Franklin Avenue

cLAssic
The November issue of Los Angeles magazine seems tailor-made for Maria and I, and our obsession with old time L.A. culture.

The mag visits downtown's Clifton's Cafeteria, the creepy Broadway cafeteria made up to feel like you're dining in the wilderness -- complete with stuffed wild game and the like. It's one of the last two remaining Clifton's locations; other spots, like Clifton's Pacific Seas cafeteria -- made up to look like a tropical paradise -- shut down long ago.

The "Classic L.A." section also includes items on matchbooks for current and former local bar/restaurant haunts; the Griffith Park Southern Railroad; the neon art above seversal classic apartment building in Los Angeles (I'm especially in love with the Royale Wilshire and Bryson apartment signs); L.A.'s oldtime movie palaces, including a glorious shot of the Pantages lobby; the 1953 Downey McDonald's (which just missed being a part of the Birthday Race); and even an ode to those boxy apartment buildings with names like "The Copa" scribbled on the front in classic 50s script.

Then there's the mag's profile of Huell Howser, the Tennessee expat who has created a booming business out of his PBS series ("California Gold," "Visiting with Huell Howser") on all things SoCal. Howser comes off as a mystery, and kind of creepy. You don't come out of the article feeling like you know much more about the guy, other than no one seems to know much about the guy. Still, he's got one of those jobs I'd love to have: Spending his days walking around California, microphone in hand and trailed by a single cameraman, exploring the state's quirks and crannies.

And... holy crap, turn to page 32! It's Los Angeles magazine's coverage of... Mike's Birthday Race! Yup, L.A. mag scribe Mary Melton last month stumbled upon this here blog, called me up and said she wanted to do a piece on the race.

Filling a page and a half in the mag's Buzz section, it's pretty damn cool! Even if a few things are a tad off: For some reason, I'm quoted as saying I've been in L.A. since 1999--I've actually been here from the summer of 1996. And Maria deserves more of a shout out for planning the race along side me.

But I shouldn't complain. Mary wrote a pretty cool story -- and yes, I am buttered up by her description of me ("soft blue eyes") and agree with her assertion that I'm a "TV geek." Not a bad first year for the Race -- wait 'til next year!