"you can't spell LOVE without LV"

If only Christmas came in July, because this scarf would be on the top of my list.

i did it

I did it, yay for me. I am, however, still rewriting. But there is an end in sight and I am so excited to start working on my next screenplay.

say hola to savings

I was walking in the Fashion District when I noticed this store display using Mexican wrestling masks to draw attention to their sale merchandise. I wonder who they were hoping would get drawn in by this tactic, and if it worked.

last weekend started on wednesday

This is how far behind I am, the pic above was from the Bloggers & Beer event at the Library Bar - not last week, but the week before. I know, I suck. Anyway, we started by attending the DLANC Board Meeting at the Palace Theater. I almost forgot how funny downtown booster Hal Bastian is. He was such a riot, he added a shot of comedy to an already hilarious meeting. We ate pizza, discussed stuff, and then Dave projected his downtown filming notifications map on a large screen. If you'll notice, I placed a permanent link to it on my sidebar, for easy access. Hal also announced a community event for downtown Los Angeles dogs of all faiths (and their humans), comprehensively called "Downtown Dog Day Afternoon at the Cathedral". Sadly, I don't think my Wonton will be old enough to attend.

Afterwards, Dave, Penelope, Jim and I walked over to the Library Bar to check out the Bloggers & Beer thing. I was hoping to finally meet Mondo Rick-o, but I don't think he showed up. I also realized that most of the pics on his blog are of him sans shirt, which would make it difficult to recognize him since he'd most likely be wearing a shirt. It was a fun event and I'll probably go back to the Library Bar when it isn't lousy with bloggers (not that there's anything wrong with bloggers).

fun on the job

I keep meeting the nicest people downtown.



That isn't my car being towed, I just happened to be walking past when the tow truck driver started playing around.

downtown farmer's market roundup

Eric blogged about discovering the Farmer's Market at the Bank of America Plaza (Hope & 3rd Street) the other day, which reminded me - I've been meaning to blog about the different farmer's markets downtown.

On Tuesdays, Jim and I usually get vegetables and produce from the Arts District/Little Tokyo Farmer's Market. It was supposed to move to Saturdays at the Los Angeles Mall, but Ed says that's on hold. Thank Buddha, that's a horrid place and time. The Arts District/Little Tokyo market has moved to Thursdays and is now at City Hall. I can also kill two bird with one stone (or walk) by supplementing goods bought at the farmer's market with meat or seafood from any of the three Japanese grocery stores in Little Tokyo. But more on that in another post, I'm still on farmer's farkets. ride the DASH up Main Street to the new venue, then take the DASH back home down Spring Street.

If we don't have our act together on Tuesdays,On Wednesdays, we hit the Central Library Farmer's Market. We tend towards the Central Library because 1) we're also picking up or dropping off library books anyway, 2) the walk from 5th & Los Angeles to the Central Library is one of the most entertaining walks downtown, 3) I prefer the tamale and the asiatic lily vendors at the Library, and 4) we usually don't have our acts together on Tuesday.

If I'm at Gold's Gym on Thursdays, then I hit the 7th & Fig Farmer's Market before heading home. Again, the tamales aren't as good as the one on Wednesdays at the Central Library, but you might feel differently.

Occasionally, I find myself in Chinatown on a Thursday (usually for mid-week dimsum) and that's when they have their farmer's market. I had a really bad experience my first time here, which had nothing to do with the market and more to do with how much Chrysler road service sucks, which also tells you that it's not walkable. I'll have to try it again soon since I have a different car now..

It was, however, the Bank of America Plaza Certified Farmer's Market (CFM) that got this whole post going. I haven't been there yet, but it's managed by the same people who manage the Central Library CFM - and it's good to know I have even more options, so I'm really glad Eric blogged about it. You learn something new every day. If there are any other good farmer's markets downtown not mentioned here, please email me or leave a comment.

I'll be blogging about the many downtown grocery stores shortly, so look for it.

Central Library CFM
Days: Wednesday
Hours: 11:30AM to 3PM
Location: 650 W. 5th St. betw Grand & Flower

City Hall Farmer's Market
Day: Thursday
Hours: 10AM to 2PM
Location: South Lawn, on 1st St between Main and Spring Streets

7th & Fig CFM
Day: Thursday
Hours: 11AM to 3PM
Location: 735 S. Figueroa St. (lower level)

Chinatown CFM
Day: Thursday
Hours: 3pm to 7pm
Location: 727 N. Hill St

Bank of America Plaza CFM
Day: Friday
Hours: 11AM to 3PM
Location: 333 South Hope Street (at 3rd St.)

cheap cavalli

Remember a while back when I convinced my brother and James to drive me to San Francisco and back in the same day so that I could go to H & M on the first day that Stella McCartney's limited edition collection for H & M went on sale (this was before any of the Los Angeles-area H & M stores opened)? Well I just read that the next designer to create a limited edition collection for H & M will be Roberto Cavalli. I think I know where I'm going to be on the morning of November 8th.

ach, doontoon!

Much as I love the original, as sung by Petula Clark, this rendition of my blog's theme song, as delivered by groundskeeper Willie in The Simpsons, slays me.

meet wonton

Meet Wonton, our new Shih Tzu puppy!

photo courtesy of jim

Yes, he's on my Hello Kitty rug. That's not happening anymore, let me assure you. We had his toys all ready for him when he arrived, so he had a great time checking out his new pad and romping around.


Then he went down for his nap.



He's already crate-trained, housetrained (for a puppy), and we're told he sleeps through the night and is a late riser. I'll let you know if I've been lied to.

great artwalk

This past Thursday, I packed up work early so I could hit the Downtown Art Walk. It had been a while for us, I think the last time we did was a few months ago when Huell Howser was hanging out in front of BGFA. We tried to ride the Artwalk DASH, but one was never around or going in the right direction when we needed one, so we just walked. I videotaped part of the walk and I'll post that shortly.

We started at the gallery around the corner, Art Murmur for Austin Young's "God Save the Queen", a solo exhibition of contemporary photography and film exploring androgyny and tranvestitism. Save for a few images, his work didn't really speak to me, but instead I kept wondering, "Is that Alexis Arquette?". Jim really liked the frames.

Next stop was Bert Green Fine Art at 5th and Main. I highly recommend you check out Elizabeth Tobias' work at BGFA. It is stunning and I found myself wishing I had an extra $24,000 handy to buy the piece titled, "Wall Wave 1/Gate Gate Paragate" (Cibachrome on Wood Panel
78 x 192”). Jim really liked Joel Hoyer's "The Yasawas" (Gold Leaf, Gesso, Fijian Masi on Wood, 61 x 42 x 2”), but he didn't have an extra $6,000. I really need to finish my screenplay so I can use my bonus to buy artwork and a Hello Kitty bike.

There was a band playing on the sidewalk outside Pharmaka, which really added to the street circus atmosphere. We didn't go inside since we've already seen that show. We walked up Main Street to the DLANC Outreach Center (next to the Regent Theater) to check out Benjamin Pezzillo's photography exhibit titled, "Close to Home: 31 Photographs of Downtown LA", and I am so glad we did. My favorites were #11 and #19, and they were very reasonably priced. Jim and I are currently painting our front entry, but we'll probably revisit his photography when we're done painting and ready to put up some artwork.

Alas, Niche L.A. was closed, so we turned away sadly from the Spring Arts Tower and went kitty-corner to Red Dot so I could use the facilities. That's when I ran into Jayson, someone I knew from way back when I was working for Chanel and he was working for Paula Dorf. I didn't recognize him at first (it was years ago), but thankfully he recognized me and stopped me to chat. Jayson moved into City Lofts earlier this year and loves living downtown. I'm so glad I'm getting even more fun, cool neighbors.

Out on 5th, we ran into Kitty and friends and our downstairs neighbors Sam and Winston. Sam and Winston just downed a couple of the free Grolsch beers from Pharmaka, Kitty & Co. just left Pete's, and they were all on their way to Gary Leonard's studio, then Seven Grand. We were on our way to Crewest to check out "Italian Masters", a group show featuring 22 graffiti artists from Milan with live painting in the alley behind the gallery, then dinner at LiliYa, but we made plans to meet up later. Yeah, I can't believe that Jim and I have yet to make it over to Seven Grand. Anyway, there was one piece at Crewest that both Jim and I were enamored of, but we didn't have $2,000 to spare. My production bonus is going to be earmarked in full by the time I get my grubby hands on it. We watched some of the graffiti artists painting for a while, but we left because we were hungry.

On the way to LiliYa, we stopped at MJ Higgins and fell in love again, this time with Dick Heimbold's "Hop Louie" (16x12, oil) and "Gin Ling Way". We dragged ourselves away, knowing we'd be returning later.

Part of why I like having dinner at LiliYa China Bistro is because of its location. We sit in a booth enjoying the awesome sesame chicken and watch the circus of clubgoers alighting their vehicles at valet and heading to Edison. It's a steady stream of hoochies, hipsters and trying-too-hard scenesters preening in the car one last time, adjusting their push-up bra/skinny jeans/retro duds, and doing one last "cool check" before they turn the corner and into the alley. It's perfect - dinner and a show.

After dinner, we were walking past The Lofty Dog on our way to 2nd Street Cigars & Art Gallery when Jim suggested we check out the pet store. I don't know how it happened, but next thing I know, we're checking out the three adorable Shih Tzu puppies upstairs. We left sans puppy, but Jim suggested that we purchase two puppies. I was actually the voice of reason for once.

We stopped at 2nd Street Cigars just long enough to check out their exhibit, "Cuba", featuring photography by Anthony Martin and Jason Zakrzewski. Just like the previous galleries, Jim and I found plenty that we liked. A quick look at the time meant we had to hotfoot it over to Seven Grand, but en route we received a twitter from Shannon - she was already on her way to my favorite supersecretlatenighthangout.

We said "screw it" to Seven Grand, changed direction, and walked over to find my supersecretlatenighthangout gearing up for another, um, late night. Shannon and Dave were already at the bar. I texted Kitty, she was on her way. Nic Cha Kim strolled in - it was so nice to catch up and hang out. Penelope got off work and made it over, and we had a nice little group of friends enjoying a chill night in a hot space. Old friend and new friends stopped by, the dance floor was packed, and it looked like Dave was drinking a Big Gulp Maker's Mark. Good times.

Finally, it was time to go home. We all said our goodnights, then Jim and I walked home down Main Street. There were still stragglers out on the streets and at Banquette, refusing to let the fun/night end. We waved goodnight to Monica, then continued down Main, enjoying the quiet walk home and our wonderful neighborhood.

this could explain my anger

I read this the other day:

"The responsibility of a writer is to bring forth words that capture, through painful personal experience, people's suffering, pain, faith and hope. This is because a writer is charged with the mission of speaking on behalf of his fellow human beings. Everything that happens in the world is happening to me personally."
--Chingiz Aitmatov

This does explain somewhat why it's been so difficult for me to write and rewrite the screenplay I've been working on. I'm writing about ex-slaves, six years after the Civil War. I explore themes of loss and hope. It's heartbreaking and I often find myself veering wildly between grief and anger, often hours after I've finished writing for the day. Most people who know me know I can be very scary when I'm angry. But the grief part, I think is scarier for others to witness because it's so unexpected that I'm such a sap. My sister Laura once rolled her eyes then hit me in a movie theatre for tearing up during a screening of The Parent Trap. Okay, that wasn't grief, but you know what I mean.

I am really looking forward to writing a comedy.

still no 'gina

Last night I asked Jim if he wanted 'gina for dinner. He said, "I could go for some 'gina." We were headed to the airport to pick up my visiting aunties afterward, so instead of walking to Little Tokyo, we took the Prius (which I haven't Hello Kittified, yet). Sadly, there was still no 'gina to be had in Little Tokyo. Is anybody else besides me and Borat jonesing for some 'gina?



earlier, on 'gina watch:
no time for 'gina
weekend 'gina watch
'gina watch (and kajima!)
it's not dolores but it rhymes with another female body part

trippy hello kitty video

catching up

This screenplay rewrite is taking forever. The second screenplay I've been working on is taking shape, but so far I hate it. It's just not very funny yet. For ScriptFrenzy, I wanted to work on something contemporary and completely different from the other project, so I'm writing a broad, raucous comedy, set in the present day at a fictional southern California university, based on my college and sorority experiences. The other one? A period drama, set along the Underground Railroad in the six years since the end of the Civil War. Yeah, that one's a real party.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my June calendar is pretty full. There's been a lot going on, not just career-wise and not just downtown. We actually went west of La Brea - to the Fox lot for a reception and screening of Al Pacino's documentary, Babbleonia at the Little Theater. There was a Q&A afterwards with Mr. Pacino, and he answered damn near every awkward, eye-roll-inducing, gushing, brown-nosing, suck-up question thrown out that night. We were told that the attendees were a combination of press and student filmmakers, but it seemed like the majority of questions were lobbed by aspiring actors. He does tell a good yarn, though. He told the story of how "Attica!" wound up in that famous scene from DOG DAY AFTERNOON (the AD suggested he yell it), what it was like to work with Francis Ford Coppola and Sidney Lumet, and how he came up with "Whoo-ah!" for SCENT OF A WOMAN, and how to stay relevant (he came straight from the OCEAN'S THIRTEEN premiere, which we saw last night). We rounded out that evening by going to this wonderful Indian restaurant behind the Writer's Guild Theater on Doheny - Chakra. I ate there once before with my Development Exec, but it was the first time for Jim. I had the lamb vindaloo and he had chicken tikka masala. The food was even better than I remembered. Every time we venture out to the westside, I plan to eat there. It's that yummy. I wish we had an Indian restaurant downtown that's open late and beautiful, serving yummy food like Chakra.

I missed a lot of events last week. We went to Disneyland last Wednesday to preview the new Finding Nemo submarine ride, but it broke down. They tried to fix it and we waited, hoping they'd get it together in time, but no such luck. They invited us to come back the next day and preview it, but they had no guarantees it would be up and running, or that it wouldn't break down again. Oh well. The ride opened yesterday, but I think we'll wait out the crowds before going back.

Instead of going to the Hope for Firefighters thing last week, Jim and I picked up a brand-new, shiny, red Prius. Driving it is a little odd for me, being so used to my old Jeep (my third one!), but I like it a lot. I especially like that we used one gallon to drive to Pechanga on Saturday. One gallon! Woo hoo! What I didn't like was no notification about Sixth Street being closed due to a Neutrogena commercial. That made it difficult to exit our parking garage, but nothing was stopping me from attending the Lemon Butter Club meeting. Thankfully, they were gone by the time we came home several hours later and we didn't have any problems entering our parking garage. There were other FilmLA developments - their contract was up for renewal June 30, 2007 and the City didn't have an RFP handy, so FilmLA asked for a one-year extension of their contract, but Jan Perry countered with six months, which doesn't matter because City Council can cancel the extension with a 30-day notice - oh just read about it here.

What else is new? Oh yeah, I went back to the gym and found a new trainer that I really like. This past week, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, but in a good way. I just might hit the gym after posting this.

We did manage to hit Grand Performances' block party yesterday, and just in time to catch Ozomatli. I saw them the last time they played Grand Performances, which was incredible. I spent most of the weekend writing and rewriting, but neighbor Dave pinged us to head over with him. I had to finish writing, so we caught up with him later. I took some video of the event and I'll post that in a day or so. It was packed, so we didn't see any other downtown bloggers covering the event (other than Dave, that is), but of course they were there.

This week looks like it's going to be just as busy, if not more so. My brother-in-law James is coming home from NYC tonight, so we'll probably have dinner with him and Angel tonight. Tomorrow night is the Bloggers & Beer event at the Library Bar, anyone going to that? Thursday is Downtown Artwalk, but with the new, free Artwalk DASH buses running from 7-10pm, I'll probably do more riding than walking.

I know there's lots more going on that I haven't blogged about, but I have to get back to the screenplays.

do not want

It might be hard for people who know me to believe this, but I really do not want this Hello Kitty laptop. I truly do not want it.

This, however, I do want.

free tix for student academy awards

I have four tickets to the 34th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony and screenings tomorrow night - anybody want them? I went two years ago, and was so glad I did. The show is at 6pm at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire in Beverly Hills. Email me at celia (at) 5thandspring.com.

I wish I could go, but I'm going to Pechanga again.

can't talk, gotta run

I really want to tell you about my weekend. About the late night donut run on Friday that had to be completed by the end of National Donut Day. About the Los Angeles Pizza Company's grand opening party, about how much writing I accomplished over the weekend. Then on Sunday, how Jim gave me a look that just sent me into gigglefits whenever I asked him if we were going to the neighbor thing on Sunday (I asked him every half-hour or so, he'd say, "Oh yeah. Do you really want to go to that? It was so lame last year." Then I'd reply, "No, not really." Every half-hour.) Or about Dave and Penelope's amazing dessert that they brought over to share on Sunday night, and that Dave considered entering the Miss Downtown Los Angeles pageant (email him if you think he should do it).

But I also want to tell you about the pictures that Eric and I took of the USPS office re-opening at 5th and Spring since I can't show you (Jim hasn't downloaded that off my cellphone yet.) And last night, we went to a reception and screening of Al Pacino's documentary Babbleonia and afterwards, a Q&A with Mr. Pacino. Then there's Chakra, the yummy Indian restaurant we hit afterwards.

That will all have to wait for another post because I have to hurry up and get to Disneyland. We get to preview the Finding Nemo submarine ride! Woo hoo! I promise I'll blog about it in more detail. Hopefully, I'll get to it before the Hope for Firefighters event tomorrow.

no time for 'gina

I've been so busy I haven't had time to see if 'gina had opened. Has anyone had an open 'gina sighting in Little Tokyo?


While doing "research" on a screenplay, I found this list of words that could enrich my vocabulary. Maybe I could pair some with more new restaurants opening downtown.

in a frenzy this month

I'm participating in ScriptFrenzy this month. So in addition to rewriting the screenplay I've been working on, the one my producers have been waiting on for a couple months now, I'm going to write a first draft of my next project. It'll be horrible, but it'll be a start and hopefully it will make me use my time more wisely.

It'll be a challenge - the social calendar is filling up quickly for the month of June. I've got something going on every weekend and the weeknights are filling in as well. Did I mention that I recently renewed my gym membership?

I haven't been going to the gym for the past year, but I managed to score a really good renewal rate and I have over a dozen sessions with a trainer that I never used. So I made the appointment and start with a new trainer on Monday as well as Pilates Reformer classes next week. I'm barely going to have enough time to goof off.

all a-twitter

In case you haven't noticed, I added something to the sidebar - a twitter badge. Thanks to Dave, I'm on to my next silly thing - Twitter. I call it silly because I haven't really found a good reason for doing it, just another way to read about all the silly things I do (or me and my friends) that I don't always blog about.

I guess it could come in handy for things like, hm, I just noticed that Dave just posted that he's home from work. Angel just called, asking how we're going to commemorate National Donut Day, so I twittered "contemplating making a run to glendora to see jim the donut man" Now, if Dave, or Helena, or Gabrielle, or any of my friends on Twitter see that and want in, then they could contact me using their preferred method of communication and we'd have more participants in a donut run.

That's all I got. Any other ways this could be useful?

i would wish for world peace

Sweet. Looks like June is going to be a fun month downtown. The inaugural Miss Downtown LA pageant. I kind of want to enter the pageant as a joke. But I'll need a very enthusiastic, very loud cheering section. I wonder if my friends and readers of this blog would come out for that. Oh no, hold up. Bikini competition in the final round. Screw that. Aw, that would've been fun otherwise.

bloggers & beer

Got an evite for Bloggers & Beer, a beer tasting social at the Library Bar on June 12th:

Bloggers & Beer
June 12, 2007 @ 8pm

Library Bar
630 W. Sixth St. (entrance on Hope St.)
Los Angeles, CA
Bar: 213.614.0053
Event Questions: 323.876.6500

Join fellow food, drink, and lifestyle bloggers for a an evening of beer and blog enlightenment at downtown's novel Library Bar.

Christina Perozzi (aka "The Beer Chick") will share her beer brilliance with an inspired tasting of Library Bar's stellar Beer "Stacks".

Space is limited so please RSVP ASAP to reserve your glass!

Anybody else going? If you didn't get your invite and want to go, email the Library Bar and we'll see you there!

national donut day

Today is National Donut Day! Does anybody want to go to the Donut Man in Glendora for strawberry donuts? What's that? You want to go someplace I haven't been to, someplace "new"? Okay, how about the Donut Hole in La Puente? Let's drive through that big brown gaping hole, that 26-foot brown double-dunker portal. Anybody? Ok, where do you get your donuts?


Photo courtesy of losanjealous

Donut Man
915 E. Route 66, Glendora
626-335-9111
Hours: Open 24/7
Favorites: Cream-cheese/strawberry donuts, strawberry donuts, tiger tails, Bavarian cream.

Donut Hole:
15300 E. Amar Road (@ Hacienda Blvd), La Puente, CA
626-968-2912
Hours: 4 am - Midnight., Closed major holidays.