I’ll Pay You to Play Somewhere Else.

When I’m walking down the street in downtown areas of cities, I love the sound of a (talented) musician playing just about any instrument.  They could be playing Mary Had a Little Lamb and I’d probably still find it romantic.   When I lived in Bayswater (London), there was a guy who would stand out on the street near the tube station a lot in the evenings playing the bass.  I loved it.

Near my new place in L.A., there is a random guy that plays the saxophone outside on a fairly regular basis.  Well, I know I’ve heard it several times and I’ve only lived there for a month.   Anyway, the first time I heard him playing while walking outside I expected to think it was romantic.  But no.  This guy is not good.  And often when he plays I can hear him up in my loft.  He sounds kind of like a drunk person singing kareoke really, really loudly and really, really poorly.   This last time I was honestly tempted to go outside and pay him to go play somewhere else.

So much for romantic sax playing outside my window.

On another note, the outdoor ice rink in Pershing Square opens this week, and I definitely plan on checking it out this weekend.  I am horrible at ice skating and don’t particularly enjoy it, but how can I not go to outdoor ice skating in downtown L.A.?

A Nerdy Fascination: Warnings and Disclaimers.

Ever since Torts and Contracts my first year of law school, I have had an extremely nerdy fascination with warnings and disclaimers.  I always read all the warnings on things, unfortunately not for my own safety but rather because I like to analyze them.   Behind every warning or disclaimer, there is usually a lawyer (or someone trying to save money on lawyer fees by thinking up their own warnings/disclaimers that they think will protect them from future liability).  I like to see how incredibly thorough, or incredibly lacking, warnings and disclaimers are.  I like to think about the person who thought up all these crazy things to warn about.  I also like to think about the likelihood that the warnings/disclaimers would fail in court.  Like I said, super nerdy.

Anyway, so yesterday I was walking through Pershing Square, which is a public park in downtown L.A.   Currently, they are building an outdoor ice rink in the middle of the square for the annual “Downtown on Ice” event that runs from mid-November to mid-January.    Currently, the construction zone is roped off and there are some signs that my nerdy self finds interesting:

Seen in Pershing Square on 11/09/09

If you can’t read the signs, they say “This Area is Open for the Specific Limited Purpose Of ______.”  Nothing is filled in, but clearly the City is trying to let people know that although this is a public park (which is a Traditional Public Forum wherein free speech is not allowed to be limited aside from reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions), this particular part of the park is currently not a traditional public forum, but rather is open for a “specific limited purpose” (aka “this partof the park is currently only open for  a private business venture (ice skating), no crazies sharing personal opinions or political views allowed here right now, only paying customers for ice skating please.”)  (Or really, the warning is probably more like “hey homeless people that like to hang around the metro stops around here, don’t come in our park and scare off our ice skating customers, ok?  You’re going to have to find somewhere else to nap today.”)

Personally, since the signs aren’t even filled in, I don’t think they really mean anything right now.  It’s just a half hearted attempt to keep passersby out of the ice rink area for now while it’s under construction.  How about a sign that says something like “This portion of the park is currently closed to the public.  Trespassing is prohibitted.”  That would do the job.

Now, when the ice rink actually opens, they may need to try a little harder with their signs if they want to keep the ice rink area just for business.

A Post From My Other Blog: Lions and Tigers and Clowns, OH MY!

*I originally posted this on my other blog a few days ago, but the topics kind of apply to my downtown life so I figured I’d post it here too*

Okay, okay, there weren’t any lions or tigers involved in my night last night, but there were definitely a lot of clowns.  French clowns.  That’s right folks, last night I went to my first Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza, down at the Santa Monica Pier!  I’ve only heard good things about Cirque du Soleil, and I definitely wasn’t let down.  One thing to note though is that it’s a very intimate setting, so you don’t have to pay for the most expensive seats.  Every seat in the house is a good seat.

The acrobatics were INSANE.  At a couple of points I felt like I might vomit out of fear for the acrobats involved.  (For example, there is a part that involves spinning rings high up in the air and at one point one of the guys was running on the outside of the ring, way up in the air, and he started jump roping up there and then his foot got caught.. oh my goodness I almost lost it.  He didn’t though, he got his foot loose and kept on going without missing a beat).

I absolutely loved the show, totally thought it was worth the money, and definitely recommend it!  However, I do have two negatives.  First,   some of the clown parts (where it was just clowns being silly rather than any acrobatics going on) dragged a bit and were a little boring to me.  However, most people were laughing the whole time, and those little comedy breaks are probably necessary to keep the masses from having heart attacks due to watching all the crazy acrobatics!  Second,  I probably would not take my children to see Kooza.   I didn’t see any kids when I was there, and I’m not sure if it was because of the price tag ($60-$130), because of the time of the show I went to (8pm on a school night) or because other people knew it was more of a show for adults than for kids.  It wasn’t super adult themed (a la Zumanity),  but quite a few of the clown scenes had sexual/potty humor.  Granted, kids might not even get it (kind of like I never noticed any of the sexual references in Grease when I was a kid and was shocked when I watched it when I was older!).  And it wasn’t really bad, there were just several times where I thought “wow, if I had kids and brought them to this without knowing what it would be like, I would be a little upset.”  Kind of like when you watch a PG kids movie and there is a cuss word in it.  You expect it to be completely kid friendly and it’s like “whoooah where did that come from?”

Another perk of seeing the show was that it was right down at the pier in Santa Monica.  Despite having lived in the L.A. area for almost 3.5 years now, I had never even been to the pier until a week or two ago.   I drove down early to miss traffic (although whenever the 405 is nearby trouble will ensue, and sure enough I hit traffic on the 10 for miles leading up to the 405 exit, but it was completely clear the moment I passed 405).  Another perk of getting down to the pier early was that there was actually parking available on the pier!  So instead of parking somwhere else and taking a shuttle or walking back up the pier after the show, I got to walk right to my car in about 2 minutes Plus, the view down there before the show was BEAUTIFUL!  I captured this shot on my iPhone:

Prior to the show I accomplished two tasks.  First, I beat the friend I was meeting by about an hour and my bangs have been driving me CRAZY.  So I googled nearby salons and found one .5 miles away and called to ask if I could come in for a bang trim.  I went to Studio 1452, and I really liked the girl who trimmed my bangs.  We talked hair color for a few minutes too and I’m seriously considering driving down to SM for my next hair appointment and trying her out.  About 15 minutes and $10 later, my bangs were finally out of my eyes again.  Hallelujah!

Second, when my friend arrived we grabbed dinner at Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the pier.   It has mixed reviews on Yelp, but we decided to give it a try because it was so close, and they have a great happy hour.  The decor inside feels a bit like a “hole in the wall” beach cafe kind of place, but it’s very fitting for its location.  I ordered the veggie burger for dinner and it was DELICIOUS.  Veggie burgers at restaurants have been very hit and miss for me so far since I converted to vegetarian, and I’m pretty sure this one was my favorite so far.  I will definitely be going back for more!

That’s all for now.  My cruel body has me up earlier than I wanted to be, so I’m going to go for a walk.  I want to join a gym, but next week I’m going to Vegas for a couple of days with some girlfriends, and then the day after I get back flying to North Carolina for about a week, so I’m going to wait to sign up until I get back.

Speaking of walking-  I’ve figured out that my walking experiences in downtown L.A. are much more enjoyable with earbuds in (with or without music).  Everyone thinks I’m listening to music, so nobody bothers me.  I like it that way.

What a Perfect Event for a First Post.

I have been living in downtown Los Angeles for about a month now, and after finding some other blogs online from people who live and/or work downtown, I figured it would be good to start my own.  I intend to use this as a place to talk about the cool things going on in downtown L.A., and the advantages to this downtown lifestyle as well as the disadvantages and annoyances.

This is my first time living in a downtown area and also my first time living in a studio loft.  On the whole, I really like it so far.

I like:

• the open feel, the tall ceilings, the tall everything (counters, cabinets, shower,  etc.)
• in unit washer and dryer
• the close proximity to work, coffee, shopping, etc.
• the big windows, natural light, and view from my loft
• garbage chute on my floor so I don’t have to haul garbage very far
• rarely having to drive in L.A. traffic
• getting to sleep in longer since work is a short walk away
• not being stressed out already when I get to work due to traffic  (although slow walk signals might get to me from time to time )
• the farmers market(s)
• building amenities
• the general quietness of building compared to my prior apartment living experiences.  With the exception of last night (discussed below), I haven’t heard TVs, music, or yelling from any of the neighbors in my building (random people on the street is another story).
• the nice people and cute dogs who live in my building
• seeing people walk their dogs in Pershing Square
• (I have yet to commit myself to the responsibility of having a dog of my own, but I love seeing other people with their dogs)

I do not like:

• hearing the heels of the person who lives above me as he/she walks around up there.  Luckily, this has only happened a couple of times so far, but enough to have nicknamed the upstairs neighbor “Stilettos”
• hearing what I can only assume is Stilettos’ dog going wild with a bone at 7am (or hopefully Stilettos’ shoes).  Again, this has only happened a few times in the month I’ve been here, so not much to complain about
• getting approached by random people nearly every time I leave my building and walk anywhere.  Can a girl just walk down the street in peace once in awhile?  I have found that wearing earbuds (with or without music) greatly helps with this, although it doesn’t completely solve the problem.
• places that aren’t open on weekends.  I keep intending but forgetting to make mental notes of places that are open on weekends (particularly Sundays).
• sometimes the noise gets a little bit crazy (sometimes with the buses/cars/yelling outside it sounds like I don’t even have windows).  Honestly though, the noise outside hasn’t kept me awake or woke me up once, and really the only time I notice the noise is if I happen to be home at rush hour.

So there you have it.   A preliminary list of my pros and cons living here.

Last night, for the first time I experienced major noise from a neighboring unit that kept me awake until nearly 4am.  Apparently a neighbor down the hall moved out, and then gave his keys to a friend who subsequently had a huge party in the empty loft.   By the time I called down to complain this morning several people on my floor had already complained as well.  Thanks for being a douche-bag, guy with the keys (and all your friends who came along!).  As an added treat to my lack of sleep, the trash chute on my floor is right outside my loft, and they’ve been out there all morning dumping empty bottles down the trash chute.  So, not only did they keep me awake all night with their stupid party, they don’t even recycle.  The nerve

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