Tag: photos

  • LA River and Secret Stairs tour

    On my last day in Los Angeles I took a walking tour of the LA River and Elysian Valley. The area covered is roughly between Silver Lake and the river. When most people think of the LA River today — if they think about it at all — they tend to think of a dry…

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  • Downtown LA Taco Tour with a local food critic

    Last night I stuffed my face on six or so tacos via an Airbnb experience called Taste the LA taco scene with a leading food critic. The other guest(s) on the tour cancelled last minute to it was just me and the host, Patricia, a food critic who’s worked at various publications. The walking tour…

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  • LA Arts District Graffiti/Mural Tour with a local street artist

    Six years ago in the “before times” as it were, when the pandemic shattered everything, I took a wide-ranging tour of the Los Angeles Arts District from a tour company that is now sadly defunct. During this trip I wanted to go a little more in depth on the street art aspect of the Arts…

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  • Chinatown LA Ghost Hunt from The Haunt

    On Saturday night I went on a spooky adventure looking for signs of the paranormal on a tour of New Chinatown with The Haunt. The guide for our group, Rory, told us the tales of prohibition-era corruption, racist redevelopments, mysterious deaths, and unmarked graves. (See this post for more about LA’s New Chinatown.) But there…

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  • Nine Inch Nails – “Peel It Back” tour

    When booking my trip to Los Angeles this year I discovered it happened to coincide with the final show of Nine Inch Nails’ Peel It Back tour. If there was ever an omen this was it; I had to book a ticket to the show. And what an expensive ticket it was! Somewhere along the…

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  • Watts Towers

    I first learned about the Watts Towers as a kid when I randomly came across a TV movie called Daniel and the Towers on PBS. The movie tells a fictional story about a boy who slowly befriends a cantankerous oddball named Simon Rodia as he builds a set of towers and decorates them with colorful…

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  • The Cortège

    The Cortège bills itself as “a festive funeral for our times.” But what does that mean?

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  • HOLE by the San Francisco Neo-Futurists

    Today I was lucky enough to see one of the few performances of the limited run of HOLE by the San Francisco Neo-Futurists, a local experimental theater group. The first step once you have tickets is a small adventure: you’re only provided the exact location a couple days in advance. All I can say is…

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  • I tried float therapy so you don’t have to

    (But you might want to try this one!) My therapist is always telling me I need to take time to relax. No, that’s not the setup for one of those quirky The New Yorker cartoöns, it’s the reality for those of us seeking treatment for insomnia. So far I’ve found that a quick meditation exercise…

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  • Scenes from Rainbow Grocery Co-op’s 50th anniversary block party

    Started in 1975 as an offshoot of a “food conspiracy,” San Francisco’s preeminent worker-owned vegetarian grocery store began at a small storefront on 16th Street. After several moves — the original store is now the home of German beer bar Gestalt — Rainbow acquired their Folsom Street location in the 90’s and has been selling…

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