L.A. Is My Beat: February 2012

Aloha

Dawn @ LAX

Today, Honolulu is my beat!
We covered quite a bit of ground for a 1/2 day. We got up before dawn to catch an early flight from LAX to Honolulu. Arrived on time around 11:30 HI time. Checked in to our hotel and took a walk to look for a small lunch. It was cloudy, humid and raining like crazy. We had a nice little lunch at the International Market Place near our hotel. We walked around the area a bit, visited the Honolulu Surf Museum and then high-tailed it back to the hotel.

International Marketplace, Waikiki

Vintage Ukes @ Honolulu Surf Museum

After resting and doing a bit of research, we took the City Bus to the Outrigger Reef Hotel to have dinner and listen to Cyril Pahinui and his band! Larry had picked up the Honolulu Weekly and I just happened to see that Cyril was playing locally! Lucky for us. The show was great and dinner was lovely, poolside at a beautiful hotel.

Cyril Pahinui and his Band

Poolside @ Outrigger Reef Hotel

Crab Cakes!

We're EXHAUSTED!! Nighty night.

Labels: Food, Music, Travel, Ukulele

Recent Inspiration

Travel-Ready Yarn

Oh! So many things to do before we leave for Honolulu tomorrow. In addition to packing, I have to get the house ready for our house-sitters. It's always great to have visitors, especially when we won't be here! I certainly hope our guests enjoy their mini-vacation in Mid-City, L.A.!! Thanks again for taking care of the homestead!
Now, which project to take on our trip? I want to take something involving, yet small-ish. Our knitting guild is having a Knit-Along / Crochet-Along with the patterns, Klamath (Crochet) Shawl and Multnomah (Knit) Shawl. I have a perfect little cake of Sweet Georgia Yarns, Lace Weight in a beautiful aqua that will be perfect for this shawl! I'm going to start Klamath on the plane.
Other recent inspirations, all patterns found on Ravelry.

Lagoon

Bacon and Eggs Pillow

Fringed Crown

What patterns have you found that inspire you?

Labels: Art, Fashion, Friends, Los Angeles, Travel, yarny stuff

Veddy British!

Tudor House Tea Room, Santa Monica

Yesterday, Mom and Hal took us to a celebratory anniversary brunch at the Tudor House Tea Room in Santa Monica. The dining room is very English Cottage style...sweet. They have a nice menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Larry ordered the English Breakfast....eggs, sausage, bacon, beans, black pudding, etc. The rest of us had eggs Benedict. Everything was delicious and served beautifully. I do love a nice hot pot of tea with my meal.

The English Breakfast

Eggs Benedict

The Tudor House has a bakery and little grocery store attached the restaurant. It's filled with all sorts of Brit-treats, English bone china and other goodies. We had a lovely time.

Mom and Hal

The Anniversary Couple....20 years and still happy!

LOVE these bunny-bikes parked on 2nd St., SM

Labels: Art, family, Food, Los Angeles

All Eyes Are On Los Angeles

Vintage Photo Friday

View of RKO Pantages Theater in Hollywood,
site of the Academy Awards presentation, March 25, 1950.
An abandoned Oscar sits on the window sill in the foreground.
Photo by Ed Phillips, Herald Examiner Collection

All eyes, around the world, will be on Los Angeles this Sunday night. It's the 84th annual Academy Awards presentation, commonly known as The Oscars! More people probably watch the Rose Parade televised from Pasadena on New Year's Day, but the Academy Awards rate high on the list. Viewers will be watching stars and industry professionals navigate the red carpet leading into the Theater formerly known as Kodak. They will notice the sunny, blue skies of Los Angeles. They will want to move here.
People of the World, please do not move to Los Angeles. It's crowded here. You might like the weather, but it's difficult to travel from one end of town to another. Also, it's expensive to live here. Please stay in your home town and watch us on TV, OK?
The Award ceremony has had many homes over the years. Here's a list from the Academy of the various locations: Hollywood, Santa Monica, Downtown L.A. It was a big deal in 2002 when the ceremony moved back to Hollywood after 30 years in Downtown L.A. The Kodak Theater was built for the ceremony. Sadly, the name of this theater is no longer the Kodak. Also, there have been rumors that the ceremony may move back Downtown to the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live. Nokia is way larger than the Kodak. More people could attend the ceremony, however the tradition of holding the ceremony in Hollywood will be missed.

The Pantages Theater, built in 1930, has been updated, restored and now presents live theater performances. I always enjoy going there just to view the opulent structure, inside and out.

Interior, Pantages Theater

Hollywood, 1958

Are you going to the Oscars this year? I live10 minutes away from Hollywood, but I'll be at home, watching on the wide-screen with the rest of the world!

Labels: Architecture, Fashion, Los Angeles, Memories, Vintage Photos

Seen in L.A.

Graphic @ Signmakers, Mid-City L.A.

I'm often side-tracked by cool looking buildings, signs, etc. along the streets of Los Angeles. I drive by the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Thurman Avenue, Mid-City L.A. all the time. On the south/west corner is Signmakers.com. It's a rambling group of buildings, painted black. There are always signs in the front yard, some quite colorful and interesting.

Wilshire Vista Neighborhood signs waiting for repair at Signmakers

Some of the signs that they are creating or repairing are neon. Often, at night, these signs are lit. It's an ever-changing display.
I do love the graphics on the side of the building. There are a bunch of punctuation marks, painted stark white against the black building. There's usually a garbage bin or truck in front of this section of the building. This morning, on my way to the freeway, the view of this graphic was unobstructed. I parked, jumped out and snapped a few shots.

Hipstamatic Version of Signmakers

I probably cannot top last year's official Yucca Valley photo of my potholders for the swap, but wouldn't the wall at Signmakers make a perfect background for this year's potholder photo shoot?

Labels: Architecture, Art, Los Angeles, yarny stuff

Fashion Owls

Anna Sui Owl Hat

Owls were HUGE in the fashionable late 1960's, early 1970's. They were used in jewelry, clothes and decorator items. They've been back for a few years. This fashion fad also complies with Portlandia's "Put a Bird on It" rule.

Designer, Anna Sui has incorporated yarny owl hats into her 2012 fashion line. My friend, Audrey, alerted me to these FABULOUS hats! I'm thinking I should start crocheting my knock-offs now for the 2012 Christmas gift-giving season!

I'm especially fond of these Owl "Pope" hats!

Kitty Owl!

Oh yeah, the actual garments are darling too! Anna Sui is my current fave designer!

Sorry for the fuzzy screen shots!

Labels: Art, Fashion, yarny stuff

Back to Rancho Cucamonga

Beth, 2/12/12 - Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays!

Last Sunday, just before Valentine's Day, my good pal, Beth and I drove down to Rancho Cucamonga to visit the famous Hobby Lobby store. There aren't very many branches in Southern California, Rancho Cucamonga being the closest. My friend, Carla lives in Houston (a stronghold of the Hobby Lobby franchise). Carla sent me some Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" awhile back and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. This store brand yarn is acrylic, soft, pliable and lovely. I've been wanting a large amount to make a cardigan. I could have ordered the yarn online, but I wanted to SEE it for myself.
Beth and I got off the freeway and finally found the store. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. It was around 1pm on a Sunday....usually a big shopping day. Well, it seems that Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays so that their employees may have time for family and worship. WHAT?!? This is Southern California, not the Bible belt! We shop after church on Sundays!!

Beth and I noticed that there was a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour in the same shopping center. So that our trip wouldn't be a total loss, we decided to have a bite at Farrell's and re-live our youth. Farrell's is long-gone from the San Fernando Valley, but we both have fond memories of the place.

Strke two. There was a long line to get inside Farrell's. It was packed. Apparently, this is where everyone goes after church on Sundays in Rancho Cucamonga.

Farrell's was packed!

Oh well. Beth and I had a small lunch at Panera Bread, paid a visit to the huge Michael's craft store and headed home. It was nice spending time with Beth, even though our trip was not victorious.
Needless to say, I still wanted to get inside Hobby Lobby! Yesterday, Presidents' Day, is a major shopping holiday. I called to make sure that HL would be open and zoomed down there early Monday morning. Success!

This is the hugest hobby store I've ever seen in my life. It's very much like a Michael's or Joann's , super-sized. The merchandise is similar, but there are large amounts of everything. I made a bee-line for the yarn section to check out "I Love This Yarn."

Bingo! I picked up enough for two cardigans and some extra skeins for small projects. I also chose some of the HL brand 100% kitchen cotton. It's soft and almost as nice as Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Cotton.

I won't be making a special trip out to Rancho Cucamonga soon, but it is a perfect place to stop on our way to Palm Springs!

Labels: Art, Fashion, Friends, Los Angeles, Memories, yarny stuff

Mardi Hearty

Oh Yes, we certainly did pass a good tahm, dahlin' at the Original Farmers Market Mardi Gras celebration this past weekend! Even though the weather was a bit chilly, the feeling at the Market was warm and fun. Many bands performed. People were throwing beads, drinking Dixie beer and generally having an excellent time.

We ran into many old friends and made new ones too! This was the 23rd annual Mardi Gras at the F. Mkt. I cannot believe that Larry and I have been attending all these years!