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Happy Cinco de Mayo and Happy Fresh Tamales Going Like Hotcakes at Grassroots!

My favorite health food store, the kind that's straight out of the 70's, is in South Pasadena. Grassroots is in a little mini-mall at Fair Oaks & Oxley. And every Cinco de Mayo, for two days, May 5th & 6th, they celebrate by serving up fresh, home-made, unbelievably delicious Tamales.

Fresh Green Chile & Cheese Tamales. $4.75 a piece

Apparently the kitchen worked tirelessly to make these amazing, authentic treats. I mean for days. They have Machaca, Chicken, Green Chili and Cheese (my favorite), Pork, and Jackfruit. Jackfruit by the way is delicious and an amazing source of protein. It's like you know when everyone told you to eat kale and would tell you it's worth it but you sort of had to admit you didn't like kale that much? Well, jackfruit is delish. No rationalizing.

They also serve an outstanding, homemade, rojo or verde sauce to go with them:

I'm so excited. Got like half a dozen. Freezing a few and eating some for dinner. Home in bed nursing a cold but this? This all feels healthy.

Labeled everything. They're very nice.

So remember this is just for today and tomorrow that they have these kick-ass tamales. The kitchen opens at 9am and though the market is open until 7, the kitchen closes at 4pm.

And by the way, you may want to come here anyway. They have everything: vitamins, neti pots (which when I went to go buy one asked them if they had a "honey pot." That was embarrassing), and these OUTSTANDING brownies that are like gluten-free and the whole deal and will knock your socks off. In other words, maybe every day you eat gluten, fucking love the stuff, cannot get enough. That's fine. You'd love these, too. They're cakey, moist, flavorful. Trust me, I'm a snob. Hey, that's a great name for my latest autobiography. Where's my assistant? Assistant? Take note!

The Big Yummy is a Big Yes.

It's almost amusing how good they are. And just in case you go when it's not May 5th or 6th, I have to recommend their Bowls. They have The Fiesta Bowl, $8.95, Vegan Chicken, $10.50, The Cuban Bowl which I love because Plantains are my favorite thing ever, $8.95 and plenty more. The one I always get is The Chili Bowl. Never took a picture of it but man, so good. Vegan Chili (made with Tempeh) or Beef Chili (all their beef, chicken, turkey & pork are raised naturally without hormones or antibiotics), rice (brown or Spanish though yesterday they had Spanish Quinoa which was fabulosity), cheddar or soy cheese, avo, scallions or red onions. Top it with some sour cream and DUDE, you're a happy peace-loving camper. $10.50 for the bowl. Oh, and you can get it on freshly made corn bread. How nice is that?

Speaking of Corn...

I implore you, if you care about food at all:

Beef Machaca Tamales at Grassroots Natural Market & Kitchen

Grassroots Natural Market & Kitchen is at 1119 Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, CA 91030. Hours are Monday thru Friday, 9am to 7pm, Saturday, 9am-6pm, and Sunday 10am to 5pm. But remember the kitchen closes at 4pm and on Sundays, only the juice bar is open. Parking available for free. Tamales are made special for today and tomorrow. $4.75 a piece. You can call ahead if you want to save time. 626.799.0156.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Enjoy!

Oh My God I Have a Blog & Paris Photo LA is Coming Up! Get Your Tix!

Bourdin Guy's on exhibit at Paris Photo LA, 2015 (from Foam in Amsterdam)

I seriously know know know this is such a good place for me to have an outlet. I always forget it's here. Yes, like I said in my last post, I've been writing. This blog is supposed to be about my recommendations about cool stuff in LA but because I've been consumed with another creative endeavor, I've not had a chance to do that. I miss it! I wish there were more hours in the day.

But what I am planning on doing I'm extremely excited about. I have this goal to shoot what I've been writing in May, on my own dime, so you know, it will literally be a dime. So terrified. So happy people want to work on it with me. So hopeful about it. And yet I'm not one of the young kids who are like "No big deal! I shoot shit in my sleep." Not me. Still it's so much fun and I happen to really love the characters and the world. Maybe I'll even post the outcome here. I don't know. Who knows what the future holds?

Paris Photo, LA

That being said, I'm distracted, big time. It's always a good sign when the house is messy. Means I'm in the zone (or mentally ill). And listen, there's other big stuff too, but the web series is one of the bigger projects that's taken me out of this hobby - this blog - my sweet Opine LA!

Thomas Joshua Cooper, Snake River from the Ingleby Gallery will be on exhibit

And the anniversary of it's birth is coming up. My first post was about my adventure hitting Paris Photo LA with my good friends, Max & Nicole.

Paris Photo LA, me, Max & Nic

I'm so sad I'll miss being there with them this year (and I believe my cutie pants friend Heather is going as well). Oh Paris Photo LA! It is so spectacular. So much fun. SO WORTH IT.

Paris Photo will be in May. May 1-3 on The Paramount Lot to be specific. They'll be hosting 80 leading galleries and be showcasing art from 17 countries. It is so cool to be on the lot, seeing art in the stages and backlot. And they always have food trucks (though if you're in a crunch starving and need something before or after, get a veggie burger with zucchini fries at Astro Burger on the corner of Gower and Melrose. Oh, and ask for extra dipping sauce for the zucchini fries. You won't regret it).

If I wasn't going to Portland to see the maternal side of the fam, trust me, nothing would keep me away. Oh how I will miss it!

ENJOY!

xoxo

Paris Photo's Link for Tix & Info: http://www.parisphoto.com/losangeles
Astro Burger is at 5601 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Here's the link: http://www.astroburger.com/


Paris Photo at Paramount April 27, 2013 - the first pic on my blog.

When I Don't Post for Awhile...

So when I don't post for awhile, I'm writing. I think about this site, think about stuff to tell you about (Cacao in Eagle Rock - just found it, am never gonna let it go, Mark Peel's new shack has opened up at Grand Central Market - have to go there and can't believe I haven't yet, and my friend Laurie told me about secret hikes that we will go on) and I sometimes visit and see the pictures I posted and I'm like I gotta post new pictures! I gotta honor the people and businesses I photographed in Silverlake, etc., etc. But the good news about when I'm not on here is I'm writing scripts.

It's not always easy. Writing can be a lonely business (unless you're staffed on a show and maybe even then if you don't like the staff!). I sometimes feel like I'm going nuts. One of the reasons I started this blog was if I had writer's block, I could write something different, factual-oriented, just to break up the monotony. If you're stumped and aren't coming up with the goods, a blog post can be a great palate cleanser. And seriously, just to emerge from the cave known as home and be in the sunshine and take photos and see art and eat good food -- who wouldn't want to do that? I'll tell you who, a depressed writer, staring at a blank screen. So the blog really is a sort of salvation for me. Hopefully it gives people a fun idea of what to do and see in my town and it really gives me a break.

So anyway, I'm on the cusp of getting super precious and I actually think it's really boring to talk about writing in the blog. But I just wanted some sort of an explanation as to why so absent. I love this site so much. It's been a salvation for me. And it isn't going anywhere. Swear!

Please keep visiting - I'm closing in on 30,000 hits! That's a lot for someone like me! And if you have stuff you want me to visit, please get in touch. Would love to hear about it. I am slowly clawing my way back to civilization, the sunshine beckons, the burgers smell delicious and the cave is not as alluring as the beach.

MWAH!

Larry Sultan LACMA Oxygen

I fucking love art and I love my friends. On a sunny day, when you should be doing this and you should be doing that, the reality is you're not doing this and you're not doing that and it's not good lying around, perusing social media and basically NOT GETTING SHIT DONE. So, the first order of business is to LEAVE YOUR HOUSE. The next is to realize you live in an incredible city with incredible people and incredible beauty and insight. The next? Breathe....

Beautiful Stephanie, with Oxygen (which by the way, cured her migraine!)

This Sunday, a friend of mine, Heather, invited some girls over for a Valentine's Brunch at her place near LACMA where she prepared quiches, coffee and pulled out an oxygen tank.

Heather practically air guitaring her oxygen tank

I love oxygen. I just had no idea how sexy it could make someone look but seriously, my friends look hot with oxygen masks on! Anyway, it was fun to hang out, catch up, have girl talk and use her oxygen mask (and her massage chair which is not like the massage chair at the nail places. It's really good).

Afterwards I had THE BEST TIME because like an addict, I went to nearby LACMA for yet another hit of Larry Sultan.

Sharon Wild, by Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan is AMAZING. He grew up in The Valley and took these outstanding photographs to interpret, reimagine, and make good of his upbringing, environment and family. Some of the most unnerving, comical, disturbing and provoking photos are the ones he took of porn stars and porn production. I've never seen anything like it. Like this one above of Sharon Wild. The bare mattress, the weird pink gauze-y sheet, the suitcase. Her face with anger, acceptance, sadness? Her pose of protectiveness, like "I'm off the clock, Larry, you don't get this when I'm off the clock, you get me." 

But it's the photos of his parents that sell it. So uncomfortable, so comical. And I love the quote on the wall that he took these photographs, motivated by this desire to stop time; that he wanted his parents to live forever:

There's something so vulnerable, so sweet, so human, so bare and this feeling like They're just trying. They're just people. They're just giving it their best shot with what they have at the moment in time, in their generation. Oh my God, the photos of his parents just killed me.

LACMA is seriously one of the best museums on earth. I'm sure of this. And it's right here, right in our backyard. Right real close to Heather's house. I mean she could walk there. And what is so cool was on Sunday after Heather's, my husband met me there. First I showed him Larry Sultan but then we went to the top floor of the Broad Contemporary Bldg. to the Abstract show, which, by the way, he had made some cracks about because I think it's called "Conversations In and Around Abstract Painting." I mean that is pretty fun to make fun of but then, of course, the show won us over AND we stumbled upon an amazing fact: a friend of my husband's is in the show!

Terry, my husband, beside HIS FRIEND'S ART: Love Forever (Cave) for MW by Mary Weatherford

Yeah, we're gonna talk about that shit now, right? We were so pleasantly surprised. I mean so much so that when he looked at Mary's piece, appropo of nothing, he said, "I like that one." And then we got up close and realized it was Mary's! Of course when I realized this, I told anyone who would listen, Yeah, we know the artist. Yeah, she's a local. A good friend of my husband's. Uh huh. So fucking cool! 

Abstract Art at LACMA in one of those PAN photos which I'm not sure is a good or a bad iPhone feature

So if you go to LACMA, and if you're smart you will, go check that out. And while you're on that floor, check out the movie(s) entitled Touch Parade in the room behind Mary's. There's a piece there featuring this guy wearing a white sneaker rolling around a pickle until he crushes it with his foot. I know that might not sound entertaining but for some reason it's EXTREMELY entertaining.

But really, the big thing is to make sure you see Larry Sultan's show.

Collaboration with Mike Mandel - billboards they had put all around LA

Incredible re-imagining of Larry Sultan's upbringing by extracting stills from home movies

Off Sepulveda, 2001 (creepy porn moment - but amazing shot)

LACMA IS OXYGEN.

LACMA is at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, LA, CA 90036. Hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11-5. Friday 11-8. Saturday and Sunday 11-7. Daily "children" under 17 can go for free, as long as they're accompanied by at least one adult (reminds me how I used to get into Danceteria in NYC). After 3p on Mondays and Fridays, LACMA is free to LA residents, but bring proof of residency like your license. Also the 2nd Tuesday of each month LACMA is free to all. YAY! If you're going on a weekday, parking on Wilshire is not allowed after 4pm. So park on 6th for metered parking and walk through the back. It's nice to enter that way anyway. You get to walk by the Tar Pits that always look lame to me but if you have a kid with you, they might think that's cool.

ENJOY!

Why is a guy crushing a pickle with a white sneaker so freakin hypnotic?

Music in LA Tonight: Michiko Freemond

Ah, good music. Could it trump football? Superbowl Sunday is a national holiday and we would get off work if we worked on Sundays. Some of us do, and to the bartenders, busboys and valets, I am sorry, ladies & gents. I hope at the very least you make a lot of dough.

But tonight, at Hotel Cafe, if football is not your jam or if futbol is but not football, then I recommend you check out my good friend, Michiko Freemond. She's a little Joni Mitchell, a little Tom Waits, and add in some Lucinda and you got it. Here's Michiko and a video she cut when recording with Brant Biles. [VIDEO LINK]

Tix are available on The Hotel Cafe website but you probably can take advantage of Superbowl Sunday, get there at 6:30 and not pay the upcharge you might on the website.

It's 11 bucks to get in the door. Below is Michiko at her Molly Malone's show:

Hotel Cafe is at 1623 1/2 Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90028. 323.461.2040. It's 3 blocks west of Vine between Sunset and Hollywood. If you don't find street parking, there's parking at the yogurt place, on Selma and Cahuenga for 5 bucks.

Here's more info: PARKING AT THE HOTEL CAFE.

And if you want to get weird with genre bending music, stick around. At 8p, The Evangenitals play.

I am so pissed I'm sick! Enjoy!

The Rolling Stones at The Taschen Gallery -- Get What You Need

I had SOOOOOO much fun yesterday. Oh my God. It was one of those freedom days. One of those alive days. And unexpected. Completely unplanned. Which is always the best.

Sexy hot and unfair, Photo by Ethan Russell, 1972. The Official name of this photograph is "Lips."

I had to go to the WGA and because of that, I ended up seeing my friend, Adco, at Joan's on 3rd for an impromptu friend date. I have to do a real post for Joan's on 3rd but I will say this, as hoighty toighty as it is, it's also incredibly relaxed and it has a DAMN good cup of coffee (and super good crispy bacon. I didn't even know they served breakfast and you  know  how into breakfast I am these days). I also want to say seeing Adam reminds me of all that is good: cars, music, art, New York, our mutual friend, Dina and The Rolling Stones.

So it made good sense that on my way home I stopped by the Taschen Gallery to see The Stones show. Earlier in the morning I drove by and remembered Ad had attended the opening night for the exhibit. I remembered the pictures and it looked like fun but forgot. And then boom, I saw this...

...on the corner of Beverly and Crescent Heights. 

When I was growing up I was obsessed with/scared by/attracted to The Rolling Stones. But it was in NYC with my Tall Friend Jen that I became completely, irrationally obsessed. To date, Mick is the only rock star I've ever had a sex dream about and I gotta admit the truth, I'm pretty proud of that.

My boyfriend, Mick Jagger. Photo by Jean-Marie Perier, Paris, 1966

You probably know about Taschen because of their famous Dian Hanson books.

You've seen them for years. They're known as the "sexy books." And there's a great article I recently read about Dian Hanson in Believer Mag. Check it out.

But this exhibit is Taschen's first here in LA. They opened mid-December and way to open! With The Stones! Nice! Because it's been such a success, they've extended the photographic exhibit - which has close to 100 photos throughout the years - to February 15th. And you know, you think Taschen, you think books. So of course, there's a huge and luscious Stones book with the pics from the exhibit on sale for $150. And because it's Taschen, there's also a mega 5k book with all The Stones signatures...

Yari from Taschen displaying their Sumo Rolling Stones Book with The Fella's Signatures

I'm thrilled a piece of history, culture, England, New York -- home -- is in LA. The exhibit is curated by Reuel Golden and the photographers are iconic. You'll see the works of masters such as David Bailey, Anton Corbijn, Gered Mankowitz, Terry Richardson, Dominique Tarle, and Albert Watson here. AND it's all for sale. 

The Taschen Gallery

Knowing they've extended it, I'm sure to go back. And listen, they have The Stones playing continuously while you're there. What's not to like?

Speaking of, driving home, I put on the radio and "Miss You" came on. A sunny day, in LA. Seeing one of my best friends, getting an eyefull of Mick, Keith, Brian, Charlie, Ronnie, Bill. Then driving home on the freeway to "Miss You"? 

Brian Jones by Bent Rej taken in 1965 in London at Brian's home.

You gotta love LA.

Joan's on 3rd is at 8530 West 3rd. There's another location at 12059 Ventura Boulevard in Studio city. Street Parking available. Always check your meter. It gets vicious around here.

The Taschen Gallery is at 8070 Beverly Boulevard. LA, CA 90048. 323.852.9098. Hours of Operation is Tuesday thru Saturday 11-6PM and Sunday 12 to 5PM. And by Appointment. PS: Don't be afraid. It's free!

ENJOY!