Day 81: Best bathroom in town

Well I was in downtown L.A. today again, doing a few jewelry errands -- had to repair a gold necklace and pick up one or two strands of beads.  Of course I stopped into Bottega Louie before I left to get a meat pie (chicken pie, that is) and iced tea for the road, and I made a new discovery.  The nicest, cleanest bathroom in town!  What a rarity it was to behold this marble-floor sanctuary of cleanliness.  Never again will I have to use that skanky co-ed one seater bathroom in the jewelry mart on Hill Street, or the sketchy, eerily deserted one down the hall from Beth's office.  It is these seemingly ridiculously small moments that just make my day.  By the way I just googled "Botega Louie restroom" and I found hundreds of images, which I find a bit disturbing.

Day 80: Mulligan's Family Fun Center!

Well I promised my kids some family fun, and by god, it was time to deliver.  Our three day weekend has been fairly uneventful, so I promised them I would take them to Mulligan's with a friend today.  Beckett brought along Cooper, and Aidan had his buddy Zak to hang with, as Joni, Avery and Zak were meeting us there at 10 a.m.  Cooper did not meet the height requirement for the go karts, so I rode with him.  Since we got there so early, the place was near empty - no lines! It was my first experience go-karting.  Apart from the facefull-O fumes I was getting, it was a lot of fun!  It turns out, much to Cooper's delight I am a maniacal, cutthroat speed demon.  We zipped around that track fifteen or twenty times, gaining on Aidan, about to take him, but he managed to maintain his lead.  The kids played in the arcade, did the mini go- kart track, rock climbing, playground climbing, laser tag and mini golf.  I was so glad Joni was there to keep me company.  Joni and I bonded in Lamaze class over a knitted uterus our instructor made us pass around 12 years ago, and we have been tight ever since.  We hung out, chatting, doling out tokens, helping the kids cash in all of their "winning" tickets from the arcade so they could get the plastic spiders made in China.  Avery had a good half-hour's worth of entertainment from a gooey rubber spiked ball on a gooey string that you chuck up against the wall (or in your brother's hair).
The place got more and more crowded as the day wore on, and everyone started getting hungry.  We managed to talk the kids out of eating the greasy offerings at Mulligan's and go somewhere with edible food, so we googled restaurants in Torrance and I came up with an Italian sub place that sounded decent.  Joni and the gang followed us there in their car, and we wound up in a mini-mall on PCH at a really good, fresh deli.  Everyone loved his/her sub.  We had to check out "Sprouts," a healthy market that was sort of a cross between Whole Foods offerings at Trader Joe's prices.  So lunch and dinner were covered, I had a car full of happy kids, and the day was a success.  And we managed to get out of there in under 3 hours - bonus!

Day 79: Tasting Kitchen with (ok near,) Larry David

Mark and I tried to go to Gjelina on Abbott Kinney tonight, and when we overheard there was an hour and a half wait, decided to leave Gjelina.  We walked down the street to the Tasting Kitchen.

I haven't been to this space since it was the mediocre AK.  But in this new incarnation, chef Casey Lane really gets it right. Lane and his crew from Oregon were brought in to implement a temporary restaurant concept: a "tasting kitchen" based on a small, daily-changing, farm-to-table menu incorporating seasonal, local produce.  But it looks like they have a hit on their hands, and this place is here to stay.  As Jonathan Gold says in his glowing review, the dining room in the Tasting Kitchen is a study in social interaction that just so happens to involve food.

That was especially true for us tonight.  The hostess told us there were two seats left at the communal table, and once we sat down we were right across the table from Mark's agent (and friend) Cliff, and his wife Carrie.  We had a lovely, social evening at the communal table, sharing a huge cheese and charcuterie platter, bread, amazing aged balsamic vinegar.  I ordered the branzino, and for dessert, a crusty, warm apple pie.  Carrie and I had a little thrill to see that Larry David was wandering around the bar area looking lost, until he found his little party (two pretty women).  Definitely the thrill of my evening was having a "moment" with Larry at the bathroom.  I was waiting for the one-seater women's room.  He went into the one seater men's room.  When he came out a guy asked him if it was safe to enter, and he looked at all of us standing there, and in pure "Curb" form he assured us it was the safest men's room to enter in all of Los Angeles.  I wanted to ask him if he had a square to spare but I resisted temptation.

Day 78: Mudo

If you don't have boys, you might not have any idea what MUDO is.  My son has picked up interest in various martial arts and "hitting" sports - namely karate and boxing.  Recently we got turned on to this really cool martial art Mudo studio, that is conveniently located half a mile from home.  Mudo is "a comprehensive martial arts system integrating the use of striking, joint manipulations, throwing and grappling.  Central in its practice is the development of the self, as defined through the philosophical perspectives of Taoism, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism."  Beckett's friends have taken this up, and now Beckett is going once a week and loving it.  His instructor, Mr. E is a cool, laid-back guy who is cordial and sweet, and seems much less interested in teaching agression than he is in teaching coordination, discipline and the art of an ancient practice.  All I know is we got away from the cult of California Karate Club, which I believe has gone out of business.  They were pushy, demanding both boys come twice a week to two separate sessions, expensive, and the sensei's wife, who ran the business, was a prying, petty woman with a penchance for spewing tmi to anyone within spitting range.   Mudo is much more our speed.  Afterward the kids can grab a slice of pizza at the Slice, and I can grab a gourmet salad at Thyme Cafe, so the evening is a perfect wrap. 
http://www.mudoima.com/

Day 77: the Landmark

Well, I wrote in my last post that we in Los Angeles are landmark challenged, but we do have the Landmark!  The Landmark theater on Pico Blvd. in the Westside Pavillion mall is a sate of the art renovated theater with 12 screens.  I remember when the Westside Pavillion was home to an arthouse theater, the Goldwyn Pavillion which I could never drag my husband to because the seats were small and uncomfortable.  They moved the theater to the west side of the mall, across the street, and ramped it way up.  The new complex is posh, has a wine bar, a restaurant, a box office and a concession stand that offers a more interesting array than just popcorn and raisinettes.  The theaters have assigned seating, which you can either book online, or at the box office.  What really sets them apart is that they show not only first run movies, but they also show indies, and from time to time they will also show classics.  The big bummer of the Landmark theater for me is the parking.  The parking starts on at street level, and then you get sucked down a vortex to lower and lower levels, just to get to the bottom most level, where you will hopefully find a spot.  If not, after investing all that time, the feeling is claustrophobic, and murderous.

Today I went to the 10:15 a.m. show of Cedar Rapids with Carmen and Sonny.  The movie was a blast, and I scored maybe the best parking spot in the entire parking structure, on the first level, mere steps from the escalator.  My day was already made.  I was playing hookey, scored a killer parking spot, and the movie was hilarious.  Poor Carmen got a call from school and had to leave halfway through the movie to bring her son Zach home with a virus.  Sonny and I stayed to the end and laughed ourselves silly.  Oh, and it turns out my husband loves the new seats.  I just found this out too -- might have to investigate

21+ Shows at The Landmark!

Enjoy your favorite wine or beer in the auditorium at select screenings. Look for our special 21+ Shows at The Landmark. Admission limited to guests 21 years old and above. I.D. and wristband required.

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Day 76: Scary Clown, Chicken Car

In Santa Monica, there's the good, the bad, and the fugly.  We are landmark challenged.  We don't have a Statue of Liberty, a Liberty Bell or a Space Needle, so we'll take what we can get.  What we have is the hideous scary clown on the corner of Main and Rose, and one of my personal faves, the chicken car.  The chicken car strutted out West in 1997 by a gentleman who drove it out from Ohio.  He bought a CB radio for help with directions from the truckers, and to overhear the priceless comments: "Hot damn - I just got passed by a chicken!" It is now owned by Tommy Kendall who parks it on California and 17th street.  On our way to Aidan's school when we are groggy and running late at 8:20, the chicken car stands out from all the other Odysseys and Prius' (Priii?) -- it makes us smile.  The level of impracticality and whimsicality involved in the conception of this vehicle must be applauded.

Now back to that scary clown.  I had to google "scary clown main street santa monica" to find out some of the storied conception of such a work of (gag) art.  I am still confused.  Apparently it was meant to be a monument to ugliness, so in that respect it is a success.  The artist Jonathan Borofsky's vision was to be "an accommodation or resolution of opposites in one.  Not only does this image bring the male and female together in one figure, but also, two opposite types of performers are represented: the formal classical ballet dancer and the traditional street performer."  I wonder if substance abuse was involved...If so it would really explain, if not excuse, a lot for me.

Day 75: Raymond

When I get done braving the crowd at the 33rd & Pico Trader Joe's and pack all my groceries myself, and pay, I am so happy to see Raymond.  Raymond works for Trader Joe's as a parking lot attendant, singer and entertainer.  Yesterday he helped me to my car and loaded the groceries, while serenading me with a great version of the Carpenters' "Close to you."  He is always chatty and he adds a lot of character to that place.  He makes it worth the crowds, even the parking lot mayhem.  When I leave I have a car full of excellent, cheap groceries and a smile on my face.  And Raymond puts the cart back for me, bonus.