Venice Beach

Ok, Metbloggers and Metblogs readers, get off your bikes and get ready for the Great Los Angeles Walk 2009 this Saturday, November 21.  This annual walk to celebrate Los Angeles has been taking place since 2006.  Here’s Will Campbell’s preview of last year’s walk. This year, over 300 feet are expected to join in.

Who
Great Los Angeles Walk is the brainchild of Mike and Maria, purveyors of the Franklin Avenue blog, and no doubt passionate readers of Los Angeles Metblogs.

What

A 13.5 mile walk from the Shrine Auditorium to Venice Beach, taking in the sights along Figueroa, Adams, Washington, the Mid-City, and Culver City on the way.

The Mid City Neighborhood Council is sponsoring a “Water & Supply Station” outside the Atomic Cafe, located at 5001 W. Washington Blvd. (one block west of La Brea).   It will have free bottled water, snacks, sunscreen/band-aids, and also a limited number of token items “to show our appreciation for this year’s walk participants. ” Additionally, the Atomic Cafe will be offering a lunch special to GLAW participants.

Plans for an after party at a Venice Beach venue right near the finish are also in the works.

When
Saturday, November 21, 2009.

Where
Meet at the side of the Shrine Auditorium (665 West Jefferson Blvd.), across from USC Parking Lot D at “around” 8:30 a.m. (walk begins at “about” 9:30).  You can also join the walk along the way (this baby is un-structured!)

Why
(this is my favorite part) “Why not? There’s no special reason, no charity, no protest, no issue we’re promoting — other than a passion for Los Angeles.”

Whim
RSVP to franklin_avenue@yahoo.com — or just show up!

See the first link above for full details.

For Angelenos needing to shop at IKEA, the Carson and Burbank locations are the usual choices.  I go to the Carson location, not just because it is closer to my home, but because, at the other end of the shopping center sits Five Guys Burgers.  Five Guys is not new to these pages,  having been (mixed) reviewed by Faboomama and commented on by others.  But it’s all subjective, and, subjectively, I love the place (disclosure/confession: I used to go to their original DC-area locations).

So now, I rarely (ok, never) go to IKEA without hitting Five Guys.  One triggers the other, just like a ciggy in a bar.  Plus, I figure I deserve it after getting that thousand yard IKEA Stare after an hour or so inside the Swedish happy torture factory.  As to whether the trip to IKEA was really necessary in the first place, or just an excuse for a Five Guys burger & fries, I’ll never te-ell….

What’s the difference between a story and a tale?  Head to the Festival and find out!

The tea party protest takes place at 4:30 p.m. at the Pad D – Crystal Springs picnic area in the park (the address listed is simply the park’s main address, 4730 Crystal Springs Road), and the counter-protest gathers at the same location at 4 p.m. for a preemptive rally.  Whatever side you’re on, this promises to be quite the entertaining event.

As for the film itself, I understood more the second time around.  “Mulholland Drive” simply cannot be viewed only once (unless you are in the category of unfortunate people who don’t like David Lynch films, in which case once is probably too much).  But then I did some research, and found out some really interesting things.  Since I rented and do not own the dvd, I did not know that Lynch inserted ten clues to watching the movie inside the back cover of the dvd box.
  I would encourage anyone who is about to watch the movie, whether for the first time or not, to check out Lynch’s clues beforehand.  But, for dvd renters with no access to the box, be warned that every link to the clues that I found online also contains people’s interpretations of the answers, which you should skip until after you concoct your own.

After reading Lynch’s clues and different interpretations of them, I have come to my own satisfying conclusions about what happened in the movie, when it happened, and what was represented.  I really like this video of Lynch explaining (or not explaining, in typically Lynch fashion) to an English teacher who says she didn’t understand the film, “you do know, you do know for yourself, and what you know is valid.”

But beyond the satisfying task of interpreting “Mulholland Drive” lie the film’s lessons about the mythical and real “Hollywood.”  Certainly, these themes are not new, having been explored in many previous films about the movie business, such as “Sunset Boulevard,” “Barton Fink,” and “The Player.” We know them by heart: Hollywood is where naive dreams come crashing against cynical reality, often represented by the loss of innocence of the starlet or the screenwriter fresh off the bus from Kansas, etc.  But I believe that living in the Los Angeles area, where many people work in or with the film industry and all of us know people who do, gives us a different lens through which to view “Mulholland Drive” and other films about Hollywood, and thus another level of satisfaction.

For me, watching a David Lynch movie is like Hollywood itself: it both attracts and repels, sometimes simultaneously.  But at least in the case of Lynch, the attraction always wins out.

I can’t wait for Maria’s top five excuses:

5.  I was stopped at a red light.
4.  I was stopped in traffic.
3.  The pics are Photoshop phonies.
2.  It wasn’t me, it was Mariel Hemingway (top photo).
1.  It wasn’t me, it was Amy Irving (bottom photo).

This once, I hope a TMZ celebrity story makes front page news and stays there.  Maybe it will save some lives.

See, I did what I think a lot of other people do: move out here with the least possible baggage, literally and figuratively, to start a new life.  Many of us come here with the idea that (1) it’s something we need to try once in our life; and (2) we’re going to try it for a year or so, to see if we can “make it,” whether professionally, socially, in the arts, as a complete reinvention of self, or whatever that term may mean to us.

Inside my storage unit, aside from things like luggage that I use, are boxes filled with books and other items that I can’t seem to let go of.  One such item is a framed painting that my mom painted decades ago as a student.  That painting got as far as the open trunk of my car at the Goodwill in Gaithersburg, Maryland, my hands grasping each side of the frame, before I decided that, one day, it may be the only thing I have of hers that she actually made.

My “year or so” California trial is about to reach its three year anniversary.  And I’m still traveling light.

Skater boyz and girlz have lobbied for and have reportedly been waiting for at least 10 years for this park, and it promises to be an exciting addition to the neighborhood.  Given that Venice and the nearby area is often considered the birthplace and mecca of skateboarding, it’s about time they got it.

I can’t recall all the times that I have smelled or seen open weed smoking lately. Venice Beach (where I took the photo) is probably Ground Zero — no surprise there.   Last time I was on Venice Beach, I was in a shop that had a corner window facing South, and, through the window, the smell of chronic was mighty powerful.  I  also notice plenty of 420 in Santa Monica, such as at a recent concert on the Pier.  A friend also tells me that the bud is sprouting a-mighty in West Hollywood.

The little I think I know of the situation is that (a) medical marijuana is legal in California in certain situations through dispensaries; (b) the dispensary system is really easy to take advantage of, i.e., you go to a doc who is licensed to prescribe Aunt Mary, name just about any symptom having to do with pain or stress, and they give you a card; (c) dispensaries are all over the place, especially in neighborhoods such as Venice; (d) possessing ganja, even for medical purposes, is still illegal under federal law; (e) the Bush administration enforced the federal law and raided clinics in California; and (f) the Obama administration isn’t doing (e).

I’m sure I have some of that wrong or, at best, oversimplified.  I watched a few minutes of Marijuana Inc., which supposedly explains much of this, but then got pleasantly distracted by a better offer.  I also don’t know where the skunk is grown, whether that’s legal, who is selling what to whom, and whether any tax revenues are going to the California Treasury.  I certainly hope so.  That’s much better for our budget than the cost of incarcerating people for simple possession of the kif.

So who here can explain the situation?  I have friends who are jumping for joy at the prospect of a new era of recreational, er, I mean medical, freedom.