Map Your L.A. For KCET

One of my favorite L.A. books of the past year has been Los Angeles in Maps by Glen Creason -- but then again I'm a sucker for both maps and all things old Los Angeles.

Inspired in part by the book, KCET's Departures blog is asking readers to come up with their own maps of L.A. Details:

As a partner in Departure's effort to share information and ideas about L.A., we want you to share your personal maps in order to expand our understanding L.A. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Map your family's history in L.A. Mark changes in time and community.

Define your borders in L.A. Where is your work, home, play, soccer game, etc?
Map art in your commute, including graffiti, public art, or something you find beautiful on a daily basis.

Share your "legends" in L.A. by mapping your favorite L.A. local eccentrics, and favorite strangers. For extra brownie points, include a legend for your map.

It's a fun idea. I've been trying to figure out what my "Map of L.A." would be -- my (now terrible) commute? Favorite go-to restaurants? Kid-friendly L.A.?

Help a Franklin Avenue Reader Out: Driving Advice

A reader writes in:

May I ask if you know of any source or website that gives suggestions about driving from Los Feliz to the Westside - specifically, Culver City?

Thank you very much!
Claudia

Why Claudia, yes you may. Everyone has a different shortcut they use to get from East to West (or from West to East, but that's a whole different headache). From Los Feliz, I would take Sunset to Wilton, head South until you hit 6th St., then head west until you get to Hauser. Then, in your case, you'd want to take Hauser until you reach Venice -- then head West to Culver City.

That's just one of hundreds of possibilities. Post your route below!

More L.A. Geography from "FlashForward"

From the Halloween episode of ABC's "FlashForward" -- in this show's version of L.A., the bus system is run by the "UTA" -- the Urban Transit Authority. (Nice logo, though.) As a side note, I find it kind of strange that the show's producers aren't repped by UTA (the United Talent Agency), despite this subliminal plug.



Hollywood's take on L.A. geography always amuses. The two characters in this car had been downtown at the Coroner's Office. They found a clue and decided to head to Silver Lake. So they drive... down Wilshire Fairfax (thanks to reader Joanna for the fix!), in front of the old Johnie's at Wilshire and Fairfax.

Notice the 99 Cents Only store sign -- this was also one of two mentions of the 99 Cents store in the episode.

Later, BTW, the main character played by Joseph Fiennes is trick or treating with his daughter in the West Valley. (I know this because the address on the street signs was five digits, and started with a "2".) Suddenly, he's chasing a few bad guys -- straight into the Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Memo To The Mayor: We're Not In Los Angeles Anymore

OK, I get it, Mayor V is using the generic version of "L.A." to describe the region, not just the city limits:

I'm at the U2/Black Eye Peas concert with Lu and the world is watching. I love L.A. :)

But c'mon. Fine, attend the U2 concert (along with them "Black Eye Peas") -- but the Rose Bowl is in Pasadena. I'm pretty sure the mayor knows that. So tossing in a "I love L.A." while not really enjoying an event in L.A. seems kinda wrong -- at least for the mayor of Los Angeles.

BTW, this very well may have been the Mayor's first Tweet to mention Lu Parker (the KTLA reporter who he's now dating). I went back almost three months, and never saw her mentioned before Sunday night. Hmm, a sign of bigger things to come?

"Brothers & Sisters" Has a Geography Problem

The Daily Beast's Kate Aurthur has a big bone to pick with ABC's Sunday night drama "Brothers & Sisters."

The show is set in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara -- and Kate is bothered by the ease the characters travel between both cities, as if they're down the block from each other. She writes:

Increasingly, to anyone who lives in Southern California, or has, like, heard of Southern California, it has also become a bizarre geographic mystery requiring a suspension of disbelief that would torment even Dan Brown fans.

The majority of the Walker family, led by matriarch Nora (Sally Field), lives in Pasadena and Los Angeles, which are very near each other, if not essentially considered to be the same city. So fine, great, they all see each other all the time—that makes sense.

Then there is the married couple, Kitty (Calista Flockhart) and Robert (Rob Lowe)—she an author, he a senator who is running for governor of California—who explicitly and clearly live in Santa Barbara. Yet Brothers & Sisters acts as if the two regions are mere seconds away from each other. Robert’s senatorial office is in downtown Los Angeles; Kitty is constantly stopping by her mother’s house. It is maddening.

In one recent episode, Aurthur notes that the characters traveled back and forth between Pasadena and Santa Barbara several times in one night.

Google Maps clocks the trip between Pasadena and Santa Barbara at 103 miles -- or one hour and 41 minutes.

So what's the deal? Kate got the unsatisfying answer from ABC: “They exist in a world without traffic… and Robert has a helicopter at his disposal.”

Debating L.A.'s Physical Borders, vs. Its Psychological Ones

Metblogs LA stumbled across this geographically inaccurate ad from MSN. "Los Angeles without Santa Monica Pier"?! Santa Monica Pier isn't in Los Angeles -- it's in Santa Monica (hence, um, the name).

Was this a deliberate joke? If a PC without Microsoft Office 2007 is like L.A. without Santa Monica Pier, what's the analogy? Just as Santa Monica Pier isn't really in L.A., is Microsoft Office 2007 not really in a PC? Huh?

Metblogs wonders whether we're all being too rigid in our definition of L.A. Writes the site:

The ad seemed to bring up an constant debate among Metblogs readers and writers: should any area outside of the City of Los Angeles be referred to as L.A.?

When I think Los Angeles, my mind is on anything within county limits. The Los Angeles of popular fiction and of the national mindset never bothers to take into account the borders of the 88 different cities of Los Angeles County, including Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica.

Street sign colors may change, certain parking restrictions may be different, real estate taxes may fluctuate, but there’s little practical reason to distinguish between what is the City of Los Angeles and what happens to be another city, or incorporated part of, Los Angeles. As in County.

Except for the City of Long Beach, which really should be annexed into Orange County. Really, please, take it. But I digress…

Your thoughts? Does an "L.A. state of mind" trump whether you actually live in Los Angeles?

L.A. Times Unveils Its Los Angeles Map, Braces for Deluge of Response

There are few subjects more controversial to Angelenos than how they describe their neighborhoods. The debate over where the "Westside" and "Eastside" are has been waged for years. And neighborhood boundaries are hotly contested, particularly when it comes time to sell your house or compute property values.

After years of getting grief over using conflicting neighborhood names, the Los Angeles Times is trying harder to get it right. The paper just unveiled its Mapping L.A. initiative, an evolving map of Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Bob Pool writes about the map:

Years in the making, it is designed to be a tool that will allow reporters and editors to be consistent when describing neighborhoods in news stories in a city that sometimes seems to change the names like most people change socks.

Dorothy Parker famously said Los Angeles was "72 suburbs in search of a city," so it's not surprising that residents take their neighborhood names so seriously. Those designations are part tradition and history -- but also part economic and political. Many residents see big differences in property value if you live in tony Hancock Park as opposed to more working-class Mid-City.

In the Valley, there's a grand tradition of seceding from traditional neighborhoods. Parts of gritty Van Nuys have become Valley Glen and Lake Balboa, while a portion of Canoga Park re-christened itself West Hills...

Fortunately, those who disagree with the map have a chance to persuade the newspaper's mapmakers to reconsider. Readers can use the interactive website to redraw any section of the map they feel is incorrect and submit the alteration for editors' consideration. And editors may be busy.

The L.A. Times map doesn't get into hyper-specific neighborhoods -- although you could argue that it needs to include more, such as Little Tokyo.

The city of Los Angeles currently recognizes 172 communities, at least according to the late, lamented L.A. City Nerd. (The Nerd's campaign to photograph every L.A. neighborhood sign lives on, via Flickr.)

LAist also recently embarked on a project to designate L.A. neighborhoods.

License Plate of the Day: LAX Edition

"RTM2LAX." Any guesses?

Rotterdam Airport perhaps? Makes sense, if we're going with the airport abbreviation route... could be someone who's made the move to L.A. from the Netherlands.

The Approach to LAX

One of my favorite things about flying back to Los Angeles: Playing the geography guessing game. Which freeway is that? Is that the Ontario Airport? What race track is that? It's also a great way to get a lay of the land, observing just how much is separated by mountain ranges, etc. A few pics I managed to take in the haze (sorry!) on Sunday:


You get a whole new feel for Southern California geography when you look at it from above. Being able to see Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead up above in the mountains, with the Inland Empire below and the Antelope Valley behind it is pretty fascinating.


Spotted in the mountains: An "R." Anyone know what this signifies? Redlands?


To the rest of the world, a ditch. To us Angelenos, a river.


The Forum and Hollywood Park, as seen by thousands of fliers daily.

Correction of the Day

From Saturday's Los Angeles Times:

Restaurant menu changes: In an article in Section A on Thursday about menu changes at Wolfgang Puck's restaurants, the location of David Myers' restaurant Sona was given as West Los Angeles. Sona is in Los Angeles.

Isn't that like saying, "The location of X was given as Manhattan. X is in New York City." See, West Los Angeles is Los Angeles. If they really wanted to correct it, shouldn't they have given a more specific locale? (Purists -- the ones who use the Los Angeles River as the west/east divider -- would argue that Sona, on La Cienega, IS on the west side!)

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Joe in LA for reminding me that, indeed, Sona is in West Hollywood! Of course, that makes this correction even more strange, since not only is the whole "West Los Angeles/Los Angeles" thing bizarre, but the correction still gets it wrong anyway. Coming tomorrow: A correction of the correction?

Give This Map an "F" in Los Angeles Geography

(Map credit: Stephannie Barba at CoutureMaps.com.)

The LA City Nerd points to a feature at Bride.com on wedding invites that include stylish maps to the ceremony and reception.

The site showcases the map above (actually found on another site, couturemaps.com). Looks nicely done, right?

But take a closer look. Did the person who created this map (a template offered up for use by engaged couples) actually set foot in Los Angeles? The geography is a jumbled mess. Santa Monica is placed south of LAX, while Malibu is south of the Getty. The Farmer's Market is found here east of downtown -- and Hollywood and the Grauman's Chinese is directly north of it here! Also, according to this there's no Mid-City -- Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills bump up to downtown. Sheesh!