World Cup Watchin'

This ain't exactly a newsflash, but... Los Angeles lacks public squares. Elsewhere in the world, these sort of spots make for ideal communal viewing of major televised events -- for example, elections, Olympics, and the World Cup.Here's a Next American City column on the topicfrom the TTLA blogger. Including the usual, obvious advice to turn Mid-Wilshire's Miracle Mile into a grassy public mall.Located on that stretch, the Petersen Automotive Museum hosted a rooftop, open bar, U.S. vs. England game viewing party last Saturday midday, as mentioned in the Next American City column. This happening may not have been held in a public location, but it was still a fine time. By numbers, the standing-room-only crowd appeared to hold more Team U.S.A. fans than England Three Lions partisans.By decibels, however, the St. George's Flag-wavers held the day over the pro-Yanks, even if their goalkeeper, plus the Jabulani, didn't.The day prior, watching the Mexico-South Africa match at a downtown bar on a weekday early morning was a less boisterous experience. A dozen people gathered -- half of them staff, one a beer company representative passing out Mardi Gras style beads with the beer maker's logo. It's hard to beat great pasole at 7:00am, but sadly for those gathered, it was harder still for Mexico to beat South Africa.Photo credit: The image accompanying this post was taken by Flickr user Jennifer_Su. It was used under Creative Commons license.