Click here to view the embedded video.

Famed songwriter and multimedia artist Allee Willis sure loves our local kitsch!
And if anyone is an expert on kitsch, it’s gonna be Allee… she owns a museum full of it! :)

CHECK KCET’S PROGRAM SCHEDULE HERE and record these programs accordingly!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The series gives Angelenos a whole new sense of nostalgia and insight about this city we live in and the lives of the amazing people who have called Los Angeles home. Whether you’re remembering your own past or learning about the things you missed out on, it’s still great watching. Personally, besides reminding me of how many great things have happened here, Things That Aren’t Here Anymore also drives the point home of exactly why HiddenLA exists. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… while it may seem awesome to you that there are only two people in your favorite bar, it’s not great for the bar owner, especially during this economy. So if you don’t want to see your favorite places featured on Things That Aren’t Here Anymore #4… make a point to go outside today and spend every possible moment appreciating and discovering the great things this city offers.

Don’t keep the treasures of Los Angeles hidden… spread the word and support our current local businesses so they live a long time!

“Thursday, June 10 at 8:00 p.m. KCET is broadcasting “Things That Aren’t Anymore 3.” Produced by Saul Gonzalez and co-producer Isaac Mizrahi, and narrated by Patt Morrison, it’s a pledge special celebrating L.A.’s treasured, but lost, places of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Stops include Pandora’s Box and Rodney’s English Disco on the Sunset Strip, Tail ‘o the Pup and Chasen’s restaurants, the Leimert Theater and that spawning ground of 80s Valley Girls, version 1.0 of the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The guests, who all share their memories and connections to these places, include Cherie Currie of The Runaways, KROQ’s Rodney Bingenheimer, L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti, and Ed Pearl, the owner and founder of The Ash Grove.”

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This is going to be SUCH a fun event, I can’t wait for you all to join us! For what you would normally pay for two martinis at Musso & Franks, you’ll get a night of BORDER GRILL TRUCK FOOD, DRINKS, CAKE, AND A PIECE OF LA HISTORY! Also, think of it this way… besides having fun, your birthday gift to us will helping us to support the Bob Baker Marionette Theater which is really struggling right now.

What better way to spend an evening than marionettes, alcohol, tacos and birthday cake!?

All tickets include:

• Pre-show mixer sponsored by Karlsson’s Vodka
• Admission to Bob Baker’s “It’s A Musical World” Marionette Show
• Ice Cream and Birthday Cake from Hansen’s Cakes
• Full post-show catering and sangria provided by The Border Grill Truck
• Gourmet soft drinks from Gus’ Grown Up Soda
• Plus… who knows what else! :)

PLEASE come to our birthday party! Pretty please!???

Note: If you use the discount “BROKEPEOPLE” you’ll get the tickets at cost. $30!!! Woo hoo!!!

TO PURCHASE TICKETS, CLICK HERE.

Today, Los Angeles Magazine posted a feature on local “outsiders.” I recognized Harry Perry immediately of course, but when I saw the man in the tuxedo it took me a moment to register it as Dennis Woodruff… the lone cowboy-hatted, crazy car-owning man who once clamored for attention by yelling “Put me in your movie!” in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater long before the arrival of the smelly superheroes of Hollywood & Highland.

In the 1980s, Dennis Woodruff and Angelyne were the two most visible eccentrics on the streets of Hollywood… each determined to seize their 15 minutes of fame without offering any talent in return. My friends and I always got a good laugh out of sighting these strange local icons all over town, to us they were harmless eccentrics whose obsession with fame made us uncomfortable but caught our attention like a bad car accident. We just couldn’t look away… but we didn’t expect the “famous for nothing” path to become a goal for so many people in the future. We didn’t foresee that Angelyne would lead to Heidi Montag.

But I digress. Besides the Los Angeles Magazine article mentioned above, the topic of outsiders is prevalent today since it appears that there’s currently a serious crackdown on the previously mentioned smelly costumed characters of Hollywood Boulevard (or as KTLA painfully called it, a “Zorro Tolerance Policy” – click here for obligatory rimshot). Yes, it looks like there may be quite a few former Spidermen and Captain Jack Sparrows applying for barista jobs in the near future. So while I can’t say I’ll miss them much personally, in honor of these unique individuals we’re going to relive their former glory days by embedding the preview of Matt Ogen’s critically acclaimed documentary Confessions of a Superhero for your viewing pleasure today (a link is provided above to watch the whole film). Enjoy. :)

Some of you may recall our article on Fred Rated commercials a while back. Well kids, on June 15th Fred Rated himself (Shadoe Stevens) along with the entire production team of those crazy ad spots will be hanging out with us and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater! AND WE’VE GOT TWO PAIRS OF TICKETS TO THE 11PM SHOW TO GIVE AWAY!

Are you creative with video? Are you a giant ham with a penchant for electronic appliances? Well, just send us a file or youtube link of your best attempt to create YOUR VERY OWN version of a Fred Rated commercial! We will pick the two best. Not only will the winners get free tickets to the show, but we might just air your spot at the show and on our Facebook page! You’ll be a STAR, baby!!!!

“Who knew that commercials could be this much fun?! One of the most berserk, outrageous and unforgettable TV comedies of the 1980s, doled out thirty seconds at a time, was the unending series of wacky, ultra-fast-paced commercial spots for the So Cal electronics chain The Federated Group that starred “Fred Rated”, the half-insane “Bass-O-Matic”-style spokesman with a smooth baritone and a suave smile (played by broadcasting legend Shadoe Stevens). Before he was the voice of “Hollywood Squares”, Stevens and his round-the-clock gung-ho skeleton crew tirelessly cranked out highly memorable, frenetic nuggets of dadaist Monty Python-esque video art disguised in the form of VCR and car stereo ads — amassing the astounding figure of over 1000 genius commercials in the span of just a few years, and leaving an indelible mark on the psyche of every L.A. TV-watcher. Join us as we pay tribute to Shadoe and his “Fred Rated” team by screening the definitive “best of Fred” reel, followed by Shadoevision, the even-more-bonkers 1986 sci-fi comedy cable special that, in the words of Shadoe, “pioneered new experiences in psychological entertaiment!” Shadoe Stevens, director Chuck Cirino and the rest of the “Fred Rated”/Shadoevision brain trust will all be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the screening!” PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

SEND ALL ENTRIES TO CONTEST@HIDDENLA.COM And have fun!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many of you may not be aware of this embattled and historic local center for arts activism, but Self Help Graphics in East L.A. was the brain child of several artists including the late Sister Karen Boccalero, an Italian American, chain smoking Franciscan nun who had studied art in Rome. Sister Karen was apparently a force to be reckoned with. According to some who knew her she was loved, feared, reviled and adored, but never dismissed. Sister Karen had the moxy and the vision to tap into the emerging post 1960’s Chicano movement to bring about positive social change and empowerment through print making. The idea that she co-hatched in 1971 in an East LA garage endures as an important safe haven for artists, art students, and community groups. It’s a prestigous training ground for new and emerging print makers, and many artists who started there have gone on to national prominence.

The Self Help building is splattered in a colorful explosion of broken pottery mosaics. Walk inside (the entrance is behind the building from the parking lot) and you’ll find an impressive space that hosts a wide variety of community events as well as insanely affordable classes in print making.

Self Help also has a very cool musical legacy. In the 1980’s, they played hosts to The Vex Klub, an all-ages music venue that played a pivotal role in the exploding Chicano punk rock scene. Sister Karen nixed SHG’s involvement with The Vex after an infamous concert by Black Flag ended with the place being trashed, but to this day SHG is almost as famous for its concerts and community events as it is for its involvement in local fine art. Their Deadly Stylish Dia de los Muertos event at the East LA Civic Center last October attracted thousands of festive local participants and celebrated the afterlife in uniquely L.A. style. HiddenLA will be there next year, that’s for sure!

Check ‘em out, and look into their classes and events! Supporting the local arts community can never be a bad thing…


(At right, the mosaic sculpture of the Virgin Mary which resides in the parking lot behind Self Help Graphics. Love it!)

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I (Lynn) would like to close this post with a heartfelt apology… as some of you know, HiddenLA went viral seemingly overnight a few months ago. It was a bit of a whirlwind here to say the least. Moments *before* the siege of traffic, I was slated to post two articles in particular that fell by the wayside… much to my chagrin and guilt. The above post is one of those articles and the second will be posted next week.

So at this time I would like to publicly apologize to the wonderful Evonne of Self Help Graphics who was so incredibly hospitable to us when we visited a few months ago, and also to my dear, talented and loyal friend Mark Christian Miller who worked so hard on researching the above article and also on supporting me as a friend through a very overwhelming and bizarre time in my life. I broke a promise to you by not posting this sooner Mark, and I apologize that it took so long for the dust to clear around me enough that I could give your efforts as well as Self Help’s the attention they both deserved. I know you were frustrated and I’m very profoundly sorry. For what it’s worth, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything. It’s been an honor to call you M.B.F.G. (It’s *nothing* dirty, people! Just an inside joke.)

We know we’ve been a bit behind on posting lately… we’ve been trying to focus on planning some events and getting root canals and stuff, so admittedly this quiz is long overdue. But here it is!

As a refresher, here’s how this little game goes… we’ll show you a spot on a google map (see below). We’re thinking of something notable within a block or two of the point on that map. Within 24 hours we’ll give you the full details… but as always, we’re going to give you a fair amount of time to guess what we’re referring to first. We encourage you not to cheat by googling the address and if you know the answer right away please try not to announce it too quickly and ruin the game for the people who don’t.

Today we’re headed to the San Gabriel Valley. Ready? OKAY! :)

View Larger Map

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The very spot shown at right…

was the childhood home of famed international chef and one-time spy, Julia Child, the former Julia Carolyn McWilliams! The stately five bedroom, five bathroom, 4,210 square foot home at 625 Magnolia was built for her parents, John McWilliams, Jr. (a successful landowner) and Julia Carolyn Weston (heir to the Weston Paper Company fortune) in 1912 by architect Reginald Johnson. While living in this house, Julia attended the prominent Westridge School for Girls. After obtaining a history degree from Smith College in 1934, Julia returned to California in 1937 and worked as a copywriter for a variety of publications and advertising agencies (prior to her time with the OSS during World War II). The book that made her famous, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, hit the shelves in 1961.

Julia Child was 49 years old when she officially entered the scene to become a famed chef. So take THAT, anyone who thinks you can’t accomplish something because you’re too old. Get out there!

Here’s a really wonderful excerpt from her biography describing her romance with Paul Child, which explains a bit about how Julia Child first became enamored with French cuisine…

“She was indeed a party girl, a child of well-to-do parents, who had never had to work. Though she occasionally held jobs in New York City and Los Angeles, marriage was the usual goal of her generation. Had the war not come, she said, she “might have become an alcoholic” amid the society life of Pasadena. Julia stood out in any crowd, not just because of her height, but because she was strikingly beautiful in a wholesome way. She was also like a magnum of champagne, the effusive life of the party, even, as far as Paul was concerned, occasionally “hysterical.” But as he learned more of this woman, he saw the depth of her character, and her joy lifted him from his isolation and reserve. Thirty-five years after their wedding, he told a Boston newspaper, “Without Julia, I think I’d be a sour old bastard living off in a cave.”

“Chinese food brought them together, at least talk of food did. He thought she could cook, but in fact she had a keen interest in food largely because she was always hungry. They loved the Peking-cuisine restaurants in this refugee city where the first cookbook was written around 3000 B.C. and the “earliest restaurant” opened during the T’ang Dynasty. They drove out with OSS friends whose parents were missionaries here and who knew the language and food, and they feasted on the many regional Chinese cuisines. Paul also spoke to Julia about the food of France, which he had enjoyed in the 1920s. Fluent in French, he talked with such a distinct inflection he seemed British to Julia. He would have been seen as effete in her native Pasadena.”

HiddenLA’s HOT Angeleno of the Day: JAIME ESCALANTE!!!

Our HOT Angeleno feature was created to prove a point and counter the perception that we’re all shallow dimwits here. Knowing this, normally this is about the time I’d make silly jokes about whether or not the accomplished person being profiled has rock-hard abs – just to be a smart ass. Today I’ll refrain from the silliness out of respect for the subject, though. Jaime Escalante was born in Chochabamba, Bolivia, where he began teaching physics and mathematics. In 1964 he decided to find a new life for himself in America, although he spoke no english and had no valid American teaching credentials. He began to go to night school at Pasadena City and CSULA, and in 1974 was hired to teach basic math at Garfield High in East LA. His students were disrespectful, unprepared and uninterested. He considered giving up teaching, but over time his incredible educational and motivational skills as a teacher ended up turning around a low-priority public high school as he single-handedly built a calculus program rivaled by only a few well-funded private academies. His teaching style and students’ accomplishments were the focus of the 1988 movie Stand And Deliver.

So THAT’S why he’s our Hot Angeleno today. But unfortunately, the story of Jaime Escalante didn’t play out as happily as the movie, which is why I won’t joke about his abs. It just doesn’t feel respectful, and he deserves to be honored. Bureaucracy and office politics aside, for our own sakes we need to embrace our passionate and caring educators and leaders instead of underpay them, knock them down and drive them away.

*To see a great video of Jaime discussing his love for teaching, scroll down after the jump.*

The attention and success Jaime experienced thanks to his classes and the movie, turned on him. His classes became overcrowded, his peers became resentful and jealous, bureaucracy took over and he was eventually pushed out of Garfield High (apparently in a “don’t let the door hit you on your way out” fashion). Apparently, within a few years after he left, the school experienced a sevenfold drop in the number of A.P. calculus students passing their exams. In the 90s, the calculus passing rate dropped into the single digits. I read somewhere that 17 Garfield students took the AB calculus exam in Spring 2001 and seven passed, which is still less than one-third the number passing during the glory years of Escalante’s reign of teaching. Clearly, Mr. Escalante was doing something wonderful to inspire the children he taught, and it’s tragic that there are people who drove him away from our city.

Here at HiddenLA, Jaime’s still a HOT Angeleno to us. We’re sorry you had such a hard time, Mr. E. It’s truly our loss.

Jaime Escalante is now retired and living in his native Bolivia, teaching part time at a local university.

“Jewry to celebrate festival! — A typical Seder service at the Hebrew Sheltering Home for the Aged in this city. This Jewish festival will be held at the home next Thursday night, with many prominent Hebrew residents of the city in attendance. This symbolic dinner is one of the features of the Passover holiday” — Examiner clipping attached to verso, dated, “Mar 31, 1928″ Image ©USC Digital Archive

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW
According to an April 2003 LA Times article:

“Today, as Jews prepare to observe Passover… Southern California has the nation’s second-largest Jewish population (currently over 650,000). By contrast, the overwhelmingly Catholic pueblo of Los Angeles of 1854 had fewer than 200 Jewish residents and no kosher bakery or butcher shop. A lay rabbi slaughtered animals, carefully observing rabbinic laws, so that Jews might have kosher meat. The aroma of matzo — unleavened bread — wafted from a bakery owned and run by a Catholic. In the hinterlands — the Gold Country of Northern California or the outlying reaches of Southern California — men were often the ones who prepared the Passover seder because there were no women around.

“Despite such accommodations to necessity, historians say a common thread of faith and tradition is woven through the fabric of Jewish history in the West.”

]]> http://hiddenlosangeles.com/?feed=rss2&p=8869 1 http://hiddenlosangeles.com/?p=8675 http://hiddenlosangeles.com/?p=8675#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:05:17 +0000 lynnster http://hiddenlosangeles.com/?p=8675 I’m someone who firmly believes that kind behavior should be rewarded and mean people should be kicked to the curb. There’s a misconception about Los Angeles that people here are all self-absorbed jerks who are only out to get each other… and while there were times in my life where I bought that script, I’ve learned over the decades that I was wrong. There are bad people everywhere in the world, and when all is said and done I’ve found the majority of Angelenos to be solid, hard-working, good people who are often far warmer to strangers than you’ll find in many other cities large and small.

I’ve explained many times that the “hidden” in HiddenLA isn’t about being elitist, but rather it’s referring to the heart of this place that many people are oblivious to. In my mind, the good people of Los Angeles are a very large part of that heart.

Sooo, let me tell you a little story. Tonight I was driving through Los Feliz and realized my blood sugar was a little low and I needed something quick. I passed Best Fish Taco in Ensenada, thinking to myself that I’d seen it mentioned many times on HiddenLA’s Foodie page on Facebook. Thanks to too much quality time in San Diego I’m a Baja Mexican food snob, but I decided to put my fish taco elitism aside and give it a try because you guys have yet to steer me wrong. I may have a Team Rubio’s t-shirt in a drawer somewhere, but I wanted to finally taste for myself if these tacos lived up to the hype.

I parked across the street and walked inside. It wasn’t until the customer in front of me stepped away from paying that I noticed the sign saying “CASH ONLY” and realized I had none, just my well-worn check card. I apologized and began to walk away, but then I heard a voice say, “Hey!” a few times. I turned around and the man behind the register motioned me forward. He was owner Joseph Cordova.

“You don’t have cash?” he asked. I said no and that it wasn’t a big deal, I just didn’t know and I’d come back another day.

Joseph looked me in the eye and said, “Okay, tell you what. That’s okay. You can order what you want. Just pay for it another time. You just have to promise me something though. As soon as you walk away I’m going to forget this. So you have to remember. Got it? Because I can guarantee you I won’t.”

I really wasn’t expecting that.

I told him that I had been thinking of getting one fish taco and one shrimp taco. His reply? “I think you should.” He was clearly very proud of the food and drink he was serving and really just wanted me to try it.

Now, the cost of my meal was only $4.50 so it wasn’t going to break him if I didn’t pay, but that’s not the point. The point is that sometimes Los Angeles is a much smaller and far friendlier town than people want to think it is. And I *love* that about it.

So first I’d like to thank Joseph for the tacos and horchata. You were right… even if I’d had cash I would still say they actually were definitely some of the best I’ve ever had… and stubborn Baja taco snob that I am, that’s a strong statement.

Lastly, to all of you reading this, please reward Joseph for being awesome by trying his tacos for yourself. He also JUST opened a new location in Glendale at 604 W Glenoaks Blvd if that’s closer for you. Just one thing you should remember…

BRING CASH.