Stella does a Coat Fitting

I love her designs.

Andre on Andre on Main St

Stella on bike

Somebody I see around the historic core a lot

Stella on Main

Stella Dottir.

Valerie is back from France. Actually, she's been back for the past two months. I just haven't updated this damn thing in a while.

Joe's Guns

On the patio of Old Bank DVD.

My friend Andre

I spy outside my window...Neighbor Joe, sans gym bag and The Rubster. Will I catch him picking is nose? Is he wearing a white tank top underneath?

Ricky the Pirate. At The Reagent Gallery about a month ago. I didn't catch the artist's name.

Downtown Denizens

I often see this dude jogging around the neighborhood.





I often see her walking around with this sign.

My Matzo Ball Soup

The matzo ball soup I made has been reviewed by Big City POZ.

You can read his... adjectives fail me... review here.

I love how I can still be shocked.

Loki of Main St

This is Stella Dottir's pleasant one year old cat Loki. He lives in her clothing store on Main St. I always stop by and pet him if I see him hanging out outside.




She keeps a close eye on him and he is not allowed to go any further than Blossom's (the Vietnamese Restaurant next door) porch as shown above.

Banquette Cafe Owners Open Up A Restaurant

The Nickel.

To open up sometime in March on Main St, a little south of 5th St. They plan on serving "really good diner food". I can't wait.


Pictured Above: Monica May (owner of Banquette Cafe), Kristen (sitting on Monica's lap), and photographer Fridgeir Helgason at the new location.

South Park Flea Market

I forgot to post this last week!

I went to the grand opening of downtown's new weekly flea market. When I found out that it was organized by the same people who organize the one at Fairfax High, I knew it was worth checking out.



I bought a small pouch that I now use as a camera holder. Here is the designer, Miguel Torres, holding his creation:




He also sells very cute and affordable dresses that he and his aunt made in their studio a few blocks away from the flea market:






He even makes a kind of "masculine" bag that I have never seen before:





Nevermind the arbitrary gender double standard, its much easier to carry your wallet, cell phone, keys, note pad, writing utencil, etc. in a purse than it is in your wallet. I have been seeing more and more men carry purses, and I hope to see that trend continue.

It has some venders selling "marketable things" at reasonable prices, but knowing that it has to compete on the same day with the the extremely popular flea market at Fairfax High, I am not sure how successful this flea market will be.

I think if it also included a farmer's market, or at least more vendors (that do not sell designer imitations), it would stand a better chance.

Proyecto Matzo Ball Soup

The Significant Other (TSO) has a really bad cold. So the other day I made TSO matzo ball soup. Its just what we do when somebody is sick.

I had to go to a local grocery store to get the ingredients. I decided to walk to Ralph's, even though that is not where I do my regular grocery shopping. Its a 45 minute walk (it could be a looong walk if you are carrying heavy groceries), and the few times I have been there, I ALWAYS (100% of the time) had problems with exiting the parking garage and validation system. I regularly shop at Trader Joe's in Silverlake, or farmer's markets. But I'll leave that for another post.

I headed towards Ralph's with no specfic route in mind. I was just making it up as I went along.










Around Grand and 8th St some guy struck up a conversation with me about the architecture in downtown, adaptive reuse, sexual harassment in downtown, and digital photography. We parted ways when we got to Ralph's. Here he is walking and talking:



As soon as I got to Ralph's I needed to rest a little and get a caffeine fix. So I sat down outside, and did a combination of people watching, and prepared my lecture on the catalytic hydrogenation of olefins with a Pd catalyst.




Then I went back inside to do some shopping. Hey, did you know that Ralph's carries the best apples I have ever eaten in my whole entire life? I always stock up on them whenever I go.




Its the pink lady apples in the organic section. Hey, its neighbor Joe getting some!




I saw this guy with an interesting shirt, and asked him if I could take a picture of it:




Then some guy standing nearby said I should take a picture of his shirt too. Then I said "OK!", because I love photographing Angelenos. He was joking and didn't realize I would take him up on it. But I smiled pretty and took one anyway. He was self conscious about the smudge on the upper right of his shirt. I wonder what that dude in the tie in the background is thinking?



I got all the ingredients I needed for the mazto ball soup (carrots, celery, matzo ball mix, chicken stock, eggs, garlic, parsley, baby dill) and then headed home. On my way back I walked passed a film crew packing up their stuff and saw a pretty bouquette and took a picture of it.




This one masculine film crew guy noticed me taking a picture of it. He playfully picked up the bouquette, and posed a kissy face for the camera. I live for this kind of stuff.

What I've Been Eating Recently XI

I was hanging out on the porch of Banquette with Ed and Pamela the other day (a different day from the day we were talking about where Barack should eat if/when he comes to town), and I noticed the guy next to us was eating something that smelled really good.:



We started chatting about what he was eating and he said that it was amazing and that he was enjoying it very much.

So Ed ordered one and we split it. He photographed it. And I photographed him photographing it.




Those are his cigarettes and camera. Characteristic items of The Old Vato On the Porch on Main St.



It was a mixture of mushrooms and cheese (forgot the kind of cheese) encased in bread. It was extremely good and I haven't seen them carry it ever since! -Monica May if you are reading this..... pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase please start carrying them again. They are much loved by your customers!


And here is Diana, the creator of the wonderful thing we just ate, taking a cigarette break:

Twelve Rickys

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently took a series of photos of the photogenic downtown denizen, Ricky.