chris "Mister Blinky" k.'s Profile

Talk about not knowing about the unknown...

Driving back from a night of Dive Bar Adventures reconnaissance.... I notice some gothy looking characters in the south of Hollywood backlot area off Seward...  Luckily gothy people in LA stay on the sidewalk because their fashion sense does not help me a bit when I have had one too many whiskey sours and pull a 180 to check out a new hang out... But I digress...

I pop my head in and notice this giant industrial space is alive with little gothies... A DJ with a turn table, and non-alcoholic snack bar and a massive stage, and a fairly large space for theater with over 50 seats maybe 100...

Turns out they have art shows, concerts, live theater and such.. Their artist director Chris was very friendly and he let me wander the space to check it out without paying the 5 dollar cover.

It was early in the evening so all I heard was the DJ and noticed not much action as the NIN peeps sat chit chatting on 1972 coffee house decor...

They had a entire month of shows I had not been aware of.. So I will check them out.. The space was large, retro, industrial, and had a sense of being the next cool place before everyone found out about it..

Can't give it higher than 3 stars, cause well, I am an alcoholic and I saw no booze for pappy... Also no show was on at the time.. I will update as I have signed their obligatory myspace page...

Chris' biz card gave this website:
www.unknowntheater.com

What becomes of an old MacDonald's? Well, once you take out the 40 gallon deep fryers,  80 gallon high pressure cola syrup cannisters, and the 200 watt heat the meat lamps... A beautiful garden...

The Corner of Highland and Sunset Blvd has a brand new garden store and deep inside is a florist. What was once another drive through is now a Garden, Nursery, Florist drive in....

Hollywood High students finally have a place to buy potting soil... Sneaking out of study hall will never be the same..

Low-down this is not your typical fly-by night lets see how many terra-cotta pots we can move nursery. Actually they have a decent variety of French style and glazed pottery.

No right now this is not a Mortigans killer either.. Its really more a fountain, pots and some knick knack shack. Yes  they have a refrigerated flower case and the roses were in decent shape.
Tons of candles and for now Christmas ornaments. But if you are looking for a variety of daisies or ferns go elsewhere...

Our French style pot was 25% off to make room for X-Mas trees. So West Hollywood you have another option other than the ex-cons south of the Hollywood bowl for that Christmas tree...

The service was good and the prices a tad steep but its hard to find any pottery that isn't orange and cheap..

Imagine owning the stones where Jesus took a walk... If you want real old world stone works look no further than Phoenician Stone...

You can wander around Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and beyond but if you want real raw b-jesus stone this is your rock hut.

These guys have a great story, as told to us by the grandson 'Henry' of the company's founder... Right after WWII, the Greek government wanted to begin to rebuild the roads... But all those marble and stone roads built by all those ancient Greeks just don't do well under trucks and semi's sooooo...

The Greeks would tear up the old , very old stone and dump it... And this guy's grandfather said Hey!!!! Wahcha doing? (best greek imitation) and the government said you want it take it....

And so began the company... Now they have laser cutting, handmade cut stone to order...

They trademarked "Biblical Stone" , and you can travel to all the stone or tile houses in Los Angeles and they will have it ... They get it from him...

But let me tell you at a very very big markup... So if you want old stone feel and look go no further than these guys... Our stones are about 300 years old... Jesus stones well they will set you back a little more than I can handle...

Note:
They are not tile people... they are the "Real Old Stones..." guys...

This is were you go when you need stone...

Out in North Hollywood on Lankershim, these guys are the best. Now, I am not a stone connoisseur but I know my flagstone from a well you get the idea...

The showroom is spectacular. I have visited many a stone yard and these guys have the best. Check out my photos....

What makes them 5 stars is one they are very inexpensive and two they have both natural and artificial stone. My wife and I never have been called artificial at least to our faces... So we went for some pre-cut 6X12 flagstone for a border we needed around some planters..  They have many different shades in the same stone and have those already separated... You gotta keep em separated...

The deal clincher to know that they are for real, is we visited them by chance a few weeks before we met with our contractors.  When we asked our contractors what stone they wanted to use, they showed us a sample from Prime!!!...

Contractors use them and they treated us non-contractor types extremely well...  Try going to a stoneyard and get some help elsewhere.. GooD Luck buddy!!!

I believe Ping Pong is back and its better than ever!!!  Paddles O'Fury!!!

The swatting of paddles, the whoosh of a small ball whizzing past your ear. The Spin, and back spin, the american grip or international,  and where else can you get your table tennis crazies out???

And where can someone find hot sweaty table tennis action?  

Well the Westside Jewish Community Center of course.... Deep inside the Talmudic bowels of mystery and matzo lies the world of Master Gilbert, and his Ping Pong Center of world renown...

We played ping pong at the Gilbert Table Tennis Center. Where everyone at the Table Tennis Center lobby is welcome. And of course for you purists, this is a American Ping Pong Sanctioned club, so the tables will be hot, but the people will be ping pong cool....

Forget your cellphones you are in the basement of this Jewish Community Center... Paddle and unlimited play just 8 dollars.. What a deal!!!

Bring a friend of comparable talent though.. There are alot of pong sharks you can top spin you right on your butt.

I saw an old irish pub..

I entered on a Thursday night after a hot game of ping pong at the Jewish Center...

It was full of what I could only describe as a mix of Fairfax business men, and frat boys and girls. I was shocked... Having lived in NY for many years  guys and girls like that hung out at trendy upper west side bars and lounges...

That said, it was a mix of clientele and the bartenders didn't have any attitude so who cares anyway.. For most part I was with friends and we had a goodtime..

On second trip back recently.. I was introduced to a 'Snake Bite'.. Please God thank you for not introducing that to me at a young and tender age... It was delicious!!! Amber beer with hard cider.. Sounds funky..

But it tastes amazing... As I have tried to ween myself off the mother's teet of beer for my belly's sake, this concoction made me giggle like a well fed newborn.

Now I dyslexic am I so forgive me for this, but I had another beer mixture ... a kind of black and tan mix I think it was called a schmickey's or schmickels... Not sure maybe combine a schmidts with a mickeys not sure...

But hell after two snake bites who cares? I can't drink dark beers. They are bitter, heavy, and weigh me down mentally.... But this schmickey's or whatever was soooooooooo m@therFr!cken good..    If Sam Adams ever goes into making butter he might name it schmickeys or smickels ... Unbelievable...

Tried the deep fried irish eggrolls... Cornbeef and cabbage rolled and deep fried very good... but of course greasy as hell...

All in all it was good beer drinks and tasty snacks... Of course  I had a party of seven, so they added service/tip which was a bit cheeky since I tip over 20 % anyways... But with the Writers strike some people get desperate...

I will return to check out the real food later... Snake Bite here I come...

Jones yes has some Hollywood wannabees.. And well some Hollywood actuallies... Its right across from the frickin Warner Bros lot??

I have packed the bar in my younger days... But check out the photo above.. Kirk the manager a very cool guy introduced me to the cigar lounge... A private room right along side the main Jones bar...

The room is all velvet from head to toe. With great old oil pantings of naked ladies looking very Betty Page like... I had one of my Dive Bar Adventures there as we were about to cast off to Formosa across the street a classy but venerable dive bar....

After nearly 20 years, they still serve great Martinis and great NY pizza... I can't eat cheese from the bowels of a cow... Goats fine... And they made me a goat cheese sundried tomato, basil and sausage pizza to die  over...  

The snacky french fries were eeh? But the pizza was great and the sundae brownie they brought for my friends b-day was I am told fantastic... I have had it before and it was good then too...

I drank Hieny, but my friendly girls ordered chocolate martinis and seemed to like what they got.. They ordered more...

Yes the place still has an attitude.. But with Hollywood proper prospering this venerable place is a bit more neighborhoodie than say 5-7 years ago before Hollywood Blvd became soo hot...

If the bar scene is too much just go for the food it really is good NY style italian / bistro ala joe allens... But really its just not that trendy anymore...

Three words:

Mental Bee Sting!!!!  I hate carrot juice... Sure I had some weird dreams with Bugs Bunny, a long tunnel, and a Tiger Juicer... I can eat carrots raw... But to focus on yogurt is to miss the point of Real Raw Live..

Yes they have the "Buzz" yogurt.. Yea people if Penguins had put Mountain Dew in their mix they might still be around... Of course, RRL swears they use pure Dew not that syrup crap at Pinkberries..

But I digress..

The Mental Bee Sting is carrot juice with fermented coconut juice... Sounds freaky yes but with the right mix of other juices it kicks a$$...

This place is Jamba Juice meets Survival Man on the Discovery network... They have a wild variety of other all natural pickme uppers too and I stop in whenever I visit my bro who lives just up the street.  

I personally like the fact they really know their stuff and have a passion for all the drinks they serve. Ask a Jamba Clone what's in a drink? Hey we see you jamba workers exit CoffeeBean you're not fooling anyone...

Plus, if the drink or yogart mix doesn't float your boat they have a really decent selection of vitamins and supplements in the rest of the store. Plus some decent snacks and pre-made organic sandwiches...

They primarily sell Jarrow's brand of supplements, which really rocks since Jarrows is my favorite vitamin brand... Rock on Jarrows!!!

It would get five stars if the seating was non-existant.... Kinda hard to hang-out standing staring at vitamin B-6  bottles... Otherwise great juice bar of organic kind...

Truly closer to 3.5 stars...

This was a true culture sponging outing... I gather friends for exotic meals under the same moniker...

Now I guess when I said I might have 20+ people you would have thought they would have believed me... 29 showed up.. They were not prepared, despite warning them one week in advance and again that day.... Other yelps mention lapses in service.. Tis' true but order some booze and just chill... The food is worth it.

With 29 hungry CultureSpongers I demanded I help serve... They actually appreciated me carrying out trays... So, I served food, I served wine, and I served beer. I was a waiter for eeehhh... too many years in NY.. So carrying a tray of Honey wine bottles is no biggie...

Now, if you like sweet wine then Ethiopian wine is the rebirth of Manischewitz on the African continent... Otherwise stay away we ordered 12 bottles and only 7 got finished...very sweet.

With 29 culture spongers we went vegetarian and meaty. Basically two  massive platters with a variety on each. Truly the best deal...All very colorful and each had a distinctive flavor. I am not a connoisseur of Ethiopian so I can not say what was what...

The Ethiopian tradition of no forks continues here of course so a kind of "spongy" bread is used to sponge up the meal.. It is very good, and reminds me Indian food without the spicy curry...

Note: after a couple of bread sponging the platter it will look like a mess.. And you may think what is the hygiene of my friends as the parts the bread they just slobbered over hits that green-yellowy part you wanted to try...

But the tastes were good and despite having to handle the beverages myself, everyone was very pleased...

Definitely would do again.. Don't wander into the market unless you know what you want.. Strange stares will follow you as you look at the knick-knacks around the connected market...

Here is my take on fishies...

Hollywood to Long Beach underground via the Metro works and saves your butt from getting stuck on the 405 for an hour. So the Redline connects to the Blue and the Blue drops you off blocks away..

I went with my CultureSponge group. Usually an equal mix of male to female Meetup goers... But something about Aquariums and girls...  Yea guys like it.. But check out the female yelper reviews...Women love this place...

So just a side note single men go to the aquarium!!! Something about the free floating fishes gets women to come out of their shell so to speak...

And I found the place crawling with women!!! See movie "Closer" with Clive Owen enough said...

This is not your North Coast aquarium. Nor don't get deluded its kin is Seaworld. The fish are small. The tanks are spread apart. And otters hide as much would be expected if you lived in a glass tank.

Yes you can touch fish. Hmmm fish touching. Yes you can touch the manta rays. That said after you see one tank of fish and watch an otter poop  the day is done.

The few exotic  tanks are spread out and are impressive. But you can't help the fact that there is little information, no audio/visual support, and not really a great variety of sea creatures considering the bounty which is well THE SEA!!!

But did I mention the price??? Get your triple A card out cause the fish hut is pricey.. Repeat get the triple A card cause it will save you money!!!

If the Aquarium had made an effort to bring more information about the fish and sea creatures, integrated some other activities, and offered some more  places to get any food or drink, it would get 5 stars.. But if not for the occasional impressive two story tidal glass tank and exotic fish  that look like coral this might be just a place to pick up women.. If of course you look like Clive Owen...