Now, heading into the weekend, some L.A. musings from the local blogosphere:
:: Coop highlights his passion for Musso & Frank's (via blogging.la):
Musso & Frank is a complete anomaly, having been in business continuously since 1919. Still owned by the descendents of the original owners, not much has changed in the last 86 years. It's been in the same location, with pretty much the same menu for all that time. The waiters are WAITERS, not actors, serious middle-aged men who practice their chosen profession with the same skill and gravitas of a matador or brain surgeon. (Sergio, who has been our regular waiter for all this time, is like a member of the family at this point.)
Some folks say they're cranky, but I've never seen it... It's a wonderful thing, to have a ritual like this. It's something you can always rely on, an anchor to keep the rest of the craziness in your life from sweeping you out to sea, to use a somewhat awkward metaphor. Every week, we know we'll be at the same table, (once Orson Welles' regular booth, in fact) drinking a cocktail (they do make the best martinis in town) often with an ever-shifting circle of friends who drop by whenever they're able. You really feel connected to the past, to the history of Hollywood, and the many illustrious drunkards who have staggered through the dining room and bellied up to the bar.
:: With all the talk of the new Grand Avenue Plan, LAist laments the sheer number of transformations downtown has seen through the years (including Grand and Bunker Hill):
Often in the last century developers have felt the need to shift the functions of various districts, as though downtown LA were one of those party-favor puzzles in which you slide the little tiles around the board until a picture comes into focus. Certainly something needs to be done with the area — what ought to be a pleasantly walkable few blocks between the Music Center and City Hall has been an exhaust-filled concrete canyon for the last 50 years — but the classic Angeleno urge to keep building brings a sense of déjà vu...
When this project is finished, what happens to the rest of downtown? With proposed entertainment districts clustered on the top of Bunker Hill and around the Staples Center, are the hotels near Figueroa and Fifth Streets too far away from either? Do they end up torn down, reconfigured into offices, or used as housing? What buildings that seem like dated monstrosities now will future generations sighs over as lost relics from a bygone era? (Could anyone ever wax nostalgic over the 1980s glass-and-concrete atrium that is the Bonaventure hotel? Quite probably.)
:: LAVoice's Mack Reed says he's looking forward to "Looking at Los Angeles", a 250-page collection of Los Angeles photos as captured by Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Mitch Epstein and others. Book comes out on June 30.
As Mack points out, Ben Stiller is one of the book's editors -- and gives a preview in this week's LA Weekly.
According to the Weekly, an exhibition of the work opens June 3 at the Gallery at Hermes (3 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills) and a panel discussion and slide presentation will take place at the ArcLight on Saturday, June 18, at 10:30 a.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment