18 Years!

 

And so much more to come!

Happy Birthday to Us: Franklin Avenue Turns 12!

Hey, remember when "blogging" was the cool thing to do? Everyone signed up and started writing their own "weblog," in the age before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and everything else?

[Pauses, strokes graying beard] Oh, I remember. But hey, we're still here, 12 years in, writing about Los Angeles, reviewing restaurants, scouting out "Mad Men" locations, sharing local ratings info, telling you cool places to take the kids, walking 16 miles down an LA street each year and whatever else. Oh yeah, pimping my KCRW appearances. It is an odd little mishmash of stuff, huh.

Well, thanks for being with us for this journey... and here's to 12 more. (Really? Won't the Blogger Kids be Blogger Adults by then? Yes.)

Happy 10th Anniversary, Indie 103.1

It was 10 years ago today -- at 11 p.m. Christmas night, 2003 -- that now-legendary alt rock radio station Indie 103.1 took to the airwaves. Indie, of course, hasn't been heard on the radio since 2009. But the station lives on via the Internet, where a skeleton crew still programs an automated "Indie 103.1" radio stream. Listen here.

Meanwhile, here's what we wrote about the launch of Indie ten years ago:

Snap Judgement on the new "Indie 103.1"

Dance fans returning to L.A. from their Christmas vacations are probably wondering just what the hell happened to their "103.1 KDL" (scroll down for the answer). Meanwhile, station owner Entravision launched the frequency's new format at 11 p.m. on Dec. 25.

The station's handle? "Indie 103.1." College radio vets, begin guffawing at the station name now. But look past the unfortunate name, and I gotta admit, my initial impressions are pretty good. Scanning the radio message boards, someone said they even heard an obscure Public Enemy track on the station the other day. For a commercial outlet -- and one whose sales are being handled by conglomerate Clear Channel, no less -- that ain't bad. Gleaned from the radio boards at Radio-Info, here are two hour-long sample playlists heard in the last few days:

5:03 PM WHITE STRIPES Hello Operator
5:05 PM U2 Unforgettable Fire
5:09 PM MICHAEL ANDREWS Mad World (Ft. Gary Jules)
5:13 PM SOCIAL DISTORTION Story Of My Life
5:17 PM X White Girl
5:21 PM SMITHS What Difference Does It Make
5:25 PM NOFX Franco Un-American
5:27 PM STONE TEMPLE PILOTS Plush
5:33 PM PIXIES Velouria
5:37 PM POLICE So Lonely
5:41 PM IMA ROBOT Dynomite
5:43 PM FOO FIGHTERS I'll Stick Around
5:51 PM ATMOSPHERE Trying To Find A Balance
5:55 PM BEASTIE BOYS Rhymin & Stealin
5:59 PM NIRVANA Come As You Are

> > > 10:00 AM BAD RELIGION Sorrow
> > > 10:08 AM PEARL JAM Glorified
> > > 10:10 AM TALKING HEADS This Must Be The Place ...
> > > 10:24 AM STEREO MC'S Step It Up
> > > 10:26 AM SMITHS Ask
> > > 10:30 AM INTERPOL Obstacle 1
> > > 10:34 AM RAMONES Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll...
> > > 10:38 AM ENGLISH BEAT Best Friend
> > > 10:42 AM NIRVANA Come As You Are
> > > 10:44 AM U2 Bad
> > > 10:50 AM POLYPHONIC SPREE Light And Day
> > > 10:54 AM MARLEY, BOB/WAILERS Three Little Birds
> > > 10:56 AM RADIOHEAD Where I End And You Begin

I know what you're thinking: How can they call themselves "Indie" when (a) Most of the music they play was released on major labels and (b) Clear Channel is frickin' involved?!

I dunno. And the station needs to mix it up more. Where's all the new indie stuff? And how 'bout a sprinkling of alternative hip-hop, both past and present?

But it is nice to see some competition for powerhouse KROQ, albeit on a weak signal and with a narrow target audience.

Despite my early skepticism -- and yeah, they waited too long to add on-air personalities and get rid of the original slacker-sounding voice of the station -- I grew to love Indie, and am still sad that it's not a part of my car radio presets. Read my 2009 eulogy for the station here.

Iraq, Ten Years Later

Read this:

Dying Vet's "F*** You" Letter To George Bush & Dick Cheney Needs To Be Read By Every American (DangerousMinds.com)

Happy Birthday To Us: Franklin Avenue Turns 10

Remember when blogs were the hot new thing? Before Facebook, before Twitter... hell, even before MySpace was oh-so-briefly the craze, people were blogging. We got into the game rather late, on March 4, 2003, way after many folks had started doing it. But soon after, the whole blogging thing really took off. Remember the 2005 L.A. Times Calendar section cover story The New Faces of The City? Franklin Avenue was included in a small roundup of L.A. blogs worth checking out, several of which now no longer exist.

I still remember the thrill I got in the early days of the blog, checking our stats constantly to see if people were showing up -- and where they were coming from. And when we'd get linked to by another, bigger blog? Amazing. It was the late, lamented LA Examiner that first inspired me to blog, and when the guys over there (Matt Welch and Ken Layne) gave us one of our first big links, driving tons of traffic to Franklin Avenue, I was hooked.

Now the web is so loud and noisy -- and lousy with millions of blogs and websites -- I must admit, some of that thrill is gone. And I probably spend more time updating and caring for my Twitter feed than the blog a lot of the time. But social media has at least given bloggers a platform to drive traffic back to their sites. And I still do get giddy when one of my posts picks up steam and gets linked on megasites. Recently, my post about the LA Times dropping TV listings did that. So did my YouTube video of the prank caller to KCBS.

Ten years later, we've reviewed nearly 300 restaurants, have held seven editions of The Great Los Angeles Walk, helped throw a wake for the Ambassador Hotel and spawned two Blogger Kids, among many other things. It's hard to believe it's been ten years. Thanks for joining us on this journey.

Here's how we marked our 5th anniversary, and here's the underwhelming post that started it all.

Nine Years Later

And still going strong! Here we are on Oct. 26, 2002, at Union Station's old Fred Harvey room. (Coincidentally, we're heading there tomorrow night for a TV show launch party.)

KTLA Celebrates 20 Years of Morning News

 

I gotta admit, I'm a sucker for local TV station anniversary specials. And no one does more of them than KTLA. The first commercial station to broadcast west of the Mississippi, KTLA is proud of its heritage -- and as a local TV geek, I can appreciate it.

That's why I was watching last week as KTLA aired an hour-long special devoted to the 20th anniversary of the "KTLA Morning News." The special included a reunion of the original anchor team -- including Barbara Beck (now out of the business) and Carlos Amezcua (now at KTTV Fox 11). One-time popular traffic reporter Jennifer York also made an appearance.

As the special notes, the "KTLA Morning News" began in 1991 as a straight-ahead, serious newscast. But as the show headed toward cancellation, the anchors started loosening up -- and the ratings skyrocketed. For better or for worse, the loose format spread across the country -- and yes, even the network morning shows began emulating the style.

Above, watch the first segment from the KTLA Morning News 20th anniversary special. More segments below.

 

 

Los Angeles Magazine's 50th Anniversary Bash Looks Back, Looks Ahead

There was a lot of talk about 2061 at Los Angeles magazine's 50th anniversary party. The event, held Wednesday night in the lobby of the Variety Building (also home to Los Angeles mag), asked guests to imagine what L.A. might be like when the city magazine hits 100.

In one room, attendees were asked to fill out cards and give their take on the future of Los Angeles. Those cards will be put in a time capsule -- along with items such as a signed Simpsons script by Matt Groening -- and buried, to be open again in 2061. (I'll be 87 years young!)

L.A. mag also asked readers to design mock covers of what L.A. mag like look like in 2061 -- and some of the entries were quite comedic.

Also at the party, Chef John Rivera Sedlar created special Hors d'oeuvres tied to classic L.A. eats: Chili, inspired by Chasen's; Cobb salad shooters, inspired by the Brown Derby; tricolore amuse, inspired by Rex; duck prosciutto, inspired by L'Ermitage; pastrami tacos, inspired by Saint Estephe; and chocolate bacon truffles, inspired by Animal. The chili was a particular hit with me -- a nice spice, with crispy sage.

Among those in attendance: George Takei; Rodney Bingenheimer; Councilwoman Jan Perry; histo-tainer Charles Phoenix; KCBS anchor Laura Diaz; Los Angeles City Office of Historic Resources head Ken Bernstein; the L.A. Times' James Rainey; and "Flipping Out's" Jeff Lewis. It was also great to see LA Observed's Kevin Roderick, and we hung out with Dodger Thoughts' Jon Weisman, my former Variety co-worker. Congrats to Los Angeles magazine editor Mary Melton and everyone at the magazine for pulling off a fun and tasty event!

Some photos:


Los Angeles magazine editor Mary Melton toasts the anniversary.


Councilwoman Jan Perry delivers a city of Los Angeles proclamation.


Me with George Takei, who now can be seen on Nickelodeon's "Supah Ninjas."


The cover of a 1971 issue: "Smiling Through the Downturn California Style." I can't get past this cover: A flabby old guy in a lawn chair, his feet sticking right at us. Not quite visually appealing. Can you imagine anyone doing a cover like this today?


Cobb salad shooter.


The 50th anniversary cake -- which prompted a debate earlier in the evening: Was it truly a cake? Turns out it was. And delicious.


Tricolore amuse.


Celebrities were a big choice for the magazine's cover in the 1980s.


Pastrami tacos.


Chili.


Me with Rodney on the Roq.


Playing the theramin.


Fake future Los Angeles magazine cover in 2061


"Mayor Bieber." Another fake future cover.


"Lady Gaga's Comeback at 75." Another fake cover, this one by Charles Phoenix.


Photographer Larry Underhill: He doesn't just shoot pictures, he creates time capsules! Larry took sewer pipe and created the capsule, and then etched in the magazine's name and a message.


Among the items going into the time capsule: A "Simpsons" script signed by Matt Groening.


One of Los Angeles mag's most buzzed-about covers, the famous Villaraigosa "Failure" issue. (Nope, Mayor V wasn't at Wednesday night's affair. That might have been embarrassing.)

Franklin Avenue is 8!

It's really stunning to think that we've now been blogging about life in Los Angeles for EIGHT years. Thanks for joining us for the ride -- to think when we launched in 2003, we were sans Blogger Kid, Blogger Toddler 2.0 and still actually lived on Franklin Avenue!

A Decade at Variety

I marked two anniversaries this week -- my 7th wedding anni with Maria, and also my 10-year mark with Variety.

That means a decade worth of "ankle," "prexy," "veep," "skein," "Alphabet net," "Peacock web," "helmer," "scribe," "nom" and other Variety speak -- what we call "Slanguage" at the paper (read all about it here).

At least once a week I get an irate email from a web reader far from Hollywood, angry at my use of the Variety slanguage. But it's part of the paper's heritage, and although it took some time to get used to a decade ago, I appreciate it now. Check out the clip above, from the 1990s animated series "Animaniacs," for an ode to that "Variety speak."

So what did I cover on day one at Variety? An angry Chris Carter, whose series "Harsh Realm" had just been canceled by Fox. The "X-Files" creator had some harsh words to say about the network and its then-entertainment president, Doug Herzog. (You can see that story here.) Also that day, I wrote about ABC picking up a full season of the David E. Kelley drama "Snoops." The show was averaging a 4.6 rating among adults 18-49 -- a pretty unexciting rating in 1999. In 2009, that would have made "Snoops" a megahit. Instead, the show was gone by the end of the TV season.

I also joined Variety just as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was starting its November sweeps run, following a strong launch that summer. Little did we know that a decade-long reality TV explosion was about to take place. Also in 1999, original cable series were still few and far between (save a handful, including the about-to-be launched "Sopranos," on HBO). DVRs weren't in homes. Video on computers was still rare -- and the idea of watching TV shows on your computer still a far-fetched idea. Yep, a lot has changed. But I'd also venture to say there's more great, not just good, TV in 2009. And more ways to watch it. That can't be a bad thing.

Lucky Seven

Above, Oct. 26, 2002, at Union Station's old Fred Harvey restaurant space. Seven years and two kids later, still going strong!

Franklin Avenue Turns Six!

If Franklin Avenue were human, it would already be in elementary school. Six years later, we're still here, blogging away!

Help us celebrate our 6th blogiversary this Saturday, as we also throw our 200th Rate-A-Restaurant review at the Pacific Dining Car! If you haven't yet, please RSVP via franklin_avenue(at)yahoo(dot)com. We're expecting around 20 people, so it will be a nice, social gathering... see you there!

Six Years Ago Today...

Yep, it's been six years... and they've been awesome ones. (Below, where we made it all official -- Union Station, Oct. 26, 2002.)

Cruel, Cruel, In-N-Out Burger Internet Rumor

Here's a delicious-sounding email making the rounds:

In-n-Out's 60th Year Anniversary is Wednesday, October 22nd. All hamburgers will be sold for 25 cents, Cheeseburgers 30 cents, Fries 15 cents, and drinks are 10 cents!!! So mark your calendars!

Oh, you know I'm there. If it were true. Sadly, it's not. You can still celebrate on Oct. 22 -- but at full price. The fast food joint dispells the rumor on its website:

"We've always tried to keep our prices as low as possible in order to give our customers the greatest value. One of the ways we accomplish this is by not discounting and our anniversary is no exception."

Here's the full letter:

We're Five! And... The Return of The Race

Has it already been five years since we launched Franklin Avenue?!

The blog launched as part of my 2003 New Year's resolution. I'd been meaning to start one for quite some time, and finally, at the start of 2003, made a goal of (a) Launching a blog and (b) talking KCSN into giving me a radio show. I'm still busy with both: Not a bad year for resolutions. (I haven't been as strong with my weight loss resolution in 2008.)

Maria came up with the name "Franklin Avenue" -- after the street we lived on at the time. On March 3, 2003, I finally signed up with Blogger -- and we were off.

A lot has changed in our lives since we first started: Home ownership, and of course, the appearance of the Blogger Toddler, for starters. In the meantime, Maria scored a Grammy nomination and I whored it up constantly on TV. We also somehow managed to review more than 160 restaurants (although, considering the ones we never got around to reviewing, that number should be 200 by now).

There was also the wake for the Ambassador Hotel; two all-day urban hikes down Wilshire and Pico; two "Amazing Race" style battles around Los Angeles; and a eating gathering at P.E. Cole's.

You helped us name the Blogger Toddler; you also hopefully made a fortune by placing money on the BT's unprecedented 12 consecutive correct picks. (Sadly, he's since retired, going out with a perfect record.)

To celebrate, as Maria hinted last week, we're dusting off the Race... but with a twist. This time, we're inviting L.A. bloggers -- and we're putting together the teams. More details will be announced shortly, including a firm date -- but it will likely be the final Saturday of April.

Interested in either competing, or in helping out with the behind-the-scenes fun (we need people to help plan and execute challenges!)? Email us at franklin_avenue@yahoo.com.