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
- No public Twitter messages.
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: speaking
See you in Portland February 16!
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 … Continue reading
Desert decor
I’m in Phoenix this week to host the Emerging Designer symposium at AIGA’s Pivot conference (which was an incredible event, by the way, thanks to my incredible speakers Frank Chimero, Jennifer Daniel, Mig Reyes and Yo Santosa). And as soon … Continue reading
Posted in creating, speaking, traveling
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OMG STL
I headed to my hometown of St. Louis last week to speak at the Society of News Designers conference and got to breeze through the city for a few days. I saw a bit of the old St. Louis. And … Continue reading
Transamerica
I’ve been in six cities in seven days, believe it or not. This was one of my favorite moments. A beautiful summer-like day in San Francisco, staring up at the funny triangular tower, with the first wisps of afternoon fog … Continue reading
Posted in building, speaking, traveling, walking
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New
Just here for a few days, hosting a GOOD event for Urban Design Week, eating bagels, and—of course—riding the subway. Unless the subway wasn’t working, as happened one afternoon. It just happened to be the day I was swearing my … Continue reading
Posted in riding, speaking, traveling, walking
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LAX: Taking the stairs
This is an LA story I’ve told so many times, in so many forms, over and over on this blog that some of you might already be sighing in exasperation… Oh god, not another story about the stairs. Again? You … Continue reading
Rethinking LA
What will LA look like 50 years from now? And how do we get there? Those are the questions poised by Rethink LA, a collective of creatives who create conversations, publications, and events about the future of LA. For their first … Continue reading
Posted in speaking, Street Walker, writing
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Knowing the distance
During one of the (many) talks I gave last week for the Los Angeles Design Festival, I was asked by the lovely architect Gwynne Pugh to define “the ‘hood.” At the Architecture of Transportation symposium that morning, several people had … Continue reading
Posted in designing, speaking, walking
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