kuaptic.: July 2005

"But who's to say I don't have wings?"

"Los Angeles surprised us by being the fire. It was the heat we always try to get to, the hot core where everything disintegrates into liquid and love and then when it's over it's like the whole structure has been reshaped and it's hard to remember what it looked like before."

- Carrie Brownstein of the band Sleater-Kinney
on the show they performed on 6/9/05 at the Henry Fonda Music Box

S'amuse

Amuse is all about days, in the sunlit old Van Gogh's Ear space on Main Street in Venice. Famer's market fresh fruits and vegetables make a splendid edition to these fine dishes. They have a killer BLT and a great smoked salmon plate, repleat with gigantic capers and toast points. From the looks of it breakfast, whether a huge single pancake or omlettes were colorful and delicious. The service is always enthusiastic if occasionally spread too thin. There was a crispness to the decor -- white table cloths with blue glasses and sort of a shabby chic atmosphere that makes it feel like the bright possibility of every morning.
Amuse, 769 Main Street, Venice, CA

Hollywood Babylon, Part 3

Hollywood used to be a dirty town. Like Times Square in New York it had its share of crazy homeless people, thieving junkies, punk and hookers. But just as that time passed for Times Square, so does it seem to be passing for Hollywood.

An important part of the Disneyfication of the center of what used to be the film industry is Hollywood and Highland. Definitely part of the Malling of America, this huge structure includes a hotel, a bowling alley, and mind numbing number of chain retail stores you could find anywhere. It's the home to the Kodak Theater, responsible for "moving the Oscars back to Hollywood." (If there ever was a sign of the oozing spread of mediocity, it would have to involve the Oscars.) As an added bonus, it ruined the Chinese Theater.

Built on the site of the Hollywood Hotel, (erected in 1905 and torn down in 1956 -- the first hotel in Hollywood and therefore home to many of the top stars of the budding industry) the area has a storied past. But the recognition of this fact isn't its only nod to history.

Hollywood and Highland resurrected the Babylonian arch from Intolerance (as well as one of the white elephant statues.) And, in an effort to put icing on that cake, the arch frames a fabulous view of the Hollywood Sign (when there isn't much smog, otherwise, it's obscured.)

Who knew that in the new watered down, "safe" Hollywood there would be a remnant of such a fabulous story -- a story of excess, prejudice, dissipation and resurrection, not just of Intolerance itself, but of D.W. Griffith and the industry at large.

Someone should make a movie out of it.

Hollywood and Highland, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Hollywood Babylon, Part 2

Intolerance, replete with the lures of mythic story telling and semi-nude slave girls just wasn't enough to bring audiences back after Birth of a Nation. It failed at the box office, causing Griffith's production company to go bankrupt.

The Babylon set was abandoned and fell into deeper and deeper disrepair. In 1919, it was deemed a fire hazard and torn down.

To Be Continued...

Hollywood Babylon, Part 1

In the center of an ode to modern consumerism is a secret, a reference to the glamour and debauchery that are Hollywood's past. It started, as all the best secrets do, a long, long time ago...

In 1916, D.W. Griffith made Intolerance, his response to the widely maligned Birth of a Nation (which basically resuscitated the flagging Ku Klux Klan by portraying them as heroes.) At the time of its production, Intolerance was the most expensive movie ever made. Its famous Babylon set was built right on Sunset Boulevard.

The Babylonian part of the movie in particular, was felt to be racy and over the top, with thousands of scantily clad extras, scandalizing the remnants of Victorian social mores and contributing to Hollywood's growing reputation as a den of sin.

To Be Continued...

Letha Couch

Today we have a real rarity to report on in Palms -- a Leather Couch. Scientists speculate that this is caused by some kind of genetic anomoly that causes the couch to become covered in a smooth skin-like material, generally found in black, brown or white, though rarely it can be found in brighter colors as well. Such a couch is highly unusual. Unfortunately, as genetic anomolgies do, it shortens the lifespan of the couch considerably.

Here, the couch is pictured trying to protect his posse, apparently a wardrobe and something that could possibly be a sidetable. Ah, woe to this lost furniture! It was not long for this world.

Crumbling Treasures

In Los Angeles, we're not much for history. We knock things down. We build them the way we like them. We believe in creating a world the way we think it should be. It's this ethic that has destroyed some of our more famous landmarks, Pickfair (the first home in Beverly Hills) was dismantled by Pia Zadora, the original Brown Derby may, at the time of this writing, be a dry cleaner. In a place where people come to reinvent themselves no one has much time for old stuff.

This is, however, not entirely the case with the Ennis Brown House. Built in 1924 by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is a stunning example of his work, certainly of of the most unique dwellings in California. It has the only four mosaic windows known to be designed by Wright himself. Though the house retains some of of Wright's prairie style, it is also high art deco, mingled with Mayan architecture and the result is both surprising and elegant.

The house has not been lived in since 1980, when the Browns donoated it to the Trust for Preservation and Cultural Heritage. It was used to film a number of pictures, including Blade Runner, Grand Canyon and The House on Haunted Hill and tv shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twin Peaks. In the Northridge quake of 1994, the house suffered severe damage, but remained open to tourists and film companies until 2004 when it was discovered that it was unsafe. Already in desperate need of renovations (to the tune of 12 million bucks), all projects were derailed while the trust scrambled to put together even more funds.

This house is a unicorn, the type of structure that people only dare build in Southern California, it should be found only on distant worlds seen or read about in science fiction. It should come as no surprise that it is at risk for extinction.

Ennis Brown House, 2655 Glendower Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Why do good things never want to stay?

They say it's hard to open restaurants, it's enormously expensive and the likelihood of going down in flames is pretty high. Today, we'd like to celebrate a restaurant that, for whatever reason, didn't make the cut.

Paladar -- In the center of the Hollywood bar scene, it was a great place to begin the Cahuenga crawl. Get there before seven, and you got cheap mojitos. The food was pretty good even, standard Cuban dishes like ropa vieja and various pork dishes. Though it was fancier and less tastey than Versailles, it was good stuff. The atmosphere was sleek, slightly Asian influenced, candlelit. While sipping your cheap mojitos, you could feel the night, rising up around you, the bubbly beginnings of conversations, strolling across the pink and black stars, coming up in prickly high relief all around.
Paladar, 1651 Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood, CA

RIP you will be missed.

Hanging with the A-list

You remember your previous life, where you moved breezily through cocktail parties stocked with stars of the silver screen (when it really was silver.) You exchanged air kisses and martini recipes (olives or lemon peel -- and never shaken! That was just made up for James Bond.) You laughed with Kate and Marilyn and made eyes with Jimmy and Cary. Even in this life, you still have access to the most exclusive star parties. Even if they are in a graveyard.

Cinespia is an organization that shows movies all summer -- every Saturday night in the Hollywood Forever cemetary. Bring your picnic dinner, a ten dollar donation and join celebrities of every caliber under the stars, to watch classic films like Breakfast at Tiffanys (this weekend) , North by Northwest, and Carrie.

Join stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Tyrone Power, Cecil B. DeMille and Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone enjoy a summer evening as only those in Los Angeles can -- watching old movies among the ghosts.

Who are we kidding?

Like you're sticking around the office still this late on a Friday in July!

And if you are still there?

Go home! It's too hot to work.

You'll melt.

Drink Monkeys

Bar Marmont may be too cool for school. Often you can find it overstocked with celebrities and wannabees, a ridiculous scene. However, it is a beautiful place, decorated with fanciful antiques, with butterflies on the ceiling, it's very charming. They have number of great house drinks, included the infused martinis, dark Manhattans and the fabulous number nine, a mojito with a martini spin (made with vodka instead of rum and served in a martini glass). The bar menu is delightful, and you can easily pull a small plates meal from it, with the succulent tuna tar tar, the crisp green salad with chunks of nutty parmesan shaved over it and chicken saatay. Or have a whole meal, choosing the hanburger or portobello mushroom sandwich with fries.

So skip the scene, go early and enjoy the flickering ambience or sit outside and watch the evening sky change colors.

Bar Marmont, 8171 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA

You wish.

Ed. - we'd like to apologize for the use of the word Huzzah in yesterday's posting, a word that only reminds us of geeked out weekends at Ren faire. The person responsible has been sacked.

Unfortunately, you were born too late. You missed the Alligator Farm. Yeah, you heard right -- Alligator Farm. The California Alligator Farm was located adjacent to Lincoln Park, a turn of the century weekend getaway for Angelenos.

With 2000 alligators and a smattering of turtles, iguanas and snakes, the farm offered such attractions as watching the alligators being fed with live chickens, perform tricks and wrestle with humans. The gift shop featured a wide selection of products made with alligator skin, including shoes, luggage and wallets.

Perhaps most surreal of all, at the "The Most Stupendous Aggregation of Alligators Ever Exhibited," you could ride a saddled alligator around the park. No, really!

In 1953, the Farm was moved to Buena Vista, close to Knott's Berry Farm (and now home to a Radisson Hotel.) However, flagging attendence closed the parkthe seventies, long before people took animal rights seriously. The 'gators were moved to a private reserve in Florida.

Wild Couch of Palms?

Why did this couch escape? It's obviously well treated, crisp and puffy, with no visible stains or tears, it's clear that this couch has emotional probelms which have yet not surfaced in it's demeanor.

On seeing this couch, one kuaptic-ite said, "This couch is nicer than my couch." Perhaps someone will take it in, and with a little loving care, it'll give up it's wandering ways.

best celebrity-named kid ever

Warning: No LA content.

We know, we know. We're supposed to be better than celeb-watching here at kuaptic! (At least inasmuch as such things are avoidable in LA.) While most celebrities are busy naming their kids dumb stuff, stuff that isn't even names -- Apple, Dakota, Tallahasee, Cody (well. it shouldn't be a name.), Penn of Penn and Teller (The one that talks, right?) has named his daughter...wait for it...

Moxy Crimefighter! Yeah! He said it was because moxy is an undervalued word for having guts and crimefighter, because no one ever knows what other people's middle names are anyway. Apparently, people come up to him all the time to ask about Crimefighter.

Huzzah Moxy Crimefighter! Oh, the tales that will be told of you and your ass kicking ways! And huzzah Penn (whose first name we don't even know) for giving your kid The Best Ridiculous Name Ever!

Everything's Simpler from Space

We were playing with our new toy -- Google Earth, and we managed to come across this cool picture. We can't really figure out a practical application for this, except that it's so damn cool.

Try making it go across the country -- it feels a little like flying!

RSSSSSSSSSS

We don't really know what it means, (we're more content than tech people at this point), but apparently now we have an RSS feed, so those of you who know what to so with that can do it.

This RSS feed is brought to you by lemming ventures, proving every day that lemmings are far less suicidal than Disney would have us believe. Thanks!

L.A.bsurtities

In our quest to ply you with the delights of our fair city, we will from time to time, be bringing forth things that are weird and wonderful into the light.

To wit; one kuaptic-ite, happened to be sitting on Lincoln Boulevard, and was fortunate enough to have a homeless guy (of the hey-isn't that-Santa-Claus? ilk) fly across the crosswalk on his Razor scooter. That trend has jumped the shark.

King of the Music Geeks

Ever listen to the Ramones, Coldplay, New Order or the Jesus and Mary Chain? Then you have Rodney Bingenheimer to thank. Having grown up surrounded by the LA music scene and working as a stand in on the Monkees, Rodney made his name in the 1960s with his music club, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco while he was writing for music magazines such as and GoPhonograph Record.

In 1976, he joined forced with KROQ to produce his show, "Rodney on the Roq" which gave him a forum to promote such bands as Blondie, Oasis, Tom Petty and No Doubt. It seemed that Rodney was at the center of things, defining the taste of over three generations of music listeners. It was in the 1990s that KROQ sunk his time slot deep in Sunday night (from 12am to 3am Monday morning if you want to get technical about it.) Their morning djs made fun of him. Yet Rodney persisted. Once asked why he didn't pick up stakes and move to competitor, Indie 103.1 where he could get some respect, he replied, "Then I wouldn't be Rodney on the Roq."

It was when the documentary about him, The Mayor of Sunset Strip, came out in 2003 that Rodney's status as a new kind of countercultural icon was cemented. The movie showed him as a man who was alienated by his family, found the strength to pursue his passions. Though some people merely look at him as a hanger-on, a groupie, he has made an enormous contribution to rock music as we know it.

Recently, Ben Nelson (son of Rick Nelson -- no his not one of the twinkie twins) has started a campaign to get Rodney a star on the Walk of Fame. Other DJs, such as Ryan Seacrest and Rick Dees have stars. KROQ stepped up to the plate and staged a walk-a-thon to earn the 15K necessary to get the star. Despite all their best efforts, on July 5th, it was announced that Rodney wouldn't make the cut in 2005 (more specifically, when his application came up, no one knew who he was), though his application will roll over for consideration in 2006.

Picking at the Glitter on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

When you think of the walk of fame, you think old Hollywood. But it wasn't even an idea until 1958. The first person to recieve a star was Joanne Woodward in 1960. Out of the original 2500 spaces made on the walk of fame, 1665 were given away in the first sixteen months of its existence. As of 2004, over 2000 spaces had been given away. The locations of the individual stars aren't permenant. They can be moved, but when they are, it's usually because of construction.

How one aqcuires a star is more murky; the walk of fame is run by the Hollywood Historic Trust. One has to have made significant professional achievement, had a career spanning more than five years and have contributed to the community. Then these people must be okayed by a number of civic organizations, including the Los Angeles city council and Board of Public Works and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. When asked to be a part of the walk, one must agree to appear at the dedication some time in the next five years and pay $15K (often provided by studios eager to promote various projects.)

Next time you're plumbling the depths of the Cahuenga Corridors, you'll have something to think about as you walk between bars other than -- "I've never even heard of that guy!"

Punk Couch

Unfortunately, no one made it to this couch in time. It is now a "bad" couch. Note the positioning -- it's upside down, the human equivilant of giving the finger. The markings are indicative of body art, so well known among youth counterculture among humans. It's obviously the fault of it's previous owners, who decided to upholster it in preppy stripe.

The souch is cleverly hidden on the edge of the sidewalk, camoflaged, not with garbage, but with leaves and under a tree. It's been on the streets for some time and has very well developed survival skills.

Beacon

When Asian fusion is good, it's really good. And it is at Beacon, located in the old Beacon laundry location in the Helms Bakery in Culver City. Chef Kazuto Matsusaka serves delicious pan Asian style seafood, and other tasty treats in this stripped down, vaulted ceiling space.

Specialties include tuna sashimi pizza (we know, it sounds weird, but it's heavenly!) miso marinated black cod, skirt steak and (unfortunately only served at lunch) the delictable albacore blt -- served on grilled bread with lean smokey bacon and wasabi mayonaise. More typical Asian fare, like pad thai and sushi is passable, but not amazing. Also worth mentioning is their fused sakes, very tastey but watch out -- they're not cheap.

Beacon is a great place to have a small bites type dinner with friends and cold sake, sitting on they patio in the smooth summer twilight.

Beacon, 3280 Helms Ave, Culver City, CA 90034

Big Guys, Tiny Bikes

It used to be that one only saw full-sized motorcyles roaming the streets of LA. But now, the gods of the ridiculous have smiled upon us and we have a very different phenomenon occurring. You could be sitting at a stop sign or waiting for your kid sister to finish a lesson. Suddenly, there will be a high pitched whine of the sort that scrawny nerd guy in your high school class used to get when he talked about leaf blowers (sure they're annoying and environmentally unsafe, but suck it up already.) The next thing you know, there's a tiny bike zipping by with a guy, like, four times the size of it in the saddle.

Apparently, these are known as pocket bikes or minimotos. They are popular in Japan and Europe and have lately been building a following in the U.S. We'd heard some whisperings about them being outlawed in CA for safety reasons, but a Google search came up empty. We hope not. In a world short on hilarity, we need as much as we can get.

Autumns in Los Angeles

It was humming at Spaceland, on a Tuesday night in October in 2002. After walking over to the 7-11 and back, after sitting in the smoking room, eavesdropping on people across the room by sitting under the huge curved disks on the ceiling, the hipsters gathered in front of the stage. Only a step up from the floor, the Autumns are setting up their equipment. The crowd is hushed but chatty.

The Autumns nearly always go on late, but they're worth it. The music, blurry guitars, studded with gorgeous melodies, sets you adrift on seas of music, surfing the strands of Matthew Kelley's voice. At the end, you're entirely wrung out by this band described by one kuaptic-ite as "like Radiohead, but better."

Check them out, before they aren't just ours anymore.

What's in a name?

Los Angeles. L.A. The name is so familiar. Wheneven major cities in the U.S. are named, Los Angeles is always there. But while New York and Philadelphia have no secrets in their names, quite the opposite is true of Los Angeles. It's not the actual name of our city -- it's an abbreviation.

Early Spanish settlers named the tiny village they started El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciuncula. The direct translation is The Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion. Of course, the Queen they were referring to is Mary, the mother of Jesus. But what's this Little Portion thing about?

The original settlers were Franciscans, meaning that they were followers of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis himself was Italian and lived in a tiny chapel in Italy in the 13th century. After his death, this chapel became an important attraction for pilgrims (no, not the ones who came over on the Mayflower.) At some point, someone painted a fresco there of the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels and it became known as "Saint Mary of the Angels at the Little Portion", depicted here as it is housed in another church in Umbria.

Please bear with us...

kuaptic's equipment seems to have come down with a serious case of the gremlins -- every time we hope something is fixed, it only leads to more problems. We will continue to attempt to provide content on a regular basis, but it simply may not be feasible.

Two Great Tastes

While lunching in Burbank, you look out the window and see a guy on a really tall unicycle pedalling across the street. He crosses and while he waits for the light to change, he holds the street lamp for balance as he lights a cigarette. And when the walk sign comes, he continues across the street, smoking.

Burbank. Who knew?

Orca Dreams

Imagine what they thought, sedated, drifting, thoughts coming in waves, one over the other. Did they think they were swimming? If they were, the water felt curiously... thin, and the surface, instead of mirroring their own faces back at them, swam with tiny specs of light. And all around... this strange whirring noise, a chugging sound so heavy and physical, it almost seemed as though it would hit them, instead of just brushing by.

The orca, Corky, was captured near British Colombia in 1969 when she was approximately 5 years old. She was placed in a circular pool with another orca, Orky, a male captured the year before. In 1977, Corky became the first orca to give birth in captivity, though the calf was stillborn. She gave birth 6 more times, but the longest any of the calves lived was forty-seven days.

In January of 1987, the whales were moved to Sea World, where they were immersed in the many whales there, who live in a series of large pools. Corky, pregnant at the time, bore her last calf a few months later, stillborn. Within the year, Orky, her companion of seventeen years, (longer than most celebrity marriages) was dead.

Now, Corky is approximately forty years old, and partially blind in one eye (though essentially healthy and about halfway through the natural orca lifespan.) She performs at Sea World daily, under the Sea World brand name, Shamu.

They don't move Orca isn't in tanker trucks or strange contraptions built with nets at sea. They airlift them in hammocks, the ends of which are held by helicopters. Obviously, they have to be massively sedated to do this. They can only be moved at night so that the whales don't get dehydrated. It might be difficult to make out from the ground, but it interferes with reception -- antennaes, the occasional satellite dish. (Few people had mobile phones in 1987.) And of course, it's pretty dangerous.

There's a whole scene in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where a bomb turns into a whale that thinks it's flying for a brief moment before hitting the ground. That whale wasn't even travelling over part of one of the most populous areas in North America. What a spectacle it must have been. These great beasts gliding through the night, for a moment freed from the normal constraints of breeding and performing. For once able to swim among the stars instead of just below them.

City on the Cliff

Once upon a time, some people really liked creatures from the sea. The people decided that these creatures lived too far away and that it would be nicer if they lived nearby, where they could all visit each other whenever they wanted. These people decided they would build Marineland Pacific on a cliff overlooking the sea in Palos Verdes, CA. It was a picturesque location, whose cove-ridden coastline once gave shelter to Spanish and Portuguese sailing ships -- pirates and whalers mostly.

When Marineland opened its doors in 1954. At that time, it was the largest Oceanarium in the world. Its exhibits housed animals from all over the world, changing on a semi-weekly basis. Everything from dolphins to walruses to sea otters had homes there and it pioneered a swim through aquarium called the Baja Reef.

Almost as noteworthy as its existence was the way that Marineland closed. In 1986, it was purchased by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, who also owned Sea World. At the time of the sale, papers were full of promises that the park would not be closed, nor would any of its occupants be moved. However, in January of 1987, employees showed up for work to find Marineland gated and padlocked. HBJ released a statement claiming that the location was unstable -- the park was falling off of the palisade and had to be closed for the sake of both animals and workers. Now, sites that mention the incident say that HBJ only closed the park because it was financially expediant to do so. The animals were transferred to other parks, or simply released with no knowledge of how to survive in the wild.

In the mid-nineties, there was some talk of building a resort on the Marineland site, though that seems to have faded. Like so many landmarks from mid-century Los Angeles, Marineland exists in limbo -- closed to the public, it is used for filming, most recently, it has appeared in Fear Factor.

Marineland still holds a firm place in the hearts of many as the first place they saw a manta ray or an anenome . In 2003, the Marineland of the Pacific Historical Society was founded to preserve its memory.

Jump the Shark

"Jump the shark" is a term used in the entertainment industry to denote the moment when a tv show goes from cutting edge and original (well) to ridiculous and derivitive. Generally these changes denote panic among the executives in charge of it resulting from the departure of a cast member or sinking ratings. (More recently, the term has expanded to include trends as well.)

The term comes from the moment in 1977 when Happy Days when the Fonz is water skiing (still wearing his leather jacket) and (you guessed it) jumps over a shark.

There's a website that keeps track of what has jumped the shark and when, though there's some controversy over whether or not the website itself has slipped into its eponymous destiny.

Now you can sound cool too.

Bau wow

In 1910, J.A. Bauer picked up stakes in Kentucky to move West. He understood that there was a thriving pottery scene in Los Angeles, fueled by skilled workers and an artistic sensibility that rejected the excessive decoration of the Victorian period (this break from tradition was generally referred to the Arts & Crafts movement.)

Once there, he left the redware pieces with which he had made his fortune behind, moving instead to simple, molded and handthrown pieces for the table, artistic vases and bowls, generally in a green glaze.

It was after J.A. Bauer died though that the truly collectable Bauer pieces were created. Louis Ipsen created a "ruffled" design as well as "ringware" (where the decoration was a pattern of concentric circles). He introduced new, brightly colored glazes, orange, yellow, shades of blue inspired by the colors of Southern California itself. These sold well even during the Depression (In fact, the most sought after pieces were made in the 1930s and 40s.) and came to be widely imitated, eventually inspring Fiestaware.

Recently, a ceramic studio called Bauer 2000 opened, dedicated to using the old Bauer molds to create their pottery in the same bright colors at reasonable prices.

Central Casting

Central casting is part of ever studio. It's where they hire people to play uncredited parts or extras.

It has become a bit of industry jargon used to denote someone who appears very stereotypcial or generic. Confoundingly, it's also the name of a number of casting agencies.

Wild Couches of Palms

kuaptic is based out of Palms, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Our location, allows us to observe a curious natural phenomenon which we realize is by no means isolated to our fine neighborhood -- the wild couch.

Instead of staying in their private lairs, these couches break free to roam the streets. They enjoy sitting out in the sun on lawns or pavement, consuming water from sprinklers into their sponge-like interiors. They accumulate paper cups, beer bottles and other debris. Scientists speculate that this could be an attempt to camouflage themselves from predators, though it is rarely a successful one.

Once they break free from their shadowy apartments, the lifespan of the couch is severely limited, though they sometimes persist, clinging to life for months at a time before they are brought down by their fierce enemy, the sanitation truck. Do not approach the wild couch; among its natural defense mechanisms are mold, human/dog urine, as well as a general wetness, odor and broken springs. The wild couch is a fierce beast, one we should regard with dignity as it sails into that great living room in the sky.

The River

Did you know that there's a river running through Los Angeles? Just like St. Louis, New York, and Paris. But the river doesn't leave a a green trail down the center of our fair city, instead we have a shallow toxic trickle meandering down its concrete bed.

The river has been there far longer than anything else, but as these things happen in the desert, most of the year it was little more than a stream. The channel itself runs from the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains. When snows in the mountains melted, or it rained, flash floods roared down through the valley, along the Ballona Creek bed to the ocean.

At one time, the Los Angeles River was the main source of water for the city, but as it grew, people were often threatened by the flooding. After the Los Angeles Aqueduct was opened in 1913, it was decided that the river must be contained. During the 1920s, the Army Corps of Engineers dug out the channel and cemented it over, making into what we see today. Few parts remain unpaved -- the flood channel behind the Sepulveda Dam in Van Nuys, the Glendale Narrows, east of Griffith Park and as it meets the sea in Long Beach.

People's attitudes about the river can be surprising. Some people barely know it exists. (They may slightly better off than the rest of us, simply because they keep their eyes on the road.) Currently, there's a movement to restore the river, turning the water that it channels into the sea into usable water for the city. Some parts are even marked as wildlife preserves. These nods to its origins as a thing of nature belie the Frankenstein's monster it has become.

The L.A. River is the dark shadow of its Aqueduct. Often dirty, lined with garbage and graffiti, criscrossed with bridges and power lines, it is a home to the indigent and the addicted. It swells to crazy proportions when it rains, a glance down its length from one of its many bridges shows the dark water and swirling currents ready to swallow unwary children and foolish adults. Though tamed by its concrete channel, it remains one of the wildest, most dangerous predators to slouch the breadth of the city.

We're back...

(Warning: no Los Angeles based content)

...And we need a cup of coffee THIS big!

We've returned from our various vacations in exotic locales refreshed and excited about some new ideas we have about content!

What you have to look foward to: flying whales, Bauer -- I don't even know her!, a new look, the real Y2K and more fictive bits than you can shake a stick at!

kuaptic.

Friday, July 29, 2005

"But who's to say I don't have wings?"

S'amuse

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Hollywood Babylon, Part 3

Hollywood Babylon, Part 2

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Hollywood Babylon, Part 1

Letha Couch

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Crumbling Treasures

Monday, July 25, 2005

Why do good things never want to stay?

Hanging with the A-list

Friday, July 22, 2005

Who are we kidding?

Drink Monkeys

Thursday, July 21, 2005

You wish.

Wild Couch of Palms?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

best celebrity-named kid ever

Everything's Simpler from Space

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

RSSSSSSSSSS

L.A.bsurtities

Monday, July 18, 2005

King of the Music Geeks

Friday, July 15, 2005

Picking at the Glitter on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Punk Couch

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Beacon

Big Guys, Tiny Bikes

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Autumns in Los Angeles

What's in a name?

Please bear with us...

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Two Great Tastes

Orca Dreams

Monday, July 11, 2005

City on the Cliff

Jump the Shark

Friday, July 08, 2005

Bau wow

Central Casting

Wild Couches of Palms

Thursday, July 07, 2005

The River

We're back...

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