I had always been fascinated with the story of the apartments: they were designed by great midcentury architect Rudolph Schindler for a family in the 1930s, so they could rent out the remaining units and have financial security. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that I knew the identities of the family who currently resided within those walls. And as I discovered as I spent the day with filmmaker Joe DeMarie and his wife Madeleine Brand (who you may know from the public radio show that bears her name), they bought and lovingly restored the property for the very same reasons: to give their children a great place to grow up, and also ensure their future.

But it’s what happened between those two families, in a story that spans over 60 years, that’s absolutely amazing. Head over to Dwell to read my story “Self Preservation.” And thanks to Joe and Madeleine for their passion and dedication to keeping this little corner of Silver Lake history alive.

Top photo by Jessica Haye and Clark Hsiao

If you remember a few months back, I posted about a very exciting new grant I received from a new creative placemaking foundation called ArtPlace. Getting a grant is at once an exhilarating and terrifying thing, as you are basically handed a very large check up front then you have to actually do things! In this case, we been charged with coordinating five big events featuring five creative teams solving five urban challenges proposed by five civic leaders in five different cities in the first six months of 2012 (yes, it’s like I’m planning SIX weddings this year). But the whole process has been exceptionally smooth, thanks to our great partners like CEOs for Cities and all the amazing people who have been helping us on the ground in our first two cities.

And speaking of those cities! We’re excited to announce that GOOD Ideas for Cities will be in Portland on February 16 and St. Louis (my hometown!) on March 8. Details for the Portland event have been posted, and I’m really looking forward to what I know will be a very entertaining evening talking about the city’s future. I’m also excited because we’re launching a student program that night in partnership with Portland State University’s Department of Graphic Design, thanks to professor Nicole Lavelle. The student will be working on their own solutions to Portland’s problems and presenting them at a separate event in March. We’ll have an event page for the St. Louis event soon, but that will be held at the Contemporary Art Museum and we’ve got some pretty awesome surprises planned for the evening.

We’re about to announce the next two cities and we’re very excited about those as well. You can stay up to date by following @IdeasforCities for updates. Here’s more about GOOD Ideas for Cities, and we’re always looking for new opportunities—let me know if you have an idea for where we should bring the program next!

You might know that I am the co-host of an event series called design east of La Brea, or de LaB. We like to feature designers, architects, artists and various other urban instigators who are working, making and experimenting—you guessed it!—east of La Brea, one of the major north-south streets that bisects LA.

When my co-founder Haily Zaki and I were deciding on de LaB’s name in 2007, we knew we wanted to focus on the east side of LA. Not only because we were sick of hightailing it out to Santa Monica for all the architecture events, but also because we felt there was so much more interesting stuff happening over on the east side—activity that wasn’t necessarily on the radar of well-funded design organizations. Plus, the west side of LA seemed to have plenty of money to hold sleepy panel discussions and nicely catered receptions. The east side had less resources for big events, yet had so much enthusiasm for any kind of community-building activity.

However, we chose the demarcation line of La Brea rather randomly. I lived between Highland and La Brea at the time, so of course I wanted to count myself on the “good” side. And if you look at a map of the entire 500-square-mile city of Los Angeles, La Brea does fall at the physical midway mark. But it was honestly more of a gut reaction than anything—there’s something about crossing over parts of La Brea that, to me, just feels like you’re rolling into a different part of the city. Scrappy vs. established, maybe. And amazingly, that one little decision has been a serious point of contention. People honestly pull us aside and tell us why it actually should be design east of Vermont or design east of Highland. de Ver? de High?

But I quickly learned that this is one of those LA things that people will always want to brawl about discuss. Like the Venice residents who proudly declare themselves AWOL (always west of Lincoln), there are people who pride themselves on how rarely they cross Western (always east of Western?). And this has been going on for some time, according to this clip (above) from the LA Weekly circa 1988. They use Fairfax instead of La Brea, and this was, of course, before the 323 area code came about, but the sentiment remains the same: Some people are 310s and some people are 213s. And that’s just the way it is.

Thanks to Brian Lane, principal of Koning Eizenberg for sending this to me. And coincidentally, de LaB will be featuring Brian and Koning Eizenberg’s newest project, a remodel of the Best Western Hollywood Hills at our January 24 event. All are welcome, no matter what side of La Brea you live on.

It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a big Chris Burden fan. So of course I’ve been breathlessly awaiting the unveiling of his newest sculpture, Metropolis II at LACMA. It opens this Saturday but I got a sneak preview at the press conference, which I wrote about in my review for the LA Weekly. Still photos don’t do it justice, but hopefully my images and words can entice you to go see it in person. Which you must!

It’s gigantic: It takes up an entire room at LACMA. And it’s loud.

1,100 customized Hot Wheels cars move up a conveyor belt and then are released down 18 plastic tracks.

It’s like the 405 + the 101 + the 5 + the 10.

25 skyscrapers are made from everything from Legos to slotted stacking cards like the Eames Office designed.

An operator has to stand at the center to make sure no cars get flipped over or fly off the tracks. That’s also why it can only run for 90 minutes at a time, a few days a week.

Here’s LACMA’s Michael Govan talking to Chris Burden.

And Chris Burden pointing out some of the structural features.

Some parts don’t really look that different from downtown LA.

I fell in love with this little village bookended by two churches.

I was also wondering if these green panels were supposed to be parks.

Among the cars are a dozen electric trains that chug from one end to another. But they go very slow.

There are two Erector Set towers that nod to Burden’s work What My Father Gave Me, which I photographed in New York City.

And these travertine-like walls reminded me of the Getty.

The Eiffel Tower de Los Angeles!

Lincoln Logs give a nice faux-rustic look to what appears to be a very nice condo building.

Some of those Eames stacking cards. I want a real building in LA that looks like this.

Run, don’t walk to see this when it opens. Well, I suppose it would be appropriate to drive to this exhibition. As long as you don’t get stuck in traffic. Hours of operation here.

Read my review in the LA Weekly (there’s also a video there).

More Metropolis II photos.

My friend Gregory just tagged me in one of those chain letter-type posts where if you don’t answer 11 questions about yourself and forward it along to 11 more people someone close to you will be severely maimed in a freak photography accident. Oh, wait, it’s not one of those? Okay, well, I’m still going to answer the questions. Better to start the year off on the right foot.

RULES:

• You must post these rules.
• Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
• Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
• You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
• Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
• No tag backs.
• No stuff in the tagging section about ‘you are tagged if you are reading this.’ You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

Seems easy enough. Here are the answers to the questions that Gregory asked me. I just took some NyQuil so this should be extra good.

1.  What is your favorite piece of artwork and why? highly prized by Sister Mary Corita, a serigraph we have hanging in our living room. I wrote an essay about why I love it for the book I Heart Design: Remarkable Graphic Design Selected by Designers, Illustrators, and Critics.

2.  Can you remember the name of your first crush? Scott Fudemberg, kindergarten, Mason Ridge Elementary. Funnily enough, his wedding was featured in a “Vows” column in the New York Times a few years ago. Oh great, now he’s going to think I’m stalking him. My mom sent it to me, Scott! Tell your wife not to worry!

3.  Given the opportunity for super powers, would you like the ability to fly or be invisible? Fly. I can already make myself invisible when I want to be.

4. Where is your dream destination for 2012? Standing on the top of a mountain in Crested Butte, Colorado, getting married to my fiancé Keith Scharwath. And after that, embarking upon a tour di gelati in Italy.

5.  If you could make people see the truth about one thing, what would that truth be? Driving sucks. Riding the bus is fun. Walking is like taking a brief, beautiful vacation in the middle of your day. Okay, that’s three things. But it’s essentially the same truth.

6.  When cleaning, are you someone who cleans and organizes the big things first, or focuses on the details? If it was up to me, I’d focus exclusively on the organizing and someone else could handle the cleaning. Wait, maybe it is up to me.

7.  How many icons are on your desktop at this moment? Counting my toolbar? 29 icons and 10 folders.

8.  Let’s pretend you’re in the witness protection program. You’ve been asked to give yourself a new name. What’s your new identity? Walker Texas Ranger. (They would never suspect I’d use part of my name in the new name, right?)

9.  Shoes on or off inside your home? On. Shoes are a big part of my life.

10.  What’s the longest you’ve gone without saying a word, talking to anyone? That’s a tough one. I guess when I lived by myself and was on deadline that I might have gone a full 24 hours without talking to anyone. But I probably had 15 iChat windows open and sent a dozen text messages during the same period.

11.  What’s your favourite object in your home right now? And please share a photo of it. I love my home and there are too many favorite things in it to list. But each morning I wake up to the view of my closet, which makes me happy every single day. I guess if you aren’t having fun getting dressed then what’s the point really of getting out of bed in the morning. This is a photo of it taken by Justin Sullivan for an awesome interview with me over at LA, I’m Yours.

My 11 questions for 11 people are as follows:

1. What’s the strangest or most surprising thing on your desk right now? (You can take a photo if you want, unless it’s too embarrassing.)
2. What is your earliest memory?
3. How did you come to live in the city where you currently live?
4. What was the last meal you cooked for yourself?
5. Where do you fantasize about visiting?
6. When was the last time you drank too much?
7. Do you feel as if the way you currently earn money is your true calling?
8. What song do you sing to yourself when you need to psych yourself up?
9. How do you manage your to-do list(s)?
10. What new skill would you most like to learn in 2012?
11. What is the view out the nearest window? Take a photo, please.

And I’m tagging these 11 people: Steve Portigal, Marissa Gluck, Colleen Wainwright, Sonja Rasula, Jessi Arrington, Beth Walker, Jen Walker, Mike Nugent, Souris Hong-Poretta, Chris Pouy and Nathan Davidson (and if you don’t have a blog, yes you can answer on your Facebook page using “Notes” function that can be found on your page).

Happy 2012.

“It’s not a city, it’s an endless urban sprawl. Carpet store, lamp store, plumbing store, carpet store, plumbing store… on and on for as far as the eye can see.

Backing up that urban sprawl are suburbs that either have character but are old and shabby, or are little cookie cutter boxes made of ticky-tack, or are obscenely expensive, masturbatory dwellings for the over-privileged.

Things are so spread out that the idea of walking anywhere is laughable, so to get around from one plumbing store to another you sit in seemingly endless gridlock. No matter where you’re going it takes at least a half hour to get to. The highways aren’t much better than the surface streets.” —Ian Peters-Campbell

1. “The people who live there don’t seem to realize how dirty it is. Even the nice parts look like they could use a thorough cleaning and a good coat of paint.
2. It takes a minimum of 45 minutes to get to anywhere from anywhere within LA county, no matter where the start and endpoint are, and how you get there.
3. For the most part Angelinos have all the warmth of moon rocks. Reminds me too much of DC.
4. For such a huge, populous city they have a serious lack of culture. Anyone expecting entertainment opportunities like you would get in NY, SF or even DC will be sorely disappointed.
5. Most parts of the city don’t feel safe. And this from someone who is from DC.
6. It’s super expensive, but you don’t feel like you get anything for your money, like you might in New York.” —Eric Ruck

“Traffic is the complaint I hear from friends who visit there.” —Tom Worth

1. “The fact that it’s an ugly city with few areas of spectacular beauty to its credit.
2. You HAVE to own a car to live there successfully.
3. It takes a lengthy period of time to get anywhere around there.
4. It’s an expensive place to live.
5. The ever-present air pollution.” —Jan Mixon

“The biggest misconception is that LA people are ‘too Hollywood.’ For one, LA is a massive city with a very diverse economy. You can go many days without running into a ‘Hollywood type’—unless you are in the entertainment industry.” —Steve Raymond

• “Cars (smog and pollution)
• Traffic (smog and annoyance)
• Materialism (Hollywood)
• False hope and shattered dreams (Hollywood)
• Lack of appealing cultural hub/identity
• Urban sprawl
• Cars
• Traffic” —Josh Siegel

“Apart from the Hollywood sign, the beaches and boardwalks along the Western edges, and the grimey abandoned-downtown-from-every-zombie-movie-you’ve-ever-seen, it’s all very plain-looking, and repetitive. Accomodating. Flexible. Mutable. Ever-adapting. You always feel just a bit that LA is live-editing itself to appear as relatively inoffensive to you as possible.

Layer on the pollution, the weird movie scene, and the low-income areas, and as an outsider or occasional visitor, it’s really hard to imagine ever living there, or ever having a good reason to do so, barring being discovered in one way or another.” —Dean Blackburn

1. “For most of the 20th C, New York had a monopoly on TV networks, magazines, books, newspapers, and public opinion. The hatred of LA really got going with the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to LA. A special venom was saved for defectors, like Jay Leno,and others who moved to the promised land. Now that Bloomberg has rescued New York and LA is getting worse, there is a feeling of ‘I told you so.’
2. For San Franciscans it is genetic, part of the culture, but no overtones of envy.San Franciscans know they have the best and that LA is not even second best. If you paid a New Yorker, he might move to LA, people from SF and the Bay Area would not. At one time SF was worried about the increasing financial power of LA and then came Silicon Valley. Game over.
3. Crime movies are filmed in LA.
4. One of the best arguments against LA is Bobby Fisher. At any other time in his life he is world famous, he performs at the top of his game. He moves to LA and is not heard of for 20 years and nobody lifts a finger to help him out of his eccentricities. This is a one-industry town and there is no community to help you.
5. There are oil derricks visible from the beach, as well as homeless people. Ipanema or Cannes it is not.
6. Your choice is city view or ocean view, you can’t have both. So who planned this place?” —Fred Landis

Answers taken from Quora question “Why is Los Angeles disliked by so many people?” Comments have not been edited for spelling and grammar errors. See also: “Why do some people hate Los Angeles?”

Ahh, the holidays, a great time to catch up on our reading. Little did I know that a story I casually picked up one evening would ruin the rest of my vacation. As I read “Between the Lines,” a story by Dave Gardetta in Los Angeles Magazine on the state of LA parking, I had to keep putting my phone down to quell the panic attacks originating in my chest. We have HOW many parking spaces in downtown? And they’re vacant HOW much of the time?. Just to finish the piece I had to drink a half a bottle of wine.

For all Gardetta’s awesomeness in writing this piece—you can read a disheartening breakdown of all the numbers over at Curbed LA—I actually wish it was longer. He explains plenty about the economics of parking via the philosophy of the great Donald Shoup—basically, we need to charge more for parking at peak times, which is actually being done downtown through a program called ExpressPark—but he doesn’t talk much about the infrastructural elements of parking. I agree that we don’t need more parking. But how do we improve the way that parking looks and acts in our communities—the lots, the spots, the garages?

Which has had me thinking ever since: What is good parking? Is there any such thing?

Gardetta mentions the country’s first LEED-certified parking garage (above), which is in Santa Monica and was designed by Moore Ruble Yudell. My friend Marissa included it in her story about the five best-looking parking garages in LA. While it certainly adds some flavor to the visual language of the street, and has non-car amenities like bike parking, and is way prettier than a blistered expanse of asphalt, would this really count as good parking? I mean, they still had to build a separate five-story building, right?

On DnA a few months back we covered automated parking garages, which use robotic arms to stack cars into underground lots. The argument for these is that they take up less space and can park cars more efficiently, far underground where you never have to see them. But I shudder when I think about the energy expended by these machines just so these robot valets can shuffle cars around like toys. And in essence, it’s enabling more cars to be parked per building, which is kind of the opposite of what we want. I guess it’s nicer to have our cars tucked out of the way, into cute little robot stalls or LEED-certified corners bathed in natural light. But can this really be better parking?

So that leaves us to the other option, the traditional concrete lot, which I suppose is “low-impact” in the sense that you’re hopefully using underdeveloped land, and you don’t have to build a garage or program a subterranean robot brain. But come on, they’re just awful. Of course we’ve seen lots of lots that try a little harder on the greenscape side of things, with permeable materials that allow water to filter through and some scrawny trees for shade. We’ve seen change on a very micro scale, like how places like San Francisco have converted parking spaces in to actual parks. But your average parking lot is still a parking lot. All the time.

The real place to make a difference, I would say, is in the way we use parking lots. So much of LA’s downtown, where awesome, high-density stuff could be/once was is now dominated by parking lots. (Ugh! Chest pains just thinking about the number. Need wine.) But they’re not even parking cars all the time, it’s more about the idea of parking cars. The best example of this are the acres and acres of parking lots that have flattened the land around Staples Center and the Convention Center in anticipation of games and other events. They sit empty a majority of the time. And a big sticking point about building the new football stadium down there is that they’d have to add even more parking (in part, so people could tailgate).

All week I was disheartened by this prospect until I was reminded of an example of maybe-a-little-bit-better parking—by last weekend’s Rose Bowl. If you’ve ever been to a game at the Rose Bowl, you probably tailgated in one of the most beautiful parking lots in the country. That’s because it’s not really a parking lot: You’re browning your wieners and chugging your Bud Lights on the fairways of the Brookside Golf Club.

(Since there’s no way I’m showing another school’s tailgate, I’m using this similar example of a tailgate at my school, the University of Colorado at Boulder. And yes, that is my friend’s ambulance transformed into an emergency tailgating vehicle.)

Why can’t there be a golf course downtown that doubles as an as-needed parking lot? Okay, it doesn’t have to be a golf course—it could be picnic areas and playing fields for downtown’s park-starved residents. When there are big events happening in downtown, the fields will fill with cars—but those big events like basketball games and concerts usually happen at night. The rest of the time it would be public space, maintained by the same companies who charge people (a lot) to park there. When the new football stadium comes in, there will be plenty of space to tailgate, turning downtown into one big park where people can still run, play, relax.

Is this a better solution? I have no idea. Maintaining acres of grass in drought-friendly LA may not be the smartest use of our limited resources. And maybe with too many cars driving over them, my “parking fields” might not hold up as well as I think. But as I walked through downtown the other day, I imagined how awesome it would be to look out across the wide expanses of cement and see just one continuous square of cool, inviting green. I don’t even think a car parked on it, some of the time, would ruin that view.

Update: This week, Michael Kimmelman’s column is entitled “Taking Parking Lots Seriously, As Public Space,” and has some great examples in the slideshow of a-little-better parking lots. I liked this line: “But cars aren’t going away anytime soon, certainly not in the suburbs or in cities like Los Angeles, and we can’t just wish away lots in which to park them. John Brinckerhoff Jackson, the landscape writer who died in 1996, years ago pleaded that the parking lot be treated like the city common, with its own community values.”

Last year on this day I posted my own version of a year-in-review with my 13 favorite stories of the year. (Why 13, everyone wanted to know? Was I superstitious? Unlucky? Honestly, it just worked out that way.) This year, I couldn’t help but do it again, but with a twist: I picked my favorites, but I’m also handing out specific awards in different categories (yes, giving prizes to myself—all in all, it was a pretty boring awards ceremony). So while you’re out this weekend drunk walking or choosing a parking spot or curing a hangover with a prairie oyster, please enjoy some of the best, worst, funniest, weirdest, most popular and least popular stories I wrote in 2011. Happy new year!

Most Fun to Research
Nike’s 23-Year Journey To Make McFly’s Shoes Real, Co.Design
When I got the assignment to cover the release party for Nike’s Air MAG shoes, inspired by the ones from Back to the Future, I think I traveled all the way to the Montalban Theater in a montage set to “Power of Love.” Here’s a franchise that was so beloved to me growing up—I even did a dance to the “Back in Time” song at the neighborhood talent show one year—and I got to attend this detail-perfect themed event to celebrate the films. But talking to Nike’s Tinker Hatfield unfolded another incredible story almost as unbelievable as time travel in a De Lorean, as Nike worked on the concepts for the original film and then spent the next two decades making the shoes a reality. AND—this was the kicker—all to benefit Michael J. Fox’s foundation to battle Parkinson’s disease. Now that’s the power of love. Here are some more photos from the party.

Least Fun to Research
How My iPhone Was Stolen on the Train, Gelatobaby
Um, yeah. But on the bright side, I imagine that I saved dozens of phones from similar “apple picking” incidents this holiday season. You’re welcome.

Best Anniversary Party
My LAX series of 10 stories celebrating 10 years in LA, Gelatobaby
If I had one piece of advice to writers—or any creatives for that fact—it’s to celebrate specific milestones in your own life. When I was on my vacation this summer (ah, my sweet, sweet vacation) I came up with the idea to somehow commemorate my ten years in LA, and by the time I was back home I had started writing the pieces. It was an assignment no one would have given me, and it gave me a fantastic reason to examine the place I lived and how it affected my work. I covered everything from weather to secret staircases but my very favorite piece is on how I gave up my car.

Favorite LA Thing to Write About
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Why We’re Pro-Carmageddon, GOOD
Besides the fact that I finally learned to spell “armageddon,” I had the absolute best time writing about the apocalyptic closing of the 405 freeway as a positive event for car-bound Angelenos. After I wrote this story I was asked to appear on the WYNC show The Takeaway, and—when people did, indeed stay off the streets for the weekend—I followed up with six more “-ageddons” I’d like to see.

Best Continuing Education
The Insider’s Guide to Art in Los Angeles, Details
The best kinds of stories are when you have to actually learn a whole bunch of stuff that you’ve always wanted to know, just to write the story. When I was assigned one of my first stories for Details on Pacific Standard Time, I was thrilled to jump in and try to make sense of this sprawling art-stravaganza about to descend upon LA. In the process, I got a seriously intense Los Angeles contemporary art education, thanks to some awesome interviews with the Getty’s Andrew Perchuk. This week I was on the KUSC show “Arts Alive” talking about my story and how PST has affected LA.

Best Per-Word Rate
GOOD Design is Growing: Announcing GOOD Ideas for Cities, GOOD
Not for the article itself, of course, but because I was writing about receiving an incredible $85,000 grant from ArtPlace for the GOOD Ideas for Cities program I co-founded three years ago. I can’t wait to take the event series to five cities, including my hometown of St. Louis, in 2012.

Best Stumbled-Upon Story
A Hidden Oasis Grows on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, GOOD
A perfect example of keeping your eyes open and your camera on, even when you’re out for a walk. I discovered this community garden on Hollywood Boulevard several years ago but it was only during a late-night, post-club visit that I realized it was a story just begging to be told. More on how I found it here, including photos I’ve taken of the garden throughout the years (before I even knew what it was). Street Journalism in action!

Best Stumbling
Enduring Spirit, Gelatobaby
Yes, I ran a marathon this year. Yes, I tweeted photos at every mile. Did I mention it rained the ENTIRE TIME? Did I mention that for the most part, I didn’t train AT ALL? Well, I hope you enjoy the story as I RISKED MY LIFE FOR IT.

Most Uplifting Subjects (I Believe the Children Are Our Future Award)
Middle School Students Tell LAUSD: No More Styrofoam!, GOOD
If you are ever feeling sorry for the state of the world, go visit the sixth graders at Thomas Starr King Middle School who not only got their school to stop using styrofoam trays at lunch, they raised money to buy reusable trays for every student who wanted one. After my story, the kids were featured on the local news, made dozens of videos, and worked with 826 LA to write about their experiences. Absolutely amazing.

Most Overwhelming Response
The Top 5 Things That Bother Me About This Headline, GOOD
When I pitched this little essay to GOOD for their Data Issue, it was mostly to vent about my own frustrations when writing “for the internet” compared to writing for print. But in the hands of guest editor Starlee Kine, it became a highly personal examination of my own transformation as a writer in the age of data—someone who, I realized, is almost addicted to page views and retweets. Ironically, the story was a traffic smash, and I’m still getting weekly emails and seeing it pop upon Twitter about it over six months later. Mostly, people thanking me for being honest about how hard it is to do what writers do.

Most Underwhelming Response
How Weeds Became a Marketing High For MIT’s Bike Wheel, Co.Design
After I noticed the Copenhagen Wheel in a recurring cameo role on Weeds, I jumped on this story, interviewing both the Wheel’s design team and the Weeds showrunner. I thought the incredible, slightly racy tale of how Weeds chose to include and work with the creators of this environmentally progressive bike concept would be a sure hit for cyclists and potheads everywhere. The story didn’t do that well, which I guess illustrates that data doesn’t always win. Or that potheads are an unreliable audience.

Most Beautiful Thing I Wrote About
An Almost Life-Sized Version of L.A. Made Entirely from Cardboard, Co.Design
Gosh, maybe one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, period.

Most Delicious Thing I Wrote About
Don’t Call it a Pop-Up: Felix Barron’s KTCHN 105, KCET Food
Best brunch in Los Angeles, with a unique experience that matches the food.

Best Service Journalism
The Best Way to See the Hollywood Sign, Gelatobaby
After a group of Beachwood Canyon residents decided they didn’t want tourists prowling their streets in search of the elusive Hollywood Sign, I wrote this story outlining several alternate routes that actually produce better views than if you’d parked in some snobby asshole’s driveway. A big part of what I hope to do with my writing is to help people navigate and understand LA better, and if I can do that at the expense of wealthy, closed-minded Angelenos, even better.

Proof that You Can Make Money Riding Buses
“Mass Transit”: A Dance Performance Inspired by Riding L.A.’s Buses, GOOD
What Happens When You Put a Coffee Table at a Bus Stop?, GOOD
Is LA’s Public Transit a Joke? This Comedian Sure Hopes So, GOOD
Take that, cars!

Most Hate Mail
Do You Double Space After Periods?, GOOD
I had no idea that taking a stand (along with many other writers) against double spacing after periods would net me the most emails I’ve ever received for a single story. The emails that I received also happened to contain the poorest grammar and spelling I’ve ever seen. And every email was dutifully double spaced, of course.

Happy new year!

One of the best things about riding a bike around LA is the ability to shoot down the little side streets that you’d otherwise never consider taking. Earlier this year, I discovered the glory of Kingsley as a scenic north-south route with cute Craftsmans and wide tree-lined asphalt. And as I snapped my head to the right, I noticed this little shrine tucked between two houses. I was so enamored with it, I couldn’t help but stop and take a photo of my discovery.

It’s funny how landmarks change when you switch your mode of transportation. When I rode through the area this morning, I was sure to take a detour down the street to pay the shrine a visit. (And sure enough, it was adorably twisted up in tinsel for the holidays.) I figure I’ve stopped by this shrine a dozen or so times since I found it—sometimes I actually reroute my rides so I can go by it. Now there are places like this all over the city for me: A hidden Victorian that I always visit when I’m nearby, a secret tunnel I love taking under the 101, or a particular street I’ll ride in May when I know it’s covered in jacaranda confetti. There really is no such thing as a direct route anymore when there’s so much to see along the way.

More shots from my ride this morning.

Los Angeles is practically abandoned this week, which makes it a perfect time to get out and enjoy the city. Last week I watched the sun set from behind a tall orange cocktail at The Perch, a little bar perched high above Pershing Square. (I kinda feel like they should have gone all the way and named it The Persh. But it still works.) With downtown growing all green and red and glittery below me as the sky got dark, it was maybe the most festive scene I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. From up here, anything seems like a good idea. Like having a a few (dozen) drinks and then going ice skating.

More empty LA.