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January 5

Best of LA

LA to Z Guide

Best Schools
Downtown
Illustration by John Ueland

Quiet RiotQuiet Riot

Quiet Riot

A rock and roll institution closes the door on the past—softly

The Sunset Strip’s “Riot Hyatt” hotel earned its nickname because throughout the ’70s, bands loved to redecorate the place. The Who’s Keith Moon ripped out bedroom walls, Led Zeppelin used Harleys to paint stripes on the carpet, and Keith Richards (like everyone else) tossed his TV onto the sidewalk. Continue
Photograph courtesy of charlesphoenix.com

My LA to Z: Charles PhoenixMy LA to Z: Charles Phoenix

My LA to Z: Charles Phoenix

Looking for some “time-honored Southern California-aged places with patina”? Read the picks of Silver Lake-based “histotainer” Charles Phoenix, who hosts slideshows, school bus tours, and variety show extravaganzas honoring the quirky side of mid-century Americana. Here Phoenix, who has written seven books and recently signed a deal for a show on PBS.

Continue
Illustration by Paul Blow

Frock StarsFrock Stars

Frock Stars

When designers build an empire—or a home—with a single item

Several magazines that published paparazzi photos of Jennifer Lopez and Ashlee Simpson in 2005 wearing similar short-sleeved baby-doll minidresses didn’t mention the label. Geren Lockhart was grateful for the oversight. Continue
By Laurie Pike
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Blood And Wine
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Blood And Wine
Two comic novels—one about food, the other about murder—take L.A. out of Noir’s long shadow
By Ariel Swartley
Palate
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Palate
The year’s best restaurant
By Patric Kuh
Hard Drive
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Hard Drive
From the Archives: Why everything we think we know about traffic is wrong
By Dave Gardetta
The Primer: Bike Culture
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The Primer: Bike Culture
As longtime activists push to make the gridlocked roadways of Los Angeles more bicycle-friendly, growing ranks of two-wheelers are partying in the streets...
By Matthew Segal
The Primer: Julius Shulman
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The Primer: Julius Shulman
Get to know Los Angeles’s most famous photographer
Good Soil
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Good Soil
Palate’s Octavio Becerra tours of some leading small organic farms
By Lesley Bargar
From the Editor
On one of my earliest trips to Los Angeles, a friend—a graduate student in architecture at UCLA—took me on what she dubbed the “Frank Lloyd Wright-Charlie Manson tour.” Continue
Participate
Broadway
Ask Chris
Read
Why is it just called “Broadway,” without “street,” “avenue,” or “boulevard”?

Blame the Dutch. The downtown thoroughfare was originally called Fort Street, after Fort Moore, a military encampment in the Mexican-American War.
The Digest
Eat

big sur thumbPut this on a list of things to look forward to in 2009. I returned from my big fat Texas family Christmas to find some promo excerpts from this sitting on my desk: The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year In the Life of a Restaurant.

The Chic Leak Blog
Shop

00 thmb jPixelated designs are to be found everywhere now, from the Louis Vuitton store architecture in Japan to the gowns in Matthew Williamson’s Spring 2009 collection.

The Spyglass
Do

giant thumbStill wondering what you're doing to ring in 2009? We're here for you, no matter how high-end or low-key you want to celebrate it...

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