Blogs

In this episode of Visiting... With Huell Howser, Huell attends events in Southern California connected with the Iranian New Year's celebration, including the Persian Festival of Fire.

Watch the full video below:

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In this episode of Visiting... With Huell Howser, Huell visits with the Whistling Champ Carole Anne Kaufman at her salon, then stops in at her Mom's store - the Wizard of Bras... its a combo you won't want to miss.

Watch the full video below:

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L.A.'s fiscal crisis, with over $600 million in overruns, has voices across the board wondering if the L.A. we've known is on its last legs.

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When I was growing up, I thought that my mother was the best cook in the neighborhood.

Lots of sons remember their mother’s cooking as the best. But my mother’s cooking – which was commonplace – was really the best in my neighborhood.

Through the 1950s, I lived among families who had known both the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, among housewives who knew food only as the opposite of going hungry, and among husbands who insisted on eating poorly because they had been poor for most of their life. On the tract house plains, daily meals reflected what you stubbornly held on to. And if you ate to remember, many of those memories were of loss.

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The city is struggling with unprecedented budget problems, but saving money through getting rid of workers is more complicated than it looks.

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I'm really excited about the KCET benefit event taking place February 11 in Palm Springs.

To celebrate the start of the annual Modernism Week - as well as the broadcast premiere of Michael Stern's terrific documentary "Julius Shulman: Desert Modern," KCET will host an event at the famous Frank Sinatra House, which was designed by the famous architect E. Stewart Wiliams. (That's the house below.)

There's a great story, not unexpectedly, about the iconic singer and the home that is considered a Modernism classic. Back in 1947, Mr. Sinatra walked into the design offices of Williams, Wiliams and Williams in Palm Springs with the idea he wanted a house built in Palm Springs. There were a few catches, however. First, Mr. Sinatra wanted the house to be a Georgian-style colonial. Secondly, he wanted the house ready for his Christmas party - which would leave barely six months to design and build the residence. E. Stewart Williams, who designed sleek contemporary homes that reflected the spirit of Palm Springs, convinced the singer to go with a modern style. The residence Williams built, known as Twin Palms, is a landmark.

During the KCET benefit event, we'll screen Michael Stern's film about Julius Shulman, the legendary photographer who documented Mid-Century Modernism in Palm Springs during his 70-year career. (I'll write more about the film in an upcoming entry.)

In addition to the film, admission to the event also entitles you to enjoy a post screening Q & A with filmmaker Michael Stern, docent tours of the property, an open bar and dinner.

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We’re not at home in America. And how could we be? How could we make a home here when what is called home is always framed – by convictions of agency and autonomy – in terms of other places or, increasingly, of non- places? Where no locale is immune from the certainty that the alternative – something more adequate to the demands of desire – lies just beyond the next bend in the road? (Which should not be confused with “Manifest Destiny” or the “frontier spirit.”)

We’re not at home in America, and not because of historical necessity or libidinal adolescence. (A full account of the acquisition of any American place is yet to be made.) We’re not at home, and being footloose is a symptom of American unease with the idea of home. We’re housed, surely. We’re at our desks. We’ve taken cover. We’re interned. But we’re not at home. A gift America has given the world is homelessness.

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How many times have you seen that same link about the iPad? Or about the latest cute box loving kitten youtube?

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From snow to sand. Huell checks out of cold California for some fun exploration in Palm Springs! On his journey he tours the estate of the famed American vocalist, Frank Sinatra; the hyper-modern style of the McCullough House; the historic Spanish architecture of the O'Donnell House; and a tour of the flora that fills our state's deserts. And be sure not to miss Thursday's Julius Shulman special, which promises to shed new light on this quintessential Californian photographer and his work.

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The annual "Global Go-To Think Tank Rankings" are out -- released last week by UPenn professor and report author James McGann during an event held at the United Nations University, "a think-tank for the United Nations system" located in the U.N. Plaza, in Manhattan.

For the second consecutive year, the Brookings Institute was McGann and his team's big winner, placing first in the "Top 25 Think Tanks -- Worldwide" category. The rankings are based on the returned surveys of think tank staffers, academics, and journalists. TTLA received a nominating ballot but didn't vote.

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Nothing quite says, "Happy Valentine's Day" like the February/March 2010 issue of Policy Review, from the Bay Area's Hoover Institute.

In particular, there's Mary Eberstadt's essay, "Is Food the New Sex?: A Curious Reversal in Moralizing."

Here's an excerpt:

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Around five million Catholics live in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (which includes Los Angeles County and Ventura and Santa Barbara counties). The archdiocese is commonly thought to have the largest Catholic population of any diocese in the nation . . . a population that is growing, despite the inroads made by evangelical Protestant churches in Latino communities.

Catholic Los Angeles is the “second city” to New York – historically the American diocese with the greatest political significance to the Vatican. From the perspective of Rome, Los Angeles is only a step behind in significance, partly because Los Angeles in the mid-20th century successfully transitioned the church from urban ethnic enclaves to suburban all-American assimilation.

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This week, shoot your free throws left-handed.

Honoring the 20th anniversary of the passing of Hank Gathers, and the thrilling, tragic, and inspirational season of Gathers, Bo Kimble, and their 1989-1990 LMU men's basketball teammates.

LMU* video is here and a book excerpt, here.

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To stave off the threat of civic bankruptcy, L.A. needs to cut nearly 4,000 city jobs over the course of 2010.

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