Results tagged “reading”

After a packed-to-the-brim soft opening over the weekend, Stories in Echo Park is now open. The new & used bookstore with a cafe took over the old Sea Level Records space on Sunset Blvd. next to 826's Echo Park Time Travel Mart and near The Echo, where Stories co-owner Liz Garo books music acts for shows.

Or just sit back and watch. The Nike-hosted event will be happening tonight at The Montalban. Every Sunday night this venue will house a different sport. This week, the L.A. Dodgeball Society is helping out by bringing back the classic game of 4-square. Look out for wild costumes and that giant rubber ball.

Submitted and authored by Emily Lerman

6 p.m. // The Hammer Museum // 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles // (310) 443-7000 // $5

I'm actually a little hesitant to tell you about Junot Díaz's reading, scheduled for Monday, March 17th at the Hammer Museum -- I mean, yeah, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was one of the best books of 2007, he's been nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction, and he's a fantastic speaker and reader. But then half of Los Angeles will show up to hear the Dominican-born, Jersey-raised professor of creative writing (he's got a nice gig at MIT, of all places), and I'll be the jerk in the corner who can't find a seat

Many LAist staffers, contributors and readers were deeply troubled by the news of Dutton's closure. We all have a favorite memory of Dutton's - a particular book we discovered there, an admired author we met at a reading, a certain afternoon spent browsing. We'd like to honor the many unique memories of Dutton's that we all share with a series of posts about what Dutton's meant to us and what it meant to you. Our first post in this series is from LAist reader Laura Hertzfeld:

LAist's own TV Junkie has already given us the deets (and some alternatives), but in case you missed it, the 80th Annual Academy Awards are tonight, live from our very own Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Settle into your favorite spot in front of your tee vee and tune in along with zillions of other people around the world and see who wins what, who wears what, and if it rains on the red carpet.

Aside from being an incredible source for houses, hookers, haikus and everything in between, Craigslist can also a great source of entertainment. Reading through the listings under the personal section, especially "casual encounters" and "missed connections" can serve as a much needed distraction on one of those brutally boring days at the office. These sections may not always be the safest for the work environment, however. If your worried about The Man invading your Internet privacy, than take a stroll through the hidden gem of Craigslist entertainment that is the "Gigs" section.

Sometimes too much holiday cheer is a very, very bad thing. Especially the liquid kind. Hence, the lateness of today's column. But here's the down and dirty on what's happening around town tonight:

LA is a gadget kind of town. We’re also, it seems, swiftly becoming quite the literary town. And so, as the year draws nigh and you scramble around the city trying to score the latest whatever for your loved ones this holiday season, it would be wrong of us to ignore Kindle.

My brother is a wine snob. What I love about him though, with all his tattoos and his refusal to wear anything other than shorts and flip-flops regardless of weather, is that he isn't a real snob. He knows good wine. He seeks it out. But he's all about finding the best wine at a great price. When he's in town, he wants to visit every wine bar, wine boutique and wine warehouse in LA....

Memorial Reading for Mutanabbi Street with Chris Abani, Beau Beausoleil, Laila Lalami, Suzanne Lummis, Majid Naficy, Marisela Norte, Sholeh Wolpe & Terry Wolverton 7pm @ Centraly Library

Making the fight that "Los Angeles is not Manhattanizing," William Fulton of the School of Planning, Policy and Development at USC lays down the groundwork on what LA was supposed to be and why it never happened in one of the single most informative articles about Los Angeles that we've read in recent months:In the 1970s, when L.A.'s suburbs began sprouting, the city adopted, in 1974, an innovative general zoning plan that called for...

For the third week in a row, the Cycling Community will be massing at the Pasadena City Council speaker’s podium, protesting the City’s efforts to pass an ordinance (.pdf) that will prohibit bicyclists from riding more than two abreast in any public street. The City of Pasadena, who earned the title of "most bike-friendly city in Los Angeles County" in 2004, claims that the ordinance is a simple attempt to manage the user group...

Joan Didion discusses The Year of Magical Thinking 8pm @ Music Center

Pat Montandon discusses Oh, the Hell of It All 7pm @ Vroman's

A Word or 36: Baseball season is just starting up folks, am not sure how comprehensively I should be posting gametimes on TV Junkie. Weeknights I will be putting gametimes for the Dodgers and Angels here. Any feedback is appreciated. Tonight - Friday - April 6th, 2007 A's @ Angels (KCOP, 7:00 p.m.) Lakers @ Sonics (KCAL, 7:30 p.m.) Ghost Whisperer/Close to Home/NUMB3RS (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) From the paranormal to terrorists, all new stuff....

One Man: No War No War No War No War! A Crowd of Kids enters, watches the Man who goes from chanting to ranting Teacher (Crowd Leader): Look closely and listen up, kids. This is an antiwar protester. 1st Kid: Ancient History. 2nd Kid: Old School. 3rd Kid: Heavy. The Crowd watches the Protester as he works himself into a lather, repeating: "No War!" in as many different ways and with as much passion,...

It looks like neighborhood councils are back in style with two new hires for General Manager and Assistant General Manager at the city's Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE). Their first "whirlwind" week on the job has come on the heels of two new neighborhood councils: Panorama City and Rampart (making a total of 89 councils in LA). In their first letters to the public and neighborhood council members, General Manager Carol Baker Tharp shares...

Dennis Cooper in discussion with the writers of Userlands 7:30pm @ Skylight Books

Friday was the 50th birthday of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat. A few area schools honored the occasion with special events including the release of "THE SEUSS IS LOOSE!: Young Lil' Hats, Writing All That," at The Watts Learning Center charter school. Cabrillo Elementary in Hawthorne went all out for the good doc with a Read-a-Thon and a Green Eggs and Ham Cookoff, and the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library served birthday cake while hat-wearing...

It's the beginning of the year and we haven't even cracked a new book. Have you? Instead of feeling guilty for sitting on your lazy duff, go check out a reading. It's free, it's easy -- and they'll read to you! All you have to do is show up, sit back and heckle when the mood strikes. Actually, heckling during a reading is really kind of lame. That's more for Laugh Factory types. If...

At LAist, we believe in literacy and we believe in the power of the printed word. And, we love books. If you feel the same way and want to meet others who share your feelings, head on over to the West Hollywood Book Fair tomorrow. From the official site: Join more than 300 authors, 100 exhibitors, and 25,000 guests at the 5th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair. This year’s Book Fair will include an...

As you may already know, LAist likes to showcase neighborhoods that are unique, interesting and fun to go to. There are a lot of those in LA and we are lucky because of it. We also like to highlight places, restaurants or stores that go the extra mile to ensure that the customer gets what he or she wants and leaves happy. This time around its a store that caters to the comic book...

Mon 6/12 - Boy Kill Boy / Monsters are Waiting @ Spaceland (Free) – Spaceland's always a safe bet on Monday night. London’s Boy Kill Boy play that catchy dance-rock that you might like if you’re into Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. They’ve been on tour with Charlatans and Echo & the Bunnymen, so take advantage of seeing them for free. They’re also playing Lollapalooza and the Reading and Leeds festivals. Their first single, “Suzie” has gotten some local radio airplay. Local band, Monsters are Waiting is doing the free Monday night residency throughout June. Into older school British rock? catch Echo & the Bunnymen at the Fonda.

Completely by accident, Mr. Postman put this month’s issues of AARP in LAist’s mailbox. So, we decided before we returned it to our neighbors, we’d have a little look through. It happens to be their SUPER July/August 2006 issue. We know it just turned June, but then again when we were at an 11AM graduation this weekend, grandparents started showing up at 9AM proving they like to be early. So we sat down last night in the comfort of our homes, or crammed over-priced apartments as the case may be, and read about – well Colin Powell and the dangers of everyday things, like bowling or cleaning a fish tank.

It’s Blue Monday at Silver Lake Wine from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. No RSVPs required for tonight’s triptych wine tasting with cheese from the Cheese Store of Silver Lake.

Our foodbloogers were called away this week so we're late to the table of the ruckus that's been caused by an article in the March issue of Food & Wine. Columnist Pete Wells looks into food blogs and finds, more often than not, "tiny empires of boredom." And what happens? The emperors get pissed!

Those are Jill Soloway's words -- from her debut literary collection Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants -- and we couldn't agree more. It reminds us of that lame Cornell article from late summer. "Los Angeles is the color of dreams," Jill writes. If you can't get that when you land in our town, shut up and go home.

The ability to “read” customers is a pleasant attribute in a neighborhood bookstore. A gentleman, whose name we did not catch, at Chevalier’s Books on Larchmont Boulevard helped us select a birthday present for a friend. Armed with basic information — likes nonfiction, considering a career move to teaching or counseling — he made entirely appropriate suggestions. The first, Regarding the Pain of Others, by Susan Sontag, would have been relevant given our friend’s interest in documentary film (of which we had not told him), but a bit grim for a gift. The next suggestion, The Best American Non-Required Reading 2004, seemed a good fit, and, as it turned out, she had a previous compilation from the series and was happy to have the latest one. We have experienced good customer service before in other local bookstores and even local branches of chain stores, but this exchange simply reminded us how nice it is, in such a big city, to encounter someone who listens closely, makes associations among ideas, and helps one appreciate a small neighborhood business.