The City E-Zine

A remarkable coincidence has been pointed out to me by my friends Kay and Joni who are planning on attending my somewhat-anticipated 8 Presidents Ride this Presidents Day weekend. It seems through no fault or planning of my own, the ride is taking place this Saturday –  the very same day as the highly anticipated first-annual L.A. Street Food Fest. Not only that, but check it: the end of the bike ride puts us almost in veritable bacon-wrapped hotdog-throwing distance of all that centralized mobile deliciousnessesness. Whoa.

So without busting out the slide rule and coming at it from an intensely scientific and/or parlimentary perspective, suffice it to say that upon the conclusion of the 8 Presidents Ride (estimated to be around 2 – 2:30 p.m.), some of us cyclist types will then be pedaling down 7th Street to Bixel to end up where the food peddlers (and free bike valet!) are. Join us, won’t you? Or see you there!

PS. Our own Queequeg had the fest’s details here first.

Classic Eats #9 is scheduled for Saturday, February 27. Where shall it be?

Our three options:

Hot Hollywood Night: Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and Boardner’s

Burbank Bonanza: The Smokehouse

Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest: Tito’s Tacos and Johnnie’s Pastrami

As ever, we’ll start around 5pm so you can stop in then move on to the rest of your Saturday evening events. Or stay all night!

Click here to vote!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles: Have you had this magical combo that came to us from Harlem? The restaurant is not as old as some in LA, only about 30 years or so, but the reputation is solid. We will be going to the original location on Gower in Hollywood. Boardners, since 1942, is west on Hollywood from Roscoe’s, right around the corner from Musso and Frank. The Art Deco rooms and bar are still gorgeous, the back patio is perfect for an evening’s refreshment. The glitterati used to spend time here and it’s rumored that Elizabeth Short had her last drink here before stepping into the night and becoming the Black Dahlia. Do you need further proof that Boardner’s is an LA Classic? I thought not.

Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles
Boardner’s

Burbank Bonanza

The Smokehouse has been nestled in Burbank since 1946, serving the likes of  Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Milton Berle, and Jack Parr. Located right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios, you never know who you might see there. Captain and Tenille were discovered there — need I say more?? They are also famous for their garlic bread – okay twist my arm, I’ll orders some. BONUS: On Saturdays from 4-6pm you get 25% off any item on their regular dinner menu. I don’t have a second location for this event, so if anyone can chime in for a follow up spot, local to Burbank and in any way classic, I’m in!

The Smokehouse

Westside Alka-Seltzer Fest:

Tito’s Tacos has been in Culver City since 1959 and I’ve been on many a film set when the late meal was a greasy box of Tito’s and the crew was stoked. The lines are long, almost no matter when you drive by. Just around the corner is Johnnie’s Pastramiwhere since 1952 they’ve been serving up pastrami, hot dogs and great fries. Bring the Bromo!

Tito’s Tacos (Warning: the website has a theme song when you click on the link. I can’t find the off button!)
Johnnie’s Pastrami

City Councilman Tom LaBonge participating in cover up. Literally.

An LAPD “community alert” sent to me moments ago reads:

On February 11, 2010 the Hollywood sign will be covered up for an international campaign. The sign will be covered until further notice.

Do not be alarmed, the sign will remain in place and there will be no changes done to the sign. This is just an informational e-mail so we do not receive phone calls from worried citizens.

Carolyn Ramsay with Councilman Tom LaBonge’s office would provide me with no additional information besides that they were participating in the secretive event. “You’ll have to wait til Thursday,” Carolyn repeated to me when I pressed for information.

*UPDATE 4:59pm: The media point person with the Hollywood sign itself, Betsy Isroelit, told me that the sign cover up would have nothing to do with an Amnesty International announced day of support for human rights Iran also scheduled for the 11th, or the Winter Olympics, beginning the following day. Zach at LAist is also digging into this.

**UPDATE 7:54p: The LA Weekly reveals that the alteration is planned to coincide with an announcement by the non-profit “Trust for Public Land,” which, based on the group’s purpose, could theoretically be purchasing the land around the Hollywood sign, which has been at risk of being used for private development over the past few years. Details will be announced at a Thursday 10am press conference at the Hollywood W Hotel.

Worth nothing: Carolyn insisted this has nothing to do with the fake Hollywood sign vandalism that pop star Ke$ha hoaxed her fans with a few days ago.

Ke$ha’s viral video of her defacing the Hollywood sign… again, a real defacement of sorts will be occuring this Thursday so DO NOT BE ALARMED.

click to embiggen

Everytime I drive past this little house in Duarte I have to double take the 6 foot tall headless angel.  Next to the flag pole, framed by a partial fence.

Pic by me and does get bigger with a click.  I love these home-owners that decorate with a zeal an HOA would never approve of.

Living in the center of the film and television industry, there are some fun games we get to play, like the “That Guy” game, where you run into a random actor out and about who you can’t quite place, and whichever of your friends figures it out first without resorting to IMDB wins. Another great game is “Name That Location”, wherein you can recognize the exact location a show is using for those remote scenes, not only showing off your photographic memory, but also destroying the fictional world the show has created and disrupting its narrative. It’s fun!

Now, it’s one thing to recognize local landmarks being used in a film, but I find it especially fun seeing my own neighborhood represented on the big screen (or TV. or laptop screen.). Eagle Rock is used all the time for exteriors, as many blocks are easily disguised as Small Town, Anywhere, USA. But interiors are harder to spot on TV – I knew it was Cindy’s Diner (which quite possibly gets more business as a shooting location than a restaurant) in those AT&T ads with Luke Wilson, but only because I saw Wilson standing outside in the parking lot while the commercial was being shot.

But this weekend while catching up on The Office, I spotted another local business (Can you guess it? Identity revealed after the jump):

It’s the newly-relocated PeekAboo Playland on Colorado! And how did I peg that one? I recognized their big, white eMac by the front door. Yes, PeekAboo Playland staffers, I am that chick who walks by and stares through your window awkwardly all the time because I can’t wrap my head around how you’re running your business on an eMac.

And that’s one more immersive viewing experience ruined because I spent too much energy watching the background and trying to make this screencap – so much so that I had to rewind and watch the scene over again since I totally forgot everything that happened.