There are a TON of things to do in our wonderful city to celebrate the Lunar New Year! Frankly, the happenings going on around town are kinda cooler than regular new year’s festivities, if you ask me. Starting downtown at the Music Center, the Chinese song and dance stage show, Shen Yun Chinese New Year Spectacular, will be showing through the 14th. Tickets are at the cheapest $39 but take the Metro and you can save $9 on parking! Garden Grove is having their annual Tet Festival along Westminster Blvd. with dragon dancers, live music, dance performances, rides, and most importantly: food. Lots and lots of delicious, authentic Vietnamese food! From Friday to Sunday, this fest is only $5 a day and you can get more info on their website.

Back to the downtown area, more specifically, Chinatown, there will be an awesome scavenger hunt set up by Out of the Box Events. Teams of 6 will run around Chinatown answering trivia and finding hidden Chinatown secrets! It’s $25 to partake in the event and trust me, it is totally worth the money. These hunts are ridiculously elaborate and incredibly fun! A great way to kick off the new year! (Especially if you win!) Over in Monterey Park, the Chinese New Year Floral Street Fair and Lantern Festival will take place on Saturday, Feb. 20. Another festival with food and flowers, more food, and more flowers. This festival has free entry! More info here.

Oh, there’s more. Chinatown will be quite busy, because on February 20th and 21st, the Golden Dragon Parade will be taking place. Definitely try to take the Metro since parking will be extremely limited with all the streets closed offf! It’s a parade, so it’s free, but you can pay $25 for a grandstand ticket. Finally, even Olvera Street is joining in on the celebration, with the Chinese American Museum Lantern Festival taking place there on Saturday, March 6th. (Seriously, a whole freaking month of celebrations so you won’t miss out!) Lion dancers, acrobatics, music, dance, craft workshops, and more, all free. So yeah— uhh…. the lunar new year is way cool. Plus if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get a little red envelope filled with hundreds of dollars! I definitely won’t be that lucky.

More Valentine’s festivities coming ‘atcha: first up, David Lynch’s Wild at Heart screening at the Downtown Independent at 10:30pm on the 14th for $10 or $25 for two tickets and two beers! Next, the 3rd Annual Lovers and Strangers Valentine’s Art and Music Festival at the Echoplex, presented by the Hear Gallery, Solid Gold, and Everyday. Four bands will perform, lots of DJs, artists, catering by Bold Tacos, photobooths, and live documentary filming. Takes place the 13th at 8pm, 18+, $8 before 10pm, $10 after. Finally, City Sip LA (that tiny wine bar on Sunset in Echo Park known as “wine for the people”) is hosting a beer tasting on V-day featuring 8 beers, cheese, and chocolate for $35 per person. Shouldn’t be too hard to get laid with that combination. 4:30pm-6:00pm. Enjoy the so-called holiday.

*this is by no means an all inclusive roundup

WHAT: ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day
WHEN: Feb. 13th-14th
WHERE: the Downtown Independent, CitySip LA, the Echoplex
$$$: $8-$35

There’s lots of Valentine’s festivities going on, and many cost a pretty penny to woo your sweetheart. The deal that I’m about to fill you in on is more my style because it’s a) affordable b) involves dinner and c) involves dinner at a really great place that cooks with delicious, quality ingredients. I’ve showed my love for Bacaro L.A. before, and they have a stellar Valentine’s Day 3-course menu for only $35 per person! Try taking your sweetie out for less than that. Add an extra $15 and you’ll get wine pairings with each course, and add $20 and you’ll get unlimited sparkling wine for the night. The menu includes two choices for each course; for the main, options include pork tenderloin with parsnip puree, market vegetable quiche, and seabass with brown butter and market beet ricotta gniochi. Sounds perfect to me. Make reservations ASAP by emailing bacarola@yahoo.com for either 6:00pm or 8:30pm. A completely vegetarian menu is available upon request.

WHAT: Valentine’s Day Dinner at Bacaro L.A.
WHEN: Feb. 14th 6pm or 8:30pm
WHERE: Bacaro L.A.
$$$: 35

(Stolen directly from their facebook event here.)

1. Your facebook relationship status says “It’s complicated”, “In an open relationship”
2. You’re attached but “not attached”
3. You’re just “hanging out”
4. You’re free!–free at last!!
5. You’re not looking for anything serious
6. Want to bring your booty call friend out to do other activities for a change
7. You want to bring your “lover” instead of your significant other
8. You want to hang out with your frienemies & BFF
9. You have a +1 ( whoever that +1 is)
10. Just because…the food & beer pairings is damn good

Buy tickets here for Frysmith’s Valentine’s Day Supper with beer pairing at The Verdugo Bar. On the menu is butternut squash soup with habanero and chickpea, seared scallop with Spanish chorizo, lemon jam and apple “fries”, duck legs braised in Cognac Ume tomato sauce, with collard greens and fries, and a trio of mousse cakes. Ummm…. kinda sounds incredible. And all for a presale price of $23.
________________________
WHAT: Valentine’s Day Supper with Frysmith
WHEN: February 14th, 7:30PM
WHERE: Verdugo Bar
$$$: $23 presale, $28 at the door

Interested in street food but don’t hit the streets enough? Street Food Festival is for you. Let the street vendors come to you in one convenient location so you can try all the food trucks your co-workers have bragged about and even sample a thing or two you may have seen on Bourdain. In my humble opinion, this kind of thing defeats the purpose of randomly stumbling upon something unique and delicious and to-be-eaten-with-hands, but I guess convenience is key for most fully-functional adults in the world. LA’s first street food fest is not just a food truck fest- no, no, no- there will be authentic LA street food like coconut fritters, Korean chicken wings, and everything you can imagine from a traditional taco truck, as well as vendors from LA’s Breed Street, like barbecoa and pancakes. There will also be vendors of inedible delights like UniqueLA’s pop-up mini-mart, a DIY den to make your own Valentine’s, a Valentine’s food truck themed photo booth, live entertainment, beer and wine bars (hallelujah), and a bike valet. Man, that’s one jam-packed street fest. Of course, the food trucks are the stars of the show- including The Buttermilk Truck, Grilled Cheese Truck, Sweets Truck, Fresser’s, Frysmith, Slice Truck, Flying Pig, Fishlips, many more and hopefully Coolhaus (can you tell which one is my fave?)!! So hit up those beer/wine bars heavily so that you can eat in full denial. It would make an odd Valentine’s date, but an interesting one at the very least.

*Update: Tickets are $5 at the door or presale. Maximum of 60,000 peeps can attend, so get there on time! I’m confused because some places say they are “giving away tickets” but as I far as I can tell you don’t need tickets.

WHAT: LA Street Food Festival
WHEN: Saturday Feb. 13th 11am-5pm
WHERE: LA Center Studios, 500 S Beaudry Ave
$$$: 5 entry + cash for vendors

It’s time to prepare for Valentine’s Day again (if you do that sort of thing), and what better way than to shop at a designated Valentine’s pop-up shop? Sooo much classier than Secret Desires. Beginning January 29th, Space15Twenty will host the Valentine’s Pop Up Shop featuring “everything you need to get ready for cupid.” It’s like Christmas all over again, but for yourself; lingerie, jewelry, perfume, cosmetics, bath and beauty. Get ‘em girl (or boy). In addition, there will be edible treats, like lolli pops and cookies, and a kissing booth with photo documentation. There’s even an opening reception (after the opening?) on Friday February 12th from 6-9pm with a live performance. In case you are wondering, the current pop-up here is a $15.20 ALL sale.

WHAT: Valentine’s Pop Up Shop
WHEN: Friday, January 29th through the 14th; opening reception Feb. 12th
WHERE: Space15Twenty
$$$: up to you

Looking to really impress your valentine this year? Why not take him/her to, in my opinion, one of the classiest joints around- the Edison. “Escape to The Edison’s Valentine’s Day celebration with the romance, style and sophistication of a long lost era;” of course escaping here will cost you a pretty penny, but is your valentine worth it? It’s a little confusing; tickets to the “event” on the Edison’s website are $20, which I assume is just for entry, but CarolineonCrack has tweeted that a table for two is pre-fixed at $100 (which isn’t really that bad) for two rosebud martinis (their special for the night), 1/2 dozen oysters, and two absinthe chocolates. Quite romantic. A Dj and live jazz will help evoke a long lost era. If you’d like to get in on this, I’d make reservations ASAP.

WHAT: Valentine’s Day at the Edison
WHEN: Feb. 14th 7pm
WHERE: the Edison downtown
$$$: $20 entry; $100 dinner for two

…Because you may actually get something you like! Space15Twenty is hosting a pop-up shop for re-gifting unwrapped presents from the holiday season. It’s like a post-Christmas secret Santa of sorts. If you get stuck with something you hate, you can always shop at the sample sale and find something you love by such designers as Tom Tom Jewelry, Pretty Little Thing, Guy Baxter and many more up and coming designers. The store is also trying to raise money for Best Friends Animal Society, just another reason to get out to this event. It’s all going down in the courtyard on the 16th so get your presents in order and get ready to swap!
_____________________
WHAT:  Re-Gift Pop-Up Shop
WHEN: Saturday, January 16th @ 12-5pm
WHERE: Space15 Twenty
$$$: Free

Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!

We will be back in full swing Monday the 4th– see you then!

<3 BoredLA

There you are. Sitting at your computer or smart phone. Racking your brain for something to do tomorrow night. There’s that party that your friend from high school’s second cousin is throwing in their apartment complex that will no doubt get busted at 11:30, and since you’re not on the inner circle of friends, you’ll be thrown out into the cold to drink the can of PBR you stole on the way out while listening to the radio, possibly crying. That doesn’t sound fun at all. Take my advice, start the new decade with something adventurous and go do something on this list!

GOOD HARD TIMES ART & MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Hear Gallery, Blow Up LA, and Automatico are teaming up with an absurdly crammed lineup of musicians, djs, artists, video installations, live art, catering, free giveaways from some of the sponsors, topped off with an open bar with admission from 8pm – 2am. There’s so much happening, I feel it’s wrong to highlight any one aspect. Just do yourself a favor and click that rsvp link (That one. Right there. Or the one just below this.) and look yourself.

WHAT: Good Hard Times NYE 2010
WHEN: 8pm – 5am
WHERE: Loft 265, 265 S. Main St. @ 3rd St.. 90012 (enter through back alley)
$$$: 21+: $25 8pm-2am, $15 8pm-11pm w/rsvp, $10 2am-5am
18+: $10 all night

THE STANDARD’S NEW YEAR’S EVE MASQUERADE PARTY

Poolside at The Standard Hollywood, ring in the new year with a performance from Fool’s Gold, an 11 piece eclectic Afro-pop band, DJs Prince Language, Asa Ransom, Valida, and DJ Pubes. Included in the $30 presale ticket price is a comlimentary champangne toast at midnight, with $5 Red Stripe specials all night. The perfect opportunity to bust out that unloved Mardi Gras mask from the back of your closet and go make out with strangers.

WHAT: New Year’s Eve Masquerade Party
WHEN: 7pm – 2am
WHERE: The Standard Hollywood, 8300 Sunset Blvd., 90069
$$$: $30 presale here, $40 day of

NYEROX ‘09

Dub Frequency and URB magazine are taking over The Roxy on Sunset, with a countdown (Hooray! Wait, isn’t everyone doing that?) and DJs like DJ Skee, Moke Posner, Dude Royal, and more. Sounds like a dance party! General admission tickets are $30, all you can drink well and beer tickets are $55, all you can drink premium tickets $100.

WHAT: NYEROX ‘09
WHEN: 9pm – 2am
WHERE: The Roxy, 9009 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood
$$$: $30+

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT THE ROOSEVELT

If you’ve got the $140 for tickets, this sounds glamtamerous. A performance from Pharacyde, DJ Grandmaster Flash amongst others, and an erotic water ballet performance! The party is going to encompass the entire property, including the pool and all the rooms, with 4 separate stages set up, and a huge balloon drop at midnight. Entrance includes the open bar from 9pm -11pm. Be sure to get your tickets fast, they’re (allegedly) almost sold out.

WHAT: New Year’s Eve 2010
WHEN: 9pm – 3am
WHERE: The Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., 90028
$$$: $140

VENDETTA NEW YEAR’S EVE

Escape the new millenium and party like it’s 1920 with this prohibition era mobster themed party brought to you by LADEAD. With an eclectic mix of industrial, swing, electro, and jazz music coming from the DJs, this is sure to be the ultimate haunt for all you old school gangster types looking for a flapper to call your own. $20 for general entry at the door, $150 for VIP w/open bar and blackjack with suicidegirl dealers ($100 presale if you’re quick).

WHAT: Vendetta New Year’s Eve
WHEN: 9pm – 3am
WHERE: The Monte Cristo, 3100 Wilshire Blvd,  90005
$$$: $20 general admission/$150 vip

RED BULL NEW YEAR NO LIMITS

Then, of course if you’re not into all this club stuff and want to see someone possibly be maimed/dead by a crazy Evil Knievel stunt, Red Bull is sponsoring Travis Pastrana in his attempt to break the world record for longest jump over water down at the Pine Avenue Pier in Long Beach. The event’s free, but the parking may be a nightmare. Here’s a little assistance from Red Bull.

WHAT: Red Bull New Year No Limits
WHEN: 9pm is jump time
WHERE: Rainbow Harbor, Pine Avenue and Shoreline Drive, Long Beach, CA 90802
$$$: Free! $10 parking in most lots

Riot Grrl, the female punk movement that denied the mainstream (for a while) and empowered fans to spread their tunes through DIY and zines in a wild time before the internet, is taking the stage to help The Downtown’s Women Center this Sunday.  The Outskirts, Las Sangronas Y El Carbron, Toy Attica, Angustia, and The Potential Lunatics, sorry, no Bikini Kill, will perform their femme-tastic music in a femme-tastic way at The Smell for the Riot Grrl Xmas Carnival.  The venue is all ages, tickets at the door.

__________________________
WHAT: Riot Grrl Xmas Carnival
WHEN: Sunday, December 27th, 9pm
WHERE: The Smell
$$$: $5

Tonight the Cinefamily brings you some of “the best and most bizarre” Christmas cartoons from way back in the day, when cartoons were shown in movie theatres. Some highlights include “Peace On Earth (about a post apocalyptic world destroyed by war and overtaken by fuzzy wuzzy little mice and bunnies) and the uber-traumatic Little Match Girl (one of the darkest Hollywood cartoons ever made)”. In these classic shorts shown on 35mm and 16mm prints, you’ll see some recognizable faces like Rudolph as well as Popeye, Tweety Bird, and Howdy Doody. The organizers also encourage you to bring your own egg nog to enjoy during the screening!

If you can’t go tonight, check out there Mondo Christmas screening on Christmas day, the last event until January 5th. This night will be packed with footage of “department store Santas, misguided movie tie-ins, exhumed cartoons and aborted holiday specials”. The main event will be a 16mm screening of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. I know, how can you possibly miss out on this? It’s not every Christmas you get a chance to see aliens kidnap Santa to supply the children of Mars with gifts on this very special day.

_________________________

WHAT: Christmas Cartoon Chaos/Mondo Christmas
WHEN: Tuesday, December 22nd @ 8PM/Friday, December 25th @ 8PM
WHERE: The Silent Movie Theater
$$$: $13/$12

Wait, not literally. We are not holiday terrorists here. However, here’s a good reason to mix up a bad holiday sweater with some awesome sparkle shorts and dance dance dance those winter blues to a sweaty glint of a memory!

Saturday night, BlowUpLA rings in the spirit of the season with the aid of Jokers Of The Scene, Sleazemore, Goddollars, Dirty Dave, and more merry surprises to come! $5 before 11pm with an rsvp to www.blowuplaevents.com/holiday, $10 without, located downtown in some (most likely slightly creepy) warehouse where you have to enter through a back alley. How adventurous!

_________________________

WHAT: Blow Up LA – Holiday Edition
WHEN: Saturday December 19th, 10pm – 4am
WHERE: 263 S Main St. @ 3rd St., 90012
$$$: $5 w/RSVP, $10 without

On the way in to work today, I listened to the Nutcracker Act II – Character Dances Op 71 on KUSC and it reminded me of how very damn good that music is.

They also happened to say a link on the air (seriously? no links section on your site, KUSC?) to a calendar of every major Southern California performance of the Nutcracker.  Head over to BeachCalifornia and find out when/where is going to be best for you.  Parents love it.  Kids love it.  Dates will be impressed that you consider them classy enough to take to The Ballet.  So there you go, easy gift right there.  Happy holidays.

_________________________

WHAT: Nutcracker SoCal Calendar
WHEN: December 17th-29th
WHERE: All over SoCal
$$$: Approx. $15~100, depends where you go

I’m not sure if a long line of boats is actually called a parade, but the organizers of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade aren’t too concerned with semantics – they’re too busy decking out a marina’s worth of boats with an awful lot of sparkling lights.  I’ve never been, but I bet all the decorations look pretty magical when they’re reflecting in Newport Harbor.

Normally, it costs more than 30 dollars to ride around in a boat and see all the lights, but the boat tours can be had for a deep discount tomorrow evening.  The 5:45 cruise is only $22.50 and the 8:00 cruise is $15.  Definitely worth checking out, but be sure to make your reservations online!

_________________________

WHAT: Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade
WHEN: December 16th-20th
WHERE: Newport Harbor
$$$: 15 and up

So this isn’t technically the 12th day of Christmas, but it is in Ghettogloss land. Tonight is the final night of their holiday art show, and after 12 days of art work getting added to the list, this is the best night to attend! From 6pm-12am they will have a special closing party with Pullip dolls from Japan taking over. They are really creepy. Like, seriously, really freaking creepy. Look at those eyes! Imagine waking up next to one. Ok I will stop. Hopefully the art will distract you from said creepiness. Or maybe the Strawberry Shortcake Krispy Kreme & Egg Nogg reception? I vote yes.
_________________________
WHAT: Ghettogloss’s Twelve Days of Christmas
WHEN: Tuesday, December 15th @ 6pm-12am
WHERE: Ghettogloss
$$$: Free

We like to write up Bust Magazine’s annual holiday Craftacular, and this year is no exception. Taking place tomorrow at the Echoplex, the craftacular offers handmade gifts for sale from independent (most likely female) designers and crafters, as well as refreshments and music provided by Djs. Once again, we here at BoredLA encourage you to skip the Grove or the Promenade, and buy independent, and let’s face it, cooler gifts this season.

WHAT: BUST magazine Craftacular
WHEN: Saturday Dec. 12 10am-6pm
WHERE: Echoplex
$$$: 2 dollar entry/bring cash for gifts

Celebrate Christmas (or whatever it is you celebrate) in indie style at L.A. Record’s annual party, held this year at Bedrock rehearsal space in Echo Park, which is, apparently, like Disneyland for musicians. The party is all ages, but there will be complimentary Jaguar Spirits tequila for those of age, in addition to an appearance by the Frysmith truck- aka LA’s version of poutine. But what the party’s really all about is the music, I guess, which includes performances by Abe Vigoda, the Soft Pack, and Leslie and the Badgers, in addition to numerous DJs and “pop-up” record stores. There will be an all-vinyl dance party (yessss), pictures with Santa, live screen-printing, and just about every other happening you can imagine at a hipster music collective. Plus free valet parking. RSVP now to get in free (with a donation of a child’s toy) and show up early because the Bedrock ain’t that big.

WHAT: L.A. Record Christmas Party
WHEN: Saturday Dec. 19th, 8pm
WHERE: Bedrock, 1623 Allesandro at Glendale/Alvarado
$$$: free with RSVP and toy donation

Saturday is Repeal day, when President Roosevelt repealed the 18th amendment back in the day so we could get back to drinking, and many  bars will be having drink specials on whiskey and bourbon. One of the more interesting celebrations is the Edison’s repeal day skating party. $25 tickets include ice skating in Pershing Square with complimentary hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts, and Christmas cookies, and then you can walk back to the Edison to sample a part of their barrel of seasonal blend Woodford Reserve bourbon, which has more spice and cinnamon. Yum! There will be more food and drinks offered, of course, and eggnog!

WHAT: The Edison’s Repeal Day Celebration
WHEN: Sat. Dec. 5th 6pm
WHERE: Pershing Square/the Edison downtown
$$$: 25

It’s only in it’s second year, but it’s the talk of the town: The Unique L.A. Independent Design and Gift Sale is happening again this weekend. It is THE place to buy holiday gifts for all of your friends and family. Not only will you find really great gifts, but you will also be supporting local and independent artists (over 300 to be exact!). Some people may be turned off by the raised entry fee, but it’s only $10 and it gets you unlimited access to both days of the event, a tote bag from Sheperd Fairey’s comany, a free drink ticket, and access to some really fun workshops through out the day. There will be a special “green room” featuring 50 eco-friendly designers, two cafes so you can spend your day with Unique L.A. (you won’t want to leave), and the workshops will be on book-binding, ornaments, and recycled products. And to top it off, a portion of the proceeds will go to LA’s coolest non-profit, 826LA.
_____________________
WHAT: Unique Los Angeles Gift Sale
WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, December 5th & 6th @ 11am-6pm
WHERE: California Market Center
$$$: $10