While in Los Angeles

In honor of a friend's arrival in Los Angeles, I have undertaken to list of a few of my favorite L.A. places.

This list is by no means exhaustive or definitive but it can be a nice start for new arrivals. I've skipped those places that, while excellent, are also so well-known as not to bear repeating (places like LACMA, MOCA, and the Getty) except where I wanted to point out specific events hosted at those institutions. I've also largely skipped writing reviews ("excellent coffee," "delicious pizza," and all that). Two years as a food critic was long enough. Suffice it to say: these are all great places, just go try them and see.

I am also compiling a separate list of things to do in Los Angeles with babies and young children – coming soon.

SANTA MONICA
Glow. An annual summer arts festival. For twenty four hours, the pier and surrounding beaches are given over to art installations and performance pieces.
Santa Monica Pier, www.glowsantamonica.org.

Literati Café. Coffee and free wireless, a nice place to work.
12081 Wilshire Boulevard, www.literaticafe.com.

Musha. Japanese fusion.
424 Wilshire Boulevard, http://musha.us/.

Snug Harbor. Brunch, excellent biscuits. Another good brunch place, Bread and Porridge, is next door.
2323 Wilshire Boulevard and 2315 Wilshire Boulevard

Warszawa. Polish food.
1414 Lincoln Boulevard, www.warszawarestaurant.com.

MALIBU
Getty Villa. Regular staged readings and full performances of classical Greek plays in the summer.
17985 Pacific Coast Highway, www.getty.edu.

WEST L.A.
Guelaguetza. Oaxacan food.
3014 West Olympic Boulevard, www.guelaguetzarestaurante.com.

John O' Groats. Brunch, particularly known for their pancakes.
10516 West Pico Boulevard, www.ogroatsrestaurant.com.

Mr. Cecil's. Barbecue ribs with assorted sides and cakes.
12244 West Pico Boulevard, www.mrcecilscaliforniaribs.com.

CULVER CITY
The Actor's Gang. Affordable, innovative theater specializing in classics. (Also, the Summer Family Theater Program is great for kids – see my other list.)
9070 Venice Boulevard, www.theactorsgang.com.

Art Walk. There's a large concentration of art galleries along Washington and La Cienega streets in Culver City. Once a year (usually in May or June) they do an Art Walk, a free open house for all the area galleries and museums. (Dozens of other L.A. neighborhoods also have art walks throughout the year.)

Bottle Rock. Wine bar. (A second location is in downtown L.A.)
3847 Main Street, www.bottlerock.net.

Center for Land Use Interpretation. Small, quirky museum.
9331 Venice Boulevard, www.clui.org.

Father's Office. In the old Helm's Bakery building. One of the best burgers in L.A. Across the street is Let's Be Frank, hot dogs– they also have a mobile truck.
3229 Helms Avenue, www.fathersoffice.com and www.letsbefrankdogs.com.

La Dijonaise. Café. Also in the old Helm's Bakery building. French café food, excellent lemon bars. 8703 Washington Boulevard, www.ladijonaise.com.

Museum of Jurassic Technology. The best place in L.A. Don't read about it, just go there. It's best to go when it's very uncrowded, maybe a weekday afternoon. (They also have shows, concerts, and films; pick up an event schedule.)
9341 Venice Boulevard, http://mjt.org/.

WEST HOLLYWOOD
Canter's. 24-hour deli. Lousy food and ill-tempered service, but still an L.A. institution.
419 North Fairfax Avenue, www.cantersdeli.com.

New Beverly Cinema. Excellent revival theater with $7 double features every night.
7165 W. Beverly Boulevard, www.newbevcinema.com.

Pacific Design Center. Art and design events on the third Thursday of every month. Also see the website for their lecture series.
8687 Melrose Avenue, www.pacificdesigncenter.com.

Silent Theater. Eclectic, eccentric movie theater with nightly programming including the Five-Minute Game (wherein the audience is shown the first five minutes of 15 different obscure movies and then votes on the one they want to see in its entirety). Also runs original silent pictures with organ accompaniment. Down the street from Canter's.
611 North Fairfax Avenue, cinefamily.org.

MID-WILSHIRE
Campanile. Try their Thursday night grilled cheese specials or their Wednesday night soup kitchen.
624 South La Brea Avenue, www.campanilerestaurant.com.

Csardas. Excellent Hungarian food – heavy but perfect for our few cold days a year.
5820 Melrose Avenue.

Lou. Wine bar and restaurant, try the "pig candy."
724 Vine Street, www.louonvine.com.

Village Pizzeria. Started by transplanted Brooklynites, maybe the closest thing to real New York-style pizza in L.A. A good newsstand is across the street.
131 N Larchmont Boulevard, www.villagepizzeria.net.

HOLLYWOOD
Bourgeois Pig. Comfortable coffee place next door to a good newsstand.
5931 Franklin Avenue.

The Hollywood Farmer's Market. Every neighborhood has their own farmer's market, but one of the best is in Hollywood on Sunday mornings.
1600 Ivar Avenue, http://farmernet.com/.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Classic movie screenings in the cemetery all summer long. Bring a picnic and folding chairs and be sure to arrive early.
6000 Santa Monica Boulevard, http://cinespia.org/.

Palms Thai. Los Angeles has the nation's best Thai food and Palms a good representative of it.
5900 Hollywood Boulevard.

Sacred Fools. Independent theater, featuring the comedy series Magnum Opus on Friday nights – staged readings of some of the city's worst screenplays. In a district filled with other small theaters. (See also the North Hollywood theater district.)
660 North Heliotrope Drive, www.sacredfools.org.

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Improv comedy with free shows on Sunday evening. Next door is the Bourgeouis Pig.
5919 Franklin Avenue, www.ucbtheatre.com.

Yai. More great Thai.
5757 Hollywood Boulevard.

Arclight. First-run, independent, and classic movies, film festivals.
Several locations, the nicest at 6360 W. Sunset Boulevard, www.arclightcinemas.com/.

DOWNTOWN
The Brewery. Artists' residence in the converted Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery. With a theater, galleries, cooking classes, and a bar and restaurant. They also host open-house art walks twice a year.
600 Moulton Avenue, www.thebrewery.net/.

The Edison. Maybe the most beautiful bar in L.A. 35 cent cocktails and burlesque shows on Thursdays, grilled cheese and tomato soup on Fridays.
108 W. 2nd Street #101, www.edisondowntown.com/.

Grand Central Market. Fresh chiles, spices, tamales, pupusas, Central and South American foods, and much more.
317 South Broadway.

Grand Performances. Free summer concert, film, and performance series. Bring wine and a picnic – there's also a nice grocery store onsite. (With some child-specific shows, see other list.)
California Plaza, 300-350 S. Grand Avenue, http://grandperformances.org/.

Langer's. Widely considered by critics to be the best pastrami in the country.
704 South Alvarado Street, www.langersdeli.com/.

Mama's Hot Tamales. Tamales with recipes from Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru.
2124 West 7th Street.

Mindshare. The third Thursday of every month, a party featuring art installations and guest lectures by local academics, artists, and various experts. Held in various locations downtown.
www.mindshare.la/.

Museum of Natural History, First Fridays. The first Friday of every month local university professors give scientific lectures and lead tours followed by cocktails and live music.
900 Exposition Boulevard, www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/first-fridays.

The Redwood Room. Kitschy but charming pirate-themed bar.
316 W. 2nd Street, www.theredwoodbar.com/.

Seven Grand. A menu of 271 whiskeys and whiskey-based cocktails.
515 West 7th Street, www.sevengrand.la/.

SOUTH LOS ANGELES
The Velaslavasay Panorama. A magical little gallery featuring a 360-degree panorama painting. Frequent live performances and events.
1122 W 24th Street, www.panoramaonview.org.

LOS FELIZ
The Alcove. Comfortable, relaxing lunch and brunch spot.
1929 Hillhurst Avenue, www.alcovecafe.com/.

Fred 62. Diner with excellent French toast.
1850 N. Vermont Avenue, www.fred62.com/.

Home. Another diner with a wonderfully comfortable outdoor patio. Half-off specials on rainy days.
1760 Hillhurst Avenue, www.homelosfeliz.com/.

Psychobabble. Coffee place and local watering hole.
1866 N Vermont Avenue, www.psychobabblecafe.com/.

Skylight Books. Independent book store, frequent readings.
1818 N Vermont Avenue, www.skylightbooks.com/.

Steve Allen Theater. Live theater, film, lectures, and much more. Drive-in horror movies during the month or two before Halloween.
4773 Hollywood Boulevard, www.steveallentheater.com/.

ECHO PARK/SILVERLAKE
826 Los Angeles (The Echo Park Time Travel Mart). Los Angeles installment of 826 Valencia's non-profit. Offers readings, classes, and volunteer opportunities for writers.
1714 W Sunset Boulevard, www.826la.org/.

Intelligentsia. Coffee.
3922 W Sunset Boulevard.

Machine Project. One of L.A.'s best arts and science venues. Weird, wonderful performance art and classes.
1200 N Alvarado St., www.machineproject.com/.

Sew L.A. Fabric store and sewing classes for all levels.
1637-1/2 Silver Lake Boulevard, 2nd floor, www.sew-la.com/.

Taco Zone. One of the best taco trucks in L.A. parks at night next to the Vons at 1342 North Alvarado Street, near Sunset. Ask for the suadero.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD
A large and growing live theater district.

EAT. Brunch; try the huevos del sur.
11108 Magnolia Boulevard, www.eatnoho.com/.

Pitfire Pizza. Pizza, wine by the glass, and an outdoor eating area with a fire pit. (A few other locations throughout the city.)
5211 Lankershim Boulevard, www.pitfirepizza.com/.

BURBANK
Thrift Stores. There is a great run of thrift and antique stores down Magnolia Avenue roughly between Burbank Boulevard and Verdugo Avenue. Many sell old studio props and costumes. Particularly good for Halloween. Also a good place for vintage and reproduction clothing and furniture.

Urban Eats. Stop in while shopping.
3501 W. Magnolia Boulevard, www.urban-eats.com/.

EAGLE ROCK
Casa Bianca. Classic family red-sauce Italian.
1650 Colorado Boulevard, www.casabiancapizza.com/.

The Coffee Table. Free wireless, a nice place to work.
1958 Colorado Boulevard, www.coffeetablebistro.com/.

Oinksters. Barbecue specializing in pulled pork sandwiches.
2005 Colorado Boulevard, www.theoinkster.com/.

Senor Fish No.2. Mexican seafood; try the scallop tacos. (A second location is downtown.)
4803 Eagle Rock Boulevard, www.senorfishonline.com/.

Swork. Coffee, free wireless, a great place to work. (Also features a kids' play area, see other list.) 2160 Colorado Boulevard, www.swork.com/.

ON THE ROAD
Follow Kogi, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Coolhaus, Sweets Truck, Buttermilk, and other Twittering mobile food trucks. See LAist for a complete list.

ON THE INTERNET
Some good sites to keep up with what's happening in L.A. (and there are a few more specifically tailored to those with young children):

LAist
Culture Monster at L.A. Times
Eater L.A.
Jonathan Gold at L.A. Weekly
Art Slant L.A.
L.A. Observed

And now I realize I forgot about tiki bars, not to mention all the food in the San Gabriel Valley - well, more soon...

Pretty great stuff.

And a Happy Halloween to you all, the Anatomical Machines of Cappella Sansevero courtesy of the Atlas Obscura.

"For an enormous number of incidences, yes."

Thank you, Grant, for sending this.

Interviewer: You are in favor of capital punishment?
Waugh: For an enormous number of incidences, yes.
Interviewer: And you yourself would be prepared to carry it out?
Waugh: Doing -- actually doing the hanging as well?
Interviewer: Yes.
Waugh: I think it odd for them to choose a novelist for such a task.

For some musings on Waugh, see Grant's blog.

Greenville Avenue Wine

My friend, wine expert David Waddington, has a new blog - check it out!

(Somehow that exclamation point looks all wrong.)

The Omegle Sessions

Our loyal advisor Grant Munroe presents his new project, the Omegle Sessions.

From the site: "The Omegle Sessions are logged, lightly edited chats that can range from two to several hundred lines in length. Some are funny. Others are strange and referential. A few are adventures.

New sessions are posted Monday - Thursday.

Adventures are posted on Thursday."

The internet isn't big enough for the both of us.

I'd like to turn your attention to my sister's new project, People Who Should Be Denied a Voice.

muted post horn

Check out "69 Modern Classics Condensed via Amazon's SIPS" here, courtesy of Dennis Cooper.

A sample:
#57 "black pickpocket, baize bag"

Answer: Why, Mr. Sammler's Planet, of course.

Attention Friends in Portland and Seattle

not to mention Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago - Janelle Brown will be on her paperback book tour for All We Ever Wanted Was Everything this summer.

First cities up are Portland (May 14) and Seattle (May 15).

Find her complete tour information here.

Or buy the book here.

Congratulations, Mr. Blackstone.

The very talented Charles Blackstone (The Week You Weren't Here) has a new anthology out, The Art of Friction. Read the Time Out review here, and then head here to buy it.

Here's the link to the novel The Week You Weren't Here, and to my review thereof (from Identity Theory).

I just wanted to draw your attention to today's installment of Pepy's Diary, which features many of my favorite things about England: killing understatement, class violence, and boiled beef.

The Guardian presents "Top Ten Welsh Alternatives to Dylan Thomas" - though they didn't include my favorite piece of Welsh writing, The Mabinogion.

The answer is "no."

I finally got back to work this week (haven't I said this here before?) after weeks of relocation. This week I finished interviews with photographer Taryn Simon and sculptor Michael Rea, reviewed The End of Europe, and updated The Foghorn.

I'm also catching up on a wonderful backlog of emails and tips from Grant, including these from a "treasure trove" of Evelyn Waugh anecdotes:

From Evelyn Waugh, Portrait of a Country Neighbour, Frances Donaldson, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967.
He entertained himself with grandiose projects [at Piers Court]. He built what became known as The Edifice —a semi-circular stone wall about ten feet in height, surmounted by battlements and with a paved area beneath it. When this was finished he advertised for human skulls to adorn the battlements. He received a surprising number of replies, which I doubt if he had expected, and he had to refuse most of the offerings. The Edifice was not a great success. Many people thought it hideous and Evelyn himself was not satisfied with it, although he got pleasure out of the building. [pg. 23]

From Evelyn Waugh: A Biography, Selina Hastings, Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1994.
For Evelyn, it [a trip to the US in Nov 1948] was a joyless experience, the unbeautiful campuses, the characterless hotels — in New Orleans he smashed open the window of his air-conditioned room with his stick ... [pg. 536]

From To Keep the Ball Rolling: The Memoirs of Anthony Powell: Volume Two, Messengers of Day, Heinemann, London, 1978.
One night [at W's family home on North End road] Waugh asked if I would like to hear the opening chapters of a novel he was writing. ... Waugh's embryonic novel — then called Picaresque, or the Making of an Englishman — was the first ten thousand words, scarcely altered at all later, of Decline and Fall. The manuscript was written with a pen on double-sheets of blue lined-foolscape, the cipher EW printed at the top of the first page of each double-sheet. There were hardly any alterations in the text. ... Some months after the reading aloud of these chapters — probably a moment towards the end of the same year [1927] — I asked Waugh how the novel was progressing. He replied: 'I've burnt it.' [pp. 21-2]

And, while we're on the topic of Mr. Waugh, Allan Massie of the Spectator asks, "Can a novelist write too well?"

Introducing Posh Plums

I wanted to take a minute to promote my mother's new Etsy shop, a great place to find unique, hand-embroidered baby clothes and gifts. Head over there if you need a baby shower gift, and stay tuned for her own website, coming soon.

Check out Susana Raab and her Etsy storefront, where she sells photos of the desks of William Faulker, Flannery O' Connor, and Eudora Welty. I'd love to hang the Faulkner one in my home office.

DailyLit

Great web find: DailyLit. Sign up for daily RSS feeds or emails and read classic literature or reference materials a segment a day. Or read Wikipedia! I just signed up for two Wiki feeds, Greek Mythology and Wine 101.

Excerpt from "The Magical Chorus"

One more from the NYT, an excerpt from Solomon Volkov's The Magical Chorus, a new book on 20th century Russian literature.

NYT Book Review China Issue

This Sunday's New York Times book review is all China. Some links:

Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem
Wang Anyi's The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
Yan Lianke's Serve the People!

and a piece of "China's Pop Fiction."

Out of print? Rescue it!

Vote to bring back your favorite books here!

The UK's Faber Books is starting a new imprint, Faber Finds, that will be ferreting out great old neglected titles and giving them a second chance.

In this weekend's Guardian, notable authors submit their own votes.

Californians, check out Felicia's new book

My very talented friend Felicia Sullivan (of Small Spiral Notebook) will be reading from her first book, The Sky Isn't Visible From Here, at three bookstores in California. And as a bonus, she will be bringing baked goods!

For more information about both the book and the baked goods, go here.

Wednesday, May 7—SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, 7:00 pm

Friday, May 9—LOS ANGELES, CA–Booksoup, 8818 W Sunset Blvd., 7:00 pm

Saturday, May 10–PASADENA, CA– Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., 4:00 pm

Congratulations to frequent Foghorn contributor Ritija Gupta! Chicago's Metromix voted her one-act comedy "Engaging" as a top pick this week.

If you live near Chicago, check it out at Gorilla Tango Theater's night of one acts, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Through April 30. $15. Tickets: gorillatango.com

See more here.

"I've never travelled in a bus and I've never addressed a stranger on a train."

"The prospect of just being introduced to somebody as just a person, a man as you might say in the street, is entirely repugnant."

Evelyn Waugh undergoes "the most ill-natured interview ever" with the BBC, 1953.

This is just too priceless - A former Lonely Planet writer assigned to cover Columbia admits he just hung around San Francisco and made stuff up.

"I got the information from a chick I was dating - an intern in the Colombian Consulate."

See The Foghorn's Lonely Planet Master Guide for our take on this fine organization.

I don't read Russian (unfortunately), but I still enjoyed this Languagehat post on Pushkin, Nabokov, and translation.

Distinguished University of Chicago professor and perennial undergrad favorite Wendy Doniger has an interesting piece in the London Review of Books on Indo-European reconstructions and "The Land East of the Asterisk."

Congratulations to my friend Linara Washington for her film "Kings of the Evening," which will be featured in the Atlanta Film Festival this month.

Read more about the film here and here, and if you live in the Atlanta area, make sure to see "Kings of the Evening," screening April 17th & 18th.

From the National Book Critics Circle blog, Critical Mass, the top five books all book critics should read:

1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria (1817)

2. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (1947) and Culture and Value (1980)

3. Ezra Pound, Literary Essays (1954) and ABC of Reading (1934)

4. Walter Benjamin, Illuminations (1968) and Reflections (1986), better yet the four volumes of Selected Writings (1996-2003)

5. Susan Howe, My Emily Dickinson (1995)

I'm surprised Edmund Wilson didn't make the cut. Personally, some of my early inspirations were Howard Bloom, Vladimir Nabokov, and most of all, J.R.R. Tolkien's essay on Beowulf, "The Monsters and the Critics."

The New Yorker's Alex Ross reviews the Met's ill-fated production of "Tristan und Isolde" and famous operatic debacles past.

"The most priceless aspect of the 'Aida' imbroglio was the double take delivered by Ildikó Komlósi, the mezzo singing Amneris, as she turned around to find a replacement tenor embodying Radames, his rumpled gray blouse suggesting a change of scene from ancient Egypt to the bargain floor at H & M."

"I never got to sleep alone till I got married.”

From the latest New Yorker, a gathering of elderly Jewish comedians.

On Malamud

Two great essays this week on the underrated Bernard Malamud, here and here.

Thanks to Grant (as usual) for this great link: Pepys' Diary, presented as a daily weblog, as Pepys would no doubt have intended. Visit daily!

From Monday, March 13:
"Up betimes, this being the first morning of my promise upon a forfeite not to lie in bed a quarter of an hour after my first waking . . . This day my wife begun to wear light-coloured locks, quite white almost, which, though it makes her look very pretty, yet not being natural, vexes me, that I will not have her wear them."

The Times Literary Supplement today turned up two excellent reads, Julian Barnes on Flaubert's letters and Paul Theroux's hilarious send-up of Georges Simenon.

As I try to get into the habit of updating this blog more regularly - and as I look forward to bringing my observations of China to an end soon - I will be sharing more great links sent to me from friends and readers and the many social bookmarking sites and subscriptions to which I sacrifice my time.

From Grant, A Conversation with Jorge Luis Borges:

"For me death is a hope, the irrational certitude of being abolished, erased and forgotten. When I’m sad, I think, what does it matter what happens to a twentieth-century South American writer; what do I have to do with all of this? You think it matters what happens to me now, if tomorrow I will have disappeared? I hope to be totally forgotten, I believe that this is death. But perhaps I’m wrong and what follows is another life on another plane, with distinct conditions, no less interesting than this one, and I will accept that life, too, just as I have accepted this one. But I would prefer not to remember this one in the other, being younger."

No, I still don't like Jane Smiley,

but I do like this link from Grant.

More from Grant - see Cavett for more. This is an excerpt from Mailer's (third-person) written account of the show, including a run-in with Gore Vidal before the airing:

At this moment, alone in the green room, he felt a tender and caressing hand on the back of his neck. It was Gore. Vidal had never touched him before, but now had the tender smile of a man who would claim, "It doesn't matter, old sport, what we say about each other — it's just pleasant to see an old friend."

Mailer answered with an openhanded tap across the cheek. It was not a slap; neither was it a punch. Just a stiff tap.

To his amazement, Vidal gave him a stiff tap back.

Norman smiled. He leaned forward and looked pleasantly at Gore. He put his hand to the back of Gore's neck. Then he butted him in the head.

Thanks again to Grant for sending me this from the new Paris Review Interviews, Vol. II., now on my Christmas list - from an interview with Harold Bloom. The interviewer narrates within the brackets...

(Midway through the interview...)

BLOOM

....But the early books of Wilson Knight are very fine indeed--certainly one of the most considerable figures of twentieth-century criticism, though he's mostly forgotten now.

[At this point we wander into the kitchen, where Mrs. Bloom is watching the evening news.]

BLOOM

Now let's wait for the news about this comeback for the wretched Yankees. I've been denouncing them. They haven't won since 1979. That's ten years and they're not going to win this year. They're terrible.... What's this?

[TV: The Yankees with their most dramatic win of the year this afternoon.... And the Tigers lost again.]

BLOOM

Oh my God! That means we're just four games out! How very upcheering.

MRS. BLOOM

Jessica Hahn.

BLOOM

Jessica Hahn is back!

[TV: ...hired on as an on-air personality at a Top 40 radio station in Phoenix... ]

BLOOM

How marvelous!

[TV: Playboy magazine had counted on Hahn to come through. She appeared nude in a recent issue.]

BLOOM

Splendid. ...But oh, let us start again, Antonio. What were we talking about?

[We return to the living room.]