Songkran, Thailand’s New Year, falls on Easter this year. If you aren’t busy filling your baskets with colorful Easter eggs, you should try to get over to Thai Town to partake in this awesome day. How cool is it that they celebrate a new year by attacking everyone with water? Water guns, water balloons, buckets of water, hoses, water, water, water. The tradition actually began quite differently. Water was poured on Buddhas to create a sort of holy water, which was then poured on the shoulders of family members to bring good fortune. Like most traditions do, it has since evolved…. into a super awesome, massive water fight! But remember, this is Thai Town, not Thailand. The water fighting won’t be as awesome as Bangkok, but that shouldn’t discourage you from helping spread the love…. and water. Whatever the case, the festival will shut down a big chunk of Hollywood Blvd. to offer food stalls, live music, dance, arts and crafts, muay Thai demos, a beauty contest, parade, and Singha beer garden. Did I mention free admittance? Take the Metro Red Line to the Hollywood Blvd./Western Ave. station to avoid the endless search for parking.
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WHAT: Thai New Year Festival
WHEN: Sunday, April 4th @ 8am-8pm
WHERE: On Hollywood between Western and Normandie
$$$: Free

I don’t know about you, but spring is my favorite time of year.  Never-mind the fact it means my birthday is right around the corner and… it sets my mind in a constant state of cupcake-dreaming bliss—springtime means the air is clean, the weather is warmer, and brightly colored petals are blooming all around, including the much-awaited cherry blossom trees.  Finally getting the credit they deserve, LA is celebrating these Japanese beauties April 10^th-11^th in the Little Tokyo Arts District with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

Dance the day away with some traditional Odori dancing in the street (San Pedro St., to be exact), challenge someone to a strategic-frenzy game of GO, and perfect your horse stance watching the live presentations in the Martial Arts Arena.   New for this year is the J-Pop Stage, featuring anime-pop music & a lolita fashion show, a showing (4 times daily) of the film-festival favorite: Only The Brave, and (an obviously needed addition), a beer & sake garden.  Food-wise, expect a large assortment of Hawaiian favorites (smoothies, please!), as well as yummy sushi and noodle selections from Japan Bistro.

This is also the perfect time to reacquaint yourself with the (too-often forgotten) Japanese American National Museum and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, which are literally right next door.

Whatever brings you out, this vastly cultural, FREE event definitely tops the list in terms of entertainment-value.  Engaging over 45,000 guests last year, there are bound to be a few recreational activities to keep you busy and out of mischief.  Well…busy, at least.  I’ll leave the mischief-decision up to you.

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WHAT: Cherry Blossom Festival
WHEN: Saturday, April 10th: 10:30am-6:30pm & Sunday, April 11th: 10:30am-5pm
WHERE: Little Tokyo Arts District (1st & Alameda downtown)
$$$: FREE!

The Speakeasy Comedy Club, a Thursday-night shindig in the back-room of Hollywood Billiards, is an anomaly in the LA stand-up scene: it’s got no cover, no two-drink minimum, and its comics are hand-picked by the organizers (so you can avoid the face-melting badness that goes along with most open-mic nights.)

Contrary to its moniker, it’s not going unnoticed — even Paul Scheer, of Human Giant and FX’s The League, is getting in on this.

The brainchild of Dan Borrelli and Kirill Baru (the former an Emerson grad who’s been called “Eddie Izzard without the drag”, the latter having cut his teeth on the USC sketch comedy scene and now writes for Comedy Central), Speakeasy is all about variety.  Amongst other things, tonight’s show features the quirky, Emo Phillips-ish stylings of Marly Halpern-Graser, the old-school one-liners of Jay London, gay humor guru Eric Hahn, and an imaginary (?) grandfather’s diary used as a demented joke engine.  The beers are two bucks all night, and the inside of the joint looks like a place Mickey Rourke would’ve brawled in back in the 80’s.  What’s not to like?

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WHAT: Underground comedy club
WHEN: Thursdays, 9-10 PM
WHERE: Hollywood Billiards
$$$: Free

Let’s pretend it’s a Sunday morning.  The weather is beautiful, the skies are bright, your hangover has started to dissipate, the half-dressed stranger has been kicked out of your house, and by God, it’s time to carpe the damn diem.  My advice: first carpe your bike (or rent one), and then head down to The Strand.

A stretch of winding concrete path spanning 30 miles south from Will Rogers State Beach, The Strand offers a perfect way to take in the case of Multiple Personality Disorder from which our coast suffers so gloriously.

I started at the Redondo Pier and headed north, pedaling past the frat-tastic beach parties of Hermosa, cruising by a beached ship that street-artists had turned into a mural, watching surfers ride the (possibly radioactive) waves beyond the power plants, floated through the laconic East-Coast-fishing-village vibes of Manhattan, gliding under howling jetliners and through the boombox soul music and mouth-watering barbecue smoke of Dockweiler, zipping alongside sailboats in Marina Del Rey, dodging meth-heads and performance artists (po-tay-to, po-tah-to?) in Venice, stopping to play Tarzan on the swing-rings in Santa Monica, before finally heading up through the windswept sands adjacent to the PCH, where the trail died out.

Turning around to ride home in the afternoon sun, ocean air whistling past, I found myself mentally stealing (and slightly misappropriating) a line Edward Norton said in Keeping The Faith: “Anyone who doesn’t live here must, on some level, be kidding themselves.”

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WHAT: Bike path along every beach in LA
WHEN: Good all year round
WHERE: Starts in Redondo, ends at Will Rogers State Beach
$$$: Free

Another year, another pillow fight day. Across the globe, cities are hosting massive fights and LA is no exception. With almost 4,000 attending on the Facebook event page, this should be the biggest one yet! Saturday, April 3rd, bring your pillow to Pershing Square by 3pm and prepare to fight! Invite everyone you know to make this year bigger and better than ever. Note: if you’re allergic to down– you may have some issues. There will be feathers everywhere, people dressed in ridiculous outfits, cameras to avoid, and possibly cops laughing in the distance (at least they have in the past). We will be there, so see you next Saturday! (If you are in a different city next weekend, no worries— dozens of cities are participating!!!)
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WHAT: World Pillow Fight Day
WHEN: Saturday, April 3rd @ 3pm-4pm
WHERE: Pershing Square
$$$: Just bring a pillow [and maybe some goggles]

More Hammer Screenings to report. This one is right up my alley, so here goes: April 1st the Hammer Museum is screening What’s On Your Plate?, a documentary about kids and food politics by award-winning filmmaker Catherine Gund. Said to be both “witty and provocative” the documentary comes amongst a plethora of food-awareness media that has caught on in recent months; Food Inc. being nominated for an Oscar and Michael Pollan topping bestsellers’ lists. The film follows two eleven-year old, multiracial city kids as they explore food systems in NYC and as they talk to farmers, storekeepers, and food activists about what we’re really eating. Check it out and maybe find out something about what’s on your plate.

WHAT: Screening of What’s On Your Plate
WHEN: April 1st 7pm
WHERE: Hammer Museum
$$$: free

Spring is in the air, and that means the return of Flux Screening Series, among other things. They’re kicking things off tomorrow night at the Hammer Museum with en evening of short films, videos by the likes of Massive Attack, OK Go, and Air, and live performances. The directors will introduce their shorts and videos, and there will be rarities from Sweden, Japan, France and the UK. If video production is your thang, this is worth a drop-by, especially since it’s free. The program includes Saman Keshavarz’s Luv Deluxe video, which just took home the Best Music Video award at SXSW. Then to liven things up, OK Go will perform at the end of the night. RSVP here.

WHAT: Kick off the Flux Screening Series
WHEN: Tuesday March 23rd 7-11pm
WHERE: Hammer Museum
$$$: free

Ok, so — who wants to spend an entire day walking up and down an endless series of concrete stairs?

You do, if you want to see multiple sides of this crazy, beautiful, depraved city all at once.  Back before cars became the primary mode of transportation in LA (like way back in the day), residents of Silverlake/Echo Park had to access their homes via a series of staircases built directly into the hillsides. Because they didn’t have roads, or cars to drive on the roads, which didn’t exist. Shit was rough then, son.

Luckily for us, the past’s necessity has become the present’s excellent-way-to-kill-a-Sunday — part urban adventure, part scavenger hunt. Here’s the map.

You start just off of Sunset Blvd, by one of those Mexican polka-nightclubs that you secretly have always wanted to go into, and head up the Music Box Stairs, made famous for Laurel and Hardy’s inability to get a piano down them.

From here, you spill down across the Junction, and up into the hills where the houses become smaller, hobbit-like, obscured by vines and greenery.  You tramp up along Griffith Park and resist the urge to go into Hard Times Pizza. (Or you don’t; I’m not judging.)  You pass a glass-walled stilt-house where someone told you Scarlett Johansson lives. You wait for Scarlett Johansson to come out. She doesn’t. You ramble onward, along the reservoir and past hidden parks. You dodge crack vials on the steps leading down to a gypsy-camp ensconced off Glendale. You take in views of the city that look like something Terrance Mallick might shoot. You get lost a lot, and feel a strange sense of accomplishment every time you track down an elusive set of steps. “I’m never using a stairmaster again,” you think to yourself.

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WHAT: Urban adventuring in Silverlake
WHEN: Good all year round
WHERE: Start on Vendome St, just south of Sunset
$$$: Free

Echo Park’s Tavin vintage and consignment store is hosting the second of their Little Birds reading series – appropriately titled Little Birds #2 – tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Readings will include pieces by artist and actress Grace Zabriskie (of Big Love fame), author and filmmaker Jessica Hundley (who’ll be presenting slides from her book about Dennis Hopper – which sounds totally awesome if you ask me… which you obviously did because we’re basically best friends), and a special appearance by Pamela Des Barres (author of I’m with the Band). Not only will you be treated to some refined culture, but there’ll be wine as well, provided by Bear Flag. It should be an awesome evening and an equally awesome start to the weekend, but the reading starts promptly at 7:30, so don’t be late!

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WHAT: Little Birds #2
WHEN: Friday, March 12th @ 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
WHERE: Tavin Boutique
$$$: Free

So apparently Blick’s and Michelle’s are taking over the art supply store scene, kinda brushing the mom & pop stores to the side. Thankfully there are still a few around, the Carter Sexton Gallery and Store in North Hollywood. Not only do they offer a ton of art supplies, but they also exhibit local artists work through out the year. Starting this Friday, local artist Anna Ziouzina will display her fine art portfolio of figure drawings and some miscellaneous items. Looking at this example of her work, it seems quite appropriate, considering Alice and Wonderland just came out! Anna says her art “doesn’t take itself too seriously, just portraits of people doing their own thing, caught in the moment”. All of her work will be on sale and of course the opening is free. If you can’t make it to the opening night party (with free wine and artist in attendance as usual), her art will be on display until April 9th.
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WHAT: Opening Reception for Anna Ziouzina
WHEN: Friday, March 12th @ 7-9pm
WHERE: Carter Sexton Gallery
$$$: Free

A couple miles north of Sunset Blvd in the Palisades lies Paseo Miramar, a five-mile hike that gives you some of the most gobsmacking views of the Pacific Ocean you’ll ever witness.

But first, you must pay a price.

I’m not going to lie to you: the first two miles of this thing — a steep, winding, seemingly endless incline up the canyon, with each corner promising relief that never comes — are going to kick you in the face.  They are going to kick the faces of your friends, your pets, your distant family members, and your unborn children.  Add a ponytail to them and they’d be Steven Segal in Out For Justice. Your suffering is going to be legendary.

But then, after about 45 minutes, something magical happens: your body accepts its fate. And before you know it, the incline levels out, and you’re slaloming down through green tree-tunnels and past wetlands and up through fields of high, honey-colored grass. Finally, you hit the top and there’s a wooden bench waiting for you. You flop down and drink in the views of the rolling Palisades, the muted sprawl of the city, the toy-sized Santa Monica Ferris Wheel in the distance, and that sheet of blue rippling from the crescent edges of the continent.  It’s all yours.

Masochism: it has its upsides.

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WHAT: Hike in the Palisades
WHEN: Good all year round
WHERE: Trail starts at the top of Paseo Miramar Rd
$$$: Free

Check out this unique idea to reinvent city streets through out LA on Sunday mornings: CicLAvia, a group that has previously done this same project in Colombia, successfully if I may add, wants to close down at least three major streets from East LA to West LA on various Sundays this summer and turn them into urban parks. To even attempt to accomplish this plan, they need your vote here. The idea is that they will block off the streets from car traffic from 10am-1pm, only allowing pedestrians, cyclists, families, skateboarders, and anyone else who you would find at a park to enjoy beautiful Sundays mornings outside and in a safe enclosure. They aim to provide this service in areas where parks are extremely lacking, the population is extremely dense, and is near public transportation to allow all to attend. Whether it works or not, it’s a nice idea and feel free to decide for yourself if it deserves your vote! They are currently ranked 53rd and need to be in the top 10 ideas to win the grant.
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WHAT: CicLAvia’s 7-mile Streets to Parks Project
WHEN: Voting ends March 31st
WHERE: Click here to vote!
$$$: Free

“Don’t do it. You’ll get eaten by coyotes.”  This is usually the response I get when I tell people I want to go night-hiking in Griffith Park.  “Nonsense,” I tell them, “I am a large, imposing adult male, not Jessica Simpson’s dog.  Besides, the coyote presence up there is seriously over-reported.”

The first thing I saw when I got there was a coyote.  Cold chillin’ in the parking lot by the merry-go-round. Humans — we only pretend we run this town.

Three times a week for the past few years, the Sierra Club has been leading after-dark hikes up into the mountains between Hollywood and Glendale.  A crowd of 60 or so adventurers gathers in the upper carousel parking lot, where individual groups form based on speed/trail difficulty (I chose a “3+” i.e. “medium” hike.) Then, lead by a central-casting Greek grandfather named Yanni, we were off, twenty silhouettes loping into the darkened hills.

Your eyes adjust to the gloom as you ascend a thin, winding trail, up through what Bob Dylan described as “haunted, frightened trees”, branches stripped by last year’s fires and looking like something from a Tim Burton movie in the moonlight.  You climb under giant fallen logs and bushwhack through overgrowth.  The sound of the freeway gives way to a chorus of chirping crickets and croaking frogs, and then silence — the soundtrack best suited to the spooky majesty of the landscape.  You crest a hill and the entire Los Angeles valley, from downtown to the ocean, opens up below like a massive, glowing cauldron.  “I feel like Batman right now,” you think to myself.  (Seriously, you think that.) Two hours and six miles later, you’re back in the city — sweaty, dusty-streaked and happy.

Don’t be fooled, dear humans; the coyotes know where it’s at.

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WHAT: Night Hike
WHEN: Tues, Wed, Thurs, starting at 6:45 PM
WHERE: Griffith Park — meet at the upper carousel parking lot
$$$: Free

The new Lomography Gallery isn’t slacking off when it comes to partying, and what better excuse to have a party than the Oscars? Swing by the gallery before Sunday and fill out your own Oscar ballot in hopes to be on of the 10 people who get the most winners correct. You’ll walk away with your own Oktomat camera that takes 8 pictures in a row to create your own little 8 frame movie. Then on the 7th, head to the gallery at 1pm and take part in a mini-movie making workshop using the Oktomat, Supersampler, and Actionsampler and make a purchase at the store and get a free Lomography Camera Keychain. This will all lead into the Oscars telecast where hopefully you’ll win the contest! The gallery will be serving drinks and don’t worry, they’ve got a lounge for you to sit in and watch in comfort. There will naturally be an after party, with more drinks, a lomography movie screening “Lomo Matrix”, and awards for the Oscar ballot winners! This gallery is quickly turning into my new favorite place!
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WHAT: Oscar Night + workshop and party
WHEN: Sunday, March 7th @ 1PM-post Oscars
WHERE: Lomography Gallery
$$$: Free

Your weekend has officially begun.

Celebrate the end of a shark-infested workweek and pet a few live ones at the resurrected Shark Lagoon Nights.  Find an excuse to sneak out of work or revel in your freelance-society bliss because this one gets started early (6-9pm) and is located at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

A little bit of a journey for you Angelenos, but definitely worth the trek!  For FREE you can get up close and personal with bamboo sharks and sand tiger sharks, among other sea giants.  Liquid courage is available in the form of various wines and beer (for those feeling a little faint of heart) as well as coffee treats and sugar snacks for a different type of happy hour.  Rotating bands and dj’s perform, according to the night, but be sure to check their calendar before heading to this outdoor escape, just in case the rain STILL hasn’t migrated its way back to Seattle.

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WHAT: Shark Lagoon Nights
WHEN: Most Fridays, 6pm-9pm, starting March 5th
WHERE: Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach
$$$: FREE!

The weekend don’t end Saturday night y’all; keep it going with a day party at Best Fish Tacos of Ensenada tomorrow. From 2pm-dark, come grub on indeed the best fish tacos around (with plenty o’ radish relish of course), listen to some beats courtesy of Moredillon, Osaka, St. Andrew, and possibly a special guest or two. This happens every last Sunday of the month, so if you don’t make it out tomorrow, there’s always March.

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WHAT: Most Awesome Sunday Day Party
WHEN: Sunday 2pm-dark
WHERE: Best Fish Tacos, 1650 Hillhurst Ave, Los Feliz, 90027
$$$: bring yo’ taco money ($1.50-$2) and BYOB

This weekend check out the opening reception of SNAP- Benjamin Hoste’s exhibition of rock photography at Oragami Vinyl in Echo Park. Ben, photographer and director, has taken some pretty sweet concert photos and has interviewed and photographed some of the coolest musicians around these parts. In fact, he has a new project aptly titled This Ain’t a Scene which features interviews with Silverlake musicians; volume one of the online mag features the likes of Sarah Negahdari of The Happy Hollows (whom he partially credits for his burgeoning photography career), Evan Way of the Parson Redheads, Aaron Kyle of Le Switch, and more. SNAP will run at Oragami through March 28th and features photos of many more local bands, including No Age, Crystal Antlers, Henry Clay People, Dan Deacon, etc. Kicking it off this Sunday there will be a Dj spinning vinyl and free drinks from 6pm-8pm. He will also be raffling off two free prints (!), one of Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups and one of Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Awesomeee. Double your chances by joining his email list and entering the raffle early. See y’all there.

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WHAT: SNAP rock photography show
WHEN: opening reception Sun. Feb. 28th 6pm; show Feb. 28-March 28
WHERE: Oragami Vinyl, 1416 W Sunset Blvd, Echo Park
$$$: free

We don’t usually write up sporting events on BoredLA, but this one’s free, so why not?  USC women’s basketball is playing Washington on Saturday and you can watch the game for free.  Instead of wearing your cardinal and gold, put on a pink shirt and you’ll get in for free.  Sounds like a fun date night for sports fans.  Maybe stop at Bacaro LA or The Lab for dinner first?

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WHAT: Free basketball game
WHEN: Saturday, February 20th @ 8 PM
WHERE: The Galen Center
$$$: Free if you wear a pink shirt

Photo nerds rejoice – Lomography is officially coming to LA.  Yeah, all the hipsters have been shooting lomo for a long time, but as of Thursday our beloved town will now be home to a Lomography store/gallery/embassy.  I’ve been using a fisheye #2 and a Holga for a while now and I can tell you how fun lomo cameras are.  They’re decidedly low-tech and you never know quite what you’ll get when you shoot a picture; light leaks and and warped shots are par for the course and part of the thrill of shooting is discovering what happened once you develop your film.

Lomography Gallery is holding a few days’ worth of events, which sound like they’re going to be a blast.  Check out the schedule below:

February 18th – 7 PM: Opening party with drinks (!), Mexican food, a mariachi band, dancers, etc.  Sounds like a good time.  The guestlist is limited, so rsvp to shopla@lomography.com and make sure you get on the list.

February 19th – 6-8 PM: Intro to Lomography. If you don’t know what I’ve been talking about in this post, check out the seminar to find out more about the history of Lomography and what people are doing with it now.  By the way, this is totally free!

February 20th – 1-3 PM: Meet the Lomo LC-A+. This one is $10 and includes a free loaner camera and a roll of film.  If you have your own LC-A+ and film, it’s totally free. Learn tips and tricks for shooting with this Soviet gem and go for a photo expedition throughout West Hollywood.

February 23rd – 1-4 PM: Analogue Love 101. Same as the LC-A workshop, bring your Lomo and get in free, or pay $10 for a loaner and a roll of film.  This workshop teaches you all the tricks out there to make the most of Lomography.  Again with a shooting expedition, I imagine.

February 25th -1-3 PM: Diana Dialogues.  Another $10 workshop, this time with the Diana camera.  More tips and tricks and then a shooting expedition.

If you check out any of these workshops, let us know.  We’d love to see your pictures!

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WHAT: Lomography in LA
WHEN: Events from February 18th-25th
WHERE: 7998 Santa Monica Blvd.
$$$: Free or $10

Every Friday and Saturday CC Beans, a cute little coffee shop downtown, hosts free music in the “BackRoom Gallery”. This Friday and Saturday is SOUNDING OFF, presented by dramastage-qumran…Friday features Ron Allen and Saturday features Sarah Cruse. There will also be an open mic section so if you’re feeling talented, you can join in! It’s a laid back place, and I’m sure it will feel more like a jam session than a serious show, which makes it even better! The best part is that while you enjoy the free shows, you can sip on some really great coffee and it’s so good you’ll want to start buying your beans from their personal collection. This is the sort of place that needs community support! It may not be in the most ideal place, but the owners are trying to add a little something to the downtown area that, although has cleaned up a lot, is still lacking in certain areas. So come out this weekend and support CC Beans!

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WHAT: CC Beans Live Music
WHEN: Weekend Nights, starting Friday, February 19th
WHERE: CC Beans
$$$: Free