Hey there! My name is Alissa. I’m a writer, a gelato-eater, and a walker in LA.
You can learn more about who I am, what I write, why I walk, and even see where I live and work. Last year I was honored to be named as an USC/Annenberg Getty Arts Journalism fellow. You also might like this talk I gave about how to do the work you love.
Welcome to Gelatobaby
Follow me at @gelatobaby
- @souris @ljoliet So cute! I think we've come around to possibly investing in Tolix!
- @LangeAlexandra So cute! (and not wrong at all!)
- Pretty sure I need these Marimekko Chuck Taylors for all my walking needs http://t.co/RXPABleX cc @LangeAlexandra
- @souris @ljoliet I think Tolix are a little too "French bistro" for us. Or maybe I'm just saying that because we can't afford them!
- Looking for metal (powder-coated?) chairs for our new outdoor dining table. Can be old or new. Any ideas where to buy in LA? @Ljoliet?
Come say hello
- GOOD Design for Cities
A new event series hosted by Alissa and supported in part by ArtPlace is coming to Portland and St. Louis. Here's how creatives can apply to be part of it.
- GOOD Design for Cities
Check out our next de LaB
- Design East of La Brea is a monthly party I co-host with Haily Zaki, Marissa Gluck and Erin Cullerton. Almost always east of La Brea. Learn more about past de Labs and sign up for our monthly newsletter.
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Click on some recent posts
Read my articles elsewhere
You can find my writing most days at GOOD, or at Fast Company's new design site, Co.Design, or over at Dwell. You can also read about my 13 favorite stories from 2010.
- Waaaaay Back to the Future
Fast Company, August 2011
Nike's 23-year journey to make Marty McFly's AirMag shoes real. - Meet the Makers
Details, July 2011
Profile of Saul Griffith, an engineer and inventor who could change the way we make... everything. - Sasaki's Heartbeat
Dwell, June 2011
A studio visit with the Japanese-born artist Sasaki, who has been drawing people's heartbeats for 15 years. - Is LA's Public Transit a Joke? This Comedian Sure Hopes So
GOOD, June 2011
For comedian Kristina Wong, living car-free isn't just an act. - Middle School Students Tell LAUSD: No More Styrofoam
GOOD, April 2011
A group of sixth graders mounts a campaign to rid their school of the evil white foam. - The Future of Reading Online [Video]
Fast Company, March 2011
At SXSW, I interviewed designer Khoi Vinh about tablets, pay walls, and browsers. - How LA's "Farmers Field" Could Boost Urban Agriculture
GOOD, February 2011
Let's turn the city's new football stadium into the world's biggest urban farm. - BOOM! Palm Springs Plans a Wacky Old Folks Community
Fast Company, February 2011
10 architects have collaborated on a very unique new kind of retirement home for gays. - The Design Difference
GOOD, January 2011
How can design help create change in the underserved community of Brownsville, New York? A three-part series. - Why We Don't Need Any More Anonymous Critics
GOOD, January 2011
Let's stop the dining in disguise and make food critics powerful, public voices for real social change. - The Rise of the Bus-Riding Celebrity
GOOD, October 2010
Why don't more eco-minded celebrities in LA take public transit? - Can Design Save the World?
Fast Company, October 2010
Profiles of superstar emerging designers Candy Chang and Bobby C. Martin, Jr. - Where My Ladies At?
GOOD, August 2010
Why aren't there more women in industrial design? - At Home with Ed Begley, Jr.
Dwell, June 2010
I visited LA's greenest celebrity to talk about gardening, solar panels and riding the bus. - Why I Write About Design Now
GOOD, May 2010
How we need to cover the design industry: Without a chair in the world. - Here's Why the Banksy Movie is a Banksy Prank
Fast Company, April 2010
The world's most famous street artist makes a documentary? I'm not buying it. - If You Lived Here, You'd Be Urban By Now
GOOD, Spring 2010
The case against fake "walkable urbanism" developments which are neither walkable or urban. - Why Can't the World's Best Architects Build Better Websites?
Fast Company, March 2010
Loading... - The Fake Freeway Sign that Became a Real Public Service
GOOD, January 2010
Artist Richard Ankrom's act of guerrilla public service improved the commuter experience.
- Waaaaay Back to the Future
View my photos
Try some gelato
- Catch up on my latest gelato adventures, or find gelato using my Gelatobaby GeLAtomap.
Category Archives: playing
Fountain for one
It’s going to be 96 degrees in downtown today. Probably the hottest day of the year so far. As I was stumbling around downtown the other day on my way to a meeting for the Moving Beyond Cars event, I … Continue reading →
Summer places
For the last two weeks I traded sidewalks for rivers, a two-bedroom house for a two-person tent, and public transit for a rental car (yes, which I drove hundreds of miles without incident, thank you very much). Along the way … Continue reading →
I’ll be at the pool
Summer finally showed up here in LA—complete with thunderstorms and humidity—just in time for me to get out of town. I’ll be on the road for a bit, hopefully filling my Flickr and Twitter streams with lots of adventures. Until … Continue reading →
The de LaB Manifesto (in rhyme)
I’m still buzzing from the amazing response to last weekend’s City Listening II (and the success of the Dwell on Design conference, and the fun of emceeing the LABC’s Los Angeles Architectural Awards…I’m telling you, it was quite a week!). … Continue reading →
Come to Dwell on Design & City Listening this weekend!
Update: In all the fabulosity of Saturday night, I screwed up and neglected to post the winning raffle tickets for our eight door prizes. If you were at City Listening and had a raffle ticket, check here to see if … Continue reading →
River ride
When the sky isn’t dumping a year’s worth of rain onto Los Angeles in five days, one of my favorite places to go in the city is the bike path of the LA River. This concrete chute is probably the … Continue reading →
Smokin’ sidewalks
I must have walked by this a thousand times and I never noticed it until I embarked upon a little pub crawl in an 80-degree Hollywood yesterday. The doorway to this smoke shop is made from the same terrazzo as … Continue reading →
Robot love
I had a rather amazing experience last weekend at my Hand-Stitched Robot Ornament workshop, thanks to 826LA and Unique Los Angeles! We had five tables of madly-talented scientists sewing, gluing and pipe-cleaning away for hours as they each assembled (and … Continue reading →
Eat My Words: Designed for play
Say goodbye to off-the-shelf cartoon-character metalscapes anchored in skinned knee-ready blacktop. In the latest issue of I.D. I got to explore a renaissance in intelligent playground design thanks to some of the country’s most playful architects, designers and landscape architects. … Continue reading →
Walk with me
This weekend marks the final 40 miles in a journey that began when I was running in Beachwood Canyon about two weeks after I first moved to LA. I turned a corner, did a double-take and ran backwards until my … Continue reading →
