Hanging art on Market St.
Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army
The inaugural Venice Art Crawl launched with a bang last night with a solid crowd showing up to check out the numerous local artists who were showing at pop-up galleries mostly located between the Boardwalk and Pacific Ave. I was showing my own work at Nikki’s alongside artist Scott Simon (check out his work here) and was also working the event as a volunteer, so I didn’t have much time to get out to all the venues, but I did manage a quick lap and took a few photos along the way. It was great seeing so many artists participating in the first event. A good sign that the event will continue to grow in the coming months. After the crawl wrapped up we made our way over to the official afterparty at Video Army, a new production company located on Pacific Ave. It was a fun environment with lots of people dancing and great light for shooting. After the party wound down we hit up a nearby taco truck and made our way home. Really a successful night if you ask me. Looking forward to next month!
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Bicyclists and beach goers, Venice Beach
A young man is detained after a large brawl on Venice Beach
This Memorial Day weekend was marked by various activities, ranging from laying out on a crowded Venice Beach to a crowd-stopping brawl and arrest Sunday evening on Windward Avenue and capped off with a huge feast and ping-pong tournament at the home of the very talented chef of the Fraiche restaurant in Culver City. Taking photos all the while of course.
Most notable and unusual of course was the brawl. I had just stepped out onto the boardwalk looking for some evening photos of Memorial Day visitors when suddenly the police started flashing their lights and bleeping their sirens from the direction of the beach patrol station, which is right at the end of Windward Avenue, marked by its classic arcade architecture and suspended trademark Venice sign. The majority of them went straight up Windward, while some of them drove across the grassy park area, evidently to head off anyone trying to get away by heading north. I decided to follow them up Windward to check it out and was there as a handful of young men started sprinting. The police were already blocking off the street by that point and quickly ran and tackled them, at least three that I saw, onto the sidewalk, before lining them up against the high red wall that borders the adjoining compounds owned by notable neighbor Anjelica Huston. I was able to get a few shots off from close proximity before the police gained control of the situation and kicked everyone off the entire first block of the street. They held the boys there up against the wall for a solid hour as I and numerous others watched from adjacent corners on the other side of Pacific Avenue. I hung out watching for awhile and then got bored and headed home. On the way, I came across another two that had been detained next door to my place on Market St. I took a couple photos and watched as the police stood them up one at a time and took pictures of their tattoos with their cell phones.
I later read that the brawl was thought to include up to 70 young men, ages 14-17. Twenty were detained and only one arrested. They still don’t know what the cause of the fight was, but are investigating it as possibly gang-related. More here.
The rest of the weekend was pretty typical and enjoyable. A fun night Saturday was had at our neighbors, who hosted a party around the much-hyped UFC fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. I know nothing about this sport, and find it pretty brutal, but had a fun time cleaning up in a pool with a lucky wager on Evans it the third. He won by decision, but I was closest! Sunday was spent walking around photo hunting along Venice Beach, mixed in with a little bit of laying out in the sand with Erinn. Then Monday at the home of the chef and wife’s house near Beverly Hills. We were treated to a feast of curried chicken and fish, lemon-stuffed, roasted chicken, mixed greens and strawberry shortcake, among much, much more. Not traditional BBQ material, just some great food the chef grew up eating and wanted to share. No complaints here. Now it’s Tuesday and back to work I go.
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“Usted no es nada sino un perro de caza Y no es ningún amigo mío.”
Not his words, but from a Spanish translation of Hound Dog I found online. I was walking around Silver Lake last weekend with Erinn and my friend Matt when we came across Raphael “Elvis” Coca, a San Salvadorian Elvis look-alike, sitting on a bench in front of the La Parrilla Mexican restaurant on West Sunset Blvd., where he works. I asked to take a picture and then we spent about ten minutes talking to him in Spanish. Good to know that my language skills are still good enough to carry on a basic conversation, but I do need some work! He was a really friendly guy and a fun person to meet while out for a stroll. The Maybe I’ll go back and watch him perform sometime soon.
We just got back from probably one of our favorite places in the world, the Boiling Crab in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Garden Grove, Calif. It’s about a 45 minute trek south of here, but totally worth it if you’re into Cajun-style crawdads. And if you’re not, one visit here and you will be. Assuming you’re not a vegetarian of course. I first discovered this place right after moving here when the L.A. Times did a write up on this little phenomenon occurring in Little Saigon, where a good 10 restaurants had recently opened featuring a dish you wouldn’t normally find west of the Gulf Coast. The first and best of them (not that we’ve tried any of the imitators) is the Boiling Crab, which was started by a Vietnamese family that lived somewhere along the gulf coast for a time and thought it would be a great idea to bring crawdads back to their community. The place has been hopping ever since, with waits of 45 min. – 1 1/2 hours common on a weekday evening. Hence the market for the imitators. The restaurant is usually packed with locals who feast on the shellfish that are sold for only $8/lb, making it an attractive option for even teenagers. A party of two can feast, including beer, for around $40, which is way cheaper than blue crabs on the east coast if I recall. If you’re ever anywhere in the L.A. area I recommend taking the drive down to experience it for yourself. We keep going back any chance we get and have also taken members of each of our families when they were visiting. This photo was actually taken on our last visit, which was right after we went down to photograph Sumo Dan and the sumo tournament I posted about a few months back.
Santa Ynez Valley vineyard
Santa Ynez Valley vineyard in autumn
Santa Ynez Valley vineyard in autumn
We just returned from a two-day, mid-week weekend in the Santa Ynez Valley wine country. As it was mid-week and off season we practically had the place to ourselves. While there we hit up Foxen, Curtis and Beckmen Vineyards, as well as the Flying Goat tasting room in the “wine ghetto” of Lompoc, a small town abutting the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. The name is derived from the fact that the tasting room is one of a few located in the town’s commercial warehouse district. Nevertheless, they served up some excellent Pinots from a number of the area’s vineyards. I was hoping for some more photo ops while we were there, but not much was going on as the season winds down. However, we were treated to some lovely landscapes as the effects of fall turned the vineyards a nice golden yellow. It’s nice to know that if we tire of the lack of seasons down here, autumn is only a couple hours away.
Good Hurt bar, Venice, California
This is something I shot at a Venice bar called Good Hurt while there to see some friends play with their band, The Squid. It has an interesting bar/club atmosphere and is a pretty good small music venue.
