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SPECIAL GUEST BARISTA

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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 →

Opinion

WHY PAY TO BURY MJ?

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The story a few days ago was buried in the Los Angeles Times—far less conspicuously than the King of Pop, who stopped at Staple’s Center to say goodbye to 17,000 of his closest friends. The tale is a simple one; taxpayers are going to get stuck with the 1.4 million dollar expense for security and services required to have had a Michael Jackson memorial service at Staple’s Center. Mayor Villaraigosa, who for the record I’ve always gone easy on (we’re both from East LA and we both went to UCLA), has stated his firm belief that the city should pay for such an event…This firm belief is undoubtedly rooted in the Mayor’s close relationship with AEG and AEG President Tim Leiweki, who for the record I like as a person—even though I often take AEG and his staff to task.

Mayor Villaraigosa should consider this: he was barely reelected against a field of nobodies—if I recall with an embarrassing 55.56 percent of the vote. Although it seems like a strange correlation to make, he has also been the face of LA Live—more than Tim Leiweki President and CEO and far more than Philip Anschutz the reclusive owner. AEG may be a loyal financial supporter of Mayor Villaraigosa, but the company has become so unpopular in the community that the Mayor is now paying the political price for his association. And make no mistake about it—this 1.4 million might be the straw that breaks what should have been an incredible political career—not because it is such a staggering sum of money, but because the city of Los Angeles is in such financial straits—

And it is AEG that should be paying for these expenses not the taxpayers of Los Angeles. Continue reading WHY PAY TO BURY MJ? →

People

EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH BUZZ ALDRIN

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As we all know (or should know), July 19, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon.  Kicking off the 40th anniversary year last summer was the enchanting  3D animated fantasy film on that infamous mission, FLY ME TO THE MOON, that combined history, complete with NASA technology, blue print drawings, audio and Dr. Buzz Aldrin himself,  with a fanciful tale of three adventurous little flies that stowaway on Apollo 11 and share in the magic and wonder of this turning point in history.  FLY ME TO THE MOON is now available in 3D on DVD. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH BUZZ ALDRIN →

Thought Tools

Do You Remember?

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Memory is among those easily overlooked gifts for which we ought to offer up daily gratitude to God.

Without memory, one is isolated from others.  But even worse, one is isolated from oneself.  Without memory, life is a disconnected sequence of thinly sliced moments of time.  It is memory that stitches together those instants, compiling them into our identity.

The word “re-member” means to join together just as the word “dis-member” means to separate. Continue reading Do You Remember? →

Good, Bad, and Ugly

THE POKER HOUSE

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Lori Petty, a Venice local,  has conquered the silver screen with her indelible performances like Kit Keller in “A League of Their Own” or Tank Girl in, well, “Tank Girl.”  She dazzled on the small screen as well producing and starring in the tv hit “Lush Life” on Fox and made her mark on Broadway back in the 90’s.  An accomplished painter, in March 2008 she had a solo exhibit of her work at the Deborah Page Gallery in Santa Monica in follow-up to her earlier one-woman show at 72 Market Street in Venice and has been a regularly featured artist on the Venice Art Walk. So, it seems only natural that sooner or later directing would be her next step.  In 2008, Petty also wowed audiences at Los Angeles Film Festival  with not only her skills as a writer and director, but with her heartfelt honesty and emotion, telling one small chapter from her own life story, with THE POKER HOUSE.

Agnes, Cammie and Bee are an incredible group of siblings. Continue reading THE POKER HOUSE →

Poetry

A POEM BY LAURIE ZUPAN

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july at dusk

everything is in motion

ribbons of light

race across the sky

summer sunset begins,

painted above the azure ocean

ribbons of light

snake through this dynamic city

rush hour

blur of red and white

here, at sixth and grand

the red light

a glancing touch

an unexpected gesture

a summer kiss…

People

A BLOGSIDE CHAT WITH SONNY ASTANI

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PART II

Foreword by Stan Lerner: the concept / purpose of a blogside chat is to develop a conversational relationship with extraordinary people such as City Councilwoman Jan Perry and mega developer / philanthropist Sonny Astani—and others to come in the near future. It is my personal belief that one of the great contributing factors to much of what ills our culture, society, and country today are invisible walls, which stand between politicians, CEO’s, spiritual leaders, and the people. Of equal concern are the walls that also seem to be between—rich, middle class, poor, gay, straight, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Republican, and Democrat. It is my hope that PART 2 of my chat with Sonny Astani will be yet another downtownster step toward removing these walls… 

As I sat with Sonny Astani at Starbucks LA Live and talked about Downtown, I couldn’t help but to be impressed by how much he cared for the community. We spoke a bit about his ten-year plan; he’s an engineer so of course he has a ten-year plan for Downtown. My mind wandered to the fact that I rarely have a ten-day plan, which is probably why I’m not the one building a thirty-story tower on Figueroa. Anyway, at this point I asked him about the seventeen million dollar donation he had made to USC, the one and a half million dollar donation to the Skid Row Housing Trust (which helps the chronically ill homeless), and the donation of close to two million dollars to the battered women’s shelter.

Remember, Sonny Astani is a serious man. And for readers who have yet to read Part One of this blogside chat, by serious, I mean more steak than sizzle. He usually dresses in dark attire, he’s physically fit (50’s), and he speaks with a deep voice that pronounces words with a casual blend of humility, confidence, and cordiality.

“I didn’t want people to think I just came Downtown to make money. I wanted to make sure that Downtown becomes a better place…See at USC it’s important that students learn how to build the cities of the future.” He moved his hands around in a circular motion in front of him as if he could visualize and outline the perimeter of the city of the future. “We really have to think about quality of life and sustainability….”

“Skid Row?”

Sonny tilted his head slightly as if to say that this was nothing. Continue reading A BLOGSIDE CHAT WITH SONNY ASTANI →

Good, Bad, and Ugly

SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

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It is a real privilege and pleasure for me to bring you my review of  SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, a film which debuted at Los Angeles Film Festival in 2007 and which was one of my “Must See Festival Films” as well as a hot contender in the Narrative Feature competition.   Just to show all you filmmakers out there that festivals do garner distribution deals, SEVERED WAYS now makes its way into theatres starting July 17, 2009.  

 

Slightly off-beat and definitely not what one would expect with a Viking movie, producer/writer/editor/actor and first time feature director Tony Stone brings us a rather unique perspective of the coming to America by Vikings in 1007 AD.   Shot over the course of almost 4 years (although not a 4 year time span in the film) using only natural lighting from the sun, the moon and fire, the results are at times magical.  

 

Obviously one with a fertile imagination, Tony Stone creates a fictional story drawn from the actual Vineland Sagas, stories which tell the tale of Viking and Norse exploration of the New World starting with Lief Ericson. Continue reading SEVERED WAYS: THE NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA →

Sports

Man-o-Man – Manny and Company With Another Comeback

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Manny Ramirez is back! Oh, you’ve known about this. I wasn’t so sure myself until Friday night. Manny hit a two-run shot in the sixth, his 536th overall, good enough to tie Mickey Mantle for 15th on the all-time list. Impressive.

 

But it was not as impressive as the Dodgers’ team offense. In their series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers hit five homeruns; one from Manny, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Russell Martin. With the 12-8 victory, the Dodgers bring their record to 55-31. 

 

The offensive showcase puts the Dodgers at 11th in the NL in homeruns. A romantic thought, but if the Dodgers played their remaining 81 games in Miller Park, they’d likely finish higher. Manny’s presence will do just fine and Dodgers fans should expect to see more long balls in the second half of play. Continue reading Man-o-Man – Manny and Company With Another Comeback →

What's happening

Hello Wine Lovers,

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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, →

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