today is the greatest

First, I want to acknowledge the official day of Mardi Gras, and to wish an exceptionally festive and happy Mardi Gras to Maddie and Florentina who hosted a party this weekend in Westwood. Thanks for letting my friends crash at your place regularly, we all really appreciate it. Everyone who was there I hope had a lot of fun, and those of you that were not....you better show up next time. I have some very good pictures of the night (our dear friend Henry Kissinger made yet another cameo), but those will come later. Right now I must catch up with First Friday at the Natural History Museum, and some more photos of Los Angeles. 

Natural History Museum hosts a show with KCRW the first Friday of every month for spring/summer. Last Friday was Yeasayer (pronounced /ˈjeɪseɪ.ər// = yaysayer, or look it up) . Apparently they want you to buy tickets for things like this early, but being the natural slacker I am, I didnt. However, things worked out so that my lovely friend Cate from UCSC happened to know Chris (whom I also know from UCSC, and is also lovely!) had an extra ticket. Thus I met up with Cate, Chris and later Kami, Dylan, Jordan and Tim got there too. There's not very many digital pictures so far, due to the early demise of my small digital point and shoot. I know, Im an idiot, but I'll make due until I replace it. Film looks way better anyway.

Chris in traditional checking-my-iphone pose, Cate bringing some Santa Cruz to Noho and the Nat(ural history museum). 

girlfriend is better

this is why we make a good team. 

So far I really like all the people from Brooklyn I've met, and most of the music they make. 

Band was awesome. And very nice to meet after the show. Totally made my week. Oh yeah, and now for the thing that made my previous week, the Biltmore! Here's the promised vintage postcard. 

It's a postcard I got at the Santa Cruz Antique Fair. It was never sent, and the imagine does not have a date on it so I'm not sure what year it's from. That's kind of a bummer, because I was really interested in when Pershing Square looked as inviting as it does above. It actually looks like a cool green space across the street from the Biltmore, former site of the Oscars. What the hell happened in the meantime? I think I need a lesson or two in Los Angeles history. Ill let everyone know as soon as I get on that. Here's one more postcard I bought the same day. 

Im going to take a very similar photo for comparison purposes. 

Speaking of Santa Cruz though, the second Sunday of every month has been much less exciting because I no longer have to walk through the Antique Fair on my way to work. It was a good place to run into people, and to find some really cool things. However, if anyone wants to find out about and then take me to a good flea market or swap meet in L.A., I'm down to go whenever. I've also been digging public transportation recently, so I'm willing to bus/metro/spaceship it to the flea market location. 

So that's all from me for now. I promise an update as early as tomorrow, but who knows if I'll make it to Westwood or not. I want to end this post by giving a shout-out to Santa Clarita, and all the awesome people I've hung out with there. Who knew the valley of the The SFV could be just as much fun...This is what I'm talking about.

More about this guy later. 

Claudia

Needles to say, the previous weekend and this week have gone by way too fast. I just finished working on a student film (UCLA students have endangered my life on multiple occasions at this point), and now I'm finally catching up with my laundry, ironing my clothes, sending out mail, and talking on the phone with my friends. Blogging fits somewhere in this list, right in between getting my favorite pair of red pumps re-soled and taking the recycling out. On Wednesday, after a few days of getting my normal sleeping schedule back, I went on a nice drive with Dylan and we found a flying pig. A twin of the flying pig in Topanga Canyon. If you drive through Topanga Canyon you will know what I am talking about. Turns out there is one on Box Canyon Road too. Box Canyon is located off of Plummer (follow Plummer all the way north until it turns into Valley Circle Blvd., which splits into Box Canyon on the right. If one goes left, there's a very nice view of the Chatsworth Reservoir I believe.). Here's what Dylan and I found.

11:30 am. Bottle of wine still almost full. This bottle of wine did not end so well for me.
New Youth Correctional Center on Parthenia and Wilbur, right by the Metro Link/Dash Station. This is how I want Los Angeles County to rehabilitate its youth.

Box Canyon Road. Above is the Flying Pig.
Said Pig. A recent addition to this are the reflector eyes, and apparently this thing can also blow smoke out of its ass and snout.

Dome. Sat in it for a while.
Views from inside.

Surroundings

Artists responsible for the installations on Box Canyon Rd.
Chris, who came up with the ideas and sculpted the pieces.

Victor, who helped with the installations.

Chris and Victor told us a little bit about the objects in the area, and how they came to put up the pig in Topanga Canyon (I need to photograph it soon). We all hoped to meet again. I'm sure I'll go back during a Holiday or special event or something where Chris will make the pig breath fire. Either way, this is a valley spot definitely worth visiting again. Yay for flying pigs!

I have a few more posts to catch up with for the past week, including my time at the Natural History Museum on First Friday, and the rest of my valley adventures. Hopefully this week will give me more time to post. Until then, everyone be well and check back frequently!

Claudia

Valley Party Adventure

Although I promised to post more often, I have been out of touch for the past week-end because of this very party I am going to write about. It was so absolutely epic that it put me out of comission for the next couple of days. I'm used to UCSC last minute impromptu dance parties where only my good friends show up, and 1/3 of the play list through everyone is either too fucked up to dance or outside smoking ciggarettes. Shitty, right?

Valley parties are way different though. I've been to a few courtesy of Stefan since moving back to the SFV, but none of them were quite as "off-the-hook" as this one. This party had a full security team with intimidating men in suits standing around and staring down the rowdier party goers, an open bar (serving jungle juice and cheap beer) and even wristbands! 

But let me begin with the beginning... 

Here's how and why I have sworn off alcohol for the next 30 days (I'm dead serious). 

Kami and I decided to start off with a little pre-gaming. So we took swigs from the bottle of raspberry vodka Kami keeps in the trunk of her car, just in case...

x2

x2

Once pre-gaming was over, we went in. What we discovered was a fully decked out frat-house

hosting a glow in the dark Alice in Wonderland themed party. It kinda blew my mind....

A glow in the dark Wonderland filled with scantily clad and extremely intoxicated rabbits, jokers, playing cards, and just your average Valley guy and girl. The word "son" was flying around like nobody's business. 

The decor was awesome. Notice little glow in the dark Alice in between Kami's shoulder and shirtless dude. 

Frat dude in obligatory "pussy" hat. Where do I get one of those?

Kami's childhood friend who now belongs to the fraternity that hosted the event. 

Said CSUN Fraternity

I swear I was the only one wearing long-sleeves in the entire house. Hey, I dressed for the weather, not for the all the shirtless guys walking around trying to pick up chicks. Notice the two empty party cups in our hands. So, as soon as we get there, Kami suggested we chug the jungle juice before they run out. Three or four refills later, they weren't running out of booze any time soon and I was so completly blitzed I ended up taking off my shirt! Don't worry, I'm all about layering, so I had an undershirt on. Fortunatelly, there are no photos to document the rest of the night's events. Seriously though, I woke up with the meanest fucking hangover in hangover history. I really thought I was dying of something similar but much more vicious than the stomach-flu. My hangover symptons lasted through this morning (the chills, nausea, more nausea at the thought of drinking any type of alcohol). That's an entire 52 hours cursing the moment I thought it was a good idea to keep up with Kami's drinking while wondering what I could eat or drink in order to make me feel better. The only things that have worked so far have been Peptobismol and veggie subs from Quickie's Pizza on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Moorpark. Seriously, Im not drinking again for 30 days and even then I doubt I will have more than a couple of drinks. For the next month, I'll just have to resort to being the DD or the sober person that remembers every embarasssing thing said the night before. Suh-weet! 

Anyway, enough about my epic hang over. Here's more pics from the night. 

Kami - always the trooper- getting reading for her CSUN dance debut.

Dude in bright pink briefs dancing all up in my homegirl's grill.

Kami, you fucking rock!

So the rest of the night played out something like that, but I wouldn't have ever guessed since I was completely sauced. Thank god for digital photos. This was an epic night and an epic party, certainly one that does justice to Valley Parties in general and North of The Blvd's desire for endless fun/boozing/adventures. Fuck yeah! 

And one more thing,

I completely adore this girl, but never again will I try to keep up with her drinking pace.

Oh well, I learn something new every day! 

Until next time, where you will hear from whilst at the Biltmore Hotel in L.A., or possibly while I am on set again trying to kill time.

Where have I been?

I know that there have not been any updates in a while. I blame this on Jordan Menashe's failed promise to update (calling you out sister because you really need to post asap). Also, the truth is the crew and I have way more fun than we can blog about. So don't be worried if I go a few days without posting. It just means I'm out and about joy riding through the SFV with my windows down, blasting 97.1 fm (commercial free Mondays, fuck yeah!) and heading out to the next dive or whatever. Just kidding, I have real responsibilities too.

Here's a brief run through of events since the last time I updated. In the past week my experiences in the San Fernando Valley and beyond have called for photo-shoots, a sturdy umbrella, and potentially a trip to the eye doctor for me. Seriously, check this out. 

Jesse and I stumbled on this bad boy as we were leaving our friend Emily's house in the valley. This was in the early hours of the morning, so when I first laid eyes on this giant...rooster, I honestly thought I was tripping out, or that I needed a serious pair of glasses. I was startled but mostly amused to see a giant cock in someone's front yard.  The best part is that there's also a cow and other various but equally creepy items scattered around in this yard. Although the owners still had their christmas decorations up (like many other SFV residents, tsk tsk) I'm guessing this is permanent decor. This might have been the oddest discovery we made during our trip that night, but our adventures did not stop there. Jordan, Jesse and I decided to stay up and see the sunrise over the valley. We drove to a park at the top of Reseda Blvd at about 5 am-ish ready with warm coats and a blanket. In between the hours of about 4 to 6 am, before everyone starts going to work, Reseda Blvd is almost completely empty. It's very quiet and pretty eerie. So Jesse and I decided to enjoy this street while we had it all to ourselves. It felt post-apocalyptic, in the sense that all of those fucking cars and cops and people yapping away on their cellphones were absent.  

So what would I do if all Valley residents suddenly disappearred in the middle of the night? Let me play it out for you this way. 

Here's a very empty Reseda Blvd. So...

...I would obviously have a seat in the middle of the street and bring my camera.....

.....and invite Jesse Durkin so we can sit around and talk about profound shit.

Eventually we met up with Jordan. The sun came up over the mountains and the rest is history - the kind of history captured through my small digital cam. Excuse the low quality, but enjoy the view. 

Post sunrise, park antics ensued.

Co-northoftheblvd-blogger.

Co-northoftheblvd-adventurer and potential blogger.

Future Indie Band Photos start now.

But seriously guys, lets go home cuz its freezing!

Go team.

To come: special romanian food edition, new amazing cafe I tried in the valley, and more adventures in the 'burbs. 

See you on the flip side, oh and for god's sake! Jordan Menashe - get on the blogging train right now!