Real Best L.A.

South Carthay
Little Ethiopia
It is fun and delightful to sit on a patio – any patio; take your pick – in the sunshine and drink African beer and eat delicious food with your hands until you are so wide around they could make an African folk tale about you and the time you became so wide around that something really crazy happened and then you became a mosquito. Or maybe a lemur! The food? Sure, they claim it’s Ethiopian, and yet it’s almost totally the same as soul food: There’s pig’s feet and okra and if I remember right some oxtails, all in savory stews and sauces you mop up with your spongy bread, and then you drink more beer. Fairfax Avenue, south of Olympic. (RS) 

South Central
The Southern California Library
Hidden behind a rusty mural on a depressed stretch of Vermont Avenue is this “People’s library” with the self-described mission of “documenting and preserving the histories of communities in struggle for justice and using our collections to address the challenges of the present so that all people have the ability, resources, and freedom to make their own histories.” If you’re doing research into working-class movements in Southern California, retain a lively interest in radical politics, or want to read the complete works of the Hollywood Ten, this place will come as a complete surprise and revelation. Kept going through donations, the library hosts infrequent special events like book sales and the Southern California Anarchy Conference I covered for CityBeat last December. 6120 S. Vermont Ave., L.A., (323) 759-6063. socallib.org. (RG)

South Robertson
Michel Richard
The first time I tasted true pleasure in my life was when I was a kid and my foot got stuck in an elevator shaft. My dad felt bad for me, so he took me to Michel Richard for chocolate mousse after we got out of the emergency room. It’s a good thing this bistro is conveniently located just blocks away from Cedars-Sinai, because the pastries are to-die-for! But seriously, folks ... .

Lord knows L.A. does not suffer a chichi-bistro-eatery-and-pastry drought, and with the Ivy just up the street, Maison Richard faces stiff competition when it comes to iconic establishments. So what makes this place the best? While you may not see Paris Hilton perched atop a shabby-chic flowered pillow, you will most certainly see a French octogenarian or two, enjoying classic patisserie like napoleons, eclairs, or the rum baba. Also, you may not see Paris Hilton perched atop a shabby-chic flowered pillow.

We live in a city where illusion is everything, and for a lot of restaurants all show and no go seems to be their M.O. Not so at Michel Richard, where not a hint of pretension, not even from a French waiter, will spoil your appetite for pate. It may not be the best place to spy on Hollywood’s latest panty-less starlet pretending to eat a grilled-cheese sandwich, but when it comes to delicious, no-fuss, fancy French fare, Michel Richard gets as many votes as there are layers and flakes in a croissant. 310 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 275-5707. maisonrichard.com. (GP)

Studio City
Sportsmen’s Lodge
A good place, as Michael Moore once said of America itself, to get a thick, juicy steak, this famously sprawling establishment cultivates the conceit of being an Edenic watering hole for shooters and he-men. What it actually is (weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvah trade aside) is an old-school actor’s hangout with excellent food and the relaxed, mildly raffish atmosphere favored by thespians since Bacon didn’t write Shakespeare. The place has two gardens, along with clientele with lengthy rap sheets at imdb.com. I once saw the late Frank “The Riddler” Gorshin stagger out of the place, red-eyed and wreathed in an attar of Sambuca. Rather better behaved was my friend Michael Parks when I met the Grindhouse actor there for a long, liquid session while he pruned and fussed over the transcript of a multi-hour career interview we’d done. Admittedly, I was a more sedate drinking companion than Parks’s old buddy Robert Mitchum, who was given to roaring “Two more scotch-and-sodas or we set fire to the fuckin’ curtains!” at poky bar service when out on location. 12833 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 755-5000, sportsmenslodge.com. (RG)

 
Tarzana
Kevin Federline
Some years ago, my brilliant little brother Cakeyboy and I were in the car when he came up with the funnest game ever: “... or Kevin Federline.” It goes like this: Flavor Flav or Kevin Federline? The Nuge or Kevin Federline? Kobe Bryant or Kevin Federline? Trent Lott or Kevin Federline? The fugitive-rapist Max Factor heir or Kevin Federline? George W. Bush or Kevin Federline? Michael Moore or Kevin Federline? Andy Dick or Kevin Federline? Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kevin Federline? (Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Still, Kevin Federline is the best thing about Tarzana. Congratulations, Tarzana. (RS)$newpage

University Park
IMAX Theater
Exposition Park is either adjacent to, or part of, University Park, depending on whom you listen to. But who cares which? It’s right there, and it’s filled with cool stuff, like the Natural History Museum and the California African American Museum. But – for those of us who can only absorb things through movies – there is also the California Science Center, which has, among its attractions, the largest movie screen south of the hills, the IMAX Theater. If you’re looking for total submersion ... if you want to get a perspective on, say, Mick Jagger’s uvula that would usually be available only to something – we’re not speculating as to what – actually passing between the well-known singer’s exuberantly proportioned lips, this is the ticket. Of course, Stones concert films aren’t always playing. Right now, for instance, you’ll have to make do with Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs and Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure. Frankly, they sound a bit less disturbing. California Science Center, 700 State Dr., Exposition Park, (323) 724-3623. (AK)

Valley Village
Menchie’s
On what used to be a quiet stretch of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, hundreds of frozen yogurt fans now flock into Menchie’s. The lines can be long, especially on weekend evenings, when there often aren’t enough tables and chairs. But the crowds come for generous free samples and 10 self-serve flavors that are sold for 39 cents an ounce, plus a vast array of toppings and sauces. The name stems from mensch, and most of the fro-yo is labeled “kosher,” but on the other hand Menchie’s is open on Shabbat. A couple of tart flavors are offered, but most of the stuff is sweet. So is the people-watching. You might want to catch Menchie’s now before it becomes a chain, which is apparently imminent. 4849 Laurel Canyon Blvd., (818) 985-9150. menchiesyogurt.com. (DS)

Valley Glen
The Great Wall of Los Angeles
When my daughter was a little girl, she and I used to take a stroll every Thanksgiving morning alongside this panoramic depiction of the populist history of California. It fills the western wall of a flood control channel with 2,754 feet of colorful images. They’re increasingly sophisticated, aesthetically, as you walk along the channel’s other bank from south (where you can see prehistoric topics) to north (the ’50s edging into the ’60s). The Wall was painted between 1976 and 1983 by low-income teenagers supervised by muralist Judith Baca, under the auspices of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC). The viewing path is in a slender roadside park along the west side of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, just east of Valley College and Grant High School. Google “Great Wall of Los Angeles,” click on “Great Wall Resource Portal,” which takes you to part of sparcmurals.org. (Writer’s note: I’m advising Googling instead of just going to sparcmurals.org, because it’s faster; I had trouble finding the link to the Great Wall from sparcmurals.org.) (DS)

Venice
Pacific Resident Theatre
You have to go through sometimes killer traffic and crowds to enjoy Venice’s most popular sites, but not so for this little cultural enclave on the north side of Venice Boulevard, three blocks west of Lincoln. Pacific Resident Theatre is one of L.A.’s most awarded and beloved theater companies, offering an eclectic repertoire with a special interest in 19th and 20th century European playwrights, using one 99-seat stage and two smaller spaces. 703, 705, 707 Venice Blvd., (310) 822-8392. pacificresidenttheatre.com. (DS)

Watts
WLCAC Bones & Blues
Insider-prized monthly jazz/funk/soul series at the Watts Labor Community Action Center where life-changers from labels like Savoy, Verve, Chess, Cadet, and (naturally) Blue Note step on stage and do it the old-fashioned way. Though almost 10 years old, Bones & Blues maintains an understated profile – barely there on the web but that’s why we post phone numbers – that somehow underscores the history, technique and tradition at work. Next on the schedule is Maxine Weldon, whose ’70s discography baits crate-diggers to this day, and after that? Make the call. 10950 S. Central Ave., L.A., (323) 563-5639. wlcac.org. (CZ)

West Adams
Fais Do-Do
The pride of West Adams (last I was in that ’hood, there seemed little else to evoke that commonplace emotion) is Fais Do-Do, an Art Deco treasure that began life in 1930 as a branch of First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust. It became a bar/nightclub in the 1960s, playing host to the likes of Sam Cooke and Billy Preston. Closed and reopened as Cafe Fais Do-Do in 1990, the place today is less lively than in years past, but still hosts events and parties. The surrounding neighborhood is something out of Escape from L.A., but the folks inside are friendly and the place was serving excellent draft beer when I saw Class of ’76 punks Slaughter & the Dogs bring their safety-pin geezer act there and I got to hear the deathless “Cranked Up Really High” performed by the original yobs. The place was packed with the impressionable young and I knew I’d be asked about their set by even more junior snotnoses in the years to come. They didn’t disappoint. 5257 W. Adams Blvd., L.A., (323) 931-4636. faisdodo.com. (RG)