I use public transit in every city I’ve ever visited but seriously never expected to ride the rails around Los Angeles. I was incredibly excited to hop aboard the Expo Line on Sunday (free!) as it opened to the public, at the Jefferson/La Cienega boulevards station.
Just over a decade ago, a Westside venue for world-class performing arts was wishful thinking for Dale Franzen, a former opera singer whose ties to the world of the arts run deep.
Not since Mel Brooks’ outrageous “Springtime for Hitler” has there been a holocaust musical as ill-conceived and badly performed as “No Time to Weep,” now on-stage at L.
Unless you’re an aficionado of the ups and downs of the Russian revolution of the early 20th century, it’s very hard to keep track of the players without a scorecard.
Last week I went to the Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center for the U.S. premiere of “In Paris,” a theatrical piece based on a story by Russian writer and Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin.
MAIN STREET — Santa Monica encourages bicycles for commuting, daily errands and fitness. Why not barhopping? That was Frank Congine’s thought when he caught his first glimpse of what he would later call the Beach Barcycle rolling its way down the streets of Minneapolis.
BROADWAY — What’s so funny about a grocery store? For most stores, nothing. There’s fresh produce, hopefully a few sale items and plenty of canned goods, but not much humor.
In an era when many arts groups have suffered a downturn in funding, Santa Monica’s 18th Street Arts Center has succeeded as an ever-evolving artist space for nearly 25 years.
Those of us who voted for John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1960 were fortunate enough to experience the exhilaration, the hope, and the joyful anticipation that his election brought to the nation.
Spring has definitely sprung across the Southern California arts landscape. Here’s a roundup of upcoming and ongoing events that pique my interest. I’ll report on some of them later but I think all merit your consideration now.
Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997), a female artist in her 50s, arrived in Los Angeles during the ‘60s when the mantra was “trust no one over 30” and when the art scene was dominated by hard-partying young men of the “cool school” who were creating their own new art and lifestyles.
