Tag: Los Angeles

Memories of Pico-Union and USC

Many of my friends went out to USC for the big game against cross-town rival UCLA last night (USC beat UCLA 50 – 0). I’m not a fan of college sports but I do have a soft spot in my heart for USC.

I grew up in L.A.’s Pico-Union district of Central L.A. just two miles north of the campus, north of the I-10 freeway and a block or two away from Hoover St. The I-10 also serves as the border between Pico-Union/Central L.A. and University Park/South L.A. where USC is located.

Pico-Union is known for being the home of one of L.A.’s most notorious street gangs and for its large, mostly Mexican, immigrant population. Despite living in a crime-ridden, low income area, most of my memories of life in Pico-Union are happy ones.

The food certainly helped. Image courtesy Grub Street LA.

Continue reading “Memories of Pico-Union and USC” →

Friday at Griffith Park Observatory

“There’s Griffith Park.”

“Griffith Park? Is that where the observatory is at?!”

“Yeah, up this hill.”

“Let’s go!”

20 minutes later, my friend and I were at the top of hill, parking her car and giddy with excitement. Neither one of us had visited this Los Angeles landmark since we were children:

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Not our ride.

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A bust of actor James Dean.

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Latin Alternative Music Club Mucho Wednesdays at La Cita to Close, Promoter to Launch Monthly Concert Series at The Echoplex

Latin alternative music fans were dealt a heavy blow days ago when club promoter Ricky Garay announced the end of his much-loved club night Mucho Wednesdays at La Cita. The weekly, bilingual dance party was the only place in town where people could dance to equal doses of Depeche Mode and Plastilina Mosh. This is the second party to announce it’s departure from the downtown club in recent weeks. As Nightranger Lina Lecaro reported,Mustache Mondays just moved to The Belasco.

The news proved to be bittersweet as, days later, Garay announced Mucho’s move to the Echoplex this July June where he will host a monthly concert series featuring Latin alternative acts. “We have something extra special scheduled for July,” said Garay of his upcoming partnership with the Echoplex. “It’s going to be a celebration of us doing Latin alternative events in Los Angeles as an independent group of people.”

Read more at LA Weekly.

Teri of Le Butcherettes Spills her Guts on her New Album, New Band and New Home

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Le Butcherettes opened for living legend Mike Watt (Minutemen, dos, fIREHOUSE, The Stooges) this past Friday for a night filled with many “firsts”: it was the band’s first gig at The Echo (photos here), the first time playing mostly (all?!) songs off their upcoming debut album Sin Sin Sin, and the first time the new lineup featuring Gabe Serbian of The Locust and Jonathan Hischke of Hella performed together.

I spoke with Teri before the show about the many changes and obstacles she’s faced since Le Butcherettes’ performance at The Troubadour last September, how she met her new bandmates, her new home in Echo Park and life as a musician in Mexico and the USA.

Below is the trailer to the movie mentioned in the last clip, Los Ojos de un Omiso Destino: