Site Scene in L.A.

Last night was one of those humid L.A. summer eves that can easily drive you out of your mind and/or drive you out of your house in search of basic hydration. It was so bad I would have settled for anything liquid be it coffee, juice, a cocktail, water…whatever, just to get away from the cucaracha breeding stickiness of my floors and walls and into an air conditioned cool L.A. social setting. Seeing how I live in an area which has no such establishments catering to these needs I stayed home sweating up a thirst beyond reason. Within minutes I began to pace back and forth like a caged beast out of its natural element all the while pondering the reason for this sudden feeling of being under socioeconomic quarantine. In a city such as Los Angeles, why should I have to get in my car and drive 4 miles to the nearest Starbucks for a cup of coffee; 5 miles to browse a real magazine rack; up to 8 miles for a gin and tonic at a bar with a good selection on the jukebox; 9.6 miles to stock up on ...

One Wilshire Blvd. is located in the financial district of downtown Los Angeles at Grand. If you drove west to its very end you find yourself up against a decision of which way to turn on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. A left takes you to Venice Beach and the funky locos on rollerblades; a right heads you to PCH and up the coast as far as you are willing to go. How much more L.A. does this get? I have always had a fascination with this route, mostly because of it's ability to get you from Point A to Point B, which at one time, felt like a major excursion like the time my friend Val and I made our way to the Santa Monica Civic for a Mink DeVille concert with the help of a Thomas Guide and sheer luck. Hey, we were teens. Now it has become a daily routine for getting to and from work riding Metro's Red Rapid (west) from Boyle Heights, over the 6th Street bridge, smack down the crusty crack of skid row, through downtown, along the Miracle Mile, and finally to the pits of La Brea whe...

It took a recent (and first time) trip to New York City for me come back to Los Angeles feeling as though I need to pay more attention to my hometown. Up until this point my visits to San Francisco made me yearn for living in a true metropolis -- a place where you can walk to just about anywhere and/or utilize a public transit system which makes sense. Even Seattle hit me in that way. But NYC topped them all. I've always considered myself an observant person. One who appreciates the glory of a lone Victorian home tucked away on a neglected street or someone who still likes to take an occasional ride up the coast to Zuma Beach just to smell the ocean from up close and not have to wait until a fog brings in the scent to Boyle Heights on a summer night. I am also one who likes to peer into the crusty nooks and see what goes on within the shadows. Witness the underbelly of the city not glamorous enough to make it on the cover of a glossy mag or postcard. But lately though, I've fo...