
Animator Douglas Rogers added a grin to to his upright bass, saying that the shape inspired the idea. The F-holes do double duty by working as raised eyebrows. Photo by Ed Fuentes.String basses with a New Orleans theme, an Enchanted Princess, Dumbo's Pink Elephants, a Cheshire Cat grin, and a Ge...
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Patrons crowd around food trucks parked on Spring street during the January Downtown Art Walk. Photo by Ed Fuentes.A trio of food trucks will act as guinea pigs for Downtown's first mobile food court this Thursday, making an eatery out of a loading dock at Alameda and Traction.The lot could be t...
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This story is an installment of Around the Halls. Photo by Ed Fuentes.Today is Monday, February 8, and the city budget continues to be priority one at City Hall. 41 budget instructions go through Council on Tuesday, including recommendations on El Pueblo and the Convention Center. Expect to se...
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The potential loss of identity that comes with outside-owned development has long been a major issue for Little Tokyo, and the 2008 sale of the Little Tokyo Shopping Center to Korean investors was met with fear and concern. Lately, though, there has been a focused efforts to bring the two commun...
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Big Wangs partners Joe Barker, Ted Russell and PJ Brill are getting set to open their third location at 8th and Grand on Sunday. Photo by Eric Richardson.The former Tranquilty Base space at 8th and Grand starts its new life on Sunday as sports bar Big Wangs opens its doors for the Super Bowl. I...
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A pair of pedestrians walk through the main corridor of the Los Angeles Mall on Friday afternoon. Photo by Ed Fuentes.It's easy to forget about the Los Angeles Mall. The vaguely-named complex sits buried next to City Hall, housing fast food outlets, a handful of retailers and some service offic...
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A line of new staff members makes their way up the escalators to orientation at the JW Marriott L.A. Live on Friday morning. Photo by Eric Richardson.650 new employees of the JW Marriott at L.A. Live showed up for their first day of work on Friday, Just nine days before the opening of the 879-ro...
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This story is an installment of Ask Downtown. Photo by Eric Richardson.Ask Downtown is an occasional series in which we put a reader's Downtown question to you, the real Downtown experts. Help a reader out and share your knowledge.Today's question comes from @ladygrl, who is planning to go out ...
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Vincent Laforet sets up a shot on a Canon 1D Mark IV during filming in Downtown on Thursday. Photo by Eric Richardson.The average Downtowner has never heard of Vincent Laforet, but the shorts the photographer-turned-filmmaker has released over the past 16 months are required viewing for camera f...
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Photo by LAPD.Central Division detectives today released a composite sketch of a man wanted for attempting to kidnap a woman outside a nightclub on the northwest corner of Downtown. The incident took place last Friday evening as the woman left Vertigos Bar & Grill, located at Figueroa and ...
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LA Times -- The AEG CEO answers questions about the Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger and about how L.A. Live is hitting the company's projections.
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la.metblogs.com -- Kevin Ott reviews gallery Control Room, in the Arts District.
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Photo by OpenStreetMap.OpenStreetMap is a free, editable map to which anyone can contribute. It's very much the Wikipedia of the mapping world, and suffers many of the same issues -- a lot of the data is very good, but look close and some of it just isn't quite right.When it comes to the site ...
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LA Times -- Just in time for art walk, a mobile food court is opening at Hewitt and Traction.
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Photo by Eric Richardson.Those of us who are more Fashion Weak than Fashion Week will spend this coming Sunday wearing jeans and watching the Super Bowl.For a different demographic, playbook study is already underway for the chance to score some designer clothing and shoes at the next Barney's...
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The only art left at Main Street Tattoo is this uncompleted piece by Emmeric Konard, who recently did the mural on the glass of the Down & Out at 5th and Spring. Photo by Ed Fuentes.Main Street Tattoo has removed its large blue sign off the front of their parlor. Inside, all that is left i...
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LA Times -- Steve Lopez helped set Nathaniel Ayers up with a recording session recently that featured Flea as accompaniment.
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Dave Freeman at Casey's Photo by Monk Turner.Dave Freeman is not only a career music promoter, he is also a career Downtowner. A little less than a year ago he decided he wanted to work in the neighborhood he lives in -- a bit of a stretch in a city where most of the population commutes to work....
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blogs.laweekly.com -- URM's Andy Bales leaves a lengthy comment responding to a letter asking that Safer Cities policing work on Skid Row be focused elsewhere.
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The new 2nd street parkway is created out of three shades of wood chips. Photo by Eric Richardson.After two years of neglect, the narrow strip of landscaped parkway on the 2nd street side of the Caltrans building has finally been given some overdue attention.The weedy overgrowth that had taken o...
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A pair of planning options for a proposed Grand Avenue Linear Park show new plantings and pedestrian amenities that would replace 20 feet of asphalt. Photo by .Downtowners get a final chance to weigh in on design for a linear park proposed to go on Grand Avenue this week, then the project gets s...
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Photo by Metro.A popular plan to take Metro's proposed Regional Connector light rail link under the intersection of 1st and Alameda will be officially considered by the agency's planning committee this month.First presented to the Little Tokyo community in November, the underground option must ...
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2009 Amgen Tour of California champion Levi Leipheimer rides a time trial in Sacramento. Photo by Nico Sanchez.Downtown will serve as the start and end point for Stage 7 in May's Amgen Tour of California, but don't expect to see professional cyclists whizzing up and down neighborhood streets.The...
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LAist -- Ten hours into their Monday meeting, Budget & Finance voted against authorizing 1,000 layoffs to help balance its budget. The full Council must still vote this week.
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A quiet scene at Crazy Gideon's, where final merchandise was auctioned off on Saturday. Photo by Ed Fuentes.Traction Ave is a little bit quieter today.Our obsession with the closing of "Crazy" Gideon's has little to do with measuring consumer demand of electronic goods, and much more to do with ...
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YAS Fitness Center is planning to open this spring at 831 S. Hope. Photo by Eric Richardson.Downtowners looking to get in better shape should soon have a new option in South Park. YAS Fitness Center, a gym that specializes in yoga and spin classes, has leased ground floor space at 831 S. Hope, ...
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Pershing Square's 1,590 space garage is one of ten proposed for a private concessions contract that could generate the city short-term cash. Photo by Eric Richardson.Could turning over Pershing Square's 1,590 space garage to a private operator increase revenues for the city? The facility is one...
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