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!

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!

It’s December, and for journalists that means roundup season, as we all scramble to compile definitive lists of the BEST and WORST things to happen to all of us in the past year. I was tapped by my editors at GOOD to create a list of design highlights for 2011 but with a twist: We decided that I could only pick things that looked good and worked well. It’s tougher than you might think. Design seems to be fracturing into two camps: Stuff that works but doesn’t look especially aesthetically pleasing, and stuff that’s all surface with absolutely no substance. I argue that the best design out there can solve massive issues around depleting materials and changing technology, but still be something you want to bring into your home.

One of my favorite examples of design that’s addressing problems but is still enticing enough for consumers to embrace is Prettymaps, above, by the San Francisco-based firm Stamen (who I’ve written about many times this year). Using crowdsourced data like Flickr and OpenStreetMap, they’re able to create these incredible highly-detailed maps of pretty much anywhere. This data can be used by designers and developers, who can enlist Prettymaps as an open source mapping tool, but the technology is so visually engrossing that the maps themselves are being sold as art. You can buy Prettymaps of most major cities at 20×200 and, in a related experiment also powered by Stamen, you can buy beautiful custom textiles of any address over at SoftCities.

Prettymaps is one of 11 products I selected (for 2011, of course) and I’d venture to say they’d all make nice last-minute gifts for the holiday. Check out my story over at GOOD.

I have typed so many words about this today that my fingernails are about to fall off, but, really, who needs fingernails when you have such great news to share! I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that GOOD Design, the program that I co-founded with Casey Caplowe (and wrote about for the first time on this very blog!) is relaunching with CEOs for Cities as GOOD Ideas for Cities, thanks to a very generous grant from ArtPlace, a fantastic new collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts and 11 arts and urban development foundations.

GOOD Design has been my non-gelato baby for the last three years, and for me personally, it has taken many forms. It’s an incredible event series that’s engaged and inspired audiences in four cities, a generous group of designers who have donated their time in the name of improving their communities, an intelligent circle of government and civic leaders who have guided some of the solutions towards reality, and a growing family of ideas that are so smart, so clever and so totally do-able that they need to be shared with a larger audience. This grant is going to help make that possible.

I’ve written lots more about GOOD Ideas for Cities over at GOOD and you can also read about ArtPlace’s mission in The New York Times. I could not be more excited to associate myself with the list of 34 incredible ArtPlace-funded projects across the country, including the fact that the other LA grantees are our good friends at the Watts House Project. But the absolute best part about announcing this grant is the fact that you could get one, too: Yes, they’re already accepting applications for the next round of grants.

Since this now feels like an acceptance speechy moment, I’d love to give some huge public thank yous to everyone who helped get us here. To Casey, the best creative collaborator on the planet, for always being the one to say, “But what if we…” and then blowing me away with some wacky idea that we just had to try. To Carol Coletta, the executive director of ArtPlace, who not only encouraged us to apply, she was very poetically the first person to realize the potential of this program while she was director of CEOs for Cities. And to Julia Klaiber, our enthusiastic partner at CEOs for Cities, who was so excited about the idea she said yes to the partnership before I could even finish the sentence.

Finally, to all the designers, city leaders, teachers, students and sponsors who have been a part of all the events throughout the years, I cannot wait to get you even more recognition and exposure for your work. Believe me, you will all be a part of this next chapter. And should you want to see that next chapter in action, please come to our upcoming events in New York City on September 19, and in San Francisco on September 29. I hope to see you there!

I wrote a story earlier this week for GOOD about the designer Julie Kim and her project to put a coffee table (which she designed) at a bus stop in Koreatown. You can watch the video above to see what happened—in short, awesomeness—but the whole thing has generated tons of comments, replies on Twitter, and general buzz about what could be done to help make bus stops better places for the people who have to use them (and my personal dream: make them so good-looking that even non-transit riders will want to use them). My friend Souris posted a call over at Paper Culture for people to contribute their ideas. I love how she relates it to guerrilla gardening, a sexy and popular way to improve the landscape. What’s the guerrilla gardening of public transit improvements?

About a decade ago, I helped plant guerrilla gardens throughout downtown Los Angeles. More recently, I purchased seed bombs and lobbed them into boarded-up sites. What simple things can we do to beautify bus stops? Could we hang art (would it get stolen)? What about designing permanent coffee tables or something similar around town? Are there any biodegradable furniture companies out there who want to help?

There are some comments already on Souris’s post, but here are some other ideas. From Allison Arieff:

From Facebook:

And this awesome one by Aaron Basil Nelson was sent to us via Twitter (there are more at The City Fix):

What are your ideas for beautifying bus stops? Add your thoughts or comments and we’ll try to compile them into one place. Or who knows… maybe we’ll secretly head out and start implementing them ourselves.

A few months back I wrote a story about Vintage Los Angeles, a Facebook page dedicated to the lovely, lost world of L.A. Since then, the neverending stream of eye candy (and mind candy) delivered by the amazing Alison Martino has made it a daily stop on my online travels. Last weekend, for the Carmageddon that never came, Alison posted a string of transit- and freeway-related content, including this incredible 1968 educational film. According to the YouTube text, it was ”distributed to libraries, schools and community groups by the Southern California Rapid Transit District in advance of a 1968 ballot initiative.” I’m guessing it was an initiative that didn’t pass.

Be sure to watch Part 2 and Part 3, too. Highly entertaining and also informative. I admit I learned a few things!

I am not a picky eater. I am very, very proud of that fact. It has become part of my personality—my brand, one could say—to eat and to enjoy eating pretty much everything on the planet (especially everything that’s frozen). This has always been a central part of who I am. As I grew up, the more people around me who protested that they “don’t eat” or “can’t eat” something, the more assertively I brandished my unqualified claim: “Dude, I eat everything.”

But then a few things happened.

In the last few years my seasonal allergies exploded. Each spring it felt like my brain had liquefied and was slowly dripping out through my nose. I started going to an acupuncturist who had me make several changes to my diet, two of which, she promised, would have the most immediate and profound impact on my congestion factor: cutting out any product made from cow’s milk, and avoiding spicy foods. Around the same time I read some books (ones you’ve probably read, too) which changed my behavior around the frequency and quality of the meat I consumed. Not cutting it out completely, just asking more questions about it, and eating much, much less of it.

My choice to embark upon the GOOD 30-day challenge and give up dairy in June was less about depriving myself of my signature sweet. I wanted to try to strictly follow my recommended diet and get serious (finally) about my health. But secretly, in a secondary challenge that was more about curiosity than diet, I wanted to see how hard it really was to live as a vegetarian. So I stopped eating meat for the month as well.

For the most part, the actual eating part was easy. I didn’t crave gelato or ice cream at all. I ate a lot of avocados and beans. I ate some fish. Yes, a few times I absent-mindedly popped cream cheese dip or a piece of bacon in my mouth, but for the most part I stuck to it the entire month. The hardest part, honestly, was taking my beloved Mexican food without cheese or sour cream. That hurt.

But it was worth it. Almost instantly, my allergies evaporated. Early June, which is usually torture on my sinuses, was free and clear. I am so not kidding about this. I felt great. I should have been bragging about it.

Yet I dreaded discussing my new diet.

If I was eating with people who knew me, I’d have to embark upon the whole story, which I found to be tedious and annoying (and disgusting, as I demonstrated to the table how dairy affected the production of phlegm). After spending a half hour dissecting my habits—Are you eating eggs? Does butter count?—the inquisition finally ended and people could talk about American Idol instead.

When dining out, I felt like the person who was bringing the table down. Side dishes and appetizers would have to be negotiated to accommodate my needs. One of the worst moments came at a restaurant where I requested my pasta without cheese. They brought the dish to the table with huge chunks of ricotta salata studded throughout the ziti. Reluctantly, I allowed it to return to the kitchen in exchange for a cheese-free replacement. They wasted the entire bowl just because of my restricted diet. I felt horrible.

I had become the picky eater.

About two weeks in, I was at my friend’s house for dinner where they’d spent all day marinating and smoking ribs. I tried testing the words in my head before I said them. I’m not eating meat right now.  No, thank you, I can really only eat this broccoli. But then I watched them as they proudly brought the food to the table. As much as I wanted to stick to my plan, I just couldn’t be that person that made the entire dinner table listen to my diet, my choices, my struggle. I ate the ribs.

To me, this was absolutely the lowest I could go, and not because I had blown my meat- free spree. It was because the social aspect of my experiment was proving to be the toughest. I was embarrassed that I could no longer wear my “I eat anything” badge. I was now an omnivore with an asterisk.

Then, halfway through the month, I was at the grocery store, and that’s where I saw them. Veggie Slices. I picked up their cheese-like forms, turning over the cool plastic squares in my hand. I was about to put them back down when I realized the irony of the situation. Even as I bragged that I was so unconditionally accepting of all foods, that I’d try anything, I actually still was a very picky eater in one sense: I always turned my nose up in disgust at any kind of fake meat or cheese.

Think about it. The whole act of eating—or, more accurately, not eating—has become the single most important way to define who we are. Think about the way the conversation inevitably turns whenever you sit down to chat with a few friends. What we do or do not put in our mouths is pretty much all we talk about. Even worse, analyzing the seemingly eclectic or haphazard choices of our friends—she’s a gluten-free freak who only eats meat on weekends; he’s a vegan teetotaler, but he smokes!—has become yet another way for us to become petty and judgmental. That’s what I was worried about when I gave up meat—that people would look at me differently.

Instead of feeling ostracized during this month, I realized I actually had an opportunity to expand my culinary horizons. I could move beyond my elitist view of vegan substitutes. I could go where no meat-eater would go. Yes, I, the carnivorous snob who could never understand why someone would want a simulacra “Philly cheesesteak,” dove into the world of soyrizo and pseudo mozzarella.

I had a veggie burrito that was so sublime, I really can’t see the need to order a carnitas burrito ever again. I dumped fake sausage into our bean chili for extra protein and it blended right in. I had faux fried chicken that I swear was so good, so chicken-y, so free of ligaments, that I’d choose that over any other chicken out there. And I discovered something I may have simply ignored before: Sorbets are often richer, denser, and more flavorful than ice creams.

Besides, I think that eating fake steak is much more daring than real steak. Because what the hell is that stuff, anyway?

And that’s just the thing. It wasn’t about not eating something. It was about choosing to eat something different. I really didn’t have to explain my choices to anyone. I just had to order, smile, and eat.

In a funny twist, after a month of depriving myself of certain foods, my diet now includes a whole range of new foods I previously had dismissed as not worthy of my omnivorous palate. After 30 days of exploring various non-dairy and non-meat choices that I never before would have touched—and, yes, substituting some of them in my “real life,” post-challenge—I can honestly say that I really do eat everything.

Oh, everything, that is, except Veggie Slices. They taste like wood-flavored Play-Doh. But I can only say that because I tried them.

Today over at GOOD I wrote about one of the coolest things I’ve seen in LA lately: An awesome community garden that’s sprouted out of an empty lot just off Hollywood Boulevard. It’s a trip to see this mini-oasis so close to the tourists shuffling down the Walk of Fame. But the best part about the story is how I actually got in contact with the garden’s caretakers.

Funnily enough, I snapped this photo a few years ago (you can see how tiny the plants are) when I was walking through Hollywood. I had always been curious about the garden—who took care of this? was it totally guerrilla-style? how did they water?—but had simply enjoyed the bit of urban greenery for what it was and kept walking.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when my friend Jade and I were walking out of the premiere for The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and were completely stopped in our tracks by the incredibly lush growth so close to the smarmy Hollywood clubbers. I told her about how I had been watching the garden for awhile and wanted to do a story on it. “You should leave a note!” Jade said. She convinced me to write a message and tuck it into the snapdragons. Luckily the swag bags from the premiere included a Sharpie and a postcard!

A few days later I got a reply from Karen Schumacher, one of the amazing volunteers who keeps the garden blooming. She actually told me that a lot of people leave them notes in the beds. I met her and her fellow gardener Jessica Crum at the space on a beautiful Sunday morning, and was so delighted to hear their story—including the incredible fact that the garden is located on the exact spot where another famous garden owned by Paul DeLongpre was demolished exactly 100 years ago.

You can read the story to find out more about Paul’s Urban Garden and how you can help it grow. It just goes to show you that if you do see something that piques your interest while walking around LA, you should always stop to investigate. And maybe even leave a note.

So of course it made sense to start GOOD Local here, right in our own hometown of Los Angeles. We like to call it GOOD LA.

If you haven’t signed up already, you can join GOOD LA here, and you’ll start getting a one-good-LA-thing-per-day email (written by me!). In the last few weeks I’ve written about so many exciting things, from an incredible idea to raise money for nonprofits in closed restaurants to a Facebook group where you can share photos of forgotten LA to a group of students who are trying to convince LAUSD to band Styrofoam, to a new store and cafe run by formerly-homeless women at the Downtown Women’s Center. You can get a feel for the LA stories you’ll get in your inbox by checking out the GOOD LA page.

In addition, you’ll be the first to find out about GOOD LA events (like this one we had last month at Atwater Crossing, or a really cool one happening this Thursday—stay tuned!), take part in the GOOD Challenges (like this month’s to stop driving so damn much), and contribute to GOOD LA projects (like this one, to be announced tomorrow).

What’s that? I need even more GOOD LA, you say? Well, you’re in luck! You can also follow GOOD LA on Facebook and Twitter (spoiler: also written by me) to get more news and events from around town. Let me know what you think, and if you’ve got something you think I should cover, let me know at alissa[at]goodinc[dot]com. And thank you!

For those of you in the Bay Area, come by The HUB tonight for a very special presentation by some of the smartest design students in the city. I’m moderating the latest edition of GOOD Design, the program where we match designers with city problems (which we recently held here in LA for the second time). For tonight’s edition, we’ve partnered with the graphic design students at the Academy of Art University.

We’ve done this program twice in San Francisco with professional designers, and I was thrilled when I heard from my friends Phil Hamlett and Tom Sieu about bringing the program to their school. I met with the students early on and have been giving them feedback on their challenges, which range from eliminating the rotting furniture that sits on corners, to making biking a priority for the city, to capturing runoff before it hits the ocean. There will also be wine and cheese and plenty of surprises at tonight’s event, so don’t miss it!

All details and tickets available here. See you tonight!