Jul 29 2026
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Lifestyle

Hi Baddie: Loneliness + Girlhood = Not Staying In

Dre Ramirez is 35. She’s a fifth-generation Angeleno who lives in Downtown LA. After working in marketing for a decade building large-scale campaigns for brands that most people would recognize, one day, she realized she was spending eight months at a time behind a laptop. Her life was consumed with her art, and although she loved the career that she had built for herself, she was lonely. She hadn’t realized how isolating her work was or how quiet her life had become.

“I was like, I need to reach out and make friends,” Ramirez shared. “I just spent the last 10 years building a career and building experiences for all these people, and I somehow lost me in all of that.”

Posting on social media was already a big part of her job in content production. So, she figured, as embarrassing as it was, why not post looking for friends? . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 27 2026
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Dance

Summer of Dance: The Music Center brings movement to DTLA

Walt Disney Concert Hall regularly hosts orchestras, ensembles and bands, but it is not often that dancers command the esteemed concert stage. This Friday through Sunday, a select roster of Paris Opera Ballet superstars who have danced in some of France’s most beautiful landmarks and chateaux will be performing “The Music Center’s BalletNOW: Superstars of Paris” at Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA’s own iconic architectural gem.

Photo Credit: Los Mirlos

“Walt Disney Concert Hall is an extraordinary space,” said The Music Center’s President and CEO Rachel. S. Moore. “In the performing arts world, there are theaters that have prosceniums and then there are concert stages, which don’t have wings — so dance isn’t generally done on a concert stage setting.”

But Paris Opera Ballet Étoile (principal dancer) Hugo Marchand is extraordinary, according to Moore, and he has pulled together incredible dancers from Paris Opera who have performed in unusual places like chateaux and gardens in France. When Marchand expressed interest in doing a site-specific performance at the Concert Hall, Moore knew it would be brilliance in motion. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 23 2026
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Music

Indigenous Rock Star Gets His Shine: Venice Heritage Museum honors Jesse Ed Davis

He collaborated with Bob Dylan, John Lennon and more than 100 other major artists. The frontman, sideman, guitarist, pianist, producer and bandleader was one of the most coveted session guitarists in Hollywood. Jesse Ed Davis was also a Venice resident from 1975 until he died in 1988, where he recorded three solo albums in which he put music to Indigenous activist John Trudell’s words. Most important, his lasting impact has been underappreciated.

Jesse Ed Davis with Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart, Patti Daley Collection

In the last few year, Douglas K. Miller, a professor of history at Oklahoma State University, has resurrected Davis’s legacy, first with his 2024 book, “Washita Love Child: The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis,” and an exhibit at the same time at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which he co-curated with U.S. poet laureate and best-selling Muscogee author Joy Harjo. This week, on July 25, Venice Heritage Museum and the Bob Dylan Center will honor Davis with a reading from Miller’s book, a panel discussion and a live acoustic set by Scott McCaughey (R.E.M.) performing from an upcoming album of Davis covers.

Although Davis helped to shaped the sounds of popular music, and he did it at a time when few Indigenous musicians appeared on major concert stages, radio waves and record store walls, there are many who do not know his name. Miller, too, did not know much about Davis, and he became even more curious about the artist when he began to see his name pop up on so many of the albums in his collection. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Jul 20 2026
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Film

Band of Strangers: Angelenos from different communities make music together from scratch

The LA-based YouTube documentary series “Band of Strangers” is perfectly named—the title is a dead-on description of the musicians involved. Artists from a specific community (strangers) are solicited and challenged to write an original song from scratch. There are currently seven episodes online and one in the pipeline.

In 2019, the idea appeared to producer Gregoire Gensollen, COO of Tucker Tooley Entertainment, in the form of “The Unknown Tour,” a feature-length documentary. The directors had equipped a bus with a recording studio, and they traveled around America and found artists that would then collaborate with each other.

“They didn’t know each other at all,” explained Gensollen. “Some would just hop on the bus, go to a different city and, at the end of the documentary, they had recorded an album with perfect strangers on the road. We figured, what a great idea for a show.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 20 2026
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Food

Close Encounters of the Asado Kind: Qué Bárbaro’s Ray Garcia debuts Argentine culinary tradition

Level 8 is like the board game Candy Land but for adults. Instead of Lollipop Woods and Peanut Acres, guests can visit Japanese eatery Lucky Mizu and Mr. Wanderlust piano bar and jazz lounge. This first-of-its-kind dining, drinking and entertainment experience, which spans 30,000 square feet indoors and outdoors, occupies the entire eighth floor of the Moxy and AC Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. It includes eight establishments, ranging from The Brown Sheep food truck serving street food favorites to Sinners y Santos, a cathedral-inspired nightlife playground. 

Inspired by their travels around the world, twin brothers Mark and Jonnie Houston of Houston Hospitality partnered with Lightstone to debut Level 8 in 2023. 

Celebrated L.A. chef Ray Garcia helms both The Brown Sheep and Qué Bárbaro, a steak and seafood live fire grill restaurant. He was drawn to the opportunity to create a concept that could bring live-fire cooking and a strong point of view into a larger hospitality experience. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 20 2026
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Food

Summer of Luxury: Mastro’s Steakhouse is the elevated dining experience you didn’t know you needed

Mastro’s opened its first location in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1999. Today, it has 20 locations across 15 major markets. Yet, there are a few things that have remained the same: The seafood tower arrives over a cloud of dry ice. The butter cake arrives warm. The steaks are cooked 28 days, wet-aged in a 1,500-degree broiler.

“We feel that 28-day wet aging is the optimal time for flavor and for the beef to tenderize,” said Patrick Barrett, the Divisional VP of Mastro’s. “We use a house steak dry rub that’s proprietary and then put them on a broiler at 1,500 degrees, and those broilers get a nice sear on the steak, a nice crust, and lock in all the flavor.”

Mastro’s is a place to celebrate special occasions, indulge before or after a game at Crypto.com Arena or Dodgers Stadium or dine after a long day at the Los Angeles Convention Center. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 16 2026
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Health & Fitness

A Real Knockout: Age ain’t nothing but a number for former ‘All My Children’ actress

Five mornings each week, Kari Fraser wakes up at 6 a.m. and heads to Joe Hanks’s Brick City Boxing LA in Pasadena — part of her routine includes 245 push-ups and 12 pull-ups in a row. Two days a week, she deadlifts at Rose City Barbell. She runs the Rose Bowl once a week and does Lagree Pilates at Motivate Highland Park on Saturday and Sunday. Fraser is 62.

Having created the first iteration of the Dixie Cooney character on “All My Children” (there were three actresses who played her in total), Fraser is no a stranger to being in a league of her own. 

“I’ve always been like, I’m going to do that. I’m going to win that,” she said. “Like with the ‘All My Children’ part. There were 12,000 girls that auditioned for that role. I’m like, I’m going to get that part. I know how to create that girl. I know how to play her.” . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

Jul 16 2026
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Food

Camélia Turns 2: Celebrate Bastille Day at Arts District’s French Japanese bistro

Last week, Camélia celebrated its second birthday with a week of by-the-glass pours featuring some of the wine world’s most coveted producers.

Photo by: Wyatt Naoki Conlon

“We opened a bunch of bottles of wine that are meaningful to us and that are sort of rare and in some cases fancy,” said Camélia’s beverage director and co-owner Courtney Kaplan. “Things that normally we would not be pouring by the glass, but we decided to open them up and share with our guests coming in as sort of a celebratory gesture.”

This week, from July 13-15, Camélia is offering Bastille Day (which is actually on July 14) specials, including plateau de fruits de mer, steak frites au poivre and bubbly (both wine and sake) available by the glass. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 16 2026
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Food

Ice Cream Alley: Smorgasburg summer tradition returns

Frozen sweet fans are in for a treat. It is almost too good to be true: Ice Cream Alley. Through Labor Day Weekend, Smorgasburg LA fans can turn left instead of right when entering and walk down a row of L.A.’s independent ice cream makers serving frozen treats. 

Photo by: Chris Mortenson

This summer marks the 10th anniversary of Ice Cream Alley, which made its first appearance at Smorgasburg LA on National Ice Cream Day in July 2016. In honor of the special occasion, on July 19 (this year’s National Ice Cream Day), Smorgasburg will host The Great Ice Cream Fair featuring exclusive treats, activities and DJs.

The evolution of Ice Cream Alley was very organic, according to Zach Brooks, Smorgasburg LA’s General Manager. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jul 15 2026
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Music

Contemplating the Afterlife: Swamp Dogg celebrates his 84th birthday at Venice West

Most of the time, Jerry Williams Jr. — who performs under the stage name Swamp Dogg — feels happy about what’s going on in just about every category of life, except the economy. He made his first record at age 12 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and will celebrate turning 84 at his birthday concert on July 11 at Venice West.

Photo by: Chris Mortenson

New and old fans can expect all-time favorites and songs from his latest album, “Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife,” which was released June 19. They will see a down-to-earth artist on stage who, by his second song, has overcome stage fright that he has experienced since he was a boy. If the place is not overcrowded, he will go out into the audience to shake hands, talk and make new friends.

“I don’t just sing,” Williams explained. “If I run into a problem, I share it. But the part of it that has some sort of jovial edge. I’m not there to burden them with my problems. I go from stage fright to very bold about giving the audience insight into what’s happening with me at this particular time. It quells my anxiety.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

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