Pour one out for the Cat & Fiddle -- another pub lost in the Southland... Somewhere I don't want to be If in the bar of your dreams every centimeter of wall (and ceiling) space is covered with banks of televisions flashing seizure-inducing commercials unblinkingly stared at by backwards-capped man-children guzzling plastic pitchers of thin macrobrew … Continue reading Swinging Doors — The Cat & Fiddle
Happy Discovery Day — Real Geographic Discoveries of the Modern Age
I will not make the argument that Columbus's arrival in the New World was insignificant merely because he was an absolutely awful person or because he didn't actually discover anything (which he himself maintained, claiming until his death that he'd merely found a different route to Asia). But think about this before you dismiss -- … Continue reading Happy Discovery Day — Real Geographic Discoveries of the Modern Age
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Pop-Up Broadway: Exploring L.A.’s Original Great Street
Mayor Garcetti's first executive direction was the launch of the Great Streets program. The first batch of said streets are located throughout almost every region of the city, but especially within the San Fernando Valley, where four of the fifteen streets are located. None of the streets in question are located in Downtown Los Angeles, … Continue reading Pop-Up Broadway: Exploring L.A.’s Original Great Street
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Introduction to Subcultural Anthropology: Minet
As a fan of fashion, youth subculture, and the 1960s, at some point I was bound to be made aware of the French minet subculture. Obviously, since I'm writing about it, that momentous occasion has arrived at some point in my past. I can't remember when or where it occurred (the internet is a safe bet) … Continue reading Introduction to Subcultural Anthropology: Minet
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9 songs about cats
Although LOLCat Bible literalists believe differently, people of science generally hold the view that cats first domesticated humans at least as early as 7500 BCE, when the inhabitants of a neolithic village on Cyprus gave a feline (not native to the island) a ceremonial burial. What we know call the domestic cat was more truly feral when it … Continue reading 9 songs about cats
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California Fool’s Gold Episode Guide… and links to related series
I thought that it might be useful to publish an "episode guide" of my California Fool's Gold series of explorations. When I explore a new community, I usually rely upon the vox populi which is why anyone may vote for what communities they'd like to become the subject of future articles by clicking here for Los Angeles … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold Episode Guide… and links to related series
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Yet More One Album Wonders
Here is an additional edition of my series of great, mostly obscure, one album wonders. In the album era (roughly the mid-1960s until the mid-2000s), the album was the dominant format of recorded music expression and consumption. It seems that most musicians from that era, if able to scrape together the funds for the recording of … Continue reading Yet More One Album Wonders
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The 50 Best Scottish Bands of All Time
By now you and I have heard the arguments for and against Scottish independence from the UK but as someone who has naturally bristled like a thistle when diasporic people argue passionately and ill-informedly about another country's political situations (which they are thankfully powerless to effect) I'll keep my political opinions to myself. What I will … Continue reading The 50 Best Scottish Bands of All Time
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Nobody Drives in LA — Previewing Santa Ana’s SOMOS (Sunday On Main Open Streets)
With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. ***** A couple of weeks ago I visited Garden Grove to preview that city's upcoming open streets event, which I wrote would be the first of its kind in … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Previewing Santa Ana’s SOMOS (Sunday On Main Open Streets)
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Taste of the Mideast Side — at the Los Angeles County Store
If there are regular readers of my column here on the Amoeblog, they've probably seen some of the hand-drawn and hand-painted maps which I include in my series of Southland explorations I call California Fool's Gold. Right now a series of new maps are on display at the Los Angeles County Store in East Hollywood. None, … Continue reading Taste of the Mideast Side — at the Los Angeles County Store
Eric Brightwell 