South of Downtown

Fashion District Developer Seeks Rooftop Gardening Restauranteur

2012-01-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

I saw an ad soliciting a restaurant & urban garden operation and wrote to the solicitor looking to find out more. My note is below.

11 January 2012

Hello Mr. Aryeh,
I recently noticed your post looking for a farm/restaurant in your building: http://www.cityfarmer.info/2012/01/09/wanted-farmers-to-farm-a-rooftop-in-los-angeles/. I'm a community member and casual blogger with a keen interest in gardening and public space, so this post really caught my attention.

First of all, it's wonderful that you're encouraging this kind of venture-- it makes so much sense in Los Angeles to have green rooftop space, considering how our weather is suitable for growing so many things year round. I wonder whether the owners would be interested in the idea of opening the garden to the community? Perhaps providing allotments for a small yearly fee to residents in the nearby buildings? Urban gardening has really gained momentum in these last few years, so it's a great time to start a project like this.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Narinda

So far, no response. Understandable. I wonder how long it will take for our sunny Los Angeles catch on to the rooftop gardening movement that's already happening in other urban areas. Does Los Angeles building code have more lax requirements for how strong a rooftop must be than New York City? When I visited LA Community Action Network's rooftop garden, that seemed to be one of the bigger concerns.

Having a restaurant tenant might be more profitable in dollars than having a community garden, especially considering liability issues, but building goodwill in a community is an important endeavor that doesn't seem to get much attention anymore-- at least not until there's money to be made. This is a sad thing. (This is a general feeling that I can't pin on this particular development because I know little about the operation or building owners, but it is the sense that I get from my own and others' observations about what has been happening in Downtown LA for the last decade.)

Some Facebook Musings & First Reading of the Year

2012-01-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Taking my lunch break to share that Patty Chung, the composer/singer of the TWSS opening theme song, is having a dual show with her friend Nadia, and graciously invited me to read. (If you're curious, here's what I sound like.

HELLO 2012

Do you need a break from work? School? Internship?
Do you like a nice hot, pressed panini?
Looking for a deviation from the clubbing/pounding drinks, and feel like you may want to spend Fri night in a quiet, cozy cafe, engaging in only legal activities (watching music, drinking lattes)? Don't feel like taking a chance on an open mic, only to be trapped into many, many Eagles and "Stairway to Heaven" covers? That's what I thought.
Then come join us as we share our original tunes and poems for a night @ The Spot Cafe in Culver City.

7:15 - 7:30 Narinda Heng, reading
7:30 - 8:00 Patty Chung, music
8:00 - 8:15 Nina Ki, reading
8:15 - 8:45 Nadia Kent, music

Cost: No cover charge, but the owner is asking each person for $7 worth of food/coffee purchase.... which is good news because the drinks and sandwiches are a delight!
Parking: There is limited parking in the back; street parking also is available.

DIRECTIONS - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:
The place can be easy to miss, it's quite tiny. Driving south on Overland, the cafe will be on your right hand side, just after Farragut Dr. You will be able to tell where the cafe is because there are white benches and large umbrellas outside.

Preview the tunes:
www.thesixtyone.com/only1patty
www.thesixtyone.com/nadiakent

I'm amused that Facebook is still a part of my life even though I deactivated my account last summer (read an interesting article about the deactivation page here). Sometimes I don't know about events to which I'm supposedly invited, and people exclaim "You're not on Facebook!" like an accusation, like I've done something terribly wrong.

There are a few reasons I deactivated. One was that I just couldn't deal with managing my own life in real time and managing it on Facebook any more-- not saying that everyone goes through this, but that's what it felt like for me. The whole mix of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances and wondering what to post and when to post was so much to manage. Just not posting or doing anything with the site was an option, rather than deactivating, but if I weren't planning to use it, then why leave my profile detritus on the internet?

Being "deactivated" means that I've probably dropped off the radar for some people I'd rather still be in touch with, and some have dropped off my radar, but I have faith that we'll cross paths again. And when we do, we'll re-exchange phone numbers and email addresses and hopefully still remember each other.

I recently talked with a friend about the way Facebook tricks us into thinking that we're keeping in touch with people when we don't even interact with them. I told her that I found myself browsing friends' profiles, finding out what was going on in their lives... and never actually talking to them. I got uncomfortable with that. Now that I'm off Facebook, I still don't catch up with anywhere near all the people that I'd like to catch up with because I'm a ~~homebody~~ hermit, but at least I'm not spending time pretending to catch up with them.

If you're reading this and we're out of touch and we once kept in touch via Facebook, drop me a line. I'd like that.

600 Jobs vs. 350 Families // South Central Farm News

2012-01-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

Last November, LA's City Council voted 12-0 to allow the development of industrial warehouses at 41st & Alameda, breaking its promise to the community that any new development would include 2.6 acres of green space. I learned this after I stumbled across the 30-minute documentary Save The Farm, the story of the South Central Farmers and their fight to keep the 14 acres of land that was the largest community garden in the United States.

From 1992 to 2006, the 14 acres of South Central Farm looked like this:

Courtesy Mitch Glaser

Since the Farmers were evicted in 2006, it has looked like this:

From Google Maps

When I saw the footage of bulldozers razing the farm, pushing down fruit trees and destroying acres of crops, I cried. Watching that destruction, that waste, that disregard for the community, the brutality of the police breaking the picket line, hurt. The pain of the people who had worked that land for a dozen years was very real to me. From my own tiny parking lot garden, I've learned how much it means to coax fertility from unwelcoming ground. Furthermore, I have relationships with my neighbors that come from being out there watering and digging, and probably connections that I'm not even aware of-- a few weeks ago, three big plastic pots half-filled with dirt appeared in front of my door. I thought my roommate had brought them, only to find out from another neighbor that someone a few doors down had left them for me upon moving out.

So it is hard to think of industrial development as having more real, lasting public good than a parcel of land where people grow things. The 600 jobs that come to the community also come with more traffic from trucks and commuters, adding pollution to to the area. Is "600 hundred jobs" really so much better than "350 families farming"?

In the same month in which the USDA reported a record number of people receiving food stamps, LA City Council missed an opportunity to declare that a place to grow food and community is more important than a place to conduct commerce. Factories and warehouses close and decay when they are no longer profitable or useful to the owners. Poof, jobs--gone. A community garden will last as long as there are hungry people willing to tend it. LA once had the largest community garden in the nation and proved itself once again to be a city with no qualms about destroying what it has built.

I look at the urban gardening movement in Detroit and in the world, and I look at empty lot after empty lot in Los Angeles, corralled by chain-link fences and occupied only by trash and weeds. I wonder what might grow there. I wonder how much more concrete will be poured, how much more asphalt will be spread, before we realize what a woman in the feature-length documentary The Garden said: Try planting on cement. You'll get nothing.

Screenshot from The Garden

"It's a pretty simple idea-- land, people, food. Happy days." - Doris Bloch

If only modern politics were that simple. I've joined the South Central Farmers' email list to try to stay updated. Please share any further information around this issue.

2011 in Review // The Other 1%

2012-01-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

2011 brought a shift in my work: I applied for and was accepted into Public Allies Los Angeles, Class of 2011-2012. I now work in Central City East, at SRO Housing Corporation as a Public Ally and Case Manager in the seniors program, Project Hotel Alert. I began working there in September, and I've learned so much.

Like most people, I avoided the blocks between Los Angeles Street and Alameda and Third and Seventh-- which wsn't difficult, since this population of needy citizens and their service organizations is so well quarantined in this city. When I lived at 18th and Main, I considered the implications of gentrification that went with my living in the area. So when I found out that one of the opportunities I had as a Public Ally was to work in Central City East, I felt that I had a chance to get to know an area that, frankly, I'd been taught to (and did, to some degree) fear. And when I did get the position at SRO, it felt serendipitous.

So, for the last three months, I have spent most weekdays working at Fifth and San Julian, which some might call the "heart" of Skid Row. Union Rescue Mission and LA Mission are across the street, and Midnight Mission and LAMP Community's Frank Rice Access Center (and many other service providers) are not far, as is a park that sees much activity during the day, populated by a variety of low-low-income people, from the recently evicted, to the recently released from LAC + USC, to the recently released from prison, to military veterans, to people recently diagnosed with AIDS, to people living with addiction, to people with mental health diagnoses, to people who might have been born there, to people who will die there, to people who will leave almost as quickly as they arrive. Oftentimes, people fit into more than one of those categories.

It was hard for me to say "people who will die there." I work with seniors who live in Skid Row, some who have only been in housing for a few months, some who have been in their SROs for decades, and some who are still trying to find housing. Some are just barely 60, some are in their 80s. It is not out of the realm of possibility that one of my clients might pass away. I try not to think about that, and focus on the present, and what assistance I can be to them while we are both here.

What's wild is that in the first half of 2011, I worked just 4 blocks away in a totally different world. And that walking down Fifth street from Maple to Main is like passing between two different worlds, each equally wary of the other.

While the Occupy LA encampment was dismantled by Los Angeles police, the encampments near LA's actual Wall Street grew. During the last week of 2011, the streets where I work and on which many people live were piled with more trash than I'd seen since I started. What I'm carrying with me into 2012 is questions. The other 1%, the 1% of Americans (according to Wikipedia) who experience homelessness in a given year, are concentrated into a place that is regarded more as a quarantine zone than a neighborhood. But it is a neighborhood. It is a community. How can Central City East (Skid Row) be a healthier community? How does Los Angeles need to change in order for it be a healthier community? How does society need to change?

Flashback: A City of Sin and Beauty // Gardena in LAPL

2011-12-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Gambling advertisement for the city of Gardena, 1952
source: LA Public Library

A few months ago I sat on a bus with a couple of men in their sixties who had grown up in Gardena. They described fields where they went hunting for rabbits, and farms, and a stream that's now Vermont Avenue. traci kato-kiriyama shared stories with me about her grandfather's nursery on Western Avenue. I went to LAPL's online photo collection database and typed in "Gardena," hoping to find images of this city that reflect what I've heard, and to perhaps even find a photo about the area where my building is. To my surprise, there were only about 60 results, and the photo above is one of them.

I hadn't realized that Gardena was marketed this way in the early days, as a city for gambling and "sin". Despite being near two casinos, all of my associations of Gardena are with the Japanese American community and with families. I've become accustomed to the flashing lights and jackpot blackjack ads. I don't really think about them. I have not been inside any of the buildings and I don't know a lot about how it's even legal for these gambling establishments to be here.

I'm surprised at myself for not looking up this history as I've done before. Better hop to it before I flit off again.

What If... at Gallery Nucleus Dec 10 - Jan 2

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Looking for some weekend art in San Gabriel Valley? Check out the opening of a new show at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra:

What If...

What if it actually rained cats and dogs?
What if money really did grow on trees?
What if the moon were made of cheese?

For this exhibition, some of the super talented folks at Disney, Pixar, LAIKA, Blue Sky, Cartoon Network and Sony have created some very imaginative "What Ifs" of their own. Following our Super Big Micro Show back in 2010, Nucleus has again invited the artists behind your favorite animated features to create personal, bite-sized or "micro" pieces that will plaster our atrium gallery with most macro game of "WHAT IF..." ever!

This exhibit is sure to be not only wildly entertaining, but a fun opportunity to experience some personal works by the amazing artists responsible for creating the magic on some of our favorite films!

December 10, 2011 - January 2, 2012

Opening Reception
Dec 10, 7:00PM - 11:00PM

Wish I could make it for the opening as my friend Vi-Dieu is going to be in this show, and I haven't seen him since I surfed his couch (floor) in Portland two years ago.

Donate to 'American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs'

2011-12-01T06:39:00.001-08:00

Truth:

The Los Angeles-based writer/director Grace Lee's next project is a documentary about this bad-ass, nonagenarian philosopher/activist:

American Revolutionary - Indiegogo 09/1/11 from American Revolutionary on Vimeo.

She's sent out these compelling messages to the Occupy Together movement activists (and to all of us).

Grace Lee Boggs' message to Occupy Wall Street - 10/9/11 from American Revolutionary on Vimeo.

Grace Lee Boggs' Message to Occupy Wall Street Part 2 from American Revolutionary on Vimeo.

Donate to the IndieGoGo campaign today--ends at midnight and it's less than $2,000 away from the goal thanks to a promised pledge of $1,500!

Make it the People's Friday // Mercado del Pueblo

2011-11-22T21:39:00.001-08:00

Image by Favianna Rodriguez

Description:

Support your local community! Don't Support the 1%!

Inspired by the mass movements that are challenging capitalism here in LA, nationally, and globally! The Youth Justice Coalition is promoting the investment in our local community rather than corporations on this huge day of shopping. Lots of grass-root and organic creations to be sold!

$2 at the door
Ages 12 and under FREE

Vendors. Music. Food. Art. Community Resources. Raffles.

There is a FREE Public Parking lot across the street of our space.

Tekpa Arte

Buko Bomba

Vulva Creations

Luna Sangre

Hyde Park- Miriam Matthews Branch Library

Solidarity Ink

51/50 Apparel

Watts Village Theatre

Critical Mass Dance Company

Revolutionary Autonomous Communities

Food Not Bombs

Luna Sangre

Ticicalli Yahualli Collective

Cucci

Freedom Tree Press

Southern California Library

And others will have essential oils, soaps, shoes, jewelry, clothes, holiday crafts, cultural and organic foods, hair braiding,political posters, books, natural wombyn and moon time products, stencil art, sex positive gear, aroma therapy pillows And MORE!

Where:

Chuco's Justice Center,

1137 E. Redondo Blvd.

Inglewood, CA 90302

(Near the intersections: Florence & Crenshaw)10:00am - 3:00pm

Outside LA // New Jack City

2011-11-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

Spent Sunday climbing at New Jack City. My homemade chalkbag in action. Anyone out there looking for a climbing partner?

DIY Denim Pant Leg Chalk Bag

2011-10-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to use an old Crown Royale bag, but I left the bag at a friend's house, so I went searching around the internet for other ideas.

I ended up combining these tutorials:
Donn Morrison - How to make a chalk bag

UC Davis Textstyles - DIY Chalk Bag

The denim's great because the seams help keep the bag stiff and open. The problem is it doesn't cinch very tightly. I should probably make a lining out of an old t-shirt or fleece or something, but, eh. My sewing ambition only comes in small bursts, and this bag works just fine. Yay DIY!

(Note: The safety pins popped out when I fell and skidded on the mat. Oops. I knotted the string and put the carabiner through that instead. To be real, I'm probably never going to make legit straps for it. Shrug.)

Gratuitous link (like Groupon for outdoor rec gear):

Demands for Los Angeles // Occupy LA

2011-10-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

"In the end, what we want to do is inspire working-class people to get involved in the political process." This was in an LA Times article when the occupation first began.

A more recent article cites that there are "plenty of complaints and few specific demands other than holding banks and major corporations responsible for the country's economic crisis." Reading this brought a couple of potential demands for the City of Los Angeles come to mind:

A hold on construction plans for the new football stadium in Downtown. In The Nation's special sports issue this summer, Neil DeMause asks Why Do Mayors Love Sports Stadiums?

Studies demonstrating pro sports stadiums’ slight economic impact go back to 1984, the year Lake Forest College economist Robert Baade examined thirty cities that had recently constructed new facilities. His finding: in twenty-seven of them, there had been no measurable economic impact; in the other three, economic activity appeared to have decreased.

Governor Jerry Brown just signed two bills that will expedite the development process, saving the developers money but giving the public less opportunity for discussion and dissent. “We’re going to protect the environment,” Brown said. “But there are too many damn regulations. I’ve got some power now. Let’s cut the barriers and regulations and move ahead.” Building a stadium will get some construction jobs, then some more contracts for service employees, but will that really contribute to a better Los Angeles in the long run? I don't think so.

Raise taxes on major corporations and that top 1% and invest funds in public education, mass transit, neighborhood beautification, increase hours of service for public libraries.

The time seems ripe to stop being scared of companies leaving our cities, our states, our countries, and time to start thinking about the impact of these companies' whose bottom line has nothing to do with what the surrounding community needs and wants. I'm more concerned with mom-and-pop shops closing their doors than whether or not Wal-Mart decides to build a superstore in my neighborhood. Isn't it time to stop being dependent on big business for employment and instead create an environment for more creative development?

A study by researchers at Loyola University found that, two years after a Wal-Mart store opened on Chicago's West Side, more than 80 local businesses within a four-mile radius (nearly one-quarter of the total) had closed and about 300 people had lost their jobs

That Wal-Mart stores cause job losses was also the conclusion of a study by the University of California, which tracked Wal-Mart's expansion across 3,000 counties. The study found that the opening of a Wal-Mart store resulted in a net loss of 150 jobs on average. For every 5 people hired at a new Wal-Mart store, the results showed, 7 people lost their jobs at existing businesses. - Marjorie Pritchard at The Boston Globe

I haven't been out to the encampment in Downtown LA. I'm not about to tell the people there what they "should" be doing. Whatever reservations I may have about the way things are playing out, I'm glad to see something happening. I'm glad to see people out doing something. I'm glad to see people out there feeling something. With a 12.5% unemployment rate, it's only right.

Music to Dance a Jig To

2011-09-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

A band called City Bird. A song called The Tide.

I heard them play this song at Tuesday Night Cafe (which happens to be having an LGBTQ community-highlight show on Tuesday) earlier this year. They also did a beautiful rendition of Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal.

I first heard front-lady Jinah Kim at one of the first TNC's I attended in 2008. I bought her CD that year and had it until my most recent move, when I discovered that it was scratched beyond all recognition. It was pretty exciting to see her at the Cafe again.

Dayshots: From J-Town to Gardena // Biking

2011-08-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's only about 13 miles from Little Tokyo to Gardena, so a few weeks ago, I decided to bike home from East West Players.

Once upon a time, I saw a cool building and thought that something cool was going to come of it. I was wrong. Three years later, the building is gone. Completely gone.

A few blocks down, I saw Ghandi.

Los Angeles needs more pocket parks. This one on South Broadway is not as nice as the little park on Venice & Hope, but it reminded me of the park in Paris where I sat to eat a delicious falafel pita.

I stopped here to drank some water. It was a hot, hot day. Chatted for a minute with a woman about what tough times these are, then got on my way again.

There is still so much to see and learn of Los Angeles, even after four years.

5 Random Good Things // Gardena & South Bay

2011-08-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

I meant to do more of these "Random Good Things" posts, but I've let it fall by the wayside. From 2009 to 2010, I've managed to live in Bellflower, North West Long Beach, and East LA before landing in Gardena, so I should dig up the things that made living in each of those neighborhoods pleasant. I've been in Gardena for a nice, round year now, longer than I spent in any of the other places, so I'm going to start there (I mean, here).

1. Gardena Municipal Bus Line Specifically, the 1 line which goes to Downtown. The line ends in Little Tokyo and the last stop is just down the street from East West Players where I've been working for the last year. Perfection. There's been lots of debate in the city council about the changes they're planning to make to the bus lines, and the new schedule takes effect on September 4th. The bus won't go Downtown nearly as frequently, but at least service wasn't killed completely as was originally proposed. And they added bike racks to the buses sometime last week! I think Gardena was the only (or one of the very few) bus lines in Los Angeles that did not have bike racks.

2. Spoon House Perfectly cooked spaghetti. You can get a nice bolognese. With hot dogs. Or you can go Japanese American style (highly recommended) and get the spaghetti with clams, mushrooms, and dried seaweed. And the bread, oh the bread. Fluffy and chewy and lovely. I like it with butter and black pepper. Oh, and you know a place is serious about iced tea when a little simple syrup dispenser sits alongside the salt and pepper at every table.

3. Redondo Beach at Torrance. Yesterday, while enjoying the first good hot day of the summer, I learned that skimboarding is allowed any time on the beach. This is a big deal since I'm used to Orange County beaches, which prohibit skimboarding during peak hours (from when the beach begins getting crowded to about 5pm). Skimboarding culture is perhaps more aggressive in Orange County since it first gained popularity in Laguna Beach, which means there's been time for enough accidents to happen for policies to be enacted to prevent future ones. There were a lot of kiddies on the sand, but the handful of skimboarders seem to always be quite cautious. Not having to wait until the sun starts sinking means more time to run, glide, and eat sand before the cold water and wind make my ears hurt too much. I really haven't taken advantage of the proximity to the ocean enough since moving here last year.

4. El Rocoto Chinese-Peruvian food. It has two locations. El Pollo Inka is the popular Peruvian food chain in South Bay, and I would still go there if I wanted some delicious roast chicken and rolls with green sauce, but El Rocoto wins with me for their lomo saltado, braised ox tail with creamy fettuccine, and chicken milanesa with pesto-cream spaghetti. And I always like supporting little (or in this case, littler) businesses.

5. Neighborhood Grinds I'm pretty attached to my morning French press coffee so I don't often go to cafes for coffee any more, but this is one of the shops that I treat myself to-- specifically for their dark chocolate mocha. Not too sweet. Nicely bitter. And that dark chocolate whipped cream. I like to slurp it off of the surface of the drink before it melts in. I'm a lady. Also, they play music that seems directly torn from my high school/college playlists, which is both pleasant and jarring (oh shit, are these classics? I mean, they play Michael Jackson on KRTH 101 now).

Just a few of the many things that have made living in Gardena pretty good so far. More (so many more) to come.

If Only I Could be the Baroness of Boogie

2011-08-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Since The Park's Finest started their catering business, the question that has bombarded them over the last two years has been: Where is your store? Johneric has recounted stories of people calling him while wandering around Echo Park and Historic Filipinotown wondering where his spot is, to which he'd have to reply that they were a catering-only business and did not have a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The best bet for getting a plate (short of placing a catering order or attending a Pleasure Palate tasting event) was to volunteer at Tuesday Night Cafe, or go to their booth at TNP's Annual Benefit or the Festival of Phillipine Arts & Culture.

As of July, however, The Park's Finest is on its way opening its very own shop in Historic Filipinotown. And they are asking for the community's help to make it happen:

The video not only tells a story of the formation of a business, but of the bond between neighborhood, community, friends, and family. I was lucky enough to have been invited to one of the first tasting/fundraising events that helped get The Park's Finest on their feet way back in 2009. It is astounding to see how far the company has come, and how dedicated the crew is to each other and to their community. This business is by and for community. I know that they can be trusted to come through on what they state on IndieGoGo:

as a community-oriented company, we aim to reinvigorate the blighted district of Historic Filipinotown in Echo Park. Our community fundraising campaign will build capital for a restaurant that offers a fulfilling dining experience, for families and friends to enjoy savory BBQ in an atmosphere where musicians and artists can showcase works that reflect and celebrate the intersections of the dynamic cultures and histories bridged by this vibrant area of LA.

I can't wait to see it happen. Unfortunately I can't donate at the Baroness of Boogie level, but I'm gonna do what I can as soon as the next check comes in.

In Which I Yell A Lot // J-Town Summer Sessions is Saturday!

2011-08-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

I don't often post photos or video of myself here. I'm making an exception because J-Town Summer Sessions is this Saturday and maybe if you're amused (and not frightened off) by my frantic yelling in this video, you'll buy a ticket to the concert and support one of downtown LA's longest-running free public arts spaces.

This posting is belated since Tuesday Night Cafe was last night and the 2-for-1 special is over, but I hope that this demonstrates the lengths to which we will go in order to get people to come and make this a great concert for the artists who are performing, vending, and live-painting.

Online ticket sales end on Thursday, but you can also get tickets at the door for $25 ($20 for students/seniors). Kids 12 and under are free! With Mista Cookie Jar there, it's going to be a family-friendly affair. Even with Higashi selling beer. ;n)

Can you spare $20 for 7 months of art+community in Downtown?

Change Ain't So Bad // Notebook Saga

2011-07-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished writing on the very last page of my very last Earthbound Cachet notebook. I was filled with despair each day I came closer and closer to the end. And then I reached the end. And that was it. Nothing exploded. I didn't start crying. I closed the notebook, picked up my coffee mug, and went outside to water my plants.

I woke up this morning and faced the new notebook I got from the clearance rack at Raw Materials:

Half an inch shorter. Stark white, smooth pages instead of fibrous ones. A slick-textured cover instead of a plain brown one.

I opened it and started writing. And I remembered how, yes, exhilarating writing in a brand-spankin' new notebook can be. So I'm not facing a wild case of writer's block because of it. And if I had writer's block for morning brain vomit (which is what this notebook is for-- I started the ritual while trying not to go crazy in late 2007), then there's something bigger going on than a case of the wrong notebook.

[While writing this post, I was reading this one. Ha.]

Pearl Girl at OUTspoken Sessions // Allison Santos

2011-07-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first heard about Equal Action and OUTspoken Sessions at Tuesday Night Cafe back in 2009. Skim (who will be at J-Town Summer Sessions) was the inaugural featured performer. I attended for the first time in November of that year, when traci was the featured performer. Until this year, the queer youth open mic was held at the Solidarity Hall on Washington Blvd. It was a cosy, intimate space.

The next OUTspoken Sessions on Friday, July 22 will be at KIWA on 8th Street and is featuring visual artist and Pearl Girls Productions That's What She Said co-conspirator Allison Santos:

She plays "Rae" on TWSS and is one of the most recognizable cast members. Maybe it's the hair. Or her boyish charm. Or her magnetic dance moves.

For clarification: OUTspoken Sessions' intention is to provide space for queer youth age 19 and under, but older folks are encouraged to show up and support! Inter-generational solidarity, yes, please.

DIY Artist Residency // Kevin Kwong

2011-07-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

For the past month, our friend Kevin Kwong lived in our living room, made art, shared his art, and generally had a great time. We had a great time hosting him. New paintings appeared on the wall with incredible frequency. He even made incredibly affordable prints of his paintings ($20 each) which he debuted at the July 5th Tuesday Night Cafe. Here's one of my favorites:

Deeshaun’s Present

Now Kevin is gone, and our living room is no longer a bedroom, our dining area no longer a studio. My roommate Vicky and I are considering opening our living room once again this autumn for an artist-(friend)-in-residence.

Tofu & Cookie at Tuesday Night Cafe // Free Public Art

2011-07-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

I help curate the performers for TNC and I'm excited that we were finally able to get Audrey Kuo on the bill! But the fates toy with me, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make it. It's going to be such a good show, and with Mista Cookie Jar, it'll be extra kid-friendly, too.

This is a Cry for Help // Notebook Saga

2011-07-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

These 5.5x8.5" recycled-material notebooks have been my staple for morning writing for about a year now. A couple of months ago, the stock of the notebooks at Raw Materials began to dwindle. James, one of the co-shop owners, looked up the notebooks on the distributor's website and they were not available. I didn't think too much of it even though a small voice inside me was already beginning to feel the cold grasp of despair that my beloved notebooks would be discontinued. I began visiting every other week or so, asking James if anything had changed. Nothing had. Except that the stock of notebooks disappeared completely. I bought the last three or four that they had.

I went to the Daler-Rowney website to check out the situation, to find that indeed, they no longer even listed the notebooks. It was as if they never even existed. Stricken, I called the company and left a message about my predicament. I probably sounded half-crazed to whoever listened to it. I haven't gotten a call back.

And now, alas, I am in the final pages of my last notebook. Just a few more days and it will be over. I'll have to do an online order if I don't find a seller in town that still has these notebooks in stock. Ideally, I'd get some kind of deal and be able to order them in bulk, but considering how desperately I want to acquire them and since they're in limited supply, I should probably resign myself to paying a premium.

And then, what will I do once those notebooks run out, too? What will I do?

Well, I'll adapt, of course. Readjust when I must. But I'm trying to put that off for as long as possible. I'm being melodramatic, I know, I know. But these notebooks... they're so beautiful. If you see them anywhere in Los Angeles, let me know.

Thanks.

WHY, DALER-ROWNEY, WHY???

TNC Tonight: Comedy, Cocks, Opera, Poetry

2011-06-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

It feels like forever since the last time I heard The Fighting Cocks play. I think it was November, at applesauce's farewell party. (And oh yeah, the frontman is also The Park's Finest bbq master & TNC Resident Host Johneric Concordia.)

This is also going to be the last time in a while that I'll get to hear Mary Rose's sweet soprano live since she's going off to grad school in Santa Barbara. Ah, so much is changing.

Also, along with the tide of theatre that has come to Los Angeles this month (including the 3rd National Asian American Theater Festival & Conference) came Laos In The House from the Midwest.

Too much good stuff, as is always the case in LA.

Dayshots: Gardena to Long Beach // Biking

2011-06-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

I biked12-13 miles from Gardena to Long Beach a few weeks ago. I considered taking public transit, but the trip planner said to take the 125, which is slow and often very late (yes, even by LA Metro standards-- I took this line often in 2009 because it was one of the few which run through the little ol' town of Bellflower). And I'd have to transfer to a Long Beach Transit line to get to my final destination. The public transit option wasn't much faster than the biking option, and I didn't have any strict time constraints, so I biked it.

Central & Walnut

It was a good ride, especially along the stretch near CSU Dominguez Hills. There were large plots of flowers, the sidewalks were wide and smooth, and Del Amo Boulevard actually has a really sweet bike lane. The most difficult part was probably the uphill ride over the 91 freeway, when I gave up and walked my bike. I'm a wuss sometimes.

Spider along the LA River

It took me about 90 minutes to get to Carson & Cherry. It may have taken less time if I hadn't taken Gardena Boulevard and meandered through unfamiliar neighborhoods. I didn't realize it would end and just kept turning south and east until I hit a familiar street. The ride made me think about how rarely I travel toward a destination without time constraints, and how the amount of time it takes to get somewhere sometimes seems so important even when I don't have them. It was good to stop and let go of that fixation for a bit.

Khmers On Three Stages // LA Theatre

2011-06-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

You know what's exciting about living in Los Angeles right now? Other than my blossoming and fruiting little garden? Theatre. Seeing Khmer Americans stories and/or actors take the stage. I'm planning to see them all.

Extraordinary Chambers
(Seeing this on Tuesday!)

Year Zero

Krunk Fu Battle Battle
(I work at EWP where this is playing, but I haven't seen this yet. Soon!)

Gardening Schemes with Colorish Dreams // 1st&3rd Tuesday Night Cafe

2011-06-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

My friend A'misa (artist, writer, and creator of Colorish Dreams) and I have been sharing our growing dreams and schemes-- from future claimed public spaces to throwing all sorts of seeds into the moist earth to see if they grow. She and her mother have been incredibly successful with their saved seeds. Particularly cantaloupe seeds.

baby melons

She gave me this little pot of half a dozen seedlings (which I have no idea where to plant), and has a bunch more that she's trying to find homes for. We're on the lookout for a good spot for a guerrilla melon patch.

As for me, I have at least four dozen chamomile sprouts that I foolishly sowed into an egg carton. I have plans for places to plant them, but I doubt I'm going to find enough homes for them. They don't take much care, though, once they get established, and apparently even flourish with a little bit of neglect.

just-sprouting chamomile

So we're going to bring our extra seeds and little seedlings to the next Tuesday Night Cafe and share them with any takers. I'm sure there are seed bartering/exchanging events around LA, through the Seed Library of Los Angeles and the like, but it's always nice to be able to incorporate new things with old stand-bys. And, there's going to be music, poetry, live art, vendors, and general community goodness at TNC. So why not add some living green things, too? Not sure where we're going to put them, but we'll figure it out.

Guerilla plant exchange/giveaway
1st&3rd Tuesday Night Cafe
Aratani Courtyard
120 Judge John Aiso St, 90012
Show starts at 7:30 so come by at around 7:00 to check out what plants make it to Little Tokyo.