I call this “weather”

Who says we don’t have weather? I have been wearing a winter coat, hat and gloves all week when walking around outside. There’s snow on the mountains right outside the city.

Then again, the students at the neighborhood Starbucks are still sporting shots and flip-flops.

Strolling the neighborhood

We went on the West Adams Historical Association’s Holiday Tour today, which featured several homes on 4th to 8th avenues between Adams and the 10. I thought is was quite fun to wander in and out of different peoples’ homes, including a few Craftsman style homes and a Greek Revival. A few of the historical homes were done up completely in period furniture, and a few were more relaxed in decor, with a mix of period pieces and children’s toys. Each house had a guide on hand to talk abut the historical significance, and in about half of the homes the owners were there as well.

It was fun to walk around the neighborhood. If you can overlook all the bars on the windows, it’s a really pleasant area. I spotted some lemon trees and a persimmon tree along the way, and I was surprised how many houses have backyard pools.

The houses we went to had a mix of black and white owners. I realized that this is actually the first time I have been in an African-American family’s home. That’s pretty startling. Chinese, Korean, Indian, Persian, German, Turkish, and Ecuadoran homes, yes… at least one of each, anyway. But it seems I know a lot more foreigners than I do African Americans or Hispanics.

Lots of mariachis

As I was gradually waking up this morning to NPR on the clock radio, the announcer mentioned that anyone who liked happy, cheerful music with a beat should head down to the Mariachi Festival at 1st and Boyle.

I made it down there around 1:30pm and saw, indeed, a mariachi band playing on the stage with lots more mariachis standing around waiting for their turn. There is something quite surreal about lots of mariachis, all in one place. Sadly I did not have my camera, or I could display a picture of the mariachi in the blue suede (ultrasuede?) outfit with a long row of silver stars down the sleeves and legs. 

I did, however, get some very tasty food, including what looked like a fried tortilla stuffed with cooked, shredded chicken and topped with lettuce, red sauce, and a little crumbled white cheese. A quick check in Wikipedia tells me this could be a taco dorado– though in this case, I think they were coming from a grill, not a deep fryer.

Seeking interesting work dinner locations

I have a whole stack of photos building up on my camera, including some nice shots from the WeHo Halloween Parade and Hollywood Forever’s Day of the Dead Celebration, but have not gotten around to putting them up. Instead, I will seek the advice of all Downtown enthusiasts on the important subject of Work Dinners.

A week or so ago I found myself at the Pacific Dining Car Restaurant. It was very, very expensive. The food was OK. The cost-to-quality ratio left me thoroughly unimpressed (and I was not even paying). However, this seems to be one of the locations favored by my coworkers for Fancy Work Dinners with Important Guests from Out of Town. Can you suggest any good alternate locations? Here are the criteria:

• Must provide formal restaurant seating (not bar stools, etc) 
• Must provide quite enough atmosphere to allow conversation
• Must be downtown or otherwise close to the 10 and the 110
• Must not serve solely Asian or other “ethnic” cuisine (though Italian does not count as ethnic) that Distinguished (often Older, and potentially Stuffier) Visitors may not eat, and yet
• Should be better than Pacific Dining Car

Suggestions, please…!

Palm’s Thai

Report: Palm’s Thai was not bad. It was good. It also had 2 or 3 pages of menu items I was scared to eat, which I regard as a positive sign– a mark of authenticity, if you will.

Any other suggestions for Thaitown?

Saber-tooth cats

My sister was in town yesterday, so we headed over to the La Brea Tar Pit museum. We saw some wonderful saber-tooth cat skeletons and strolled past the very active tar pond. It was covered in a layer of oily asphalt, and there were huge methane bubbles coming up to the surface and popping.

We were very surprised at the localization of the tar pits. The bubbly, tarry pond is surrounded on three sides by swaths of landscaped green grass and on the third by Wilshire Blvd and skyscrapers. Why isn’t there tar coming out of the ground all over the place in LA– why just those few spots near the museum?

People. Walking. On the Street.

I was driving SW on Alvarado on Sunday around 5pm, when suddenly I saw LOTS and LOTS of people walking on the street. On my right there was a small lake and park. There were lots and lots more people. There were so many people around, I wondered what was going on.

Today I looked at the map and realized that this was MacArthur Park, and that it is right next to a Metro station. Maybe I’ve just forgotten what subway stops look like? That, or there was some kind of huge event on Sunday.

Atwater Village, Silver Lake, and me

I went to a party in Atwater Village this weekend and then checked out a few of the furniture stores in Silver Lake.

So, I don’t get it. Can someone explain to me why these areas are “cool” and my neighborhood is not? At first glance, they are all predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods (OK, actually, I’m not sure about Atwater Village, but Silver Lake seemed to have a lot of Spanish billboards and signs) with single-family houses that have bars across the windows. Yet Silver Lake, anyway, has expensive boutiques scattered among the pupuserias, while my neighborhood does not. It also has a gelato store, a sure sign it is “cool”. Is it the hills? I guess the hills could be nice.

Anyone want to enlighten me on the last few decades of LA demographic shifts?

Downtown eat and drink report

1. The Edison’s 35-cent cocktail night, Thursdays 5-7pm. Plus: 35-cent martinis, and the Edison is a cool place. Minus: today’s drink had too much grenadine, and so a good 15 cents went undrunk. Then again, for 35 cents, how can I complain?
2. Cicada. I had a lovely, lovely meal here a month or so ago. It’s a California-influenced Italian restaurant in a wonderful, art-deco space that used to house a men’s clothing store. The walls are lined with wood drawers from that era. I will definitely go back again, particularly if someone else is paying.

Very, very Korean

I have had a cold and sore throat for about two weeks and not felt much like exploring. This Sunday I mustered my energy and headed to Koreatown in search of the Benetton at Koreatown Plaza. Since almost all of my work clothes come from Benetton, I was happy to find one so close to home.

The Benetton lived up to expectations, and the saleswomen were helpful but not pushy, unlike the saleswoman back at my old Norcal Benetton, who sold me quite a few things that looked horrible on me until I finally caught on. Moreover, the K-Town Benetton is conveniently located above a source of tasty bibimbap (the foodcourt), so I got a steaming stone bowl full of rice, meat, and vegetables for $8.99 after updating my wardrobe.

It struck me after an hour or so that I hadn’t seen a single non-Korean in the entire place. Koreatown Plaza is stunningly Korean, more so than any other ethnic center I’ve been to. San Francisco Chinatown? Tourists all over the place. The Japanese mall near Porter Square in Somerville, Mass.? Right next to a T-stop– (non Japanese) students all over. Little Italy in New York? Yeah, whatever– we’re all 1/8 Italian three generations back. But Koreatown is very, very Korean. By the time I had left, I saw about three non-Korean shoppers and a Latino man cleaning the cafeteria. Everyone else was Korean (or, I suppose, non-Korean Asian but passing for Korean). Even the website was written in Korean-ish English.

Anyone want to speculate on why this is? Are there so many other Korean restaurants in Koreatown that only the most dedicated of Benetton shoppers makes it to Koreatown Plaza? Or is all of the action now in Koreatown Galleria?

On the way back, I tried to stop at Papa Christo’s to check out the feta cheese and olive selection, but they were closed early. Next time.