Real Places

Getting Airborne at Burbank

If LAX were a city, then Burbank Airport would be Mayberry. Small, friendly, and with easy access to most of the studios, Hollywood, downtown, and the San Fernando Valley, this modest airport at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains makes flying almost bearable.

Little known to most Angelenos, Burbank Airport (renamed Bob Hope Airport in 2003), has been around since 1930. At the time of construction-dollar, it was the primary airport for the greater L.A. region and the first multi-million-dollar airport in the country. Over the last seven decades the airport has hardly grown, which is part of its appeal. There are only two terminals, two baggage claims, and a small parking structure for short-term parking. This fall, a new valet pick-up center will open, making it even easier to get in and out of the airport.

I recommend Burbank Airport to everyone flying into L.A., especially in mid-winter when views above the runway can span the snow-capped peak of Mt. Baldy to the sparkling Pacific Ocean. Of course, upon landing you're in Burbank, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I like to whisk my guests south on the 5 Freeway for a quick stop at Griffith Park (even burned to a crisp it's impressive) or a drive through lovely Los Feliz. If your guests are open to taking public transportation, direct them to the Metrolink and Amtrak stop just south of the airport. A pleasant half-hour trip to Union Station in downtown L.A. offers unparallel views of the mighty L.A. River. See Burbankairport.com.

-Allison Milionis

[Real Skating]

Space Is the Place

One of the great fun fads of the 1970s was roller-skating. There was nothing new about it, but when upscale rinks like Flippers on La Cienega sprang up, blasting cutting-edge pop music of the day, skating suddenly went way beyond mildly social exercise. A whole vocabulary of skate moves was created to turn it into dancing on wheels. Synchronized groups of scantily-clad skaters of all genders were a regular sight at Venice Beach. Now there's only one roller rink in Los Angeles proper.

Most every night at World on Wheels (4645 1/2 Venice Blvd., 323-933-3333), the skating is hard and fast. It's no place for amateurs or even casual skaters. But on the fourth Saturday of every month, the rink hosts Space Is the Place, a celebration of roller disco. Club kids, rather than the hardcore track crowd, take over, and the atmosphere welcomes all levels of skaters.

In 2001, DJs Dennis and Rodi of Good Foot! dance club began the informal skate night, and its popularity shows no sign of flagging. These days, Dennis and Riley More of Bang! spin the choicest electro-boogie from, roughly, '79 to '81. Rick James, the S.O.S. Band, Cameo, the Gap Band, Egyptian Lover, the Dazz Band, and old-school hip hop blare through the cavernous building. Newer stuff by the Beasties and Yeah Yeah Yeahs surface in the mix as well. For a carefree night of physical fun, Space Is the Place helps you recall a time when a good pair of skates was your prized possession.

-Kirk Silsbee

[Real Outdoors]

Secret Hiking Path

L.A. is blessed with hiking trails, practically in the center of the city (wherever that is). Those at Griffith Park are the most famous, but many of the park's trails have been closed because of the recent fire. Plenty of hikers also flock to Runyon or Franklin canyons, south of Mulholland.

Less known, although not to its immediate neighbors, is a fascinating network of trails north of Mulholland, just south of Studio City. The area offers panoramic views of the San Fernando Valley and its neighboring mountains and leads through some surprisingly lush (and non-native) flora.

Perhaps part of the PR problem is the branding. The Betty Dearing Trail winds across these slopes, but most people who use it either don't know its name or hesitate to say, "Let's go hiking on Betty Dearing," which might sound rude.

Instead, they're likelier to identify their destination as "TreePeople," "Fryman Canyon," or "Wilacre Park." All of these are portals into the Dearing Trail experience.

The Wilacre Park entrance, on Fryman Road just off Laurel Canyon Boulevard, offers the most parking, some of it in a recently enlarged lot with a $1 fee. It's the best entrance if you want to begin with a steep ascent - and end with a trip to Trader Joe's.

If you enter at TreePeople, near Coldwater Canyon and Mulholland, you can also visit the conservation organization's nature center, which offers an especially kid-friendly trail and periodic moonlight hikes. However, the center is currently undergoing construction, and the parking lot will be closed for about three months, beginning around the winter holidays.

"Fryman Canyon" often refers to the top of the canyon, at the Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook off Mulholland - the best place to begin hiking with a view and a descent.

You can navigate the entire area in a loop, with no backtracking. The east route between Pohl Overlook and Wilacre Park, not

technically part of Betty Dearing Trail, is the fastest way between the bottom and the top. But it's also the most poorly marked and the least interesting link in the loop. It requires walking the entire length of Fryman Road, with houses on each side. Unless you're a residential lookie-loo, it's not as scenic as the route that leads past the TreePeople area.

I prefer the pretense that I've left L.A. behind. That's what you get from Betty Dearing Trail's better parts.

-Don Shirley

[Real Peace]

Vets' Garden of Eden

While other farmers markets are better known in the Southland, none can match the bounty and beauty of the Westwood Farmers Market, situated in the West Los Angeles VA campus every Thursday afternoon from noon to 7 p.m. Nestled in the 14-acre Vets' Garden, the market has more than 30 farmers and vendors on the luscious fruit-tree- and rose-bush-covered grounds under towering century-old trees. Unlike scorching-hot Hollywood's or foggy Santa Monica's farmers markets, the weather is temperate, music is live, parking is free, and the tranquil grounds allow for an amble back in time.

The Vets' Garden provides veterans with rehabilitation, employment, and training programs, and a pretty place to chill on land deeded to our soldiers in perpetuity from an 1888 land grant. Staffed by horticulturists and volunteers, and supervised by an occupational therapist, the VA program is open daily to patients of the VA medical center who have been referred by a vocational rehabilitation specialist.

The market offers a kaleidoscope of leafy green vegetables, multicolored spuds, and more berries and fruits than West Hollywood. Sausages, fresh flowers, bread, and cheeses galore contribute to the fragrance of blooming trees and freshly tilled dirt. The second and fourth Thursdays of the month feature arts and crafts vendors.

Westwood Farmers Market is perfect for an outdoor lunch or early dinner with plenty of reasonably priced Greek, Cajun, and Mexican food. Dessert arrives piping-hot from the oven with agave-nectar-sweetened rhubarb, apple, pear, and peach cobblers made from fresh fruit. A pleasant reminder of what Los Angeles was like before the teeming masses arrived. See Westwood FarmersMarket.com.

-Michael Collins

[Real Culture]

Getting Historic

Got a hankerin' to reach your inner Mexican and didn't at that torpid Marc Anthony concert? Wanna know more about your white Valley roots than you can learn from your brother's Van Halen collection? No problem, because SoCal has plenty of ways to step back in time for all the Juans and Julietas, Dirks and Dawns.

Pio Pico State Historic Park, home of the historic adobe "El Ranchito," is located in Whittier off the 605 Freeway east of downtown L.A. Carved from its original 8,891 acres, the palm-studded ranch is one of the oldest state parks, established in 1927. During Pico's 93 years, Southern California was under the Spanish, Mexican, and American flags. This soldier, businessman, and ranchero became governor of California before dying nearly penniless in 1894, but he's remembered richly with his boulevard namesake.

Nowadays, the park is ground zero for Mexican Independence Day (September 15), when more firecrackers will explode and more beer will be covertly consumed than anywhere else in the city. Living History Days are October 27 and November 27, with guided tours of the ranch conducted by historically costumed docents. They'll feature adobe and bread-making demonstrations, Mexican music, and kids' activities.

The San Fernando Valley's Los Encinos State Historic Park, in Encino, like duh, also has living history days: September 16, October 21, and November 18. The lovely five-acre park has a natural spring that once supplied the Tongva tribe, who lived at the site for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Today, the waters are a duck magnet and the grounds perfect for picnicking, weddings, and communing with a lovely remnant of Valley nature. See PioPico.org and Los-Encinos.org.

-Michael Collins

[Real Neighborhood]

Del Mar Livin'

Some "cool" neighborhoods can be seen on any hipster-tourist map - Koreatown, downtown, Culver City - and others reveal themselves slowly, once you stop the car and go a-wanderin'. Such are the semi-hidden pleasures of the Del Mar Corridor, a cracked and tagged stretch of West Pico Boulevard (roughly between Hauser and La Brea) dominated by faded furniture stores, faceless sound studios, and mom-'n'-pop auto shops. But look closer: Del Mar is in transition from pre-gentrified soup to a neighborhood that has crystallized around its multi-ethnic identity - from the old Jewish men waddling out of the City Spa (5325 W. Pico Blvd., 323-933-5954) after a good shvitz to the authentic French bakers at La Maison du Pain (5373 W. Pico Blvd., 323-934-5858) to hawkers selling T-shirts of African-American Betty Boops (tag line: "Got Chocolate?") in the parking lot of Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles (5006 W. Pico Blvd., 323-934-4405).

One could arguably pinpoint the beginning of this quiet renaissance to April 4, 2003, when the gorgeous cobalt blue and yellow neon sign over the Art Moderne Del Mar Theater (5036 W. Pico Blvd.) was relit to its original pre-World War II glory as part of the Pico Boulevard Restoration Project. The movie palace itself isn't open, but, along with the bizarre Modernist Love Boat design of the GAM Arts Center (4974 W. Pico Blvd.) across the street, the sign provides a good visual anchor for an area that admittedly is still a bit dodgy: One is occasionally greeted by the sight of flashing police lights and those disconcerting yellow ropes of police line - do not cross tape. But the cops may just be popping by to sample the greasy wares of Oki Dog (5056 W. Pico Blvd., 323-938-4369), including its notorious titular dish: two hot dogs and a fistful of pastrami welded together with melted cheese and stuffed into a flour tortilla. If you're too ashamed to eat it in public, go next door to The Cottage (5050 W. Pico Blvd., 323-935-5540) - they'll let you eat your food in there without confiscation or horrified looks. First opened in 1955, the Cottage has long been the watering hole for the local working-class African-American community - with some poetic justice, its parking lot was used in the film White Men Can't Jump. It contains my all-time favorite L.A. bartender - Victor "Big Vic" McLaughlin - who tells great stories about hanging out at Sly Stone's mansion in the early '70s and keeps the street at bay with a velvet-gloved iron hand. By night, it is a good place to catch a Lakers game or enjoy the pre-show crowds that stop in for a nip before heading down the street to Enss Mitchell's Comedy Union (5040 W. Pico Blvd., 323-934-9300). A tiny cigar box housed in what was once a dentist's office, it's arguably the premier club in the city for African-American comics, with occasional drop-ins by Chris Tucker, Patrice O'Neal, Mike Epps, and D.L. Hughley.

For a theatergoing experience so different you might get the bends, there's the new location of Theatre/Theater (5041 W. Pico Blvd., 323-954-9795), where you can catch Sondheim Unscripted or A Story for Vanya.

There are even shopping options one might not expect: check out Red Xotic Intimates (5011 W. Pico Blvd., #B, 323-932-9384) for lingerie, Hip Hop West (5003 W. Pico Blvd., 323-935-2181) for everything baggy and oversized, and Darren's Unique Gifts (5406 W. Pico Blvd., 323-965-8181) for South Park or Simpsons chess sets. And, lo, there are not one but two interesting record shops: Reggae Taz Records (5080 W. Pico Blvd., 323-525-3101) specializes in everything Jah, and stocks hundreds of 78s from all corners of the globe; 33third (5011 W. Pico Blvd., 310-694-3460), located in the old Martin's Records space, is a DJ-friendly beat shop that caters to the graffiti crowd with a wide selection of paint cans and even a massive multi-part tome called The History of L.A. Graffiti Art.

If Oki Dog isn't your thing, there's foodie options galore: the venerable Maurice's Snack 'n' Chat (5549 W. Pico Blvd., 323-931-3877) and the aforementioned Roscoe's for primo soul food; La Bodeguita de Pico (5047 W. Pico Blvd., 323-937-2822) for high-end Cuban food and potent mojitos by the fireplace; Sky's Gourmet Tacos (5408 W. Pico Blvd., 323-932-6253) for Cajun crawfish tacos, Pico Ranch Market (5151 W. Pico Blvd., 323-930-1670) for fresh fruit or iced horchata, Rubio's Bakery (4972 W. Pico Blvd., 323-938-4069) for top-notch milhoja cakes; or Wi Jammin Caribbean Restaurant (5103 W. Pico Blvd., 323-965-9809) for mouth-zapping jerk chicken.

-Matthew Duersten

REAL ARTS

[Real Jazz]

Salon Salvation

Maybe the best music experience I had last year was pianist Tamir Hendelman's piano recital in David Andersen's Mar Vista backyard. On a fall Sunday afternoon, the prodigiously gifted Hendelman explored more facets to his playing than most pianists commonly show in several settings. He ruminated on standards, originals, and classical pieces, each taken for its own intrinsic values. It was a stunning display of virtuosity in a lovely performance space.

In one form or another, jazz salons have been a part of the Los Angeles landscape since the Central Avenue rent parties of the 1930s. Always informal, they often happened on the spur of the moment, timed to the arrival of a famous visiting musician like piano god Art Tatum or bebop avatar Charlie Parker. Doris Duke held a series of famous gatherings in the '50s at her Falcon Lair home in Hollywood. In the past 10 years or so, the idea of ongoing salons, presided over by knowledgeable fans on a regular basis, has taken hold. One of the very best is Andersen's Atelier piano jazz series.

He's a renowned restorer and seller of vintage pianos, and the few lucky artists to receive an Atelier showcase play on what they say are incredible instruments. A nice buffet lunch is provided, and the sunlit backyard is a sculpture garden. It showcases the figure work of sculptor Tanya Ragir, Andersen's fiancé and partner.

Andersen dutifully videotapes and records his recitals, and Hendelman returns for a Sept. 23 performance. Like a day at your favorite secluded beach, a Sunday afternoon at the Atelier amounts to a quintessential Southern California experience. See Davidandersenpianos.com.

-Kirk Silsbee

[Real Books]

Urban Reading

Like Eso-Won Bookstore in Leimert Park, the 16-year-old Zahra's Books 'N' Things (900 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, 310-330-1300 or Zahrasbooksandthings.com) is African American-owned and specializes in religion, literature, and history - a good chunk of it from indie presses. It stocks biggies like James Baldwin, Michael Eric Dyson, and Nikki Giovanni alongside cult writers like Octavia E. Butler and Sam Delany. But there's also a wide range of pulp lit, from prolific erotica author Zane (who, like Stephen King, has apparently never suffered one minute of writer's block) and "high priestess of the 'hood" Nikki Turner to such titles as The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman and Gangsta Jake: The End Result of a Snitch. I go to Zahra's to bolster my collection from Holloway House, a pioneering black-owned press that has been operating in L.A. since 1959, churning out classics like Pimp, Daddy Cool, Mama Black Widow, and Ghetto Sketches - books so searing and gritty they'd make Chester Himes loosen his necktie. Zahra's even has a good "Local Authors" section and a fascinating collection of African art personally imported by owner Renee Mends-Cole. Tucked into a Ralphs parking lot and guarded by a giant ceramic shrimp (from the adjacent La Brea Grill), Zahra's is low-key but worth a visit.

-Matthew Duersten

[Real Band Camp]

Little Radio Playtime

It's another sluggish summer Sunday afternoon in East Los Angeles. You're bored and, shockingly enough, you don't feel like driving for 45 minutes and looking for parking for another 30 just to get a little aquatic relief. Instead you drive downtown and, like a shimmering mirage in your desert of boredom, Little Radio Summer Camp appears on the horizon. Tucked away on a quiet street in the industrial district just southeast of downtown, the headquarters of the much-more-than-just-a-music-website Littleradio.com transform into a mini-Babylon every Sunday afternoon, all summer long.

With a lush carpeting of mini-golf-course grass, chaise lounges, a DJ, and plastic canopies, what was once a drab asphalt parking lot becomes the perfect vantage point from which to observe your fellow campers embarrass themselves playing ping-pong or badminton. You might choose do this while enjoying a drink from the open bar, perhaps accompanied by a tasty brisket or veggie burger from the barbecue area. Once finished, you can cool off in Summer Camp's lovely circular pool, or its inflatable, 15-foot, fantastically bouncy water slide. As if that weren't enough, inside the Little Radio offices, campers can watch several Little Radio-endorsed local bands tear shit up on a quite respectable stage and set-up from a Troubadour-sized pit. Yes, you're allowed to come in sopping wet, in your bathing suit, holding your drink or food or both. All of this, folks, for the bargain price of $10 (brisket not included).

With its mixture of kid fun and big-kid fun, Summer Camp lets you revel in the childhood glories of playing all day, with the adult benefits of autonomy and independence. Want to jump in the water without waiting a half hour after eating? Go ahead. Want to go down the slide 17 more times? No one's standing in your way (except for a couple of real children, who are lightweight and easy to shove aside). Want to ask a lot of rhetorical questions? That's okay, too. Yes, my fellow sweaty Angelenos, at Little Radio Summer Camp, you can have your metaphorical cake - unlimited (as long as you behave - the one essential maturity caveat) drinks, fine local bands, great food, and all-around fun-in-the-sun - and eat it, too.

-Ayse Arf

REAL EVENTS

[Real Reenactment]

The Battle of Los Angeles

"It was huge; it was just enormous, and it was practically right over my house," said the air-raid warden in later testimony during World War II's darkest days. "It was just hovering there in the sky and hardly moving at all. It was a lovely pale orange and about the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. I could see it perfectly because it was very close. It was big!"

If the cover photo of the February 25, 1942, Los Angeles Times is any indication, the nine spotlights trained on a huge object over Culver City that couldn't be shot down revealed a UFO terrorizing war-jittery Angelenos. At 2:25 p.m. the preceding day, flying objects were seen above the city, triggering air-raid sirens and a blackout for fear of a Japanese attack. At 3:16 p.m., anti-aircraft guns opened up on what was described as high-flying red and silver objects zooming over the basin, with one giant UFO slowly moving over the Westside toward Santa Monica, then southeast to Long Beach. By the end of the firing at 4:14 a.m. the next morning, more than 1,400 12.8-pound shells had been fired at the mystery airships but had no effect, other than killing at least six people and burning structures to the ground.

Within hours of the raid, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox held a press conference and declared the incident a "false alarm" due to "war nerves." Whatever it was, the Great L.A. Air Raid Event of 1942 is held annually in February at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, where much of the defense against these alien marauders took place. Hundreds of revelers, costumed in authentic 1940s fashion, drink and dance the night away until those pesky UFOs show up and the party blacks out as the sky lights up in anti-aircraft shelling and fireworks. See FtMac.org or call (310) 548-2631.

-Michael Collins

[Real War Stories]

Get Your War On

Every fall comes a bevy of bombastic events that blow away folks like me and my gun-lovin'gal: war reenactments. The Marching Thru History Exposition at the Prado Regional Park in Chino, October 21-22, is billed as an "educational tribute." It's also a chance to see warriors through the ages go at it without actually killing each other. Nearly 1,000 "historical interpretive specialists" - in other words, dudes dressed up as soldiers, sailors, and scallywags from different periods of world history - shoot, shell, and stab each other for their and our satisfaction.

Watch as the English Navy, using their Jolly Boats, sweeps ashore and kidnaps Colonial-era Americans to serve as slaves - one of the reasons for the War of 1812, in which we whipped British butt after they torched our White House. Or enjoy watching trench warfare from World War I like the Verdun and Sommes River battles that saw 500,000 soldiers slaughtered in three days. Educational, indeed. (Info: Marchingthruhistory.com.)

If you're hankering for the best Southern California reenactment of our bloodiest conflict, the Civil War, head to Moorpark November 10-11 to "The Blue and the Gray - Frontal Assault!" hosted by the Richmond Howitzer Battalion. Five battles, including one blazing into the night, add to the festivities, as Americans butcher each other with a vengeance, rewarding by the sight of the Confederate Army's Gen. Robert E. Lee laying down the sword for good at Appomattox. Some wars are worth fighting. (Info: Forttejon.org/moorpark.)

-Michael Collins

[Real Champion]

L.A. Man Wins World Moustache Award

Earlier this month, Alexander Antebi, a young Jewish man from Los Angeles, came out of left field to beat the Germans and the rest of the European old guard of the World Beard and Moustache Championships at their own game.

With long hair and a waxed handlebar moustache four years in the making, Antebi, 26, became the youngest, and the first American, to win the imperial moustache title at the championships, held September 1 in Brighton, England. He is also the first Jewish moustache champion in history, a title which, like most competitive beard and moustache categories, has long been dominated by Germans.

He spoke proudly about his newfound celebrity after the biennial event, which was covered by MTV Europe, CBS, the BBC, and Time. "I didn't expect that my facial hair would get me all this press," said Antebi, a fashion entrepreneur and musician who grew up in Bel-Air and who describes himself as a being "stuck in antiquity."

About 200 people crowded into the sold-out spectacle, where Antebi bonded with Günter Rosin, a German multiple-championship winner who would soon become his moustache mentor. Rosin taught him an age-old Bavarian moustache styling secret - beer.

In competitive beard and moustache circles, a world that Antebi describes as "extreme facial flamboyance and dandyism," contestants drink beer with a straw and often avoid eating, to keep their well-groomed moustaches intact. "Eating soup is a nightmare, and the combination of my long hair and moustache also makes kissing difficult at times," says Antebi.

He plans to compete again in two years, when the championships go to Anchorage, Alaska, and he expects to enter the same category. "But you never know. You might catch me in a Hungarian."

-Daniel Harju