Gerry passes me a Pellegrino and sinks back into a wicker lounge chair on the patio he handbuilt with his son. Sun is beating relentlessly down the canyon hillside, which he has planted fastidiously and still tends. I feel my skin start to burn, but am too conflict-averse to say anything. Gerry has not been … Continue reading Night Ride to Divis
In the summer of 2019, James* and his girlfriend packed their two dogs and all of their belongings into a car, and left their home state for a new life in Santa Cruz, California. James was about to embark on a PhD in social sciences. It had been almost impossible to find a place. For … Continue reading A University Reimagined: UC Santa Cruz and the Fight for COLA
It’s Saturday night at Chewing Foil, an interdisciplinary art space in Koreatown, Los Angeles. There’s a sense that something new is happening, but no one is sure what to make of it yet. It’s a meme art show — and believe it or not, it’s not the first.
Downtown Los Angeles is seeing something of a Renaissance these days. From the revived Clifton’s Cafeteria to the reopened Angels Flight Railway, it seems you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some throwback to the Raymond Chandler era. At present, a plan to return streetcars to the historic core is receiving serious consideration by … Continue reading Getting the Low-Down on Business Improvement Districts: A Q&A with BID Watchdog Adrian Riskin
6 February, 2019 In the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, a police pre-crimes unit uses technology to predict and stop crimes before they happen. Take Tom Cruise out of the equation and you’ve got the present-day Los Angeles Police Department.
In the USSR’s Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears (1980), which won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards the following year, the heroine Katya proclaims: “Life begins at 40.” As the 40th anniversary of the film’s official release date approaches, it is ripe for revisiting.
13 March, 2019 It is hard to believe, but there was a time, not so long ago, when the word “terrorist” conjured not an anti-Western Al Qaeda or ISIS fighter, but balaclava-clad members of the Irish Republican Army and UVF. Underneath their ski masks, they may have worn their hair in shaggy rocker style, and … Continue reading Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Brexit Remains Incredibly Dumb and Destructive
Amy Writes Sometimes 