Above, view from the floor of California Plaza up to the towers of Grand Avenue, shimmering as always. I've had a great but busy time in Los Angeles so far, seeing friends, reconnecting with people, enjoying the hospitality.
Things are constantly shifting in the core of L.A., so we've been faithfully investigating the blips: In downtown I've seen Casa, Cole's, and Bar 107. I've had a bento to-go in Koreatown and I've burned fresh sage in a backyard in South Pasadena. As might be expected, phantom developments sit empty or unfinished all over the city. The saturated, negative-feeling hipsterfication of Echo Park is seriously painful to watch.
I checked out Moustache Mondays at La Cita downtown after having been at the original few iterations of the night back in '07. And then Mas Exitos Tuesday night for "dirty Latin sounds from outer space" at the comfortable Verdugo Bar in Glassell Park, the nicest new node I've seen so far.
But we still gotta go here and here, our OG spots ...
Reminder to Intersections readers: I'm speaking Thursday night at MOCA as part of the Zocalo Public Lecture Series. If you plan on attending, it's a good idea to go to the site and make free reservations. Friends and I are thinking of putting together a late after-party somewhere; stay tuned at my Twitter feed for the info.
And here, you can find audio from my talk on Tuesday with Gustavo Arellano on 90.7 KPFK-FM. I return to the mellow state-of-mind in San Diego-Tijuana on Friday.