Category Archives: What’s happening

NO DEFENDING LA LIVE

Funny, that hundreds of thousands of people have read my blogs either about LA Live or LA Live tenants and only two people have ever bothered to offer a comment in disagreement with the facts as I’ve presented them—that’s a pretty amazing statistic. So when the first comment of the two was submitted I had my doubts about its legitimacy, but I let it go. Yesterday, we received the second comment that disagreed with the facts as I’ve presented them with respect to LA Live, actually we received it twice, so please read both and note that the comment is referring to my blog “LA Live’s St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”.

Comment 1:

“do you really think bashing la live is going to get you anything?  we as a community should be supporting everyone and talking bad about someone on a BLOG.  you’re a jerk.”

Comment 2:

“oops, typo. 

we as a community should be supporting everyone and NOT talking bad about someone on a BLOG.  you’re a jerk.”

Now most of my readers know that I take being part of the Downtown community pretty seriously—I’ve lived Downtown for fourteen years and of course I founded downtownster. I was also a major supporter of LA Live until the time I concluded that AEG had betrayed the community and my trust. I met with Michael Roth, LA Live’s Vice President of Communications, he made promises that he did not keep—I’ve been more than fair to LA Live, I was willing to give them a second chance, and frankly for the good of the community, still would. But not by compromising on what I believe is right. And certainly not because of comments that call me a jerk.

AND WHAT ABOUT THAT COMMENT FROM THE CONCERNED MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY?

Here’s the problem for big corporate, corrupt, America—the Internet and blogs like downtownster have become the great equalizer. So now big corporate, corrupt, America is trying to defend itself—by lying. That’s right, companies like AEG either own their own blogs or employ people to post bogus comments in order to defend their interest around the Internet. AEG owns the examiner.com, which allows them to examine their own interest favorably. And apparently their tenant Outback Steakhouse Inc., the owner of Fleming’s at LA Live, has a bogus commenter doing their bidding—because, although the comment above was posted anonymously a trace of the IP address identified Outback Steakhouse Inc. 2202 N. Westshore Blvd. 5th Floor Tampa, Florida 33607 as the origination source. And yes we even know the name of the person whose workstation the comment came from, Patrick.

HOW DID A GUY WHO SENDS EMAIL FROM FLORIDA BECOME PART OF OUR COMMUNITY?

He’s not…And frankly, I can’t imagine what type of whore a person like this must be to throw away their integrity to defend a company from the truth…Hear this well bogus commenters…downtownster writes the truth and exemplifies why the founding fathers were such advocates and protectors of free speech.

So dear readers, to discourage corporate America from trying to interfere with the truth that we work so hard to bring to you, I’m going to repost at the bottom of this blog “LA Live’s St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”, “Three Things To Miss Downtown”, and “Why Pay To Bury MJ?” I urge you to read them, and use our share function at the bottom of each post to send this post to all of your friends—this helps to move the content way up on search engines and corporate, corrupt, America loves this.

Also, while downtownster loves getting legitimate comments, I promise the next bogus commenter that we will not only post your work address, we’ll post your full name and make sure everyone knows that you are fraud—Promise.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ THE THREE POST’S THAT SOME VERY RICH PEOPLE DON’T WANT YOU TO READ!!!

LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE Continue reading NO DEFENDING LA LIVE

SPECIAL GUEST BARISTA

A FEW MONTHS AGO

“Another Jack and Coke,” I said, ordering my fifth drink—I try to drink minimally at Lakers’ games. “Look Ray, you have to have an espresso machine at the bakery,” I urged.

“We’re going to have coffee,” responded Ray politely. He’s from Denmark they’re polite.

“That’s great, but you have to have espresso.” I wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Look how busy the Starbucks right around the corner is.” Referring to Starbucks at 11th and Grand. “You could take half their espresso business in your first month…They don’t even make their drinks by hand…And they still get the orders wrong half the time.”

“I don’t know why I come to these games,” chimed in Ed, as in Ed Yawitz our host. “Stan’s right Ray, you have to have espresso drinks.”

“Hell, I’ll be your barista—no charge, if you’re worried about the extra staff,” I offered getting carried away in the moment.

Ed nodded. “Stan’s a world class barista—I’ll come every day.”

Ray hadn’t had as much to drink as I. “Okay, I’ll put in an espresso machine, but you have to come in as our barista, not all the time, but…”

I held up my hand. “I’m there. I’ll be your special guest barista and I’ll train up some protégés.”

A FEW MONTHS LATER

Ray opened Hygge Bakery (1106 South Hope St.) and if you’ve read my blog “Let’s Hygge” you know that I was there crafting a very fine story, which I later wrote while on vacation in Las Vegas. Oh and while I was on vacation I launched downtownster’s sister site blogsincity.com a must read before any trip to Vegas. And if you haven’t read my blog “Let’s Hygge”, you should!!!

So on my way back from Vegas I received a text from Ray. “We’ve got the espresso machine.” I texted him back, that I’d be in the next day. Continue reading SPECIAL GUEST BARISTA

Hello Wine Lovers,

Tonight is Friday, July 10th and from 5 pm until 8 pm Ralphs downtown is featuring the wines of Sebastiani, one of California’s noble winemaking families. The Sebastiani Winery is an historic landmark dating back to 1825, when it was planted by Franciscan monks to make sacramental wine.  It was purchased by Italian immigrant Samuele Sebastiani in 1904.  Upon Samuele’s passing in 1944 his son August, and his wife Sylvia, bought the winery from the estate and began using the family name.  It is located in what is today the heart of the town of Sonoma. Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers,

Hello Wine Lovers

 It’s Wednesday, July 1st and tonight, from 5pm until 8pm, the “rolling wine bar” at Ralphs  will  host Kendall Jackson Winery and feature their Merlot varietals.  Kendall Jackson is a household name in the wine industry.  What most people do not know is that Kendall Jackson (KJ) is a major player in the high-end California wine scene.  Brands such as Legacy, Atalon, Robert Young, Matanzas Creek and Cardinale are frequently found on fine-dining restaurant’s wine lists.  When self-made billionaire Jess Jackson decided to expand, he acquired only top vineyards and brands from throughout California and did not add the KJ brand to the label of his acquisitions.  These wineries benefited from his eponymous company’s superior marketing.  The KJ portfolio has many more notable brands, much too numerous to list here.  Despite what Miles Raymond, (Paul Giamatti’s immortal character) from the film Sideways might have thought, Merlot has rebounded to its former status as a premier varietal of choice in the U.S.  (Remember his deathless line: “No!  If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving.  I am NOT drinking any f*cking Merlot!”) Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers

Hello Wine Lovers

Hello Wine Lovers,
 
Today, Tuesday, June 30th from 5pm to 8pm Ralphs will be offering another wine tasting.  Tonight, wines ranked 90 points or higher by noted publications in the wine industry likeThe Wine Spectator,  The Wine Advocate and The Wine Journal will be featured on this evening’s flights.  Many varietals have scored 90 points and above, all a person has to do is look through a premium grocery store’s wine section to find the perfect deal on an award-winning wine. Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers

Hello Wine Lovers

Hello Wine Lovers,
 
Today is Friday, June 26th and we have a special guest visiting our wine tasting-table from 5pm to 8pm tonight,  
Joe Montoya.  Joe, who represents Chateau St. Jean  Winery in Sonoma County, will be pouring wine for our tasting tonight.  The winery produces several wines under different labels around Sonoma and Napa.  Chateau St Jean is a part of a large beverage corporation called Foster’s Group, which in addition to its California wine interests is the largest Australian beer conglomerate. A gentleman named Wolf Blass is the CEO of the corporation.  (Foster’s also owns Meridian in Paso Robles and Berringer in Napa County, plus a host of wineries in Australia.)

A few years back, the Wine Stewards of Ralphs were hosted by Foster’s Group on a Northern California “wine country” trip. Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers

Hello Wine Lovers!

Hello Wine Lovers, join us tonight Friday, June 19, 2009 from 5pm to 8pm for a taste of one of California’s Noble wine making families.  Sebastiani and Sons Winery. And tonight is a recession buster—only six dollars for four glasses of wine.

August and his wife Silvia started the family winery in the heart of what is downtown Sonoma today.  The family winery thrived and became one of the most popular wineries in Sonoma County.  August and Silvia were true pioneers in the wine business in Sonoma Valley. Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers!

A Day At The Downtown Yacht Races–Paper Yacht Races

So there I was today at 5th and Flower, the City National Bank building, covering the second annual PSOMAS Paper Yacht Challenge to benefit the Los Angeles Food Bank. It was 5pm, and the racing crowd was assembling while a live DJ played in front of the buildings’ entrance. First I checked out the competition; paper boats of all shapes and configurations on the tables set up behind the fountain. Then I bumped into Carmen Rodriguez, Assistant VP of City National bank, and we headed over to the silent auction table to have a gander. Looked like a good turn out with sponsors like Bark Ave, the Dodgers, Wolfgang Puck, the Grammy Museum, and Universal Studios.

I sat down to enjoy my wait and have something to snack on. Someone was blowing soap bubbles into the wind, and the crowd amused themselves watching the spheres as they wound around the red stair-like sculpture in the fountain. I almost crashed the paper yacht party when a stiff wind coming from the southwest threatened to launch my paper hot dog canoe into the fountain. Continue reading A Day At The Downtown Yacht Races–Paper Yacht Races

Hello Wine Lovers!

Hello Wine Lovers, from 5pm to 8pm today June 16th  at Ralphs, we’re once again venturing up the coast of California to Paso Robles to check out  the wine growing region. Many of the Paso wineries are producing wines that are rich and deep full-bodied wines.  The special climate in that region allows the wind and cold air of the local foothills to sweep along the vineyards  during the ripening season. Continue reading Hello Wine Lovers!

HELLO, WINE LOVERS!

Hello, Wine Lovers!  It’s 10a.m. Monday, June 15, 2009 and Mike is running late to work so he asked me to post something about tonight’s wine tasting at Ralph’s downtown (on 9th Street between Flower and Hope).  To those of you who don’t know, Mike Berger hosts the tasting from 5p.m. to 8p.m. and it’s an unbelievable value.  Tonight, the featured category is Italian red wines.  The two most internationally famous regions in Italy will be featured; they are called Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) and Tuscany (Toscana in Italian).

Piedmont is an absolutely beautiful region in the northwest of Italy whose name means “foot of the mountain”, (from the Latin, pied for foot and monte for mountain), due to its proximity to the majestic Alps.  There are three major red wine grapes planted there, the most vaunted of which is Nebbiolo (named after nebbia, the Italian word for fog, which is integral to the ripening of these grapes).  Mike will be serving a Barolo tonight, one of the two great Nebbiolo-based wines of Piedmont.  Barolos are known to be among the longest-aging wines of Italy, many drinking well after more than fifty years.  They are dark and chewy with flavors of chocolate and anise leading to a deep raspberry center.  There can be prodigious complexity in the bouquet beyond the classic signature notes.  The Barolos under ten years of age require hours of breathing time to reveal their flavors and aromas.  To this end, Mike always pours his selections of “big reds” into decanters in advance of the wine tastings.  What this does – and what “breathing” means in the jargon of wine connoisseurs – is accelerate the aging of the wine through exposure to the air.  Very old wines should be drunk immediately as they are fully aged and exposure to the air deteriorates their quality, sending them to a premature end.

Tuscany is notable for its pastorally beautiful countryside and its spectacular capital city Florence, which dates back to 59 AD. Continue reading HELLO, WINE LOVERS!