Today over on Los Angeles, I’m Yours, we have our Featured Interview with Media Temple’s Creative Director and Creative Mornings Los Angeles Organizer, Jon Setzen. We sat down with Jon in his studio, which he shares with his wife, artist Mindy Markowitz, in Silver Lake. He’s a recent LA transplant who has lived everywhere from San Francisco to London to Vancouver to, most recently, New York City. Our conversation revolves around music, design, and what makes Los Angeles city special to him.

You can read the full story here.

KYLE

It’s possible that some of you don’t realize that I live in Los Angeles. I think I speak about it a lot, and I even started a blog to celebrate it, but it still may not be clear. It’s an interesting city to live in, and even more interesting to write about. I’ve been here for 6 years now, my anniversary is a week after my birthday, so it’s easy to remember.

There’s a vibe to the city which I’ve had a hard time putting my finger on, though I think that Geoff Manaugh may have hit the nail on the head. Geoff wrote a post back in 2007 called Greater Los Angeles which has been making the rounds with my friends over the week, and it certainly struck a chord with me. As I read it I was laughing with glee because of how true it is. Here’s my favorite part:

The whole thing is ridiculous. It’s the most ridiculous city in the world – but everyone who lives there knows that. No one thinks that L.A. “works,” or that it’s well-designed, or that it’s perfectly functional, or even that it makes sense to have put it there in the first place; they just think it’s interesting. And they have fun there.
And the huge irony is that Southern California is where you can actually do what you want to do; you can just relax and be ridiculous. In L.A. you don’t have to be embarrassed by yourself. You’re not driven into a state of endless, vaguely militarized self-justification by your xenophobic neighbors.

Los Angeles isn’t for everyone, it’s certainly the place for me though. Take 3 minutes to read his post, you can see the full thing by clicking here.

Bobby

Los Angeles is obviously my favorite place in the world, so videos like the ones above are like candy to me. Colin Rich went around the city shooting some beautiful time lapse photography in all kinds of place, high and low, safe and illegal (like the Hollywood sign, which you’re not allowed to get very close to). I’m pretty sure I can even see my apartment complex in the video, so that’s always fun as well. All in all it took six months to shoot all the video, and he used a ton of different pieces of fancy tech to make it all happen. For those of you curious, here’s the equipment he used:

Shot with a 5D MK II and a 7D. Zeiss 35, 50 1.4, 85 1.2, Canon 15mm, 24mm, 24-105, 70-300mm,MOCA Kessler Cineslider, revolution head, and various DIY contraptions I’ve built for zoom motor control.

I also thought he wrote a nice note at the end of the video saying, “Shooting time lapses is a labor of love and a study in patience.”

Bobby

I had the pleasure to be apart of another issue of Afterzine, the infrequently published art magazine that’s run by my good buddy, Hamish Robertson. This issue centers around Los Angeles, which I have lots to say about, but here’s what Hamish had to say:

“What began as a single-section issue with invited interpretations of “coincidence” by chance evolved into an exploration of the city of Los Angeles—a place I had mistakenly assumed to be lacking in happy accidents.”

The issue features a ton of creative people involved like Mike Mills, Miranda July, Zooey Deschanel, Andrew Andrew, Ben Jones, Peter Mendelsund and lots more. From these previews I’d definitely say it’s going to be a great read.

Kyle and I actually contributed together, putting together a map of our 10 favorite places in Los Angeles. We’re pretty opinionated, and we tend to frequent a lot of local places. I thought it would be fun to release our map as a wallpaper this week, since I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Everything was hand-painted by myself and then put into Photoshop to be tweaked.

But, in order to see why we love these places, you’re going to have to buy the issue. They’re only $10, and worth every penny. And just to reiterate, if you’re in Los Angeles on Friday, be sure to stop by the launch party at Skylight Books, more details can be found here.

Bobby

About six or seven years ago, maybe more, I bought a t-shirt from the Giant Robot store on Sawtelle, it featured the words Cookie’s Surf Shop with a simple drawing of a female surfer. I didn’t really know anything about it, only that the line work seemed so perfect, a mixture of times gone by with a sense of modernity. It turns out the shirt was based off a painting by Margaret Kilgallen. The saddest part is that she had already passed away from cancer.

When I think of the story of Margaret Kilgallen it makes me incredibly sad. Only in her early 30′s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer… while she was also pregnant with her husband Barry McGee. In order for their daughter, named Asha, to survive, Margaret forwent chemo therapy, sacrificing her own life for that of her unborn daughters. It’s a sad and tragic story that I feel should never be forgotten, because she was not only completely unselfish, she was one of the most incredible artists from the Beautiful Losers movement.

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing her work at the opening of Art in the Streets, one I chose to truly relish. I sat back and soaked it in, absorbing the way she drew people and the curves in her type. I sat there thinking of all the time it took her to hang paint each of these panels, and how beautiful it all looks as a complete thought. It saddens me that the world has lost such a brilliant artist, but I always look on the bright side and think of how glad I am that she was here at all.

Check out the photo gallery below, and if you have the chance, visit Art in the Streets so you can see her brilliant work in person. If you’re in San Francisco, there’s also some of her pieces up right now at Ratio 3, you can get more information here.

Bobby

In two weeks I’ll be co-hosting the launch of the second issue of Aftezine, and everyone is invited. It takes place at Skylight Books, hands down my favorite bookstore in Los Angeles, on July 8th from 7 to 9 PM. There will also be free goodies thanks to BabyCakesNYC.

The next issue centers around the theme of Los Angeles, and the list of contributors is pretty amazing:

Andrew Andrew, Ashley Avignone, Zooey Deschanel, Diane Birch, Kyle Fitzpatrick, Jody Godoy, Christina Gregory, EA Hanks, Christy Harrison, Laura Havlin, Emily Hopgood, Catherine Ireton, Ben Jones, Miranda July, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Thessaly La Force, Peter Mendelsund, Mike Mills, Maud Newton, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Pamela Ribon, Hamish Robertson, Sophia Rossi, Mordechai Rubinstein, Bobby Solomon, Sadie Stein, Emma Straub, Natalia Stuyk, Andi Teran, Tamio Teshima, Phillip Toledano, Tina Tyrell and Wolfe von Lenkiewicz.

If you’re in Los Angeles on July 8 please come and hang out, it should be a great time.

Bobby

Photo by Lesley Balla

Photo by The Minty

One of the perks of living in Los Angeles – besides all the stereotypes like great weather, beautiful people and Californian beauty – is that variety is really garden-variety. More specifically, the city draws on so many cultures and influences that amalgamations of taste, style and culture are not a surefire way to be recognized or noticed. Variety is almost commonplace. Hardwork and talent rise to the top. People even work hard to be weird here. And in this hyper competitive culinary city, restauranteurs of all types will pull out any stop necessary, weird or otherwise.

Culver City, a section of West Los Angeles, has undergone a thirty year revitalization. The area surrounding the long-defunct Helms Bakery has been renovated into a hotbed of shopping and eating for the current batch of young professionals. Twenty Gauge, a vintage steel furniture store, is pressed next to the now iconic Fathers Office. The Fathers Office remains the paradigm of the American gastro-pub. Owner Sang Yoon made fresh, Californian-influenced versions of classic pub dishes and coupled them with the best local craft beers. It seems so obvious, but before this millenium… well, it wasn’t. Now in two locations, it is safe to call the Father’s Office a Los Angeles institution with a following in all corners of the city.

Several months ago Yoon opened a Southeast Asian restaurant called Lukshon, seemingly an entry into the culinary world of new fusion cuisine. Instead of updating popular dishes with new twists, Yoon (with the help of a talented bar manager and seasoned chefs) chose to blend the tastes and culinary styles of ALL of Southeast Asia into unique juxtapositions. Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Phillipines are all represented in their own unique way. With leather dining booths, a long bar with wines on tap and Prefuse 73 humming in the background, I was inclined to wonder if the food was as modern as the style.

The results are apparent, starting with the cocktails. The Hot & Sour Gimlet above began as a lime and basil vodka drink yet revealed a backloaded spice that demanded more sips. The Fujian Cure mixed 8 year old scotch with lapsang souchong tea (mixing scotch and tea is extremely popular in China nowadays), creating a smoky undercurrent to the citrus front.

Now onto the food.

The small and raw dishes were filled with surprises and presented in a pristine, austere fashion. They were to be enjoyed visually as well… Whodathunkit!? Spanish mackarel covered in a lemongrass and papaya slaw was a wonderfully soothing and inventive dish. Baby squid stuffed with a Thai sausage drizzled in a mint sauce was confoundingly worked without a hitch. The tentacles were light, and crispy… and I wish I had a bag of them with me right now. Duck Popiah (A Fujian-based spring roll) was drenched in Hoisin sauce, almost a Southeast Asian take on the bbq sandwich. Chicken drummetes were marinated in Indonesia soy sauce spiced with Sichuan salt. They were epic little bites of chicken splendor, a modern spin on the now overdone and generic chicken wing.

As an entree we had the market fish, a whole Red Sea Bream garnished with black bean ghee. With my meager yet efficient fileting skills, I managed to procure more than a few tasty morsels of a fish cooked with care but without excess. Yet the show was stolen by the most unlikely of stars: brussel sprouts, lightly fried in a soy sauce with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. It quickly became apparent that the little secrets of Lukshon were its weapons: Candied ginger accompanying the Fujian Cure, mint sauce with the squid, the homemade XO sauce in the rice.

At some point in this evening I was given a taste of some Indian whiskey. I’m not going to divulge much about this whiskey except its smooth vanilla flavor at start and a smoky bite that resembled a Maccallan 18 or any rare scotch. I will find it… somewhere.

My lovely dining companion, tapped out from such wonderous variety, managed to find some room to try the complimentary desserts. Sorbets paired with cakey shortbreads and delicate panna cotta fell into our gullets. I fell for the raspberry sorbet with graham cracker bits on top of sweet potato panna cotta, she gravitated towards the mango sorbet with coconut panacotta.

What struck me about Lukshon was how familiar yet dispirate flavors melded together in a way that almost anyone could eat it. Individually, the components could strike people as weird… but it is all the hardwork that makes. it. work.

Satisfaction was guaranteed early but it’s the little things that add up. Lukshon has plenty.

Lukshon
3239 Helms, Culver City, California

Alec

Gary Baseman recreated his wonderful Giggle and Pop! performance to kick-off the 2011 Culver City Artwalk. The characters danced up and down Washington Blvd making everyone from bikers to small children feel happy and warm. If you played with or hugged one of the pink Chou Chou’s, a girl in a bright dress would give you a Gary Baseman bandana and original piece of stencil artwork created by a Culver City high-school student under his supervision.

It was the absolute best way to start off the walk, because it got everyone to giggle away the pretensions that go along with viewing pricey paintings. The only thing was, we couldn’t get the infectious Chou Chou melody by Carina Round out of heads and found ourselves, grown men at that, singing it along the city streets.

Daniel

The Ryan McGinness opening at The Standard, Hollywood for WOMEN: THE BLACKLIGHT PAINTINGS was on a whole other level. His fluorescent pieces on the walls of the Purple Lounge were absolutely incredible and when you weren’t transfixed by their psychedelic glare, there were five glowing strippers pole-dancing. I mean, nothing beats a stripper at an art opening, especially one with giant day-glow lashes and a spade tramp-stamp. Even better than all of that was experiencing McGinness’ book Aesthetic Comfort in ultra-violet light because it made the pages look completely vibrant and almost animated. Like at all of the past five openings, guests were given a free poster designed specifically for the event.

The cast of characters at the party included curators, actors, actresses, writers, directors, and wonderfully creative designers and artists – but my favorite people were a couple who met on the set of an erotic science-fiction film. They told me that their first scene together involved multiple stab wounds to the vaj, so I guess it’s only uphill from there.

McGinness will be doing his final stunt in L.A. on June 11th at Subliminal Projects from 8pm-11pm, where he won’t be exhibiting artwork, but rather a representation of all his sponsors – the size of each logo based on the corporation’s contribution.

Check out the NSFW video of the fluorsecent strippers in action, below.

Daniel

Yesterday Kyle and I had the opportunity to see a sneak peak of the upcoming Tim Burton exhibition at the LACMA’s new Resnick Pavilion, which opens to the public on Sunday, May 29. The exhibit is a retrospective of Burton’s career, starting with his early work as a kid growing up in Burbank and how he slowly became the creative genius we know today. The exhibit is filled with a mix of everything like paintings, sculptures, videos, short films, movie props and even a huge, black light installation.

My favorite part was seeing all of the old drawings and sketches he did when he was younger. You can totally tell that he was really bored when he was growing up, and channeled this boredom into art. But so many of these little drawings were the seeds of ideas, which would eventually translate into larger ideas, some even progressing into characters in his films.

There were also a ton of movie related sketches and items such as Jonny Depp’s costume from Edward Scissorhands, 3 Batman mantles and even the eyeballs used for Large Marge from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Another awesome part was The Nightmare Before Christmas section which contained about a dozen maquettes from the movie and about two dozen Jack Skellington heads. I’m a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas so I was totally nerding out in this section.

I really liked the show overall, but Kyle mentioned that the exhibit could have been way more creative overall. Maybe they could have ran it during Halloween? Or maybe they could have made the experience more interactive and less… a standard exhibit. Especially after seeing Art In The Streets so recently, it’s hard not to make a comparison. Nonetheless, if you’re as big of a fan of Tim Burton’s work as I am you’ll still love this show.

Under the cut I’ve posted 71 more photos from the show, so if you don’t live in L.A. or don’t plan on visiting in the next 3 months, you’ll get a good taste of what the show was all about. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Bobby