The New Face of Theater

New LATC Launches 2008 Season With Three-Month World Festival

by Kathryn Maese

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – When the New LATC raises the curtain on its second season this Friday, theatergoers will get a rare chance to see Mexican icon Ofelia Medina, who dazzled audiences as Frida in the eponymous 1984 film, perform her one-woman show based on the book of poems Poesia No Eres Tu.

With Intimamente – Rosario de Chiapas, the actress, writer, director and activist will open the New LATC’s 2008-2009 season in dramatic fashion as part of the three-month Face of the World Festival, which features 25 shows on four stages. It’s a fitting choice, since Medina’s exploration of happiness, solitude and the search for freedom mirrors the LATC’s own tumultuous journey in recent years.

The Latino Theatre Company won a contentious fight to operate the city-owned theater under a 20-year contract and, following a $4 million renovation, reopened the venue last year. The space

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Big Ideas

L.A. Phil Mixes It Up With Famous Finns,

New Works and a Glimpse of the Future

by Julie Riggott

Bigger is better when it comes to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“One of the things that I’ve noticed about working with Esa-Pekka [Salonen] is that ideas can’t be big enough,” said Chad Smith, who as vice president of artistic planning interprets and implements the music director’s vision for the Phil.

The new season brings a variety of programming. After the gala opening night with celebrity soprano Renée Fleming on Thursday, Oct. 4, the Phil has three festivals featuring orchestral works complemented by new music, symposia and other events: Sibelius Unbound, the International Youth Orchestra Festival and Concrete Frequency.

“We have to scale our projects bigger. Our audiences expect it, the city expects it, our orchestra expects it, and, indeed, Esa-Pekka expects it,” Smith said.

The season kicks off this Thursday with a program of French and Italian music by Ravel, Berlioz

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Calendar Listings Update In Progress

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Arts District/Little Tokyo Farmers Market

Weller Court, 123 S. Onizuka St., (323) 660-8660 or ladad.com.
Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Farm fresh produce, flowers, olives, oils, hummus, dips, honeys and crafts. Music 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Financial District Farmers Market

Fifth Street, between Flower Street and Grand Avenue.
Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.: Produce, flowers, coffee, baked goods and soap, to mention a few.

Chinatown Farmers Market

727 N. Hill St., between Alpine and Ord streets, (213) 680-0243 or chinatownla.com.
Thursdays, 2-6 p.m.: Wares from certified growers, plus a variety of Asian produce.

Echo Park

Parking Lot No.

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Little Radio’s Big Problem

Royalty Rules Could Force a Change for Downtown Internet Pioneer

by Evan George

When Dave Conway founded Little Radio, a Downtown-based Internet radio station, he was sending out clandestine playlists to friends using illegal rooftop antennas.

Three years later, Little Radio is a multimedia company that deals in brand marketing, event planning, rock shows and even the sale of environmentally friendly electric cars. Its five employees work in two large rehabbed warehouses in the Industrial District.

But at heart – and by name – Little Radio remains centered around the web streaming of music that Conway calls the company’s “life blood and our heart and soul.” The free 24-hour radio station informs all of the other business endeavors, he said.

Not if the recording industry has anything to say about it.

In a ruling earlier this month, the Copyright Royalty Board, which manages fees that radio stations pay to the recording industry, upheld a decision to

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Downtown Flaunts A Fashion of Its Own

Culver City Has Smashbox, but the Los Angeles Theatre Knows How to Party

by Kathleen Nye Flynn

I’m no fashion expert, but in the last few years I’ve snuck into my fair share of catwalk events. I’ve wiggled into Culver City’s biannual Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios a few times, either through the front door or the back.

So I had an inkling of what I was getting into when I showed up (through the front door) at Downtown’s first Fashion Week event in years, which began March 16. The two nights of shows at Broadway’s Los Angeles Theatre, I knew, had the potential to be memorable.

I arrived at the Friday night show just in time for Jared Gold’s collection. The theater’s ornate ceiling swooped above a crowd glammed out in avant-garde dresses, handmade hats and vintage styles.

The lustrous, colonnaded walls and wide, tumbling staircases, combined with the artsy folks on the guest list and DJs spinning tunes,

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Rat Pack Redux

The New Old Lounge Act at Cicada Restaurant

by Kristin Friedrich

If you’re committed, and your shoes are semi-comfortable, Thursday nights in Downtown Los Angeles can include endless combinations of the following: symphony, theater, live music, an art walk, sporting events, a speakeasy, and bars of the wine, dive, faux bordello, frat boy and velvet rope variety.

As if the list needs to get any more colorful, there is now a Texas-born crooner who channels Sinatra and cracks wise, Rat Pack-style, with an orchestra that does not exist.

Max Vontaine appears every Thursday at Olive Street’s ornate Cicada restaurant, his rich baritone teasing out hits from the Chairman, Bobby Darin, Cab Calloway, Tom Jones and Elvis. He also tosses in the odd chestnut such as The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” and the theme song from “The Love Boat.”

One imagines a conversation with Vontaine to be filled with wafting smoke, deep chuckles and “You’re money” and “Daddy-O” asides. But

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Coming Into Focus

With 162 Projects, Downtown Continues to Evolve

Coming Into Focus|With 162 Projects, Downtown Continues to Evolve

by Evan George, Andrew Haas-Roche, Kathryn Maese, Kathleen Nye Flynn and Jon Regardie

Excerpts from the list relating to arts, entertainment and culture follow. Complete list of 162 projects is here.

Development Map The traditionally slow winter period had little effect on the pace of development in Downtown Los Angeles. Over the last several months, even as temperatures dropped and people tended to remain indoors whenever possible, the community not only continued its residential revolution, but began adding the bells and whistles that mark the turn from a collection of separate housing complexes into an actual neighborhood.

In the last several months, in fact, the community began to come into focus, with the opening of nearly a dozen restaurants, bars and retail outlets – everything from the upscale J Restaurant & Lounge to a second installment of coffee shop Groundwork to two locales

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Two Tickets to Paradise

More Downtown Artistic Options for February 14

by Andrew Haas-Roche

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, now is the time to plan something nice for the special person in your life. Dinner and flowers have already been arranged (right?), so this is the moment to accent the evening by finding something unique to do together.

One reliable standby is tickets to a special event. Fortunately, Downtown Los Angeles has a wealth of events taking place on Valentine’s Day that are perfect for dating couples, longtime married folk and even singles. From the Music Center south to USC there is no end to the options, which run the gamut from mucho expensive to free.

But don’t wait, as some of these events will sell out.

Classic Option: For those who believe that nothing says I love you like classical music, head to the University of Southern California. The USC Thornton School of Music is putting on a concert by faculty

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Seams From the Screen

Hollywood Comes Downtown for FIDM’s Annual Costume Party

by Lea Lion

On a Friday morning, a motley crew of reporters is clamoring to get the stars’ attention. Photographers are snapping pictures in rapid-fire succession and TV cameras are rolling.

These types of scenes are ubiquitous in Los Angeles. What sets this one apart is that the stars are not famous actors and actresses. They are the behind-the-scenes people who make it all happen.

It is the day before the opening of the annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) museum in South Park, and the media has been invited for a preview (hence those clicking cameras). Featuring more than 100 costumes from 25 films, including outfits from all five films nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Costume Design, the show is a whole other type of blockbuster. The Downtown Los Angeles exhibit runs through April 5.

Three kimonos

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