What is probably my most favorite article [PDF] I’ve ever written was published in the LA Times on the same day I took a flight home to St. Louis. I waltzed from vendor to vendor in the American Airlines terminal, pausing to admire the various shelving systems upon which the LA Times was displayed. While all my copies of the piece were filed like federal documents in my carry-on, it was amazing to see hundreds more copies stacked haphazardly under countertops, spilling onto the floor, awaiting their readers. After I took my seat in the waiting area I squirmed with delight as the man across from me opened the Calendar section and totally read my piece! But that was nothing compared to the swelling of my chest a few minutes later when he got up and threw it away!

It’s an awesome feeling to know your words are so widely distributed that they’ve become, well, disposable.

Such is the humbling nature of today, when I have four pieces published in the LA Weekly’s annual People issue. Except that the LA Weekly is free. It’s so free that for the next week, LA Weeklys will fall over the city like a light dusting of snow. My stories will be abandoned on bus seats, stuffed between Champagne flutes in moving boxes, wrapped around a dozen pink tulips at the farmers’ market.

So think of me sporting this wide, goofy grin when you come cross an LA Weekly this week. But before you use it to Windex your car windshield, be sure to read my pieces on Mathew Cullen and Javier Jimenez of Motion Theory; Ben Goldhirsh of GOOD; Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of various Awesome Shows, Great Job; and Jonathan Wells of Flux.

And please recycle.

A gorgeous spread in this month’s Vanity Fair peeks inside Bob Dylan’s brain, cataloging everything covered on his Theme Time Radio Hour show from Artists He Plays to Television Shows Referenced to his Recipes (Saltines in the Perfect Meatball? Brilliant!). And, in tiny type that you can’t see above, author Duff McDonald offers proper attribution in the form of his deepest apologies to the one person who is referenced the most: this guy.

You can view the spread larger at VF.com.

After a long, nasty saga that would be best told in the writer’s expletive-ridden prose, Charles Bukowski’s former Hollywood residence was named a cultural landmark in February. Last week I went by the apartment complex to snap some pictures for an essay and was surprised to see that crews were already at work renovating the property. The owner—a woman who wanted to demolish the structures then tried to fight the landmark status on the grounds that Bukowski was a Nazi—is no doubt following the advice of one member of the LA Cultural Heritage Commission: “If it were my building I would market it as the ‘Bukowski Court’ and double the rent. I’m sure Bukowski would have hated that, but hey, it’s Hollywood.”

I was content taking some shots from the sidewalk but when I happened to get the foreman’s attention (by waving frantically) I suddenly realized I had to get inside one of those units. I was pleading my case when a truck pulled up behind me and the foreman nodded towards it, saying I should probably talk to those people, since that was the owner and her brother. I turned around and was looking at the woman who called Charles Bukowski “Hitler number two.”

She didn’t even make eye contact with me, but her brother was nice enough. As soon as I had the word “I’majournalist” out of my mouth, he waved me inside the unit closest to the street.

What can I tell you about this forthcoming rental at Bukowski Court? Small, about 700 square feet, one bedroom. The light fixture in the living room looks new but is a pretty good art deco knockoff. Not a whole lot of light overall; it’s mostly northern exposure and there’s only a handful of very narrow windows. The floors, however, appeared to be original and I think it’s safe to say you’re getting a new stove and toilet.

A hallway off the corner of the living room goes left to the bedroom, straight across to the bathroom and right to the kitchen. When it came to where the magic happened, it was unlikely that it was happening on anything larger than a full-sized bed. A few built-ins; small closet. The bathroom was so stuffed full of building materials I couldn’t really see inside, but most likely no original tile. The kitchen was completely gutted, no counters or anything. But as I walked back towards the front door, I was way more interested in something I noticed outside.

I remembered a piece about the preservation battle written by Mike Schulte in the Architect’s Newspaper that included Bukowski’s poem The New Place:

I type at a window that faces the street
on ground level and
if I fall out
the worst that can happen is a dirty shirt
under a tiny banana tree

Which, according to this photo, is still quite small.

Books enter my life at a staggering rate and they’re not always so easy to pawn off on unassuming dinner guests. (I try to slip them into people’s purses, but sometimes? They notice.) So I was jazzed to get this notice for an Art Book Swap taking place at LACMA next Saturday. No strings attached; you bring some books, you take home some books, all unwanted books go to a good cause. If you get dizzy reading at a 45-degree angle, as I do, here’s all the information:

Art Book Swap Los Angeles
LACMA (aim for the 202 streetlamps)
Saturday, May 3
12-5pm

Thanks to Kristi Gushiken at Beautiful/Decay

The adorable Allison Arieff, who I interviewed almost a year ago about her new gig at Bay Area design firm IDEO, has taken a job as editor-at-large for Sunset. The former editor of Dwell has her work cut out for her:

The magazine is working on a brand re-envision/relaunch and I’ll be working on taking them in a new more provocative/more contemporary direction. I’ll also be doubling up my New York Times posts allowing me to have an even bigger soapbox for issues near and dear to my heart like community, sustainability, and of course, great architecture and design. I am super excited.

Sunset’s one of those magazines I’ll pick up first at the dentist’s office but would never really admit to reading, let alone buying, because the grandma quotient is just a bit too high. That said, I love the content and there’s nothing a little re-envisioning can’t solve. Here’s to Allison bringing Sunset out of the sunset years!