The Clippers – one of LA’s favorite sportsball teams.

In its various editions since (the last one taking place in 2010), the Watts Happening Ride’s destinations have grown well beyond the iconic towers to include a variety of landmarks involving people, places and events in and around South Los Angeles.

The 2012 incarnation of the Watts Happening Ride will be departing from Silver Lake on Saturday, February 18 at 9 a.m., and will include the addition of a couple locations I’ve recently found. So if you’re not heading out of town for the long weekend and have a hankering to get your bike-riding discovery on, I hope you’ll join me.

For the latest info and any updates, the ride’s Facebook page is here.

When: February 18, gathering at 8:30 for a 9 a.m. departure
Start/Finish: Silver Lake’s Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign (northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard & Benton Way)
Distance: 32.95 miles (route map)
Pace: Casual
Terrain: Flat
Weather: In the event of rain that morning, the ride will be canceled and rescheduled to a later date.
Approximate Time: 5-6 hours
Optional Partial Ride: If doing the full route isn’t feasible, consider joining the ride at approximately 9:30 a.m. downtown on Spring Street (anywhere between 2nd & 9th streets) for the roughly 9-mile portion to the Watts Towers. The 103rd Street Blue Line station is near to the towers and can be an alternative to get you back into downtown.
Things You’ll Need (in no particular order): A functioning bicycle; $7 for the half-hour optional tour of Watts Towers; snacks and water for along the way; money for a late lunch at King Taco.

Hollyhock House was built for oil heiress and single mom Aline Barnsdall just after World War I. The setting was a stunning hilltop olive grove surrounded by 36 acres, with 360-degree views of a then very picturesque, perhaps even quaint, Los Angeles. Barnsdall designed her homestead as a multi-structure arts complex, complete with theaters for both live performances and films. Today, that spirit remains, as the property is now the Barnsdall Art Park, housing the Los Angeles Municipal Art gallery, theater, and art center where numerous art and music classes are held.

The front of the house

Pulling into the park off of Hollywood Blvd., you proceed up a windy road and are immediately transported back in time. Wright called the style of the Hollyhock House “California Romanza”. That’s a made-up term which apparently means “I’ll do whatever I want”. Some people refer to the style as “Mayan” due to the geometric shapes, especially the slant of the roof line. However, that’s a bit of a misrepresentation. For example, the details around the roof are not Mayan gods, but rather, modernized portrayals of the Hollyhock flower which Aline Barnsdall liked so much, and which gave the house its name.

Anyway, it works. The Hollyhock House must have been radically modern when built, just a few years after fru-fru Victorian homes were still being constructed and stuffed with chintz. Hollyhock is full of hard surfaces, skylights, and out-of-the-box concepts like the ultra-modern carved living room fireplace with its lily pond moat. Everywhere you look, whether on the walls, the ceilings, or the windows, there’s a fascinating and largely functional detail. For example, in the child’s play room, Wright pioneered his glass-on-glass window corners that create a nearly seamless transition between indoors and outdoors.

View of living room windows, with lily pond that flowed inside

Unfortunately, as with other Wright homes, proper function sometimes falls victim to form at the Hollyhock House. The design and materials trapped moisture and cold, and Hollyhock reportedly was too cool, dark, and drafty to be a truly comfortable home for Aline Barnsdall and her daughter. Indeed, it feels rather uninviting upon entry. The moisture also wreaked considerable damage on Hollyhock over the years, and a major three-year repair and renovation is now underway, with two more years to go. As a result, any tour taken during this time is abbreviated.

The play room, with it's glass-on-glass window corners

Still, touring the Hollyhock House is like walking into a three-dimensional painting by one of the masters. It’s a spectacular way to enter the mind of a genius, and to take a step back into the Los Angeles of nearly a century ago.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock flower design

Hollyhock's rooftops are accessible via stairways and foot bridges

More than anything else on their menu, the Gobi Manchurian is what keeps me coming back time and time again. The first time I visited, it was described to me as “sort of like a vegetarian fried chicken.” From the first bite, I was hooked. It’s actually cauliflower marinated in garlic, ginger, chilies, and soy sauce, but the fried chicken comparison does seem quite apt, provided you marinate the fried chicken in ten gallons of awesome before serving it up hot.

According to the Woodlands website, Jonathan Gold is a fan as well:

Still uncommon is the ALL-VEGETARIAN Indian restaurant serving the intriguing foods of India’s southern region. . . . If you’re looking for value and tasty food, you will certainly find it here.

If you’re ever up in that corner of the Valley, you should do yourself a favor and check this stuff out. You won’t be disappointed. Unless you come on a Monday, that is; they’re closed on Mondays.

A few weeks ago I did manage to brush my intimidation aside and pay a first-time visit to MOCA to see the cool exhibition of Weegee’s Hollywood period photographs, but — pardon the digression — then I wandered around the museum’s permanent exhibit and found this piece of crap stuck to the wall, which reinforced both my abject disdain for “contemporary art” and my urge to punish whoever curated it with an extended indian-burn session to the forearm of his or her choosing.

Detail from the 1938 Kirkman-Harriman map depicting Los Angeles County in 1860.

So instead of getting all wound up trying to eenie-meanie-miney-mo to which big box the next I’d go, instead I brought along my inner map geek and together we ventured yesterday to the first floor galleries of the Central Library downtown where I spent an extended segment of the afternoon marveling at the selection of kick-ass cartography displayed as part of  its “As The City Grew: Historical Maps of Los Angeles” exhibit.

The 34 maps arrayed go back to the mid-1800s and offer an awesome and up-close glimpse back into our city as it was and as it became. Unlike the aforementioned contemporary bullshit I encountered, some of the maps are true and intricate works of art, and I would highly recommend paying them a visit whether you just find yourself in the library’s vicinity or are in between far better-decided visits than mine to the myriad Pacific Standard Time venues.

WHERE: Los Angeles Public Library, Central Branch, 630 W. 5th St, 90071
WHEN: Through November 4, 2012
COST: Free

I’m guilty of more than a few.  You?  I particularly like the dig about moving to the West Side…a place I barely know as there is simply no easy way to get there from where I live and there is never any parking.  There, I said it.

Cartoon-loving Angelenos are in for a treat: American Cinematheque is putting on a retrospective at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, running from this Thursday (26 January) through the middle of next month (12 February).

The American Cinematheque Presents
Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata and The Masters Of Studio Ghibli
A 14-Film Retrospective Featuring New 35MM Prints
of Studio Ghibli Classics including SPIRITED AWAY and MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO

Much like recent US-made films Up and Wall-E, I think Studio Ghibli’s work appeals to viewers young and old alike. Find more info about the films being screened and the dates at the American Cinematheque site. Goldstar already has half-price tickets for Friday 27 January showing of Spirited Away, so snatch ‘em up while you can.

Five Guys El Segundo, open at night

I’m a big fan of Five Guys burgers and fries, but rarely make the trip down to Carson. So it was a nice surprise at about 9:30 the other night, after a day of negotiations down in the South Bay, to be driving up Sepulveda Blvd. just short of LAX and to see the red and white Five Guys sign on the east side of the road. A quick maneuver into the parking lot, and more luck as Five Guys was open until 10 p.m. I saw, I scarfed. It’s in an office park-nice little shopping plaza with a courtyard and outdoor tables.

Five Guys also has other locations, and planned locations, in and around the Los Angeles area. Of these, the El Segundo outlet may be the most dangerous for me. The In-N-Out Burger just on the other side of LAX may have better views, but I’m partial to Five Guys’ food.

But on a trip to Burbank and back by bike this week, I have nothing to say but “Bravo!” to that burg after I chanced to discover an unheralded and entirely unmarked bike/pedestrian path that was so brand-spanking new it had to have only been recently completed. Paralleling the Burbank Western Channel between Alameda Avenue and Victory Boulevard, it’s short and sweet at barely a quarter-mile in length, but it provides a serene off-street shortcut connection between the two busy thoroughfares that not only serves cyclists passing through but also the residents of the neighborhood to the north of the channel.

Here’s hoping it’s the first of more to come.

UPDATE (1.24): I received an email from Cory Wilkerson, an assistant transportation planner for Burbank, who confirmed that more indeed is to come. He wrote, “We are planning to extend the pathway to the Burbank Metrolink Station, Top Priority Project #8 in our Bike Plan. The project was funded through Metro’s Call for Project and constrcution is schedule for FY 2015.”

After the jump you can find an annotated and embiggenable Google Map screengrab of the path’s location along with two timelapse clips of rides on the segment, the first traveling from Victory to Alameda and the second coming back from Alameda to Victory.

Do you remember the movie Airplane?

Remember the two gentlemen who spoke “Jive?” Remember the subtitles at the bottom that translated what they were saying? Remember whenever one of them would say a certain word, the subtitle always translated it as “Golly?”

Such fun.

It’s in this spirit I would like to remind you, one and all, that The Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothin’ to Trifle With!

(And if you haven’t seen Airplane, get your golly together and watch the trifling thing.)

In Any Case, I’m giving away Tickets to see The Wu on Saturday, Jan 21st! Wanna Go?

Email your Full Legal Name as it appears on your Legal Driver’s Licence or State ID card to blacontests@gmail.com

Winners will be notified and will show said ID at the Will Call booth the night of the show to claim tickets. Protect your neck.

Wu-Tang Featuring All Original Members: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa
Saturday January 21, 2012
Club Nokia
Los Angeles, California
Show time: 9:00pm
Door time: 8:00pm
Age: All Ages+

Step to the Wu.