LA Blogs Friday Questions: Parts of LA

August 20, 2004 by Eric Richardson

It's part three of the weekly LA Blogs questions. This time Jonah's put together a set of questions about parts of the city.

What city or part of Los Angeles do you live in now?

Downtown, in the "Historic Core." My building on Spring St. was built by a bank in the 1930s, and then converted to apartments in the 1980s.

If you have lived somewhere else in the area, where was it?

For my first three years in LA I lived in the neighborhood right around USC. My first year I was in the dorms, and then for the next two I was in an apartment three blocks north of campus.

Besides where you live now, where else would you want to live in the area?

The beach. I had this grand scheme to live in Manhattan Beach and commute to USC from there, but then I took a job in Pasadena and that whole idea sort of went out the window.

Where would you not want to live?

Any of the non-descript areas that are in-between everything but don't have attractions of their own. I love having such interesting stuff all around me, right within walking distance.

How often do you venture out of your area?

All the time. Downtown has a lot going for it, but it doesn't yet have enough of everything to allow you to not leave. But why would you want to limit yourself like that? LA's so big, and there are so many cool places to go do things.

Where do you usually go when you get out?

When I get out? I don't know that I have a place that I "usually" go, but I try to make it down to Manhattan Beach once a week (if I'm lucky). For movies I probably most often go up to Pasadena.

How far do you work/school from where you live?

Work's something like 20 miles away from downtown. School is just maybe two and a half miles. The commute to work isn't as bad as you would think, though, since the downtown -> Pasadena drive in the morning is against the commute traffic. I wouldn't want to see how long it takes the other way.

Money is no object; Beach, the Hills, the City or Leave?

I really want to live at the beach, but I think right now I love downtown too much to say I'd leave. And if money's no object, there are some insane condos you can buy around here for a million or so.

the caltrans building on foot

August 19, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I took a walk today at lunch. From my apartment I went up Spring to 1st, and then from there headed a block east to take some pictures of the new Caltrans Building. My opinion of this building is altered a little bit each time I see it, but I think in general I'd say it gets refined more than changed. Check out my pictures starting here to see an admittedly low-quality view of what I'm talking about.

I think the building looks a lot less ominous when you're farther away. You get a sense of perspective that you can't get when you're right down under it. The Main St. fronting courtyard should be nice. It's still fenced off while under construction, but it looks like it'll be some open space that the building really needs to not flat out overpower you.

I've mentioned before that this building really made me sit there thinking I just didn't get it -- I just didn't understand. Today was a great example of this. It wasn't until I was standing across 1st, looking at a side-view of the building, that I first understood some of the crazy angles in the bottom of that black metal mesh covering. If you look at my third picture you can see a little of how the mesh is supposed to bunch up, looking a bit wrenched from its flat shape. From the front you can't see that. It just looks like weird angles.

The rear of the building, the side facing Los Angeles St, has a much poorer street presence than does the front. Here you do get those nice blank concrete walls directly across from the New Otani. Again, it's a question of how the structure interacts with the space it's given. All the lines on this building are horizontal, and pretty much all ornamentation is above the high-side ground level. As the gentle downhill runs its course, the building stays unchanged, its lines just moving farther above the street level. Yeah, it's a parking garage down there, but at least give the wall something. I mean you sheathed everything else in metal, why not that?

As always, it's still to early to judge what everything will look like once the finishing touches are in place and the construction fences come down. And as with all architecture, it'll end up being a matter of personal preference. My preference, though, is that I like the classic old downtown buildings. What happened to stately or sleek? When did those go out of style and give way to abrupt and jarring?

no, i'm not mayor yet

August 19, 2004 by Eric Richardson

So, a funny thing happened last night: I became an elected official.

I think my title is "Area-Wide Resident Artist", a position on the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. Yeah, "Resident Artist"... Me... What does that say about art?

Here's how it went down:

• Around noon I got an email from Brady Westwater asking if I was going to be at the election [last night]. I called him back and said something to the effect of "What election?" He explained , sort of, and said the Higgins building was behind a candidate and I could just show up to vote. That's cool, I'm curious about this whole hyper-local government via neighborhood council thing, so I figure I'll show up.

• 6:30pm I show up where the voting's going to be. I then find out that the actual votings not until 7pm. No problem... I hung out and got to know the few people who were there already.

• It gets to be 7pm. The Higgins group hasn't showed. Brady's calling people. Somebody's stuck in traffic. That person says they'll call the candidate. No one else shows.

• Several of the 6 or 8 people there to vote are getting impatient. There's no one to vote for. To pass the time I ask more about what the position is. I don't get a very clear answer, other than the title and that the person attends the board meetings and is expected to be on a couple of DLANC's committees.

• A minute or two more pass, and they're telling me that web design counts as an art these days. All of a sudden I have a candidate form in front of me and I'm filling out my name.

• Paperwork done I get nominated, give a very short speech telling a little about me, how I love living downtown, and how I'm interested in pursuing ways to enable localized community via the Internet, and the voting ensues. I'm running unopposed, and everyone votes for me.

• As of 7:20 or so I'm an elected official, with a position I didn't even know existed until seven hours earlier.

This is the kind of random stuff that happens to me in LA. Cool stuff, but so random...

oh so tempted

August 18, 2004 by Eric Richardson

I'm really tempted to get a Tivo. Best Buy has the Toshiba SD-H400 for $199, and then you can get a $100 rebate for signing up for the Tivo Plus service (for $13/mon). So basically you get an 80gig Tivo + DVD player for $99, which is the price of the regular Tivo 40-gig models.

I understand that I need a Tivo. I've played with them before. I love them.

I'm a little sketchy on integrating the Tivo with a cable box, using the whole IR repeater thing. I wish I lived somewhere where I could get DirecTV and get a DirecTivo. Those are very cool.

I have to run the numbers and see if, for instance, I could buy this and still be able to eat for the rest of the month. If I can, though, this may well be something I need to get.

i might not be the right person to ask

August 18, 2004 by Eric Richardson

A friend IM'ed me the other day. He said his company had asked him to start a blog, and he was looking for advice on how to go about that. Obviously, he hadn't read my paper, "Can Blogs and Corporations Co-exist?" I told him to read that first, and then we'd talk.

Today we followed up a bit, and I asked him a few more questions. Turned out the company wasn't satisfied with their placement in google, so they were looking for something to expand their web presence. My friend's boss told him "blogging would be a good way of doing it."

Right. See, if I were using examples for how not to go about starting a corporate blog, this would be a bullseye. No direction, no vision, just the vague idea that this new-fangled "blogging" trend might bring in more eyeballs. Sorry, but it doesn't quite work that way.

Blogs need to have a voice. They need to have a vision. A personal blog is focused on the interests of that individual. A blog like google does might be focused on exposing details of a company that a whole lot of people are interested in. But it can't be something written by "the company." My friend's company does business consulting: business plans, venture capital advice, stuff like that. "The company" can't write about that kind of stuff and make it interesting. I don't trust "the company." I think it's going to sell me things. My friend can't write a blog about that; he just doesn't know enough about the subject to write authoritatively. Why do I want to go read something written by some college kid trying to bring people to the company website?

this man never quits

August 18, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Like I do most mornings, I'm sitting here right now listening to Morning Becomes Eclectic. As the current song began I recognized a familiar voice. The song is RL Burnside's "Someday Baby" featuring Lyrics Born, off the album A Bothered Mind. The last (and only) RL album I've owned was 1998's Come On In.

I love this from the album description for Come On In:

I finally done did it. The world can finally hear my sound. I've been hollerin' and screaming to let them let me get my hands on the mixing knobs. I'm getting too old to waste my time with stuff that isn't on the cutting edge. I'm too old to be staying up all night writing songs; I got to spend my time on remixes. I always was a behind-the-scenes kind of man anyway.

You tell em, RL. The new album definitely sounds worth checking out.

and for tonight's entertainment...

August 17, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Yesterday was my birthday, so I cut out of work a bit early, picked Kathy up, and we went shopping. My wardrobe still needs a good bit of help, but it's doing a little better thanks to the Banana Republic in the Beverly Center.

Now, on your normal Beverly Center trip you see a lot of very trendy people buying very trendy things. It's a fancy mall, after all. Our trip, though those people may well have been there, featured a different main event. We arrived, went straight to the food court, and got some lunch. I went to Great Steak & Potatoe; Kathy went somewhere else and got a salad. So we sit down, start eating, and what breaks out in the Beverly Center food court? A fight. Not a fake fight, where a couple girls arguing over a pair of jeans start pushing, but a real full-on punching and kicking fight between three black guys. Now, I'm not 100% who started it, but after a prolonged exchange of words I seem to recall the physical action being initiated by the little guy -- probably 5'10", 160-170 lbs. The guy he took on was not little. He was probably more along the lines of 6'2", 240 lbs. And with him was a guy probably 6'0", 180 lbs, who had a solidly early 90s flat top. Needless to say, the little guy didn't win. Tables were upturned, people moved hurriedly to get out of the way of oncoming bodies, and before you knew it the whole thing was all but over.

What surprised me was how long it took Beverly Center security to show up. Once major combat broke out it probably took 4-5 minutes before the first officer arrived. By that time the little guy was bloody and being held down against a bench.

But hey, what better way to start your shopping experience?

For dinner Kathy had made reservations at The Lobster, in Santa Monica. The food was very good. I had blackened yellowtail, with spinach and potatoes. Our waiter was very good -- very attentive to the little things. For instance, when I go to a resturant and order a coke, and they bring it out in one of those nice resturant glasses, I don't use a straw. I take the straw out, and drink from the glass. Our waiter noticed this and next time removed the straw for me. It's the little things...

taking over one more step of the process

August 16, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Yesterday, after church, Kathy and I stopped by the Farmer's Market as we often do. I got my usual dish (bbq chicken on what looks like an oval-shaped pizza), but accompanied it with a new drink -- a mix of pomegranite juice and lemonade. The lady I ordered from recommended it, and I wasn't disappointed.

After we ate Kathy bought some fruit, commenting as usual on how cheap it was. Then we walked along the edge of the parking lot to Cost Plus World Market. Ostensibly we were going because Kathy needed mugs, but really I end up finding something I just must have every time I'm there. This time was no exception, and I walked out with a little hand-crank coffee grinder and some whole bean Columbian coffee. Alan (who of late can't be bothered to pull himself away from the wonder of Hawaii and post to his blog more than once every few weeks) had told me that if I'm going to drink coffee I really must grind it myself, so I figured hey why not. And the hand-crank grinder was cheap (under $20) and looked cool, so I reasoned that even if I didn't end up using it often it would look good on the counter.

Yesterday afternoon I gave it a test run, just to see what the process was like. This morning I did it again before work. Both times I overestimated the amount of beans needed to fill my 3-cup mug. Both times I ended up with the little grinder drawer absolutely full of coffee. And both times I made some of the blackest coffee you've ever seen. Now, I like strong coffee, so aside from being a bit of a waste this isn't that bad of a thing. It's powerful stuff, and you can tell that way before you ever drink it.

So a little fine-tuning is to be had, sure, but on the whole I'm glad -- as usual -- that I followed Alan's advice.

three nights of catch-up

August 15, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Time to catch up on a couple nights' worth of events...

Thursday evening we made our way over to Amboeba and were not disappointed. PJ Harvey played a short but focused set, and covered a good range of albums with her song selection. Thanks to traffic we missed the very beginning of the set, which I'm going to guess she started with The Letter, but that was the only disappointing part of the night. Sound was infinitely better than last time I saw an in-store there... I don't know what changed for that.

Friday night Kathy and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the the Tchaikovsky Spectacular. Now, I'm not really much for the symphony but it was cool none-the-less. I think that it's safe to say after Friday night that the new Hollywood Bowl shell is completely fireproof, as if not the fireworks (many of the spinning showers of sparks variety) would definitely have burned it down.

Last night Miggles, Kathy, and I made our way over to Hollywood and saw Collateral at the Arclight. It was only my second time seeing a movie in the dome, and I think I've come to terms with the fact that paying a little more is no excuse for seeing a movie there. It really is incredible; the sound and picture are both perfect. Collateral was cool since it was largely set downtown. A couple LA related things that I noticed:

• Why did they pretend the Gas Company building (where the attorneys' office was set) was on Spring? When Jada Pinkett Smith first gets in the car she gives Jamie Foxx an address in the 300-block of Spring, but then their actual destination is the Gas Co, with a Grand street sign easily visible. It's one of those things that doesn't matter at all, which is why it's confusing. Why not just say it's on 5th or Grand or whatever street the building officially fronts?

• When Jamie Foxx speeds up at the end he really speeds up. He's whistling through the above-ground/below-ground bit of 4th St, and then all of a sudden he's down south by Staples Center flipping his car.

• Related to that scene... It's interesting that Collateral chose to date itself a bit by keeping the big Playmakers ad on the side of Hotel Fig. That would have seemed to have been a perfect spot for a little digital painting and a product placement.

• I loved when Foxx runs by The Standard and steals the guy's cell phone. I sat there thinking, "Stupid Standard yuppy... Now he'll go complain about how unsafe downtown is."

• Of course right after Foxx runs past the Standard (6th and Flower) he runs up the parking garage at "777 Tower". The logo for 777 was really familiar, and I couldn't place it for a second. Then I realized the parking garage is the one for 7+Fig, where Kathy and I parked Wednesday night on our way to CPK.

• I'm sure the MTA wasn't all that thrilled about their placement in the film. "Call us Metro and we'll take you anywhere." Yet Cruise twice calls it the MTA. And then he dies on the Blue Line, which has enough image problems of its own without that help.

None of these really affect the movie, but I just found them interesting.

Friday Questions, round two

August 13, 2004 by Eric Richardson

For the second edition of his Friday LA Blogs questions, Jonah's asking about food. I like food.

Where is the last place you ate out?

• Last night Kathy and I went to the CPK in 7th+Fig. I had the Carne Asada pizza. She had a salad with chicken on it. We sat down at 9:10 and made it back to my apartment in time to catch Swimming Pool at 10 on Starz.

How often do you eat out?

• If you include fast food, usually once a day. Going somewhere sit down, probably twice a week. Today Kathy's going to come downtown for lunch and we're going to go back to the Yorkshire Grill, where I ate lunch on Wednesday.

Where is the place you eat most?

• The cafeteria at JPL probably doesn't count, does it? I don't know a place I go "most". I'm going to cheat and say downtown. There's just so much here all in walking distance. I can't claim to have put even a dent in the list of places to try.

Where do you tell your friends that they "have to try"?

• We usually take friends to C&O's, over in Venice. Last trip there was one of very mixed emotions, though.

What dish do they have to order when they get there?

• Eh, whatever they want. I, on the other hand, always get the same thing: Fettucine a Limone with grilled chicken.

Where do you eat when money is not a concern?

• You go eat steak, and you go where it's the best in LA and open 24 hours, obviously. (Pacific Dining Car, for those who haven't been there). On our first trip I ordered the baseball steak, because I am above all things curious. It really was roughly the proporitions of a baseball. When I ordered, the waiter said "Ah, getting a piece of the the rock."

Where do you eat when money is tight?

• Used to be C&O's... I don't have as much of a fallback now as I did, though. If money's real tight (which, hey, it often is) I'll probably walk over to Grand Central Market and get a huge meal-sized taco for $2.

What restaraunt have you wanted to try but haven't been to yet?

• Kathy and I were just talking about this yesterday... There are so many. Ciudad, because we've got a good coupon. Cafe Pinot because of the location. Well, anything Patina Group that I haven't tried, for that matter. I could go on, but you asked for one.

poor little cubbies

August 12, 2004 by Eric Richardson

It's got to be a rough time to be a Bruin. Their sports teams are second-fiddle in LA, the academic edge they once had is all but gone, and now we're stealing their faculty. From digitalcenter.org:

The staff and programs of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy have joined the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in the newly created Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg.

Annenberg is my school at USC. There's a longer press release on Business Wire.

thanks, New York Times

August 12, 2004 by Eric Richardson

Is it odd that the New York Times is telling me about free wifi in my neighborhood? I ran across a story today, mostly fluff, talking about telco responses to people stealing wifi (mooching off neighbors). I don't really care about that part so much, but the very bottom contained the part I was interested in:

Two blocks from my apartment is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in it is a coffee bar where a customer can order an exceptional latte. The other day I spotted a notice there advertising free Internet access for Wi-Fi users.

I took it as a sign that since my days of Internet mooching were over, for whatever reason, maybe I just needed to start hanging out in this lovely space with my laptop. Better coffee than Starbucks, and no access charge. And no guilt, either. Life isn't so bad in the Wi-Fi age, after all.

Hmmm... Definitely worth checking out.