La Gran Limpieza: Giving Back to the Los Angeles River

If you ever need to make a case to someone why it's smart to ban plastic bags in Los Angeles, just take them down to the L.A. river. The bags are everywhere, along with every kind of trash imaginable -- small things like food wrappers, to big things like shopping carts, hangers, clothes, rubber tires and, yes, even a busted bike.



The Blogger Kid and I saw all of that, and more, down in the Glendale Narrows portion of the Los Angeles River on Saturday. Our love of the river extends to frequent bike rides (and visits to the Frog Spot) throughout the year, so it only seemed appropriate that we give back. On Saturday, we were two of hundreds who ventured down to the river to help clean it up. It was the Friends of the Los Angeles River's "La Gran Limpieza" -- also known as "The Great Los Angeles River Cleanup." Three hours later, we hauled out hefty bags of trash, and left with a feeling that in a small way we helped give our fragile river a bit more life.


Just some of the trash found down in our portion of the river!


It was quite a festive event. Free t-shirts, plenty of snacks and water, even live music (above)!


The Blogger Kid wasn't even close to being the youngest one there. Volunteers of all ages -- including a few toddlers! -- helped out.


More info from the Daily News:

Thus began 26th Annual Great Los Angeles River CleanUp, an art, music and food-filled round-up of FOLAR volunteers who aim to scoop 20 tons of trash in the next few weeks.

During the nine-to-noon cleanup Saturday across the San Fernando Valley, hundreds of volunteers descended into the weeds of the river’s non-concrete natural bottoms in sections of Griffith Park, the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, Big Tujunga Wash and Sepulveda Basin.

Next Saturday they’ll scour the middle river around the Glendale Narrows, through Atwater Village and Griffith Park.

Then they’ll march into the lower river on April 18 to skim detritus out of Lower Compton Creek, Willow Street Estuary in Long Beach and the Golden Shore Marine Reserve, one of the last Los Angeles County wetlands. Volunteers can register at folar.org.

It was 26 years ago that poet Lewis MacAdams founded his Friends of the L.A. River group and held an outdoor fundraiser on the Bette Davis glade at Griffith Park, with political activist Tom Hayden in attendance. Someone toted a kayak, but they had to dredge the river for an effective run.

Since then, the non-profit group has worked to restore the mostly concrete L.A. River into a swimmable, fishable, boatable and bikeable riverway central to citizens of Los Angeles. Plans call for restoring an 11-mile stretch north of downtown in hopes of drawing steelhead trout, for a cost of $1.1 billion.

The cleanup continues in additional parts of the River over the next two weekends. It's fun and not much of a time commitment -- head to FOLAR's website for more info!

R.I.P. Bob Baker, Los Angeles' Master of Puppets

(Pic by Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

R.I.P. Bob Baker, a true Los Angeles treasure. Baker died Friday at the age of 90, according to Variety. His Bob Baker's Marionette Theatre entertained generations of Angeleno kids, having first opened in 1963.

Here's what I wrote on the blog in 2006:

I've always been slightly creeped out by marionettes, yet I've always been fascinated by the art as well. Bob Baker (who won an Academy Award for his puppet work on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") not only made it his life's work behind the camera, but he also has run the kid-friendly Bob Baker Marionettes theater in downtown Los Angeles for nearly 50 years.

The Bob Baker Marionettes came to Pasadena's Levitt Pavilion (in Memorial Park) for a free show last Wednesday night -- so I grabbed Blogger Baby Evan, packed up some snacks and camped out on the lawn. The hour-long show had a Mexican theme, with mostly young people (taught by Baker, I assume) handling the strings. Afterward, we hopped on stage to see some of the puppets up close -- which scared Evan at first.

Some pics:


A gaggle of puppets


Evan is intrigued, yet spooked, by the marionettes


Cat and mouse

A little history on Baker, from his website:

While attending Hollywood High School, Bob began manufacturing toy marionettes that sold both in Europe and the United States. After graduation at the age of eighteen, he began his extensive career in animation at the George Pal Studios. He began as an apprentice and soon became a head animator of "Puppetoons" a year later.

After WWII, Bob served as an animation advisor at many film studios including Walt Disney.

With his partner, Alton Wood, Bob turned a run-down scenic shop near downtown Los Angeles into a family entertainment institution. An innovative artist and puppet master, Bob and his company have performed puppets around the globe, even on Navy ships and submarines. Mr. Baker currently has an inventory of over three thousand puppets as he creates more.

The Bob Baker Marionettes theater is located at 1345 W. First Street in Los Angeles; call 213-250-9995 for reservations (which are required).

Shows are held Tuesday - Friday at 10:30 a.m., and on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. General admission for the show is $12 each for adults and children. Children under 2 are free (which means perhaps we should take Blogger Baby again before December!)

The future of the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre is now in doubt; go here to find out how you can help keep it alive.

A Visit to Beverly Hills' Wallis Annenberg Center for Kid-Friendly Theater

If you have kids over the age of 5, I can guarantee they will love "The Man Who Planted Trees," a whimsical hour-long play being performed this weekend at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. We checked out one of the shows last weekend, and the Blogger Kids enjoyed the tale (as well as the arts and crafts beforehand).




As part of The Wallis' "Theater for Young Audiences" series, the play incorporates humans and puppets to humorously tell the touching story of a shepherd who plants a forest, acorn by acorn, in the French countryside. The kids will enjoy the jokes and the puppets, while you'll appreciate the themes.



The U.K.-based Puppet State Theatre Company has performing "The Man Who Planted Trees" for some time. It's based on the tale by Jean Giono, which also inspired an Oscar-winning animated short in 1989. Here's a YouTube sample of Puppet State Theatre’s take:



"The Man Who Planted Trees" continues through this weekend. Go here for ticket information.

Other upcoming Theatre for Young Audiences events include Dan Zanes and Friends (Sunday, Oct. 19 at 2pm); Compagnie Les Voisins’s "The Queen of Colors" (Jan. 9-18) and "Lifeboat" (March 13-22).

I hadn't been inside the former Beverly Hills Post Office since I attended a party there years ago. Now, of course, it's been transformed into the Wallis. Some peeks inside and out:

Rate-A-Restaurant #280: Atwater Crossing Kitchen

Restaurant: Atwater Crossing Kitchen



Location: 3245 Casitas Ave. (Atwater Village)

Type of restaurant: New American/ Pizza





We stipulated: We were looking for a new spot to ride our bikes to, and Maria had recently visited Atwater Crossing. We wanted something casual and kid-friendly for a Saturday night, and Atwater Crossing Kitchen delivered.



They stipulated: Breakfast is served from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., while flatbreads are served all day. Wi-fi is available as well.





What we ordered: Funghi wood-fired flatbread (wood oven roasted mushrooms, Fontina cheese,on site herbs; $10.50); Rustica flatbread (crispy pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, $11); sesame ginger kale salad (currant, pumpkin seeds, apple vinaigrette served on a bed of leafy greens, with salmon; $8.50)



High point: The entire experience, from the friendly waiter to the excellent flatbread, was fantastic. But most importantly, it was a great place to bring the kids. Plenty of room for them to run around next to, but separate from, the dining area. The adjacent train tracks didn't hurt, although no train passed by when we were there. It'salso a big enough space that Glendale High Class of 2002 was holding a reunion event in the bar area, but we had room to spread out in the mostly empty dining area. Also, the salad was great, but the expertly cooked salmon made it even better.

Low point: I do wish the menu was a bit more diverse; the restaurant promises an "ever-evolving backboard menu," but if there was one, we didn't see it.



Overall impression: Located next to the tracks in an industrial portion of Atwater Village. It gives it an added hole-in-the-wall (but really BIG hole-in-the-wall), "special-find" feeling

Chance we'll go back: Hopefully we'll be back, although I'm now concerned about rumors that Atwater Village Crossing has new owners. Could it be that we hit the restaurant right before it flipped into something different? Stay tuned.