The Grand Tour, for the unfamiliar, was a custom that arose in Britain in the mid-1600s, which involved upper class young British men touring around Europe as part of their cultural education. By the 1800s, the custom had spread from the British upper classes to the nouveau riche of Europe, the Americas, and the Philippines. … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — The Los Angeles Grand Tour
It’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and so I thought it might be nice to shine a spotlight on some of Metro Los Angeles‘s many Asian American artists, the subject of this week’s post. It was a bit of an undertaking for many reasons. There are and have been many Asian American artists who’ve at … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — 200-ish Asian Angeleno Artists
INTRODUCTION as spring turned into summer, Una and I visited Hawaiʻi. Una had never been there before. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed telling people that I’d only ever been there in utero, when my pregnant mother and father visited in the 1970s. I don’t know how far along in her pregnancy my … Continue reading Where Fools Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Hawaiʻi (Oʻahu and Kauaʻi)
INTRODUCTION I’ve been aware of the Vietnamese American music scene based in North Orange County since at least the early 2000s. I had no idea just how big it was, though, until I stumbled across singer Thiên Phú‘s blog, VietCeleb, which has profiles of about 400 Vietnamese artists, with a large percentage of them associated … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Vietnamese Cabarets of North Orange County
If you’re American and you recognize names like “Bad Boys Blue,” “C.C. Catch,” “Sandra,” or “Modern Talking,” there’s a good chance that you, or someone close to you, is Vietnamese. For the uninitiated non-Viet Americans, those are the names of three German (and one German-Dutch) pop bands whose songs have been compiled, covered, and claimed … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Q&A with filmmaker Elizabeth Ai about her latest project, NEW WAVE
INTRODUCTION Over the years I’ve drawn maps, painted maps, and created digital maps. For the latter, I’ve most often used Google‘s My Maps program for several reasons. It’s relatively easy, looks relatively good, has pretty good functionality (e.g. links to websites and decent customization) and because Alphabet Inc. (Google’s parent company) is the fourth-largest company … Continue reading Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography — The Google Maps
INTRODUCTION I finally got around to exploring Newport Beach. I say “finally” because that particular coastal city in South Orange County has held the top spot in the California Fool’s Gold poll for more than a year. You’d be wrong if you assumed that my procrastination has anything to do with unfortunate (but typical) Angeleño bias against Orange … Continue reading California Fools Gold — Exploring Newport Beach
Hi Duk Lee (이희덕) died on 7 March at the age of 79. Two weeks passed before his death was reported on the website L.A. Taco. Only then did the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Korea Times, KTLA, NBC, and ABC run stories on the passing of this pioneer, whose name and accomplishments remain unknown to most Angelenos, including … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Hi Duk Lee, the Father of Koreatown (1939-2019)
Metro Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. About two-thirds of the metropolis’s population lives in Orange County — home to the nation’s oldest and largest Little Saigon. Los Angeles County, on the other hand, has the third-largest population of Vietnamese-Americans but one which is less than half the … Continue reading No Enclave — Exploring Vietnamese 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
Eric Brightwell 