The 2009 Edition Of The Great LA Walk Was Awesome!

the Shrine parking lot sign

Hello, my beloved, adored readers!

I'm happy to detour you away from the usual art fare on FBC! to give you a complete report on this year's edition of the Great LA Walk. Initially scheduled to be under 14 miles, the organizer Mike Schneider had us go up and down Adams and Washington at the start of the walk to see the beautiful architecture of West Adams, so we ended up covering 17.4 miles, all the way from the Shrine Auditorium to Venice!

Yours truly got up around 6 AM to quietly eat the breakfast of champions, get ready and hop on the bus and on a later connection to make it around 8.30 at the Shrine Auditorium and wander on the USC area for espresso before our 9 AM starting time. I was incredibly grouchy as the 4 or 5 people who had professed for weeks their enthusiasm at doing the walk with me all flaked out at the last minute (bunch of wusses and losers!) under the most dubious pretexts. Since I'm in chronic pain after all my car accidents (back and shoulder injuries give me no rest) and *I* did it, I didn't take too kindly the various excuses my flaky friends gave me (but I still love you people!).

Fortunately during the walk I met several people who made it really enjoyable and fun: Adam, Lee, Liesl, Ronda who joined us in Culver City and Maggie who walked with us after we passed Sepulveda. At the end, in the bar in Venice where we had the after-party we were joined by Lee's boyfriend Eddie (I think?) who very kindly gave me a ride home after, and saved me from the 3 bus rides home my old and desiccated body would have had trouble to undertake. Thank you so much all of you for all the fun!

We were about 250 people gathering just for the fun of walking all the way to the sea, thanks to Mike Schneider of the awesome blog Franklin Avenue who organized everything for us. Epic walker Walter was here too, who did all the previous walks and then some more, as attested with the cute little signs he painted on his helmet. Walter walked the length of Western Avenue from North to South a couple of years ago, which took him 2 days. Respect!
Mike's son Evan got his daddy to push him in his stroller for half of the walk, so in addition to his leg muscles Mike must now have really toned biceps as well! Mike's wife and their baby were following in their car all day long, so we all got to see and meet the family behind the Great LA Walk. Thanks so much for organizing such a fun adventure!

Walter the epic walker, waving his helmet during the group picture

So we started at the Shrine Auditorium, where I hadn't been since a Chemical Brothers concert in the late 1990s. It was a really cool place to start as I realized (duh!) that it was named after the Shriners organization, something I know virtually nothing about except they do put ex-votos near their statues, wear fez hats, have some deity (??) named Malakhai (spelling?) and an organization that include a "potentate" and a "rabban". If anybody has a good book to recommend about the Shriners, I'm interested to learn more! I liked that the parking lots has a domed logo replicating the Shrine's on its sign.

From there we walked a block West to see the Felix auto concession with its namesake cartoon character effigy, a "since 1921" stenciled above its door and the names of US carmakers in dire straits (Chevrolet, Cadillac), we passed the magnificent headquarters of AAA (seriously, everybody should go visit them), passed by the last remaining 50 feet of the Zanja, LA's original irrigation system that must date back from the late 1700s (?) and is under threat from developers willing to build a disgustingly ugly student housing complex to disfigure and obscure the adjacent and magnificent Thomas Stimson mansion and the Saint Vincent de Paul Church. We had someone from the West Adams Heritage Association give us a small talk about te neighborhood.

Felix car dealership

After this we sauntered up and down Adams and Washington, visiting the grounds of Mount St Mary College (including the Doheny Mansion and plenty of other interesting buildings), the Amat Residence where silent-movie era celebrities such as Theda Bara, Joseph Schenck and Norma Talmadge lived but also the (in)famous Fatty Arbuckle. Ronda mentioned the book "I, Fatty" about the scandal, I hope to check it up soon.

Many of the palatial mantions and houses we saw were beautifully restored and were converted (alas) in USC frat houses (I shudder thinking about drunken fratboys vandalizing the delicate interiors) but many more were sadly derelict and run-down.
It was really interesting walking around West Adams to see how there were pockets of obvious wealth within really dingy neighborhoods, and how some really beautiful architecture was still existing everywhere, regardless of the economic status of the various places we walked by.
The other thing we realized was how big West Adams was and how largely residential it remains. I can imagine how it could be subject to further gentrification in the future, once Eagle Rock/Highland Park/Glassel Park/Atwater Village/Silverlake and Echo Park all have merged into the final über-hipster bourgeois enclave it is ineluctably destined to be (you know, like SoHo in NYC).

Along the way we saw the house where Marvin Gaye was killed by his father, the house used in Six Feet Under, the house that used to belong to the mother of Gaylord Wilshire (he of the boulevard name - read the book!), and the Ray Charles studio. We also passed by the gorgeous Angeles-Rosedale Cemetery where I've been a couple of times. It's full of very interesting tombstones, and the chapel is really adorable too.

Around 12.30 I found myself walking with the charming Adam, who kindly shared his bag of carrots with me (thank you so much!) and then patiently waited for me when I got myself a really good burger at the Jonnie (I think) burger stand on Adams and Crenshaw. Don't try their fries, but the burger is good, they also have a pastrami hot dog that looked really great, and I don't even like pastrami.
My camera battery died around there, unfortunately.

The Zanja on Figueroa

After this we were firmly and definitively on Washington, where we passed by the Nate Holden Theater where other walkers spotted Magic Johnson who was attending an event, and then we all stopped for lunch in my 'hood, where the Mid-City Neighborhood Council passed on water, trail mix, candies, sunscreen wipes (true genius!) and hand sanitizers to all of us, and the Atomic Café had concocted a $5 bagged lunch special (turkey sandwich, chips, cookies). I had their really good blackberry/boysenberry smoothie, Adam got some chili, and I saw some ribs that looked really good too. Unfortunately, 250+ patrons took their toll on the small bathroom and we clogged their sink. Sorry, sorry Atomic Café! I hope we will bring you more clients, as your food is really good and fairly priced.

Waiting on the side near Atomic for us was the Marked 5 truck (Japanese burgers on rice "buns"). We were tired and hot and sweaty and thinking, "hey, where's Coolhaus when we need them????". I would have enjoyed the Nom Nom truck as well, and I think this morning near USC the Buttermilk truck would have made a killing, had it been there (because, you know, Starbucks and Dennys...)

After an hour break we started walking again, when I met Lee and Liesl with whom I crossed into Culver City, yay! We all shared a common taste for cooking, good food and fun, so our goal was espresso at Surfas Café where Lee needed to get vanilla bean paste, and Liesl and I were more than happy to use their bathroom. I also got a great lemon bar with lavender, and Lee got a chocolate cannelé. Liesl was good and got nothing! We passed by the ridiculous Royal T, restaurant row in downtown Culver City, missed the 2.30 meeting point at the old City Hall (I think we were trailing Mike and the boys by a good 15 minutes) but met Ronda then, who is a resident a Culver City and knew all about places to stop by and get treats and bathroom stops.
During the second part of the walk we realized how BIG and WIDE and LONG Culver City is, dammit!

We passed by a stretch we dubbed "pastry shop row" because we saw several stores including the delicate and sophisticated Platine where goodies are very small and pricey but look really appetizing. We were not hungry so we bought nothing, but I hope to go by one day and try their "vanilla oreos". After we passed pastry shop row where one "healthy" store was not attractive to my Frenchy self (but will appeal to SoCal natives) the walk started to be... difficult.
We set our sights on Sepulveda and the bloody 405 thinking, yay, we're on the West Side! Only...er...4 more miles to go???? I had never been so happy to see the 405 ever, but the realization we had to pass Centinela...Lincoln...until we made it was, uh, daunting.

We stopped at Samosa House where we didn't get anything but enjoyed looking at the store, then at Leaf so Ronda and Lee could get some coconut juice, and we all used their bathrooms.
I know I'm mentioning bathrooms a lot, but when you're on a 17.4 miles walk the issue is critical, and all the places we stopped at were beacons of kindness and cleanliness, so I do hope you will go patronize them and eat/buy goodies there.

Ray Charles Studio

After Lincoln the Sun was rapidly declining and in the waning sunset, at 5 PM we finally spotted the lifegard shack on Venice Beach in a postcard-perfect moment, with rows of impossibly tall palm trees aligned on both sides. It was too dark to join the group photo at the end, so we gratefully ended up sharing drinks and food at Baja Cantina where we rested our sore bodies. I was limping so much when we left that I'm very thankful to Lee and Eddie for taking us all back home as I don't see how I could have possibly walked up to Venice to catch the first of 3 buses to reach the Frenchy But Chic Mansion (it's palatial). I sauntered to bed at 9 PM, and got up on Sunday at 9 AM.

Now two days after I'm still very sore all over, but thanks to my investvment in my Saucony Jazz sneakers and my ASICS Kayano II socks my feet and toes are in tip-top shape: no cracks, no blisters, no bunions, no callouses. I mentioned my injuries earlier, so in all honesty I have to say I was on meds all day, so thanks to Cartrex and Voltaren (both are prescription-only) I was in no more pain than necessary.
I'm mentioning all these brands not because I am a shill - no one sent me any free sample of medications nor sponsored my choice of socks and shoes but myself - but because last year I was inadequatly shorn and ill-equipped, so I ended up dropping out of the walk after 9 miles thanks to a ping-pong ball-sized blister under my left foot. This year, I researched better what I needed, trained in September with a 9-mile walk on Route 66 between South Pasadena and Arcadia, and I'm very happy I made it all the way, from start to finish, on the Great LA Walk 2009.

It was really a fun adventure and I'm very proud we all made it, so I hope to see you, beloved readers, as well as my new friends next year on November 20, 2010 when, for its 5-year anniversary, the Great LA Walk 2010 will tackle Wilshire again. Hopefully by then a generous benefactor will have offered me a couple extra battery packs for my Canon Powershot SD 750 (hint, hint) so I can document the second half of the walk!
And, lastly, if I can make a plea to Mike Schneider: could we start about 30 minutes earlier next year, so we have a bit more daylight to take pictures at the end of the walk?

[I will be posting more pictures of the walk later in the next couple of weeks or so]

Your Social Life -Elsewhere This Week

If you live in LA, you can't have missed the hoopla about MOCA's 30th birthday and all the self-congratulatory stuff about the-museum-back-from-the-brink-celebrates-its-gala, with worldwide famous and famed art amateurs Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in attendance, to witness the Francesco Vezzoli orchestrated "performance" with no less than Lady Gaga. In case you wondered, tickets to attend the event started at $5,000.

[if you managed to read this entire first sentence without pausing for breath, you will figure in my thoughts on Thanksgiving. Just write a comment "I didn't die from asphyxia" with your name, and I'll do a performance during the holiday. Promise].

We're all happy for MOCA it didn't die financially, but very sorry it had to succumb to the uppermost vulgarity in order to do so. RIP, aesthetic and intellectual appreciation of art, arise, bling-loving status seekers. As an ad hoc epitaph for the artistic endeavor it used to be, MOCA has put up a show of its permanent collection (the raison d'être of any museum worth its salt) which you can go see for free until I believe tomorrow Friday, both at the Geffen and at the Grand avenue main building. Hurry, you'll have to wait 30 more years before you're able to see it again!

Aside from celebrating MOCA's anniversary, there are a bunch of shows opening this Saturday you can go visit, but you won't find yours truly, because I'll be doing my annual pilgrimage from downtown to the sea. It's this French catholic heritage where we have to redeem ourselves or something, so I'm trying to expiate all the current vulgarity of the art world by doing ... something else.

But for you, local LA arts people who didn't grow up in a place where vulgarity was frown upon from birth, you don't have anything to expiate so you can go out and attend a few openings. I'd recommend highly the two shows opening at Steve Turner, where I would go myself but I won't be fit to, the high point being "Amir Zaki" selects. There's also China Adams whose work seems attractive, so make sure to come by and see it. If you feel like it you can also participate in the Miracle Mile Art Walk.
You can then race down to La Cienega and enjoy Sharon Lockhart's new show at Culver City new behemoth, the Blum & Poe giga-mega-insane new building. Before or after, cross the street but for the life of everything that's holy and sacred, don't jaywalk, so you can safely go and see the new exhibition at LAXart, featuring Alice Könitz (and a lot of other things, but you can click on the link and see for yourself, you lazy readers). You can also go help Side Street Project by participating to Bookmeat. There's also an opening at Roberts & Tilton.

If you are possessed with an invite, I think Saturday is also the opening of the show curated by Hou Hanru at REDCAT. But only if you have an invite, you lucky member of the exclusive elite.

If you're in Chinatown (and, between MOCA's B-Day, and REDCAT, I see with my psychic powers a very downtown-centric evening for you art people) you can of course attend the various openings at Chung King Projects, China Art Objects and Tom Solomon/Cottage Home.

Your Social Life - Not At Performa Edition!

In case you haven't noticed, right now in NYC the performance festival Performa 09 (watch out, noisy website) is going on. It seems to have expanded exponentially since the 1st edition to the point that there are now some -off Performa events, and even some -off -off Performa ones. It all looks confusing to me, but I'm not in NYC this weekend, I'm in LA where as usual some stuff is going on.

To begin with, I'm making an exception to my usual policy of not mentioning the events promoted by begging and/or nagging PR people because these ones actually asked very politely and nicely that I spread a bit of "internet love" about their event. So here it is, an auction at Track 16 and a party for Rachel Rosenthal, her 83 birthday bash. Like all Track 16 events it is likely to be fun, so if you are not a broke-ass Frenchy like myself and can spend $25, go and have fun and maybe you can also buy one of the 83 art pieces donated by the likes of Mike Kelley, Betye Saar, Ed Ruscha or John Baldessari. Happy Birthday Rachel Rosenthal!

On Friday if you're in West LA, don't miss Filophile at Jaus, with FBC! pal Chris Sicat. Note that a portion of all sales will go to a relief organization helping the victims of Typhoon Ondoy which recently devastated the Philippines.
Don't forget the Pacific Design Center Design Loves Art Series curated by Diana Thater and Helen Varola. Opening from 5 to 8 PM on Friday, with a special Art Catalogues pop-up store and many interesting artists.

On Sunday in Eagle Rock, you can attend the event organized by Outpost for Contemporary Art, the Monster Drawing Rally, where many LA artists will make drawings in public, Dave Muller will DJ (if you don't know it yet, he's a badass fabulous DJ). The drawings will then go on sale for $75 each, not bad if you look at the list of over 100 artists involved. Donation required of $10 at the entrance. And while you're in Eagle Rock, you will only be a stone throw from Pasadena where Offramp Gallery opens Small Works between 2 and 5 PM.

Lastly, if you're one of my numerous readers in the Pacific Northwest (hello! Any readers outside of Eugene and Portland here? Seattle, can you hear me?), originating in LA but launching this weekend in Seattle and later in Vancouver (the one in Canada) is the #2 issue of Area Sneaks, a literary and art journal to which your truly has contributed. It's out! You can buy it! No proceed of the sales will go into my pocket, so the shameless self-promotion is truly disinterested!
Have a great weekend happy FBC! readers!

The Fourth Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

Once in a Chinese bazaar I fought to avert my eyes from the unusual animals for sale as food: puppies, kitties, snakes. At the recent Los Angeles Archives Bazaar I fought to look away too – the sights, sounds and amazing stories in the featured photos, films, rare books and newspaper archives were so riveting, I couldn’t tear myself away. For example:

- Who knew my elderly West Adams neighbor Mayme Clayton was stuffing her garage with the second largest archive of Black Memorabilia in the country-- rare Little Black Sambo’s, slave stories, and L.A. Harlem Renaissance photographs?

- Who knew there was a Great Shark Hysteria of 1939 – multiple shark attacks in Long Beach, with a missing Compton fisherman turning up in a shark’s tummy off Catalina – identified by his Timex?

- Who knew Raymond Chandler lived in 36 different Southern California locations – from Monrovia to Riverside to Big Bear, 24 places in L.A. alone -- with his wife Cissy, 20 years his senior?

Los Angeles is famous for its hucksters, riots, mass murders, and celebrity suicides. Fortunately someone’s been preserving all this weird wacko-jacko history once the police barricades come down: the city’s mousy archivists – in dozens of local archives and libraries. Yep, we always knew these shy librarian-types with their horn-rimmed glasses and sweater clips had all the good stuff. Still waters run deep -- like under the L.A. bridges highlighted in this cool calendar available from the rad organization Studio for Southern California History.
Catch the Fifth Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar next year (see their Facebook page). Here’s a video from last year’s event.

(Guest blogger Renee Montgomery is head of the archives program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where her favorite historical event is The Bridge-Game Murder in May Company)


Picture found courtesy of the LIFE archive on Google Images, found here.

Your Social Life, East Side, West Side

Your Saturday this week will see you once again cavorting all over town, with FBC! super close friend Nancy Popp who will present a talk at Outpost For Contemporary Art about her recent street performances all over the world. It involves pole climbing (not pole dancing, you dirty scoundrels) and many, many other things. Nancy being also a very practical person, her talk is scheduled at 3 in the afternoon, which should leave you enough time to go eat a bite and then head off to Chinatown and the William Powhida opening at Charlie James. If you go early enough, then you can continue your Westward journey toward Hollywood where at Circus Gallery you will discover the unveiling of the new group show The Hills Are Alive with Chris Wilder! The other stop on your way West will be in West Hollywood at Margo Leavin who not only FINALLY HAS A WEBSITE, YEEPEE!!! but also has a super early reception (seriously, who has openings between 4 and 6 PM in this town?) for our very own Jeffrey Vallance with his project, Lapland Shaman Drum.

(pic: Jeffrey Vallance from his Margo Leavin show)

How Did You Get Sucked Into The Big Art Vortex?

Following a series of threads launched by the always excellent Mark Dutcher (Hi Mark!) on his Facebook wall, I've asked a few of my Facebook friends to answer this query:
How did you get sucked into the Big Art Vortex? Were you influenced by your family, friends? Did you attend some after-school art programs (I did)? Was it the shock of visiting an exhibition, or attending someone's class/lecture in college?
I got some very interesting answers and I thought it would be nice for my (few and far between) readers to answer this question in the comments below. Please don't hesitate to let the world at large know!

The picture of course is Composition, 1913, by Vorticist painter Wyndham Lewis.

[and I apologize to have to make you register to comment but I'm getting way too much botspam otherwise]

LACMA On Fire Blog and Let's Start A New Power 100 List

My connection is freakingly sluggish these days, and I'm not too much into writing, but I wanted to link to the really smart blog Los Angeles County Museum on Fire, which I like a lot because, unlike most art blogs in this town and elsewhere, it does not focus exclusively on contemporary art.
For the few people who asked me: I do not know its author personnally, or if I do this person hasn't made himself or herself known to me. And I couldn't care less who it is or if this person works at LACMA or not. I just think it is a very intelligent blog, pertinent and well-written (and funny too!). And unlike myself, the author of this blog is truly reactive (maybe (s)he hasn't suffered from blog fatigue yet).

On the opposite site of the spectrum (meaning, wallowing in intellectual mediocrity) is Art Review's rankings of the "100 more powerful art personalities". Just the idea of ranking people acording to their power is ridiculous, but a list that begins with Hans-Ulrich Obrist and ends up with Glenn Beck just sounds like... a big joke.
In passing, most of the people on this list (with the exception of Mike Kelley) are not particularly known for their sense of humor. So maybe we could start a new list "the 100 funniest, most entertaining, endearing and/or eccentric personnalities in the art world".

Please nominate your entries either in the comments section of this post, or drop me an email at frenchybutchic@gmail.com
Please explain after your choices why they belong to the list, if possible with a few exemples. Write in up to 5 names, multiple votings are OK too. Depending on the volumes of answers I'll run the results either before Christmas or early in the new year.

(image from Bruce Nauman's video Clown Torture, 1987