Scenes from 2016's Festival of Books

Rain wasn't going to stop us from attending the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books -- and we were far from the only people braving the elements and driving down to USC to check out this year's event. Parking was at a premium (we lucked out and found a spot on a nearby street) -- but once inside, there were the usual sites to see. We headed straight for the childrens' areas, where the Blogger Boys picked up a few new books. Some sights from this year's festival:

Scenes from This Year's Festival of Books

Target wasn't a sponsor of this year's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC -- and although I'm sure that was a financial blow to the festival organizers, it was likely a nice boon to independent bookstores like Montrose's Once Upon a Time (above). I happily shelled out money to support the store (one of the gems of Montrose's shopping district) and buy the Blogger Kids some fresh books (many of which were autographed by the authors) at the same time.

I also stopped by Angel City Press (by far my favorite booth every year at the festival), where I picked up a few new L.A.-centric books for my collection and also caught up with LA Observed's Kevin Roderick, and we both marveled at how we've now been doing this blogging thing for 12 years. Is there an end game? Or can we keep this up as a hobby forever? Good question!

I had Blogger Kid 2.0 in tow, so there was no time to really listen to any speakers, although we did stop for a bit to hear Billy Idol interviewed about his career. Some pics of our Saturday at the Festival of Books:


Music at the USC stage


Kind of hard to make out, but yes, that's Billy Idol


Always a crowd at the Festival of Books!


I think this character has something to do with a Trader Joe's cookbook.


C-SPAN's Book TV

Good Finds -- and Spider-Man -- at the LA Times Festival of Books

Above: Crowd gathers at the USC stage toward the end of the day for one final performance.

It was Coachella weekend... but being the old fogies with kids we are, it was much easier to hit USC for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books instead. We weren't at festival for long on Saturday, but it was long enough to pick up a couple of new books for the blogger kids, plus a new L.A.-centric book from Angel City Press: Los Angeles Union Station: Tracks to the Future.



Union Station, of course, means something extra special to us, having been married there. But as you've seen over there, the allure is strong for many others as well. This book (by William Bradley) is a fantastic tribute to the 1939 building, the last of America's great train stations. It isn't officially released until next month, but it was great to get an early copy.



The Blogger Toddler 2.0 poses by the Hi De Ho comics booth after spotting Spider-Man on their sign.



Speaking of Spider-Man, is he now a USC student?



Spotted among the art booths at the festival.

Sunday at the L.A. Times Festival of Books

The weather was nice, the crowds were big but manageable, and I managed to get the Blogger Kid and Blogger Toddler 2.0 excited about buying some books. For us, this year's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was a success.

The parking gods were once again smiling on us, as I managed to somehow score some sweet street parking on Jefferson, right beside the USC campus. And I gotta say, for the second year in a row, the USC location worked out well. The festival was easier to walk through than I remember at UCLA, and it felt like the booths, stages and events were closer together. The food options were also plentiful, including the food court at USC's student union.

As usual, one of my favorite stops is Angel City Press, where it's almost become a yearly tradition to run into LA Observed's Kevin Roderick and our pal Eric Lynxwiler. Also on hand was Charles Phoenix -- and I finally picked up Charles' wonderfully illustrated Southern Californialand: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome (and had him sign it, of course).

We also spent a great deal of time at the kids' stage, where we spotted Julie Andrews and also took in several readings and performances. And yes, the duo I love to hate to love, Choo Choo Soul, were back. The only thing more surreal than seeing Choo Choo Soul's Genevieve introducing Julie Andrews? Hearing Julie Andrews reference Genevieve later in her reading.

More shots from Sunday at the Festival of Books:


Betty White vs. Florence Henderson. How to choose?


Choo Choo Soul: For kids who find the Fresh Beat Band not edgy enough.


One of the 30 "Play Me, I'm Yours" pianos located around Los Angeles; this one outside the USC student union.


USC's a capella group performs.


McSweeney's booth.

The L.A. Times Book Festival Settles into Its New USC Home

The L.A. Times Book Festival's move to USC was a welcome one at Franklin Avenue thanks to the closer proximity to home. And although it took a few moments to get used to the new set up and layout (vs. the old, familiar presentation at UCLA), we approve.

First off, it wasn't hard to find street parking on Sunday morning (we easily found a spot on Jefferson), saving us $10. From there, things got a bit hairy, as there were no signs that far away explaining where to go. So based on pure instinct, I headed for the heart of campus. And sure enough, signs started appearing. Soon I was on my way to the kids' area (sponsored, as usual, by Target).



The goal: To see popular children's book author Mo Willems (above) read from one of two of his tomes. Like many a Gen X parent, we've pushed Willems' fantastically fun books on our kids -- including the Pigeon, Elephant & Piggie and Knuffle Bunny series. Thankfully, they dig 'em... and thankfully, Willems was completely entertaining on stage.

The "Elephant & Piggie" books are Easy Readers, he explained, which is why one book in the series is called "My Friend is Sad" and not "My Companion Has Manic-Depressive Disorder." Willems also revealed that the next Elephant & Piggie book, "Should ! Share My Ice Cream?" ("Because I rip from today's headlines," he quipped) will be out this summer.



Before Willems, we got to the kids' stage in time for... yep, Disney Junior's Choo-Choo Soul. Those insanely catchy yet annoying "Choo Choo Soul" music videos used to run constantly on Playhouse Disney; I haven't seen them as of yet on the rebranded Disney Junior -- but yet I find myself now rooting for Genevieve and D.C., who try so hard and yet haven't quite gotten their break.

At one point, an out-of-breath Genevive started spelling words out to the kiddies. "Are you feeling O-L-D?" she asked after finishing one number under the hot sun. Try doing that for five years while wearing P-O-L-Y-E-S-T-E-R, she added. Poor Genevieve. Apparently Choo-Choo Soul needs a R-E-S-T.



Among the other sights on Sunday:


Franklin Avenue pal Eric Lynxwiler was at the Angel City Press booth, signing copies of "Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles" and "Knott's Preserved" while wearing this snazzy, vintage Wilshire Blvd. bowling shirt.


Free ice cream. Sure, you win again, Target.


C-SPAN IN THE MOTHAEFFING HOUSE!


The cooking stage.


Booths.


Poetry stage.

L.A. Times Festival of Books Moves to USC

This is gonna get that UCLA/USC rivalry pumping: After 15 years at UCLA, the L.A. Times is moving its popular Festival of Books to USC.

The details, via press release:

The Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California today announced that the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, one of the Southland’s most cherished and engaging weekend celebrations, will kick off its 16th storied year in a brand new home at USC's University Park Campus April 30-May 1, 2011. Angelenos of all ages interested in famous authors, celebrity appearances, speaker panels, superstar chefs and local musicians will have something extra special to look forward as the celebration debuts downtown.

"After 15 years on the Westside, we are very excited to move the Festival of Books to its beautiful new home and have the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with USC to ensure we grow bigger and better in the future," said Times Publisher Eddy Hartenstein. "Attendees and exhibitors can expect more to see, do and experience in addition to great access and a refreshing change of scenery."

Westsiders aren't gonna be thrilled... but for those of us further east, this is good news indeed.

L.A. Times spun the move as good for increased attendance "due to USC’s central location, proximity to public transportation, abundant parking and newly enhanced campus facilities. The Times and the university will work together to best utilize the University Park Campus to expand programming, provide exhibitors and sponsors with the benefit of more usable space for activation and offer sampling, pouring and concession opportunities."

The Festival of Books continues to be a free event. Check out our past coverage of the event here.

A Novel Weekend at the Festival of Books

Above, that's the Blogger Preschooler waving to the gigantic caterpillar from Eric Carle's children's classic, "A Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Evan's preschool class memorized "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" for their school's holiday show last December, and to this day he can recite the entire story, even without the help of the book. That's why I was excited to see that Eric Carle himself would appear at this year's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (actually, the entire festival's logo was based on Carle's unique illustrations).



Here's Carle reading from the book at the Target Children's Stage (where we spent a good portion of Saturday). To his left is Debi Derryberry, the voice of "Jimmy Neutron" and the host at the stage.

As Carle read from the book, it was pretty cool to hear several hundred kids yell out at the same time, "STILL HUNGRY!" (Carle's books are big on repetition, and if you're not familiar with "A Very Hungry Caterpillar," well, let's just say he's a very hungry caterpillar.)

I realize that, with a pre-schooler in tow, my Festival of Books experience may be dramatically different than yours. Attending panels is nearly impossible, and instead you're spending a big chunk of the day in the kids section. And yet, I'm perfectly happy with that. To see the Blogger Preschooler excited about being surrounded by books... that's worth it.

MEANWHILE, the temperature this weekend was nearly perfect -- unlike the dreadful heat wave that crippled the event last year. The wind, however, got a tad out of control -- a few tree branches came tumbling down behind the children's stage at one point.



But more seriously, three people were injured when a 15-foot scaffold holding a Festival of Books banner came crashing down. (Above, see the remains on the ground.)



The nearby food court was temporarily closed down as authorities figured out what happened.

Other images from the Festival of Books:


Mr. Dodger Thoughts himself, Jon Weisman, interviewing fellow baseball fan and author Alyssa Milano.


Unfortunately, we had to leave Jon's segment early in order to make it over to "Choo Choo Soul." There's something oddly compelling yet wholly inappropriate about them.


LA Observed's Kevin Roderick signs a copy of his San Fernando Valley book for us.

A Novel Saturday at the Book Festival

Hoping to avoid the crunch -- not to mention the swealtering temps -- the Kid Formerly Known as the Blogger Toddler and I drove out to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books early on Saturday -- and I'm glad we did.

(Maria was at home, still recovering from a terrible virus that knocked her out for several days. Yeah, it's been a pretty rough week here at Franklin Avenue HQ, between that and the car accident.)

Parking was $8, but ultimately worth being so close to the festivities. (In years past, we've gone on a Sunday and hunted for free parking spaces.) The real reason we got there so early: "Johnny and the Sprites."

Getting there before 10 didn't make much of a different with the heat; it was a sauna all day.

If you're going tomorrow, one reminder: Don't pay for the overpriced, disappointing vendor food; just go to UCLA's Ackerman student union, where there are several fast food choices.

Now, some shots from Saturday:


Ahh yes, the main reason we were there with the Kid Formerly Known as Blogger Toddler: A live performance on the Target Children's Stage by Playhouse Disney's "Johnny and the Sprites." "Avenue Q" star (and "Sesame Street" alum) John Tartaglia headlines the show, and appeared on stage with two of the show's puppet characters. Ex-Blogger Toddler enjoyed it, as did his cousin (who we met up with); I now have those damn songs in my head. (It was actually a pretty good, nearly half-hour show -- not bad for free. Gladly took this over seeing those creepy "Doodlebops." Would have liked to have seen "Choo Choo Soul," but that performance was slated for the afternoon.)


J. Eric Lynxwiler and L.A. Observed's Kevin Roderick man the Angel City Press book, signing copies of their Wilshire Blvd.-themed book.


The spirit of the book festival: Strangers standing side by side, solving crossword puzzles together.


Hi De Ho Comics promises "books with pictures."


Pop culture historian Charles Phoenix holds up one of his great books, a colorful look at life in post-war Southern California. Charles confirms that he's taking a break from doing his Disneyland-themed tours of downtown L.A., but he's excited about his Roller Skating Spectacular at Glendale's kitschy, historic Moonlight Rollerway. Event, which takes place May 17 and 18, includes Charles' retro slide show, this time celebrating roller skating, and an after show all-skate party, among other things.


The "Comix Strip" row of mostly animation/comics-related booths (although, strangely, several non-comics booths resided there as well, including Tribune's Metromix).


Pretty self-explanatory.

One for the Books

With a 16 month old in tow (yes, it's hard to believe -- Blogger Baby is now 16 months!), the Coachella Festival was out of the question this weekend. But we did drag the little guy to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this Saturday... and Evan was pleased once we got him a helium balloon from the Borders booth. He also seemed to enjoy the kid-friendly group "Hi-5" on the Target Children's Stage. (Maria and I, on the other hand, are still creeped out by the subculture of adults performing for preschoolers.)

Maria picked up a few books; we watched a culinary demonstration from Food Network's Giada DeLaurentiis, and we walked around for a while, checking out many bookseller booths. Some pics: