Summer breeds anarchy, especially in hotter climates. Especially here. I’m not just talking about huddling in the shade; I’m talking about sun-brellas, loose-fitting garments that create their own breezeways, bath-towels as sweat-guards, and ice-packs in people’s pockets. When I go to pick up my children, all I see right now are parents engaged in their own sartorial wars against the heat. (I’m the one who’s pretending not to fight at all, and who therefore has a semi-coherent sweat-map of Australia silhouetted on his back.) But this general state of anarchy can also lead to some inspired choices, and I am pleased to report that Highland Parkers, for their part, are doing some truly innovative things with oversized t-shirts and undersized shorts, to say nothing of the Crocs. Which just goes to show: sometimes, it’s good to lose the plot.
This point was underlined for me recently when I went to see the Independent Shakespeare Co.’s free outdoor performance of Love’s Labours Lost — a basically plotless play that charts the inevitable romances of four couples with no obstacles before them other than those they contrive to make for themselves. In place of the typical stumbling-blocks, what Shakespeare offers instead are language games and searing meditations on death, deception, and nothingness. (HaHA!) In its final moments, it’s closer to Hamlet or King Lear than it is to Much Ado About Nothing. And that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes, plot is what intrudes on reality; not the other way around.
… Which brings me, in a very natural and un-forced way, to the moral of this post: let’s keep it loose, my fellows, across these final summer weeks. (Be the pool robe you want to see in the world!) Don’t do anything because you think you have to; instead, take things as they come. Do you, is what I’m saying, and plot be damned (so keep that concept of “you” pretty loose as well).* It’s zen if you want it to be, and nihilist if you don’t. Just like the dog days of summer.
- Daniel Harmon
Cultural Events
Clockwise from L to R: Don Bachardy, Crystal Martin, March 5, 2003 (no. 4); Indigo Girls, Photo: Jeremy Cowart; Everybody.World Factory Flea Market; Cyndi Lauper, Photo: Ruven Afanador; Sashiko Workshop; Lost Books.
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Aug 2 - Factory Flea Market (Everybody World HQ) If you wanna find your own innovative take on oversized t-shirts and short shorts, don’t miss Everybody World’s annual flea market, brimming with “perfectly imperfect items” in the best colorways (persimmon! sea glass! cedar!). For the uninitiated, Everybody.World makes the best cotton basics that blend material innovation, sustainability, and design. They recently created a perfect white tee-shirt that will forever be a part of my rotation. (BK)
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Through Aug 4 - Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits (Huntington Library) I have an insatiable appetite for portraits. Getting lost in a face, an expression, a posture, an outfit is a pastime where I can embrace my unabashed desire to stare. I still regret not getting to see the Alice Neel retrospective at the Met, but lucky for me (and you!) opportunities abound in this city to portrait-gaze. Which is why I’m gonna hurry over to check out this exhibition of LA artist Don Bachardy at The Huntington before it closes. The gestural nature of graphite in Bachardy’s hands gives these portraits a looseness and movement that I’m excited to see up close. (BK)
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Aug 5 - Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls: Yes We Are Tour (The Greek) I’m trying to tell you something ‘bout my life… It’s that I can’t imagine a better way to spend a summer night than by belting out the lyrics to “Come to My Window” and “Galileo” in the middle of Griffith Park and pretending that we’re all just closer to fine than we actually think. (MR)
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Aug 6 - 31 (Wed-Sun) - Doctor Faustus (Griffith Park) Even though it may sound a little bit like homework, let me assure you that going to see one of the Independent Shakespeare Co.’s performances is consistently one of the highlights of my summer. They normally stick to Shakespeare, but this production certainly seems timely! (DH)
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August 16 - Short Stories (Granada Building) Our great friend Ari Katz, Brand Director for Everybody.World (shouted out earlier on this list) is back with their 3rd annual Short Stories literary series. Presented with Los Angeles Review of Books (flex!), the night will celebrate the short form in all its glory with readings by writers and artists like Aiden Arata, Sophia Le Fraga, Ross Simonini and Ari selling their famous Everyday Shorts. (I’m literally wearing my pair as I type). Don’t sleep out on the chance to experience the transporting Granada Building! (MR)
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August 21 - Arrangements (Plant Material) Talented artist and pal Lara Apponyi is a co-creator of a performance series with an emphasis on sampling new work (literary, artistic and musical) at the green mecca that is Plant Material. Each event (approximately one per season) is loosely based on a native plant that is in bloom. This month’s theme is Mallow and features pieces by Melissa Broder, Mamie Gummer, and Laura Albert with the event kicking off at 6pm. (BK)
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August 24 - Sashiko Workshop (Heavy Manners) One of the crummy parts of writing this newsletter is when we sometimes have to cut a cultural event before we hit send because it sells out. This workshop has been cut so many times for that reason, but it is finally far enough out that there are spots available! So run, don't walk, folks! What I’m so drawn to with Sashiko, a Japanese mending technique, is that instead of trying to conceal the repair, it becomes a moment to decorate. The vulnerability becomes part of the beauty of a piece. (BK)
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August 29 - High and Low (Egyptian Theater) American Cinematheque is presenting a Kurosawa retrospective this month, including a number of 4k restoration, and although I could make a case for seeking out Red Beard (maybe his most beautiful film?), Stray Dog (maybe the greatest hot weather film of all time?), or Seven Samurai (maybe the greatest film-film of all time?), I’ll personally be seeking out High and Low. It set the template for so much that we now binge, plus it’s got great shoe-industry drama, plus Spike Lee is now working on his own adaptation. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s just straight-up procedural gold, from start to finish. (DH)
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August 29 + 30- Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour (Hollywood Bowl) Here’s another chance to witness another 80s/90s legend in another iconic Los Angeles outdoor concert spot. The idea of the girls hanging up their rollerskates and cashing out on the fun is just too much for me to bear. So I’ll distract myself by drowning in the stress-inducing event of leaving the Hollywood Bowl after a killer show. The fun is indeed over, girls. Unless Elizabeth Banks has anything to say about it. (MR)
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Anytime - Lost Books (Montrose) I’m sure I read about the Last Bookstore’s recent expansion effort somewhere, but I walked into their new Montrose location without any preconceived notions of its backstory, and let me tell you: it was still love at first sight. It’s got birds, fish, plants, and a phenomenal selection of used books at phenomenally low prices. I walked out with five books for under $30, and every one of them was a steal. (DH)
Ode To A Strip Mall: O, La Cañada
1919 Verdugo Blvd, La Canada, CA
Keeping with the theme of plotlessness, there is just no way in absolute hell that anyone would casually happen upon the strip monstrosity that squats below the intersection of the 210 and the 2; but once there, it is equally impossible that anyone would need or want to leave. Let me lay it out for you, beat by beat:
For breakfast: Starbucks. For lunch: All About Poke. For dinner: EITHER Cafe Sole OR North Shore Burgers! You can’t lose! And for culture, well, why not consider, oh, I don’t know, how about ALL THE MOVIES OF HOLLYWOOD at discount prices! What the Regal will not provide in the way of dinner entrees and adult beverages it will give back to you in the form of dollars saved.
This strip mall is for drivers only, and for humans only mostly; but if you are not afraid to spend some shekels at some chains, you will not be disappointed. (Nor will you be elated.) This is a good place to simply be before you have to be somewhere else. (And anywhere else will do, really.)
One Essential Neighborhood Business: Regal La Cañada. The movies may be dead, but they’re still more lively than most chain restaurants.
Whimsy Factor: Vanishingly low, unless you think parking lots are whimsical.
Variety Level: Vanishingly low, unless you think North Shore Burgers are sufficiently different from whatever shore you currently get your burgers from.
Life Expectancy, if Forced to Take Residency for an Extended Period of Time: <50, as eventually you will likely be bored to death (or hit by a car a you attempt to escape)
Quality of Life Under Same Conditions: Pretty decent, honestly.
