All posts by Stan Lerner

LOS ANGELES THEATER HOSTS DOWNTOWN PURIM PARTY

The last few years have brought a number of remarkable events to Downtown—I’ve been privileged to write about a few of them. A good many stories I have written have been cocooned in my semi fictional style allowing me to…well…embellish a bit here and there. But this one requires no such magic…

            Now, I added blogging to my schedule of play, movie, and novel writing not because I was trying to find a way to spend the four hours left of the too little twenty-four hours in a day. Gee who needs sleep anyway? Exhaustion does indeed enhance the affect of alcohol. No. I started blogging because after thirteen-years of living in Downtown I noticed a community being born. Not to be confused with the billion dollar buildings going up, but people coming together, actually forming a vibrant Downtown community. And I think I’ll be mentioning this in future blogs so get used to it—it’s really something special and all too easy for us to take for granted. And tonight I took a moment to get a closer look at one of the most remarkable developments in this extraordinary birth process. Continue reading LOS ANGELES THEATER HOSTS DOWNTOWN PURIM PARTY

FLEMING’S LA LIVE DELIVERS

Okay, it’s a play on words. I didn’t mean by the title that Fleming’s will deliver their food, but rather that the food delivers one hell of a dining experience.

What would a Stan Lerner blog be without a disclosure? Given my past appearances on the pages of the LA Times, Los Angles Downtown News, some gigantic billboards, the cover of a novel, and just living Downtown for fourteen years the idea that I’m going to walk into a restaurant and do some kind of anonymous review is ludicrous. In fact Fleming’s LA Live has graced more than one of my Downtown Oliver Brown adventures and I even wrote a piece for blogdowntown announcing its opening. So, the facts being what they are when I walked in with my trusty assistant Drew to do a serious review I expected some serious service and food. And I got both and then some. Continue reading FLEMING’S LA LIVE DELIVERS

LAS VEGAS REPORT

The downtownster approach to travel, will to a great extent, focus on places that appeal to those of us who live in an urban environment, want to get to where we’re going reasonably fast, and given today’s economy – present some bang for the buck. But like several other categories of this sacred blog site downtownster travel may transcend the very paradigm I have just described. I found myself writing a poem last summer on Mackinac Island…Great place and I might very well write about it one of these days. The fact that the almost defunct LA Times did a piece on it, well it was hardly experiential. However, for today it’s about my favorite LA suburb—Las Vegas.

            I cruised in last Sunday, wind in my hair, to attend the Grand Opening of the new M Hotel, which is just south of South Point. And I will describe my experience to you in the same fashion I described it to Kristen the PR Manager at the Wynn. “Crowded, jammed, packed, and that’s all I can really say.” “That’s what I heard,” replied Kristen as we transitioned to the more relevant topic of Wynn and Encore. So, there I sat discussing a future piece I might be doing on Wynn and Encore, the reality weighing on me that I did not get the story that I had come to Las Vegas to get. My mind drifted to a Downtown Oliver Brown adventure, which might save the day, but rather I resolved myself to find some gem of a travel piece in my 48 sleepless hours. Continue reading LAS VEGAS REPORT

DOWNTOWNSTER LAUNCH STORY

Downtownster, like most great ventures, was born from an array of circumstances so organic that our business seems almost accidental—even to me. So, let me share with you this: I myself did not intend to get into the business of blogging and until a couple of years ago hardly knew what a blog actually was or why they were becoming so popular. That being said, as an author of books and a writer of movies, I knew that the future success of my marketing efforts would involve blogging—and so it will be for all businesses large and small. Continue reading DOWNTOWNSTER LAUNCH STORY

THE GENIE IS FINALLY OUT OF THE BOTTLE ROCK

I’ve been sitting for five hours straight—unbelievable.

I looked at the screen of my laptop and contemplated just how much work adapting “Stan Lerner’s Criminal” into a movie was turning out to be. My new blog The Adventures Of Downtown Oliver Brown, which I post on blogdowntown.com had turned out to be a pleasant distraction, but a distraction none-the-less. I’m addicted to writing, so something else to write for me is like giving a coke addict some heroin to try out. Continue reading THE GENIE IS FINALLY OUT OF THE BOTTLE ROCK

OLIVER FINDS A MONEY TREE?

I sat and stared out at the cold driving rain from my window table at Starbucks 11th and Grand. Eric Everhard the porn star crossed the street with his smoking hot girlfriend Kim. I was sad to see them leave—although pleased that Eric had returned the bail money I had lent him. Nichole’s words, “I can’t do this,” were still fresh in my head. Why can’t I just get a nice girl like Eric has?” I was thinking when the phone rang. Continue reading OLIVER FINDS A MONEY TREE?

OLIVER DOES DISHES AT FLEMING’S

Starbucks, Starbucks, Starbucks, just let me get to Starbucks and have a coffee before…ring ring ring. Before you ring I said to my iphone, not out loud, as it ringed the old school ring I had it set to.

“Oliver, it’s Lee.” Meaning Mr. Lee my Korean accountant who takes my permanent state of financial crisis far more seriously than I myself am capable of—because there is no longer such a thing as debtor’s prison.

“Hey Mr. Lee,” I answered, hoping that he was not expecting me to have figured out how to pay for the damage Misha did by driving my SL500 into that swimming pool, because I told her I was too old for her. Continue reading OLIVER DOES DISHES AT FLEMING’S

OLIVER’S SOUTH PARK STORY

I strolled to Starbucks at 11th and Grand contemplating for some reason how much the world had changed since my youth, which this day, two days subsequent to my forty-fourth birthday seemed like a lifetime ago. My phone rang just as I eyed the girls sitting around the park next to FIDM. So young—

“Oliver, it’s Lee.” That would be Mr. Lee my accountant who, if you recall in my last blog, had called to inform me that I was managing to spend twice what I was earning. I then proceeded to enjoy my Friday night at not one, but two restaurants, Rivera and Yard House, then had a pack of friends over and drank and did readings til sunrise. Continue reading OLIVER’S SOUTH PARK STORY

OLIVER SPENDS AN EVENING AT RIVERA AND YARD HOUSE

Life seemed momentarily back to normal as I sat at Starbucks surrounded by Gay David, not to be confused with Dave The Jew from Vegas, Eric Everhard, my friend the porn star, Eric the blogger, whom to the best of my knowledge doesn’t even watch porn, and Andy The Printer, otherwise known as Andy from Colombia—one of my favorite countries due to its agricultural output if you know what I mean. Continue reading OLIVER SPENDS AN EVENING AT RIVERA AND YARD HOUSE

OLIVER’S FIRST READING OF 2009

When April first suggested the blindfold I simply thought she had something kinky in mind, but little did I know that she really meant that she had a surprise for me.

At this sooner point of our story I should clarify that my spontaneous trip to Sin City on Stan Peters’ Gulfstream V private jet was totaling fourteen days. Stan and myself remained captives of James Whiskey Peet III the handsome, wild, gun-toting cowboy who is apparently one of the richest men on the face of the earth. Dave The Jew, Whiskey Peet’s best friend, seemed to be suffering the same fate, at one point confiding in me that he hadn’t been to his own home in almost a year. Continue reading OLIVER’S FIRST READING OF 2009