Truth: I don’t care what went down in D.C. because we had some damn good times here in L.A. Let me explain.

All sorts of folks made it to the Mayan on Tuesday night: angels, devils, young, old, the bold and bedazzled, the mamas and the papas, the prepsters, the groupies, the stilt-walkers, the smooth talkers, and even a suited-up schmuck here and there. Anything and everything moved and mingled throughout the venue. We were a happy hodgepodge of mixed nuts.

“This is what liberation feels like, yeah?” screamed some dude into a microphone. And so, the night began.

The lights went down as the face of our new President took center stage on three big screens throughout the room. Most of us heard Obama talk the talk earlier in the day, but we couldn’t get enough of it. The room fell silent as we listened to his speech all over again. His words made sense of our madness—and we were hooked.

D.J. Motion Potion then pumped out the jams and infused bits of the speech into the mix. The crowd kept pace and let the new president take the lead. Words of hope and change punctuated every beat and we danced it up. We twirled and dipped. The clench of these past eight years—we let it rip. We let it all loose. Free at last. That’s what we were.

“What a great turn for our country!” exclaimed Gabriel Avenna, a high school teacher who had kickass $20 t-shirts on sale.  The tees read: “From abomination to  Obama-nation.” Avenna said he didn’t create the shirts with a profit in mind. He just wanted to raise awareness. “We’re finally going to regain the respect we lost over the last eight years,” he gushed.

Kathy Leonardo, a singer/songwriter decked out in a patriotic fairy getup, shared the same sentiment. “I’m so excited that suddenly Americans have opened their eyes,” she said with a grin. “And I love the fact that this is happening at night, so I can go out and party!”

Kathy Leonardo

The crowd kept dancing as the “visual symphony” took command of the floor. The music got faster and the beat bumped louder as a whirlwind of visuals flashed on and off the screens. All the images were made in the U.S. of A. They made me want to pat myself on the back—just for being an American. For voting for Obama. And for adding a new achievement to this country’s rich history.

And then—shh!—The Mutaytor.

The Mutaytor

If you haven’t seen this cirque-du-so-whoa! rock group, you need to. From the antics of the hoola-hoop contortionist to the sheet-climbing ballerina to the upside-down, fire-whirling, baton twirlers, this alterna-grunge troupe does it all. They jam, they dance, they strip a little here, then bump and grind over there. It’s talent in the raw, cool raunch all the way.

So what does The Mutaytor have to do with Obama?

“It’s art for the sake of art,” said Commander Dazzle, a Mutaytor groupie. “We’re coming out tonight because we’re inspired. Barack Obama is all about hope and what America stands for—freedom. Being cool to each other. That’s what we’re all about. That’s what this entire scene is about.”

Commander Dazzle

As I meandered out of the Mayan, I realized that Commander Dazzle had her finger on the pulse of the evening. The people I partied with were from all walks of life. I even shared a laugh with a 65-year-old robot maker who had no idea what he was getting himself into when he decided to attend the ball that night. But in the end, he was “very pleased” about partaking in the fun.

Bill Schonlau

We’ve spent so much time, money, and life on being at war with the world, each other, and our leaders, it’s about time we stop dropping bombs, reclaim our integrity, and foster an environment where the countries around the globe are just “cool to each other.” The allies, the enemies, the young countries, the old ones, the bold and bedazzled, the unstable stilt-walkers—again, why can’t we all just be “cool”? And Barack this party.

Naysayers, go ahead. Call me naive. But hey—take a look at us in L.A.

The world clearly has some catching up to do.

I left my warm and cozy apartment in East Los Angeles at 5:30am and didn’t arrive in Washington D.C until 10:30pm. Not only was this the longest flight in the universe, but the most nightmarish layover in Boston, ever. Thank you Priceline!

Since LAX is a complete nightmare, I didn’t want to run the risk of missing my place (it’s happen before!) I checked in one of my bags (which I had to pay $15 for) and then headed over to security to completely be stripped away of all self dignity. (Really? Do you really need to know what’s inside my shoes? I promise I am not hiding any explosives in my socks.)

Then, I had a layover in the worst airport in the world. Logan, Boston. It was ridiculously cold, freezing, and in case you didn’t know, each terminal is like it’s own mini-airport.

So I had to jump on a little bus, to go from Terminal C to Terminal B, THANK GOD I had taken my jacket and gloves with me. Enduring horrible freezing temperatures is new to me and frankly, I am not a fan. The cold and wind stung my face little tiny microscopic slaps. I had to run, with my laptop bag, my carry-on bag and my wet Ugg boots, because, of course, I stepped on a big pile of snow.

I had to go through security all over again. By this time, it was 5:55pm ET and my flight left to DC left at 6pm. I decided that there was no way I was missing my flight and ran from the check point to terminal 18. I was in my heavy wool coat, hat, scarves, gloves, laptop bag, and carry-on running through an airport I had never been in

Finally, I see a big 18 terminal sign with great big windows and my plane slowly moving away. Cue freak out:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to cry. I was tired, exhausted, cold, wet, and my hair was icicles. Jason, the guy working the desk took pity on me.

“You on the 6pm to DC?”

“I was suppose to be!” I responded almost in tears.

“Your flight has been delayed.”

OMG. Wow. The snow gods must have taken pity on me.
He said something about a malfunctioning plane and too much ice on the tarmac, but honestly at that point I wasn’t paying much attention. I hadn’t missed my flight!

So there I was, stranded now in Boston, only to realize there was no free wi-fi, none power outlets worked for my dead laptop, and I was hungry.

After what seemed hours, we finally boarded, and I arrived in DC to encounter more cold, minus the snow. My friend, Estee, had advised me that I could take the Yellow Metro from Reagan to the Convention Center. For $1.35, I, alongside many others with suitcases, got on the Metro and headed towards DC.

From an airport to a metro to the city: easy transportation. Wish we had something like that in Los Angeles!

Seven stops later, I was in Chinatown, DC, and had finally arrived to witness one of our nation’s most historic moments… and all I kept thinking was… “I wish I would have packed more socks.”

To Be Continued……

For the past month, an Aussie accent has been conspicuously missing from the morning airwaves of Los Angeles’s radio station 89.9 FM.

As of December 1, Nic Harcourt vacated his post as the host of Santa Monica-based independent radio station KCRW’s pivotal daytime show, “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” and left his position as the legendary station’s music director.

In his place as the new host of “Morning” and as music director, is Jason Bentley’s smooth baritone. Bentley started at KCRW as a phone volunteer over 20 year ago, and hosted the weeknight show, “Metropolis.”

Bentley has been a mainstay in the dance music scene in Los Angeles, but his resumé extends far beyond the 1’s and 2’s. He was the music supervisor for The Matrix trilogy, an avid music producer and remixer, as well as a promoter of local music and art events. He recently became the first DJ ever to play the post-Academy Awards Governor’s Ball. He also headlined the Obama campaign’s official Los Angeles celebration on election night.

Now he takes on the daunting task of running KCRW, one of the last true vestiges of independent music on the airwaves. With the help of podcasting and Internet radio, KCRW and “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” have gained prominence throughout the world. Maintaining the status that previous music directors carefully cultivated is no small task, but Bentley has a thoughtful approach to his new digs.

P+P had a chance to speak with him on the phone and ask him a few questions about the KCRW legacy, as well as what he plans on doing different now that he is in the driver’s seat.

What’s your impression of outgoing music director Nic Harcourt’s legacy at KCRW?

I think he’s really taken the brand experience of KCRW and given it more of an international profile, by really taking KCRW.com on his back and putting that out there—The KCRW Presents” and “KCRW.com Presents” that we do in places like San Fran, New York, and Chicago. It’s a funny thing because KCRW is strong because it’s rooted in a community and it’s uniquely Los Angeles. But it has grown far beyond LA. “Act locally, think globally,” I believe, is the expression. He’s kind of been the international ambassador for us. He’s also strengthened the importance of live music…I think Nic took it to a whole other level—things like broadcasting live from South by Southwest in Austin and other big music conferences around the country. I think in certain ways he’s really helped to build the station’s influence and profile nationally and internationally. I think we’re fortunately positioned because LA is the entertainment capital and we’re sort of feeding the other media outlets. They’re either listening to us or hiring our DJ’s as consultants.

How do you plan on making the show your own while still embodying the spirit of ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’?

I have a high regard for the music directors that we’ve had. I hope to take measured doses of each—the sum of the strengths. I want to break the show down in terms of what you’d expect. It’s been pretty rigid so far and I want to make it a little more unexpected. I want to give people the sense that it’s beyond music, which is the anchor, but I’d like to welcome people by.

We’ve had a lot of success with this guest DJ project. I think it opens up an interesting angle in the broadcast component. I’d like to bring that same success to the airwaves and maybe bridge to online using on-air teasers.

As far as my dance music roots, I can’t deny my own identity, I owe a lot to the scene, and it’s part of who I am. There will be that. It’s just that I won’t launch into the 30/40 minutes of minimal German techno.

I want to cast it as sophisticated and cosmopolitan international music. I think I can present dance music as international culture and it will make more sense in the context of ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic.’

You’re quoted in the press release announcing your move to host of MBE, talking about the “hypnotic pulse of the night” vibe for’ Metropolis’ versus the  “optimism of the morning” for ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic.’ Can you elaborate on these metaphors?

I kinda feel like there’s a responsibility to be optimistic, to a certain extent, in the morning. I think a lot of the success of morning radio has to do with listeners in the stereotypical urban zoo; the escapism it offers them. You don’t want to worry about the traffic or the day ahead, it’s just something where people can check out a little bit. I don’t want to bring the darkness, the feel of the night, to that point in people’s days.

Garth Trinidad and ‘Chocolate City’ are going weekly to fill your Metropolis timeslot from 8 – 10; Why did you pick them?

I needed to fill that, and after looking at a few different scenarios, I just felt like Garth really still has some room to grow and something to offer. I think that his program has suffered a little bit after becoming a once a week thing. I think he can be even better-suited playing more often. I think it gives him more time to explore new music and I think he has an appreciation of that challenge.

I’ve always been a fan and we’ve been friends since he first came to the station. Communication is essential to having a better continuity in the station. Sometimes in an organization, there’s too much dysfunction. I needed someone that I could jive with. There’s no doubt that he’s a confident person and he has a voice. You can’t just be looking at it as a paycheck and you have to understand your role as a community servant, and I think he broadens that community for KCRW.

A friend who works at Artist Direct said that music director at KCRW is one of the top five jobs in the world (music nerd or not)z—What do you think about that?

I didn’t fully appreciate the influence of this position until the announcement. My inbox flooded. You’re sort of the commander of this fleet of incoming ships. You gotta navigate and keep track of all of these movements. You’re really trying to connect the dots with the bands that are trying to emerge and make a difference.

I was definitely humbled in the first week with the kind of attention. Not only does it drive home just how strongly that people feel about MBE and the station, but real difference that you can make in the lives of a band. Presenting a show in the LA market. Helping them find a spot to play at a showcase that we’re sponsoring at SxSW or CMJ. All of these little things make a difference for bands trying to get out there. I knew all of this on the periphery, but it’s been interesting and eye-opening to see the type of responsibility that I have.

What is your process for planning out so many sets throughout the course of a week and still keeping it fresh?

One thing I’ve noticed from doing the nighttime slot for so long is that it’s kind of a constant. Imagine you’re kind of refining your sets and your acts all the time. You have this idea of what you’re playing generally. You’re the one listening the closest so you kind of have this overall sense of whether you’re burning stuff out or you need to work something else in, or you have to challenge yourself.

I think it’d be more difficult to do one show a week than doing it consistently because it’s almost like you’re picking up right where you left off for five days. There’s no perfect show, but you’re going to keep working on your skill like a martial art.

“Morning Becomes Eclectic” airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on 89.9 FM and can also be streamed and podcast at www.kcrw.com. Check out the site’s announcement about Jason’s new job here.

Free veggies anyone? More than 40,000 people showed up to pick free vegetables left over from the harvest at a Colorado farm about 37 miles north of Denver. The farm owners expected about 5,000 to 10,000 people to pick a few carrots and potatoes last Saturday. Instead, more than 11,000 cars showed up and the people picked the fields clean. Owner, Ms. Miller, told the Denver Post, “Overwhelmed is putting it mildly. People obviously need food.”

And in Los Angeles recently, Mayor Villaraigosa revealed his long-range plan to generate “enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020.” His goal could be achieved if solar panels are installed on public and private energy generating facilities as well as on residents’ homes. This initiative will also help the city’s Department of Water and Power reduce its use of fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, and benefit global warming reduction efforts. If the Mayor’s plan were successful, Los Angeles would become the “hub of the solar-energy industry.”

The White House may become a “green” house. In the recent Barbara Walters interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Obama said that he wants to make the White House green. He plans to work with the chief usher for house and evaluate his new home’s energy efficiency. When asked why the focus on greening the house, Obama said, “Part of what I want to do is to show the American people that it’s not that hard.”

Global warming is a global concern. Although the global economy is in the pits right now, HSBC bank’s second annual global poll found that 43 percent think climate change is a bigger problem than the financial crisis. And 78 percent of those polled want their countries to do their “fair share” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although the global citizens polled want their governments to fight global warming, invest in renewable energy (55 percent), and participate in climate talks (27 percent), as individuals, these people are less willing to change their own lifestyle than last year (47 percent in 2008 vs. 58 percent in 2007). Have they ever heard the expression that change begins with YOU?

So if you are a big greenie, where can you meet like-minded individuals? Funny you should ask. There is a new social networking site called Greenwala. The site is designed to help people learn more about being green, brag about their green works with family and friends.

Yesterday, the sun looked like a giant grapefruit. By dusk, it had added that coral-orange shade to a sky so colorful it resembled the contents of one of the bottles you see filled with different levels of sand…the rainbow kind available in curio shops all over the southwest. Right, those.

At first, I didn’t think these sights had anything to do with one another. Then I smelled the air and read the paper.

It was happening again.

Every fall, the Santa Ana winds bring with them an uncomfortable heat—inducing an Indian summer that nips at days getting dark by four p.m., while the rest of the country prepares for Thanksgiving and Christmas wearing scarves and heavy coats.

Every September and October, or October and November, fires follow the winds, searing through the dryer parts of California.

The mountains and hills, and the valley in between them have gorse, brush and weeds parched enough to ignite when aided by even the tiniest spark.

Whether by a stray gust or arson, that spark inevitably appears.

And every year around this time, hundred, if not thousands, of people lose their homes—some their lives—to the explosive fires borne from those winds.

It breaks my heart. The flames consume these peoples’ personal spaces, the proof of their memories and everything they own.

The LA County air looks and smells so smoky it’s almost as if there were a giant city-wide BBQ . Like the weird light peaking behind forbidden doors in Little Nemo or Harry Potter films, the day seems to have adopted a sickly yellow tinge.

The Los Angeles Times dedicated most of its Sunday edition front page to these fires. The print headline read “Driven by Wind, Catastrophe Sweeps Across Three Counties.” Through its gallery, the online version presents an array of photos depicting still shots of the brilliant red, orange hues of flames devouring everything in their path.

If this, like the mudslides that will certainly come after the rains that will certainly follow these fires, is a predictable disaster, why is it still legal to build houses in those areas? Or, short of that, why is constructing homes with ultra flammable material still so common? While people are not to blame for wanting their houses to look a certain way, the developers, could stand to quell their greed or at least tap into some hindsight by noticing that houses using stucco and tile are more resistant to flame, and since fire comes every year, exposing people (those living there, those fighting the fires and those covering them for news outlets) to needless tragedy and danger is inexcusable.

Off the Wall…Street Stocks everywhere seem to be suffering Humpty Dumpty’s fate. On Thursday, the Dow Jones plummeted a stunning near 700 points, and Friday brought a sharp descent to both European and Asian markets. Here’s hoping this October 29th doesn’t resemble the one the world saw in ‘29.

The Economist’s Verdict: Too Little Too Late…Yup, an Official Global Recession Though the world’s banks have been stitching in financial sutures, England’s self-described newspaper explains a widespread recession, if not depression, is pretty much unavoidable at this point.

But Back in LA…Bigotry and Malice out to Play Irvine City Council candidate Attorney Todd Gallingher, a Muslim convert, said a caller told him “‘I want to cut off your head just like all the other Muslims deserve,’” after finding out Gallinger was a Council of American-Islamic Relations employee. The city’s police department is investigating the threat.

The Insidious Disease That Turns Post-Prandial Bliss into Misery One percent or more of the country’s population could be suffering from celiac. The auto-immune disease caused by the ingestion of grains such as wheat, barley and oats could lead to more than an upset stomach. This piece explains it can also herald the onset of “anemia, infertility, osteoporosis and cancer.” In this case, it seems the only cure really is prevention in the form of a gluten-free diet.

Russian Cook May be Stirring the Iranian Nuclear Pot Though this doesn’t mean Russia is, as a country, aiding Iran in nuclear arms development, the investigation surrounding a Russian scientist’s possible illustration to Iran regarding the finer points of detonation is worrisome and the first admission from the part of a nuclear agency that the Middle Eastern country could be “receiv[ing] help from a foreign weapons scientist in developing nuclear arms.” Considering the statements Ahmadinejad has made in the last two years pertaining to what he says is a lack of nuclear arms development and Russia’s separation from the issue, this is no small matter.

Perhaps those thousand of bankers and financial folks who were laid off in this economic fiasco can flip their skills into a “green” job. According to a study released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday, the new shift to renewable energy and efficiency is expected to create a whopping 4.2 million jobs. Currently, there are about 750,000 folks who work in green jobs. Hey, there’s hope for the unemployed yet.

Forget hybrids and low emissions vehicles. And we all know gas prices and constantly filling up at the pump are a bummer. Daimler’s new tiny Smart ED car may be the answer. This new all-electric vehicle debuted at the Paris Auto Show today. It goes about 90 miles without recharging and barely makes a sound.

What do greenies and Goldman Sachs have in common? They are a part of the Senate’s bailout bill that passed yesterday in a 74 to 25 vote. Although the legislation was primarily designed to aid the nation’s financial system, the bill has incentives for renewable energy use. Environmentalists regard these cuts as essential for promoting growth in wind, solar and other alternative energy industries.

Many of us can remember our parents telling us to eat all the food on our plates. Now kids and grownups in Los Angeles don’t have to. They can give their food scraps to the City of Los Angeles “recycling ambassadors” under a new pilot program.

Houston, there appears to be a problem: SMOG. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the city tops the list at #2 (LA is numero uno) for severe smog problem.

Possible Elder Abuse Very troubling news from Calabasas, CA have reached our ears, eyes and screens. Those inhabiting an expensive assisted living home in the area directly north of Los Angeles may have been suffering flagrant abuses at the hands of those most responsible for caring for them. The LA County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating the death of an 80-year-old from the facility for the last 11 months and may now have concluded the killer may just have been the 20-year-old paid to watch over him.

Silicon Valley Not Exempt from Credit Crisis Up until now, San Francisco- and San Jose-based innovators were confident the financial crisis would not really affect them. But more and more they’ve realized that fewer people are indulging in expensive gadgetry when pockets are shallow, and investors may be shying away from putting their chips in the middle of the tech table.

Bailout Bill Approved Setting in motion what may be the priciest “government economic intervention in history,” the House of Representatives approved the $700 billion bailout originally thrown out last week.

Foreclosure and Desperate Times Unable to cope with the shame and sadness that displacement from her home evinced in her, a 90-year-old woman shot herself twice in the upper body when sheriff’s deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed Ohio house. She is being treated for her wounds, but her act of desperation may become anthemic to all those enduring the fever of foreclosures running through the country.

Jobs Dropped, Unemployment Rises Further Jobs have plummeted this year, making each month’s statistics more dire than the previous one’s. In September, 159,000 people lost their positions, making it the 30-day period with the highest number of retrenchments seen in five years.

Who Will Pay Ukrainian Ransom? Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian freighter ship hostage said Wednesday they would lower their asking ransom price from $35 million to $20 million or perhaps to as “low” as $5 million. But even then, no one is coming forward to pay up. What good does a decreased amount do if it still goes unpaid to the detriment of those hijacked?

“Los Angeles is a city looking for a ritual to join its fragments.”

—Jim Morrison

Perhaps that ritual ought to be the consumption of a delicious breakfast. And should that be the case, the city’s making a valiant, and I’d say pretty darn successful, attempt at providing spots that offer glorious incarnations of that very meal.

Neither breakfast nor a slew of restaurants (charming, though they may be) can piece together the sundry elements that comprise Los Angeles and the neighborhoods within it. But on a smaller, more personal level, breakfast as ritual could serve as an excuse to unite the people living fragmented lives in a fragmented town by having them get together at the start of the day.

I’ve always loved breakfast. By the time I reached my mid-to late teens, I’d locked down a simple routine that made me look forward to getting up in the morning (and that’s saying a lot): either a steaming bowl of oatmeal and a mug of tea, or two pieces of toast with jam and cheese accompanied by a latte with cinnamon on top (I live large). To me, breakfast seemed like it should be a secret, sacred and absolutely private affair in which the consumer could gently adjust to the reality of wakefulness uninterrupted by intrusive chatter. I maintained that view until college where I went to school in the Bay Area.

The East Bay is practically teeming with wonderful places to get breakfast. But going alone’s no fun at all. I kept the tradition of getting together with a friend or with a group of friends over breakfast throughout my time as an undergrad. My freshman year, I was lucky enough to have buddies willing to get up at 9 a.m. on a Saturday to hang out over bagels and coffee. That’s dedication. And even when all of our resolves crumbled, I kept a pact with a good friend to meet every Thursday at a different breakfast place in the region. Sometimes I feel like the “good breakfast joint reconnaissance mission” could just as well have been another course of study.

When school ended, and I moved back home to L.A., I sought to replicate the experience of getting together with a good friend over a morning meal (not, of course, to be confused with the mid-morning English wonder known as ‘Elevenses”). I thought it would be impossible to find breakfast restaurants as cute, replete with as delectable morsels, as those I had visited up North. But my quest was easier than I expected.

The five places listed below (and the five extra featured below that) present an array of satisfying options for even the fussiest eaters. And while going out for breakfast is usually an absolute luxury of money, time and fat, it doesn’t have to be. There’s no need to make it a hedonistic bacchanalia (though it’s great if you do), one that takes the entire morning, costs a fortune and weighs you down for the rest of the day (or worse, charges you up with an excess of calories, only to leave you as ravenous as you would have been had you not consumed the feast and laid down the moula). It can be as light, cheap and brief as you please. And for those feeling as I did (and still do on the blisteringly early weekday mornings)—that breakfast should be a quiet, solo affair—some of these places should do quite nicely. Or if it’s a reunion you seek, then any of these will be great.

But either way, you should keep in mind what an uncommonly sage-like mid-’90s cereal commercial stated regarding the importance of this meal. “If life’s a bowl of cherries, skipping breakfast is the pits.”

John O’Groats

10516 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90064-2320 (310) 204-0692 John O’Groats is always packed, and once you eat there, you’ll easily understand why. I’ve never eaten anything I didn’t like, and I’ve celebrated almost every single one of my birthdays there since I turned 18. The spinach, cheese, mushroom omelet is appropriately fluffy, salty and hearty. The oatmeal comes filled to the brim with a colorful assortment of fruits and cinnamon, nicely complementing the thick, lumpy oats hiding underneath. The banana-stuffed pancakes are huge golden pillow mounds, flawlessly enclosing the banana mush like breakfast calzones. The French toast is heavy and is almost like a dessert. The white bread has been soaked in the eggs so much that it’s unbelievably moist and rich; it’s sublime enough to transport you (especially with the help of a sugar-high inducing dose of maple syrup) to another plane of existence. The lemon-curd pancakes are unique to this restaurant, but should be copied by all respectable breakfast joints. More like crepes than pancakes, this stack of brown doilies comes with a tangy lemon spread that delicately balances tart and sweet. John O’Groats’ crowning glory, however, should be its biscuits. Once a tiny diner-like family-owned joint named after an area of Scotland, O’Groats now takes up three mid-sized rooms. But its cooks haven’t lost access to a home-made taste. And in no other item on the menu is that made more clear than in the biscuits. Served warm, they are slightly crumbly on the outside, soft and very buttery on the inside. These yellow rounded towers taste best with huge dollops of home-made strawberry preserves.

2) Patrick’s Roadhouse

106 Entrada Dr Santa Monica, CA 90402-1249 (310) 459-4544 The restaurant may bear an Irish name and an outside that’s green and covered with four-leafed clovers, but the only really Irish thing about it is its luck…in food selection and decor. The menu is not particularly strange or inventive, but the fare is delicious and hearty. The omelets come with seasoned potatoes, and the strawberry or banana topped pancakes are delightful. The interior of Patrick’s Roadhouse is as exciting as the food is comforting. Much like what I imagine the cohabitation of Simbad and a pirate to look like, the place is filled with knick knacks, odd bobs and zany pieces fit to make The Little Mermaid’s Ariel’s mouth water. In short, this ship-like place is located in just the right spot: off Pacific Coast Highway and across the street from the ocean.

3) King’s Road Cafe

8361 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90048-2633 (323) 655-9044

A mellow and friendly hub for breakfast. The walls are painted a warm yellow hue, dogs sit outside with the waiting patrons, and the coffee is fantastic: not burnt, not watered down, not dreggy. The meals are hearty as well, and the vibe is young and relaxed. The ingredients were fresh and well-chosen. The potatoes accompanying my tasty shitake mushroom, cheddar omelet were salty and golden. This is an absolutely ideal place to catch up with a friend. The chatter is present but not overwhelming, the meal tastes great and comes quickly, and the restaurant lies in a central location.

4) La Conversation

638 N Doheny Dr Los Angeles, CA 90069-5506 (310) 858-0950 This French-themed cafe is difficult to spot. It lies just off of one of L.A.’s busier surface streets, Santa Monica Blvd., but it’s tucked into a little corner of Doheny, granting it a private air perfect for chats that would mimic the cafe’s name. Complete with cranberry-colored walls and lace accouterments, the restaurant feels straight out of a scene from Amelie or The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The au laits are excellent, as are the croissants. Despite the cafe’s French predilection, cherry scones trump everything else on the menu. While ordering a hot beverage and pastry may cost a bit more than they would at an ordinary coffee shop, the lovely, conspiratorial atmosphere is far preferable to the stale nature of a food chain or breakfast-less morning.

5) Il Dolce Cafe

True, the area surrounding the cafe is more than slightly pretentious. Disturbingly expensive boutiques line the street, yet if you walk through one of the doorways, you’re in a petite stone courtyard that allows you to escape for the duration of a meal to a combination Medieval-Mediterranean fantasy. The feta, avocado, olive, mushroom omelet hit the spot; but you can build your own egg concoction (as I did) or order something from the griddle.

Michel Richard

310 South Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048

(310) 275-57077)

Victorian House Cafe

2640 Main St Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 314-3250

Le Pain Quotidien

(Yes, it’s a chain. But the brioche, waffle and hazelnut spread make it well worth the visit.)

9630 S Santa Monica Blvd Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (310) 859-1100

Literati Cafe

(Eggs florentine. Enough said.)

12081 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025-1201 (310) 231-7484

Bread and Porridge

2315 Wilshire Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90403-5801 (310) 453-4941

Looking Out. Photo by Deborah Stokol (2005)

Nominally, summer is drawing to a close. Were folks to use department stores, fashion magazines, and schools as guides, they’d be under the impression that the leaves were on the cusp of turning a brilliant New England russet, that shadows were already lengthening on the sidewalks, and that spending nights and weekends away from mulled cider and the rigor of book-hitting and paper writing would be totally remiss.

But here in Los Angeles (which turned 217 years old last week!), it’s sunny, hot and dry (can’t you just see the tumbleweeds?)‚ and likely to stay that way for quite some time. (That means, for us, the beaches are a destination long after “summer” has ended).

As an Angeleno who has spent most of my 25 years in this idiosyncratic concrete oasis, I’ve got native knowledge on parts of the city that newly arrived denizens may not. In this series, Secrets of the City, I’ll share insights to Los Angeles and unveil hidden alcoves I’ve chanced upon. Most of these places are not actually secret, and may even be old favorites, so this will be a pleasant consolidation of disparate bookmarked tidbits.

About 15 minutes North of Zuma’s beautiful but often overpopulated sands lies a trinity of small cubbyhole beaches so delightful as to be the perfect antidote to most bouts of ennui and dejection (then again, so is a simple drive up PCH—Pacific Coast Highway—while listening to Stevie Wonder or Sly and the Family Stone. But that’s subjective).

As the driver inches ever closer to Ventura’s (805) and further from the last bastions of LA (proper), he or she will encounter El Matador, La Piedra and El Pescador state beaches.

All lie at the bottom of either steep mounts or craggy altitudes, but the climb down is as invigorating as it is worth it (though the second two are more accessible for those restricted from making the descent).

Once there, El Matador reveals a cave-filled haven that forms a nice mouth to the encroaching sea.

La Piedra is small, clean and, like the others, virtually private. Even when fellow beach-goers lay their towels down, there seems to be a common code against obtrusive behavior. But make no mistake, these beaches don’t attract the haughty; they’re simply relatively unknown and wonderful alternatives to the larger, more crowded, ‘tapped’ spots.

El Pescador, the third and last, but no less least, beach could more aptly be called “la piedra” for the many rocks riddling its grounds, and it sparkles just as much—if not more—as the other two.

Of the three, El Matador seems to get the most visitors–perhaps because it’s the one closest to Zuma. Its beaches are also, if memory serves, slightly softer and finer than those of the other two. But I truly couldn’t choose a favorite; they all feel like refuges.

There are neither public bathrooms nor concession stands of any sorts on these three sites, though porta potties line the parking areas.

The three make lovely picnic spots, and those who frequent these beaches tend to come armed with sumptuous feasts of their own.

Parking is available for $2 in a small lot above these beaches, or for free on the edges of the highway, and the hours are listed ambiguously as 8 a.m. to…Sunset or “dawn to dusk.”

Be careful not to reach your car after closing hours, as you will be stranded. I know…I have a tale concerning a night in 1999 that involves a bonfire, a car and a very large, locked El Matador gate. But that’s another story.

El Matador

32100 PCH

Malibu, CA

818.880.0350

La Piedra

32628 PCH

Malibu, CA

310.457.1324

El Pescador

32900 PCH

Malibu, CA

310.457.8140

Last night, the grassroots organization, MoveOn.org had nationwide, “Yes We Can!” parties all across the country. In an attempt to bond with my fellow common man, I watched Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at V Lounge in Santa Monica. I settled on V Lounge because, is there anything more “LA” than attending a political event at a nightclub?

I drove right past V Lounge the first time I went down Wilshire Blvd., probably because, like any nightclub worth its salt, the lounge has no identifying titles on its exterior façade. I should have noticed the line of middle-aged white people.

At 6:20, when I arrived, the club was about half full. The group clapped when the sound from the TV was piped through the club’s sound system. Yes, people did actually want to hear Obama’s speech.

3. The only time you’ll see C-SPAN broadcast at a nightclub.

4. There were plenty of people dressed in Obama gear, but I was expecting more. Of course, there were a few people with swag to go around. Nancy Niparko sported the midwestern mother look.

5. Michelle Morton told me she got her shirt from either Amazon or eBay. And like all of the people I spoke to, she’s excited for an Obama presidency. “My God, this is awesome!,” Norton said. “I’m so happy! We’re going to have someone as our president who speaks English, cares about us, and isn’t looting our treasury.”

6. Vince Duffy is convinced Obama will win if the youth turn out to vote. And he thinks the best way to communicate with them is to speak their language. He designed the T-shirt he’s wearing and is working to sell it on college campuses. “Young kids know ‘Pimp’ means cool!” Duffy said.

7. This event was like a night out at a club in so many ways. People were lined up three-deep at the bar the whole evening, the kitchen was slow …

8. … And it was dreadfully hot inside. By the time Obama’s speech started, I was sweating, and I noticed quite a few other damp brows. You’ve gotta love fan-only ventilation.

9. When the Barack Obama profile video started at 7:00 sharp, V Lounge was packed. Every seat was taken, and people were also sitting on the ground. Obama draws a cosmopolitan crowd.

10. Ruth and Irv Sarnoff take the prize for cutest old couple out to support their candidate. And Ruth is confident about Obama’s chances: “He’s got a damn good shot.”

11. And like any good nightclub, there were empty beer bottles everywhere. Turns out Obama literature makes great coasters!

Obama’s speech may have been conventional, but the crowd at V Lounge was loving every line. A couple hometown favorites:

“We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets …”

Applause for this makes sense in a Santa Monica crowd.

“Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps—even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.”

After this line, the guy behind me said, “He’s on fire!”

12. I must have picked a good venue to watch the speech—Both Univision and NBC’s Los Angeles affiliates were getting footage inside V Lounge

13. Simone Shah, one of the club’s investors, was the host of the evening. Earlier in the night she pitched in to bus some tables. Shah told me later that she estimated around 400 people were at V Lounge watching the address. She said, “Things were a little bit too good. There were more people than we expected. I only thought 30 of my friends would come. I didn’t think this many people were mobilized.”

14. If Ruth and Irv were the cutest couple, Ed Chaidez was the most dapper. After the speech ended, Chaidez said he was positive about Obama’s chances. “As long as Democrats can stay together and fight against the unity of the Republicans,” he said, “Obama has a good shot.”

15. This little dog was working for Obama, too!

16. At 8:20, the evening was over. It’s the earliest I’ve ever seen a nightclub empty.

South L.A. faces some of the most serious economic challenges in the county, and “poverty is the strongest socio-demographic determinant of obesity,” says Dr. Antronette Yancey, an associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health and co-director of the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities.

Yancey writes in an e-mail interview that she agrees with the moratorium because it “brings widespread attention to the obesity and chronic disease disparities in southern L.A.”

If the city council succeeds in its long-term goal of rezoning South L.A. to attract new businesses, residents there may get access to healthier shopping and dining choices on par with the west side, and though many franchisees and restaurant associations don’t agree with the council’s method, it’s hard to see how better city planning in poor neighborhoods is a bad thing.

However, a report in 2007 by the Los Angeles County Department of Health (the same one cited by city council members) suggests that children in South L.A. experience only a slightly higher rate of obesity than the city average. A quarter of Angeleno children are overweight with or without healthy food options, so leveling the playing field won’t do much to solve the broader problem.

Americans overeat, favor unhealthy foods, and don’t get enough exercise. That much seems clear. But changing these habits at the societal level could require a fundamental overhaul across a variety of sectors both public and private, from farming to infrastructure.

“We are surrounded by a smorgasbord of highly palatable, pervasively marketed, inexpensive, readily accessible, nutrient-poor but energy-dense foods,” Yancey wrote in the April 2007 issue of the journal Obesity Management. “Coupled with seductive sedentary entertainment and transportation options and re-engineering of the built environment to favor automobile transportation over pedestrian or mass transit, our genetic ‘hard-wiring’ [to avoid exercise and eat salty, sweet and fatty foods] easily explains the occurrence of the small caloric excesses and energy expenditure deficits necessary to produce the epidemic.”

Even culture plays a part in overeating. According to Yancey we’re just as likely to stop eating when our favorite show ends or our date finishes her meal as we are when our bellies are full.

So turn off the television at dinner time, sit around the table with your family, and dish up smaller portions. Simple enough. But how do you unravel something as politically tangled as, say, farm policy?

Michael Pollan, director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at UC-Berkeley and author most recently of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” boils the epidemic down to a stupidly simple equation: overproduction of food equals overeating.

Government subsidies backed by powerful food industry lobbyists allow farmers to get paid whether or not there’s a market for their crop, Pollan argues. So they overproduce. Overproduction devalues the crop, so restaurants and food suppliers maintain their revenues by adding value to the end product (more highly processed foods) or by beefing up the portions (supersize it).

Pollan:

“Cheap corn, transformed into high-fructose corn syrup, is what allowed Coca-Cola to move from the svelte 8-ounce bottle of soda ubiquitous in the 70’s to the chubby 20-ounce bottle of today. Cheap corn, transformed into cheap beef, is what allowed McDonald’s to supersize its burgers and still sell many of them for no more than a dollar. Cheap corn gave us a whole raft of new highly processed foods, including the world-beating chicken nugget, which, if you study its ingredients, you discover is really a most ingenious transubstantiation of corn, from the cornfed chicken it contains to the bulking and binding agents that hold it together.”

Pollan argues in the same article in 2003 that attacking the food suppliers directly won’t work because they’re only playing by the government’s rules. His proposed solution is that we rewrite agricultural policy so it doesn’t subsidize overproduction and in turn overeating.

“Until we somehow deal with this surfeit of calories coming off the farm, it is unlikely that even the most well-intentioned food companies or public-health campaigns will have much success changing the way we eat,” he writes.

That’s bad news for city council members and activists alike. Even worse news—Congress had its chance in late May to tackle the problem at the national level when it passed a new farm bill, but it appears they opted for the status quo instead. It was a show of force for the Big Food lobby, which, according to The Economist, may be more influential than the oil industry (Big Food includes tobacco).

It’s hard to tell whether Pollan’s solution would work, and we may not get to find out anyway, with such political muscle swaying our elected officials.

So what can an ordinary citizen do to influence the outcome of this epidemic when we’re up against the titans of lobbying?

“Citizens can become involved with grassroots advocacy groups to chip away at the food industry’s hold on our politicians and locales, much as they ‘pecked Big Tobacco to death’ initially with smoking bans and restrictions, gradually changing social norms and building political will,” says Yancey.

She says reframing the issue “as addressing the paucity of options rather than controlling people” can help. If you want to get involved, she suggests, protest the pervasiveness of junk food advertising in your community, attend city council and board of supervisor meetings to demand funding for community gardens, and find out what foods schools are offering and advocate for new restrictions or better options.

In the meantime, your own health might best be served by heeding Pollan’s advice, summed up as a simple slogan for his latest book: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

CNN is reporting that Los Angeles just had a medium-sized earthquake at 5.8 on the Richter Scale. Located about 30 miles east of downtown L.A, it was about 7 miles deep, which means that the quake feels stronger and cause more damage. Over at the P+P home office in  Santa Monica, our wooden one-story apartment structure sort of felt like it was reverberating. Since we are right near a major street that has lots of traffic blazing past all day, including service and delivery trucks, we at first thought it was a parade of Mack trucks, but then when we noticed the desk seemed to be moving for an extended period, we thought maybe all that teenage substance abuse wasn’t a good thing after all and was coming out to haunt us. Then, we thought we were just going crazy, until all of the neighbors came out simultaneously and we realized, yep, just your average SoCal moderate earthquake!

But church sermons aren’t the only part of the service adopting that sort of rhythm and bluntness. Church music is increasingly taking on hip-hop beats to spread the word of the gospel. I spent several weeks with the young people at Crenshaw Christian Center in South-Central Los Angeles and documented their efforts at the unlikely combination of rap music and God in the video below.

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Its name is A Place Called Home.

Although we have had her piece featured in the In Depth sidebar for a short while now, we feel that it’s such a vital supplement to the paper-thin apparatus that is the Los Angeles public school system, we wanted to give it some more real estate in our Daily Feed.

Check out the video she produced below. And click here (or check the sidebar) to read her written reflections on the experience.

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