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

Rat Pack Redux at Cicada

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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Restaurant & Lounge

On the site of the historic Little J’s, a hangout of celebs such as Natalie Cole, Janet Jackson and Stevie Wonder, this South Park lounge offers signature cocktails, fine spirits, cigars, beer and wine by the glass.At 1119 S. Olive St., (213) 746-7746. jloungela.com

Library Bar

This Financial District pub has seven craft beers on tap — some brewed locally like Pasadena’s Craftsman Brewing Co., all of them artisan or small batch — and serves another dozen high-end bottled beers, including several Belgian ales.At 630 W. Sixth St., (213) 614-0053. librarybarla.com

Redwood Bar & Grilldaily

It’s a pirate’s life now for the Redwood Bar & Grill, the former Los Angeles Times watering hole. Nautical gear is everywhere, including fishing nets and floats, weathered wooden planks and the stumps of dock timbers. A rusty anchor and reproductions of pirate flags adorn the ceiling of the entryway.At 316 W. Second St., (213) 680-2600 . theredwoodbar.com

Bar 107

Dark and

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‘Sexo y Violencia’for the People

Lucha VaVoom Brings Burlesque and Wrestling Back to the Mayan

by Lea Lion

It is a hazy Thursday morning in early February and three women are doing warm-up stretches in an unassuming, wood-floored dance studio in Atwater Village. They are chatting about their upcoming Valentine’s Day show and killing time waiting for the fourth dancer to arrive.

One of the dancers, Rita D’Alpert, who goes by the stage name Ursulina, has two-tone hair – blonde on top, black underneath – cut into a shaggy ‘do. She is wearing black low top Converse sneakers and matching arm-warmers. Moana Santana has dark brown bangs across her forehead and is dressed head-to-toe in black, including a tank top that reads “Sexo y Violencia” in cursive script across the chest. Audrey Deluxe, a tall blonde, embodies the most all-American look of the crew.

They could be any dancers with any troupe in the country. But their conversation reveals otherwise.

“Why don’t you try wrestling?”

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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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Best Business

Tap Into the Best

Best Business

Downtown’s Wonderland in Sales and Services


READERS’ CHOICE

  • Best Shopping Center:7+Fig
  • Best Local Florist: L.A. Flower Market
  • Best Local Grocery Store: Grand Central Market
  • Best Local Furniture Store: The Dock Downtown
  • Best Bargain Shopping: Santee Alley
  • Best Fitness Club: 24 Hour Fitness
  • Best Salon: Candolyn’s Salon & Day Spa
  • Best Spa: Bonaventure Club
  • Best Hotel for Your In-Laws: The Biltmore Hotel
  • Best Pharmacy: Rite Aid
  • Best Wi-Fi Hot Spot: Starbucks
  • Best Dentist: Dr. Don Mungcal, Downtown Dental
  • Best Residential/Loft Complex: Medici
  • Best Mom & Pop Shop: La Parrilla
  • Best Secret Parking Spot: Joe’s on Hope Street
  • Best Place to Blow $100: Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse
  • Best Medical Center: Good Samaritan Hospital
  • Best Carwash: Downtown Car Wash
  • Best Thing We Didn’t Think Of: Multiple WinnersEDITORS’ CHOICE
  • Best Acupuncture: Dr. Steven T. H. Chang
  • Best Florist: Unique Sarah Total Floral
  • Best Massage: Pho-Siam
  • Best Smoke Shop: Bloom’s General Store
  • Best New Market: Joe’s Downtown
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