing the answer is yes, since you'll be fully aware at this point of the confusing nature of the ballot. The point in 2000, of course, was that it was older folks who were confused, and whose votes -- in the thousands, enough to tip the election to Al Gore -- were miscounted. Eight years later, it's still pretty upsetting to think about.
Location: 314 5th Ave, 2nd Floor (New York); Also in Los Angeles: 3407 W 6th Street (Koreatown)
Type of restaurant: Fried Chicken
They stipulated: Korean Fried Chicken is cooked in oil, then set aside, before being cooked in oil again for extra crispiness. BonChon's chicken is coated with either a soy garlic or "hot" flavor.
We stipulated: For my last night in New York, my Gotham friends Lisa and Hank promised me the best damn chicken I've ever tasted. (Well, they promised pretty good chicken.) I was sold.
What we ordered: Large plate of chicken (wings and drumsticks), half with hot, half with soy garlic.
High point: Holy crap. Hank had hyped BonChon for days. I'd honestly not clued in on the Korean Fried Chicken craze, which seems to have hit NYC first. (BonChon's L.A. outpost just opened here two months ago.) Lisa and Hank tell me they're here every week, and I can see why. The chicken -- how can I describe? It's like candy. You bite into the skin -- and I HATE chicken skin, I NEVER ate it, at least until Korean fried chicken came along! -- and it's like biting into a piece of chicken fruit. Also, like anything this good, you can't eat just one. Or eight. I prefer the hot chicken, which contains just the right amount of fire for a fan (like me) of all things spicy.
Coincidentally, the L.A. Times wrote about the Korean fried chicken craze on Thursday, the very same day I was trying it out in Manhattan. Here's their take.
Low point: The thousand island dressing-laden salad and the pickled radishes are just OK... but it doesn't matter, you're there for the chicken.
Overall impression: Haven't visited the L.A. outpost, but the Manhattan spot is all the more intriguing because of its location -- it's hidden on the second floor of a non-descript building. You've gotta climb some narrow doors to get to the second floor... and then you're suddenly in a dark, nightclub atmosphere with booming dance music. And tons of young New Yorkers tearing into drumsticks. Meanwhile, BonChon's website touts the healthiness of it all... but c'mon, it's fried chicken. But I don't care, it's too damn good. If it takes a year off your life, so be it.
Chance we will go back: Oh, there will be several field trips to the L.A. location in the coming weeks as I introduce all of you to the joys of Korean fried chicken. Who's game?
For a complete list of our more than 170 restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.
Not even sure if they're gnats, but whatever they are, they've taken over our house. Have any of you noticed what seems to be an increased number of those pesky, tiny, flying insects outdoors? Several of them have made it in our house, and they're tough buggers. These fast little guys seem to always know my next move, and will quickly dart away as I aim to smack them with paper or my hands.
We've even tried a few homemade remedies, but to mixed results. (Maria put out a jar of sweet vinegar and stuck a paper funnel in there. The gnats flew in... but eventually made their way back out.
"Xanadu" is not only worth the cheese fest, but it's also a great way to see Venice Beach in 1980 -- and one of its major stars (just behind Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, but above Michael Beck) is the late, great Pan Pacific Auditorium.
They stipulated: They hand you your pita with falafel (and, if you add it, hummus and roasted eggplant), then you load up on various veggies and condiments. Pile it as high as you can.
We stipulated: Looking for a quick, late night meal, Maoz was open late and close by. Plus, after a week of eating so much and so bad, wanted something tasty but with a tinge of being healthy. Of course, after piling so much stuff high on my falafel, not sure the calorie count was all that low.
What we ordered: Falafel, Belgian fries and drink meal ($8.75)
High point: I love the salad/condiment bar, and the spicy green pepper sauce (which I pour all over). The falafel itself is nicely cooked, and the roasted eggplant a nice touch.
Low point: I got a batch of fries that must have been sitting there a while, because they were soggy and hardly the crisp deliciousness I was promised. Also, there's only one table in the tiny outlet, which means having to take your food to go.
Overall impression: When you're in a pinch and need a quick meal or snack on the run, Maoz is quite a nice choice. Would love to see an L.A. outpost of Maoz, which was originally born in Amsterdam.
Chance we will go back: When I'm here in NY on business, I'm usually running around so much I don't have a lot of time for lunch. Maoz fits the bill, so I'm sure I'll be back.
For a complete list of our nearly 170 restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.
Last year, New York began requiring restaurants to include calorie counts on menu boards.
That means everything. At Starbucks, it even lists the calorie count for regular, drip coffee at "5." Spending the week here in NY (yes, that's why the post count has been low at Franklin Avenue), I actually began to appreciate this. Do I really want that "reduced fat" coffee cake at Starbucks? Now I know, it's 450 calories. So no, no I don't.
Should we bring this trend to L.A.? It reminds me of a comment the Militant Angeleno left in a post below -- we're a town devoted to hamburgers, etc., so why do we still have this "healthy eating" rep?
The Glendale Public Library blog dug up this photo of Brand Blvd., facing north, in 1936. The library provides context:
This photograph (courtesy of the Special Collections Room of the Glendale Public Library) shows Brand Boulevard looking north, dating from around 1936. Harvard Street, which will act as the eastern entrance into the Americana, crosses Brand Boulevard here behind the Western Auto Supply Co. sign on the left and in front of the Famous Department Store building on the right.
Other notable businesses in this image that operated in the area now covered by the Americana include a Pep Boys Auto Supplies store and the Capital Theatre. The tall building in the top center of the photograph is the Bank of America Building, which would be torn down in 1982 to make room for the Galleria II project.
Yes, that classic Bank of America building was destroyed so that the area's most tattered Mervyn's could be built. Fair trade.
The Americana at Brand's recent ad campaign has featured illustrations of stylish women walking their dogs across the shopping center's courtyard. (Above, a screen grab from the Americana website... but ads have also run in the Glendale News-Press that illustrated Americana patrons with much larger dogs.)
I live one block from the Americana and have been looking forward to its opening. I saw it to be a place that we could walk to in the evenings with the family and our dog and enjoy the surroundings. Wednesday night we took the dog (a Great Dane) for her walk over to the Americana.
We were stopped by a rent-a-cop and were told we had to leave the Americana because our dog was too large. We pointed out to this young man that no signs were posted at any of the entrances that no dogs were allowed, let alone the size of the dog.
He informed us that if you cannot carry the dog you cannot bring the dog in.
And so begins the debate over what's allowed and what isn't at the Americana -- and whose land is it, anyway.
Thanks to Franklin Avenue reader Stuart, who notes that this commercial -- for the Dodge Journey -- supposedly follows the U.S. Women's Soccer Team as they drive to Brazil for a rematch.
But that's no Brazilian stadium in the final shot -- that's the Home Depot Center in Carson!
I figured it would at least be a few more years before the Kid Formerly Known as Blogger Toddler mastered a skill before me.
But there I was this weekend, learning Yoga moves from a three-year-old. They're teaching Yoga at his pre-school, and he's already mastered downward dog and a few other moves. Me? Have never done Yoga. Never gone to a class, never tried it. And when I did... well, let's say my body isn't quite as flexible as it was when I was 3.
Then again, we're convinced the KFKABT thinks he's twice as old as he actually is. A few weeks ago at a festival, he started taling to a girl who was at least 8. We were distracted by something else, and missed part of their coversation.
You know, the one that probably doesn't have an answer?
I'll start it off: Whenever I'm stuck in truly horrible, bumper-to-bumper gridlock on a Los Angeles freeway, I'll flip to KFWB and KNX to check out what's impacting my commute. Yet almost always, the freeway I happen to be on won't be mentioned in those traffic reports. How can that be? Is it simply that ALL traffic is bad in Los Angeles, and I happen to just always be stuck in gridlock that wasn't caused by any specific incident or SigAlert?
You know Antonio Villaraigosa, remember Jim Hahn... sorta remember Richard Riordan, and Tom Bradley -- that's right, he was mayor for decades. There's Sam Yorty and Frank Shaw... and after that, things get hazy.
I meant, but never got around to linking to this excellent piece by Robert Greene in the Los Angeles Times last month. Greene notes that formerly obscure ex-mayor Cristobal Aguilar re-entered our conciousness after Villaraigosa began running for mayor (countless news reports reminded us that Villaraigosa would be the first Latino mayor since Aguilar, in 1872).
Writes Greene:
But do you know any other Los Angeles mayors? Many L.A. residents would be able to name more mayors of New York (Bloomberg, Giuliani, Koch, Dinkins, Lindsay, LaGuardia -- and no big deal if you forgot Abe Beame) or Chicago (Daley, Washington, uh, Daley) than of their own city.
Maybe that's because Bradley was mayor for a generation and made us forget the relative short-termers who came before. In 1993, when Bradley opted against a sixth term, Los Angeles voters adopted term limits. But a good argument could be made that they weren't needed, because before Bradley, voters tossed out one mayor after another. Who was the last pre-Bradley mayor to leave office voluntarily, without being defeated for reelection, recalled or otherwise trying to regain office?
It took Greene a while, but he digs up several contenders -- and the final answer.
Back by popular demand... it's Mr. T's "Treat Your Mother Right," from his classic video, "Be Somebody, Or Be Somebody's Fool."
Not sure what I love more: Mr. T pulling a microphone out of his pants, or the fact that he's OK with those kids trash talking... until one of them starts telling a "your mama is so" joke.
