A couple of nights ago, Una and I visited Moonlight Forest, a lantern festival currently taking place Wednesday through Sunday nights at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Its one of several local winter light festivals happening right now, along with Griffith Park’s LA Zoo Christmas Lights and Holiday Light Festival Train Rides, … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis – Visiting Moonlight Forest
Author: Eric Brightwell
Eric Brightwell is an essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener. He lives in Los Angeles, not because he was born here, but because he chose to... for all of the things for which its famous: its verticality, its mass transit, its diversity, its schools, its liminal spaces, its architecture, its wildlife, its museums, its night markets, its cinemas, its theaters, its enclaves, its restaurants, its bars, its libraries, &c
Homes Fit for Heroes — The Brigham Residence/Tokio Florist
With Homes Fit for Heroes, I normally celebrate multi-family housing. Every so often, however, I find a single-family home worth singing the praises of. Such is the case, I reckon, with the mansion at 2718 Hyperion Avenue which I re-visited for the first time after a roughly decade-long absence. In a way, it's multi-family housing … Continue reading Homes Fit for Heroes — The Brigham Residence/Tokio Florist
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Houses of the Hallows — Bethany Presbyterian Church
A few weeks ago I was moseying around the Silver Lake Farmers Market when I noticed that the doors of the old Bethany Presbyterian Church were open and so I temporarily set aside any cravings I might've had for pupusas, empanadas, or banchan and instead made a beeline for the temple. After all, as Jesus told … Continue reading Houses of the Hallows — Bethany Presbyterian Church
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Thanksgiving Themed Entertainment — Radio Dramas, Music, and Film
Happy Thanksgiving! If you're like me (and chances are that you aren't), you like to get into the holiday spirit not by watching an American Football match or squabbling with relatives but by listening to an appropriately themed radio drama, listening to some Thanksgiving music, or watching a Thanksgiving-themed film. Here are 100 Thanksgiving-themed radio … Continue reading Thanksgiving Themed Entertainment — Radio Dramas, Music, and Film
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Swinging Doors — Club Tee Gee
Club Tee Gee is a long-standing bar in the Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Atwater Village. After the owner died in 2016, there were fears that it might be shuttered. After a sale and renovation, it reopened on 14 November 2018 -- and so in the interest of research, I headed over for a few … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Club Tee Gee
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Nobody Drives in LA — A Parking Lot Pothole Garden in Echo Park
The private automobile is the scourge of cities. In Los Angeles, on an average day, such cars injure or kill 39 Angelenos. They pollute air, land, and water -- except for the electric ones, which rely on child slave labor to mine the precious materials required for their batteries. Electric or smog-box alike, they all … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — A Parking Lot Pothole Garden in Echo Park
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Vegetarian and Vegan Los Angeles
As far as I know, there haven't been any comprehensive surveys of global vegetarianism and veganism. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that India is home to the largest population and percentage of vegetarians in the world, followed by either Taiwan or Israel. Vegetarianism is also popular in Austria, Australia, Brazil, and Germany. The US is not an … Continue reading Vegetarian and Vegan Los Angeles
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Los Angeles Podography; or, A Guide to Podcasts About Los Angeles
What follows is intended to be an exhaustive directory to podcasts in which, broadly speaking, Los Angeles is the subject. I'd like to apologize for my neologism, "podography," but I'm not sure how else to refer to the podcast equivalent of a bibliography, discography, filmography, or webography. We can thank Ben Hammersley for coining the term … Continue reading Los Angeles Podography; or, A Guide to Podcasts About Los Angeles
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Southland Parks — Visiting Elysian Park
INTRODUCTION The other day, I explored Elysian Park, because it was leading in the California Fool’s Gold neighborhood poll. When I created that poll, I hadn’t yet created Southland Parks. While Elysian Park is sometimes described as a neighborhood (e.g. the Los Angeles Times’ Mapping Los Angeles and Wikipedia) and there are a few homes … Continue reading Southland Parks — Visiting Elysian Park
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No Enclave — Exploring Salvadoran Los Angeles
Metro Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Salvadorans outside of El Salvador, the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. Salvadorans comprise the second largest Latino population in Metro Los Angeles as well as the second largest foreign-born population. For this week of National Hispanic Heritage Month, they are … Continue reading No Enclave — Exploring Salvadoran Los Angeles
Eric Brightwell 